Looking for Santa

I'm keeping my eye out for Santa but I do not think this contraption will help.  This stereoscope belongs to my cousins and I enjoyed viewing the cards they have collected throughout the years.  Our family had one during my growing up years but I will have to ask Mother where it is.  I am sure Granddaughter would love to carefully, at the table, with adult supervision, look at the cards and watch the 3d come to life.

Ideas and inventions like this always fascinate me.  The manipulation of what is into the manifestation of what can be makes me giddy.  Except at 2:00 am.  Not very giddy at 2:00 am ...unless what I have been working on comes together in my mind in that sleep/awake state.  Some of my best work has been thought through and then unfortunately lost into the recesses of my sleepy brain in the wee hours.  But sometimes, Bingo!!, and I can't wait to get to the workshop.

If you are like me you are lucky to have a husband that likes to get you what you want for Christmas.  By this I mean...Honey, I ordered my present today.  Reply:  Great, I'll wrap it when it comes in.  We are calling this the Year of the Hammer.  I have been rejuvenated to play with metals so it was time to receive the proper hammers.  Husband said that he couldn't wait to see them, knowing that they will be added to our workshop toys. 

To all I send hopes of safe travels and healthy and joyous family and friends.  Maybe we will get a glimpse of Santa passing by the moon during his busy schedule tomorrow night.

Peace and Merry Christmas to all,

Hilari

Go Dog Go!!

A friend is involved with a greyhound rescue group in town and she put out a call to anyone who would like to donate something for their upcoming fundraiser.  Because this immediately pop into my head I knew that it had to be made.  There were a couple of challenging aspects that I had to work through, the first being that I wanted to create the dog by felting roving.  Sounded easy enough seeing that I have dabbled with needle felting on and off in the past.  Checked out Pinterest and a couple of YouTube videos and off I went.  While their greyhounds looked like greyhound, mine, or at least as much as I attempted,  did not.  Not to mention just how long I worked on this 3 inch by 2 inch dog.

That is not to say that at some point it may have resembled a dog of sorts but this was time sensitive and the actual want to continue down this path was quickly waining. So, per usual, I broke out the wire and had something that looked close enough to a greyhound in a short amount of time.

The next challenge was to have the dog being walked only by his leash, so this meant he would be floating instead of being attached to the swing bar.  Also, I was not sure if the weight of the suspended dog would upset the balance and not allow for spin.  It took a bit of finagling to get the dog leashed and stable, and I was thrilled to see that his weight did not topple the couple.  In other words, I did not have to reinforce the legs attached to the bar.

Due to the extra weight on the sculpture side, next time I will make the counter weight a bit larger.  I used my existing pattern for the moveable parts and was all set with added color, holes drilled and parts fitted.  Because I did not have the time nor the want to remake the parts, I had to slide the swing bar much more centered on the fulcrum to get the piece to freely spin.  It still looked in proportion, but next time I now know to think about counter weight when making these.  Also, as you can see in the picture, I had yet ( forgotten) to stabilize the swing rod so the dog was starting to walk down hill.  Another thing to remember, especially since it is a bit tricky drilling a hole and hammering in the tiny wooden dowel with the wire attached.

All in all the project went well.  My friend was happy and I learned a thing or two, so it was not time wasted, unlike with a few unfinished projects that haunt me on occasion.

The calendar says that fall is here and our temperatures are starting to drop (slightly), as well as the leaves. Trader Joe's have their shelves full of pumpkin everything...bread, pancakes, butter... (now, so do I). Tomorrow we are going to watch the movie Goonies (1985) in a cave with friends and end the afternoon rooting for our college team.  What a glorious Saturday!!

Saving all the laundry til Sunday!!

Peace,

Hilari

Scuppernongs, Muscadines, and Fuzzy Socks

A Little Taste of Heaven

These little explosions of taste always make my heart sing.  I never set out to purchase them so they are a grand surprise when I come across them. On this particular day I stopped roadside to pick up the last of the season's peaches but needless to say my cash on hand was quickly swapped for these beauties.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of a scuppernong (green) or muscadine (purple) they are somewhat akin to a grape, but with a very thick peel.  The bigger they are the sweeter they become.  There is scuppernong jelly and muscadine wine but for me I like them cold straight from the fridge, just watch out for the seeds. 

 As I have been working on automata my pieces seem to be growing in size.  My latest piece, which I will share soon, is around 16 x 16 inches.  When I saw an incarnation of this I was intrigued by the size.  Not only was it small but the mechanism was predetermined as well so I had to see what I could do with these parameters.  After playing with the clothespin for a good while, open/close/open/close/ open/close, I came up with this man tipping his hat at the lady passing by.  It seemed easy enough, but as I have learned, not all is as it seems.  It took some finagling to get the hat to go up and down, which you would think would be easy since it should only go up and down. Due to the weight of the felted hat on top of the wire, the hat would wobble around in all directions. Guiding the wire up the back of the man to control the movement worked perfectly.  I added a free swinging purse to the lady's arm to give her a bit of personality, so when the clothespin is worked his hat goes up and down and her purse rocks about.  

This is the next addition to the clothespin series and he is by far one of my favorite pieces.  Unfortunately, the pictures do not do him justice.  Photography is not one of my strong suits, but I digress...When activated be becomes a great sword swallower.  To keep his sword in track I used a kid's juice box straw and felted his body around it.  Surprise, it worked!  I truly believe that if you don't know that something won't work, you will be surprised by what will.  I have others playing around in my head but other pieces are time sensitive so they will just have to play amongst themselves for awhile.

Our weather is giving us a taste of fall this weekend so I have gladly broken out the warm fuzzy socks.  I love my warm fuzzy socks.  Truly.

I live in a college town and we have our first game Monday night, Go VOLS!!!, NFL starts Thursday, fuzzy socks...I just don't know if I can handle much more.  Maybe some warm pumpkin bread dripping with butter...

Peace,

Hilari

From Metal to Wood

While I did not add movement to my pieces in art class, others did and it was wonderful to watch them come to life.  I was a voyer and learned as a larger welded version of this was being made.  I knew I would have to give it a try in a medium that I have much more control over.  This piece measures 21 inches to the kite tip. And the swing span is 20 inches around.

The magic to this is the simple hidden mechanism that is going on inside the small square block atop the long dowel.  A small piece of dowel is carved to a point and it rests on a bowl shape carved into the tip of the longer dowel.  The square block holds both pieces together but not too tightly so the spin can happen when pushed.

This is the second incarnation of this idea and has quickly become one of my favorite pieces to date. You can almost hear her screaming WEEEEE as they cycle round and round. His mustache swings freely and this adds to the life of the piece.  I was lucky to have felt roving the same color as the chosen paint to make her scarf, which helps create uniformity across the swing span (my made up technical term).  The next one I see in my head is a boat, a sail, and a umbrella turned inside out.  That one is on the ever growing I Want To Make list.

Very soon I am off again for a week at Arrowmont.  I CAN'T WAIT!!!  I am taking another movement in wood class so I know I will be greatly inspired..WHOOO! 

My chores are done, dinner is planned, so off to the workshop I go.  I have one almost completed sitting on the workbench.  The movement works, all that is left is the finishing touches. It is all downhill from here.

I hope all have a great 4th of July!

Hilari

Ever Inquisitive

This is the second piece completed in the welding class taken at Arrowmont.  Because it was a weekend class, 2 1/2  days of instriction/shop time, ideas are limited to what can be accomplished in the time allowed.  So with that, I stayed with the frame theme.  This next idea popped into my head but I did not have the specialty items needed to pull it off...an interesting book to disassemble then reassemble or a magnifying glass.  Hum, the book I could handle.  The school library has a free section and I have always found what I needed there.  Where luck came in was that the supply shop (I could  brouse in there all day) had a magnifying glass that worked perfectly for $1.85.  What a bargain.  I am genuinely amazed that the shop has fulfilled my needs/whims with each visit.

The book I chose was about an artist named Joe Zucker (1941-), showing  his more abstract work in both color and black and white.  This was not someone I was familiar with so getting up close and personal as I manipulated his creations was interesting.  It was a simple pamphlet stitch book but his use of vibrent colors made the art piece pop.

  

On my first peruse of the book I found the words "ever inquisitive" and knew the phrase had to be an intracle part of the piece.   That is where the little circular magnifier within the larger magnifier came into play.  After my book was bound and covered I attached the phrase to a small piece of book board and using wire manipulated it so it could be seen by looking through the sweet spot. Again with the viewer interaction. 

It is finally the weekend and I have a couple of projects on the workbench waiting patiently for me to figure out their end result. As the angry elf says, I have one that I am super psyched about. So far it has moved along with out too much of a struggle so that my be the one I put my energy into this evening... after a healthy helping of ham biscuits and some cooked apples.

Peace,

Hilari 

#arrowmont #craftexperience

Peeking into the Peephole

Another wonderful weekend spent at Arrowmont.  This class centered around welding, which I learned that I cannot do.  The gasses used makes my system go out of whack.  But, thanks to our wonderful teacher, Frankie Tone, offering to weld my creations, I was able to complete 2 projects.  He went above and beyond and for that I am grateful.

Having no experience or direction with welding, I packed a few items that I thought would be fun to work with.  From my stash I chose a door peephole and a comic book and started planning. The top picture is what you see when you get up close and personal, peeking into the peep hole.  To make this I got to use a large chop saw for cutting metal square bar and dowels, and a grinder, both of which threw a vast amount of wonderful sparks.  Elbow grease was used to clean the edges and make them ready for welding.  I grabbed my trusty wire to attach the peephole to the top crossbar and with a little adjustment the piece was complete.  I enjoy making pieces that people have to interact with and with this one I was surprised at how many neglected to peep.

This morning has been spent in the kitchen peeling, cutting and cooking down apples flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and sugar.  I love to have them in the freezer because they go with EVERYTHING...pancakes, apple uglies, a yummy side dish, topping for pork chops...I could go on and on.  With the amount cooked I should be set for a while. Yea!

Today is a rainy, lazy, crocheting, movie watching Sunday...after the apple cooking, of course.
Enjoy what this day brings you!

Hilari

#arrowmont #craftexperience

The Ins and Outs of a Whim

This piece has been floating around in my head for a long while. Box painted,  metal parts acquired, wire rusted  but it was never the right time, or feeling, perhaps, to gather everything up and get started.  After one complicated day in the workshop dealing with the ins and outs of another whim, I pulled the parts together and it came together quickly.  The other piece hasn't been abandoned,  but it might be if it keeps back talking me every time I attempt to work on it.

Life has been busy with family obligations, and with that comes wonderful moments.  Granddaughter knows her way around the workshop, her hammer, ear protection, nails and wood, and she was able to introduce Niece the the joys of hammering.

They enjoyed the noise and using their hands.  No real projects were made but just seeing what tools can do is what is important at this age.

This winter we have had moments with our house overflowing and moments of quiet.  Both have been fully enjoyed but with spring in the air I can feel my creative side taking the lead.  My head is spinning with new ideas, each begging to be addressed first.  This weekend I have a mental list of what I would like to get accomplished.   I'm sure if I put the list to paper I would feel overwhelmed so for now the ideas can run free vying for attention.

So I wish you a happy quilting, metal working, wood working, jam making and a yummy sweet potato pie weekend.

Peace,
Hilari