Hair Ornaments and Hairballs

Hair Ornaments

I finally got my poor Etsy site back up and running (there is a link in my header), and that was an ordeal. It takes forever to upload the photos, write the descriptions, decide on a price, etc, etc. Once that was all done, I then went back and pinned each item to my Pinterest account, hoping for a bit more exposure and sales. It basically took me most of yesterday. Partly because I still had some photographs to take, which takes time to set up and get right. I still don't have a light box (my bad), but I set up something in the garage where the light is better, and that seemed to work okay...for now.

The big decision with the Etsy thing was to keep the prices as low as possible, which means I probably won't post earrings any longer. If I make a ten dollar pair of earrings, it's going to cost me three dollars to mail it, or more if out of the US. Not worth it. So there will be nothing on the site under fifteen dollars, but hopefully no more than twenty-five dollars. No postage charged unless out of the US. We'll see how things go. Here are a few of the new hair ornaments.

Hairball

For the last two days I have been cussing at my Firefox browser. For some inexplicable reason, it dumped all but ten of my bookmarks. One night I had 25-30, the next morning they were gone but for the first ten. Now, I would have been a lot more upset over that if I hadn't been wanting to purge a lot of them anyway. Many were ones I no longer had any interest in. But, when I added back a few of my favorites that had been deleted, when I turned on Mr. Computer this morning, I found that Firefox had dumped the new additions and defaulted back to the ten. This I found very annoying, especially since I have no idea why it is doing it.

I have had several people recommend I upload a new browser...like Chrome. I hate doing that, because invariable when you upload anything new, it affects something else, usually in weird ways. I am giving this little Firefox hairball time to unravel itself before I do anything else. And since computers I not my forte, I am usually loath to do anything that might go pear-shaped, because I won't know how to fix it.

Why is it the oh-so-handy "Owners Manual" on things went out of favor? You know, that wonderful guide to tell you how to work things, and full of nice trouble shooting hints. No computer comes with an owners manual. Oh no, you have to go online to get that information. Well, what if you can't get to the web? What if your browser is going bonkers? What if your computer gives you a blank screen where before you had easy to click into graphics of places you had been and would get you there again (I did, now I don't, which is another part of the hairball)? Where is my bloody owners manual to tell me what all of that means?

As you can see, I have a low frustration threshold when it comes to electronics. I think I'll go have a cup of tea...maybe with some rum in it.

Mixed Bag Wednesday

Here are a few updates on things I have been working on, and a new journal project. Also, a bit about the Nick Bantock book The Trickster's Hat, which I just bought, and am looking forward to playing around with the 49 creative exercise challenges he writes about.  Here we go.

First, the Drunken Spider Vest. I have pretty much finished the web part...I think. I will add more beads as time goes on. I still need to find little bugs to add to the web, and a nice spider pin for the center. I have also started beading around the armholes, and will bead around the neckline.

This is all done in back stitch with either embroidery floss or doubled quilting thread.



Next is a photo of three of the many hair ornaments I have done lately. I sold several of these at a recent SCA event, and got lots of positive feedback, so that made me feel good. I was attempting to rig a quickie light box by holding a white sheet of paper behind the ornaments, but with dubious success. Light box is still on my "to do" list. The wire is either hammered copper, aluminum, or steel. I really enjoy making these and unless I add vintage pieces to the prong, I can keep the price fairly low. These three would have gone for $10 each.

Moving right along...

I bought Nick Bantock's book The Tricksters Hat, mainly because I love anything by Nick Bantock, but also because it was a play book for creativity. By play book I don't mean a list of tunes from the local radio station, I mean play...as in get out in the dirt and build a town with whatever you can find (yes, that is one of the lessons). I am not going to go into detail because I would much rather you bought the book ( I imagine Nick would rather you did as well). All I am going to do is give the lesson number and post a photo of what I did. Maybe it will pique your interest enough to go see what the fun is all about. I hope so.

So, this is a photo of lesson one. The lesson only involved the two 1"x1" boxes, the rest of the doodles I did on my own 'cause I was having way too much fun to stop.

Lastly...and you might want to sit down for this one, since I have posted many times here how unsuccessful I am at this...I am starting another journal. Now, before you scoff (and you would have every right, considering my past stalling out with previous journals), this one is a bit different. I put a limitation on it, mainly so that I wouldn't get bogged down and too serious. The journal itself is small, only 5 1/2" by 4 1/4", so I can't get too carried away. It was a thank-you gift given to me last October. The cover is actual vellum (sheep skin) and the pages hand bound. It has been sitting on a shelf in my "studio" ever since it was given to me. However, with this new spur from my Nick Bantock book, and the fact that I really do like journals, I am giving it another go. Here are the limitations: I can only pick one thing from the day to write about, and the artwork must be quick and small. Actually there is a third limitation...the artwork must be done within 15 min. The reasoning behind this is that, with my previous journals I would start out gangbusters with wonderfully complex pages...then slowly lose interest because they took too much time. Also, my handwriting is ghastly and my spelling worse (which I am going to ignore) With this small journal, I am forcing my brain to KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid!

I did the first page yesterday, the day after the lunar eclipse, which I thought a good omen for starting something new. I stayed up until 2 am watching the magic of it, and even woke Robert up from a sound sleep at 1 am because I couldn't bear the thought that he would miss it all. I think he was grateful, but he was still half asleep, so it was hard to tell.

The last photo is about the farrier coming to trim the horse's hooves this morning. The number three is because we have three horses. Sorry for my finger in the picture, but the journal doesn't lay flat so I had to hold the page open.

Again, the main focus of this journal is to keep it quick, simple, and not overworked. Besides, my days aren't all that exciting, so for today, the fact that the farrier was due was sorta the high point. Endless entries about where I go (pretty much nowhere), how I worked the horses, or did blah, blah, blah, is what got me bogged down before.

So that is Mixed Bag Wednesday, with lots of fun stuff to look forward to all summer.

Avocado Skin Dye, Bleach Pens, and Hair Ornaments

February has been a month for new things. New techniques, new experiments, and even a new horse for my husband. The fun of all this is what finally sailed me out of the creative doldrums which had parked me dead-in-the-water for months. Here are just a few of the things I have been playing around with.

Avocado skin dye.

I saw a photo, probably on Pinterest, of a garment dyed with avocado skins. I loved the beautiful dusky rose color the dye created. Since Robert and I both love avocados, and I knew I could collect a nice stash of skins, I decided to give it a try. First I did a google search for "Dyeing cloth with avocado skins" since I had no clue how you actually created the dye. Turns out it is easy-peasy. You put the skin of one or two avocados (I used two) in about a gallon of water (I just filled a canning kettle half full), simmer the skins for 20 minutes, remove the skins and put in the cloth you intend to dye, and simmer that for another 20 minutes. I only had a small lace shrug and a tea towel I was dyeing, so didn't need a big batch of dye. For bigger garments or fabric yardage, you might want to use more water and skins, as the pieces need to be loose enough so that you can stir them a bit as they simmer.

Here is the shrug and the tea cloth simmering away in the dye.

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After they had simmered, I filled the sink with cold water, pulled the shrug and tea cloth out with a pair of tongs, and dunked them in the cold water. When they were cool enough to handle, I lightly wrung them out then put them in the dryer. That was it.

Here are the shrug—one I made years ago out of an old tablecloth—and the tea cloth before I dyed them. The shrug had started to turn yellow with age. The tea cloth I dyed so I could cut it up and use on something else as maybe part of an applique.

Here are the two pieces after I dyed them. The lace on the shrug was a surprise, as I couldn't remember if it was cotton or a synthetic. Luckily, it was cotton and dyed beautifully.  Even though I am not a pink lover, I have fallen in love with this soft rose, and will try dyeing more pieces, just to see what happens. That, and it gives me an excuse to eat more avocados.

This shows the lace trim a bit better. Now that the shrug has a new lease on life, I am thinking of adding some beading to it. We'll see, but it certainly looks better than it did before its dye job.

Now on to the next experiment...

Bleach pen drawing.

Bleach pens, available in the detergent section of grocery stores, are made for spot cleaning of stains on clothing, mildew on tiles, etc. You can also write or draw on cloth with them. The nozzles are not made for detailed work, and the flow of bleach can be kinda unpredictable, but I think with practice I could get fairly accurate with it. Pictured are my first attempt, done on denim scraps. I have to confess, I put the bleach on, set them out to let it work, and....accidentally forgot about them while I was working the avocado dye bath. I think the bleach got left on the denim for about an hour before I got around to washing it out. The piece to the left was the first try, and you can see I was just playing around with it. I got big blobs of bleach in some places, and skinny lines in others. I decided that simple designs would work best with this. The sample to the right is my second attempt, and worked better. I see using this technique on denim patches that could be stitched, embroidered, or beaded, then sewn to something else. I thought they would make nice decorative pockets. 

I was also thinking of doing a bolero and making simple animal drawings on it with the bleach pen, like ancient cave pictographs. That might be fun.

On to project number three...

Hair ornaments.

I have always loved antique hair combs and pics. I spent WAY too long on Pinterest one day drooling over photos of beautiful antique and vintage hair ornaments, and it got me to thinking about making my own. I needed a new jewelry direction. The pieces I had posted on my Etsy site has stagnated and not sold. It kinda depressed me. So I temporarily closed the site, took all the old pieces apart, and started playing around with making hair ornaments out of hammered copper and aluminum wire, beads, and pieces of vintage jewelry—mostly broken brooches or clip earrings. It is a learning curve for me, since wire has a mind of its own and what I am trying to do with it can be frustrating. I especially have to learn patience with the thin wire I use almost like thread, to attach decorative pieces on the to pics. Many times I have had to just put the piece down and walk away from my work table. Otherwise the piece would probably end up flying out the front door. Of course I would then waste hours trying to find it again so I could finish it. But along with the frustration I am having fun, and got really fired up about making these hair ornaments. Once I get these up on my Etsy site, I am going to keep the prices as low as possible, postal costs considered, and see how they do. 

Along with the hair ornaments, I decided to stick mainly to bracelets and earrings. For whatever reason, the necklaces never sold on Etsy, and rarely sold at the costume events I go to. I donated several to silent auctions and raffles, just to find them a home. I don't know whether it was because the necklaces cost more, or whether the designs weren't appealing, but in any case, it didn't seem worth it to keep making them if no one was interested. However, the earrings and bracelets and the one hair pic I made, all did pretty well.

So, here is an overview of some of the pieces I have made so far.

Next project is to make a light box so I can finally take decent photos of my pieces. That has been an on-going problem ever since I opened the Etsy site. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get nice, clear, close up photos. The light box, easy to make from a heavy cardboard box (many examples found on Pinterest), will fix all that and make the site look more professional.

So that has been my month of February. How did yours go?