This one came together amazingly well. The base frame is a "re-tread" from SCRAP, and the flower petals were cut from aluminum cans. (Lost the nickel deposits there…)
The petal circles are in three different sizes to create a nice layering effect. Memo to self: find additional can colors next time! I used an awl to punch a hole through the layers. The petals are bound together with crochet thread and a glass bead.
I tried gluing the first flower to the frame, but quickly realized it wouldn’t stick as well as I would like it to. Next plan? Since the base frame is also a thin metal, I punched holes in it and bound the flowers to it with thread.
Secured the threads with fray check and craft glue, swiped the glass with glass cleaner, added a picture cut out from a magazine, and tah-dah! A very pretty folksy rustic metal flower frame.
Guidance for making the flowers came from the book, Handmade Style: Mexico by Karin Hossack.
I love these! Sometimes it is hard to give things up because I really wouldn’t mind keeping them. These fingerless gloves are on that list.
About six months ago I inherited a crazy stash of sweaters and sweater parts. Another artist in town uses them, I think to make jackets, and she had given them to my friend Heidi to use for gloves and wristlets. When Heidi and Nicole opened Union Rose, she had no time to work with them, and no space to store them, so the stash went to me.
Last weekend went through the whole stash with a fine toothed comb and put everything into categories: Already Felted, Feltable, Pillage for Parts, Knitted Fabric, or viable sweaters that I will never use. The last category is being donated to a thrift shop because its getting cold outside and it would be better for someone to have a sweater to wear than for them to languish in my studio gathering dust.
These gloves were made from sweater parts that I have been looking at for a couple of weeks, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with just yet. I am very pleased with the end result, and my new serger made putting them together a breeze. These gloves are for sale at Union Rose.
Putting together my tiki-themed bathroom has been a lot of fun. I’m picky about the tackiness level of the stuff that goes in there, so it’s taking a while to decorate.
A plain wrought-iron-esque towel stand has been in my bathroom for the last few years, and while it is functional, and my friends agree that it never quite fit my style.
Time for a makeover!!!
8 oz. of raffia, an armful of tropical-looking silk flower stems, and a roll of floral wire later, I got to work. Several strands of raffia were picked up, then knotted around the wire perimeter in grass skirt style. Once the raffia was all the way around and thick enough to cover the stand, I began weaving the flowers in with floral wire. Alternating the three flower colors made a nice effect.
I don’t think anything else needs a grass skirt, although since that was so easy I’ve come up with more ideas to tiki-fy the bathroom. I want to make a custom cover for the lightswitch, cover the plain white clock near my sink in bamboo, and pick up more Trader Dick’s mugs and tropical drink glasses. A nice framed vintage hula girl print would be great, too. I just haven’t found the right one, yet. Fortunately there’s a dealer in the nearby antique mall that deals strictly in Hawaiian kitcsh, and I usually stop by to see what’s new when I take my Saturday morning neighborhood walks.
