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About one and a half weeks ago a project that I started went into a totally different direction, like so often.
Out came a line of small and very small baskets crocheted from wire.
When I showed them in my forum, not quite knowing myself what I wanted to do with them except fill them up - with whatever - , Sue, another member, brought up the idea to put wire yarn in there and one of my kitty heads.
The yarn part was easy. This fine silver basket is not even an inch high, I will add a bail if requested, so it's possible to wear it as a pendant or take the bail off, else you can just decorate it.
About the kitty head I wasn't so sure. Two-dimensional was not what I had in mind. What to do? Polymer clay? The last time I played with clay was at a friend's house with his child. Must have been like 15 years ago and my pretzels were not exactly life-like. So what? I went to town and got myself some clay.
I should have known something like that would happen! When "Charlie" was finished, he didn't know anything better than to jump into a basket full of colorful yarn and play with it! And still he has that look on his face "No, Mom, it wasn't me, the yarn attacked first, I had to defend myself!"
Here is Francie, the doll (please Mattel, don't kill me for saying her name out loud), showing the latest fashion in baskets.
She just came home bringing cucumbers, oranges and a bottle of wine (I don't even want to know what kind of supper this is going to be, but everyone to his or her own taste, right?).
Then she remembered she still had to go by the farmer's house and get some eggs for a cake. A big cake, it seems.
To be true, I don't know myself what is going to happen next, but you'll be sure to find the answer here in my blog eventually. It might surprise me just as much as you. Or maybe not. Who knows?
May it be that by finally cruising Loch Ness like I had wanted to since I was a child I am more attentive at the moment or because I am still very relaxed, but today when I heard a funny little scratching sound I reacted faster than the last times.
Just when I came around the corner into the tall guy's room, I saw something disappearing on the big armoire we have standing there and I tried to take a quick picture while it was running away. I couldn't quite see what it was, but it looked as if it had a long tail.
When I checked the picture, I was really reminded of Nessie pictures because as you can see, there is no telling what it is no matter how much you edit the picture. Not even Agent Mulder would be convinced by this!
But I am not giving up yet, believe me!
When I looked around a little more, I found this, another nest. It had been a whole month since I found the last ones, but I feel I am getting closer and closer to the solution ...
I often say that I like my hook and the wire to lead me to a design. That doesn't mean I never have a plan of what I'm going to do. When I make a setting for a cab, I know it very well. Sometimes things don't work in my favor, though. That's what happened on one of my recent projects.
It started out harmless enough. A cab in the shape of a drop which usually is the easiest to work with for me was supposed to end up in a crochet bezel of fine silver wire, but somehow it didn't want that. It wasn't so much that it kept slipping out, I had that before and I have forced smaller cabs than this one in a bezel, it wasn't so much that the wire wanted to run off the spool and start kinking, it wasn't so much that from too much kinking the wire gets tired and starts breaking easier - it was all of that together! I used a very fine hook which can give fine silver wire even more stress (from my experience). I had already fixed three accidents although it would have been smarter to stop there and then, but it worked out. The wire breaking in the last row was the last straw, though. My patience had been tested long enough. I ripped the bezel off the cab and started squishing it. I would have even jumped up and down on it, who knows, but the tall guy was watching me with that sceptical look he gets when he feels I am overreacting.
Now I had this squished almost solid piece of silver - what to do with it? I got out my hooks and the wire spool I had in reach, light purple and started to make a little silver ball that was held together by purple lines of crochet. They are not straight, they can't be as I just followed the stitches that I could use in the silver.
For an extra color kick I added one of my handwrapped bails in purple.
Actually I am quite happy with it now. Maybe the wire breaking was one of my muse's jokes!! ;-)
How I know? Look here. I found these today. What is amazing to me is that none of the birds or creatures - whatever they may be - is trying to defend the nests. Actually it seems as if they are put in my way deliberately.
Just look how different they are. Some are almost flat, some are real thick, some have one really big egg and now there is one with three tiny eggs.
I have looked around for suspicious signs today, but I found nothing that couldn't have been done by the cats. There is another thing - if there are birds around, why are the cats so cool about it? Does it mean something that sometimes they sit there and stare up into a corner that seems totally empty to me?
Instead of getting closer to a solution it seems the matter is getting more complicated.
Speaking of news ticker, today I heard that Walter Cronkite has died at the age of 92. Being German I don't know very much about him except for him being mentioned as one of the great icons in the news business on a shop I love very much, "Murphy Brown".
I wondered if newspeople in times of Twitter, cell phones and email still can be as influential as some of them used to be, no matter in which country. Or even more now because they are faster? I don't know. I remember our old anchorpeople very well, but the recent ones ... uhm .....
Now to my own little news.
I have been featured in two treasuries of which one is very special for me. Michele (who makes wonderful jewelry by the way, check it out here) has been inspired by another team member who just took in two older dogs. One of my kitty pendants is in there and that really meant much to me and made me feel a little mushy. Don't know what it is, but these days I miss Merlin really bad. Funny how I just wrote that and immediately had a cat on my shoulder. They can read thoughts, I guess.
Here it is, Honoring our pets.
The second one is from Noah's Ark Collection. She makes beautiful and fun treasuries and it's always an honor to be featured in one of them. Want to be worn shows one of my first not mainly crochet pieces ever. Smokey quartz and sunstone, I still think it goes together well.
And now an update what I have been doing today. First I went shopping with brother and sister. WMF factory outlet once more, it is soooo dangerous for me there! Yes, I did buy a whole bag full of stuff and yes, I had to sneak into the Lindt outlet store as well and get some sweets. It is only around the corner, how could I resist?? Another bag full of stuff (not only for us, I am a friendly person and will take some of it to work). My purse started shrinking and turning into onion leather. I don't know if there is a similar expression in English, but a friend of mine says that about his wallet because "I start crying whenever I look inside". Afterwards we went to the drugstore and there I got the best deal of all. I bought three bottles of my favorite shampoo that seems to have been discontinued. I couldn't believe they still had the three bottles there and I might have growled when I picked them up to scare off any other possible customers.
But I did not just spend money today, I also did something useful and creative. After cooking dinner I took the crab agate that had arrived last week and squeezed it into a crochet bezel (not waiting for it already, but being made on the spot). It sure did put up a hard fight at times, but who am I to be defeated by a stone? I really like how it turned out. Safely caught and still you see almost the whole stone and the colors match as well.
This is the front side.
There are more small news. The eggs didn't hatch, but I heard some scratching from behind the armoire up here and a strange noise. Didn't sound like a bird at all. Be sure to stay tuned, I'll keep you up-to-date on this puzzle .....
Do you believe that gems have hidden powers? Check out the T-West I got today. Beautiful jasper all over it, in all varieties. According to the comments there are people who doubt that jasper protects you from spider and snake bites, though ... What do you think? Game to give it a try? ;-)
If you want to comment on that, go and visit Go away, evil spirits!
Some strange birds are nesting in this area and I have the feeling they are endemic only to this house. I haven't been able to catch a glimpse of them yet, but I found some of their nests. Small nests with one big egg each. Maybe I should watch them until they hatch? Although the nests look very similar, they do have different colors and the eggs look different, too.
Also I found some other nests lying around that are still without eggs and they again have different colors. One or two have an egg in them, but none of the attachments these have. What are they for? To hang up the nest? Wouldn't the egg fall out? Are those secretive birds weavers maybe? I wonder, I wonder .....
P.S. Double strike, although it was a close call. Many of my favorite movies have Audrey Hepburn in it. There is an exclusively 1970s Japanese Francie doll (Francie was Barbie's cousin) whose make-up made her look like Audrey. I have seen some of her movies (Audrey's, not Francie's!) so many times I can't even count it anymore. I love "Charade", "The Nun's Story", "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina", but I have to admit "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is not one of my favorites. The movie is not, but the costumes definitely are. Such a difficult decision, watch or not watch? As you can see it has influenced me nevertheless. Take a look at Silver and black and you will know what I mean!
There are days I can't make my mind up. One minute I am happy, one minute I am frustrated and down and don't even know why. I call it "sitting in my hole". Sometimes it's necessary to sit there, contemplate my life and other things and then get out of there again - fast!
Yesterday was such a day. I felt empty-headed and not doing like anything, no matter if it was the laundry or something creative.
The spook is over today (and no, for men who might read this, it's NOT that time of the month :-P).
These two treasuries show my two sides quite well.
Brighten up your day is my sunny, funny self. In this mood I am irresistibly bright-natured and annoying ;-)
And here you see my dark side. The soul questioning life as such, mysterious, a little scary - and annoying *lol*
I am Dracula
Did I make myself sound like a madwoman (if there is something like that at all)? I don't think I am, but I am very emotional and likely to give in to moods (because I am a cancerian?).
It makes my life travel kind of interesting, though. My muse adapts to my moods very easily. If you look at my creations, you will find both sides as well. Why don't you find out for yourself?
And now we are talking about teamwork. I have been featured in two more treasuries - Dark red, blood and passion and But in your dreams ...
Thanks to my great Starving Artists Team!
A great weekend to all of you! :-)
The advantages of a virtual picnic are - no ants, no rain, comfy seating. The disadvantages are the drool spots on your shirt from looking at yummy stuff and not being able to taste it.
As we don't have any sun here in the moment, I can live with the virtual picnic, though. Maybe you will enjoy it with me in this treasury that is called "Tea for two hundred" after my favorite Donald Duck animated cartoon. Check it out on YouTube for example. I love this duck!
Oh, and like always click the image to enlarge.
After you hopefully had a little fun with the treasury, have a look at my latest kitty head listing. I made some a while ago, but kept them for the local zoo project. Today I decided my ArtFire studio was definitely missing some more feline influence. He has a big ole tom head with big cheeks and reddish brown tiger eyes and seems like a pretty relaxed guy to me.Unlike some other real kitty who thought it was fun to stuff his belly very fast and then throw it all up on the stairs, also very fast. I am happy to announce I did not step into it and the culprit - no, I won't say names - helped me cleaning it up in his unequaled way, wiping like crazy around the spot that already wasn't there any more. Can someone make little paw cloths for him? The way he runs around here the floors should sparkle all the time. Washable, please. Contact me for my address data ;-)
So here he is now *drum roll*
Unbelievable, but true - even feeling bad can make me get creative. New to me, but a pleasant surprise.From the beginning, though. On Thursday I had to drive my sister somewhere. The car had been baking in the humid, hot sun all day and it was hard to even breathe in there. I am a smart girl, I turned on the AC. Obviously for too long. Yesterday I woke up with a runny nose (TMI? ;-)) and sore throat. After going to the vampires for my monthly control and listening to some swine flu jokes from my doctor who promised me I would be the very first person to get vaccination as a test person, I went home without feeling up to do much.I snuggled into my chair and apart from taking a short nap I am proud to say I finished a few WIPs. Don't you hate WIPs? I mean, procrastination is my middle name (not much worse than my real middle name), but that doesn't mean I feel good about it.This time it was just perfect. With my brain not working properly it was nice to just finish something. Here a toggle, there a bead, some work on a setting and in the end I had seven pieces. Who'd have thought that? I even tried to take pictures, but that did not quite go as well. We've had thunder and rain for the last five hours, so I have not much hope they will turn out much better today. I'll show you what I've got so far.
Faceted rock crystals in a crochet setting with handmade earwires (I am very slowly getting better at making them, don't you think?)
Crochet silver wire drop with little rubies. They come out darker in the picture than they really are, another reason to take the pictures again.
A fossil coral in sterling silver wire crochet setting. I love fossil corals, they are beautiful. This one is about 2 inch long, quite impressive as a pendant.
Of course they will be listed, so if you like something, check out my shops.
Don't forget, today and tomorrow there is still my birthday sale going on with 15 % off selected items. Have a look!
Yes, it's my birthday this week and it will be a "Schnapszahl" as we Germans say, meaning both digits (didn't make it to three with my age yet ;-)) are the same. Usually that means the next round of drinks would be on me, but it's hard and not really fun to drink virtually.
In some countries the birthday "child" gives presents to her/his guests instead of the other way round.
I can't hand out presents around the globe, what I can do, though, is offer a markdown on some of my items in all of my shops. Yup, on Etsy, ArtFire and DaWanda. 15 % down on selected items, go and check it out!
And if any of you would like to drop me a piece of cake, just go ahead. At least the virtual kind is going to be calorie-free ;-)
Oh, forgot to say - this sale is not just for the one big day, but for the whole week from the 22nd of June through the 28th!!
We have a little zoo in Göppingen, I have mentioned that before. And we have a very big zoological/botanical garden not far from us, about 25 miles, the Wilhelma in Stuttgart. Our club president has connections to the Wilhelma as we are sometimes coached by them, the vet has helped us out with medical treatment when ordinary vets in the area couldn't help anymore and so on.So today we were taken behind the scences by one of the curators. Unfortunately he didn't have much time, so we could not go where the animals are. No cuddling the baby chimps or the tigers! ;-) We saw and heard about the technical side, though. It was very interesting and he is a good story teller. For example I hadn't known that the Wilhelma has the world's largest collection of zoo posters in their food preparing area. He said they hadn't known, either, but when one of the seasons of a zoo show was shot there, the TV people were amazed about all those posters that come from all over the world and had somebody from the Guinness Book check it out. Shhh, just between us - I would have loved to take some of those posters home, especially the old Stuttgart ones.After a while he had to go to supervise an arriving animal transport and "released" us. We split up in two groups, the adventurous one wanting to see as much as possible and the one I initiated, the slow one checking out only a few things (I had been there a short while ago and love to sit in front of an enclosure and just watch, my favorite are the Keas). As always when I visit a zoo, I had to buy a t-shirt and it's a real cool one, too. It has a big lizard on it. To work I usually wear my animal t-shirts, it's my trade mark.It was very humid, the kind of weather I can't stand very well. Also I only had four hours of sleep (thanks, Ponder, grrr), so I am tired now and will probably meet my old pal Morpheus as soon as my head hits a pillow.
I was not all unproductive today, though.
One idea I had for our zoo, I only have to make some more samples, is to sell my animal pendants there and split earnings between the club and me.
Today I made another kitty and because a nice lady from SJA recommended a Siamese, I gave it a try. Here is the picture I took in a hurry (as you see, complimentary real cat hair is included ...). Pictures of the other critters will follow as soon as I have a bunch together. By the way, suggestions for possible pieces are still welcome!
Sciatic pain, lumbago, whatever the exact word for that what I have since yesterday, it's annoying. I can't sit for very long, I can't lie for very long and it is so embarrassing to say where exactly it's hurting. Wipe that grin off your face, I won't say it out loud.
At least I got a few things done today that I could do in my now favorite half-lying position.
I started out with this blue rose pendant. To me it looks like a rose, if you see something else in it, go ahead and let me know. The first stitches are knitted, the rest is crocheted, both times with fat needles. Actually it was supposed to be something totally different, but as always I trusted my needles to take me the right way.
A few days ago my new knitting spool has arrived. Six hooks instead of four and a bigger hole which means I can work beads in. In this case I only used three of the six hooks to give it a really airy structure. I am looking forward to try different things with it and I am lovingly looking at other spools now with up to 24 hooks, although I think 12 will make the most sense for me.
I used fluorite (wow, it was the first time ever I wrote this word right at the first try!!) beads on the earrings and pendant because I love the different color shades.
By the way, these are not the pictures I will use when listing them. If you wonder about the net, it is a cat net as we have it in every room but one. Ponder helped me taking the photos by trying to steal the pendants, but I didn't let him get close enough, haha! :-D
You have already seen a bunch of kitties and a bunny, but today please welcome Mr. Greenfish.
Mr. Greenfish was not easily born. Actually he had a predecessor that I had to flush down the toilet. Figuratively speaking. Experienced fisherman that the tall guy is he didn't give him any chances to survive. His fins were placed wrong, he had a very short head and - how I noticed myself then - no mouth. Don't worry, he didn't have to suffer.
Mr. Greenfish is looking much healthier, I hope you'll think so, too. It did take some labor, though.
You want to know why I stepped into the water now? I am trying to set up a little zoo. To offer at our little local zoo, with part of the earnings going to our club.
You can check out the website, it's listed on the side, but it's in German. Of course I can translate it if you are interested. It's not very up-to-date, we are waiting for the update at the moment, hopefully not too long anymore.
I have no ideas what else I may come up with. I am just trying things, they either survive like Mr. Greenfish or they ... *sniff* too sad, but you know what I mean.
Today it's so humid and damp here, I'll go outside now to get a little better air and take something to work on with me. Stay tuned!
The last days I have been busy. Not only making jewelry, but also reading and some napping. I guess I had to sleep off my blog writer's block. I wonder if this is an acknowledged disease?Also I started plurking a while ago. That was the right exercise for my mind. Short sentences for a short attention span.The same it was for my creativity. I have been looking at my stack of things a lot lately and it is so not organised. I have a few storage boxes, but as I like to have everything in reach, most things are in small plastic bags on the table. My sister knows what my birthday wish is and I hope she won't forget till then :-D
Still I made a few things and I even took out some half-dead pieces to breathe new life into them.That is what I done with these pearl wheels. I have a similar pendant in my ArtFire shop and really I wanted to make matching earrings. Although I had counted stitches the disks turned out different, though. One is slightly bigger and therefore also having one freshwater pearl more. Things like these make me nervous and the only way is to put them away for a while. Now I had the idea to combine both wheels to form a pendant. Both disks are adorned with peacock-colored freshwater pearls, the bail is handformed from sterling silver wire.
I can't say I am overwhelmed because the idea is not super original, but I am happy I found a way to use them without having to make 20 more disks (wouldn't even have enough pearls ;-)) just to find two matching ones!
Hm, just as I am writing this another idea crawled into my mind. I'll let you know what comes of it. I will wait listing the pendant anywhere hoping this idea will work out.
What else did I make? This little freeform silver ring was made in a whim of the moment, you could say. It was the rest from a string of wire and I had my ring mandrel in my hand accidentally and what can I say, I am thinking about keeping it as I always do when I try something new *lol* Strong, I have to be strong.
Also I bought a tumbler and hope it will arrive soon. I have been wanting to do that for a while and finally did it. A beginner's model. I am beginning to understand men drooling about tools. If you asked me, I would bubble over with a whole list. So don't ask me. I don't have time for bubbles, I need to put some teeth on a bunny pendant now. Can you believe I forgot the teeth?
Tomorrow I'll be off to a fleamarket. Hold your thumbs for me it won't rain again!
You remember Peppermint Patty from the Peanuts? "I'm awake, I'm awake!"
I wasn't very awake the last days, but very busy.
Like always I experimented a little with ring pendants. Sterling silver rings crocheted in with silver wire and different beads. After a gal from my forum confirmed the idea that had been sleeping in some dusty area of my brain, that is to put a stone in the middle, AND offered some ideas how to put said stone there, I tried to put that into reality.
Oh well, so the stone turned into a handmade clef and the beads around are missing because I felt they would be too much. I still like it :-)
This is another one of my "great" night pictures, sorry, but it's difficult for a night owl!
The greatest fun about crafting for me is to not do the same things again and again. Mind you, there is nothing wrong in doing things more than once (says the kitty head lady ;-)), but sometimes it's nice to experiment, to dare doing something you haven't before and if it works out, that is a great feeling. Sometimes a mistake leads to one of these experiments.A friend of mine likes green. Bright green. I have been looking for the right kind of crystal, but never found the right green tone. Until now. So I happily headed home and started to crochet a setting right away. It was so frustrating! The crystal kept slipping out and I felt how I was getting more impatient by the minute, no, by the second.I am a grown-up. I don't throw things. Or maybe I do. Rarely. Sometimes. I am proud to say I did not throw the crystal to the ground, but back into its bag. Now I had a setting started, what should I do with it? From there on it was relaxing. I strung some small faceted rubies and sapphires onto wire and fixed them to the setting. So now I had kind of a disk with stones in it. At first I left it at that. Then I put the disk on my finger. It looked like it should be on a ring, but how? I have never done that before. Wait, in some crazy outburst of optimism I had ordered some thicker gauge wire once. I'll spare you the whole story expect the fact that I really had fun. I didn't do this for a purpose, not for a gift, not for sale, not under time pressure, just for myself and I enjoyed it.
I don't know if I will be able to do something like this again, maybe if I go back to working on the jinxed green crystal .......
No, I haven't gone mad. Well, not more than I was before already.
Chicken man is a dear memory from my teenager times when I was still listening to AFN on Sundays. Casey Kasem and the American Top 40 - aaah, what a trip down the memory lane.
Sundays there was also Chicken Man. I don't remember much about it, but for those who want to check it out (Americans probably know what I am talking about), here you go.
Now, what did I want to say? Yeah, right. I remember now. CatsWire is everywhere, is everywhere ;-) Not to save the world, but to make it a little more beautiful maybe?I hear you yelling from the side "Get going, lady, it's boring out here! What do you want to tell us?"
Ok, it's not Etsy, it's not ArtFire, it's my DaWanda shop where I listed two new earring pairs from my kitty line!
And last, but not least ... a very happy birthday to my favorite witch in the whole world!! :-D
Granny Esmelvira, have the greatest birthday possible. I am so glad to know you are my friend! Hugs and cheers for and to you!!
Can you believe I never used a knitting dolly (Nancy, spool or whatever name you know it under, we call it a "Strickliesel") as a child? After I started crocheting with wire everybody hearing about it said "Ah, with a knitting dolly!". "No, with a crochet hook." "Huh??"
So my sister had been telling me from the start she would bring one for me to try. Finally she thought of it and here is my first attempt. Not perfect, I know, but actually it's not as easy as you might think. Wire has its own mind when it comes to bending and moving down through a little hole to finally come out the other side, I found out. I think after making four strands my right arm developed an extra muscle, but I have the feeling that it could actually get addictive, even as much as the crochet.Now I had four "ropes" of wire, but only knew how to braid three. No problem, what have we got the internet for? I looked it up and really it's so easy. All I had to remember was "over, under, under" and voila, here is the result. Not finished yet because there are no findings on it and since it is not perfect, I'll keep it myself. The idea is stuck in my head, though. I wonder which other vital information had to leave my brain to make place for it, probably I'll know when I don't find my way to or from work anymore? ;-)
Ok, the line itself is not so new as you know from a former post. The line surfacing in my shops is new and I can't seem to stop making those little kitties, probably because they are all as different as my own fur monsters are.
Speaking of fur monsters, Greebo's eye is starting to close up. I hope it is "just" a little cold and not another allergy attack like a few years ago when his asthma started. That was so terrible, my poor baby hardly able to breathe, only when he was standing up. I so do not want to hear these whistle sounds again! What worries me is that it came so sudden. Tomorrow we are off to the vet's. I can't go tonight because I have a doctor's appointment myself. I would rather go to the vet's!
Back to the kitty line. The little fellows have no closed eyes and are immune against colds and allergies. If it always were that easy ;-)
Since last night the weather seems to pick up my mood and the sky is raining for me. I don't feel like crying only because this is my last day of vacation, but it still is a little depressing. It has been nice here at home, relaxing, neglecting all kinds of chores, just hanging out with friends, family, the furkids, going to bed really late, hm, or early because I was glued to my armchair while the hook was glued to my fingers.
But hey, that's the way it goes.
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Thanks for this sentence, Mr. Stephen King, it is so useful to twist around.
All play and no work makes Cat a happy girl ... but when will the laundry rise and take over the place? Will there be a sock named Spartacus leading the single sock army against me? Will the closets break down under unfolded shirts? Or will we all go down in a cloud of dust? I am a responsible grown-up and I can't play all the time, but that means now I will grab these last few days and squeeze as much time out of them as possible! :-)
"So come up to the lab and see what's on the slab" ... geez, must be my quoting day today. But it's true, just wait what I am working on, mwahaha ;-)
