When we cut off the ends of the grape vine for our hand railing, my eldest and I curved the ends into a circle and lashed them. It definitely took two pairs of hands, but they bent without breaking. The idea is that when they dry, I will trim them and make loops for either wreaths or other craft projects.
May the fourth be with you.
My husband built a beautiful rustic style curved stone staircase off our back porch. Our challenge has been getting a handrail to match the curve without throwing a lump of money at it. The first attempt involved cedar sapling trunks, but we didn’t have one long enough, and splicing two together was tricky. When I was wandering our woods looking for hand rail candidates, I saw a grape vine that I’ve been meaning to trim because fungus has started into the side of the bark.
I cut off the vine above the fungal damage, and since that vine was a nice diameter for a hand rail, freed it from the canopy. I then cut away the diseased tissue from the main vine and sealed it with pruning spray.
It took three of us to wrestle the vine into place as a hand rail, but because the vine is supple and we waited until the rain gave it a good soak, it was possible.
We secured the vine with screws. The next step is to strip off the bark and seal the vine core so it lasts a little longer in the Texas weather.
I recently had the great fortune to learn from my neighbor who is an accomplished Cherokee weaver. She started me on a Cherokee style Peace Symbol/Door Hanger and told me that these would hang in the council house and be decorated with feathers. If the feathers were white, they were at peace, if red, they were at war, and if black, the village was in mourning. There are thirteen spokes representing the thirteen cycles of the moon during the year. I thoroughly enjoyed weaving this. I love the style and the way the light plays through the thin round reed.
I am not Cherokee, neither in lineage or registration, so I’m being very clear that what I made is “in the style of” or “like” a Cherokee weaving.
My youngest gifted me two skeins of yarn last December. I cast on with size 11 knitting needles at the end of February, thinking that a nice wide scarf would be cozy. Hm. Two skeins does not make a very long, wide scarf.
So the scarf became a shrug. Sewing the ends together for a few inches formed short sleeves, which help keep the shrug in place.
It works! It is now a garment that gives a little extra warmth, and as a bonus, doesn’t wrap around the neck. This isn’t the first time, and won’t be the last, where I have had to pivot the purpose of a project. This one definitely came out better than the original idea.
Today we look back at August 2013 and the library bulletin board to welcome kids back to school. I did a concept test on a regular sized sheet of paper, using strips of sand paper for sand, and ribbons for water. The kids love running their hands on the bulletin board, so I thought the sand paper would give them something nice and tactile.
The fun part of the full board is that there was a vent that blew air across the surface, making the ribbon move and giving motion to the ocean. I did not use backing paper; I was still fire shy after the previous year’s board was deemed a hazard by the fire marshal.
Critters and Craft 