Busy time

Destruction/reconstruction work day today. I've bought old shoe lasts from cowboy boots shoemaker and decided to give them a new life. The form wasn't good for slippers so I cut off these cowboy boots' pointed tips and decided that I want them adjustable. On internet I saw variety of adjustable mechanisms and liked that one. So my husband decided to make me happy by helping me with my "toys" :o) So here you go... size 32-34 (20-22 cm)

Meanwhile...., our "little" doodle Archie got too matted and stinky and no home grooming would help. So I decided to put him into "capable" hands of groomers from petsmart. The goomer was happy that the pup was very well behaved and wasn't biting even when he didn't like what was happening and likes teeth brushing (mommies boy:o) And I payed additional 20$ so they wouldn't shave off, but de-matte the tail. But "oi wey" (as my son says) what we have got!!!!

From this.................................  to THAT!!

Sealing ammonium patina and ...

You remember my happy post about the ancient bronze (see below) Well I ruined it. Put overbright coating and something went wrong (maybe too much, maybe that coating doesn't work with ammonium patina... who knows) so I madly began to sand it, then Oops! remembered to pictured my failure, so somebody won't get into same trouble. 

before sealing and after sealing with overbright (and part that I sanded in my hysterics:o)

Second time ammonium didn't want to stick to bronze, it took a few days and a few cleanings and dippings into salt water. Now it's more... let's say  "colorful", still with some bronze patches, but much more better then after sealing. Now I'm sealing just with renaissance wax, so far it kept my patinas more or less OK. So here you go..

before and after renaissance wax. much more acceptable, but I'm still considering throwing the piece back to kiln......

Meanwhile... finished some Canadian sliver (roving) and now fully immersing into Lithuanian wool, that is much more finer in microns and that means much more shrinkage. I did thought about, but definitely not enough, because I've got very nice felted sturdy slippers, but 2 cm smaller then needed :o( oh well.. that what we call real life experience, don't we? :o)))

Felting table - mission accomplished!

After a lot of fun, and a lot of  pain in my back after the last felting day I decided - enough is enough! I need something more comfortable. I searched internet for examples, searched home for supplies. So what we need? Height, frame, hole, vessel to gather water and of course all that addition should have a slope, so the water will go down to hole. I've found 2x4" wood planks that perfectly fit under framing for table, took out of garage leftovers from molding and my painting board, that a few years served me as jewelry table (well... it's time to serve me more). And today I used my husband's power tools to put everything in one nice and useful piece:o))  Voilà!!!

 Of course it's far from perfect, but I'm sure my back will appreciate my hard work:o)

The ammonium patina

I'd left my homemade bronze clay piece a few days in ammonium fumes. Definitely it was too long :o( the piece had gotten to black and just a little beautiful bluish showed up. 

With the rustic texture of the piece the play of black and blue looked good, but I wanted more blue and less black, so I sanded high points as much as I could and put piece back to fumes (just for half day). I like the end result. Black and blue and rustic texture, it really looks like out of excavation site :o)))

 What I need now... some cool ancient looking chain design :o))