Luna's Baublebilities

I wish I had more days like this!  It is bright and windy out - a welcome change from the oppressive muggy heat earlier this morning.  While checking my e-mail this morning, I came across this article from BurdaStyle about tassels and was reminded of this wonderful little tassel  that was languishing on my studio shelves, waiting to become part of a finished project. 

So - after taking Molly's sparkley dress down to school for her so she can wear it for her performance of Yellow Brick Road tonight (I understand her back up singers & band will be sporting feathered sunglasses)  and helping Mom & Dad Burnett with babies and wagons and trucks a bit, I came home and finished a necklace incorporating the lonely tassel.

I managed to finish the project, list it on ArtFire and make a collection featuring some other fun tasseled things from my ArtFire peers.  And it is only 2:00.  (And I didn't forget to feed the pigs!)

I seem to like this funky purple and green combination.  I don't know if it will sell, but my eyes like it.

I can feel it.  Spring is coming.  I am crawling out my trench. 

Slowly.

I was sick again last week - but just for one day and it was such a blissfully complete sickness that I didn't even try to function which is preferable to being marginally sick and incompetent for days on end and trying not to be completely useless.  Maxx missed school because I couldn't even get him ready for the bus.  He watched movies all day and drank juice boxes & ate crackers.  I lay on the couch and slept once I dragged myself out of bed to fix the fire.  It was horrible.  And then it was done.

Saturday several men from Church came to help Bry with wallboard in the bathroom because there was some drama with the Housing Council - which is a post for another day at the Beorningstead.  I'll link there when I get it written.  It has been so wonderful to get so much help with the place.  It is so sweet to flick on a light and remember that Karl, Josh, Heather & Joan helped us with wiring last winter or to turn on the water and remember that Ken, Tom & Irene helped us get the well working again in the dead of winter.  Turn on the fireplace and feel the warmth that Meemo wants us to have and enjoy the skeleton of the hearth  nestled between the beams that Brothers Barker & Nason helped Bry & Ken build.   Not to mention hours of help from Jonathan, Cam, Dale, Greg and just about every priesthood holder in our branch and several from the larger district.  Everywhere I look in our house, I can see and touch manifestations of the love & service of others. 

That helps immensely with the long, hard crawl out of the trench.

Another thing that helps is to have projects with deadlines.  I've got a couple of wholesale orders that need to go out soon.  Good stuff.  And I'm helping sew two costumes for Molly's school production of Zombie Prom.  It is set in the 1950's and they need a couple of prom dresses.  These are Vintage Vogue - this top one is Molly's and the bottom one is for the lead girl.  I was intimidated at first, but the muslin for Molly's bodice came together pretty easily and Vogue's instructuions are pretty thorough and the patterns are well made - I think it's gonna be O.K.  If not - it just has to look good from the back row, right?

And my Sister in Law tagged me for a Stylish Blogger award.  I'll cover the details on that later this week - right now I need to go get my little (now blonde) actress and get ready to deliver her to a YW sleepover.














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I got a last minute Holiday Commission to make a hand beaded, hand dyed velvet scarf in sage green with rose accents. 

I wasn't really sure how it would come out, I don't usually work in "subdued", you know. 

But, Wow.  I hated to send it away so fast. 




















 . . . . .

I love conference weekend.  Our family traditionally goes out to the chapel on both Saturday and Sunday to watch conference in the "Cry Room" (aka the Relief Society room) where Maxx can stretch out, color and play a bit without being disruptive to those who want a quiet conference experience.  Molly and I bring a craft project to work on - some people think that's irreverent but honestly I HAVE to keep my hands busy.  I used to take copious notes with marvelous doodles in the margins but since the arrival of Maxx, I have been unable to engage in note taking.  As soon as I have a pen in my hand, he wants to be involved.  Maxx involved = mom fails to process anything beyond her own frustration.




So this conference, I started work on a needle case to match my lovely scissors case.  It has two layers of dyed muslin with buttons and yarn caught between in a sort of faux trapunto.  I'm really liking how it is shaping up so far but I think I've got just a few more hours to go before it's really done . . . .

I didn't post much anywhere about anything last week because I was afraid I would spill the beans too soon.  

Bryan was released as the Branch president of our congregation yesterday.  We've been grinning for well over a week about this event.  We've been so overwhelmed the past year with both the houses and Bry's career frustrations and he has been so concerned that he do a good job of ministering to the people we love so much in our Branch - it truly has been a heavy burden for him.  His posture and his face have changed remarkably since last Friday when we learned that he was to be released and given a new assignment.  I won't say anything about that yet except that it probably won't be as demanding and might even be a bit more fun.  (For all you jokesters in the branch - No.  He is NOT replacing President Jones in the Mission Presidency.)  The transition in the Branch will be smooth since one of Bry's counselors, Ben Pykles,  has been called as the new Branch president and he is keeping Rich Tenace, Bry's other counselor on board.  Jeff Francom, the new second counselor, is a fairly recent transplant to Potsdam, but he and his family are awesome - we've got a great team to lead us. 

Everything seems to be happening very quickly this spring - everything except progress at the Beorningstead, though that will probably go more quickly now.   The lilacs are getting ready to bloom and the fiddleheads are getting ready to open in my yard.  

This is NOT good. 

Elsewhere spring is coming a few days early and speeding up each year but this year, we're about 3 weeks ahead. 




The high temperature spikes we had in March and early April pushed things forward too quickly which may have unhappy consequences this fall and next year - trees, shrubs and perennials are blooming too early for their natural pollinators to show up, which could result in lower crop yields, higher prices and less food for wildlife.  Plants - especially trees, are sucking too much moisture out of the ground too early, resulting in drought and stressing the plants which can reduce Maple Syrup production again next year.  The season was cut short this year by those 80 degree days that convinced the trees to start leafing out early.   The greening is happening rapidly in the forests - those soft, lacy reds and green of early May are already done and here at the end of April, we look to be entering June any day now.  What will these stressed forests look like in August?

I worry a lot about weather and rainfall here in my Native North Country lately. 



In the midst of all this ecological and spiritual activity, I've been making my own blossoms. 

I have some tiny apple blossoms in pink and green. 

I've perfected the large Daisy.
















And made a few spacer beads that can be placed between the flowers so that they hang better on a choker or other chain. 














More gorgeous colors coming soon - as soon as that Tax return gets here!  I may also put a few kits up in my Etsy and ArtFire shops later  this spring if I ever get around to writing instructions up.  Give me a shout if you would like me to e-mail you when I get instructions and/or kits ready!

When I was a little girl, I had a puzzle that I absolutely loved.  It was made of little cubes with illustrations for 6 different fairy tales.  It was actually pretty easy to "solve" and once you had one picture put together, you just had to know how to flip the blocks just right to get the other pictures to line up correctly.  I think that playing with it was really good for my ability to understand spatial relationships.




















Sadly, that toy went the way of most toys long ago and is gone.  I haven't been able to find another one since.  But recently, I ordered some tiny hardwod cubes from DickBlick and downloaded some of my favorite illustrations from SurLaLune and printed them out on pieces of Strathmore Satinboard.  I thought of buying some digital sticker paper, but decided that might be too messy and complicated to cut up and apply neatly.  I figured the satinboard would take a nice, smooth image, modge podge onto the blocks pretty well and hold up to use for a while.  I also would have liked slightly larger blocks - maybe 1" square instead of 3/4" but this is O.K.  Maxx has pretty good fine motor comtrol and can benefit from practice.

(This image is from Edmund Dulac's illustrations for The Little Mermaid.  I know she's kinda sexy.  Don't you know that's what Fairy Tales are all about?)

I cropped my illustrations square (which sadly eliminated some of my absolute favorites) did some basic math and printed them out so that they would fit on a six block square.  For the first illustration, I used my slidey paper cutter to do the cutting,  very precisely, and glued the little pieces on with Sobo glue.  (I love Sobo glue.  It works for anything, dries clear and cleans up well as long as you get to it before it dries.)

Now - before you stat thinking that I do this sort of thing all the time, you need to know that this is a much fussier project than those I usually undertake.  Gluing tiny squares onto tiny cubes is not my idea of fun.  I encountered some trouble with the prints themselves after my fingers got sticky with glue.  The picture actually pulls off the paper if it gets stuck to something tacky.  This is frustrating.

I coated the first illustration with liquitex gloss gel medium to protect it from further image loss as I apply the rest of the illustrations because I know that finger stickiness will be involved.   I am experimenting with applying the gloss medium to the illustrations before cutting and gluing to see if that has a better result.

I'm not really happy with the streaks in the gloss medium but that is what I have at home and I do not want to use any of those spray glosses.  Our family has enough respritory issues going on right now and its too darn cold and wet to do that sort of thing outside.  If I had been working on this in the summer - I'd probably have coated each illustration with spray on diamond glaze or something before gluing.

I will also make a little book with the illustrations in it so that Maxx will be able to see what each picture should look like finished.  The booklet and finished puzzle will fit quite nicely in this old Harry & David box I've been saving for a couple of years.  I knew it would come in handy!

He is quite interested in puzzles right now and is getting very good at them.  He is also finally getting interested in faiy tales and stories I can tell him without a book.   We had a lot of fun retelling Little Red Riding Hood the other day.  Somehow, the wolf grew a few extra heads and arms and ate Gramma, Grampa and Little Red before the Woodsman finally showed up with his axe.  Too many Greek myths, maybe?

The illustrations I chose to use are all quite old - Rackham, Dulac, Parish, Billibin, Folkard - all well within public domain at this point so I am comfortable using them for a family project.   This would also be a nice project using family photos or your own illustrations.  Whenever you use someone else's art for a project, whether you intend to sell the project or not, you should check to make sure that it is not under copyright.  Be careful and be respectful!  If the illustrator is still alive, he or she probably holds a copyright and it is illegal to copy that work, even if you intend the copy for personal use only.  There are fair use exceptions for research and reporting purposes but even then, it is nice to ask.

Full moon scarfWhat a dreadful time we've had of it the last few weeks!  Back in October, I posted in my shops that I would be running a special - free shiping on orders over $30.00 - to make up for inconvenience caused by poky deliveries this fall.  I thought that my deliveries would be poky because of working so much over at the Beorningstead.

No sooner had I put up the free shipping offer than Maxx came down with h1n1.  Then I came down with it.  Then we both got better.   (HA!)    Then I developed an earache from purgatory, my head exploded and I've been unfit to drive or think or hear or talk or anything for a week and a half!  The worst part of it is that I've been so sick that I haven't even been able to work at projects - I'm just too darn dizzy.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to thread a beading needle wen the room won't stop tilting?

Anyway, I'm back to the doctor's today.  She says that the ear infection is a common complication of h1n1, I'm just worried about that fact that it didn't respond well to a course of antibiotics.

I did have a little productive time between the fever flu and the alien in my ear.  I finally finished off the scarves I had painted during summer fest.  They are set, highlighted and up in my Etsy shop right now.  I can't wait to get into my new studio where I will have a counter top just for painting silk scarves!

I also have been working on a custom order velvet scarf for a friend with a VERY lucky wife.  It is an incredible scarlet velvet with gold seed bead mesh with rich crimson goth roundelles at the bottom of each end.   I had lots of fun earlier this fall dyeing up a selection of velvets for him to choose from.  I'm only a little sad that he chose the scarlet.  I still have some purple and an incredible mallard teal to work with.

One of these days, I'll put up a tutorial for netted fringe.  It is one of my favorite things to do - it is a very simple and meditative process and usually goes pretty smoothly as long as one is careful not to get tangles in one's thread.  Ten inches of fringe usually takes me about 2 hours but the velvet is a bit trickier than a flat silk scarf would be, as the initial fringe stitch also acts as the finishing hem for the open ends of the scarf.   That requires a bit of extra time and care with pinning the edges and trying to take up the same amount of fabric on each side of the scarf with each stitch.  The first edge of this scarf took me about 3.5 hours.

You can see in this photo that I wasn't paying close enough attention to the spacing of my stitches on one side of the velvet.  This will have to come out as it makes the velvet drape poorly.  I'm very glad I caught it before I got too far along the edge!

If you love the scarf, I do have another one in sapphire blue over in my shop or I could order up some more velvet and make you any color you want!

I have a fun handmade gift project I hope to post in the next few days as well as show off the necklace I made with a beautiful Mary Harding pendant during the Beading party at the arts council.

Well, kindergarten has begun.  Maxx has been surprisingly happy about it the last two mornings and has hopped onto the bus without complaint.  (Whew!)

Now I have to get to work in the studio - or rather, in the kitchen, as the stuff in my studio has finally and irrevocably reached critical mass.  No one can do anything in there anymore except maybe package orders for shipping and that is only after much rearrangement of boxes, bins and bags.  I'm so ready to move.  My new studio will be so huge.  There will be a separate area for every type of activity - probably even room for a little table or easel for Maxx to paint at. 

We have started a blog about the house and lifestyle renovations that will be taking place over at the Beorningstead.  We are all excited and impatient to get moved over there.  Soon, we hope.

In the meantime I have to dye and paint a whole bunch of scarves and experiment with the blank tee-shirts I ordered a couple of weeks ago.  I also bought a Yudu machine - they are still on sale at Dharma.  I hope it turns out to be worth the $$$! 

I also hope I have enough Ivory dye to complete an experiment that has been naging my mind for several days.  One of my Etsy customers requested a special order containing seeral different colors of ribbon and cord and mentioned that she would really like to see some cord in a Watermelon Tourmaline color palette.  So what have I been seeing in my sleep for the past 4 days?  You got it - scarves and ribbon and even lengths of velvet dyed up in purple, citrine and gemmy green. I think I've got the formula figured out in my head already But I'm about to find out for sure today.  Wish me luck!

And she had better like it!

We will be taking Maxx to the temple of Wednesday, staying in Rochester overnight and then dropping MB off at a Youth Conference on our way home. She wants a special dress to wear to Maxx's sealing plus there is a fancy dance at the Youth Conference. We've been contemplating this Folkwear pattern for a long time but I haven't felt prepared to shell out the cash for all the fabric it takes.

This seems like a likely occassion. The overdress section will be made of that beautiful pale blue silk duponi I spoke of earlier and I let MB choose a gorgeous purple and gold sari fabric at Joanne fabric on Thursday. Unfortunately, I am a knuckle head and didn't realize that the fabric's pattern is directional until I got it home. Now I have to shift the patern by 90 degrees and add a seam to make it look right for this pattern. I lack about half a yard of fabric for this trick and have to drive all the way back to Malone before I can start cutting and sewing. I hope I can find the same fabric again - or a likely compliment.

I hope I get time to make a new purse, too. My old one is thrashed and filthy and I've been lying awake thinking about those gorgeous paisley velveteens in the middle of the night.