Homeschool Zoo's Busy Hands

Funny stuff

homeschoolzoo — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:38:48 +0000

This is not the brainiest robber ever, but he did get away.

Burglary Suspect to Minnesota Cops: ‘Dude, I Can’t Talk, I’m Being Chased by the Police’

Police in Minnesota are on the hunt for a suspect in a first-degree armed burglary case after losing the man in a multi-state chase — despite reaching him by cell phone.

Glass painting is back

homeschoolzoo — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:39:57 +0000

Welcome back to me! I’m back to crafting once again, at least on a small scale. I started a glass painting project this afternoon. See, we’ve moved into a house and I have an extra room I can use just for crafts and a home office. I got things pretty well organized in it this afternoon so I can start some projects, like this glass painting.

I’m going to be creating glass paint clings for my front door, which has 15 window panes. I’d like some privacy if someone knocks on the door instead of them just peering in at me, so this project will be perfect to achieve that. Plus, it will give the door a custom look without doing any permanent changes to it.

The pane that is somewhat in the center will have a colorful dragonfly on it. I’ll incorporate those colors in the other panes and have some that are frosted or translucent for added interest. Once finished, I’ll take some pictures and share them with you.

This project is going to take quite a few days. The glass paint “leading” needs to dry overnight before I begin adding colors to fill it in. Because the sheet of glass I’m using to temporarily hold the paint will only accommodate work for three panes, this is really going to take awhile to complete. Once three are done and dry (think - two days for three panes), I can mount them on the door and start another three.

I did have some plastic sheets designed just for glass painting, but in the move I’ve misplaced them. They might still be in the storage unit. I’ll find them eventually, but in the meantime, I found this sheet of glass outside, cleaned it up, and am using it. I can lay my original pattern under it and paint away.

Technorati Tags: glass painting, glass paint clings

Paper craft site

homeschoolzoo — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:54:40 +0000

I found a truly delightful paper craft site I want to share with you. It’s called Calabash Creations and the cards, bookmarks, and handmade paper crafts are so creative and beautiful.

I love working with paper myself, from quilling to making hand made paper to everything in between. My full time job robs me of the time I used to spend relaxing and engaging in these interesting art forms. However, once I can figure out a way to carve out a few hours a week just for paper crafts, you better believe I’ll be working with it again! In the meantime, I’ll live vicariously through the Calabash Creations site and try to keep from drooling on my keyboard while I’m looking at and reading about the projects there!

Technorati Tags: paper craft, paper, quilling, hand made paper, Calabash Creations

Moving

homeschoolzoo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:16:13 +0000

It looks like we’re going to be moving much sooner than expected, which means any craft stuff I have here will go straight to the storage unit for the next few weeks. This makes me sad. I suppose because even if I don’t work on a craft every day, it’s nice to have the stuff here in case I get a few minutes to do some jewelry making or crocheting.

Moving should mean having more room, though, including more room for my craft stuff and better ways to store and organize it. If we get the house we’re looking at, it’s large and roomy with a garage that closes. That could be the right location for shelves on which to store my craft supplies.

I can use plastic containers (I already have some) to sort and store things like beads, yarns, fabrics, jewelry findings, papers, and any other supplies I happen to have. Believe me, I have a lot!

Technorati Tags: craft, storage unit, jewelry making, crocheting, organize, plastic containers

Grizzly Mountain Arts

homeschoolzoo — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:43:45 +0000

You’re in for a real treat when you visit Grizzly Mountain Arts. These folks hand-craft the most beautiful fiber arts tools I’ve ever seen. Using scrimshaw and other art forms, they create lovely tatting shuttles and lace bobbins that would be easily worthy of handing down through the generations of your family.

You can also find needle minders, and today I saw a sweetgrass basket on the site that is so very charming. If you love fiber arts, you will really love the creations on the Grizzly Mountain Arts site. It’s hard to move on to another blog, there’s so much to see there!

Technorati Tags: fiber arts tools, tatting shuttles, lace bobbins, needle minders, sweetgrass basket

Carding wool and cotton

homeschoolzoo — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:47:50 +0000

My first love is fiber, and at the museum was a set up where you could try your hand at carding cotton.

Carding is a method where you have two “boards” with handles on them, and stiff bent wires on the boards. The look is similar to the dog brush known as a “slicker brush”, that pulls dead hair and mats from a dog’s coat. Generally, the cards are slightly curved but I have seen them flat, like the dog brushes.

You place some of the clean but raw or tangled fibers on one of the cards, then pull the other card through in the opposite direction. Continue this until the fibers are free of all debris and tangles, and have a light, lofty feel and appearance. If you’re using cotton, you need to remove seeds and burrs from the raw fiber first. Wool needs to be washed quite a few times to remove dirt, debris, and oils. You can also use the fiber from plants such as bamboo, hemp (which may be difficult to acquire since it’s also known as cannabis), flax, jute, ramie, and dozens of wild flowers which produce fibers in the stems.

Because the dog brushes are so readily available, I’m considering getting two of them to see how they might work on a small scale. Of course, I’ll share that with you when I get going on it.

Technorati Tags: fiber, carding

Quilt champion

homeschoolzoo — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:15:22 +0000

I thought some of you might be interested in reading this story of a Champion Quilter who is from the area near where my Mom and Sis live. This woman didn’t start quilting until very late in life, but has found her fiber passion in this art form.

I visited the museum on Sunday to view her work, and it’s just amazing. The stitches are perfect and tiny. The original complicated quilt designs could have been generated by a computer program, but they weren’t. This woman spreads plain paper out on the floor of her quilt room and hand draws the exact quilting pattern. Then, she transfers that to the quilt she’s working on. She spends a year at the least stitching the quilt design by hand onto the wonderful works of art she creates.

Not only are her quilt patterns unique, but her block designs are also unique and original. One quilt depicted the crayon art of one of her grandchildren. She duplicated the primitive, child drawings in fabric and embroidery onto a quilt that is just gorgeous and alive with color.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a quilter per se. However, I have done a bit of machine quilting just to make hand bags and tote bags, using up scrap fabrics from other projects. What I’ve done, though, is pretty sorry compared to this gifted and passionate woman’s work.

This quilt exhibit will be taken down on February 29th and replaced with another quilt exhibit. Since I’ll be back up there, I can hardly wait to see the next one!

Technorati Tags: quilting, fiber, museum, quilt, quilting pattern, machine quilting

Guess what I found?

homeschoolzoo — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:12:32 +0000

I found bits and pieces of my posts on scraper sites. No, not scrapper sites, as in scrapbooking, but scraper sites that steal portions of blog contents and post them to their own blogs. They gather content through keyword searches. So, if I tell you about crochet, handmade paper, or jewelry making, somebody out there can take a portion of my post and add it to their blog. Then, their AdSense shows related ads for them, in hopes someone will click and the thief can make some money. Oh, and they usually have other affiliate programs running, too.

I guess it’s just too much work for them to actually write good, original content. It’s easier just to steal it from people like me. Feel free to report them to their monetization places.

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking, crochet, handmade paper, jewelry making, AdSense, affiliate programs, monetization

I think I’m lazy

homeschoolzoo — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:27:04 +0000

…or something. I haven’t put hands to crafts in quite awhile, and it’s really bothering me. I know I spend too much time on the computer. That’s something I can change. Of course there’s my job. That’s NOT something I can change. The scheduling is like whacko - sometimes I open, sometimes I close, sometimes I’m somewhere in mid-shift. I wish I had a regular schedule there I could depend on. Maybe if we hire another couple of managers, I can get all mid-shift. It’s my favorite shift to work because I get to see regulars who come in for breakfast and other regulars who are there for lunch.

Regardless, what I really need to do is plan a couple of crafts, get my supplies into baskets for each one, and set them alongside the sofa so I can just reach down and work on them anytime I’m home and sitting here.

Crafting helps my temperament tremendously. It sooths my soul, I think, to get my hands into fiber or jewelry findings and just think beautiful thoughts.

What do I do with completed crafts? I either wear or use them myself or I give them away as gifts. See, there’s a difference between “homemade” and “hand made”, and I try to always make my things be the latter. Hand made or hand crafted items are lovely to own and wonderful to create.

Technorati Tags: crafts, computer, supplies, baskets, Crafting, fiber, jewelry findings

Happy New Year 2008!

homeschoolzoo — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:58:20 +0000

I’ve almost abandoned this blog of late, so one of my New Year’s goals is to be more consistent in posting here and in having some projects going that I can share with you.

It’s my sincere prayer that you are all blessed in many ways, and that the fabric of your life is tightly woven with friends and loved ones.

Happy New Year 2008!

Technorati Tags: fabric, Happy New Year