There's supposed to be a post about the Valkyrie helmet here. It turned out to be a longer post that expected, so here's something small I did six months ago instead!
This is a tea cozy I made in March after I got that book "Really Wild Tea Cosies" and decided to make the one on the right in this post. It's still not quite finished. I made the body (shown) and a bunch of flowers (stuffed in a closet somewhere) in quick succession, but then I got distracted doing something else. Not sure what.
It's double lined and keeps tea quite cozy. I'll probably finish those flowers some time this winter. Winter seems like a great time to get back into knitting and crocheting :)
While helping a friend clean up the yard of his new house, I found a rusty, decorative gate in a pile waiting to be thrown away. Despite the rust and broken point, I liked the shape and thought a new coat of paint was all it needed.
It was a super simple process. All I did was run some sandpaper along the rustiest parts to flake off the old paint, and then spray it with matte, black, outdoor spray paint.
It also helped solve another problem. I planted an annual with some dirt from that same yard and kept fighting to keep rogue ivy from strangling my plant. All the ivy needed was a nice support like the gate to grow on.
All in all, I got a pretty nice addition to my yard!
For Natalie's half birthday (December birthdays are no fun when everyone is out of town) a few of us took a flameworking workshop. Our friend Danielle is a pretty awesome glass blower and thought it would be fun to introduce us to a type of glass work.
This octopus was made by our instructor, Justin Bagley. So pretty!
We melted and shaped borosilicate glass (ie Pyrex) for a few hours and got a feel for the materials while making little blobs and figurines. Here are some pictures of Natalie and I wearing the sweet protective glasses, the difference between the flame with and without glasses, Nils and Q melting some rods, and the torches themselves.
I ended up making a little snake, an octopus (or something), and a couple jellyfish pendants. I think I did ok for my first try!
Natalie and I liked it so much we decided to take a full class. Nothing like melting glass into blobs after a long day. I'm sure I'll have more glass to share over the upcoming weeks :)
We celebrated Qs birthday last month with friends, boardgames and strawberry mojitos. I made some simple vellum decorations to hang over the dining table. They catch the light so nicely and spin softly in the breeze. I like it so much that the mobile is still up, and will probably stay there until I replace the boring, off-centered, builder track lights with something prettier.
If I had planned ahead I might have ordered vellum ahead of time online and picked my colors carefully. Of course, I didnt, so I bought whatever variety pack the craft store had and picked the prettiest colors out of it. Now I need to figure out what to do with the brown and brick red pieces.
I used white thread and some white glass beads instead of fishing weights. And next time... definitely using clear tape instead of white on the ceiling :/
P.S. Ive been out of the country and have a whole lot of posts to catch up on!
