Laid back mood

After intense felting month I'm in laid back mood after Carlisle Country Craft fair. It was interesting it was fun and it was coooold :(  The first day after a few hours of sitting in the chair I without compunction took of slippers from my "shop's hostess". I'm the boss, I'm not? :) One of the visitors suggested to put on my mittens too, I actually was ready for that, just was in denial mood, it was August for heaven's sake.

My shop's hostess still with warm slippers :)

Here some colorful pics from the preparation time, before country and cottage crowd was entering the site.

 

Found a friend at the pasture next to my booth, shared some breakfast waffles :)

Found more soles at Walmart, that inspired me to make a few more boots

 ....  forecast of future cold winter inspired to try mittens too

... and of course slippers, slippers... :)

 

Now I had some time for the photos of some earrings

... and the soap

 

nettle tea, turmeric, alkanet, charcoal, paprika powder, titanium oxide, zinc oxide / Coconut water, titanium oxide, green clay

 dandelion-nettle tea, plantago, parsley, titanium dioxide, charcoal./  milk powder, chocolate, milk, cocoa powder, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide

Spring mood

Well.. spring came (or not) with bad mood and strange wintery characteristics. I was very happy that I made my winter boots for spring time so at least I wasn't freezing anymore at the dog park. Even though I would rather adore them on the shelf and wear some running shoes, but this spring is not the case.

And even we hardly can speak about the spring, I've got invited with my felted slippers to 2014 Carlisle Country Craft and Old-fashioned Market Mercantile that will be held on August 23-24. Even if it looks far far away I'm sending e-mails to my wool supplier for more and for more natural wool. Check the page of the fair for more info and book the days, should be really a lot of fun. 

Very sad news came from FB friends from Israel and Lithuania, the Lithuanian Jewish writer Icchokas Meras died on Thursday at the age of 79 in Israel. He lived in Israel for the last forty years. It's hard to believe as just a few days ago I was talking to his sister about natural remedies to help him. My father's and Meras' family lived in the same small Lithuanian town Kelme, where Jewish  population before WWII was almost 75% . Fortunately the kids survived the holocaust. My father and his sister, Meras and his sister were saved by simple, good people of the town. By my personal understanding Meras had a very distinguished style of expression of the memories and feeling of the surrounding world. It was nice to read comments on FB and expressions like "A great writer and a very humble man" very, very true. Sad, very sad.

But life is going on. And I needed more engagement for my mind and body to keep myself in positive mood. A few Sirian Seals to bring positive energy up

... a few finished tutorials (and earrings too) another on its way

... and deep into "from scratch" totally natural body and mind pleasers - bath bombs and soap recipes. I just had a blast. All soaps contains the best for the skin oils: olive, coconut, avocado, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower,  castor, sesame, shear butter. Of course also all the best for skin and "nose" essential oils depending on color and additives, no fragrances. The additives of the natural coloring or additional skin pleasers:

chocolate, cocoa powder, milk powder, coffee / honey, oatmeal / yogurt, green clay, orange zest

chocolate, cocoa powder, milk powder, coffee, aloe vera powder/ green tea, alfalfa, sea salt, green clay (whipped - doesn't sink) / yogurt, sea buckthorn oil, calendula extract and flowers

yogurt, red cabbage, charcoal / cucumber, yogurt, green clay, alfalfa / sea salt, charcoal, milk

Bath bombs also not just for fun but also for therapeutics. Milk powder, citrus powder, drinking soda and grapseed (good for skin not so good inside despite what the ads say) oil in every bomb. Pine needles and pine needle and eucalyptus essential oils, or sea buckthorn oil and calendula extract with orange and lemon essential oils.

And last but definitely not least - chocolate candies! Don't try steal the bite - it's a soap :D yes, not from scratch, from melt and pour SLS free, with real chocolate and coco powder :D

Did I elevated your mood a bit? I hope so :D

Non ending experiments

As I had said a few posts below - "it's my way, or.. clays ways". Well.. almost, this time the experiment with hardware and not thinking forward interfered greatly. Who would think (I should, but I didn't) that some forms are soldered. And before going to kiln piece looked nice and strong.

 

 

But ... after kiln.... not so much.

 

 

 I'm trying to be here positive and look for good things, the clay part came out nice, but the hardware.... the bottom part apparently were soldered to get that shape and all solder just ran down and bottom practically separated from cylinder. The bad part is - that all this process documented and was suppose to be tutorial with already 70 pictures ready to use. I told myself- think positive -  and remembered nice saying -“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.” Tom Krause quotes ( motivational speaker, Teacher and Coach, b.1934). So I decided, this tutorial will be with troubleshooting part:o) and I'll show the result (hopefully) in the next post:o)

 

Meanwhile... experiments with felting continue and this time I've tried another form and more possibilities for decor. This time the piece of coarse canvas was suppose to look like mending, but looked like worn out or that my dog tasted the slipper:o) but I liked that shabby look and decided to leave as it is:o)

 

 

Experiments' time

I did not forget the jewelry, just got into kind of sport to perfect the felting slippers and I LIKE experiments, so it goes both ways. Day with rolling/felting, night with metal clay. It's just- with wool is simple - you got or you did not. And after 5-6 hours you see more or less result, with metal clay it's not so simple and the process much longer and I frequently "play by ear", if it's not my way so it's clay's way:o))) Right now I'm trying to put two things together hardware and threaded construction in one piece. Be patient one day I'll show the result (or I hope so...:o) But at least I've finished one more tutorial: metal clay, resin, patina, hardware.

Meanwhile .... yesterdays felting result- double layered slippers. And I definitely will perfect size 38-all friends' shoe size-38! pity, what should I do with wrong sizes?