In June of 2007 I did a wood and epoxy coaster study for Father’s Day.
I used a hand held router setup with my rotary tool to carve the recesses and feet on each coaster.
My Dad sent me a picture of the fish coaster, 17 years later, and the coaster has held up well living in a display case. Interestingly, the blue “feather” I drew on the hook has faded.
A grass spider setup camp in our window, between the glass and the screen. It must have been catching enough to survive because it grew, and as it grew built several tunnel webs, which gave us a neat view of the structure.
We did free the spider and clean the window after taking pictures. I wasn’t sure big enough prey could now get caught in its web.
My youngest is showing interest in crochet. One of the hardest parts of crochet (and knitting) is keeping an even tension. To assist, I made a tension ring. Yes, I did model it off of one I saw for sale, but I used 14 gauge aluminum wire from my stash to make it. Aluminum wire is very malleable, so a larger gauge (smaller number) is needed to hold the shape under use, but it is still easy to form toa finger in order to get good skin contact.
The shape of this ring makes it easy to slide the yarn under either a loop or a spiral, or have multiple points of contact. The more contact, the more drag, the more tension. It was a game changer for my daughter, who went from only being successful with assistance to chaining on her own.
I then made the mistake of introducing the double crochet. Too many steps. When she shows interest again, we’ll try a slip stitch, which only has one more step than a chain (inserting the hook into the work). There are historically created items that are made with only a slip stitch, so she can still feel accomplished. Sometimes baby steps are what works, and breaking tasks down to parts, finding what parts can be delegated or assisted to order to be successful.
I thought this pair of pictures would be interesting. First is a bundle of camel fiber next to an empty drop spindle, the next is that bundle of fiber spun into singles on the spindle. There is a big volume change.
These pictures were taken 20 days apart. I spun for about 30-40 min 12-13 days during that time, giving an approximate time investment of 6-9 hours. Plying goes much faster, and I can make a 2-ply yarn from this yarn in 60-80 minutes (2 walks). Winding into a nostepinne style ball takes just one walk.
Really it isn’t the time, it is making the walk bearable, and the zen I get from spinning.
Dad put another leather handle for cast iron pans on his wish list, so I delivered. I used some unfinished tooling leather, cut it to shape, wet it, and formed it to the handle of my Lodge cast iron pan. The design is wrap around, with only the end sewn, so that it can slip on and off. I sewed the ends together with waxed thread using a baseball stitch.
I wanted to add some decoration to this so turned to my pyrography setup.
I finished the leather with Resolene, a leather conditioner that will protect against food splatters.
Critters and Craft 