Project 8: Blue Tiered Earrings

So, I made some rad earrings, using some beads I bought in San Francisco over last spring break.

I discovered early on that their holes were too big to not slip over the seed beads I was trying to use as separators, so I did a little glue hacking.

Yo dawg I herd you like beads, so I glued a bead in your bead so you can bead with this bead.

Et voila.

Project 6: Boot Support

There's a tiny tear in my beloved solid winter boots, but I haven't repaired it yet. Until then, I have created a way to provide the boots support when they're being stored: I think the tear originated from the stress of being stored over the summer folded over. Thus, this way they won't befall the same fate, nor strain the current rip.

Project 1: Felted Slippers, Part 1

These have been in the works for some time, since last November. No, not November 2011, the one a couple months ago, November 2010.

This was not due to time-consuming knitting. They languished because they looked too unwieldy to seam up, an opinion which was clearly due to a lack of resolve, since all I needed turned out to be a couple of safety pins and some TV watching time. Also, the realization that my feet would really appreciate it if I managed to get them done by this winter, please.

When I did finish sewing all the pieces together and dealing with the many fiddly ends of yarn, I held them up to Scott and said, "Look, they're slippers!" To which his cautious response was that they looked a bit big for me.

Pre-felted. Observe the questionable excess length on righty.

Felting turned out to be a hairy process--not just in the sense that it was fraught with potential peril, as all my felting misadventures have been, but that the yarn sheds like we have adopted a new, very blue cat. It required a lot of pulling them out, trying them on, fitting them to my feet when they were close, throwing them back in and hoping for the best.

Color coordination. Note the differences in texture...one went in for one more wash, the other didn't.

Overall though, they turned out like they were supposed to, though the heels may be problematic in the end; one is sliiiightly too tight, the other slightly too loose. Some people have cut the heels open and resewed them to fit, which I may well do. But, not presently. Right now, they're drying, and so close to being done.

Day 1: Flowershells

One of the things occupying me lately are some cool new blogs I found about DIY arts. (Studs and Pearls for jewelery, Karen Barbé for textiles and Love & Thrift for academic writing about the DIY-sustainable/ethical/communal movement, specifically with textiles.)  The ostensible purpose of this incessant internet use is Inspiration, and I'm pleased to say I saw something that the lady from Studs and Pearls makes for her shop and said, gleefully, "I have those!  I can make that!"

AND THEN I DID.

(Perhaps you can tell from my pride that this inspiration-->actuality path is often strayed from or forgotten about.)

This is the original work by Kristen Gail Nunez, sold at shoplimette.com.

Not mine. (c) Kristen Gail Nunez.

As you can see, it's a witty and well-made take on the 'flowers in guns' motif. But I looked at it and said, "Oh! That's what I was saving those old flower beads and rifle shells for!"

True fact.  The rifle shells are from a childhood camp at which we did those things (less arm muscles necessary then archery), and I'm pretty sure the flower beads are some of the last remnants of a canister of assorted beads handed down to me from a family friend.  So, both items are at least 10 years old.

Never throw anything away! You can make art with that!

On Flickr I have labelled all of these various supplies :3

The process was easy enough.  First, I washed the shells, then I threaded the stamens-and-pistil bead through the flower with a length of embroidery floss, which I knotted on the other side.  Then, to create a solid base to ensure a strong floss--shell bond, I wrapped the floss ends in a bit of jewelery wire, and bent them until they fit comfortably but tightly in the space allotted.  After filling the shells with basic white glue, I put the flowers and "roots" in and wiped up the excess glue.  Here you can see them being held in place while they dried.

Now that I have them, though, I'm unsure how to use them as earrings.  They need to be obviously "flowers in spent rifle shells", but I can't yet figure out how to attach that to my ears. That can be decided later, though.  For now: Flower Shells.

Day 1/30 !