Tottie Talks Crafts Blog » woodwork

etsy love

tottietalkscrafts — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:34:41 +0000

I love etsy.

Oh the goodies you can find there! Oh my!

Look what just arrived in my mailbox:

Isn’t this a gorgeous shawl pin? I bought it in Kate Heck’s etsy shop. LINK

Kate and I found out about each other’s work when we were chatting about looms and weaving, courtesy of one of the online weaving groups we both belong to.

Ah, the wonders of the internet! We looked at each other’s links, and ahem, pretty quickly, some shopping ensued! LOL!

She made it from Cocobolo wood, which I love.

It’s beautifully made and the craftsmanship is just superb.

Here it is on my pink stole that I made for my Lily Speed-O-Weave loom book: LINK Poifeck!

By the way, I have an etsy shop, too…. Link

etsy is amazing and wonderful…. and sooooooooo much fun, especially when you find gorgeous handmade treasures that you just would not find anywhere else!

A little woodworking with my tapestry weaving

tottietalkscrafts — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:03:00 +0000

Weaving and woodwork are completely interwoven at our house.

I am working on an ongoing series of woven tapestries.

(In amongst working on a new book and a million other things… never a dull moment!)

I love weaving on frame looms, and find them to be a joy for tapestry weaving.

One problem with frame looms – especially a BIG one like my Goodwood (no profit in saying how much I like their work, just a happy customer) 13 inch frame loom (actual dimensions are close to 16 inches wide by about 32 inches tall) is that it’s waaaaaaaaaay too big for working in my lap.

So, I went out to the workshop and made an easel for it.

I get the heeby jeebies at the thought of drilling holes into a gorgeous loom.

But, it was essential to have holes in the sides for attaching the folding stand.

So I got Jim to drill the holes! LOL

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

While I was out in the workshop, I couldn’t resist making myself a couple of small tapestry beaters and some funky tapestry flat bobbins.

Why do tapestry bobbins need to be round and turned on the lathe?

They don’t.

I saw a photo of a flat tapestry bobbin somewhere on the net, and had a huge ‘aha’ moment!

And have discovered that I really quite like the little one of a kind carved ones.

They are slow to make (which is why machines are used to whip out the commercial ones) but are a treat to use.

And, will I be selling them? Nope…. too much work to make them.

Will I continue to make more for myself?

Intermittently…. I am deep into working on my new book, and there aren’t enough hours in the day…..

I have a tiny beater that I use for the miniature tapestries that I have been working on, but haven’t been able to find my full size beater.

So, it was a good excuse to play with some lovely walnut wood that we were given years ago, and make myself some Goddess shaped tapestry beaters.

The new beaters and bobbins are a treat to work with.

The tapestry is moving along nicely, although the ‘hours in the day’ issue is a hard one to get around!

One of the other tapestries that I am working on is on ‘wait’ mode…. but I hope to get back to it soon.

But, the new book is first and foremost, so that’s my focus right now.

As I make progress on it, and as we get the technical problems we’re having resolved, I’ll post more about it.

I have been having a very frustrating time with technical problems on my blog lately, and we have spent a ton of time trouble shooting. I haven’t been able to upload pics, so have spent hours and hours fiddling around with deleting old posts, in case that is the issue…. hopefully, we’ll get to the root of the issue soon!

All material on this blog is copyright protected and may not be used without permission from Noreen Crone-Findlay

Handmade-chunky-bead-teething-necklace-part-2

tottietalkscrafts — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:15:52 +0000

In my previous post, LINK, I shared my mis-adventure when I sliced the top of my knuckle off with the edge of the belt sander. Ouch.

So, that posting was more of a ‘how NOT to’ than a ‘how to’…..

Luckily, my finger is growing back and I have finished the chunky 3 bead necklace….

I left the beads to soak in a bowl of vegetable oil for a few days. Because grandbaby is going to be chewing them, I don’t want to use anything that could be dangerous to him on the beads.

And, that is why I am using organic cotton to spool knit the cords that hold the beads together. (Lion Brand Organic cotton).

I spool knitted 2 short cords and stitched them into the spaces between 2 of the beads, and one long one for the neck cord.

NOTE: The neck cord NEVER goes around the baby’s neck!!!

It goes around the neck of his grown ups, or is looped through the tie of the sling , so he can retrieve it when he drops it.

He only has access to it when he is being held and supervised, and not when he’s sitting in the car seat.

The big holes are great for chubby little fingers to hold onto…..

And those big beads are just so satisfying for a little guy to gum away on! (Well… to bite with his TWO new teeth!!!)

He absolutely loves the necklaces, and so do we.

Handmade chunky bead teething necklace part 1

tottietalkscrafts — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:55:12 +0000

Our gorgeous grandbaby is teething and is chomping everything in sight as he tries to ease the pain of those pesky teeth pushing on his gums.

My daughter asked me to make her a necklace with large wooden beads so our wee fella could play with it and use it for teething.

I made her one necklace that was a great success: Minoan Goddess of the Bees necklace

So, I decided to make her another one- this time with several big chunky beads to keep him interested.

I cut a length of my favorite wood: Arbutus (also known as Madrona) that my sister in law had trimmed from a tree in her yard. (She saves me all their arbutus twigs and branches, bless her heart!)

Then, I split my mini log into 2 sections on the bandsaw, and did some preliminary shaping with the saw.

Over to the drillpress to drill holes for the beads.

And, back to the bandsaw for more shaping…..

Then, over to the belt sander for more shaping…..

and then to the bathroom to staunch the flow of blood, when I sanded the first knuckle off, and sliced the top off the second one.

Well… that was a surprise! I have never done that before! And not something I would like to repeat! erg….

it’s been 3 weeks, and my knuckle is finally healing… wowsa that hurt!

Gnome Nostepinne Doll and Wizard Hat

tottietalkscrafts — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:20:13 +0000

Magical things can happen in the most unexpected ways….

The other day, I was feeling completely frustrated with a whole bunch of things that were making me go ‘ARGHHHHHHHHHH’

(Well.okay, it was the way that I chose to respond to them, not the things in themselves, but you know how it can go….)

I figured that I wasn’t making progress in the studio, so I packed it in and stomped out to the woodworking shop.

There is something about woodworking that can just turn my crankiness completely around.

An hour or two (or ten|) out in the woodworking shop grounds me and blows away the cobwebs that can accumulate if I am pounding on unresolved design difficulties (or if other things are feeling stuck and frustrating).

I had been planning to turn a Nostepinne doll that was a Gnome Lady, so I figured that it was time to see if I could make her happen.

Well, to be honest, I swear that I heard that Gnomie Lady calling me out to the workshop!!!

So, I chucked up a piece of hardwood, and set the lathe to spinning.

There is something so magical about spinning motions…. whether it’s a lathe or a spinning wheel, a potter’s wheel, or in the dance, for that matter.

Spinning brings you to the center VERY quickly…

I find that, even though the lathe is going fast,

or perhaps because it’s going so fast,

I have to be very very slow and deliberate in my moves,

and have a light touch.

But, the touch of the chisel has to be completely committed,

or else the wood doesn’t ‘listen’ to it.

The whole process of turning on the lathe is just plain magical.

I have to remind myself to breathe,

as I get so ‘into’ the process that I find myself holding my breath.

Oops…

What was I saying about mindfulness?

—

I was just over the moon,

as the Gnomie Lady Nostepinne Doll revealed herself.

There is also an anxious edge that hovers around while I am turning the Nostepinne dolls.

I hate to confess the number of times that I have had a piece of woodworking be just a hare’s breath away from completion and then have it go amiss… yikes….

So when a piece actually allows itself to be completed without going ‘boink’, it’s always cause for celebration.

And, indeed, I have been celebrating the completion of the Gnomie Nostepinne doll… who is, by the way, also a magic wand as well as a Nostepinne!

And, of course, like all the Nostepinne dolls that I make, she is also a ‘Story Stick’…. which means that she is FULL of stories, just waiting to be told, and, yarncakes waiting to be wound up….

Now…. to share another delightfully magical thing that happened this week…

I don’t post many pics of my grandbaby, as his parents don’t want his image up on the internet- understandably!!! (I have their permission to use this photo)

But… yesterday, my daughter and her husband and baby went to the craft store.

There were wild and wonderful hats there- including this Wizard’s Hat.

They had a great time, playing with hats, and sent this pic (well, I photoshopped the whirlies onto it) of

Magical Baby!

There were a couple of other pics, too, and in them, Magical Baby was laughing and grinning from ear to ear as he modeled the wild and wonderful hats….

Oh my… this is what life is truly all about!

The joy and delight of a young child’s laughter and in finding magic in the most unexpected places.

I hope that some magic came into your life unexpectedly this week, too!!!

Nostepinne Doll Tselah the tree spirit

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:21:06 +0000

My latest Nostepinne doll (I turn the Nostepinne dolls on the lathe and then paint them, and each one is one of a kind), is , “Tselah, the tree spirit”.

Tselah, like all the other Nostepinne dolls that I have made

(see Ermingarde and Flora)

has her own story.

Here’s Tselah, The Tree Spirit Nostepinne Doll’s story:

The bite of the saw blade snapped Tselah awake – just as a saw blade had shocked her into deep waiting slumber all those decades ago, when it cut her away from her roots, her leaves, her branches.

It cut her away from the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, the snow.

And, most of all… it cut her away from her Best Beloved, the Wind.

The gentle wind, the wild wind who would tug at her, teasing her- whispering:

“Leave your roots, Tselah, and dance with me!”

But when she refused, and curled her roots more tenderly into the deep dark earth, Wind flailed away, hissing.

Then, that stunning, searing pain of the bite of the saw….

and Tselah slept.

But… then suddenly,

she found herself

whirling, whirring- and

Tselah thought that her love, the Wind,

had come to reclaim her-

for, couldn’t she hear the whoosh, a caress?

Suddenly, a nip, a scritch of the chisel blade….

Tselah resisted at first,

but then, she melted into the whirl, the spin, and

a knowing that, once again,

she was awake,

and that her dreams

were slicing

out of their

cocoon.

Tselah sang

as her memories

blossomed, and

she swayed-

remembering

remembering.

Remembering

searching of roots,

dance of clouds,

song of stars

breath of sun

whisper of moon

leaves dropped

leaves uprising

and

most of all

her love- the Wind.

Tselah knew

she carried them

and contained them

all….

and that

she would

never let

them go

again….

and,

yes,

there will

always be

one tear,

one leaf….

for the remembering….

Nostepinne Doll Flora and the Flamingo

tottietalkscrafts — Thu, 20 May 2010 05:07:36 +0000

Last week, I posted about Ermingarde, (link) a new Nostepinne Doll that I had just turned on the lathe.

Well… I have turned, burned and painted another new Nostepinne Doll- and she has a story to tell, too..

Meet Flora, the Nostepinne Doll

that I have just turned in walnut wood.

Flora has a wonderful sense of humour-

perhaps it is because

she began her life as a nut tree….

I have no doubt that Flora has

a great sense of the whimsical,

as she completely suprised me!

I knew, as I was turning her on

the lathe, that she had a

story to tell about her

animal companion….

I had assumed

that Flora

would be

cuddling a kitten,

or perhaps even

a puppy….

you know….

something small, soft

and fluffy.

Imagine my surprise

when Flora announced that

she was simply ALL ABOUT

Flamingos.

Flora has a penchant for dancing

the flamenco, and is convinced

that a flamingo is quite

sublime as her dance partner.

She discovered this one evening

when she was picking a basket of flowers

in her garden.

She bent over to pluck a blossom.

But- Hermione, the flamingo,

gracefully inclined her head,

and nipped the flower from it’s stem.

She then graciously presented it to Flora.

They have been the best of friends ever since.

And, sometimes, Flora’s neighbours will hear a note or two of flamenco, drifting up from Flora’s garden when the moon is full. Strange shadows flicker, and once or twice, people have been convinced that they saw a flamingo dancing among the flowers in Flora’s garden.

I also have another Nostepinne Doll finished, and will tell you her story soon, and am also turning more Nostepinne dolls on the lathe- which is one of my great delights!

Mardi gras butterfly masks

tottietalkscrafts — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:49:24 +0000

Somehow, I don’t think that I will ever go to New Orleans for the real Mardi Gras,

but that won’t stop me from celebrating in my studio!

I made these Mardi Gras masks with all kinds of techniques and things that I love:

Tatting, spool knitting, crochet, butterflies, Grandma’s vintage buttons, beads and other found objects, as well as woodworking.

Feels like a celebration to me!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Images and text are copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay and not to be copied without her permission.

Green crafts- hand made book with spool knitted binding cords

tottietalkscrafts — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:11:26 +0000

Oh my.

This week….. winter arrived…..

So, it’s time to get to work on Christmas presents.

I love green and eco crafts - recycling and re-using things to up-cycle new treasures…

I am making my sister-in-law a hand made book with wooden covers.

The wood has been hanging around our barn for more than 20 years.

It was part of an old stage set from my days as a theater set designer.

I cut out the covers and and sanded the edges and scuffed up some layers of the paint.

I then painted gold around the edges.

I drew a Celtic Interlace then drew a tree over top of that. I connected the tree into the interlace and erased the bits I didn’t want. I painted and etched and drew, until I was satisfied with my version of the Celtic Tree of Life.

I tatted 2 butterflies and a dragonfly, and glued them to the inside cover.

Then I spool knitted 3 cords for the binding.

I folded some recycled/reclaimed pages that had been used on one side and punched 3 holes in them.

I put them all together…..

And all in all…. I am very pleased with it….

Hopefully, my sister-in-law will enjoy her book. She’ll be able to put more pages in when she fills these ones up.