Don't forget to poke the photos to enlarge!

Monday, August 13, 2012

She May Be On To Something!

Yesterday, I decided that I should finish all,  er I  mean some of the kumihimo braids that I have been messing with for the last couple of months.

Believe it or not, all of these cords were made exactly the same way with the same 8 strand braid.

The only difference is the weight of the thread and color.  Some are done with only four colors, some with eight.  It also depends on which slots on the wheel you start them. Poke the photos if you want to see the difference.

I won't go into all of that, because there are LOTS of websites that tell you about it, that are much more experienced that I am.

I turned them all into pendant style necklaces at little or no cost to me. 

The first one on the left and the third one in the middle were both pendants from the 1.00 bags in the jewelry making department at Walmart.  The total cost of each was less than 5.00, thread included. 

The second one was a large, flat black glass bead that I got in a grab bag from one of the thrift stores.  I took off the stuff that was attached and wire wrapped it with square, copper wire. Again, it didn't cost much.  The wire was about a foot and a half long and off of a larger hank of the wire that I got at the bead show last year.  The same with the black doughnut.  Bead show for a couple of dollars.  The last one is fake ivory from China.  They carve white resin just as if it were real ivory, since real ivory carving is now against the law. Someone gave that one to me. Essentially free.

Now I have one of those "Tessie Problems".  When they were against the wall, they would only sway sideways when she hung on them....Then she zapped one to the cord of the ceiling fan, here in the computer room... One at a time, they keep disappearing from the wall. 

She discovered that, if the fan is running, she doesn't even have to push.  The breeze keeps her swinging. 

She is gleefully spinning and singing a happy tune behind me as I type. 

I fear that I am going to be bumping my head on the pendants.  And on top of that, I am going to have to arm wrestle her for them if I want to wear them.  I hate to do that....She always wins.  There's this spell that she uses.... 

Oh!  Wait.  I just thought of something.  There are five pendants and only four fans in the house.  Even if she has one on every fan, there will always be an extra....Thank goodness.  I feel better now.

I do think that she has the right idea though. It is not quite noon and already 104 degrees here...It is predicted that it could get as high as 110.  If that happens.  I think that I will suspend a people sized swing under one of the fans and join her...

See you tomorrow.

6 comments:

Marilyn D. said...

Wow - 110! And I think we're dying of the heat here in East Coast Canada and in the last few weeks it hasn't gotten any higher than 37 Celsius with the humidex factor (I think that's around 97 or 98 F). I guess I should stop complaining and be greatful I'm not in Arizona! All I need now is one large block of anti-perspirant that I can roll around on! - Marilyn

Kathi said...

They are all very pretty with their new cords. :D Love the one that Tessie is swinging on. The floral one is nice too. Walmart, huh? Nice!

JDayMinis said...

So hot!! Tessie really knows how to have a great time. Card weaving, wow, that brings back memories. I wish you would show photos of you doing it. It was so much fun and interesting and flexible. Great as necklaces, what a terrific idea.

Caseymini said...

Jean, card weaving and kumihimo are two completely different things. Kumihimo is Japanese braiding, done on a round loom. It is much easier than card weaving. I haven't done any of that in a really long time. I just learned kumihimo a few months ago. So simple and really fun to do.

dalesdreams said...

They are so cool, but, the best part is Tessie swinging from one. Made me chuckle. :)

JDayMinis said...

Thanks for clearing that up for me Casey, after I wrote that I thought I might be wrong as I hadn't heard of Kumihimo braiding,(sometimes I write then think, lol) Must look it up it sounds and looks like fun. Thank you.