Neither of the videos are mine, but they are good examples.

This first video is of Rug Punching, a technique that is worked from the underside [...]]]> Seeing as I talk about both rug punch and rug hooking, I thought I’d show you the difference between the two in case you are unfamiliar with them.

Neither of the videos are mine, but they are good examples.

This first video is of Rug Punching, a technique that is worked from the underside of the rug. The artist is using an Oxford punch, the one I consider to be the best on the market, designed by veteran rug maker, Amy Oxford.  The smaller version of rug punch is called needlepunch and has a rich history in variation from as far afield as Russia and Japan.

These next two are by well known rug hookers, Gene Shepherd in this one:

and Deanne Fitzpatrick in this one:

Enjoy!

Deb

The Hothead is currently misplaced, but I know it is here.  See what cleaning craft cabinets [...]]]> Below is the list of glass fusing and lampworking items I have for sale.  Prices are negotiable.  I’ll sell as a group, or some items individually.  Shipping will be the actual cost.  The kiln has the original box.

The Hothead is currently misplaced, but I know it is here.  See what cleaning craft cabinets gets you…I can’t find stuff.

1 Paragon Quickfire 6 kiln  $360 new, will sell for $150 (includes 2nd shelf, architecture, shelf wash and some shelf paper)

Front:

Interior:

Top:

2nd kiln shelf with feet (architecture goes with kiln):

Some items, grouped:

Marver(new $14, sell for $7) and hot glass shears(new $16, sell for $8):

5 containers glass frit (new $2.25 ea., sell for $5 all):

Kiln shelf wash (goes with kiln)

Approx 20 COE 90 glass rods, (new $3 each, sell lot for $25), System 96 stringers in tube (new $14, sell for $7):

Tool or rod rest( new $8, sell for $4), and wash brush (goes with kiln):

THE geekiest pink Didymium glasses, lol (new $30, sell for $10):

Glass glue (new $7.95, sell for $3) :

Mandrel release (new $5.95, sell for $2) :

Mandrels (new $10, sell for $5) and glass mashers (new $25, sell for $12):

MIA Hot Head torch and 1lb tank attachment/table protector will be posted later.

Y’all know I’m not a particularly focused individual, so of course I have many UFOs (unfinished objects) sitting around [...]]]> Thought I’d show you what I’ve been working on for a looooong while now, one of those projects that my family says “Haven’t you finished that yet?” because I only work on it in spurts.

Y’all know I’m not a particularly focused individual, so of course I have many UFOs (unfinished objects) sitting around that I work on as the mood strikes, from this doll to rugs and pendants awaiting a resin coating outside on a non-humid southern day.  Long wait!!

This piece is a hand sewn doll form firmly stuffed and part way encrusted with beads of various types.  The form controls the bead placement.

Years ago, my first exposure to what I would call an art doll was a Native American beaded doll that my father brought home to Australia after one of his business trip to the US.  She was beautiful with long flowing black hair, a white soft leather dress and moccasins embellished with seed beads.  That was the beginning of an interest that would lie dormant for decades.

Enjoy!

Here’s the description from Netflix: Quote…This unflinching drama charts several years in the young lives of four “fallen women” who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercy [...]]]> I recently watched the 2002 movie, “The Magdalene Sisters” and it has been haunting me and infuriating me ever since. Have you seen it?

Here’s the description from Netflix: Quote…This unflinching drama charts several years in the young lives of four “fallen women” who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercy of the Catholic Church in 1960s Ireland. While women’s liberation sweeps the globe, these women are stripped of their liberty and dignity and condemned to indefinite servitude in The Magdalene Laundries, so that they may atone for their “sins.” End quote.

In my ignorance, I had no idea that girls, probably less than a decade older than me, were being effectively jailed and abused, rather than cared for, by the Catholic church after they supposedly “fell from grace”. This order existed for decades, with the last asylum (their word) closing in 1996!!!!

This was happening in the 60′s, not in Victorian times, despite the dark era feel of the movie. What a power the moral hypocrisy of the Catholic institution was then. I suppose it still is for many even now.

In the reviews, many stated their feelings regarding this movie about real events and it seemed that several who were raised, as I was, in that church, had a particularly strong reaction to it. It certainly resurfaced many memories of my grade school years as a day student in a Catholic boarding school as several of the characters reminded me of nuns and discipline I encountered there. It seemed they were determined to take their unhappiness out on us and I suspect that shaped my previously overly quiet, watchful personality for years. The less you were noticed the better and as a girl who had recently lost her mom, I mastered that skill easily.

If one didn’t know that the treatment those nuns and priests metered out was about as far from Christian love as one could imagine, you could become very distant and bitter to God. The Catholic church, despite their claims, is an entity created by man, not a picture of a church as God wants it. Read Acts in your Bible and see how God really planned it. If you don’t have a Bible, go here and read it online: www.blueletterbible.com

Ok, this wasn’t intended to be a religious rant, but hey, that’s what you’ll get here every so often from this opinionated middle-aged woman who tries to be both a Christian and a feminist. I acknowledge that’s often a contradiciton in terms, but the right one wins out most.

I had two intended targets: books and crafts, but being [...]]]> My DD and I went to check out a college a few hours away and while she was hanging out with friends who are doing a summer program there and getting an insiders view of the campus, I went shopping…alone.   Oh the joy!

I had two intended targets: books and crafts, but being as it wasn’t a huge city we were in, I had limited choices.  I did in fact manage though, lol.

I found a book by Laurie Mika called Mixed Media Mosaics which I had wanted for a long time.  Totally up my alley in the way of crafts as it combines several techniques: mosaics, polymer clay and embellishment.  Of course, I figured that if poly clay tiles work, then UTEE tiles would work too, so I made a few.

The other great find of the day, though I didn’t realize it at the time, was a Chain Maille Kit I bought for DD to try.  I have been attempting to bring her over to the crafting dark side for years and while she shows a mild interest, nothing has captured her attention till now.  She sat up making a Byzantine chain bracelet until it was done and looked around wanting more.  We’ll handle that on our next back to school shopping trip.  Living in the boonies requires restraint, no spur of the moment retail therapy for us. Sigh!

Without enough jump rings to finish another maille project, she dug in my jewelry making stash for inspiration and found things to make 2 necklaces, also accomplished that same evening and with great looking results.  Can we say addicted?  LOL.  Mom wins!

So, we are still working on DD’s dorm room rug, but a re-invented version. Turns out the huge ball of yarn we [...]]]> I should have named this blog Dealing with Craft ADD because seriously, nothing has yet to hold my attention for more than one project and that’s no way to become skilled.  Sigh.

So, we are still working on DD’s dorm room rug, but a re-invented version. Turns out the huge ball of yarn we bought had an ugly interior.  Must have been an odd dye lot because it morphed into this yucky green, goldy yellow maroon mix half way thru the unravelling and was declared unsuitable.  Now, we are using a beautiful icy mix of pastel purple, green, blue and pink.  Sort of shiny Easter colors mixed with white.  Naturally, Mom is thinking…oh, that’s gonna show dorm floor grunge quickly…how will she (I) wash it?

Oh yeah, Friendly Plastic…love it.  Do you remember Friendly Plastic from the 80′s?  Was it the 80′s?  I adore the shiny, vibrant colors and have been following a new blog on the subject, http://friendlyplastic.blogspot.com Go look at the amazing eye candy they have there, while I get my first funny attempts photographed.

My daughter and I have started a project for her dorm room to cover [...]]]> Between glass, beads and textiles, fiber crafts seem to be winning my attention lately. I guess that’s going back to my roots, as I learned to knit when I was 5 and was sewing my own clothes as a teenager.

My daughter and I have started a project for her dorm room to cover up the horrible, cold vinyl floor.  Her residential high school used to be a hospital 100 years ago and while future students will benefit from the new campus that is in the planning and fund raising stages, for now, they make do.

The project is a latch hooked rug, about 5 ft. x 6 ft., so kinda big for a craft neither of us have done in years.   She chose warm, soft caramel and maroon chunky acrylic yarn and we are cutting our own 2 1/2″ strips to hook.   I’m winding the yarn around a slim spatula that has a convenient slit in the middle which fits scissors perfectly, to cut multiple strips at once.   We split the backing in half so we could each work on it at the same time without getting in each other’s way.  Here’s a photo:

Dorm Room Rug

That’s Charlie, a stray who found us last November in the engine compartment of our truck after we had driven 10 highway miles.  We heard his tiny scared little mews when we got out of the truck and I was so afraid that he was injured, but apart from being understandably terrified, he was fine.  He now lives a safe, pampered, inside life and I bang on the hoods of our vehicles before we start them up in winter.

This project, borne out of the necessity to not spend $300 on “the perfect rug” she found has sparked an interest in traditional rug hooking, the kind where you pull wool loops up through linen, rug warp or monk’s cloth with a simple hook (not a latch) to create a painterly images.  Most of the artists doing this work lean toward the primitive style that originated on the eastern seaboard, but there are some doing more comtemporary work and this is the direction in which I would go.

School ended and that meant dorm [...]]]> The last month has been hectic and unpredictable. My step-mom went home to be with the Lord, which is a good thing as she was 90 years old and had been in considerable uncontrolled pain for several years, but still it of course, leaves a void in life.

School ended and that meant dorm move-out for my high schooler and subsequent activities related to school events. All of this occurs several hours drive away so each thing takes up at least a day.

Add in a wedding and assorted family dramas and then, there’s work and catch up, sigh. Crafting has taken a back seat, just like my new blog.

So, here I am, wondering exactly what was my focus, purpose and plan? Oh yeah, to figure out how to make a living out of what I love to do and detail it for those who have the same desire.

I’ll start with describing the crafts that I’m playing with to make this happen. Yes, that was crafts, the plural, because I’ve already mentioned I enjoy, like many others, a craft a.d.d syndrome.

The interest and skill (that may be subjective) list at this point:
Beading of course, as that’s my mainstay craft
Glass Fusing
Mosaics
Punchneedle…what? I know, that’s what I said. It is pretty much unknown outside fiber circles.
Encaustic Painting
Lampwork
Polymer Clay
Resin
Felting
Rug Hooking
Latch Rug Hoooking – an old one that most of you did as a child, but which is experiencing a come-back in a newer, cooler design form.