Beads.

My dolls and fabrics are packed away in storage at the moment, my handspun is at Keeper’s Corner, my knitting needles are somewhere and I needed something to do. Not like that’s an actual excuse for me to take up yet another hobby; especially one involving sparkly things, color, and a good potential for a vacuum cleaner killing mess.

The bead shop in Klamath Falls is stunning. I think I should get a pat on the back for managing to avoid going there for an entire year (even though on more than one occasion appointments downtown forced me to walk right by the store and look longingly into the window.) I really need some kind of adult supervision.

Sometimes I think I’m buying for one envisioned project and another (much cooler) one appears in my head by the time I get home with my new tools and supplies. I also thought it would be better to start with something a little more basic than my original project idea because I’ve never used a bead loom on this scale before (this wide or with beads this small.)

The Decepticon logo seemed to be a natural choice. In the movie (Revenge of the Fallen) Jetfire was hands down my favorite character.

Jetfire: What planet am I on?

Sam Witwicky: Earth.

Jetfire: “Earth?” Terrible name for a planet. Might as well call it “Dirt”. “Planet Dirt.” Tell me, is that robot civil war still going on? Who’s winning?

Sam Witwicky: The Decepticons.

Jetfire: Well, I changed sides to the Autobots.

Sam Witwicky: What do you mean changed sides?

Jetfire: It’s a choice. It’s an intensely personal decision. So much negativity… who wants to live a life full of hate.

It’s still on the loom since I’m not quite sure what I want to do with it. I was thinking of stitching it to a jacket sleeve, but then I had this idea of mounting it onto an embossed velvet purse. Once I decide I may start working on an Autobot version.

Or I may be able to take my stuff out of storage and finish my dolls.

During my convalescence I revamped Cutemojo with a completely new look, new theme and re-installed the shopping cart that I took offline when I moved last year. I have to build another light box and start taking photos of my inventory now but the shop is otherwise ready for business.

Last night I started painting my Queen Anne doll. It was really difficult to make myself cut the joints and get started on her, because painting is where I will inevitably screw things up. Obviously I know gesso exists and if I really mess things up, it’s here for me to apply over and start again. Worst case scenerio: I have to cut, sew and stuff a new part. I would just rather get things right the first time.

I also know that this is a tendency that hangs me up on a lot of things, since I would much rather not try than risk failure. I’m excellent at not trying. I don’t usually think about it, but being sick tends to punctuate certain habits of mine that I don’t like very much. I cringe when I think of wasting supplies and materials and it takes some mental flexibility for me to see that my making mistakes and redoing bits is not really a waste.

After cutting the joints and setting the loose beads aside, I applied a thin layer of gesso directly to the linen where I planned on painting. Once the gesso dried I used antique white as the base coat.

Next I mixed a little instant coffee into clear sealer, not a smooth blend– only mixing enough to wet the granules without incorporating them into the varnish. If I’d been thinking I would have taken an in progress picture, because as the coffee/sealer is applied with the brush the granules do dissolve leaving sharp grains behind.

Then I followed with crackle finish and the same antique white that I started with. Since it’s a little paler and more uniform than I would like I’m going to do one more very light coat with the coffee/sealer blend, diluting it with a little more sealer to grunge up the finish a little before applying clear varnish and painting her features.

I’m not going to argue that messing with forbidden fruit didn’t have a certain appeal. The real appeal though was what all that stuff had potential, not the sort of stuff I would have picked at the Ben Franklin’s in Oregon City, Mom’s stuff was the kind of kitschy craft materials found in the back of old Workbasket magazines. More to the point, it presented a challenge I longed to take on– taking unfamiliar and (to me) exotic materials and making whatever out of them.

Now I get that same sense of challenge and excitement from finding caches of craftiness at garage sales. Except this time around I don’t have the threat of a bread-board or a belt swinging at my posterior to keep my creative instincts at bay. I turn into that little kid that just wants to make stuff again.

This is basically what I started with, some wooden beads and weird little puffy angel wings. I could see me buying the beads (maybe, if I were particularly inspired to do something folksy or a little drunk or both) but the angel wings wouldn’t even be on my radar.

I started by priming the beads with a basic acrylic paint sealer; since runny faces are sad faces.

The rest sort of happened bit by bit.

The doll on the left is my first attempt, she looks slightly more pregnant than her friend. I penned her features on over the primer, which I didn’t like so I switched to paint with the 2nd doll.

At 2.75 inches tall, they are hefty little gals. Whoever said angels can’t be fat? Maybe they are the guardian angels of roast beef and lots of gravy and extra helpings of potatoes. Who am I to judge?

I suppose I have plenty of time to contemplate these questions while working on the rest of their little heavenly host.

All those little heads laying there, if you really think about it– the dowels would be equivalent of spines.

I will consider this to be my Predator homage moment. I suppose working on little calico alien face huggers would be a little overboard, even for me so I’ll keep up with the doll thing for a while.

As I was experiencing a distinct lack of mohair, Theresa at Yarn Over came through for me with a big bag of the stuff.

After spending three days of my life gluing nylon curls on this doll (in an attempt to make-do) and producing what can only be called a ginger-fro, I was only more than happy to take off my prior mess and start over. (I’m such a liar; I wanted to cry a little.)

Mohair can be styled just like human hair. I used a couple of judicious spritzes of water and gave her a quick trim with the edge of a razor. Trimming with scissors would make the cut too blunt. The hair nearest the face is glued on in the opposite direction and then fixed down around the sides of the face to the top of the ears to conceal raw edges of the hair underneath.

Then I did a little happy dance.

I’m not quite finished with this doll, the plan is making some more outfits (a Christmas dress, underwear, a fancy gown) and accessories.

June.

(Sob.)

Snow.

(Sniffle.)

Get this– next month, on the 3rd, a yarn shop is going to open up here in town. I’m so excited. The only way I could possibly be more excited about a yarn shop opening would be if it were staffed by Tom Waits (because somewhere in my mind, I just know Tom Waits would stock the most kick ass pattern books ever.)

I’ve made it a habit to avoid embroidering as much as possible.

Not that I don’t like embroidery, not at all because I really do like it. I think its my fear of unfinished projects. There were a lot of unfinished counted cross-stitch and crewel work kits in our house during my most tender and formative years.

Currently I’m working on stitching designs on pieces of flour sack towel, destined to be apron pockets.

Moving right along then. In keeping with my current thing of making creatures out of garments– sock frogs! Frogs made of socks. One of these days I’m actually going to get around to making a classic sock monkey.

Lilly pad or sock drawer?

My soft sculpting techniques need some refinement but I’m quite proud of my long neglected embroidery skills.

The frog on the right (the one with the spots) was my first attempt, I think he came out pretty darned cute. I changed the placement of the feet for a more comical effect on the 2nd one (the one with the big purple stripe.)

I’m loving how articulating the seam at the toe of the sock makes for those big content smiles.

Lucky kitty with fish

This little guy started life as a pair of knit gloves.

Usually I find stretch gloves perfectly useless as gloves but I haven’t made a softie in a long time and the idea of a maneki neko was way too tempting to resist.

The paw holding the fish is the thumb of the glove, and the waving paw is the ring finger. I cut the head from the palm portion of the other glove. The tips of the amputated fingers are what I used for the nose and feet. There’s no tail because this is a Japanese cat.

The fish is just quilting cotton. Its just this side of 2 inches long, and the tail was a pain to turn. The fish eyes are just French knots.

I had to play with the position of the nose for quite a while, which probably took me longer to get right than actually sewing anything. It kept looking as if I was going to end up with a waving fish holding polar bear with cat ears.

I have a serious phobia of waving fish holding polar bears, so I’m very relieved that my cat finally took a proper kitty shape.

Knit in upheaval, worn with humor.

I finished this hat sometime in late November I think. I’m not sure, life was kind of hectic. You know, in the way that being doused in gasoline and offered a lit cigarette is kind of hectic. Maybe it was mid-December.

Okay. I should say that I finished knitting it, weaving in the end and sewing the pointy tips together to make the crown are more recent developments. It’s a pretty generous length because if I’m going to wear a hat I at least want it to keep the wind off of my ears.

There is a lot of wind here; cold bitter snow driving wind. The scenery is beautiful and well worth braving the elements, but when it comes to fetching the mail in the morning I tend to think it can wait until after it warms up, sometime in Spring maybe. We all have our priorities– mail just does not seem to be one of mine.

It’s a knitters freakin’ paradise, or it would be if I could find a proper LYS out here. I’m pretty much stuck to Micheal’s in Klamath Falls for yarnage. Let’s just take a moment to feel sorry for me.

Poor me.

pictured: hat, snow. not pictured: self pity

Moment over. I’ve been working on a hat, no pattern (no big surprise there) just a circle with cables on it. The uncabled bit at the beginning will be folded under and stitched down to make a nice band inside. The yarn is Caron “Country” and it’s a 75% Acrylic, 25% Merino. That cold breeze that blew through here was not the weather, just the bitter winter of my heart as I weep just a little, longing for proper handspun wool on my needles.

As soon as I get a place I’m going to grab at least one of my wheels and do some spinning.

It’s okay. The Gods of Craftopia demand sacrifices, right?

At least I’m left handed.

Somehow I went from an end result hobbyist to a process driven driven one, which I think has improved not only my temperament but has greatly increased my ability to handle frustration. I’m not sure exactly when this transformation happened, but I’m glad it did.

Also improving my outlook on life is that we now have signed off on the house and the move is scheduled for the end of October. This is a huge relief as the idea of renovating this house has literally caused me to have nightmares. I’m serious, I dreamed that the floor in the bathroom collapsed and I couldn’t fix it because I was afraid of being electrocuted by ungrounded wires coming out of the toilet waving at me, and there were all these wingless flies. Okay, I’ll admit that does sound more funny than scary, but it was my dream and a pithy description can’t communicate the horrors that my brain can produce to amuse itself.

Oh, and I have a profound phobia of dangerous things coming out of toilets. I’m not talking about the normal horrors of things coming out of the toilet when it backs up. I’m talking about horrible things coming out of the toilet; things like large scaly hands tipped with razor sharp claws,  small man eating sewer demons, and plague bearing crazed aquatic wharf rats. Now I can add live malicious intelligent groping electrical wires.

In my mind these things are far more likely to come out of toilets when it’s late at night. Usually just after dreaming that horrible toilet terrors will happen, this makes my coffee habit seem like a very bad idea sometimes.

I love it when things work out perfectly– while cleaning out my little corner of the shop to make more room for doll carving I found this old box that once contained turning tools.

It turned out to be just right for holding my new gouges, carving knife, exact-o handles, extra blades, gauge, strop block and compound.

I love it when stash solutions present themselves  before I even know I need them. It looks so well thought out.

my drying solution-- a wire basket and bamboo skewers

What I haven’t thought out well was a way to deal with hanging pieces as the lacquer dries. The solution I came up with is workable, but not exactly satisfactory.

I bought this wire basket at the dollar store a few years ago, since my former desk top basket (a wicker nest number) was appropriated by one of my offspring to hold plastic groceries. My plan was to offer an exchange which makes sense to the adult mind; a little grocery basket to hold little plastic groceries. As you can see, negotiations for the safe return of my original basket failed and I resorted to keeping the little grocery basket.

Up until this morning, this basket held an assortment of junkmail and the small balls of yarn left over from knitting projects. I added a few bamboo skewers and voila! Drying rack.