Oh my stars :) so many cute kids tonight! We have not had trick or treaters in years so we celebrated by handing out full sized candy bars. They loved it!
Even handed out candy bars to the parents and let me tell you...most of them got all starry eyed and the smile on their faces were even bigger than the kids (chuckle)
Tonight I finished up the burgundy and black herringbone wool tunic for my Finnian and it looks amazing! I used a pattern from a Russ funerary dig and it fits him so very well. I am excited to see the full look put together. I will post a pix later of that for sure. I will be working on some new 16th century Turkish Ladies garb here real soon. I was asked to design and make a full set for an upcoming event in January but no pix till after it is worn. Sorry guys 😊
Thinking back I used to really dislike October. Lots of not so good memories but as time goes by I am replacing them with happy ones. Sitting outside under the moon and stars, listening to the night noises, smelling the faint wisp of woodsmoke in the air. Cool breezes wafting gently by and watching the clouds trail across the moon. Very healing indeed. Tonight the veil between the two worlds is thin and we are closer to our loved ones who have transitioned to the other side. If you listen carefully you can hear them. There is a lot of peace in that and one day I will be speaking to my loved ones in their dreams. Well that got a little deep there huh.
Make pretties my darlins cause every pretty you make will cause a smile and happy hearts somewhere. It feels great to cause a squee or a smile cause someone got a pretty that I made. We need more pretty in this world...and cowbell....always need more cowbell!
Later y'all!
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Adventures in Dying Fabric With Natural Stuff!
Oh my gravy you guys! So I got a wild hair up my backside and decided to see what would happen if I took some natural fabric (linen a bit on the heavy side) and boiled/dunked/soaked it in a spice. I have a massive tub of turmeric and thought perhaps it might make a cool color so...Que a moment of "let's see what happens". I cut off a few bits of linen...perhaps about a section around a half a yard and stuck it in a bowl of water while I figured out how to make it happen. So I pulled out a large pot, about a gallon or so in size, and I put about 8 cups of water in it and set it to boil. While I was waiting for that to boil I took about 3 heaping table spoons of turmeric and dumped it in a bowl. Salt..I needed salt to help set the color so I took an equal amount of salt (no real reason why, it just cause it looked right) and blended it all together. Once the water was boiling I added the salt turmeric mix to the boiling water and stirred it all very well. Now, Turmeric will not dissolve so don't even try, just roll with it. With the water still boiling, I dunked the wet bits of linen in the water like a washerwoman soaking a shirt (chuckle) now, once the fabric was all fully soaked into the mixture, I took the pot off the heat and covered the whole thing with a towel to keep some heat in. The longer you soak it the deeper the color...then I went to bed. Next morning, I did it again. Sloshing and soaking till the mix was fully heated and the fabric looked like it was a deep red/yellow/gold. took it off the heat again and let it set till I got home...about 8 hours...Once I got home I did the whole heat, reheat and dunk thing again with the fabric. I was totally guessing on this so I rinsed the fabric in cold running water till no more color was running out and dropped it in a bowl while I made dinner. Once dinner was done I took a big ol bowl and added 8 cups or cold water and one cup of straight up white vinegar. Soaked the fabric in the vinegar water mix and dude! the red/gold/yellow color turned into a bright yellow! Wait...what! I will be sewing these onto a rust colored linen tunic for my darlin hubby...here is a video and a photo of the finished, dried fabric for reference. Try it :) it's great fun!
Oh my gravy you guys! So I got a wild hair up my backside and decided to see what would happen if I took some natural fabric (linen a bit on the heavy side) and boiled/dunked/soaked it in a spice. I have a massive tub of turmeric and thought perhaps it might make a cool color so...Que a moment of "let's see what happens". I cut off a few bits of linen...perhaps about a section around a half a yard and stuck it in a bowl of water while I figured out how to make it happen. So I pulled out a large pot, about a gallon or so in size, and I put about 8 cups of water in it and set it to boil. While I was waiting for that to boil I took about 3 heaping table spoons of turmeric and dumped it in a bowl. Salt..I needed salt to help set the color so I took an equal amount of salt (no real reason why, it just cause it looked right) and blended it all together. Once the water was boiling I added the salt turmeric mix to the boiling water and stirred it all very well. Now, Turmeric will not dissolve so don't even try, just roll with it. With the water still boiling, I dunked the wet bits of linen in the water like a washerwoman soaking a shirt (chuckle) now, once the fabric was all fully soaked into the mixture, I took the pot off the heat and covered the whole thing with a towel to keep some heat in. The longer you soak it the deeper the color...then I went to bed. Next morning, I did it again. Sloshing and soaking till the mix was fully heated and the fabric looked like it was a deep red/yellow/gold. took it off the heat again and let it set till I got home...about 8 hours...Once I got home I did the whole heat, reheat and dunk thing again with the fabric. I was totally guessing on this so I rinsed the fabric in cold running water till no more color was running out and dropped it in a bowl while I made dinner. Once dinner was done I took a big ol bowl and added 8 cups or cold water and one cup of straight up white vinegar. Soaked the fabric in the vinegar water mix and dude! the red/gold/yellow color turned into a bright yellow! Wait...what! I will be sewing these onto a rust colored linen tunic for my darlin hubby...here is a video and a photo of the finished, dried fabric for reference. Try it :) it's great fun!
True, we are in some very troublesome times my darlins but I for one choose to find humor somewhere, someplace, somehow and have a good laugh. It makes for positive wrinkles and if you laugh long and hard enough, you get a GREAT core work out and even better still ...your blood pressure benefits too...sweet!
So tonight as far as art stuff I will continue to work on my newest carving for one of my peeps in Arizona. I keep getting distracted and thank goodness I don't have a deadline to finish this. It is a stylized Tudor rose with three drops descending from one of the petals. I think it will be mostly line work but so far the design is looking pretty cool.
I have been researching Indian Rosewood aka Sheesham wood due to the carve-ability of it and the fact it is soft enough to carve and strong enough to hold together when in use. One thing I have learned after 23 years in my historical group chasing art stuff is yes, you are reinventing the wheel but it is your wheel darn it and if you want to make it then you go right ahead and figure that stuff out...make all the pretties and have fun while doing so.
Alright, enough for now kids...Momma gotta get ready for the day. Y'all play nice, hug someone who needs it cause one day you are gonna need that hug returned :)
Monday, October 29, 2018
Getting started with what?!
Oh...my...gravy! Well kids...Momma is learning a whole new bag of stuff with this and I sure hope you will join me for the journey. I am rather late getting into this game and I have my darling DIL Gracie to thank for it (chuckle)
I do a lot of different creative things and folks have been asking for How To's as well as some of the stories about the adventures Hubby and I have when we are traveling. Good night nurse but just logging on to this and creating the blog to begin with was an adventure (snort!) Why can't I create this thing? Where did it just send me? What the Sam Hill is, general letters and gibberish...why do I need it?
Ah well, blog created, domain name purchased, theme set up and now I gotta put stuff on here so y'all, bear with me while I wrap my head around it (chuckle) Grab a glass of sweet tea or a Gin and Tonic kids and here we go!
I do a lot of different creative things and folks have been asking for How To's as well as some of the stories about the adventures Hubby and I have when we are traveling. Good night nurse but just logging on to this and creating the blog to begin with was an adventure (snort!) Why can't I create this thing? Where did it just send me? What the Sam Hill is, general letters and gibberish...why do I need it?
Ah well, blog created, domain name purchased, theme set up and now I gotta put stuff on here so y'all, bear with me while I wrap my head around it (chuckle) Grab a glass of sweet tea or a Gin and Tonic kids and here we go!
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