This one is a bit more conceptual than some of the other ones. I started to just make something pretty and, as it developed, it started more and more to remind me of Autumn, a season with which I have very little experience living as I do in Florida, the land of eternal summer.

The chain on this one is rather longer, but I think it is still very much in keeping with the modern Baroque locket feel that I am going for. I may add some words, if I can find some suitable ones, around the outside of the tin, on the sides (definitely not the front).

And a question! I’ve been working on a locket that I have taken to calling Grandfather Was An Airship Captain. I have even posted preview images here. I originally had some large faceted prismatic beads hanging on the right but it just wasn’t coming together. I replaced that with the red velvet curtain pictured below. Now, though, I worry that the left side is feeling a bit disconnect. Is that problematic for you as a viewer or does it make sense still?

And then I made a small tin meant for medications or mints, coins or other tiny treasures.

The other box, the one that I posted previously that looks similar to this, is actually part of a locket - the locket above that is nearly complete! But I really liked the idea of just making very fancy little tins, too. You can see it for sale here.

The cats have done a serious number on our little scratching post, but only on the top portion of it. We didn’t want to invest in a whole new scratching post - even smaller numbers like ours can be kind of expensive. So, we did a little handiwork. (Well, I took pictures and Ed did the actual handiwork.)

First, remove the staples that are holding the carpet to the post. A pair of pliers comes in useful for this.

Use your scrap to measure out a new piece of carpet.

We got our carpet at Home Depot - we got a roll that measures 12ft by 1ft for under five dollars and now we have more carpet for creating a cat wonderland - if we can ever decide where to put something like that.

Use a box cutter to cut the new piece of carpet. It is a lot easier to cut most carpets from the backside, just as if you were cutting monster fur. Remember to have something sturdy, like a scrap of wood, under your carpet when you are cutting or you might wind up having to repair your floor. That would be bad.

Make sure your piece of new carpet fits. Use a heavy duty staple gun to attach the new carpet. Staple vertically along the new seam. Try to sink the staples into the pile of the carpet.

Then, if your cats roll that way, rub the carpet with catnip and sit back to let them explore it.

If you don’t have a scratching post, consider getting a 4×4 post from Home Depot and covering it with carpet. You don’t need to make a stand but even that isn’t difficult.

Providing your cats with a scratching surface will help prevent them from scratching up your furniture of carpets, and will keep them a lot happier. Both of which are good things.

In conclusion, Puck is having a REALLY good time with the newly repaired scratching post.

It’s a This Little Piggy Went to Market art shrine necklace. Obviously. I mean, what else could it be?

This is, also obviously, another mixed media piece using reclaimed and recycled materials. Well, the little plastic pig I cut apart was new. But still!

Oink!

Originally this was going to be a completely different pig-themed necklace. But it just wasn’t working so I took it (and its components - not easy, thanks to two-part epoxy) and took another stab at it.

Pearls before swine, y’all.

*laugh*

This necklace cracks me up in so many ways.

2. A This Little Piggy Went To Market mini shrine necklace. I’m really pleased with how it is coming along as well. It’s missing something so I’m going to play with some elements while I wait for the epoxy that is cementing the eyebolts to dry.

3. And then there is this:

I love the overblown, over-adorned ornamentation of Baroque jewelry. My goal is to create lockets that are sort of a modern Baroque style. The inside of this is still in progress, but the outside is wonderfully sparkly like whoa.

I’ve replaced the hanging skull with a watch-winding key, adding rhinestones to the inner sides to increase the dimensionality of the piece, and added a darkened metal circle to the back. The key is hanging from a gunmetal silver chain - the same chain which is threaded through a darkened metal circle chain. I got rid of the bright silver chain that formed swags - I don’t think this needs the swags at this point.

I like it a lot better. I’m not 100% sure it is finished but it feels a lot more done.

I’m not sure where I first saw flowers made from buttons - some book with a bunch of other projects I didn’t really dig, I think. I THOUGHT it was in the Big-Ass Book of Crafts but no luck there. So I got the supplies (mostly I needed floral tape and stems) and figured out a process that works for me.

Some of these are new buttons and some of them are vintage. As I collect more buttons, I’ll make more and wind up with a nice bouquet of them.

I used to make shrines all the time and then gave it up because, really, I had nothing to <i>do</i> with them after the fact. I eventually got a lot more comfortable selling my stuff but I have only just recently gotten back into making these. Ed found this book that seemed right up my alley and he was so right: Altered Curioisities: Assemblages Techniques and Projects. Unlike most craft books, it had some things in it that I had never done before and I wanted to apply those techniques to jewelry making - instead I found myself constructing a couple of shrines. It was awesome.

This one got started because I wanted to try her technique for altering toys. I made myself a two-headed albino snake and went from there. Red thread and shiny pennies are both lucky. There are 13 pearls and some bits of broken eggshell.

I actually got really lucky - the purple box is the top from a box I was using on another shrine. It just so happened to fit perfectly into this frame, which I bought ages ago - I love the tooled metal. I originally was going to present it in more of a specimen case, on its own, but I like the way the various elements of luck and ill luck came together.

Do you know the story of Chicken Little? An acorn fell on her head and she thought the sky was falling. That isn’t allowed to happen this time around.

These are weatherstripping nails. The copper color is just so awesome, I love it so much. The silver wire wraps around each little nail fence post to keep out the danger.

You can see the pearls that are her 7 eggs and, even though it is hard to see, the nesting box is lined with broken eggshells. The copper chicken on the “wall” is actually a plaster cast that I made - that was another technique I wanted to play with. I’ve been hauling around an 8 pound bucket of plaster of paris for years because I used to do carving - you know, pour a block of plaster and then carve it. But the process is really messy and I’m not the greatest sculptor. But the author was using regular Sculpey to make a temporary, flexible mold for plaster and that just excited me so much! And it works perfectly. I’ve been making impressions of things all over the house and casting them in plaster. GOOD TIMES.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get a good shot of the damn golden acorn that sits up in the sky in the arch.

And then I made a button person. This little dude is vintage and new buttons and wire. I thought I had plenty of buttons, to make more of these, but my selection of larger buttons is a little too skimpy to make a button man army just yet.

I love his little feet. I think I originally saw these in the same book with the button flowers…. Maybe it was a whole book about button crafts? Oh, I think it was! But mostly it was sewing buttons onto pillows - which is a bad idea as it becomes uncomfortable - and so the book as a whole was a wash. I had to make up an approach to this as I went along, since I didn’t read the instructions in the book, so I have no idea if my construction is similar. I used wire to make a sturdy button man, but I bet you could just string them on thread as well.

And how perfect is his little pom pom button hat?

That is everything I finished yesterday. I have more stuff in progress, including some jewelry that is SO EXCITING to me. I really am in love with the <i>Altered Curioisities</i> book because it is so my aesthetic and pushes me to a) get back to the jewelry making and b) push myself when it comes to materials.

That last is the really important part. A lot of me making stuff is just me figuring out if I can do something. It’s the challenge of learning a new skill that really drives my crafting/art-making. It’s why there are some techniques that I have just never gotten around to perfecting - because doing the same thing over and over again has never been an attractive concept. Unless the skill is one that I can use to learn something new - skills that build on each other.

And now I’m going to go play with the little pig that I faux-gilded yesterday.

One Saturday afternoon, at a yard sale, I had one of those moments. One of those moments when the heavens parted and a ray of sunshine fell on an item I just couldn’t leave behind. Sometimes this happens to me at yard sales.

This particular ray fell on a small side table, about knee-high, with angled legs and a slightly recessed top. After some smart bargaining, the table went home with me for the low, low price of $5.

My next step was to start combing ebay for buttons. Buttons can be purchased in bulk lots for between five and twenty dollars, plus shipping. I ordered two bulk batches for a total of 1600+ buttons in a green and white mix. Always order more than you think you’ll need for a project like this. The table I was working with had about 2 sq feet of surface area and I had around 100 buttons when I finished.

When you’ve picked a color scheme for your buttons, and you are waiting on them to arrive, take the time to sand and paint your table. I used a white semi-gloss spray paint and applied three thin coats. Thin coats are always better!

Once the paint is dry and your buttons are in hand, it’s time to start applying the buttons. I used a basic tacky craft glue to affix my buttons. Spread a thin layer of glue on your surface and start applying your buttons. Nestle them up close to each other, but don’t go too crazy. It’s easy to get a bit obsessive with this sort of project but the random spacing is part of the charm of the finished object. Make sure your buttons, if you are using a table with a recessed top, do not rise above the top of the lip that goes around the edge of the table. Snip the shanks off of any buttons that do not have flat backs.

It makes life a lot easier if you start at the corners and work your way in to the middle. Cover small areas at a time and take breaks if you start to feel a little crazy.

When you have covered the surface of your table with buttons, allow the glue to dry at least overnight. The glue must be totally dry before you move on to pouring your resin.

Resin can be a little tricky to track down locally. Try your major craft stores and home improvement stores. You are looking for casting resin, not fiberglass resin. I use a brand called Envirotex because it is super easy to mix and use.

You’re going to need resin, catalyst (sold as part of the Envirotex kit), two containers, and a mixing stick. Add you resin and catalyst in equal parts (or according to the directions that came with your kit) to one of the containers and mix vigorously, as if you were mixing cake batter. Because it is essential for the resin and catalyst to thoroughly mix, pour the mixture of resin and catalyst from one container into the other. Use your mixing stick to continue vigorous stirring. After about a minute, you should be ready to pour.

Ideally, you will pour your resin in thin layers (just like with spray paint, thin layers are better with resin, too). Don’t pour layers that are more than 1/8 of an inch thick – you’ll wind up with improperly cured resin and a lot more air bubbles.

Make sure, as you pour the first layer, that you use your mixing stick to spread the resin out like cake frosting – just don’t lick the spoon. Air bubbles will begin to rise to the surface. As they reach the surface, blow on them. The carbon dioxide in your breath will help release the bubbles. Just be careful not to inhale the fumes.

Allow your resin to set for a few hours. The setting time depends on temperature and humidity. Hot, dry climates will need less time than cool, damp ones. It isn’t fair, but it is true. When your first layer has set, pour a second layer. Continue this process of pouring layers and allowing them to set until your resin is at the level you desire.

Once you have all of your resin poured, allow the table top to cure for 72 hours. When you’re done waiting – which is the most difficult part of this project – you will have a beautiful and level table top encasing a colorful array of buttons. A one of a kind side table is all yours! Now put it to good use.

2. a fanciful or fantastic device, object, or creation especially in writing or art

I make whimsies. Whimsies from recycled and reclaimed materials of all sorts; whatever I can find, whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. This means that almost everything I make is one of a kind.

What it comes down , too, though, is that we lack whimsy in our lives. We take things really seriously, once we grow up, and forget about wonderment and marvel. It’s my mission, with the things I make, to put a little bit more of that out into the world. I want to reclaim whimsy.