An Experiment

The cuffs I have in mind to make for my daughter and me made me wonder just how I'd go about it, so I thought I'd experiment a little. I cut the ribbed cuff off of one of the pink sweater sleeves, and blanket stitched around the edges. Then I went and played in my fabric scraps.

It's not as heavily embellished as some of the examples I found online and loved, but it's a nice first attempt at this.

The disc is a Japanese postage stamp, with a circle of a page in Japanese (I think), sandwiched in fused plastic. That was sort of hit-and-miss. It was trickier than it seemed it might be.

I used ribbon and a button for my toggle/clasp, and stitched more buttons and beads to it.

The bow in the last picture was my first try at laminated felting. I used a rectangular scrap of lace and felted variegated purple wool onto it. It didn't quite work out as I'd hoped, so I pinched the middle and tied ribbon around it to make a bow.

I did the blanket stitching and the felted lace piece while watching tv last night, and that didn't take any time at all. I did the embellishing all this morning. Everything was stuff I had on hand already, so it also went quickly.

Mother/Daughter Cuffs

Yesterday, I was able to talk my parents into a trip to Antiques on East State in Rockford. Mom had been there with me before, but we'd never dragged Daddy along. (I didn't want to leave him at home alone, while my husband and daughter went to the mall on their weekly "date.")

There, I found this:

and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. I would disassemble it (easily done, since it's on elastic) and use the pieces to embellish the pink felted sweater cuff I want to make for my daughter for xmas. When I saw that some of the charms were mom-related, it felt like I should make a pair of them, not necessarily matching, but using the same components on both. Not sure how I'm going to make that work, since the image in my head is pretty nebulous... but I have almost 2 months, right??

UPDATE:
Yes, I had 2 months, but I was finishing them up just days before xmas, making my own cuff last. I foolishly neglected to get photos of all three together. Oops... Here's mine (top) and my daughter's:

Mom's is actually more of a bangle. She has a wool allergy, and since there is wool in the felted sweater -- it's cashmere blend, I was afraid it would irritate her skin. I found a wire cuff form at JoAnn's (made by Darice), sewed the material to that, and then lined the inside to minimize the amount of wool that would touch skin. Other than the form it took, all three bracelets are embellished with the same components, with added touches to make each one unique. I used the "Best Mom" charm (upper right in the top photo) on my mother's bracelet.

Currently the only photo I have of Mom's. You can kinda see it!

Felting Sweaters

I saw something in the Summer '11 Art Quilting Studio that I just loved. Roben-Marie Smith's felted cuff bracelets were featured in the "Art Quilt Walking" article, and they are just gorgeous. Since felting ("fulling" is the proper term) old wool sweaters is something I've been dying to try, this really lit a fire under me, and the other day I went to Goodwill and bought 4 sweaters for this purpose. One is 100% lambswool, so I am positive I'll get what I want from it. Unfortunately, it's also the drabest in color: charcoal grey. The other 3 are wool blends, with lambswool, angora and cashmere (woot!). Two of them are 30% viscose, which according to this guide, might not work out as planned. The final one has only 10% nylon, so I think it'll be fine.

Two have cable patterns, two are basic rib-knit. The pink one has a small hole,
so this was a good sweater to recycle.

My hope is that the brighter ones all end up being suitable for me to make bracelets for my daughter for xmas. I love the color combination of green/aqua/pink, and think that these cuffs would be perfect for her. Smith's cuffs are ivory, tone-on-tone, lovely monochromatic mixes of texture and fibers with lace and vintage buttons. Lovely as they are, white, even off-white, is not a good color choice for my daughter or me. (She tends to wear her jewelry until they literally fall apart, and ivory would show grime fast, and I just tend to be messy.)

Right now, the sweaters are in the dryer, still in the pillowcases. Because the felting process can shed fibers, it's a good idea to protect your washing machine from all those fibers that can clog the hoses, as well as the dryer (for the same reason). When I removed the pillowcases from the washer, I didn't see any evidence of fiber in the drum, so hopefully that worked.

Naturally, I am dying to see if it worked, but I'll let the dryer go for a bit longer before I check. My biggest concern was seeing the pillowcases flowing freely in the washer; not enough agitation might have prevented the felting process. If I have to run them through again, I'll use less water. One site I read suggested putting a pair of jeans in the wash with them to "beat" the fabric up a bit, but I don't wash jeans in hot water (which is required) because I don't want to shrink them. We shall see...

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Well, it's definitely working. All 4 sweaters have shrunk, and the knit is tighter, but they're not quite felted yet. The green sweater was a ladies medium, and is now small enough for a 5 year old. I think it was probably washed before, because it was too short already, but now it's teeny.

The pillowcases are all full of "pills" that would be in my washer if not for them. I think they will be something I can use on the bracelets, as little felted bobbles. I'm washing the sweaters again, in less water this time, and hope the agitation is greater, producing better results.

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Two of the pillowcases came open in the second wash. I'd opened them to see how things were coming along and retied using two corners rather than twisting and knotting like I had initially (see pic above). The washer had some pills in the drum, but not as bad as I feared. I think after this drying I'll be all set. If it turns out that the 2 with only 70% wool content still aren't quite fulled, I'll stitch to reinforce any cut edges.

The two I retied came untied in the dryer, but the lint filter was not badly clogged up. Don't use the corners to knot the pillowcase; an overhand knot works better!

Whether it was the second wash and dry, or the lesser amount of water in the washer (and more agitation) I couldn't say, but they definitely look felted now. The charcoal sweater, a man's extra-large, is now more like a child's medium. Something I didn't notice about it when I bought it: holes in the elbows, one of them more a tear than a hole. I feel better about buying it now, since I was potentially taking a useable sweater out of the hands of someone who needed it. But seriously people, really? Taking sweaters that damaged to Goodwill? You're buttheads...

ANYway. I have them on drying racks on the table to finish drying and collected all the little pills. Unfortunately, I don't have as many of the blue and green, since those were the ones that came open, probably washing away a lot of them. They're on the flattish side, which means I bet I could even use them in some papermaking projects.

Not sure why the pink one produced so many more pills. Fiber content most likely.

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Once the sweaters were dry, I turned them inside out and cut all the seams off. I saved them, too, because I'm me. Now I have a bunch of pieces and scraps that I can start playing with.

One site I read suggested using the seams as cording.
The ribbed necks I think I'll use as necklaces (choker-length).

Here's what the knitted patterns look like after their second wash. They shrunk up nicely, but the pattern is still visible, if fuzzier.

After two trips through the washer/dryer.

There's enough felted material to make several cuffs. I'll go through my fabric scraps to find bits and pieces to coordinate with these colors, dig in my yarn stash, and try to track down some interesting buttons (holy crap -- vintage buttons go for way more than I wanna spend on ebay!), plus I have a ton of beads. I think they'll be awesome.

Organization

It's really the bane of the creative mind, isn't it? Inspiration strikes and a mess is born. Or maybe that's just me... I like to work on small things at my desk, because that's where my computer is, and where I reference ideas, chat with friends, and obsessively check my email. My desk is a disaster.

For Christmas a couple years ago, my husband and mother-in-law got me two incredibly useful things: a sewing table and a drafting table. The sewing table meant I could have a dedicated place for my sewing machine, which would mean I could actually use it -- and I have! The drafting table meant that I could work on a nice clean surface on a variety of projects and not work at my desk. That hasn't quite happened, even though all my art supplies are in the basement, I still haul everything upstairs and clutter up the main floor to work on things at or near my computer. My wonderful husband also got me a small netbook that would be perfect for using at the drafting table. I could still access all the things I need to from there, and I would have a much larger space to work on with the table than I do at my desk.

Currently, the basement is a much larger-scale version of my desk: random stuff everywhere. I've been working on the basement, trying to get it unpacked and finished at long last, after having been in the house for three summers now. For some horrible reason, since childhood, my method or cleaning up a space has consisted of making a much (much) larger mess, sorting it all out, and eventually putting it all away. That's sort of what's happening downstairs. I have to see what-all I have before I can figure out where it needs to go. Plus, there's a ton of stuff down there that either needs to be pitched or given to charity. (Trash day is Monday, and I am motivated.)

We had to replace the furnace yesterday, because the circuit board that runs the blower (which the air conditioner needs to work) failed. Fortunately, we found this out before it was -20º and after our wretchedly hot July. The space where the installers were working is where I store all my stuff. I had to move things out of their way so they could work. This morning, I worked on getting things put back, as well as organizing a little as I went. I found a small pouch that had things in it I'd stashed for safety (fragile components for necklaces that haven't yet happened) as well as a sandwich bag full of more beads and more unfinished jewelry pieces I've been sitting on for ages, because I didn't quite have what I wanted for them.

I've been trying to find the best way of organizing various UFOs* so that I could lay hands on them easily. Want to work on the Jacket Project? No problem, here's all the stuff for that. Find a component that would be perfect for that purple necklace? Here's the rest of the pieces. I do have some of that done. There are boxes for the Jacket Project, and there's one for the Christmas granny squares I want to make, one one for the altered book I want to get back to, but there's so many little projects, like the necklaces, that really need smaller storage. I'm thinking that a small parts organizer -- one of those things like for holding screws and washers and whatnot in the garage -- would be perfect. The little drawers could be easily labeled with what's in it, and a lot of related things could be stored together without getting jumbled up.

From Harbor Freight

If I had something like that (above) not only would it hold individual projects, but also a great deal of my beads... maybe even all of them (well, ok, most), and tools in the larger drawer. Having all (most) the beads in one place would certainly simplify my storage, which is currently pretty scattered and non-uniform. I think I could also rig it to hang on the wall, and that would be perfect.

At any rate, I have some ideas which should make my life easier and undoubtedly my husband happier, since it means that all my crap won't be scattered everywhere. Imagine the creativity that could flow if I could actually lay my hands on the stuff I know I've got but can't find! The mind boggles...

*UnFinishedObject

What Is Old Can Be New Again

When I was in high school, a summer vacation trip to see family in Mississippi usually also meant a shopping trip for school clothes. One year I got a tie-dyed t-shirt and matching leggings. The leggings were ok, but the t-shirt... oversized with really bright, rich colors, a saturated rainbow with black on white cotton. In spite of many washings, the colors have stayed bright, though the black isn't as dense as it once was. That t-shirt went to college with me, it moved to Chicago with me when I got married, it moved to the 'burbs when my baby was born, and moved again when we needed to find bigger digs. That t-shirt is older than my daughter, older than my marriage! The collar was stretched and fraying, there was a small hole in the front that my previous dog put in it with a toenail, and the seams in the underarms were giving way. Its condition wasn't good enough for donation to charity, but I had seen a way to recycle t-shirts that I wanted to try. Today, I cut up my beloved t-shirt, using a tutorial I found at Polka Dot Pineapple.

Top left, cut and stretched "yarn;" top right, cut but unstretched t-shirt;
bottom, the rolled up skein.

I also saved the sleeves and the shoulders. The pieces are too small to make yarn from, but too big to toss. I have an idea for some of it, but that will only use a small rectangle. It won't be wasted.

My plan is to make a necklace with it, something along these lines but in reverse (multicolored necklace with white embellishments), and not as full; more like this:

I think I want plastic or wood for the beads. It needs to be lightweight, and glass beads would be too heavy. Too, the holes are going to need to be sizable, and I'm more likely to find what I need in wood or plastic. I'll need to browse to see, and if I can't find what I want, I'll just make my own! I might make a bracelet to match, and earrings? Hmm..

Closet Woes, Continued

I got the memo board put up. I used clear pushpins and glued rhinestone stickers (I didn't want to trust the adhesive) with E-6000 glue to the tops so they were more decorative and had a larger head to keep things from slipping off. I did way more pushpins than I needed -- it's a small memo board, after all, but I figured I might as well.

The original memo board had 4 hooks (though one was missing) and I couldn't find the exact right kind of hook to match, or even ones that were the right size at the hardware store. I did find what I thought would work at D. Lawless Hardware, and they worked great! I even added 5 more hooks, staggering them in a row above the original 4 to accommodate 9 necklaces.

I did hit a bit of a snag, though. Many of my necklaces are on longish chains, so there's not as much room at the bottom for bracelets as I'd hoped. I also discovered that my jewelry boxes contain a number of broken chains, one's I'd kept with the thought I'd repair them one day. (If I haven't by now, it seems unlikely I will.) So perhaps I'll replace them with shorter ones...

The other issue with the length is that the ones hanging below take up considerably more room than I'd budgeted for, for the shelves I want to put in below. I may go ahead and put in the shelves as planned, and put the longer necklaces elsewhere; I have a lot of organizing to do! But this was a good start, and I'm pleased with the results.

The coloring of the memo board (purple, pink and yellow-green) matches the colors in the bedroom. When you open the closet doors, when I'm all finished with my closet reno, it will look like a part of the room and not just something that go thrown up on the wall randomly.

Closet Woes

I have a weirdly-shaped closet. It has a bulkhead containing ductwork that juts into what would be a typical 57 x 24" reach-in closet, eliminating more than 12 cubic feet of usable space. Bummer. Worse, it leaves such a narrow space that it seems suitable only for stacking shoeboxes up the bulkhead wall... except I don't have all the boxes for the shoes I do have, and not enough shoes to really utilize the space. SO! what to do?

See? What the heck is that stupid space good for?!

I got to thinking; what if I used the 4.75" return wall and made angled shelves that fit into that weird corner? I want to use the space to potentially eliminate a few small jewelry boxes and make it easier to find what I want, without digging in all of them. I already found a memo board that had hooks on it for keys, and thought I could add more hooks to hang necklaces from at the bottom, and pushpins to hold more.

Repainted memo board. It was missing one hook, so I'll replace them all and maybe add more (at the bottom). Above (the green) is a small shelf. The pink is corkboard.

I already figured what my maximum comfortable reach is, so I know where on the wall the memo board needs to hang so it's usable, and with hooks on the bottom, I know I need to leave plenty of clearance below for necklaces.

This is my not-quite-perfectly scaled "blueprint" for the space. (The side of the bulkhead wall is way off scale, but the rest is pretty good.)

Basically, I'll start 8 inches off the floor and put in an angled shelf, using quarter rounds on the wall for cleats. The cleats will be along three walls, and I'll nail the shelves in place, so they should be plenty secure for no more weight that will be on them. I'll make the second shelf 8 inches above that one, but one inch shorter on the bulkhead side, and the one above that another inch shorter, etc., so that they are stepped slightly and not completely concealing the lower shelves. Why? Because of how I plan to use the space in a decoratively AND functionally.

So imagine the white paper is my shelf, the lowest one. The pretty mismatched china and glass bowls (glued together for stability) will hold earrings, bracelets, rings, what-have-yous, in a pretty and functional way.

I've been staring at my plans, sketching and re-sketching, looking at the space, measuring... and I think this will be a good solution. It should let me put pieces I love on display so I can use them easily, plus make a pretty display in the closet in otherwise unusable space.

Busy, in Spite of a Cold

Felt beads are easy to make, and rather entertaining. Here's the first round I've done and finished with the boiling water/ice water baths: 

The three in the foreground are purple, green and yellow - Mardi Gras colors. Those I made for a friend. The ones behind are orange, green and yellow. I need some black roving!

These are the first paper beads. Orange cardstock, two with black Sharpie on the edges, and painted over with Halloween nail polish, with black and orange glitter.

The nail polish worked really well, even if a bit stinky. I rolled them on those rattan sticks from an empty oil diffuser, so maybe the residual scent from the sticks will permeate the beads, too.

And THIS is the first of my kaleidoscope pendants. Made with Memory Glass and the coordinating frame, it's one of my kaleidoscopic photos reduced to 1.5x1.5" - small! But the 2x2" frames seemed big to use as a pendant, so I went with these, and the 1x3" (microscope slide) size. 
All in all, I am quite pleased with the results. If I wasn't feeling so crappy, I'd be running the bottom ones to a friend of mine who is vending this weekend; she said she'd take whatever I had and try to sell it for me. I have 5x7" prints to mat, and and waiting for the next batch of greeting cards to get here. The website's all set up, but still under construction.

Pendants Update

As I was putting head pins in one of the wooden pendants I made, I learned something unfortunate: the pretty shiny gloss from the Glossy accents™ glaze got very cloudy from my handling it. Apparently, it's not going to be appropriate for jewelry if that's what a few minutes in my (clean!) hands does. I suppose the next experiment will be with brushing on resin and seeing if it will do the job without running off the sides. I'm so bummed. I'm glad it was one of my least favorite of the ones that turned out well. I may be able to "save" the others with a layer of resin on them. I've also been looking into using glass slides to make pendants, but I don't know how much of a pain the soldering will be. I have a few ideas that may or may not pan out, but I am having some trouble finding the supplies I need. It may come down to scrapping the whole thing, buying the silver bezels from Rio Grande and just doing that.

Kaleidoscopic Pendants

I saw someone else's work on Etsy, and was inspired to try my hand and my kaleidoscoped images. I got a variety of materials to adhere the reduced kaleidoscopes to, and did the first batch last night:

The three large ones were hammered-look cheap metal pendants that cost 49¢ on clearance, the others are wooden beads, flattened ovals, about an inch long. Those were $2 for the strand. I used Inkssenstials Glossy Accents to seal the image on the bead after I glued them down. The images are printed on photo paper, then sealed with matte sealant (both sides) so the ink jet inks wouldn't run.

I am quite pleased with my first attempt. There are a few small air bubbles in the wooden pendants and some designs worked better than others, but they came out beautifully for never having done this before.