It is All Well and Good Until Someone Loses an Eye

Wallace has been despondent ever since he lost an eye. He is getting old for a sock monkey (don't tell him I said that) and he was showing his age. So today he got brand new eyes. His hat was looking frumpy, so I made him a new top hat with buttons on it. And his felt vest got lost long ago. So I crocheted him a spiffy new vest with 3 buttons. Then he got to go outside for his photo shoot. He is happy now. He is watching me type this because he can't wait to see the photos.

Wallace lost an eye.

Wallace and his new blue eyes.

Wallace gets a new top hat and vest.

Wallace is watching the sunset.

Top hat close-up.

Crocheted Vest.

Wallace takes a spin in the wagon.

Clowny Clown Doll

My clown doll is pretty much finished. I need to figure out how to put a label on it and what I want it to say.  If I thought I could hand carve a stamp small enough that said Pigglewiggins I'd do that.  Sometimes I wish I'd picked a shorter shop name.

I like the way the doll came out.  I'm torn between tea dying the fabric for these types of dolls or not. There is more about this doll in my art doll blog.

Goodwill Makes My Day

Unlike the Goodwill's in Orange County, that seem to want new prices for used items, the one in Atascadero still has great deals.  In fact if I'd gone there before I made 4 trips to Beverly's Fabrics, I probably would have saved $40.

Today at Goodwill I bought 2 large zip-lock bags full of sewing notions and trim and tools.  Of the things I had already bought at Beverly's there were plenty of needles and buttons. There were also four tiny pairs of scissors, 2 zippers, a latch hook, a tracing wheel, pins, safety pins, sequin pins, elastic, button covering kits and eyelets. There were five partially filled bottles of glitter, including 3 colors my daughter was out of in her face painting kit. And there was a small bag inside that looked like it had beads in it, when actually it had about 3 yards of beaded trim and red and pink feathers. Each bag of notions was $5.25.

I also picked up a bag of velvet ribbon for $2.25.  You'll see the photo of it once I get home, but it easily had 30 yards of ribbon in it in red, pink, white and more.

I looked for knitting needles and they had about 8 of them but none of them matched.

They also had sewing patterns bundled together. But they didn't pay any mind to matching them by size or design.  So there were home dec patterns mixed in with adult's and children's clothing patterns.  If I sold patterns on Ebay I would have been all over that. I don't remember the price on those, but it was per bundle.  Not more than $5. I don't think.

I had to be careful and not buy anything big because I'm going home by train.  They had a beautiful shallow basket that I think would have been the shape for separating the wheat from the chaff that would have been perfect for our craft booth but awkward to bring home on the train.

Much of what I got can be used on dolls or costume accessories.

Making Charms For Greeting Cards Plus Hand Dyed Paper

I'm getting ready to make a series of greeting cards. So today I'm dyeing papertowels out on the patio. After they dry I'm going to spray them with some gold webbing spray. I keep running across projects that require 'chipboard'. That's the stuff cereal boxes are made out of. So I need to start collecting some of those. Then I will glue the dyed paper over the chipboard shapes and glue that all down onto the card.

I have in mind to make a boxful of cards for everything from birthdays to sympathy cards. I think as an artist, it says more when I make the card rather than just buying one at the store. I've believed this for years but can't ever seem to find the time and table space to sit down and make the cards. So I'm glad I've finally getting my act together. I have all kinds of cool things I've made to dangle from the cards like woodburned gourd pieces, all that inchie art I'm always talking about, beads, buttons, hand dyed yarn and so on. I can't wait to see it all come together.

Recent Crafts

Here are some photos of my recent craft projects.

Knitted Baby Booties

Upcycled steampunk belt

Beaded spirit doll

So many projects started that need more time and care.

I Want to Expand

There are some things I want to get that aren't sold in every day craft stores, so I need to stop spending money in every day craft stores so I can mail order for what I really need. Since I can't seem to stay focused I'm writing the list here:
1. Round and square button making machines.
2. Slabs of handcarved stamp material. Because shipping is high it's cheaper to order 2 squares at once, which will run me about $40.
3. Silk and dye from Dharma Trading Co.
4. Rubber stamps of my own design.
5. Fabric with my own art from Spoonflower.
6. Hat making supplies from a Milliner.
7. Chainmaile rings.
8. Kiln for copper enameling and supplies.
9. Steampunk supplies, i.e. watch parts, widgets,copper
10. Equipment to do lost wax casting.
11. Kiln for pottery
12. Kick wheel
13. Silkscreen Ink
14. A new video camera so I can make more Youtube tutorials.

As you can see that's quite the list, and I'll never have the money to expand if I don't stop spending it at Michael's and Joann's.

Star Felt Pin

I just finished a little felt star pin with 3 buttons on it. It is tan on one side and blue on the other with orange embroidery stitches.