Posts tagged ‘crafting’

I always love the vignettes in Anthropology.  They’re so unique & often use recycled items.  Sometimes I think the displays would be great artwork in my home; other times I’d use them for party decorations.  Here are some pics I took during my last visit.

Bike wheels surrounded by colorful pop bottle flowers

Pretty paper flowers cascading from the ceiling

Empty glass bottle display

Here are pictures of the wire-wrapped sea glass jewelry I taught for a private class at Craft Akron this week.  The women were so much fun!  They go to Lake Erie together to collect sea glass & wanted to learn how to make it into jewelry.

My next investment is to buy diamond-tipped drill bits so I can drill holes in sea glass and teach classes on it.  As long as baby doesn’t come early, I’ll be at Monday’s Jewelry Guild meeting where the demonstration is “Drilling Beach Glass”.  And, If you want to learn wire-wrapping, I did a tutorial on how to make the earrings you see in the upper left picture.

Well, because we Nesters have been busy Birds. Last night I played second fiddle for Colleen while she taught a super fun Sea Glass jewelry making class for 12 awesome women.  We had a blast. Plus, it was the first time since the Lehman’s Hardware demos that we’ve taught a class together. I forgot how much fun that is!

Plus, I’ve been sewing like a mad woman making an enormous amount of crafty goodness for the Medina County Baby Fair, which is on March 20th, where I’ll be vending with Jenn and Mary under the name “the Lollipop Guild.” These little bunny friends are made from cashmere and wool sweaters. Their soft and silkie ears are made with some crinkly polyester curtain samples I picked up at Zero Landfill. I’m also making baby shoes by the dozen from fabric sample books. Some are giraffe print and I want to keep them all, but then I’d have nothing to sell to all the new mommies at the Baby Fair. I need to share the wealth.

So if everything goes according to plan, there will be a tutorial tomorrow. If it rains (because this is a gardening tutorial) then you’ll have to wait until the next sunny day. And there is a pretty good chance for rain…

When a crafter sets forth on a mission, there is not much that can stop them as long as there are scissors around. The mission I have set upon is to run a “barefoot” half marathon in May. To run “barefoot” I am running in Vibram Five Fingers shoes to protect my soles on the roads from debris and other things. But this is Northeast Ohio, and it’s still essentially winter, so I need socks. This creates a problem when there are toe pockets. Even toe socks get bunched up in there. So I hacked a pair of wool athletic socks to be toeless, but still stay on my foot. I used a small stitch between my big toe and second toe to keep the sock from slipping. It works amazingly well, and once I’m running I have no idea they are there. My feet are warm, which is important. Sorry that my socks are a little dirty in the picture, I just came back from a run, I wanted to make sure that it worked before I posted it!

The other problem I have is wanting to use the Nike + iPod gizmo to track and share my runs. But since I am not using the Nike + shoes, how I needed a hack to keep my sensor on my shoe. I took some commercial vinyl fabric I got from Zero Landfill that matches my shoes and made a pouch for the sensor. There is an overlap for the in the opening flap so I don’t lose the sensor on a run, and there is a strap to loop over the velcro shoe closure on my shoe.  This sensor pouch could also slide over shoelaces if you plan to run with the Nike + thing but have a pair of trainers you really love, so it’s not just for us crazy Barefooters.

Today while getting dressed, I decided none of my necklaces were quite right for my outfit.  So I looked through my beads and came up with this quickie.  It was just what I needed to de-formalize my dressy shirt.

Here’s how I made it:  I put the coral bead & flower bead cap on a head pin and made a wrapped wire loop at the top.  I strung it on the string, then attached the clasp with crimp beads.

and a pile of possibility. I spent the afternoon carefully removing shirt pockets. And then carefully pinning them back to the shirt from which they came so that I can do some shirt rehab on Friday afternoon. I am planning to take them all up to The Market Path to see about consigning there. I chatted with one of the employees on Saturday at the Home and Garden show, and she encouraged me to stop in. Hopefully I have what they are looking to stock in their store.

It’s encouraging to me that there are so many people interested in handmade items right now that there is a greater outlet for displaying/selling them. It’s not just craft fairs and etsy, although I LOVE those venues, but even brick and mortar stores are interested in carrying one-of-a-kind handmade items in their shops.

In other news, Colleen and I have talked about slowing down on the tutorial frequency. Once a week  is a lot of crafting. And though we have a ton of ideas for how to repurpose things, we are running out of time to actually do them. Just today I spent two hours ( yikes! ) cleaning out my craft room because I only have time to work in there, and never have any time to clean up after myself. I still haven’t put everything away yet! So, look forward to 2 monthly tutorials from Clever Nesting in the future. We still love you, we just also love our sanity.

My good friend Lauren stopped by last week for a beading lesson, and here’s the necklace she made.  It was her first time using beading wire & attaching clasps.  We had so much fun working together, and I think she’s discovered a new hobby!

If you need a beginner’s lesson on necklace making, you can read my tutorial on how to restring a necklace.  It teaches what tools/supplies you need, how to layout your design on a bead board, and how to attach the clasp & use crimp beads.  Or if you live in the Akron area, I teach classes & give private lessons and would be happy to work with you on your project.

For Valentine’s Day, Devona made heart-shaped crayons with a candy mold, double broiler, and broken crayons.  It inspired me to make the crayons with different colored chunks in them.  (Those were always my favorite as a kid.)  I made lots of mistakes & even ended up with ugly brown when everything melts together, but now I have lots of tips to share with you!

Supplies: double broiler (I used a pan & glass jar, but a tin can would be great as well), water for the double broiler, a mold for the crayons (I used a brownie pan with dividers, but you can use candy molds, soap molds, candle molds, or other make-shift molds), broken crayons, knife, cutting board, & a stove top.    Other useful optional items: towel (for drying the glass jar), spoon or popsicle stick (for mixing wax), and oven mitt. Read more »

All my yarn-addicted friends have peer-pressured me into dyeing yarn. I’m just dabbling, for fun. I’m not as proficient as Mary, Jenn, or Martha, but I did manage to make white yarn turn sherbet colored.

I used my ancient crockpot to keep the water at a consistent temperature, and Wilton dyes. To set the dye I used lemon juice. I didn’t measure anything, because experiments are for guessing. That’s probably why I ended up with sherbet when I was aiming for the same color orange as my kitchen walls.

I still call it success, because it is pretty, and I can knit with it. Hurrah!

I’m still playing around with Peacock feathers. I really enjoy the froofy aspect of a feather. They even dress up jeans when you wear a feather. But unless you are going for the Thanksgiving Pegent look it is important to shape the feather to the curve of your head.

You need a feather and a pair of sharp scissors that you don’t use for fabric.

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