You gotta' hand it to that girl Nancy...

She comes up with some of the best ideas. My friend Nancy passed this fun ring display idea on to me, thanks Nancy! And if you think that is a great idea you have got to see her work at her her etsy store. Wonderful I tell ya'!

I decided to make my hands multi-functional so I hung some of them from little hooks to show off bangles.

I used some scrap bits of marine grade 4mm plywood (from a friend), traced my hand on a piece of paper, cut it out, transferred the patterns onto the wood, cut out one set with my handy-dandy scroll saw, sanded the rough spots, used the first set as a pattern to trace out more, cut them all, sanded some more, painted some and VOILA!

Recipe for Happiness

My friend and woodworker Carl from the Co-op brought me three (!!!) large stumps for all my hammery work. They weigh near 100 pounds and he hauled them out of the truck...

Took a chainsaw to them in three places so they do not wobble...(I wonder what folks in downtown Benton Harbor thought of the sound of a chainsaw early on a Sunday morning...hmmmm)

He even hauled them into my studio...*phew* They are solid and I love, love, love working on them! That picture up there is just sooooo cute it's like my little old stump is looking up to her big sister.

Check this out! They even have some beautiful lichens growing on the sides, my studio smells like the deep forest now...Nice.
Thanks again Carl!

An idea that just came to me

This is a bracelet that I made from felted sweaters, copper and sterling. I made one for myself and it wears very nicely, seems to be pretty durable too. I have a friend that has studied fibers for many, many years and she says "Well, of course it's durable" I guess that's the nature of felted knit.

Bonus.

It all started with a pile of wool sweaters that were too worn in places to wear anymore. I washed them in the washer and dried them in the dryer and they shrunk up into beautiful, very dense felt

Next I cut out and sanded several copper disks, marked their centers and drilled a few holes in each

All clamped up in my bending break and ready to bend

Nice clean, straight bend

Add copper headpins

Cut squares of felt larger than the disks

Thread the squares onto the headpins one layer at a time

Push the felt down into the fold and twist the headpin wires to hold the felt

Clip the end of the wires way down inside

Trim away all extra felt

Bunches of felt tacos! Ha!