Coss Stitch: Celtic deer

I made this deer from a design I found on the internet I believe.  I love the rustic frame around it. (You can see a reflection of me in the bottom taking the picture)  This project was done on large evenweave fabric, over two, to make big crosses.  My friend and I went to a cross stitch festival down at Valley Forge one year and bought fabric from the vendors that were odds and ends on sale.  So we picked up some unusual colors and weave sizes.

Keep stitching!

Cross Stitch: Canvaswork box

This represents the first and only canvaswork project I have done.  I have two more I believe sitting on the craft shelf to do.  This project is special because my friend put this project together as a kit for me to make and gave it to me as a present.  She picked out all of the colors and beads for the project.  I don't know how she could pick out such a perfect project for me.  I found a box for it and took it to the framer to be framed and matted in the lid. 

Keep stitching!

Cross Stitch: Celtic Horse

This horse was sewn onto some thick kind of cloth -evenweave.  It is sewn over two to make large crosses.  This horse an be made different ways.  I made the easy outline version.  There is a filled version also.  I used the buttonhole stitch around the outside to keep it from fraying.  Then I hand sewed it to the bag with a matching thread.

Keep stitching!

Stained Glass: Confetti glass trees

I made these trees using that cool confetti glass.  I planned making them for quite a while and finally made them in a bipolar fit of energy (hypomania).  I used the diamond saw to cut the sketched shape.  Four shapes per tree.  I had a hard time soldering them together and was never happy with how they fit together.  Unfortunately they did not last long as I smashed them in a bipolar fit of mania same time I threw the sea horses to the ground.  Not to worry I can live without them.  I can always make more if I want.  Although I have a tendency not to make projects twice.  I get bored to easily.

Happy blogging!

Stained Glass: Sea bird

This bird was designed from a logo of a South Carolina community.  I made this design twice, once for a boyfriend's parents and once for my step brother.  It is fun and easy to make being only eight pieces.

This is the first mosaic piece I made.  My friend designed the lizard.  We each made one of these.  We used a terra cotta bowl as the base.  This thing is really durable.  I have been using it for years.  It is more likely to break something than break itself.
I can't remember the process we used to make this.  It is possible that she drew the lizard directly onto the bowl and we glued the glass to the bowl.  After the glue dries add the grout and after the grout dries clean the glaze off of the glass.

Happy blogging!

Stained Glass: Sea Horses

My friend and I made two of these seahorses.  My friend designed them from a cross stitch design.  I am constantly amazed at how she is able to do that.  She is also really good with color picking.  I am hopeless.  This design is delicate and airy.  But very strong.  In one of my rampages of mania (bipolar) I threw it to the ground edgewise and there is not a crack in it.  Thank goodness.  It is one of my favorites.  For some reason I have both of them,  my friend did not take hers home.  Between the two of us we set up a stained glass workshop in my basement.  She could come here any time she wanted to work.  And some how we never got in each other's way.  Two years ago or there abouts she moved up to Maine.  And I had to "buy" her out of the workshop.  So I sent a workshop care package up to her that was enough to get her going.  I made out on the deal because I sent her the old grinder and bought a new one for myself.  Now she's all set up in her basement.

Don't drop anything!

Stained Glass: dragon

I made the dragon for a boyfriend's son.  The crescents are a panel I made/designed for my kitchen.  Here it is installed in the bottom of one of the doors.  I was supposed to make four of these but never completed the project.  Bipolar and depression intervened.  So I took the panel out and put a solid pieces of green colored glass into the doors.  Another depressing thing that happened when I was working on these crescent panels.  I had a second panel for the most part cut out and sitting on a board.  I was cleaning the basement and I dumped the board and the glass fell and broke.

I made these two candle holders one for me and one for my friend's parents.  I kept the orange one.

Keep Creating!

Stained Glass: Rose

This rose I gave to my Grandmother.  It has the best soldering job I have ever done.







Here are some suncatchers.  Two butterflies, a walrus and a bunny.  I gave the two butterflies to my mother. And I gave the bunny to my sister.  I still have the walrus.






This flower is the second project I made in stained glass.  I took a basic class first and made a tiny suncatcher sailboat that I gave to my drummer.  My friend and I took classes together.  We both did this flower project and I have hers.  I gave mine away to my sister.

Keep Cutting!

Stained Glass: Fish

I gave this fish to my dad and it is now hanging in their new lake house.  Of course I think they need a window designed to fit in this shape but they insisted on hanging this fish in there instead.  Customer is always right.

The fish is back lit with a flashlight in this last photo.

The background glass is blue with green streaks going thru it.  which adds depth to the green leaf strands by the fish.  I have been looking for more glass with these streaks for years and never found any.  I love the effect and wish I could make more projects with it.  It is hard to realize at the time that you should buy more of what you're using just to have on hand for later.

Keep Cutting!

Stained Glass: Bat Signal

Here is the stained glass version of the bat signal.  I pulled the pattern off of a comic book.  I made it using a stained glass diamond band saw.  It took some effort to get the pieces to fit together.  It also was not easy to foil tape since the tape rips in sharp corners.  Then you have to patch the bare spots.  It came out pretty good.

Some people don't understand the stained glass process.  First off you don't stain the glass.  Unless you actually make the glass.  You buy colored glass that you want for your project.  Then you cut the glass to the shapes in the pattern.  Then since I am not an old timer I grind the glass to fine tune the fit and take all the sharp edges off the glass.  From there I assemble it using foil or "Lead" method.  Next solder it. Clean the panel. And possible patina the solder.  And polish the solder.  Then hang it up!  It is tons of work but with mind blowing results!

Keep cutting!

Cross Stitch: Bat Signal

I got this Bat signal design somewhere on the web.  I decided to do it in pure black and white although I have a yellow design somewhere.  I framed it myself and painted the frame silver.  I think it was a wood frame originally.  It could use a mat.  It came out nice and it was a fast project.

Black Aida and DMC floss.

Keep Stitching!

Band: First CD by Torn Down

Our band, Torn Down, two guitar players-JD and BC, bass- PV and drums- RS, went into the studio to record a cd.  It was 95% live recording with no edits.  We did every song in one take.  And paid 45$ an hour.  It took maybe 6 hours with the little bit of editing and over dub we had to do.  On the fly we changed the lyrics to one song and over dubbed the lyrics.  The song is much better and worth the extra time. 

It was hard working with the studio manager/editor and we won't use him in the future. 

We are currently planning to do a CD of all originals.  But one person, the lead guitar-B.C., quit.  For a while Torn Down had gotten another guitar player- B.E.  and we had 3 guitars playing-JD,BE,and BC.  The sound was good for outdoors but not so hot for indoors.

Since the band has changed so much without the lead-BC, we are changing our name to We3R, which has two meanings.  When we are a three piece it reads "We three are" and when we have the other guitar player it is "We three and Robert."  We are possibly working on another project with another guitar player-G who writes originals.  He wants to do a recoding too but apparently only has one song.

This is the line up:

Drive

I Need You

Running Away

Quit Your Bitching

Kicking Man

Bird

I don't know what to say

J. Buffet style song

Eagles fly

The 80's style song

Pull the wool over

Dog

I would give it 6 mo before we go to the studio.  We only practice once a week. And 4 of the songs are brand new.

Keep Practicing!

DnD: The Heroes

These minis represent a core band of heroes from my Greyhawk campaign.  These guys made it to 12 level.

From left to right they are: Alabern human cleric, Thamior elven fighter/monk, Eleros halfling rogue, Larian human wizard, Erky dwarf fighter.

Later in the campaign they are joined by a barbarian and a young silver dragon  They are unpainted minis though.

These are Reaper minis except for the elf which is Games Workshop from the LOTR line.  Reaper minis are great because they are so iconic to DnD or fantasy gaming.

Thamior is played by my step brother. And Thamior meets each of these characters on his adventures.  Thamior saves Alabern from some orcs in his first adventure from the basic box.  He later meets Eleros in an adventure in the basic box.  He meets Larian  and Erky in the sunless Citadel.  Eric played all of these characters when he couldn't find anyone else to play.  We played for about a year.

The game was played in 3.0 and 3.5 edition of DnD.  Now 4.0 is a year or so old and I just got the books.  I can't convert all the characters over to 4.0 because there is no monk class in the game yet.  What a bother.  It is just a way a forcing you to buy more books.  The monk may be in the soon to come player handbook 3 or it is in the Forgotten realms book.  Who knows? Can anyone tell me?

Enough of a rant.  The 4.0e is good, it is different, but it is good.  The fights should be much better.  Everything seems easier for a beginner DM and new players.  It has enough combinations to make experienced players happy.  Although customization for characters is lacking.

The Wotc website has a link for podcasts that are of a beginner game.  I have been listening to them and learning.  I have been reading two blogs.  One is the Chatty DM and one is the Newbie DM.  They have some great articles that teach you how to DM.

I might be able to get in a game as a player at the local game store.  It is Living Forgotten Realms open game.  The next thing I want to do is start my own game.  There are two groups I can approach for players but I doubt I'll get any takers.  Maybe the forgotten realms group has some players.  Last resort is to advertise at the game store.  But I don't like the idea of total strangers.

Go Gaming!

Beading: Scissor Fobs

This is a group of scissor fobs I beaded. These were the first beading projects that I made.  Short and sweet.  One of them features knotting and the last is "weaving" over four pronged tool with beads thrown in.  Its a good way to use up left over beads.  As is making earrings.

A fob is an item latched onto your scissors preventing them from getting swallowed by the couch.

Go Beading!

Cross Stitch: Afghan

This book has the designs of the indian clans/totems/zodiac I am using for the afghan.

Here is a glance at the afghan.

Hawk.  Up at the right top you can see the magnet I use for parking the needle.

Otter.

Wolf.

Wolf closeup.

I have been planning to do a wildlife afghan for years.  I have two afghan blankets that have been sitting around for years.  One of them will be Christmas themed and I have picked out patterns for that one.  But the special one had to be wildlife and I did not want it to be too real or too cutsy.  These designs fit the bill perfectly.  The designs work so well because they are all the same size and fit in the blocks on the fabric the same. 

I have been using contrasting thread to mark the ten stitch squares to I don't lose count on this difficult to see fabric.  I am stitching over two with DMC floss. 

I will post progress on this project when I get around to it.  It is a wintery project.  But I don't know when I will be in the mood.

Happy Stitching!

Polymer Clay: Sunset

These are polymer clay sunset pendants.  I made these using a technique based on Skinner blends and Look At blends.  I took 5 colors overlapping and ran the sheet thru the pasta machine on  1.  I folded several times so they would mix paying attention to the results until I saw a picture I liked.  I also made a layer of black clay for the back to thicken it.  I used a cookie cutter to make the shape.  I made twisted loops and inserted them into the clay layers.  Baked. Pulled the twisted loops out and crazy glued them back in.  I made wire links with glass beads to make a necklace with one of the pendants.

I found some blue and purple beads that match the pendants closely and will use them in the future to make necklaces.
I sold two of these, I made five total, one to a friend and one to my step mother.  Cool!

Happy Claying!

Polymer Clay: swirl beads

Here are swirl beads that I made the right way.  I sold one of these that is like the yellow and brown on on the top right.  Which I think is pretty ugly.  I like the other ones better.  You never know what other people will like.  The person who bought them is the owner of a bead shop.  She said she would display them in a show case.  Cool!

Happy Claying!

Polymer Clay: More Dungeon Tiles

These dungeon tiles are made of polymer clay.  All scrap.  The left mimiature is a dwarf fighter and the right miniature is an animated statue.

The picture above shows some blocks I glued together as half walls and with a kind of rubble/ruined feel to them.  The mini on the left is a wizard human and on the right is a halfling rogue.

This is a picture of a mini I made out of polymer clay.  He is an earth elemental.  I know it is pretty goofy.  And on the right is a human cleric.  One wall is made of blocks layed onto polymer clay using liquid clay and on the right are blocks glued together to make a wall.

Happy creating!

Polymer Clay: Grey Dungeon Tiles

Here are the grey dungeon walls and floor tiles made of polymer clay.  The miniature on the left is a elf sorcerer and on the right is a mordor orc that I painted.  It is a challenge to get good pictures of miniatures.  The best way right now is to put them on the printer and scan them in.  But I wanted to pose them on this dungeon tiles.

I suppose I could just buy dwarven forge dungeon tiles.  But what would I do with all of that scrap clay.

http://www.dwarvenforge.com/store/home.php

They have really nice stuff.  I have seen their models at the local game store.  Nice!  I hesitated buying the dwarven forge tiles because I didn't want to store them.

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Red Dungeon Tiles

This is a picture of the dungeon wall and floor tiles I made from scrap polymer clay.  The miniature on the left is a LOTR elf archer and on the right is a mummy.  Both of which I painted.  The walls and floor did not need painting as they look like marbled stone.  The red adds to the fantasy flare. 

I ordered a pound of white and black clay from amazon so I can make more dungeon tiles.  I want to be able to make at least one room to play a fight in.

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Turtles

Christi Friesen Turtles.  Almost done with these posts on Christi style.  Actually only one more.  These turtles are addictive also.  They are a little harder to do than the lions for me.  ut you get bang for your buck.  And again instant success from her instructions.  She has a neat way of making water came for the waves on the left of the project.  Which at the moment I can't recall.  But that is what the books are for.  I made the turtle first and was going to leave him that way.  But The backgrounds really finish off the project so I added it.  You use Liquid clay to "Glue" the turtle onto the background.

I put both of these projects in shadow boxes to avoid dust.  I used a glue gun to glue the project to the back of the shadow box.  And added beach pebbles to the bottom of the box.

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Ocean Bookmarks

Christi Friesen style bookmarks.  I just could not put down her books down and made all of these different projects.  Here is a good example of the "look at" blends.  I used gold pen to draw on the bookmark.  I added  a hole with strings and beads knotted onto the strings.  When I baked them, the clay did not lay perfectly flat.  So, when they were done they had a curve to them.  This is not what I wanted in a bookmark.  So I put them under heavy books to flatten them out.  And it worked fine.

I used thickness setting 1 on the pasta machine.  In hindsight I would probably run this thinner, 5,  so the bookmark is thinner and sits in the book better. 

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Ocean

Christi Friesen style ocean scene.  I believe this was baked in one long step.  My favorite technique that Christi teaches is the "Look at" blend.  It is a method of ripping and folding sheets of colors of clay and running them through the pasta machine and seeing what you get.  This is how to make the background ocean water of the sculpture.

Her instructions are so clear I had instant success with my projects.  Her books are fun to read due to her casual, joking style of writing.  I put this project into a shadow box frame from Michael's.  No dust on this baby!

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Lions

Hello Christi Friesen design lions!

These guys are so fun to make.  But what to do with them?   Christi considers them focal beads.  Her designs are pretty wild.  Check her out at http://www.cforiginals.net/index.html 

I decided they would be good as Christmas ornaments.    Her books are available on AMAZON too.

My cousin works at Big Cat Rescue down in Tampa.  And all I can think of are her and her cats when I make these. 

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

I've been wondering if I send them to her she could sell them as charity.  I guess I would have to check with Christi first.  I don't think you can sell someone else's designs!

Happy Creating!

Polymer Clay: Fuchia Swirl

This polymer clay bead is my first attempt at swirling.  I did not get it right but I still made some really cool beads with the technique.  This style bead is the first bead I gave away as a present to my step mother.  She is an artist working as an art teacher in a local high school.  She is really into the beading hobby and is an excellent designer.  Maybe I will feature some of her work here some time.

This necklace is my first attempt at an assymetrical design.  I wore this necklace to a wedding recently.  But got no comments on it.

Here is a closeup of some more of these messed up swirls. I ended up watching a video on youtube, I believe, to get the technique right.  At any rate I eventually understood the technique and made some more beads I will show you later.

Swirl beads are a stage that polymer clay artists go through.  They are fun and easy.  They make great beads.

Happy Creating!