Here We Go – Ah, the life of a contractor. My 3-year contract ends, with my last official day of work being Thursday, June 2, 2011. Time to hunt! So, tomorrow morning I leave for a 5-day dance conference. Nicely timed. *grin* (read more…)
Tag: 2011
New Hair
Not my crafty work, but the crafty work of my dear friend Lora. I decided I wanted something fun and silly that I could do with my hair. The white “streak” in my hair is actually an illusion: I grow white hair all over my head, and Lora dyes the rest of it brunette for me. This time we did something else special:
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| “Business hair” |
I’ve been growing out my short hair cut, and it was time to do the darker brunette color again. But with a single added clip, I can do this:
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| “Dancer Hair” |
You can click the images above to see larger versions. *grin*
Troupe Floral Clips
This week I finished up an order for floral hair clips for a Dance Troupe. (If you click the photos, you can see a larger image.)
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| Collection of floral hair clips for a Dance Troupe |
I’m so pleased with how well my new supply of feathers worked in these clips. I’m extremely happy with http://BearyBox.etsy.com — she sells some fantastic feathers, and was a pleasure to work with from customer to merchant.
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| That purple feather just looks so jaunty and fun! |
The wind was whipping around while I was taking photos after lunch, so shadows from the tree branches overhead kept obscuring some of my photos. But I’m fairly pleased with the final group of facinators (hair clips).
Best of all, I’m much happier with the glitter. I changed my application technique, and the glitter effect was much more subtle and consistent.
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| Glitter on the bright blue flower looks just right |
Next up: Floral hair clips for a crafts fair. A friend of mine plans to work the event, and invited me to send some of my crafts to her table on commission.
Latest Project Updates
I’ve been spinning in spare time at work, but I haven’t taken any new photos of this yarn yet. I’ll get on that later this week.
I started the replacement tassels for Nat’s dance belt, and after making tassels and attaching two of them, I took photos in the early morning sunshine yesterday.
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| Tassel attachment loop has button-thread core, wrapped in hand-spun bulky wool |
I like the attachment, but the tops of the tassels are not fancy enough for me yet. I may go back and embroider a better wrap for each of the tassels.
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| Two bulky yarns used: Blue and Multi-colored. Half the tassels are wrapped in blue, half in the multi-color yarn. |
More tassel photos: http://www.cayswann.com/v/Projects/2011/tassels/
No new finished floral hair clips yet, but I’ve been experimenting with adding glitter to the tips of some fabric flowers. The photos are bizarre, but they give me the impression that I might work with different glue on the next round. These were dipped into a white craft glue then dipped into glitter. I’m not sure I like how solid the glitter looks. I think I’d rather see a lighter (more sparce) application.
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| Geranium garland: flowers removed, separated. Then petals tipped in glue and glitter. |
Besides the glitter projects (which require more patience, since the glue has to dry before I can use the flowers), I spent some time adding receipts and inventory numbers into a spreadsheet. The data will eventually help me avoid over-stocking materials, as well as charge accurately for the price of my materials and my efforts.
More glitter flower pictures: http://www.cayswann.com/v/Projects/2011/floral_supplies/
Tonight: Off to pick up some custom feathers I ordered! *grin*
New Opportunities, New Ideas
No pictures today, just some brainstorming and thought swirling lately.
I’ve known for a while that Knitters and Crocheters were spending a lot of time on Ravelry, and I created an account several years ago but didn’t really know how I planned to use it. In recent months as I get more and more familiar with some of the etsy crafters out there, I’ve started to notice mentions of various Ravelry communities, discussion boards, forums, swaps, and giveaways. Various bloggers promote their communities, and new friendships are formed. So I’ve dipped my toe into the waters, and plan to be more involved with the crafting community, as it exists in some of these projects, craft-alongs, and special events. I’m likely to make a few friends along the way, and if some of my networking turns into sales ideas or customers, that will be just incidental. I’m looking forward to being part of these supportive communities.
I was invited to place some of my crafts on a commission in a crafting booth at the end of May. I’ve got some very specific ideas of what to make for this event. This morning on my way to work, I was daydreaming about some of the components and supplies I might need. It dawned on me that I could *make* some of the components from balsa wood and/or fimo clay. I’m really excited about solving craft plans as I just sip coffee and navigate traffic.
I was also contacted about photos of some of my yarns. One friend of mine, deeply embedded in the crafting community herself, met another dollmaker who is frustrated with commercial yarns. I sent along some photo links, and I was really grateful that I’d been logging my photos each step along the way. I had quite a few to draw from, and we’ll see if maybe this results in another contact or not. But for my own purposes, it was a very good thing to be able to survey my photo website, and put together a nice portfolio set of links for someone. I’m feeling very good about my progress.
Oh! Okay, maybe I was wrong — I have a completely different progress photo that I’m proud of this morning. So you get one photo after all. Enjoy.
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| Apparently all my hard work is starting to show. ♥ |
Full image: http://www.cayswann.com/v/Friends/2011/dancing/progress.jpg.html
