tin pan alley

I have plans for these lovely metal elements 

there's something about the old aluminum

I just love it

is it that it's just  N O T  plastic?

or could it be the promise it still keeps:

 "to last forever?"

lasting so long that it is now hopelessly homely?

and completely corny?

calm seas

"halcyon" is greek for the kingfisher bird

 -once believed to magically calm the seas for 14 days during the winter solstice-

floating and nesting on the surface of a peaceful, windless, open ocean

it has come to mean a peaceful or tranquil time in life

this tiny photo of one of my girls waving to me is "enough to gladden any heart"

it was a happy day as she stands on the shore of a beach on Whidbey Island 

- the halcyon seas of Puget Sound are seen in the background -

How I made it:

I made this piece out of a broken Christmas ornament found at the shop I work in.

I took it apart, scratched away more of the mirror silvering material, adhered text and a photograph of my oldest daughter (at age 8) to the back of the glass - allowing those elements to peek out through the scratched out silvering. Then I made a foil pennant banner strung on wire to cover the cracked glass. The pennant lettering is made using a round hole punch and book text. The mirrored glass is backed with a blackened book cover. I then sandwiched everything and copper foiled and soldered it all around. It's about 5 inches in diameter.

aluminum can flowers (tutorial)

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to recycle in my art. Here's a fun way to reuse aluminum cans to make "drought resistant flowers." You can't kill them, I promise!

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Here's how:

Start with a colorful can.

Cut off the top.

(this is surprisingly easy to do with your "good" pair of "crap designated" scissors - mine are old Fiskars)

Cut the sides of the can into 16 or so spokes.

(I start with 4ths, then 8ths, then 16ths)

Bend the spokes back as shown here.

This will be the FRONT:

Flip your can over and bend the spokes in half at a slight angle as shown here.

This will be the BACK:

Flip your can over again and fold the spokes in half at a slight angle as before.

This is the FRONT:

This is the BACK:

Now you need a large can lid and a bottle cap.

Into all three of these things you will need to punch a hole in the centers with an awl:

Now you need about 10 inches of wire.

Fold this in half, forming a loop at the midpoint, and twist a few times:

Wire the three parts together.

Bottle cap, flower, can lid:

Bend back your wire loop to hold the bottle cap in place and pull all three parts to snug them up:

On the back you can twist your wire over a bamboo skewer, or make a loop for hanging, or attach to some other creation. The choice is yours.

Here I'm attaching a bamboo skewer:

(I also add a bit of hot glue so it doesn't slip down the stake)

Experiment with your folding of the metal and come up with designs of your own. Have fun!

quilted goodness

I have some more vintage quilted goodies to show you

the first one is from the blue and white Ohio Star quilt I used for the little heart ornaments

it's a tree topper star to replace the Barbie-esque angel from China:

and with a mint green and white pinwheel quilt 

(which is in pretty good shape except for one edge which I had to cut off)

I made these embroidery hoop ornaments:

(the ornaments are in my Etsy shop Christmas section)

I'm off to go make Christmas cookies today

it's a real production

I'll show you some Yummy Goodness tomorrow 

:)

saving some green

I forego the luscious evergreen wreaths every year.

Originally, I was motivated by pinching pennies.

But once I learned about evergreen poaching, 

it's super easy to turn up my nose and glide right past them in the market.

this year I snipped some holly and cedar from our own trees in the backyard

I stuck them in some woolen mittens - tied on a red ribbon accent - and there you have it

guilt free

and lest you think I have it all together over here

- I'll show you my whole porch -

rotting and frozen pumpkins and all

captain ahab comes to dinner

funny how the things you just drop into a pocket can be such a source of inspiration

my nasty bottle caps picked up on vacation have been begging for a purpose in life

 I've nailed them into a block of wood that I covered with pages from Melville's Moby Dick

here's an outake of our dinner table conversation the other night:

I showed it to The Teach and he said with a smile, "Another thing of whimsy ..."

and I said, "it has a dark side - the description of the decapitation of a whale on Ahab's ship"

and my youngest said, "the flag with chinese writing goes perfect with it - you know with illegal whaling and stuff"

and my oldest said, "I think you mean Japan"

and my middle one said, "but it's a global thing - and look, three of my bottle caps are on it"

and Captain Ahab jumped ship right about then

the world's trash ...

... is no one's treasure

this is some of the plastic I collected on a beach on the eastern shore of Kaua'i:

beach plastic washes ashore after swirling through the ocean currents for several years

Hawaii's beach plastic washes in from the Pacific Gyre

where does it all come from?

let's just say it can't blamed on cruise ships or cargo ships

it's where all the world's litter ends up - in the ocean - honest to God

so I sit in the comfort of my kitchen with clean water for my flowers and clean water for my tea

I wonder:

what will change our course or change our minds?

and then I make art that tells my children and their children's children the story of it

if the subject of ocean plastic interests you, here are some good links to follow:

Judith and Richard Lang's art made from beach plastic

NOAA's web page about marine debris

Greenpeace Intl's page on the world's oceans 

recent news about plastic pollution in the Great Lakes

recent news about plastic pollution in Antarctica

And from you:
Amelia's link to artist Steve McPherson (marine plastic art)

Gayle's link to youTube video by Chris Jordan: Message from the Gyre (this made me cry)

one man's trash

is another man's (woman's) treasure

I found bottle caps on my vaca

it was sad to find as many as I did - and I stopped picking them up after a while

I soaked them all in bleach water too - I have my limits for grossness

but I keep them and use them in my art

like in this piece

a reminder that paradise is not perfect

(masonite board, calendar art, embossed aluminum, rusted bottle cap)

lost keys

my dad gave me a huge ziplock bag full of old keys

I made a wind chime with them

I wish you could hear how it sounds 

(if I were techie, I could upload a video)

I strung them in such a way that they all jangle on each other

he also gave me brass buttons from his uncle's uniform

I strung them up from this mustard tin I've been saving

you can see blue sky and green trees in the background

it's really here

spring, that is

winter seems like it was just a dream on a day like this

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I'm slowly catching up on comments

thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such kind words and thoughts!

it's been a crazy few days

stitching with pliers

 ... for real ...

sometimes it's just too much work to get that needle through several thicknesses of fabric

and paper can be especially uncooperative

(it has no weave to part a path for the needle-eye & thread)

... so I use pliers ...

is that what all the fuss was about?

... there's more ...

these sweet things needed pliers too:

it's a serious dose of fun color

just in case spring hasn't burst out in all her full operatic diva glory

(a little something to tide you over)

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ingredients:

can lids

bottle caps

wire

bamboo skewer

... ta-da ...

gift wrapping

I packaged up something for the mail today and took pictures along the way

I gift wrap everything that I send out

but it's not the typical sort of gift wrap you might expect

I try to be as green as possible

(unfortunately I still need to use bubble wrap and tape in the final package)

 today I'm wrapping these matchboxes (as seen above)

I've stitched a little pouch of several thicknesses of magazine paper

some from an old canadian readers digest (1967) and some from a rose catalog

I stitched all the way around and tore away the excess paper to show the layers (see below)

tied it with a raffia bow, added a little note and my card - and it's ready to go

and these little bags below are made from storybook pages and wax paper

the ribbon at the top is from silk saris

the sari fabric has been recycled by tearing it into strips of ribbon

I bought mine on Etsy from Felicia and her shop: Flea's Fibers

thanks, as always, for stopping by!

I have lots of catching up to do

I was down for the count this past week with a doozy of a head cold

but I am feeling much better now!