The Orchid Stained Glass Project

Work has begun on the "big" stained glass project: Jack the Orchid. This will go to Florida when done, immortalizing, a famous (to us) orchid known as Jack, in honor of a neighbor named Jack Stone, who gave this native orchid to Vic at least 30 years ago and it's still going strong after tens of divisions, while Jack himself is long gone. This has been on the mental drawing board since about the summer of 2010. Getting it all on paper is what takes so long, but as of around Christmas time this baby was ready to roll. We found a free orchid pattern online which is very close to Jack, so I worked from that. It will be 18 inches high and about 16.75 inches wide. Each piece has to be numbered, color coded, and directionalized for the cutting. This is the time-consuming, non-fun part of the project: it all has to be decided before you start, which for us fly-by-the seat-of-our-pants-type like me, is scary.

So first you print out two sets of the drawing: one to work from on the worktable, and the other to cut up into individual pieces with the special sissors, which has two blades and creates enough space between pieces for the copper foil which will be wrapped around each piece (so the solder has something to stick to). Stained glass can be done two ways: with lead channel strips which are soldered at their joints, or by copper foil, also called the Tiffany Method (like the lamps) which is better for little pieces, like this design. So I'm going foil on this one. This means I'll be soldering along every line you see up there. both sides. yeah, I know....

As of last night, Dec. 26, I've cut a few pieces in the lower left edge, and have stopped to discover how much I don't know and am figuring things out as I type. Here's a shot of the workspace and another shot of the working craft shed.

In the box lid on the right are all the little pieces which will need to be cut from glass and grinded to exact shape, then the edges wrapped in narrow copper foil.

The workspace. Doesn't take much space to assemble.

Merry Christmas

First, I'm so pleased to announced BoBo N. is a follower of this blog. We go way back, BoBo's my man. He lives in Florida.

Pixels #1: Okra Claus featured on the casa de n tree 2010. Thanks Aunt V.

FINALLY spun all 12 oz. of the Icelandic roving I got through Bec's client's daughter in NY -- Icey Acres. I left these as singles for now and plan to dye them, then ply and make socks. But first, I need a burner to place outside the shed so I don't pollute the house. It's on the list.

 

Also made it through this yellow wonder: This is half superwash merino wool, and half hand-dyed silk from two different hankies. The merino I spun on a spindle, and the silk was done on the wheel, and then plied together on the wheel. That was a new experience -- spinning from a silk hankie. Long story but good to learn something new. The silk snags on any and every little, tiny roughness of your hands so this has to be done long after gardening and way before stained glass work.

In other news: Finished the copper foil Dard Hunter Rose stained glass piece, about 9 inches square. That was fun! I liked that method, the Tiffany way; ready to do the orchid and then the feather gourd head. I better work fast; come March the Hot Dog will be ready to roll.

Lastly, the new sewing machine made this project possible: "Re-purposing" a T-shirt. You know, when you love an old T-shirt and don't want to get rid of it even tho it hasn't fit for 10 years? Well, why not make it into draw string bag? These shrits were from the ancient 80s and 90s (yes, I kept them this long) and glad I did cuz now they are way cool to put *stuff* in.

All for now. Waiting for more snow. Only got a few inches the other day but so cool to see those BIG flakes coming down.

Been A Busy Fall

Been a while, gotta remember what's new since Halloween. This post will have it all: stitches, pixels and pieces, from sewing to stained glass to singers…

The first week of November we went to Phoenix and saw Elton John and Leon Russell in concert. It was really fabulous, he sounded great, played all the classic oldies, what a show they put on. Nice to see Elton so gracious and grateful to his AMERICAN audience. The people were in awe, swaying and dancing as if it were the second coming... taking pictures, singing...but enough about me. We did have good seats, and with the camera's various settings and some work in Photoshop, I was able to get some decent shots. He even had some "classic" band members aboard, like guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olsson. Sounded GREAT!

We spent Thanksgiving in Denver with Bill's side of the family, his cuz Sue and her husband Bob and more. Wonderful time with lots of shopping. However, the drive home was not fun, like this white-out over Wolf Creek Pass:

Now on to what's been completed since the last post. For one, the hand-spun, hand-dyed lace "Bison Shawlette." Here it is, blocked and drying on towels on the floor, but I was able to wear it for Thanksgiving dinner. It's merino wool and quite warm, despite the air holes.

 

 

Then there's the Gator Scarf. He has been relocated to St. Pete, Fla. Closer to a gator game. This was a fun project, but glad it's over (lotsa bumps). (Bought this yarn, already spun and dyed.)

[There's also a completed 3-button neck warmer out there too, awaiting for my other half to cut the antler buttons he promised. I made it out of the "grand champion" yarn from the 2010 county fair, a natural blend of llama, alpaca and silk. bitchin')

So then I get the urge to embroider. So I says to myself, self, why not try something on the hem of an old pair of jeans so in case I totally mess them up it won't be a big deal. Took about three weeks but I just finished them the other day. The hardest part, besides jamming the needle thru tight spots in denim, was transferring the design. Ended up using a sharpie (possible mistake) and a quilting template I found in the stash. Results are not bad, better from afar. Got bored with all browns so put a second color scheme on the back. Weird? yes. Completed? definitely.

So then I says to myself, I really need to learn how to do the copper foil method of stained glass so I can start Vic's orchid project. After much agonizing, I decided to make a quick design using the square Roycroft rose, getting the art from the font set I have, take it into Illustrator, break it down, and size it to what I need; small, like 5 or 6 inches. You cut out each piece, then wrap the edges in copper foil so the solder has something to stick to. This is also called the Tiffany method or something, like the lamps. Here it is all cut out, edges grounded down, and with the foil applied.

This was going to be it, but then I thought, oh heck, why not add a border? So I did, using some plain and wavy water glass so the whole thing is about 9 inches wide now. Almost done, just need to finish soldering the center, solder on an edge and add some hooks to the back. Bring on the orchid!

And then I says, I could really use a custom case for my double-pointed sock needles. I have so many, and there are so many different sizes and the numbers are worn off, so every time I need a set I have to re-measure each with a gauge to find the right ones. I've seen some on line, but they looked so simple I said I CAN DO THAT. So, I did. At first sewing by hand around the outer edge, and quilting a top seam (what was I thinking?):

 and then when it came to all the pocket seams, I was ready for a sewing machine. So -- I got one.

It's a simple, inexpensive Brother designed to make straight lines, that's all I need. It worked pretty good, but I had some thicknesses to get thru: there's quilt batting on the back side for padding. My lines aren't perfectly straight but it's all done and I'm happy. For now I have little pieces of masking tape to show the needle sizes! You can barely see it in the pic -- need to find a way to label each pocket without writing directly onto the fabric in case I re-arrange. For now, tape.

 

That's all I can think of for now. The weather has been unbelievable in mid-December. No snow since Thanksgiving and hi's in the 50s at times. However, looks like all that is about to change so today I need to get out and plant those Iris bulbs I got from Paula and maybe throw down some wildflower seeds in hopes for a blooming spring. The ground is brown and warm right now, gotta take advantage of that.