Monthly Archives: May 2023

Crafting, Mostly me

I wanted to take it easy today.

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However, I was looking for my cash box which I wrongly remembered as being in the basement. When I didn’t find it there, I went up to the closet in the main room of the half-story. Big mistake. It was like finding a pirate’s hoard, except it was just stuff. I have three air mattresses up there. I found boxes and bins of forgotten yarn.

I already have too many bins of yarn under my bed, and in small bins stashed on shelves of one of three bookcases in the living room. Plus there was a big box of yarn upstairs that was not hidden away. Fortunately, I only have to hold on to the yarn upstairs until the next prison yarn drive. There’s a program that teaches inmates to knit and crochet. I’ve donated lots of yarn for three years. I swear it multiplies in the bins.

I found many treasures up there. Handmade dolls and toys including a couple of dolls I made for my son when he was a toddler. There were dolls I made my youngest granddaughter. And all kinds of art projects from both of them that are carefully put away. I found an entire bin of my granddaughter’s art work that she made on our Saturday afternoons together. I plan to bind them into several books – there are a lot of drawings and paintings.

I did not find my cash box which was the entire reason for the treasure hunt. I did get everything put away and a bit better organized. The yarn got moved to the front so I don’t forget it. I searched a different part of the basement, but didn’t find the cash box there either.

So off to the garage again. I had moved the bins that I previously thought were missing. If I had labelled them, they would not have been missing since they were clearly visible as storage containers, but not as craft show containers. I found the cash box.

I’m making a list for what I need for set-up on Friday, double-checking that everything is priced and in the app for the card reader so I don’t have to use a calculator. It took a couple of hours to verify everything and get additional labels made. There are still a few things to do tomorrow like getting the display items gathered, but for the most part, I am done.

I used the weed whacker to clean out cracks in the concrete part of the driveway and started edging the asphalt and prepping for crack filler. I also used critter repellant in my flower pots because the chipmunks and squirrels were digging in them. Then I mowed the backyard and arranged the furniture.

Now I need to set things up to get an idea of how my displays will look and to swap out containers and supports as needed. I have two days.

Crafting, Stuff

Pricing the items is almost done and other boring news.

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Everything except the zines has a price sticker. I will also have a price list posted with general info. Most of the items I’m taking for the sale fit into one under-the-bed storage bin. The two book planters have their own boxes for transport and the folded page book will fit in a bag. Those three items will be transported in a large tote.

I’m ready to do a set-up in the garage tomorrow so I know what fixtures will fit in the limited space. I’m confined to just 1 table. Normally, I spread out onto at least two, but space is limited to the floor plan I drew up. If the landlord allowed us to use the parking lot, I would set up differently, but we would be required to have additional liability insurance. Our booth fees would have to go up to cover it.

Thursday evening, we will mark the booth locations and set up tables. I’m contributing 4 plus the one I’ll be using. I used to have 7 tables but I gave away two. I don’t have a lot of parties anymore, so I don’t need all the stuff. For instance, I used to be able to feed 50 at a time. I’d invite 40 people to my annual Halloween parties. My current house is half the size of the last place I lived. I didn’t get rid of much, so it’s cozy. At least it’s not hoarder cozy.

Now if I could just remember where I stuck the cash box. I think it’s in the basement because it wasn’t in the bins in the garage. I’ll have to take a look. If I can’t find it, I do have a small cabinet with drawers that I take. I can use the bottom drawer as the cash drawer. Everything is rounded up to include tax so I don’t need coins for change. The cabinet holds business cards, receipt books, the card reader, assorted odds and ends, as well as my seller’s permit and tax ID. Even though I haven’t sold anything due to Covid, I kept my paperwork current.

Now I have to clean the messes I have made and the parts of the house I’ve neglected. It’s not bad. Lawn mowing, refrigerator cleaning, mopping, dusting. The two rooms that are always clean are my bedroom and the bathroom. The rest of the house varies, but the upstairs gets the messiest because that’s where I work. I wind up with paper scraps everywhere. Fun, fun, fun.

Mostly me, Paper Crafts

Now comes the hard part…

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…setting prices for the items I have for sale. The zines and most of the other books are easy to price, the junk journals not so much. Each one is differently sized. They have differing numbers of signatures. Some have cloth covered boards; some have paper covered boards. I’ll figure it out. I have some idea for general pricing.

I’ll do the prep for set-up on Monday. I’ll set the displays just as I want them the days of the sale and take pictures. That way, things will be optimized for my customers. I just hope that the organizer will actually follow the floor plan I drew up for the space. I do have experience setting up vending space inside a room. I don’t have high expectation though. The last I heard there were 21 people signed up for a space that can only hold 14 tables with enough space for potential buyers to move through easily.

In other news, I just found out that the road trip I’m supposed to go on with two of my sisters is supposed to last 6 weeks. No way. I can’t sit in a car for days. I’m prone to blood clots in my legs. They already look like a road map of hell. I can’t imagine them after 6 weeks of car rides. I don’t want to go with my sisters anyway.

Even though they’re younger, they feel free to comment on my life, my eating habits, my (as far as they know) lack of a love life, and my weight. I tried to get out of the trip by using my sick cat, but she died. I’m trying to use the fact that I would have to board the cat I now have. She was temporarily re-homed because she kept attacking the sick one. My friend will keep her while I’m gone. Since I’m providing food, the litter box, toys, and bedding, she says I don’t have to pay her, but I feel I need to give something. She pays me market rates to watch her dog twice a week.

I’m sure my sisters will have opinions on everything else. They learned it from my mother who was oh so nice to me growing up. I’m the oldest, but unwanted. Or at least that’s how I felt my entire childhood. Especially after all the times I was reminded that I wasn’t supposed to have lived past two. After I moved away for college, my bedroom was given away, my stuff was tossed, and yet I was always asked when I was coming back home. I did once when I was getting divorced. It was the worst 11 months of my life.

All seven of my siblings are really close. So close in fact, that they have a group chat that I’m not part of. I know this because occasionally, I’ll get included in a reply to a message I never received. I don’t comment. Don’t care enough, but it does hurt a bit sometimes. I realized a long time ago that I’m responsible for my own success and not to wait for anyone in the family to say “good job.” I never know how to react to that anyway.

Now that you’re all depressed for me, here’s a picture of my cat.

Gingersnap, also called Bitey Thing, Ginny, and Gin-gin

She used to be a feral cat and was adopted by my son. He left her with me when he moved into a no-pets apartment. I’ve told him he can’t have her back even though he can now have a pet.

Y’all have a good day, now.

Stuff

Still working on books.

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I’d be done prepping for the sale, but I got distracted by an entire series of books which I’ve been reading over the last two weeks. I’d read for a bit, go back to work for a time and then work on books. I finished the series and now I am in the process of moving the mess I created in the living room back up to my craft area. I’ve been tossing, well recycling, a lot of paper. I put tiny scraps into a clear plastic bag and the larger scraps go into the collection bin as is.

Keeping up with the work around the house is the biggest thing. I started out participating in “No Mow May.” I gave it up because going an entire month without mowing is ridiculous. What I wound up with is foot tall dandelion stems standing above the violets and grass. I’ve mowed twice and the second time was awful.

I have a small electric mower, and the first cut a few weeks ago wasn’t too bad. I raised the deck and mowed the front yard higher than usual. The weather remained cool and the grass did its thing and grew the length it would have had from a shorter base cut, achieving even greater heights. When I started mowing last Tuesday, I realized I had to raise the deck again in order to not clog the mower. Because of the length of the grass, it retained a lot of moisture and I had to clean the underside tw

To finish the front took an additional battery charge. That charge allowed me to complete the entire front and part of the north side. Another charge allowed me to finish both side yards and I got to make a path in the back before the batteries conked out. Normally a charge gives me 45 minutes to do the entire front, one full side, and part of the other.

The next charge allowed me to do less than half of the back yard because it was like mowing a hay field. I had only done the front the first time I mowed, so the grass in the back was twice as long as usual. I needed another charge to do most of the rest of the back and one more to finish. I’m not doing that again. I’ve noticed that most of my neighbors also gave in and mowed.

The whole purpose of not mowing was to give the bees a chance at finding food after the winter. I actually saw fewer bees in my yard after not mowing because they couldn’t get to the low flowering plants that they normally feed from. I’m not doing this again.

I’ll be done with the final sale prep by Monday of next week. Then I’ll do a set-up in my garage so I know how I need to set up my display on sale day. Until next time.

Bookbinding, Paper Crafts

Finally, the faux leather journal is done.

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I finally completed the book. The first one didn’t turn out as I planned but the second is rather nice. The inside cover has scrapbook paper linings and flyleaves. The pages are folded from good quality laser printer paper. It’s not quite perfect, but usable. My next one will be better, but this isn’t too bad for a prototype.

I did learn quite a bit from this project. I’ll probably teach the technique at one of my paper craft sessions if others are interested.

The finished product.
Paper Crafts, Stuff

I’m a bit behind on the faux leather

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I didn’t count on being invited to brunch on Mothers’ Day. My youngest granddaughter who is the only grandchild that lives near me, was most insistent that I join her, her sister, and their mom at the Bistro where my son works. He had invited me as well, so I decided to go. Normally, it’s just another day. He lives about an hour away.

We were to meet at 1 pm so I planned to leave around noon to arrive close to 1. It didn’t matter because traffic was crazy. I don’t usually encounter that many cars. The granddaughter lives 15 miles closer than I do, so I expected them to arrive before I did. Nope! They were a half hour late.

After our meal, the girls went home and I waited for my son to finish cleaning up so he could ride home with me so he could borrow my other car to move his stuff out of my garage and have transportation to his upcoming appointments. So I spent all day not working on my faux leather.

Today, I applied the final coat of glaze and I’m waiting for it to dry overnight. So there’s no picture today. But I will have one tomorrow.

Paper Crafts

Today, I’m making faux leather

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Or maybe it should be called pleather instead of the plastic stuff by that name that’s used for shoes, purses, and jackets. Of course, what I’m making isn’t as durable, but since it will be a book cover and not vegan outerwear, it doesn’t matter. No, I’m not disparaging any vegans’ lifestyle, but what else would be a good name for a faux leather made from paper? Leather paper, paper leather? Oxymorons, both.

The faux leather starts out as a brown paper grocery sack or a length of brown wrapping paper which is crumpled, and wet and inked, and colored, crumpled more, and sprayed with more water, and crumpled again, and rubbed with hair conditioner or glycerine, and maybe covered with Mod Podge or gel medium, and then it’s flexible. Supposedly it feels leathery. I don’t know yet because it’s still drying.

Once it’s dry, I’ll make a cover for a travelers type notebook. I know most people these days use their phones or electronic gizmos to keep notes, but I like to write things down. The act of writing helps me remember better. I have many notebooks filked with lists and notes. Whenever I started a new job, the duties and procedures that would eventually become thick procedure manuals, were stored in my notebooks.

There are doodles and phone numbers, directions to places, and instructions on operating equipment, and row and stitch counts for things I knit or crochet. When I sewed a lot, I would make a copy of the pattern package back and pin it into my notebook so I would have the yardage requirements when I went for fabric, notions, and thread. I would tape a fabric swatch in so I could find a matching zipper, thread, or seam binding.

I still write out lists of things I need or should do, even though I have apps for places I shop and a notes app on my phone. There are lists in the apps, but I’m mostly old school. Half the time, my phone will be at home while I’m out. But at least one notebook will be in my purse.

Tomorrow, I’ll post a photo of the faux leather and the cover I’ll make with it.

Stuff

Mini road trip down memory lane.

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Thursday was my weekly lunch with a friend. We usually meet at a cafe owned by friends of my son. My friend and I been meeting here since we each retired twelve years ago. It’s a nice little place that serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week. It’s one of three owned by the couple.

Lunch was fine. We mostly meet so I can have some social time outside of my house because I like to stay home. In fact, the maker space, lunch, and knitting at the public library provide the bulk of my social interactions.

Because it’s orange barrel spouting time, I have to take a detour to and from the cafe. I decided to go home along some of the back roads I used to travel when I lived on the nearby lake. It was interesting driving down roads I used to bike down with a toddler strapped in a seat over the rear wheel. In spite of being in the car, the distance I used to bike daily to visit a friend was farther than I remembered. Apparently, I had thought nothing of biking the ten miles from my house to theirs.

I decided to take a drive to where my former in-laws lived. I haven’t been in that area since they sold their property 40 years ago. The property consisted of a colonial style house on 15 acres between two roads. There was a shed-type building that used to house chickens and another larger shed that was used to stable a couple of horses when the kids were young. Once the kids grew up and moved away, the stable became a chicken house where cockfights were held on Saturday nights. I could have gone forever without knowing that. I’ll bet you could have as well.

The house was still there, but the 15 acres had been parceled out and there were a lot more houses. The land closest to the highway was more wooded and overgrown than when they lived over there, but I passed eight new homes before I got to the old house. There used to only be one between them and the highway. The house still looked the same. I guess whoever owned it appreciated the classic lines of the Colonial.

I didn’t stop, but seeing the house brought back memories of pheasant chicks in the garage in the early spring, disturbing holiday celebrations, and weekend trips “home” when we lived in Illinois. My father-in-law never seemed to get to hunt any of the birds he raised, although his friends frequently did. The man also had a beer distributor deliver 30 cases of beer every month. I used to find partial six packs all over the property when I took a walk. They used to wonder why their oldest son was such a drunk.

I stayed on the road and drove along, looking at all the changes in some areas and how certain other properties remained the same. The road meandered as country roads do, but I knew where I was. Eventually, the road became the road that leads to my street. All in all, it took 40 minutes longer to get home.

A few zines for the Craft Sale.

I’ve included a photo of the zines I’ll be selling. The Title is Insanity Shuffles because as it says on the back, “Insanity doesn’t just run in my family. It slinks, oozes, shuffles. Occasionally, it cartwheels, jumps, strides, pounces, and gavottes.” They’re essays and other items that may or may not be interesting. That’s the story and I’m sticking to it.

Bookbinding, Paper Crafts

Very disappointing class Tuesday evening.

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I mentioned I belong to a maker space where I am what we call an Area Captain. I am responsible for our Craft Area. This area deals with various crafts such as sewing, knitting, paper-crafts and others. I am responsible for orienting members to the area, training or checking them off in the operation of our sewing machines and other equipment, plus doing the basic maintenance of said machines.

I also teach classes in the use of the heat press and its attachments, book binding, origami, and printmaking. Other members teach things like fabric flower making, sewing, how to use the embroidery machine or the vinyl cutter, as well as some book binding and origami. We often do one-on-one teaching and problem solving of knitting, crochet and weaving projects. We have painters, costume makers, costume designers

Tuesday evening was Paper Crafting night and I was teaching how to make zines. For those of you unfamiliar with them, zines are tiny publications made from one sheet of folded paper. The zines I was teaching people to make were to be decorated with rubber stamps, markers, and pictures and text from Readers Digest Condensed Books, magazines, and other papers.

Only one person showed up. I showed her several samples that I had made and one that I had bought at Zine Fest. She made a very nice start, but decided to leave early, so I don’t have a picture to share. Next month, I’ll won’t be able to hold a class, but I’m hoping that one of our origami enthusiasts will take over that night.

Bookbinding, Stuff

Today’s To-Do List was a failure.

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I did get the dishes done. I was busy. I performed The Wisconsin Lilac Chainsaw Massacre and managed to reduce one lilac by half and get most of the cuttings down to the street for pickup. I’ll give another go tomorrow – maybe. I haven’t checked the weather forecast. I also whacked down the invasive dogwood whatever that keeps sprouting in what was once a nice perennial garden. Like an aspen, the thing spreads via its roots.

If I hadn’t had to plant a couple arbor vitae and a lot of tall flowers to keep the old lady that lived next door out of my yard, the dogwood wouldn’t have taken over so badly because I would have kept mowing over them. But the old biddy next door had to be in my yard, pulling everything she considered a weed and leaving them either on top of my trash can of just tossed in my driveway. So I wasn’t mowing that area very much and the dogwood kept growing in the perennials.

The neighbor was a load of fun. She used to sneak over and put her trash in my bin. Her reason for doing so was that the can the city gave out was too large so she would just do it until she got the smaller bin. However even after she got her bin, she’d use mine until I finally told her I didn’t want to deal with her if she fell in my driveway while trespassing.

She objected so strenuously to my cans being on the side of my garage that she could see from her window, that she bought and had someone install, six-foot high vinyl fence panels on her property to hide my cans from her sight. The fence panels ran the length of my garage. I moved them to the front of the garage and she installed two more panels. I considered moving the cans down the length of my driveway a few feet a year to see if she would keeping buying fence but I never did that. She’s gone now so no more problems. I have a nice couple as neighbors now.

Anyway, back to my list – part of the list was to finish 3 Japanese stab bound notebooks for the upcoming Artists’Night we’re having at the Makerspace I belong to. I did practice cards of the patterns I intended to use, but one pattern took a lot of practice to get right.

First there was getting the design on graph paper. Then determining the stitching. Once that was done, I did a practice card. It was stitch, take out the thread, start over, take out the thread. I finally got the pattern and the stitching steps right. I still had a bit of trouble because the more complex the pattern, the longer the thread has to be and even with the waxed thread, tangles occur.

Then the fun began. I lost count of the steps and had to start over. After a few tries, things fell into place and the pattern started to take shape. I got two-thirds of the way done and ran out of thread. Spent a lot of time sewing the book. Halfway through, I realized I used a wrong hole. No big deal. Pulled out the thread and ripped the cover. I made a new cover.

Realized that even though I was using longer length of thread, it was too short. Picked the thread out. Started over, halfway through got a major knot. Gave up. I’ll try again tomorrow. I have to go make a new to-do list.