a peek at some pieces

 

A few brooches have popped up amongst the stones this week.   I'm sending these off shortly but wanted to share a couple of photos before they went.

 

I also have a couple of vessel pieces completed that I'm happy with.  Like little gardens to wear around the neck.

 

The wood from each of these necklaces came from these yard sale finds from this summer.  I'm always on the lookout for pretty wood tchockes to take to the band saw.  

I believe the jaguar to be acacia wood, like Mr. Giraffe was.  It finishes so smoothly, I wish I could find more of it.  Plus, it smells like black pepper when you cut it, and I like that.  The black wood, on the other hand, has an unholy stench when cut.  It's extremely heavy wood, even more so than osage orange and absolutely beautiful despite its fragrance.  I'm wondering if it might be ebony.

 

Working with wood and wool together is really the best of both worlds for me.  I love my time at the saw and sander as much as I do with the needle and fiber.  Happiness is.

Wood and wool.  It's a good combo.  Coffee and sugar.  Ebony and ivory. (you're singing it now, aren't you?)

What are some of your favorite combos?

a poplar scoop

Just a little scoop I made for myself yesterday, carved from a piece of poplar that fell in the last windstorm.  I've been wanting to make spoons for a long while, (years) and finally made some time for it.

My husband reminded me, twice, that I could buy wooden spoons at the dollar store... 3 for a dollar... instead of making one.  He's hilarious, isn't he?  Ho ho ho, Mr. Jordan.

He does make a point, even if he was mostly just getting my goat.  From a monetary perspective, it's much cheaper to buy some wooden spoons for a dollar rather than spend a few hours of my time carving one.  But from an aesthetic perspective, well, that's different.  This scoop carries my story with it of being cut from wood from our property.  It's sanded so smooth it feels like satin, and it's been oiled by hand with the meat of a walnut.  It has love in it, and it's beautiful. (to me)

It's now performing its duties in my sugar canister, and I'll get to hold it each morning when I make my coffee.

Now I need one for the flour jar...

Happy Friday everyone!

lichen gardens and prehistoric fish

I snuck a little bit of time yesterday afternoon, in between taking in a discussion about raptors at the arboretum and popcorn and movie time in the basement, to do a little work with my fingers.

The other day I had cut a little nugget of that chokecherry wood, sanded it smooth, then rubbed it with beeswax and tung oil, to be ready to become a necklace.  I did a little sewing, a lichen-inspired garden of sorts, on a small bit of wool and fit it inside the wood and strung it up on leather.

I cut this piece of wood so I could keep this little inclusion on the side.  It looks like a prehistoric fish to me, which I totally dig. (naturally)

I'll be putting this little garden in my shop on Wed. of this coming week, along with just a few other pieces I've been working on.  More to come.

Have a good and restful Sunday, everyone.

a little building over the break

Spring break is over and we're back in our normal routines.  Our break was a "stay-cation" this year, but was far from boring.  The week began with lots of snow on the ground but with the unseasonably warm weather, it was soon gone, leaving plenty of mud in its place.

We spent tons of time outside playing, working in the yard, and hanging laundry (me, that is).  We visited a park, had a bonfire, and I finally got around to some home projects I've been wanting to make time for, but hadn't.

First up were some new chicken feeders, inspired by a primitive piece I had fallen in love with online.  I made mine out of some leftover planks of cedar, and added a handle to the top for carrying.  Over time it will earn its own patina, which is what I loved so much about the primitive piece.

The girls seem to dig them, and it makes feeding time much more orderly.  The slats across the top keep them from walking in their food.  (because they do that)

Also on my to-do list was an elevated holder for Charlie's food and water dishes.  I used up the end cuts and leftover pieces of board from building the chicken feeders, and a few boards pulled from an old pallet to make this.  It's nothing to look at, but it suits the purpose fine.

All in all, it was a really nice break.  I do love to tinker.

This week I'll be focusing a bit more and hope to have some new craftiness to show you soon.

Have a great start to the week, everyone.

wordless Wednesday

getting closer - bed linens completed

My goal for yesterday was to make the linens for my daughter's doll bed and I'm pleased to report that I made my goal and then some!

I started pulling out fabrics to create the blanket and was preparing for a semi-complicated process.  I had chosen some pieces, none that I was too gaga over but would do, when I pulled out a matching set of these sort of strange embroidered pillowcases I got a year or two ago at a garage sale.  DING!  A light went off in my head!  I checked the size and yup, nearly perfect for the little bed with very little tweaking needed.  I love that!

All I had to do was lay a piece of batting inside the pillowcase, fold over the decorative top, and stitch it down.  Voila!  Doll blanket!

Using half of the second pillowcase and a piece of leftover carpet pad, I made a mattress to fit the bed.  That still left me enough material to make a little pillow, and I still have one whole panel of the embroidery to play with.  (and what is up with the orange poodle and roses anyway?)

I saved so much time with this project I was able to finish a little friend to tuck in under the blanket.

My daughter loves owls so it seemed like a good choice.  He's made of all recycled materials - wool from coats and sweaters, a scrap of upholstery fabric, and some corduroy pants.  I stuffed him with wool and lavender so he smells nice too.

The paint on the bed is still drying so I'll post a pic of it with the linens tomorrow.

Today I'll be working on this...

My helper is enjoying this task because she gets to build castles while mom carves.

After this I have just one more project to finish and then presents to wrap and cookies to bake.  After that?  I'm taking a break.  (and it is much needed)

'til tomorrow!

a bed on the bench

An unusually warm December day.  A few hours to myself in the barn.  A few lengths of lumber, my saw, sander, and drill.  Some instructions and a naughty dog who likes to steal from my scrap bin.  He was sassy and ran off with one of my pieces of 1 x 3.  I made do.

Eventually a doll bed stood on my workbench, heavy and sturdy, and ready to be puttied and painted and outfitted with linens.

This will be my goal for today.  I'll need the little girl to nap so I can work and I need a chance to clear my head anyway, so I think a nice long walk in the woods is in order.

It's unlikely I'll finish everything on my holiday to-do list, but I'm going to have to be okay with that. 

Have a good and peaceful start to the week, everybody. 

what I saw(ed)

The other day while looking into the woods on my way to the mailbox, I saw a dead poplar that had lost its top.  I also saw woodpecker holes in the trunk of the tree.

I walked over to have a closer look and what should I see inside?  My favorite green-staining fungus at work!

I've previously worked with fungus-stained wood and was excited at the prospect of finding another piece that wasn't completely degraded.  This poplar was destined to become firewood so with the promise of green-stained wood before me, I grabbed the chainsaw and got to work.

Timberrrrr...

I cut the tree up into pieces and hauled the piece I wanted to the house and split it into a more usable size with the splitting maul.

I could see that the green was mostly in the degraded part of the wood and it was unlikely that I'd be getting any decent pieces out if it.  Not like this small stick that I found just sitting on the firewood pile AFTER I cut down the poplar.  Just sitting there.  No cutting needed.

That figures.

It wasn't a loss though, while cutting the poplar on the band saw I noticed some interesting spalting and a mark that looks like an insect body on this piece.

It isn't sturdy enough to be a wearable piece, but I sanded and oiled it anyway, just to see what it would look like.

I love the spalting around the bug hole and the marks that look like petroglyphs.  (is that a monkey?)

You never know what's hidden in the wood.  Could be something, could be nothing, could be monkeys.

the lovely green-stain fungus

September is National Mushroom Month and it's starting off with a bang here in the north woods.   While my patch of woods doesn't produce much in the way of mushrooms in the spring, it is abundant in fall.  This weekend I took over a hundred photos of mushrooms, ate mushrooms, and dyed with mushrooms.  I figured as my tribute to favorite forest floor-dweller, this week my blog posts will all include something fungal.  (like they don't usually...)

Today I'll show you the green-stain fungus.

These little cup fungi discolor their wood host, leaving it with streaks of teal green.  I usually spot the green wood but rarely get to see the actual fungus responsible for it.  This weekend though I saw it in several spots in the woods, which was pretty exciting.

I began collecting bits of this lovely green wood a few years ago and tried dyeing wool with it, unsuccessfully.  I then read that woodworkers have prized the green-stained wood for centuries, using it in detailed inlay work, and was intrigued.  The wood I had found was really decayed and soft, unusable for woodworking, but I still kept collecting bits as I found them just because I think they're pretty, and I'm a magpie.

One day I found a piece that wasn't decayed and I nearly jumped for joy.  I picked up the piece and literally went directly to the saw and started cutting.  What emerged were some small pieces for some natural-dyer friends of mine, including this little pendant.

Thank you Sonia, for the photos!

I have a small amount of this wood left and I hope to make a few more pieces from it.

In the meantime, I'll keep picking up pieces of green, just in case.

Have a great week, everyone.  Happy Labor Day to my friends in the US.

earrings for me

I snuck out to the barn last night after dinner to tinker a bit and shake off the stress of the day.  I was playing with a piece of spalted birch when it hit me that I'd love a pair of earrings made from it.  After a bit of shaping on the band saw and some rough sanding on the belt sander, I was able to cut myself two small discs of wood that I hand-sanded to smoothness.  A little tung oil, a little more sanding, then some sterling posts and there they were, earrings. 

A nice little treat just for me.

What have you been making for yourselves lately?

Tinkering in progress

Signs of progress...chunks of wood turning into brooch bases...antlers being cut and drilled...wool being needled...

There's been some tinkering going on over here.  

It makes me happy.

and so does this.

More about all of this in time.

Fo now, have a wonderful weekend, everyone!