pull tab corset/vest

So since my daughter wanted to learn a little about making chainmaille from pop tabs.  I made this to show her the way she was going about it was a weak way of construction and it messed with the integrity of the piece.  I am making something (a tunic) using that technique that she was using but yeah not my favorite item.  She has since undone what she had made and is now using a weaving technique from the pattern I said I liked last time.  She can still use the tabs she cut but they will be stronger even though they have been cut.

My brother-in-law years ago as a teen made two sample pieces of maille.  He used wire hangers to make his.  He placed a metal rod in a vice and bent the hangers around it and then sawed the coil open to make his rings.  Then he hand sanded them and assembled them.  Because I remember him doing all this and discussing how to make maille with him I wanted the pieces when he no longer did.   He had two different colors of metal ring in the same size. So I and my children were excited when he gave them to my girls  the girls wanted to be able to use it but could not because of the size of the pieces.

Because they were not usable in the size and shape he left them in we dismantled them and added the pull tabs so that my girls could wear this piece of costuming that is half made by him and half made by me with a little help from my girls.

They (my girls) got hurt hands from trying to open the 10 rings.  My hands are bruised too as it is hard work but I persevered much more till done.  I can still do more but in time my hands would get use to it again.  They just are not there currently.

 

We plan on making 5 at least items one for each family member to wear but this vest can be worn by 3 out of 4 females in the house.  My youngest does not quiet fill out the top yet give her 1 to 2 years and all the females in the family will be able to wear it.  The skull shoes laces in the pictures are a temp thing it is what I had on hand.  I plan on leather laces or cording.

I do not drink beer or energy drinks which are where the colored tabs come from.  But you can buy them on line if you look around which is what I did.  If you look closely at the photos you will notice the blue row is where I changed from one color of metal rings to the other.  The bottom half is shinny metal rings where as the top is the dull metal rings.  I used the blue to make it look more purposeful.  But truly it is just wear the colors changed on their own and I added the blue to make it a purposeful design element.

I did do some shaping on the breast areas and center back and around the side to make it fit nicer than just a straight tunic style would have.  Yes this is heavy because of the rings.  As pop tabs are light in general but the added metal rings adds lots of weight to the piece.  When trying this on my girls all commented on the coldness of the metal it is winter here with snow on the grown.  Now think about wearing this in summer at a RenFair in the middle of the heat yes I expect the metal to heat up and be screaming hot.  But the girls said they did not mind.  There is oxidation that comes off of both the aluminum pull tabs and the rings so spraying with clear acrylic is a good thing to seal the metal or you will end up with a gray dusk permeated probably permanently into your shirt that you wear with this.

Origami Helmet

My oldest daughter has been working on this project on and off for a while.  At times it drove me nuts with little bits of paper all over the place.  But she was being creative.  She designed the helmet herself.  Yes it does fit her head. The design is that of a Phoenix  interesting that she sort of made it an ice Phoenix (which does not exist except in her head)instead of a fire one.

Over Thanksgiving break she finished it.  The reason she decided to finish it was so that she could enter it into an art show the same on the fairy house was entered into.  At the time I am writing this post i have been notified that she got best of show for this but I am not able to tell her.  So this is set to post several days after I have written it so that she can be notified in front of her entire school.  The people that judge the show noticed our last name on several entries and stated it must be a very talented family.  The part i love about this is that my children this year two out of three are not in art classes but doing their own things and these are the items they came up with.

This is a video tutorial that shows the way she folded these little bits of paper to make this item.  This technique if you Google it usually called a 3d fold in origami.

My children have made me easter eggs in the past using this technique with lots of different colored pieces of paper.  sometimes they use the computer mishaps when printing if you do that just make sure the ink part is on the inside when folded if you want a clean look.

A few blasts from the past

A long time ago when i was in Junior collage I took some oil painting classes.  One of the assignments was to decorate a small piece of furniture ie stools and the like.  This was a stool i had since I was a little girl so it was beat up scratched and dented. I decided to decorate it and make it nice with some tole painting.  Very heavy on the paint layers so that I could varnish it and make it look older.  When I moved to Utah I gave it to my great Aunt Deannie.  Years later I noticed it was missing from her home ( my other aunt still lives in that home).

 

I figured it had gotten broken and tossed i was sad but glad it had been well used.  Over the thanksgiving break I was at my Uncle Roly's house ( pronounced Rawlee). I had not been in this house in years like before I had painted the stool that long ago.  So what a great surprise to see it there.  The funny thing was my cousin who now lives there had a story for it which was funny to me.   He said see this old stool I am sure it is the stool that gave Vova ( our grandmother) the idea to paint stools  he loved it being in his home .  Made me smile and sort of sad that I would break this dream of what the stole was.  I said no it is one I painted when I was nineteen years old and thought it was gone.  I am truly glad this cousin has it as I have always stayed with him when I go visit family he is such a good guy.  Little bits of the past are nice to see.

There was another item there a quilt I made when my husband and I were engaged it was a Christmas present for my uncle Roly something else I thought had gone by the wayside when Roly died but it is preserved and saved in a trunk along with photos of four presidents  ( Ford, Nixon, Reagan, and the first George Bush)  make me feel proud that is was a treasured item and saved with these types of gifts letter  from the presidents.  Thanksgiving was a hard week for me mentally this year long story but this made it so much the nicer.  Next time I go out I will have to take a picture of the quilt.  nothing fancy at all just a small lap quilt that is tied not even quilted as I was a collage student with not much time to make such things but it was an item I wanted to make as a thank you to my uncle for all he had done for me in my life.  He helped pay my way through collage and because of that I was able to go to BYU where I met my husband and the rest is history.

Mummified fairy houses

Over  Thanksgiving break my daughter made a Fairy house for her mummified fairies that she makes.  I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt at it. Plus she had to take all the supplies with her as we traveled good job on guessing what she would need to have to make this item.  It took her several days to make as she had to wait for the glue to dry several times for the different stages of construction.  She plans on making more of these.

This is also a new fairy she made.  The last one was a girl this one she tells me is a boy thus the reason the close look different.

flip top chain-maille

My oldest daughter has started a project with flip top tabs making a type of chain-maille.  I have made chain-maille in the past and I am familiar with this type of  thing so I posted on face book that she was wanting tabs.  She has 108 tabs so far but it will probably take her a few thousand to make what she wants to make.
She has three styles of tabs at the moment but hopes to get more and more colors too.  Her goal is to make  a corset and skirt a female version of costume chain-maille.  There is this cool website all about this type of stuff check it out it is fun to see what can be made out of through away stuff.

For fun I may make some as I really like this pattern for a corset that the blog above has for sale.

There are several ways of doing this type of maille.  My daughter is doing a cut in the tabs.  But there is also like the blog above where you weave them together and I have also seen where you use chain-maille links to hold the tabs together and i have seen them crocheted together too.  Not sure which way I like the most but I lean towards  links and weaving.  I believe they are stronger but my daughter wants instant gratification so she is doing it the quicker easier way but I believe it is the weaker way as well.  Here is a video for the way my daughter is doing hers but she did not learn from this video.  Warning this girl annoys me by saying so all the time you are warned.  But the general idea is there for basic maille but you could make a 1 by 4 maille as well with pop tabs

50's sock hop poodle skirts

My daughters had a 50's sock hop at school.  I made two poodle skirts for the event but only one daughter ended up going to the dance.  I also forgot to take photos of the two girls on Sunday after the dance when they both wore these items to church so you could see both dressed up.  This photo is of my daughter (left most person) and two of her friends while at the dance.  My daughter is not wearing a beehive in the above photo but she does have two liberty rolls in her hair and those lead into a high ponytail with a scarf tied in it and around her neck.

The photo at left was taken a week before the dance when we were trying it on her.  The pin she is wearing is a vintage pin of The Beatles that I own but I would not let her wear it to the dance as it was getting way to fragile for that.  The sweater clip is also vintage.  It was given to me by my Vavo from her friend who we all like to call Aunt Alice even though she is not really our Aunt.  It has a lovely catholic Mary on it.  Yes I am Mormon (LDS) but was Catholic as a child and still respect the Catholic religion very much as it is my heritage too.  The scarfs are mine from when I was in high-school.  The belt is vintage thrift shop find.  The shirt is one my daughter wears as part of her school uniform as are the socks and shoes.

Some fun at the dance.  Hard to see in these photo camera images that the poodle skirt has a rhinestone leash but it is very visible below.  She also wore two pink crinoline petticoats with it to make it fluff up.  To top it off (or to finish under) we had some ruffle pettie pants for her to wear under the skirt so when she spun she was still modest yes true 1950's ruffle bloomers.  As a poodle skirt when spun really spins high.

 I did take a few photos while hand sewing on the rhinestone band on the red skirt.

Here are some photos of my daughter wearing the skirt the Sunday before the dance the red one was not done yet at this point.  The  white skirt I hemmed with double fold binding tape as I wanted it to have a closed in hem and I also wanted that added touch of color at the hem of the skirt.  After all when most people think of the 50's they think pinks and baby blues and other such colors so I was trying to add a little more of that color to it.

My  mid- daughter in these photos loves vintage and retro stuff.  She considers herself a rockabilly type person.  So she was excited for me to make poodle skirts for her to wear.  The few weeks prior I made her a 1950's square dancing type of skirt to wear to a barn dance.  I have a second of those half made.  When they are all completed I will post a picture of them too.  As of late all I seem to be doing is making costumes for school plays and dances and school celebrations.  I hope to be back to my old self again soon.  Cross fingers make a wish!

I was a chaperon at the dance.  My daughter wanted me to go in costume.  But did not tell me till about 30 mins to the dance.  So I  went as a greaser with jeans rolled and hair in a high pompadour and a high ponytail.  Had a sweater set and a black leather jacket and neck scarf did not get a picture of myself meant to but never happened.

Happy Halloween

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween.

Mummified fairies

    Went to a ren-fair recently.  while there my daughter got infatuated with mummified fairies.  A person at the fair was selling some, but they were well out of my daughters price range and mine.  I knew we could make them on my own at a tenth the price. So I said I would figure it out and teach her how to do it.  I did just that and helped her with making her first one.  Because she did most of the physical work and I did the brain-work of figuring it out.  I am going to let her post it on her blog.

She has uploaded the first part of her tutorial today the supply list.  She is planning on a three part series on how to make our version of this item.  She also plans on making a few fairy houses to place these fairies in.  She wants to show the process in that too.

ROSE PETAL BEADS

These beads will keep their fragrance for several years and are stronger than you would imagine.  In time with use and wear they will turn a polished red Sienna color.  My mother-in-law had a set of beads like this before she passed that one of my sister- in-laws wanted.  I thought it was an intriguing idea beads for every day use made out of roses never heard of it before except for rosaries.  My middle daughter wanted to make some so here we go with the experiment.  If you try it, it would be nice as a mother's day gift or a way to use up those dead valentine roses or any other rose you are given.  This way you get to keep the gift of the flowers for years to come.
 
supplies

• water
• 1 enamel pan with lid
• 1 lb rose petals red
• silk thread
• closer for strand of beads if it is not  long enough to go over the head
• needle for piercing hole or wire can be used
• beading needle for stringing
• newspaper for drying purposes
• cookie sheet to rest beads on while drying

To make rose petal paste

1. The heat of your body causes the beads to give off the sent  of the rose petals from which they are made.
2. In enamel pan place1 lb of rose petals ( usually red is used for this) with just enough water to cover petals.
3. Simmer for one hour but do not boil.Cover  pan and let mixture stand over night.
1. Repeat this step three more times. ( 4 days total)
4. By the fourth day ,the petals and water should have become a smooth paste consistency.

To  form beads:

1. Take a small amount of paste and roll it between your palms, try and form balls that are about 1/4 inch in diameter
2. Pierce each ball with a needle or wire to form bead for stringing.
1. let the beads dry on newspaper in a warm area like above fridge somewhere warm but dry. 
3.     Thread the beads onto silk thread for your necklace.

Daughter"s new blog and project after project

 Sorry for the poor quality of the photos in this post i am leaving them by way of my phone.

My middle daughter has decided she wants to do a blog.   She is a very talented teen who has just as many hobbies as I do.  This will be the place where she places her craft projects and things that are of interest to her.  The name of her blog is "little bits of this and thats".  She only has one post at the moment but I expect great things from her as she does kirigami, bead-work, amigurii, crochet, knitting, reworks dolls.... the list goes on and on should be fun to see what a teen who grew up with crafts all around her comes up with.  That is her on the left

 I knitted a sweater about two weeks ago it was my first attempt at doing a steek.  Actually i am very happy with how that part of the sweater came out.  I may go back and change the buttons on it though so that they are mother of pearl and not so scary bright.
This sweater is made mostly from wool o bought at thrift stores there are two colors the purple and green that I did buy at a normal store but they were on clearance so all total thew  sweater was probably less than 8 dollars out of pocket to make.

My family also like to celebrate talk like a pirate day so yes costumes are always in good form at our house.  We went to krispy kream donuts and got a free doz for each of u in costume.  Yep 4 doz donuts that did not even last 4 days.  The daughter with the pirate hat on and not a head scarf is the one that has started a blog.

I also did some more knitting these stockings are held up with a garter belt.  They are made from 100% wool and I am proud to say I have achieved another one of my goals in knitting to make a nice pair of winter stockings.  As you can see from the work in progress photo of the cream stockings these where made from the top down.  Which is real traditional.  I just like to be able to make socks till I run out of yarn which is harder to do with this technique.

 I actually have two more in the works.

One that is a rust color with metallic fibers and one that am just making to see if I could reverse a thigh down stocking into a toe up stocking.  That pair is made from self striping Paton's wool for socks.  that i bought on clearance the store only had two scans not the same dye lot so the socks are not a true match.  But I was fine with that as I was just trying to figure out if i could actually reverse the pattern.  So I did it from the toe up and let the yarns end where they would ( which was two rows different than one another) then added cream for the cuff.   Those should be done in the next day or two.

Of course school has started and the craziness of plays has started up again.  I am not doing as much costuming this year as last as most of the plays this year the students already own clothes that will work well for them.  We are doing " trail of dreams" "our town" and "A midsummer nights dream" this year.

I have started to teach myself how to do face-painting why well because no can never have too many skills.  My kids are pretty good sports in that when ever I want to practice one of them lets me use her as a canvas.  I hope to get better at it but not too bad for a few attempts.

At the beginning and end of this past summer we went and saw jousting tournament performed by the "knights of mayhem".  If you have never seen them and get a chance to you should it is fun.

I also had two real long tours I went on during the summer one to the east coast and one to the Midwest states one was with the 7th grade as a year end trip and one was with my children's concert choir.  Both were amazing trips with lots of historical site.  It was great seeing Washington DC, Jamestown, Mt Vernon , Maryland temple, National cathedral......the list of places it to long it was also great to see religious historical sites that are related to my church like Carthage jail, Navoo, liberty jail, winter quarters.... all in all a very busy rewarding summer

As always what is most important to me was my family and spending time with them.  They have grown so much not sure if my blog readers would even recognize them any more  pretty soon I may not be the tallest female in the family any more.  My oldest daughter has already lost that war with her sisters because one of her younger sister who has out grown her in height.

One of the projects my children and I worked on over the summer was making bracelets made out of beads that we made out of rose petals  it is amazing how light weight these bracelets are because of that.

Below are some photos from the end of last school year from plays Little women, A comedy of errors and Shakespeare week yes of course more costumes.

These last two photos are from the green room.  Photos from little woman the cast relaxing and getting last min instructions before taking the stage on opening night.  You can see them in the costumes I made last school year.