Stand and Deliver: handmade crafts

Showing posts with label handmade crafts. Show all posts

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Glow jars

We like making glow jars for Christmas and birthday presents. For the best effect, you need the right paint. Strontium aluminate based glow-in-the-dark paints are far brighter than the kinds you can find in most local craft or hardware stores.

You can buy ready-made paints or glow powder to mix into a transparent paint or glaze. I bought a sampler of 6 paints from Glonation. If you search "strontium aluminate glow paint," you'll find several glow paint companies.

Glonation's paints are water-based and become rubbery and stretchy rather quickly. If you're working with stencils--say, for a painting on a wall or ceiling--you have to remove the pattern almost immediately, otherwise the paint will peel off with the pattern.

The green is the brightest and longest-lasting color, followed by aqua. If you only can buy two colors, go with these two. The blue and the violet are also nice. On the other hand, the white and orange hardly show up at all.

We bought an assortment of glass jars and pots at a thrift store. Dab thick dots of paint onto the inside of the container, and you're done! I found that you get plumper beads of paint if you use a wooden barbeque skewer rather than a paintbrush to apply the paint.

I'd LOVE to paint my bike like this night bike!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Pregnancy: Month 9

Thanks to everyone for sending your Blessingway beads & wishes! I had so many different kind of beads, from large pendants to tiny faceted stones to charms. Instead of trying to figure out how to attach them all to one necklace, I had another idea: turn them into a quilt square! I had an old formal dress made of wine velvet from my high school days (I usually don't hang onto things, but for some reason had never donated this one). Perfect for this project! I embroidered three "chains" out of silver thread and then attached the beads. And the best thing is that I can continue to add new beads when/if they arrive.

So, this square is named "Beads" in honor of my ninth month of pregnancy.

The finished birth quilt will have 3 more squares on the bottom row for the birth & postpartum period, bringing it to a total of 12 (3 wide, 4 high). I sewed the 9 together already and might even start quilting them together with the batting & backing fabric. It's always easier to get things done before the baby's here.

I also put everyone's Blessingway cards & letters into this baby's memory book. Remember how my family usually does Christmas crafts? This year we made handmade books. It's a great way to spend the evenings once the kids are in bed. The adults get to talk while our hands keep busy. I made two memory books: a leather-bound Japanese stab binding book with multicolored paper for Inga, and a Coptic-bound book for this new baby.

Since I'll be putting pictures and cards in, I put inserts between each page to account for the extra bulk once the books are filled.

I've really enjoyed reading your words of encouragement and support as my labor draws nearer.

I was awake for a few hours early in the morning with very strong, but sporadic, contractions. I wondered if they'd turn into labor, but once I got up they fizzled out. I did have some clear mucous for the first time--the kind I've always seen when my labors began. So no action for the moment, but it's definitely drawing nearer.

My mom is in the area, helping another sister who lives an hour away pack & move cross-country. So she's ready to come as soon as I need her.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Christmas Craft #1: Felted wool sweater blanket

My family likes to make things. When we get together for Christmas, we usually have a large family project. In past years, we've done silk painting, soap making, jewelry making, book binding, and fishing pole making. This years' family project was handmade wooden marble runs, one for each sibling with children. More about this in an upcoming post.

We also have lots of individual projects going on during the holidays. This year I went 100% natural and 100% recycled using felted wool sweaters. After I saw this tutorial for a felted wool sweater blanket, I started collecting wool sweaters. I've fallen in love with Goodwill Outlets, where everything is sold by the pound! Once I had enough cream and gray sweaters, I made this:

It was my Christmas present to my family. We use it every day. And it probably cost me $5!

Fine print:

I straight-stitched all of the seams, then went over them with a wide zig-zag stitch. Some sweaters felted better than others, and I didn't want anything to unravel.
I made sure that all the outside edges and corners had finished edges. Because of that, I didn't put a backing fabric on or do anything else to finish the edges.
My blanket was made of 9" squares (except for two double-sized pieces): 6 blocks wide and 8 blocks high.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Felted wool Easter eggs

I saw this tutorial for making felted wool eggs (thanks to Amy at Progressive Pioneer for the idea!) and just had to try.

I was racking my brain on how to get my hands on some wool roving. I called a friend who knits, spins, and weaves and asked her if I could buy some. She said, "I have so much roving that you can take some! Please!" I came home with a soft, colorful bundle.

I followed the tutorial to the letter, except I alternated hot & cold water baths. My friend said it that the alternating heat and cold would enhance the felting process, better than just heat. Once they were nice and felted, I strung them inside an old nylon stocking and let them dry overnight.

I haven't opened mine up or added any fancy decorations yet. I think I'll leave the plastic eggs inside. The children like playing with them and they'd get smashed out of shape if they were hollow.

I'd like to make this activity an annual Easter tradition. The eggs are fun to make; once you get the felting started, little helpers can go to town dipping and splashing and rubbing the eggs. They are time-intensive, though; you'd need to allocate most of a morning or afternoon if you want to make several.

Monday, February 02, 2009

News, research, and more

It's time to clean out my files and bookmarks again.

Are antibiotics beneficial for preterm labor or PPROM?
Preterm Abx beneficial for PPROM, but not for preterm labo r. A newly published meta-analysis has concluded that antibiotic use prolongs pregnancy and reduces neonatal morbidity in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) at a gestation of 34 weeks or less. The same analysis found little evidence, however, of a benefit from using antibiotics in preterm labor occurring at 34 weeks or less. Source: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2008;199:620e1-e.

Is Acupuncture Effective at Inducing Labor?
Acupuncture to induce labor: a randomized controlled trial.
Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Nov;112(5):1067-74.
For women with a scheduled postterm induction, acupuncture sessions before the induction did not reduce the need for inductions or the length of labor. This trial used sham acupuncture, which is a great way to lessen the placebo effect of acupuncture. The conclusion from the abstract: "Two sessions of manual acupuncture, using local and distal acupuncture points, administered 2 days before a scheduled induction of labor did not reduce the need for induction methods or the duration of labor for women with a postterm pregnancy."

Precipitous births in the news:

A UK mum gives birth in an ambulance outside restaurant. She had planned a home birth, but decided to transfer when the baby unexpectedly presented breech. On the way to the hospital, the baby flipped back to vertex and was born en route.
Baby boy arrives on bathroom floor. The couple was planning a home birth anyway; the midwife dind't arrive on time. So dramatic! How amazing that the mother and father managed to deliver their own baby!
A Denver woman riding a city bus goes into labor and has the baby in a public library.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My zen wall

I finally hung up these silk paintings that I made last spring. They are based on the artwork of Australian artists Chrissy Butler; the originals were commissioned for the Trust Birth Conference. I hung them on the side wall of our bedroom, so they're the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. The pictures make me feel happy and zen and peaceful. I should have taken pictures of them hanging against a window first, since they are even more colorful with light coming through them. I also made one other silk painting that I gave to Carla Hartley at the end of the conference.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Recycling

I cut apart a few of our old t-shirts and turned them into summer onesies for Zari. We'll be working in France again this summer, so we thought we'd make Zari her own "staff" shirts, to match ours!

I bought a onesie pattern and modified it to have a bottom snap crotch opening, rather than snaps going down the front.

Friday, November 17, 2006

More pictures: cradles and baths

My mom is visiting us right now, and she brought a wooden cradle that my dad made for me when I was born. Zari sleeps in bed with us at night, but it is nice to have a place to put her when I am showering or running downstairs for a few minutes. I love having a handmade object that many generations will use.