Working On It...

I am trying to get used to new glasses.  Right now I am typing and looking through the top(Long Distance) part of the lenses. I am not sure if that is right, but it is comfortable. So that's how  I am doing it.

I dug out some of the little shelves that I got at Dollar Tree a few years ago.

I am thinking of putting one in the back of Zar's box.

It think that it will have to have the same color stain as the outer box to look right.  Need new stain that color.

Meanwhile, I stained one of the other ones with Jacobean.  Not bad, but not for this box.  I think that is would look good against a white wall.  I put the "Harry Potter" bowls in it and held it up.

I do like the light colored bowls against the dark stain... I still have to put some varnish on it though.

While I wait for the varnish to dry, I think that I will continue messing with the pencil collars that I started this morning.

Just put 20 size 11 seed beads around a bic mechanical pencil and start doing peyote stitch round and round.  When you get to where you like it, fasten it off.  I have some that are about an inch in length and a couple that are completely covered.  Fun to do and it keeps me out of trouble... Sometimes...

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Thanks to a Great Follower...

 Jo is a great detective.  From the information on the bottom of this little pitcher that I showed on the blog a couple of days ago, she found out what it was and where it came from.

It seems that it is from a company in Boise France and was signed by Emile Balon or maybe he just designed it... Not sure which.

Whatever the story, the ermine painted on the front with the crown indicates that it was connected to Anne of Brittany, who once lived in Chateau de Bloise.

If you are interested in the history, go to the site that she recommends in her comment.  Balon eventually became the head of the factory. I am not sure just what the signature means, but I am very happy to know more about this little piece.

I found it in a thrift store, years ago and it is one of my favorite pieces of pottery.  Even more so, now that I know a bit more about it.  I am going to have to do more digging and see what else I can find out.

Now about that stupid row of wrought iron... I am turning it to stone with air dry clay.  I am going to beat this thing one way or the other.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Potted Plants and Baskets...

I reworked all 12 of the starter pots this morning and painted them.  They turned out ok.  I can't say that they are the best I ever made, but they are good enough to give plants away in.

I had these left over.  The gray ones will go in the conservatory.  The red ones, I still need to fill with mother of millions.

Tessie planted one of a lot of different succulents.  Less work for me that way...

I'm not sure if it looks like a planter or more like a tossed salad, but she's happy with it.  So, I don't care.

I am a little worried.  She keeps saying, "It looks good enough to eat!".  I do hope she doesn't try.  I don't know if any of those plants are poisonous...

I also cleaned out my needlepoint and embroidery drawer... I found enough canvas that I can keep going with basket making.  There is enough canvas that everyone can take some home and make more.  All they need to provide is the Woodsies that go in the bottom.

I guess that I will go clean out some of my fabric stash while I am at it.  Maybe some of the witches will help me out by taking some of the stuff home that I know that I will never use.  Some of it is between 20 and  30 years old! They say that if you haven't used it in a couple of years, you should get rid of it... I think that I am in trouble!

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Starting and Finishing...

I started making pots this morning, from the starter pots that I bought at Dollar tree.

Very simple process.

I cut about a half inch off of the top of each pot... One, I cut a little more off.

Then I used my deckle edge scissors on the bottom edge of the cut off part.

I used regular scissors to cut that piece to the width that I wanted the top edge of the pot and glued it on.

I didn't have time to paint.

I will do that part tomorrow, along with the planting.

I forgot to show you how to finish the basket top yesterday.

All I did was run the thread back through some of the wraps.  Then I cut off the thread.

One more basket finished.

See you tomorrow.

Wickering and Planting...

OK.  This part doesn't really count.  It is a graph paper alert!  For some reason, a lot of the companies making school supplies are going to five to the inch graph paper.  That doesn't work as well for designing minis. I have been looking for four to the inch all over the place.  Our Walmart here at Rita Ranch didn't have any.

I went into town this morning and went to my old favorite Walmart.  They just expanded that one into a SUPER sized store.  It is amazing.  It would take hours to walk up and down all of the aisles...   I found my paper!  School section.  Composition notebooks.  A little smaller than the regular ones, but I seldom use a whole page anyway.  Perfect for designing furniture and such...  Can you tell that I am a happy camper?  I am! 97 cents, instead of the usual almost five dollars for a three pack of 50 pages each.... These have a hundred pages!

I also found some terracotta pots for the larger plants that I plan to put in the back corners of the conservatory.  They had to be painted.  The taller ones are actually the little rubber thingies that people put on the bottom of chair legs...

So far, I only have one coat of terracotta paint on them so far.  They will have to be aged a bit too...

The other two pots are actually glass tea light holders that I found at Goodwill for 29 cents a piece.  I am thinking that those will be good for cacti and succulents.

I believe that I will start out with a mixture of plants(real and fake).  That way, I can fill in with the real ones as they become available.

Tessie ordered me to do that... She said, "I don't want to sit in a bare conservatory whilst you fiddle around finding real plants. 

I am working on another chair for the conservatory... I'm not sure what it is going to look like.  I just started messing around yesterday.  Whatever comes out of the thread and wire is what it will be.

I don't like the red rug in there.  I think that it needs something with the color of the plants and the terracotta pots.  Here we go again!

Maybe it should be a Native American rug to blend in with the pots and the stone floor.  I'll have to think on that a bit. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

A New Set of Eyes...

That's all that was needed.

Tessie was standing atop the plant stand this morning, trying to get to the new bird house. 

She was complaining as she went.  It's too small for her to live in!

When she attempted to get to the top, she dropped a foot. That sometimes happens with detachable feet.

It doesn't hurt.  It is just an inconvenience.  Hard to walk or climb up to birdhouses.

She enlisted me to help search.  I couldn't find it anywhere, even though I watched it fall.

We gave up searching.  I went to look for spare parts.  Nope.  No right feet.  No left feet either...

I am going to have to sit down and make more spare parts.  She is rather hard on them.

Anyway, we went ahead and took photos with her sitting down and her skirt covering the missing appendage...

Tessie insisted that she should show you her new Talavera Mexican pot.  Actually it's mine, but you know how that goes.  Anything that comes into the house is hers.

It is beautifully hand painted.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  I am going to paint the terra cotta pot the same yellow as the vase itself.  That way it will look more like the plant is growing inside.

The brown and gray pot next to it is one that Seth(son-in-law) made.  It was my Christmas gift a few years ago... He is my favorite potter!

Since Tessie couldn't do much running around this morning, I put her to work on the edge of the Russian carpet... Actually, I worked on it for a couple of hours this morning.

She did about three stitches before heaving a heavy sigh and whining... "I need another foot..."

About that time, Walter got home and volunteered to do another search of the crime scene.

He found it!  It was right where I thought it was, in one of the pots below. Evidently, I looked in all of the right places at the wrong angle.  Thanks to him, Tessie is now up and doing a happy dance.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.