Golden Bead Material Making-First

I have begun making the Montessori golden bead material for Renée. I know, she isn't even a year old, but I thought an early start would ensure completion. The progress is going well. I have 8 hundred planes complete. Originally, I got the inspiration to undertake this task through this Montessori at Home: Montessori Mathematics: The Complete Bead Material - Part 1.
I keep it all in the lid from my craft tote so it is easily put up away from Renée's reach. When she is asleep, out it comes.
I am using 18 gauge steel wire, 24 gauge purple coated wire, 8mm faceted beads, wire clippers, and round nose pliers. I was going to use copper, but the cost was going to be phenomenal! Really, mind boggling high. The beads were 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I got yellow because that is the color they had the most of during that sale. The purple wire was already in my pile of craft items, and the steel wire is from Lowes.
After some experimentation, I got my assembly line started. With Phoebe's occasional help, this project is going smoothly.

Above, I cut 11cm lengths of the 18 gauge wire, make a circular turn at one end, and thread on 10 beads.
Using the purple wire, I assemble 10 of those bars together to make a hundred plane. Here is am starting that assembly. 2 of the beads down is where I begin. I use a length of wire about 45 cm long. I fold that in half and tuck the bar into the fold. I twist once and add another bar. I twist around that one and continue doing that until 10 bars are assembled.
Once all 10 are together, I return along the previous twists, weaving the wire over/under/between the beads, as shown in this next image. To finish the plane, I twist the two wires together, trim a short length, and wrap the twist back to tuck in between 2 bars.
Here are the completed planes thus far.

Here is a goofy error I came across during my work. One of my bars only had nine beads on it. I discovered it after I has assembled one end of the plane. My solution was to clip the circular end of the offending bar, remove the beads to slide it out. I slid a new wire with 2 beads on it, put that through the assembled end where the other was removed (shown in the photo below), put on 8 more beads and then turn a circular closure. The twisting of the purple wire continued to complete the 100 plane.
This doubling back with the purple wire makes a pretty stiff plane. For the creation of the thousand cube, I will only make one pass with the purple wire. These that I made up will be used as hundred planes.
Initially threading the beads on the 10 bars butted tightly together is a bad idea. It makes the bar curve, the purple wire doesn't fit well between the beads, and they just don't feel cool.
When I make the thousand cube, I will space the 10 bars apart a bit more than I have in the hundred plane. My goal is to make them as close to 10cmx10cmx10cm as possible.
When the thousand cube is complete, I will post it. I can't wait as that is going to be a massive weight. Who would have thought that these beads would have such heft?

Jewelry holder

I found these woodcen picture frames at Michael's for $1 each. With some 1/4" screen, some wire snips, and a few brass hooks I now have a place to easily place my jewelry. It is easy to see what I have and coordinate appropriately. I am getting braver and have started wearing my gold. Silver is my favorite.
The balance is way off. Once I started adding my stuff, they went lopsided. That is fine with me. $2 and I am ready to go in a flash each morning. I don't know who said it, but apparently wearing earrings and necklace make you appear thinner. Give me a Snicker bar! I got birds hanging from my ears!

Where do we get our craftiness?

Yeah, I wonder where our crafty nature derives, mmm hmmm. We love the great demonstrations of love we get from our grandmothers!

During Nanala's visit, she assembled this quilt and matching pillowcase using fabric Phoebe chose. It's great that Phoebe actually saw Nanala work at the sewing machine. I know she has a greater appreciation for this gift, especially so because she got to pick out the fabric!



Momo fandangles those cubes of notepaper from her bank. They are perfectly square and because of the weight of the paper, make a substantial origami product. Nanny got to learn while helping Momo finish it.



Nan has to keep herself busy during those long, boring DVD movies! Here are 3 fleece-tied blankets. Don't you just love the fun prints? I have some of her awesome knitted hats she made that I must learn how to do myself. Lies can't be told-I have been known to wear Phoebe's, too.

Scientists are currently studying our family to determine which gene affect craftiness. What can we say, it is in our blood!

Getting things done-NOT

I am not getting much done, but my sister sure is.
How on earth would I have made it two weeks without her. I have been so afraid that Phoebe would feel left out with her baby sister's arrival. Not so with Auntie Sarwah in the mix! It is official, Phoebe's favorite toy is her aunt.
The fabric store saw too much of me during my pregnancy while I worked on finishing projects. Now, they haven't seen me in weeks!
My work toward earning my literary braille certification has taken a hiatus for about 4 weeks. I have been doing awesome on it, but my last assignment threw me a curve. Figuring I had it all sorted out, I turned it in. I brailled it twice, did a file comparison, and transcribed it. Three times over and I totally messed it up! Apparently, one aspect of the style rule just flummoxed me and I lost a ton of points. Go figure. I am sure I skimmed over it thinking I got it. Obviously, no. No, I didn't.
I am looking forward to getting my hands back into my projects.

Fabric dollhouses

Fabric dollhouses
Originally uploaded by Little Black Pot

I made these cute little fabric dollhouses recently. I used some fabric scraps and cute $1 trim on sale to make them. Please note the use of the mangosteen fabric of which I have still have yardage!

On Top of Homemade Pasta!

Whew, what a crafty weekend! Phoebe and I made felt barrettes, ribbon barrettes, a barrette holder for all the new barrettes, worry dolls, and, to top it all off, homemade pasta.
FINALLY! I have found a good, basic noodle recipe! I found it in my pasta machine's instruction booklet [Note: Dang! Those things have just shot up in price!].

Pasta Dough Recipe
6 Servings
Ingredients:
5 eggs
1 lb flour (I used about 4 cups)

Place a pound of flour on a working surface and make a hole in the center. Put 4 eggs into the hole. Gently begin mixing the flour with the eggs.
To soften the mixture, 1/2 oz of olive oil, a little water, or another egg may be added. (I dipped my hands in water and kneaded that into the dough. It really only needed the slightest bit more dampness).
Continue to knead the dough until it reaches a uniform texture and color. It should be soft and smooth. Form a ball with the dough, wrap it in a towel, and let it rest for a few minutes.
Cut the dough into small slices and pass each piece through the flat rollers of the Atlas Pasta Maker, with the regulating knob set at the widest position, number 1.
Fold the pressed sheet in two and pass it again through the rollers.
Repeat folding and rolling several times, lightly flouring the sheet each time it is passed, to keep it smooth.
Then reduce the thickness of the sheet by passing it through the rollers one thickness setting smaller each time, until you reach the desired thickness.

The trick was: I kneaded it all with my hands! Every batch I made in the KitchenAid was bland and weird. This doesn't mean I won't try to make these with it or my food processor, but the tactile sensation associated with the kneading and mixing was necessary to get the right dough. Added plus: the recipe is so basic it is a great base for flavored pasta.

Phoebe & I rolled these through to a setting of "3" and then through the fettuccine cutter. The result was similar to kluski noodles. Phoebe & Mike thought them a bit thick. For sauces, I agree. These will be perfect in Beef Stroganoff!

Phoebe took all the bit dough left overs with which we had cleaned the pasta machine and dyed them all sorts of colors. She has plans for red & green Christmas noodles; orange & black Halloween noodles; and orange, red, & yellow for Christgiving time.

Side note, yet still applicable: I found a whorking huge bag of salt at Costco. So ridiculous it was in hugeness that, of course, I wanted it. 25lbs for $3.25! I didn't get it, but now I will. I need to salt my boiling water since the noodles are so basic.
Now, to get fancy and add flavors to the noodles. What can I add?

Baby booties

Baby booties
Originally uploaded by Little Black Pot

When Phoebe & I went back to Natchitoches, Aunt Bonnie had dropped off her super cool embroidery sewing machine to MoMo. Phoebe fell in love with it and did one of the butterflies on the toes of the white shoes.

The instructions I found at Maked, Crafts Exposed also had a pattern. I took that pattern and modified it for different sizes. I had so much fun making these and want to get some more done. I am busy trying to create a pattern for Phoebe & I. We both have some big ol' paddles that need some tender lovin' geometry for these types of fabric shoes to fit comfortably.

Finger in the pot

Well, I am busy working on 15 different projects. Aprons, SIMILE, crawfish, black pots, putting out grease fires and cleaning up after them-you get the idea. Actually, I am exaggerating a little here. The grease fire was last week.

I have been researching Etsy and assembling an inventory. My hand has been in many a pot with crazy ideas and I have learned some interesting things about myself:
1) I don't always think the whole idea through. My initial thoughts pan out, but then momentum wanes. I have business plans but no marketing plans. Sarah pointed this out and has helped get that part ready.
2) I think about the money to earn on each little part rather than how much I want to make overall in a time period.
3) I wear all the hats in the business: accountant, designer, creator, shipper & handler, advertiser, motivator, etc.
4) I jump in before it is all thought out because I feel that I am going to miss out on some opportunity!

What does all this mean? It means that I am going slow and actually sleeping on some ideas before I gather materials and begin the project. Some of my projects are still being sorted out while others are in the middle of the game. When those projects come to fruition, you'll be the first to know! Get the RSS of my blog and it will delivery to news to you, kind of like the stork!

Completed desk and stool

WHOO HOO!!! The desk is complete and in place. It has already held the screws and tools for the new curtain system we purchased. Pictures of that later, once the "supervisor" and I have determined the best solution for the streamlined, linear look I am going for.
I put some foam and a removable top to cushion the stool. An embroidered frog is in the center. Mike says I should have made it a turtle instead of a frog since the stool looks turtle-like.
This whole project came out totally awesome, don't you think?

Don't embroider with the fabric upside down

Working on another felt book. So close to completion, yet so far. That is what I get for not stitching left to "write."
It seems that the corn posts have caused much pun.

I just completed the Louisiana felt book for the upcoming family addition. I enjoyed doing this! I still have some work to do to get my stitches a bit more even, but this works great for us.

Crafty Links

Crafty Stuff Galore!

• Mini Food and drink made out of polymer clay

Paper Engineering: Pop-ups, automata, mechanization, origami

• Children's Books Online: the Rosetta Project, Inc.


• Handmade Papercraft Club


• Texana Collections Pop-ups with videos displaying pop-ups in books.


• Wonderful World of Pop-Up and Animated Books


• Paper Engineering Schools/Programs in the United States of America.


• Paper Forest: "Paper Forest" Demystified is a cool Blog with interesting links and illustration.


• Intervisual Communications is a company that prints pop-ups and lenticulars.


• Rubber Designs Paper Crafting has interesting rubber stamps and designs.


• Origami: Diagrams displays a variety of models with instructions.


• Walter Ruffler is a German designer with English translation.


• Automata and Mechanical toys


• Mechansims for use in mechanical toys and automata. Velocity ratios and levers introduced as a background to the theory behind simple mechanisms.


• Keith Newstead Automata


• Peter Callesen


• Flying Pig has paper animation kits. Cardboard Engineering Source book is here.


• Cabaret Mechanical Theatre - A Museum of Automata (mechanical sculpture)


• C.A.Furuti has globes to print and glue together to understand map projections.


• PaperPino automata models: circus, Santa, etc. Many free downloads.


• Martin Smith - artist with excellent metal kinetic sculptures. Coin art. This is the one that has the pigeon scupture at the train station.


• Heritage Models


• Origami Polyhedra


• Mechanics in German. Click Modellbau and then Speil & Unterhaltung.


• Paper Models You Make That Move


• Paper Kraft


• Inside-out movable sculpture from paper This is a flexahedron toy that flips inside-out from the center. Make science toys at home with common household materials.


• Geometric toys

Bookbinding

• Oak Knoll Books & Oak Knoll Press variety of bookbiding texts.


• Mystery of the Wire Loop


• MFA in the Book Arts/The University of Alabama


• Book Arts Web Bookbinding, scholarly works on books (everything from leather to pop ups)


• The Bonefolder, an e-journal for the bookbinder and book artist.