My newly purchased book and my loom to practice the new things I’m learning!
I’ve been happily pouring over my new book “The Art of Tapestry Weaving” by Rebecca Mezoff. I’ve been following her blog for awhile and it was there I saw the upcoming release and so pre-ordered it. I had every intention of reading it cover to cover then go back to weaving. It lasted one chapter before I was too excited and had to warp my loom and try what I was reading about. But, being me, I’m not starting with a tapestry, I’m making dish clothes, because again, even an imperfect dish cloth is useful. Oh the ideas I have for weaving alpaca though!! But first cotton, and the loom I own. (Then later make my own with bits and bobs from the hardware store. She has instructions on that in the book too! Joy!)
I used to make quite a bit of jewelry; strung, wire work, some bead creation. It was a good thing to do when my kids were little because the projects were generally short term (although I did have a few hour intensive pieces). When my children were babies I also stopped wearing jewelry because little hands are hard on adornments, and being tugged at the neck is irritating. As they grew, I found I could no longer wear necklaces for long, then not at all. It bothers me to have something touching the back of my neck. Then I found out from a jeweler that I really should take off my rings for everything: washing, working, in the shop, in the craft room. That is all the time for me, so I switched to a silicone wedding band and that’s it. My ears are pierced, but will grow closed overnight if I forget earrings, so I have gold jump rings that stay in well, but are hard to remove. Hard to advertise that you make jewelry when you functionally don’t wear any! I do still do repairs. There is something different about making an object knowing it will eventually break, and repairing a broken item that can now be used again. There are also lessons to be learned not only repairing your own work, but that of others.
Broken paua shell bracelet
I designed this paua shell bracelet as part of a set. I used jump rings to connect the paua shell discs, and the jump rings failed multiple times. (It is a good thing my mother-in-law is understanding!) Jump rings are very easy to open with a twist, and flat elements are very good at twisting. To fix it, hopefully with a bit more permanence, I removed all the jump rings and made closed wire links instead. I had some 18 gauge half round wire that did beautifully on the wraps to secure the links. Each link is set at 90 degrees to the interconnecting link so they have some horizontal movement, but shouldn’t twist. Because the twists of wire take up more room, I reduced the number of shell elements, but I think the aesthetics are improved. And it is wearable again.
I dribbled the last bits of pancake batter into two small pancakes with one blueberry each because this really amuses my youngest. As I’m watching them cook, I realized they were watching back and smiling. How’s quarantine going for the rest of y’all?
I found a tutorial for making wind spinners from two cans and I may have a problem. These are easy to make, I can make them while still being present for my kids and watching after them as they do their homework, each one doesn’t take much time, and I really like watching them spin. I’m currently experimenting with the best way to get them to spin easily. I have some set up as traditional pin wheels, and some set up on vertical spikes. I’ve been using old wire hangers as supports (seriously, I think these propagate in the dark, I always seem to have some even though I haven’t had dry cleaning done in months).
Aluminum can prep
I found that marking 3/4” around my cans gives me 11 even spokes. It is easiest for me to remove the top of the can with a craft knife, then cut the spokes with kitchen shears. My fingers work fine to bend the spokes out at the base.
Two cans ready to connect
Bent nose pliers make folding up the ends of the spokes easier, and to start, I just bend up about 1/4” to 90 degrees. Then when putting two spokes from different cans together, I finish crimping down the fold, and add a corner fold to secure the connection.
Connected spokesMy dog photobombing the spinner experiment
So the best way is stringing vertically and hanging, by far. The hanger wire mounts seem to have too much friction. I hung three with beading wire (nylon coated steel cable), with glass beads and separated with fishing swivels. Even the slightest breeze gets these spinning!!
Critters and Craft 