7 posts tagged “in progress”

I would be the first to admit I am NOT a carpenter.... but the cabinets are a mess, and if I am going to get my antique stove in here, things have to change, plus I need more counter top, the 10 inches I have to the right of the sink and the corner's worth I have to the left of the sink are not cutting it, cooking here is a maddening experience. I cannot find a cabinet at the recycling center to fit my space and none adaptable. SO, I think a simple solution is my best bet. I played with this at work Saturday night, I get my best ideas at 3am.

I am removing the double sink, and replacing it with a single basin. I am getting rid of the dishwasher, I just hate dishwashers, I mean you have to practically wash the dishes before inserting them, so it is a huge waste of electricity when I have a hand towel. This plan got me to thinking, How would I work what I have and within my own construction limits? Then it came to me, save the base cabinet, rip out the doors and shelves, and make slide under the counter trollies to hold stuff! Then all I have to do is build a box, put wheels on it and slide it into place under the counter! They would look like this:(side view of trolley shown at bottom)

Each dark brown section with a black line on it is a storage trolley, constructed sorta like the one at the bottom, with slightly raised sides on each section to hold the stuff on the shelf and support the box , except the one under the sink access doors, it would be a single drawer that rolls out, I could keep plastic wrap , etc in it. Under the sink it's self I could put a pullout dish drying rack, vent the doors and dishes would dry out of sight when I did not have time to dry them. Each trolley would have 3-4 bin-shelves in it, to hold canned goods, pots, pans, mixer, etc. Easy access, no digging to the back of the cabinet to get stuff, and I could roll it out into the light where I could see what I was doing. The top of each trolley could be a cutting board so I could roll one out to get more counter top when I need it, one top could be a thing sheet of  marble for candy making.... this could be a very space efficient , flexible system. Topping the trollies would increase usable counter top by even more.

To the right of the sink is a drooping "drawer" section needing a fix...I could replace the drawers that do not close right with boards attached to new drawer slides, with baskets on top of each board.... or boxes with wicker fronts so they look like baskets. I could keep silverware, and utensils in these. If I decide I do not have time to make the trollies, I bet if I go to a cabinet shop and say I need 6 rolling trollies made, for my workshop, out of cabinet grade plywood, they will cost a whole lot less than if I said I need kitchen cabinets built...... I could even trash the cabinet I have and just put in a top between the 2 walls, and built the section for the sink access.... I need to ponder this some more.

One more trip to the post office tomorrow and I do not have to go there again for awhile. It's been a long time getting things done, my energy level has been blah, even with double the B12 shots. I am tired of being tired.

REALLY sorry to see the vacation end. I have gotten some loose ends tied up while here, and some art done mostly painting, some on wood and some on fabric.... I got a sun plaque done I have been trying to find the time to finish. I also got all the faces for the art doll books done, some of them are seen here, the top ones are sun faces, the bottom ones are doll faces.. yes they are duplicates sorta, I try to make semi-copies for myself of the things I make to give away.... these are going into Dave's healing doll, with I can finish now that I have the shells and stones I needed to finish it.

I also got 4 new art bags started, 3 finished and I hope to finish the newer ones over the next couple of days. I tried to send a pic of them to my email but it is not coming through for some silly reason, so I will post them when I get them all done. The morning is beautiful..... the pacific is tormenting me with clear skies and beautiful sunrises because it knows I have to leave today... I've been trying to upload a pic for over 30 minutes and vox won't let it go so I'll have to add it later... gotta get the car loaded and have some coffee on the beach before we leave....

Edit: 3 of the pics finally uploaded:

 

   
    

Of my concept for a wire quilt for my front window.... I couldn't wait till the weekend to work on it.

Okay so there are sun faces in it, no big surprise there eh? The small circles are beads, to add glitter. Still working out the fine details and need to make a few more blocks for it.... for the most part I am happy with it, now I need to find some wire to make it out of....

I picked up my B12 shots today, and my cholesterol medication. The needle is impressive. I get my first lesson in sticking myself with it tomorrow. I hope all of you are doing something more fun than this over the weekend.

Portland hit 90+ today, out by us it hit 95 outside, the house is still like at oven at 2am.... major heavy sigh......

The healing doll adventure took a turn while stranded in my van for 17+ hours over the weekend with a flat tire I could not get off my car without help in a no cell phone reception area. Luckily I had been to the store and not unloaded the van yet so I had art books, my sketch pad, a couple magazines, some wine, cheese, cantaloupe, and crackers to keep me company while I waited for someone to come by and find me. I sorta figured Dave is not going to open to getting a "doll" doll... so I turned it into a healing doll book, sorta.... I had already designed a doll on a quilt for a challenge I doing on yahoo so designing his was easy.
The rough drafts:

First mine as taken a week ago, I cannot post the finished project until the challenge is over:The very rough sketch is in the upper left corner, option 1, the one for my challenge, is in the top right ( The Goddess Of The Last Minute, and although I am very happy with the final piece, time has been added to the challenge so I have been busy adding more to her ). The bottom one is a second option I am working on, you cannot tell from the picture but the darker star covered area is glittery fabric. There is a two side front pieces on each that opens like a book those are embellished, and there is a zippered opening at the bottom to stuff the healing herbs into. Lot's of power symbols are being quilted and appliqued into the back ground.

Dave has made it clear he feels like an alien since the stroke, so I made him into one on his version, in the rough draft the scribble down his right arm is actually going to be Celtic knots, flowing from a Celtic knot heart if I can figure out how to make one to lay over the red fabric heart. Power symbols are being appliqued in healing colors and quilted onto the back ground and onto the back. This one is also going to have the zippered pouch area to hold
the herbs.

Both are about 9x12 inches.... the faces on all of them are paint painted and appliqued onto the doll. These are turning out to be lots of fun to make.

I have been researching healing symbols online and came across this cool rubber stamp website   with lots of info on celtic symbols. Since Dave's doll is going to have knotwork down the right arm, going in that direction with the symbols seems like a gotta do to me. BTW, that site has some GREAT stamps, I plan to buy a couple of the round ones to use as my return address stamp and one for my art work hang tags/price tags. Really worth a closer look if you want stamps that are not the usual ho-hum stuff.

Some more of their round personal designs can be seen here.

While looking for more info on healing colors, yes I am learning as I go on this project... I stumbled onto this aura colors test.  The results were quite intriguing. It links to a book on the subject, but the test and the outcome were not your usual stupid stuff. My daughter assures me the outline of the two I tied for (magenta and abstract tan) fits me like a glove. I have read them several times now and I am not sure if I should write her out of my will or not in return for that opinon. heh

Nothing blew up or went flat on me today, that's always good. Now I need some sleep....

Cross posted from live journal posts done yesterday:

I started this with very limited knowledge, even though I had several DIY pages to guide me. I somehow got the idea you had to leave the beads on the stick/straw/whatever while they were drying, you do not have to leave them as long as you are careful to not get glue on whatever you are winding them around. This means you do not put glue on the first 1/4" or so on the widest end, where you start rolling, Glue should be applied only on the strip after you have it around the stick/dowel once. They slide off if wound just right, not too tight, not too loose. A toothpick would work great and give a nice small hole

A good quality glue stick is your friend... tacky glue or elmers, works too but a glue stick is less messy to work with. I only used a dab on the final end to make sure it was secured well. Using a glue stick increased the speed in which I could roll beads, and made them less slippery while rolling. They dried faster too.

Folk art acrylic paints has this clear suspension with metal flakes in it called Gems...sorta glitter in clear nail polish.... you can paint it on over the bead and the colors show through, but it adds glitz in a much easier way than wrapping this little boogers with metallic embroidery floss.... trying to do that just made me want to scream.

I am playing with the dipping process now using 3 different options including Triple Thick by Krylon, a sealing glaze by Sculpty, and I forget the third. I am thinking of stringing a bunch of beads onto a string running them through the glaze, separating them on the string and then thumbtacking the strand into a window opening for drying, if the beads get stuck to the string no biggie, the center will still be soft. The idea might not work the way I think it will.... and I may have to resort to dipping one at a time and drying them on toothpicks stuck into something... that would be very sad, and very slow. We'll see how it goes...

So I dipped some beads in the Triple Thick Glaze by Krylon. I cannot post them yet it says to not handle them for 24 hours. It did okay I guess, it is drying very glossy, but it looks more like paper beads with varnish on them than it does faux glass beads. I'm not sure if Triple Thick is suppose to be water-y or not... but I was a tad disappointed. It's gonna take several dips of the beads into this glaze ( and probably me dipping into some vodka more than once or twice) to get these looking like lampwork beads I can assure ya. Personally I would not use the words triple or thick in describing this product. I was expecting milkshake THICK when I opened the jar, what I got was ummm.... sorta antacid thick, so when one is expecting milkshake creamy and they get Maalox instead... I hope you can appreciate my dismay ;) The last time I remember being this disappointed was age 8, I spent months drooling over a purple Stingray bike with a banana seat and rainbow streamers flowing off the handle bars and on Xmas what I got was roller skates. It's just NOT what you were expecting or hoping for, even if it also has wheels. I was hoping for THICK, and one dip and I'd be done... like magic, it's just not happening with this product.

Testing the other two options tomorrow.... for now here are the paper beads done with "Triple Thick"
One coat results ( the only exception to this is the green bead in the bottom row, I coated it with Tacky Glue first, (because it IS thick). I let it dry and then did a coat of TT on top of that to test how it would impact the end results. The paper ridges are a lot less obvious up close on that bead and the Tacky Glue did not get milky when I added the TT top coat.

The next picture is of a bead that has 3 coats of Triple Thick on it, ( sorry for the blur) it's getting closer but still no cigar IMHO.

I am not discouraged from continuing, I will not be beaten, I will figure out a way to make this deliver results that make me happy without resorting to investing in a melting pot and UTEE.
I am getting closer:

BTW I found more paper bead styles and options, as well as some products to use the finished products in:

Round paper beads:
http://www.astorybooklife.com/how-to/paper-beads/

Paper bead and safety pin bracelet:
http://paintedfishstudio.com/?p=76

These are some of the beads I rolled using the paper I painted:

I am working out the gluing and rolling to get it to a faster pace with steady results. I am also working out the length the papers need to be to get me the bead size I want. It is getting easier. Going to add some glitz to some of these while watching TV and hope to dip a few tonight. They really are addicting. This is about 1/3rd of the ones I rolled after dinner tonight. I have two collages to finish up for Collage Mania II tomorrow, then I need to get busy assembling a wild art doll mini quilt I designed for a yahoo challenge. I have already rough drafted 2 of my 13"x13" mini quilts for the Baker's Dozen quilt group on yahoo that sprang from the QA list. Gawd it feels great to have time to create just for the fun of it again....

I also did some crock-potting today, I have been fine tuning this recipe I came up with that my daughter Karina refers to as Crack Disguised As Pork. Heh. It goes fast when I make it.

Drunken Mediterranean Pork: (This is my own creation and it is to die for)
1 1/2 lb pork cubed, browned and tossed in a crockpot with-
2 stalks celery chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup each: dried cranberries and dried apricots
1 tbl minced garlic
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 teaspoon each: Tumeric and garam masala
1/2 tsp blk pepper
1/3 cup red wine
2/3 cup low sodium chicken broth

Cook on high 2 hours and then low for 4-5 hours. Serve over rice, this will melt in your mouth! I wish I could post the aroma it creates !

I only had cranberries today so I used 1 cup.

I tried to add a picture of it, but Vox won't let me so I guess for now all you get is the beads pic.

Edit: Here is the picture of the Drunken Mediterranean Pork:

Well, in spite of my best efforts I did not meet the bills. So I am consoling myself by painting paper and making paper beads.... like any rational person would do. ;)

Everyone on the quiltart.com list is making paper beads, and I wanted to be one of the cool kids so I am making some too. Not one to totally follow the pack I am not using store bought papers or magazine pages, that is why I am painting my own paper.
The outcome of that was 2 papers:

and these beads:

This is rather addicting and I like the ability to control the color beads you get by painting your own paper. I am having fun trying to paint to predict the finished bead appearance.

Now the primary way to make them look like lampwork beads is to dip them in UTEE, but I do not have a melting pot so I am going to be trying other finishes... progress reports will be posted covering both the successes and the failures.

I also have a collage nearly done for Virginia Spiegel's cancer research Collage Mania II...
I need to make a special piece for the end of the B/W piece. Looks much better in person, I am working on a spiral goddess piece too. 

 The sun face and black and white strip are molded paper clay, the sun rays are fabric and the background is paper towel....... the darker portion is flat but painted to look like it is folded. I am making a special piece for the end of the black and white strip. It is MUCH prettier in person, getting a decent picture is going to be a trick since it will not scan well in the scanner. This is the best pic so far.