Sunflower shoots

sunflower shoots on the left, pea shoots on the right

Sunflower shoots and pea shoots coming out of their isolation in the warm cabinet above the fridge. Instructions here at Chelsea Green: link

Sunflower shoots are delicious – they taste green, like other nice mild salad leaves, but overlay it with all the butteriness of the sunflower seed.

I got this untreated seed from the local Pulse USA office last year, but birdseed packs of oilseed sunflower will work too. You’ll get better results if you remove the seeds with the little holes signifying a bug has gotten there before you.

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Kolrosing, and some rude puns

Kolrosing is one of those great “peasant” crafts in which you can get amazing results with a bare minimum of supplies. Basic form – seal the wood, incise a line in the wood, rub in bark dust or soot, then sand and wax to hold the colorant in.

I’ve got a nice Pinewood Forge kolrosing knife, but you can use a chip-carving knife or an X-acto. Cinnamon is technically bark dust, and super easy to find; powdered instant coffee works too, or a bit of tree bark rubbed over sandpaper. This spoon is a birch “disposable” spoon you can find in bulk on Amazon, for a test piece, but the technique works on any piece you have in mind.

Not saying the technical skill displayed here is amazing – but I am certainly tickled at my own pun.

Lampwork Leaves and Feathers

After a work trip to San Antonio afforded enough free time for a lampwork class with Sam Hibler, I’ve really been enjoying making beads again.

Glass has been a summer thing for me – as winter temps in my garage have been cold enough to thermally shock stringer into bits from the heat of my hand picking it up. Summer of course has many competing activities – such as battling the thistle colonies left behind by the previous owners of my house – and I don’t think I got to beads at all, last summer. The serendipitous class time in a well-arranged, safe studio with an established library of techniques was a nice kickstart to me doing things on my own again.

(Stealing the crockpot to heat up my insulating vermiculite has also made a difference in the number of surviving beads.)

From a March 2019 Soda Lime Times tutorial on feathers: not especially GOOD work, but a heck of a lot of fun, and great practice in encased stringer and its applications.

• Oak leaves in CIM Toto, Moccasin, and Effetre Apple Blush, with That Frit Girl “Hare and the Tortoise” unexpectedly-reducing frit
• Acorn headpins in the same, still missing caps
• Feathers in CIM Aloha, Poison Apple, Envy and Effetre Dark Ivory

 

Embroidered Kitties

A collection of cute kitty embroideries from Urban Threads and Embroidery Library, on a background of tossed cats, with prairie point ears to play with.

Gift for a coworker.

A low carving bench

Demonstrating good posture while hollowing out a kuksa cup at North House Folk School, March 2018.

The low bench was remarkably comfortable.

It allowed for a straight back, and good leverage from being directly over the work.

Now that the snow has melted and I can reach my log stockpile, time to make one of my own!

Star Trek baby quilt

Kona Sunny is the perfect command gold.

Simply layered over black fleece, tacked down with a decorative stitch “braid”, machine embroidery.

For baby Pippa.

Maynard Plaza quilt

I forget how much I like my quilts when I give them away immediately after finishing!

This is “Maynard Plaza”, a throw-size pattern by Esch House Quilts. Made as a wedding present.

The windows are a Quilt-Con pack of Kona from several years back. Background is Kona Kale. Backing is a teal wave from a local quilt shop.

Shaggy Mane mushroom carving pattern

Or, the most durable mushroom I’ve ever seen.

I put this project together for a Whittle-in session at the local Bismarck carving club, Flickertail Woodcarvers.

Download pattern here: Shaggy Mane Mushroom

Mushroom cups in a hugelbed

Early spring cups growing in a hugelkultur bed – a raised bed built around a core of shrub prunings and rabbit compost.

The tiniest mushrooms I’ve ever seen

Found on a bale of straw in my backyard.

They’re blue!