NellaBellabest

2012-05-08T09:50:00.003-07:00

Sigh. I so want to be her.

Judy Coates Perez has such a wonderfull style. What I like the most about her is not just how bright and colorfull her designs are but how clear and precise she is in conveying the details of how she does things. Big key there is that she DOES things.

Procrastination has moved into my spare bedroom and is making a mess of my life. Got to evict that puppy real soon!

Enjoy the link:
http://judyperez.blogspot.ca/2012/05/how-can-you-resist-such-simple.html

Living under a Live Oak

2011-03-12T16:15:00.000-08:00

It's always interesting where live takes one.

Right now hubby and I are camping out in the town of Live Oak Florida right under one of the Live Oak trees the town is known for. They're named for remaining green and vibrant even in the winter when other Oak trees loose their leaves and become dormant. (Wiki link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_oak in case you're interested.)

It's imposed camping. There are things to be done by hubby and he needs an internet connection. There is one here. He has an internet stick and could be punching keys while we roll down the road but that would involve me driving our cozy little motorhome while he does so. Apparently it is not yet cold enough in hell for that to happen. But I digress.

This post isn't about camping, it's about the joy of Furoshiki and/or things to do with a square scarf.

I discovered Furoshiki (Furrow-shiek-key) a year ago and have fallen in love with it. It is basically the Japanese art of maniplulating cloth for practical purposes. It was used throughout history but, like hemp, almost went the way of the Dodo when plastic was invented. Now the Japanese government is trying to increase awareness of it so people stop using plastic bags. Sounds like something everyone could use!

My favorite-right-now scarf is one I bought for $2.00 at a flea market. It's polyester, 40" square, and I've used it almost to rags in a very short time. That is to be expected for the price and for all I've put it through. I bought at the flea market so I'd have something to carry my other purchases in. (The new purse I decided I needed had not yet been found. See October 4. And yes, the new one will carry the Netbook quite well!)

The Scarf and the bag. Great combination, eh?

So I was carrying the scarf over my shoulder as a purse when I entered an actual-for-real purse shop. (Uncharted territory for someone who compulsively makes their own everything.) The saleslady loved it so much that I showed her how to tie it. She went and told her boss, who also got a demonstration. That lead to the joyful unpacking of a new shipment because they knew there was inventory in there that matched the scarf perfectly. Oh happy day!

Here's the Furoshiki wrap that I used.

There are a LOT more things to do with scarfs on this website:

http://xorsyst.com/japan/how-to-tie-furoshiki/

I used that scarf, as I said, almost to it's demise. I even used it today to get a fold-up chair on my bike!

Good thing there wasn't much traffic. The chair stuck out a fair way!

I have squares of cloth that range in size from a Bandana to Shawl and all do double duty as 'whatever' when I need them to morph into something else. It's a quirk of mine to whip off my scarf at the grocery store and tie it into a shipping bag while I'm waiting for the cashier to put everything through the till. Now that's compulsive crafting!

Hugs all,

Phases

2010-10-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Someone once told me that I change faster than the weather. There might be some truth to that, but I prefer to think I change with the seasons, and in a gentler, more slow-lane way. Isn't that what life is all about? If everything always stayed the same we'd be clubing each other with sticks and walking on our knuckles.

What brought on this train of thought you ask? Well, for one thing I have no weaving to concentrate on right now. I have a project warped up and ready to go but I want to make a video of it as it begins. It's a visual demonstration of Linda Hendriksen's Dog Leash handle. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words then my next video should be worth millions. But I Digress.

In the Spring I wanted to garden, that's pretty normal, isn't it? During the sumnmer all I wanted to do was sit on the porch with hubby and listen to the birds. I wove a bit to keep my hands busy but really, I didn't want to do much of anything. But it's cooler now and sitting outside is not a comfortable option. So I'm inside. That means I see a lot that I'd like to change. That's pretty natural as well, isn't it? It certainly is for the women in my family! Of course where they go shopping, I go making.

It's time to make sawdust! Yahoo! And I've got three days off to do it in!

A coffee table for both the living room and the family room are on top of the list. Oak for the formal one and perhaps Birch or Pine for the family room. My Dad is on board for helping with the difficult parts but he has described a jig I can make that will help make the tapered legs. I think will take a full day just to make the jig!

A couple of cabinets for the Wine Shop are next, but I have to practice first on a couple for the wood shop. I have a new Kregg Jig I'm aching to play with, which is why I need to make the tapered leg jig so I can make the tapered legsfor the tables so I can use the Kregg Jig to put the rest of the table together. Makes perfect sense, don't you think?

Once I get the tapered Leg Jig made and the Kregg Jig figured out well then it's onto bedside tables. I mean heck, I can put a cloth over the coffee tables is I screw up but the bedside tables will have drawers. Real drawers! Can't put a cloth over them, can I?

If get all that done before Christmas it will be a miracle, but it will sure be fun to try. Christmas! It's coming up pretty soon, isn't it? Wow, it was just Spring a while ago and I was gardening like crazy. Where did the summer go?

So it's not really me that's changing, it's the seasons. I'm just being appropraite. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

TTFN

ps. Love you R.

Onward though slightly lateral...

2010-10-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have a new toy, and boy is it going to be fun. Of course, I have to learn how to use it before the actual fun can start.

I bought a NetBook. It's small enough to fit in my purse. It's a pretty big purse, which is great, since I tend to carry a lot of stuff anyway. When I was clearing a space for the Netbook I took a fairly hard look at just exactly I'd been hauling around with me.

One pair of pliers. One pair wire cutters. One necklace with seven delightful green lamp work beads on it. Five student-made beads waiting to be delivered. Two fold-up nylon grocery bags. Fray Check. 20x20 scarf to Furoshiki with. Sewing kit. Two hair combs. Three types of painkillers and a few vitamin D tablets. Seven pens and one really nice automatic pencil. Seeds for pink four o'clock flowers. Portable drive with instructions for cabinet making on it. Index-card size recipe book full of recipes, art ideas and things I need for work. Gum wrappers. Cell phone that needs recharging. Empty eye-glass case. Hair barrette. Flattened copper penny that is ready to be etched. A clip-on calculator with really, really, really small buttons. Engraved corkscrew that barely works. Key ring. Way to many grocery store receipts. One tube lipstick in a color that really doesn't suit me. One strand finished finger weaving.

And oh yeah, my wallet. It's big enough to be a purse on its' own for some people.

I think I should pair that down, don't you? Or am I just procrastinating in learning how to use the NetBook? Maybe I'll think about it after 'Hawaii Five-O' is over!

Card Weaving with a Selvedge

2010-09-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Finally got video number two done. This one shows how to card weave a design with a selvedge on both sides. The sound isn't great but hubby's camera work is excellent.

The original soundtrack had to go. I weave outside and there was a particularly loud robin nearby chirping every few seconds! Changing the recording location would have meant loosing the great evening light. What's a girl to do? A voiceover of course! Always something new to learn.

Finding a room inside the house to record in was also a challenge. My sewing room ended up being the best but the sound still isn't great. I may have to start saving egg cartons and come up with a whole new decorating scheme for the bathroom. The sound will be great with them stapled to the walls!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nellabellabest#p/a/u/1/iwK-vxKLPAs

In the end I'm pretty happy with the result. I'm working on Christmas presents now. More on those later!

Weave on!

Marni

Portable card weaving loom for long lengths

2010-06-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

I love cardweaving. Inkle weaving lets me create longer lengths of weaving but card weaving allows me to create more interesting patterns. Combining the two was problematic but I'm pleased with the results. I still have to comb out the warp sometimes but a girl can't have everything! I can't figure out how to get the tension I want, the lengths I want and the freedom from 'comb-out'. Swivels for each card would dramatically increase the width of loom when I use finer threads. Suggestions welcome on how to solve the problem would be welcome.

This is the gear and ratchet tensioning device.

The warp threads go through the dowel and are tied around an old knitting needle. The dowel slides out of the holder to make the threading easier. When I weave it gets secured with a string that acts as a washer to stop it from pulling out. This is the tensioning device that secures the warp supply. I drilled two holes in a scrap block of oak and sliced it into three. The wing nuts loosen so the warp can be released and combed. They get tightened again for weaving. There are pieces of leather on the blocks.

Long time coming........

2010-05-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

My husband and kids are the best thing that ever happened to me. By just being themselves they push me to places I should have been a long time ago but was to scared to go. They have more faith in me than I have in myself and I am continually grateful for that. Well, grateful once the 'you want me to make what??' is over.

Recently Mark, my youngest son, asked if I could make him a small statue to represent his section of the Air Force Flight School class he was in. They used to have a mascot, but it had been stolen and sold on e-bay. Very embarrassing, but also a good reason for an update. He wanted it about 30 inches high and as heavy as I could make it. Oh, and could it please have a place on it for a chain and a lock? And can it look like a cartoon superhero but with six-guns, a bandit mask and a flight helmet?

Silly me, I said yes. Didn't even hesitate. Be glad to help, I said the day he phoned. You want it in six weeks? Piece of cake. Ha!

Hubby Russ was in the background warning me not to do it. He said I didn't have the time. Shows what he knows. I can always make time for something my sons want. It was my lack of any idea of how to go about it that was the problem!

To make a long story short, The first try was a disaster. I carved the figure out of foam insulation and used paper mache for details. As recommended by the miriad of websites I researched for the project, I sealed the figurine with several coats of rather expensive shelac. But even with a good amount of release, it got stuck in the plaster mold. I mean really stuck. It ame out in bits and pieces.

The first deadline came and went. The idea of creating a mold to pour concrete into went out the window as well. Waaaaay to expensive. I'd need at least $200 worth of rubber compounds in order to avoid another disaster. Even though I was dying to try out that method, the cost of materials certainly wasn't in the budget.

The next plan was to mold with the concrete itself. I had done a bit of this years ago but only over a form that was already solid. This needed to be a free-standing wire armature. Out came the concrete sculptor's bible 'Making Concrete Garden Ornaments by Sherri Warner Hunter'. With the book and help from Russ in suggesting copper tubing for the basic armature the project finally looked like it was going to work. This, of course, was after a morning of heating rebar and trying to bend it into shape. And discovering we don't own a reliable bench vice and that the 3/8 rebar I had on hand was complete overkill.

Here's the wooden box for the base with holes drilled through it so the copper tubing could be anchored in the concrete that would be poured into it. I used screws to hold the tubing in place. It was much easier to drill than I though it would be.

The mold base had to be supported upside down while the concrete dried. It got only 24 hours to settle before being righted so work could continue. Ordinary mortar mix was used for the base with a layer of wire mesh added in the middle. The ends of the copper tubing were barely hidden under the cement so they would give maximum support to the sculpture right from the start.

Chicken wire was wrapped around the tubing to support the concrete. For added measure glass fibers were added to the mortar mix before it was applied. The water used in the mix was cut 3 to 1 with acrylic bonding agent that makes the concrete stickier and more suited to vertical application. This statue was going to be a strong as it was heavy!

Bit by bit the concrete was applied. Each layer or section was covered in plastic and allowed to set at least 24 hours before any more was added. Two inch wide sections of woven scrim tape used for drywalling was wrapped around each layer before more wet cement was added. That way each layer had it's own integral support.

Some of the detail was created by careful grinding and filing. A dremel tool worked well for fine detail and for getting into the tight curves. Using a big grinder was much more dramatic and way more fun!

Other sections of detail were added by mixing concrete and using it like clay. The bandit mask and harness straps were pieces of cloth dipped in watery concrete and stick to the surface. After they dried they were reinforced with several layers of thin concrete. The final surface was a brushed on slurry coat.

Painting took two days! The eyes were a challenge. I had made the brow-bone too emphatic. It was much to late to change it. By now Mark's course was just about over and everyone would be leaving soon. It was time to wrap this project up and get it shipped whether I was 100 per cent happy with it or not.

Mark will apply a glossy spray once the paint has cured a bit. It really needs that.

Russ helped with the crating. Or, should I say I helped him with the crating. I didn't trust myself to build it right. I knew I'd either overbuild or underbuild. The shipping limit for the bus was 100 pounds. In the end the statue and crate weighed in at 93 pounds! Just made it!

Marks likes it and is presenting it to his class mates next week. Hope they like it too.
If this mascot gets stolen and sold on e-bay I hope it sells for more than the last one!

sewing 'troops'

2010-02-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

These are so cute!

They are meant to be weights to hold pieces of sewing pattern on fabric. Five Green Acres posted the pattern recently and I found it through Whip Up. I couldn't resist trying the pattern. I was in a funk and needed a quick creative fix. I may have been carried away just a bit but I can explain!

As a compulsive right brainer I sometimes have difficulty following rules designed for the left-brained analytical world. It's been a struggle most of my life, especially in the work-a-day world where I am expected to 'just do it' like everyone else does. When I can successfully put a bit of myself into my work the task at hand becomes easier and much more pleasurable.

When I found a pattern for these little guys something that had been weighing on my mind became fun. They would become my soldiers in the battle of 'getting it done'! Obviously another explanation is necessary.

Part of my new job requires scheduling four employees. Normally that would be easy, but where I work there are some shifts that are more desirable than others. Staff all want a turn at working them. Making sure everyone gets an equal amount of work and a fair share of the good shifts was keeping me awake at night.

Neither computer programs nor a piece of paper and an eraser appealed as the right tools for the job. That was much to ordinary and slow. I wanted something I could move around quick enough to keep up with my thoughts. I had just purchased poster board to draw squares on when I came across Five Green Acres design. With different colors of fabric representing each staff member I 'whipped up' as many as I had material for. Scraps in each color made do for the rest of the shifts to fill.

With the 'troops' all in place creating the schedule was easy! If I need to change it I still have the weights available and now I have a bowl full of sewing weights for my next project!

Thanks Mary Jo and may your Five Acres always be Green. And thanks to Whip Up for pointing me in the right direction.

Amazing necklace

2009-10-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you get to be a part of something really cool. This was one of them.
Shannon (aka Square) fell in love with some of my beads on Etsy. (http://www.nellabellabeads.etsy.com/ and http://www.squareeffects.etsy.com/) A conversation ensued and I sent her some to see what she would do with them. Boy, did she do a great job.

My bead is dwarfed by the cascade of beads she chose to surround it.

There are thousands of beads in this necklace and a killer clasp.

It's incredible!

And then she sent it to me! Now it's mine, all mine!!!!! Now I just have to come up with something to wear it with.

Written pattern for the Band

2009-10-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21322142

It's not easy putting a PDF into a Blog. If anyone can find a better way, please let me know. In the meantime, the pattern is at ScribD.com at the above link.

Please let me know if it works out all right.

Thanks,

Beginner Card Weaving Video

2009-10-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

A card weaving tutorial on how to make this!

This is an easy two-forward-two back pattern designed to help beginners figure out the details of card weaving. There is no selvedge and the cards are threaded in alternating S and Z. They don't have to be threaded that way; they can all be 's' which is from the left to the right, or 'z' which is right to left. Try all three if you like that way you can see what happens when the cards are threaded differently.

how to Card Weave

2009-10-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

There's a video to go with the pictures of the earlier post. Check it out.

I'm still working on how to get a PDF of the pattern posted.

Soon!

card weaving step by step

2009-10-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Creating woven messages has been a goal of mine for ages. I'd practically given up trying to learn how to do it. It took a broken foot to slowed my life down enough that I could concentrate on it. Then I discovered it's really quite simple once you break it down into section .

All the videos I found and all the books I read were great at showing me how to make a loom and thread the cards. How to turn them remained a mystery.

This post assumes you already know about card weaving, how to thread the cards and how to set up the loom.If you've done threaded-in designs with card weaving but want more, this is the place to be. It is intended to be a visual reference for how the cards need to be turned in double faced card weaving.

Double faced card weaving is where the pattern you work on the top shows up in reverse on the other side. It usually involves two different colors of thread. You can use this method of weaving to create pictures and works in your bands.

In this case the two colors are green and white. I drafted a simple leaf and vine pattern with a repeating pattern. You use any pattern you like but for learning it's best to start with something simple. My pattern will be on the blog as soon as I can get it there.

In the photographs the blue line you see is drawn on both sides of the cards. It acts as a reference to make it easier to work the pattern. A line is easier to see than are the the A and B holes that decorate most cards. Once you master and understand how the weaving is done you probably won't need the line any more. You can just use the colors of thread as reference.

Photo number 1 shows the 'home position' I'm using for this project. The home position can be close to you or where I have it, further away. The key is to keep it consistent. Once you decide where it is don't change it. Having the blue lines on each card together in the same position at the same time is important.The home position you use is an indicator of when a row of the pattern has been completed.

When the cards are directly opposite the home position you are finished one row of your pattern. If the card line is adjacent and horizontal to the home position then a row has only been half worked. It takes two one-quarter forward or back turns of the cards to complete one row of the pattern. But that is getting slightly ahead of things.

Photo 2 shows the pack of cards divided into two groups; the cards that will be turned towards the fell (the weaving that you've already done) to create the background and the cards that will be turned the other way to create the pattern. That is, the cards will turned to bring the appropriate color of thread to the top where it would be locked in place by the thread of the shuttle.

If you get into the habit of sliding the background cards close to you and the pattern cards further away from you along the warp the work will move along faster.

(A rather inspiring weaver, Philia has written a 'law' that she calls the first law of tablet weaving, and it works. "The color that crosses the top of the band when the tablet is turned is the one that will show up in the band." If you get a chance, check out her page. It's well worth it.)

Another helpfull hint is to mark your pattern to indicate which way to turn the background pack (for this project the green threads). Linda Hendrickson advices this and she does beautiful work.

For this row my marked pattern said to turn the background cards backwards. The blue line for the background cards is now on top so the green thread shows.

For the pattern cards, the white thread needs to come to the top. Those cards turn forward one quarter turn sot he blue line is at the bottom

The shuttle is moving through the shed from right to left.

In double faced card weaving the cards move twice per row of the pattern It takes two-one quarter turns of the cards to work one row of the pattern. With the shuttle on the left of my weaving I know that I am only half way through the two step row of the pattern. The more ways I give myself to know where I am in the pattern the less ripping out I have to do. That's all good!

Photo 3 shows the second part of this row of the pattern. The blue line is closest to the fell now, because the background cards were turned backwards for the second time (towards the weaving). The pattern cards turned forward. The white threads showed up against the green background, just what was supposed to happen!

The pack cards were then slid into one group with the blue lines all in the same place. If they aren't all in the same positon a card was missed or not turned correctly.

The shuttle moved through the warp from left to right. When it's on the right hand side of the warp it's an indication that the pattern row is completed.

Photo 4 shows the start of the next row of the pattern. The magnets I use as an indicator of what row I'm working got moved to the next row of my pattern so I can easily tell where I am and what cards I'm supposed to be moving what direction.

My pattern shows that for this row the background (green threads) had to turn forward. The blue line shows that those cards were, indeed, turned forward, away from the fell. My pattern cards will be turned backwards, towards the fell. With that line marked on the cards it is easy to see if I've turned them the right way. See? In photo four the blue line is on the top of the background cards and it should be on the bottom. I can catch the mistake before I make it.

Photo 5 shows the cards all turned the last time for this row of the pattern and resting again in the home position. I slid the cards all into one pack to tell myself that the pattern row was finished.

Now I move my row indicator again on my pattern and just keep going.

how to finger knit

2009-10-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

This style of finger knitting is more of a weaving than an actual knitting when compared to the other 'finger knitting' videos. It certainly creates a different result.

finger knit cord straps

2009-10-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Finger knitting can be usefull!

These are just three of the pouches I've woven and added a finger knit cord to. The top one nicely holds my cell phone when my pockets are full of keys and a wallet. You know, for those days when you just want to march around with your arms swinging. The magnetic clasp hold the flap in place but it's very easy to get open when it needs to be.

The green and blue one is tablet woven. The two glass rods beside it are the colors of glass I'll use to make beads for the ends of the cord. This little bag holds a comb for untangling threads when I weave and a homemade pin for securing the cards while that gets done. The cord is short because it just hangs on the loom.

The little brown bag with the terrible picture is a rather interesting type of weaving that is done on a piece of cardboard and 'in the round'. There are no seams in it. Hmmm, that might be another blog!

Anyway, that's enough about finger knitting for a while!