live creatively

I haven’t posted in quite a while, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped creating.

I’ve been working on repairing two pairs of snowshoes that were damaged by mice. These are the classic snowshoes with rawhide lacing. We bought a huge piece of rawhide, I made lacing, and we restrung the snowshoes where they were damaged. Then we let them dry, and varnished the laces. They don’t look quite the same, but I think it will work.

I’ve also decided not to use patches on both sides of the quilt, so essentially I’ve made two separate quilt tops. I’m already quilting one to it’s backing.

I also used the remainder of the rawhide to repair a native American style drum I have (the hide I used for it was too thin and it split), and I will do another small drum tonight, perhaps.

For Christmas, I made some really nice braided bracelets from horse hair, from the lesson ponies at the stable. I gave them as gifts to the other riders. Unique, I suppose. They seemed happy.

I’ve done a bit more painting, and cutting quilt squares for the other side of my quilt. My Mom gave me the idea to do squares on both sides, to use up all my little odds and ends of material.

I gave making a pair of pants another crack, and these are okay. I’ll likely have to make ten more pair before I get it right.

I make some horsehair bracelets from hair from one of the lesson ponies, they worked REALLY well. Now I need to get hair from some other horses at the barn, so everyone can have bracelets from their favorite mounts.

My husband and I made me a lightbox, for tracing and embossing. It works well, and maybe I can incorporate some embossing into my christmas cards this year.

I see I haven’t done an entry since June, but I have been doing some creative things.

I made a simple quilt top, now I have to figure out what material I want for the back and learn how to quilt it all together.

I did some little watercolors, and did some pictures mixed with my watercolors, and stamps. Cute.

I’ve been making tons of necklaces, mostly to sell, and knitted a scarf.

I’m usually pretty busy over the summer to do much artistic stuff.

I worked on the oil painting last night, the one I started months ago. It’s pretty wild, and not quite the tones I wanted, but it still looks neat.

I started a stained glass class last week, and that went well. I have some glass that a friend gave me, and I want to make something with it.

I’ve been making lots of tote bags and necklaces to sell through a store. The tote bags are coming out really well.

I did some tie dye fabric, to make tote bags out of.

I also made up a bunch of hula hoops to sell too.

The art supply store brought in something a little different, linoleum blocks, and the tools to carve them.

I worked on a stamp last night, of a crow. If you trace an image you like, using pencil and regular tracing paper, you can then rub the graphite onto the lino, and you have your pattern. Then you carve away the material around your image. Ta da!

I think it turned out pretty well.

My husband and I made a very cool cat tree while he was home. It has three shelves. I have to carpet it yet, but very cool. It would likely have cost well over $200 to buy one like it, and we made it out of scrap lumber, and paid $40 for a carpet remnant.

We also made a really awesome recycling bin while he was home.

They are turning out pretty well. I am doing some embossing this year, which is using fine powder (that adheres to the moisture of regular stamp ink, so you stamp, then add the powder) and then a heat gun to melt it. I looks really professional.

I am also going to do a little playing around with some glitter here tonight. Yay!

I’ve been doing watercolors, acrylics, and working on one oil painting.

Mostly I’ve been doing the pictures from the instruction books. They are turning out not too badly. I’m pretty excited. I am the kind of person who often just draws a horse, or a tree, but doesn’t really focus on a whole image, with a sky and a horizon, or a complete painting.

I’m trying to work on things like perspective, balance, colors, and things like trying to make snow or water or shadows look right. It isn’t easy.

I’m working on a pattern of vines, leaves, and flowers from a picture of a quilt. I want to get better at painting this sort of pattern, and then paint a mirror frame with it.

two fun things from a bookstore. They are Klutz items. One is a spirogragh drawing kit, and the other is a fun stencil kit. I tried them both out, and had a ton of fun. The stencil book showed how to make a mandela using stencils. Very cool. I have a ton of stencils, and would like to more of this.

I often get craft things intended for kids because they are so much fun.

I have also been exploring a fun thing to do with watercolor paint. You put a puddle of paint on your page and blow it around using a straw. I have been working on making trees with lots of branches this way, and long, waving grass. The blowing makes it look really random and wild, very different from the deliberateness of brush strokes. The two I have finished look really good. I did my background first and let it dry.

I picked up some clear glycerin soap that you melt down, add scent to it, and pour it into molds.

I have a lot of essential oils, so I made a bunch of small soaps so that I could use diverse scents. I made lavendar, cocoa, YlangYlang, rose, sweet birch, lemongrass, and linden flower. They smell awesome!