Category Archives: video tutorial

May 15, 2021 · 12:29 pm

How to Build a Folding Wooden Doll Chair

After I carved and wove 3 dolls that didn’t fit the doll furniture that I already had, (see Brown Paper Yarn Dolls) ,

I decided that I had to build them each a chair.

And so I built them each their own little chair with a seat woven on the Mirrix Saffron Loom, using instructions from my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE BOOK AND SAFFRON LOOM KIT that is available on the Mirrix website. LINK

The Chairs are not in the book, but the weaving patterns are. See pages: 68, 50 and 45.

Here are the dimensions for the wooden parts of the chair:

The wooden pieces are all 1 cm thick and 2 cm wide.

Pieces A are 24 cm long (cut 2)

Pieces B are 20 cm long (cut 2)

Pieces C are 11 cm long (cut 2)

The Dowels are 1/4 inch in diameter:

A: Cut 2 that are 11 cm long

B: Cut 2 that are 9 cm long

C: Cut 1 that is 13 cm long

The Seat: Weave a piece of fabric that is 20 cm long by 7 cm wide and stitch through the end of the warp loops, over the top dowel of A and the front dowel of B.

The finished size of the chair is:

Height: 20 cm (8 inches)

From front to back: 18 cm (almost 7 inches)

Width: 13 cm at widest point (about 5 inches)

The dolls are very happy in their new chairs!

I have made a video, showing how to build the chairs- but please note that I forgot to show how I sew the weaving to the chair.

Oops.

I simply lifted the weaving off the loom and stitched through the warp loops with 2 strands of yarn, going over the dowel.

I hope that you will have fun making doll chairs for your dolls and teddy bears, too. ❤

Here’s the link:

Happy Chairmaking!

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Filed under book review/book/books, eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, Saffron Loom, tutorial & how to, upcycling, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven, woodwork

Tagged as #dollchair, #innovativeweavingontheframeloom, #saffronloom, #woodworking, doll chair, how to make a doll chair, innovative weaving on the frame loom, Mirrix loom, Mirrix Saffron loom, Saffron Loom

May 14, 2021 · 8:42 pm

How to Spin and Weave Brown Paper Yarn

One of my favorite eco friendly crafts is spinning yarn from brown paper….

This video shows how:

And, then, I love to weave the brown paper yarn into all kinds of fun things like this bunny and teddy bear.

I carved their heads from wood, and made their little shoes from scraps of garment leather that I glued to wooden soles that I carved. The navy shoes were made from a thrift shop coat that I cut and sewed into a ton of different things- bags and doll shoes and doll clothes.

I made their hands from scraps of heavy weight leather that I was given years ago.

Bunny’s face is lopsided because the scrap of firewood that I carved her from was wonky, but she forgives me for that!

I adapted this pattern from my etsy shop to weave their bodies on weaving sticks, using the brown paper yarn that I had spun: Here’s the link:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/92453904/pdf-pattern-for-delightful-dolls-woven?ref=shop_home_feat_1

The brown paper yarn also works BEAUTIFULLY for weaving baskets. Here’s a link to my pattern for weaving baskets on weaving sticks:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/111292892/pdf-pattern-for-all-kinds-of-baskets?ref=shop_home_feat_3

And, here’s the link for jewelry to weave with weaving sticks. Brown paper is wonderful for making jewelry!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/124255671/ebook-jewelry-woven-on-the-stick-weaving?ref=shop_home_feat_4

I love all the neat things that can be made with brown paper yarn. In our house, brown paper is NEVER thrown away!

It always gets upcycled into nifty new things 😀

This is my contribution to the monthly ‘Scrap Happy’ Blogging group- people who delight in making things from scraps and upcycled bits of this and that post on the 15th of each month.

Here’s the links to the rest of the group. I always enjoy seeing what each of them has done each month:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon , Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Noreen (this is me, but you know that) ,
Bear, Carol, Preeti and Edith

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Tagged as #howtospinbrownpaperyarn, #papercrafts, #upcycle, #upcycling, brown paper, brown paper yarn, hand spun, handspun yarn, paper crafting, Scrap Happy, wooden bunny doll, wooden teddy bear

February 5, 2021 · 1:18 pm

Learning to love the surprises when carving wooden dolls

I absolutely love carving wooden dolls, and have learned that the dolls have ways of taking me in unexpected directions while I am carving them.

This little bunny was carved from upcycled maple wood- a huge tree in our neighbourhood was cut down and we were given enormous chunks of the trunk.

I knew that a bunny was waiting to be carved from the wood,

but didn’t expect her to insist on a different body than I initially carved….

and then to want to go back to her original body once I had done more carving on it.

This lead me to make some changes and now, there are 2 rabbits, where once there was just one….

I was VERY surprised by this new rabbit, and am delighted with the ideas that she has brought with her!

Luckily, ‘Maple’ Bunny and ‘Surprise Rabbit’ are the best of friends:

I’ve made a tiny video that is all about going with the flow when creating one of a kind wooden dolls.

It also has a slide show showing the step by step process of carving a Maple Bunny’s head.

I hope that you have some lovely surprises and not unwelcome ones!

Take good care ❤

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Tagged as #carvedwoodendoll, #carvedwoodendolls, #carvingupcycledwood, #carvingwood, #dollmaker, #dollmakingasahealingart, #woodendoll, #woodendolls, #woodenrabbitdolls, Carved bunny dolls, carved wooden bunny, carved wooden rabbit dolls, doll making, wooden doll, wooden rabbit dolls

December 29, 2020 · 4:34 pm

Carving Wooden Spoons is delightful

Oh my goodness! Carving wooden spoons is just wonderful!

Hard work, yes. but…. ohhhh….

At Solstice of December 2020, I cajoled my husband to let me open an intriguing package instead of waiting until Christmas.

He said yes, and I was off down the most wonderful ‘Rabbit Hole’!

He had bought me a spoon carving kit that has a book, a Slodj knife and a hooked knife as well as a bass wood spoon blank. Here’s the link to the kit from Lee Valley (no affiliations, no profit in sharing the link, but I love their store and hope that they live long and prosper): LINK

The picture above is the first spoon I carved…. for our grandson.

My husband loved it, so I secretly carved one for him for Christmas, too.

I asked my family if they would like spoons, and the response was an enthusiastic yes!

So…

and

And, then….

I couldn’t resist combining one of my other great delights, which is carving wooden dolls, with spoon carving.

The inspiration that poured out kept me out of bed for a couple of nights as I had to sit and draw and draw and draw

all the ideas that were just pouring out….

I have tied in a few metaphors that have been weaving their way around in my heart…

On Facebook, I learned about stardust that has been discovered in Antarctica and then having a long time friend

sent me a poem about how the trees are full of stardust (as we all are) just enchanted me!

I am now carving what I call: ‘Storyteller Spoons’ – hand carved spoons that are meant to stir up STORIES, not soup.

After, stories are food for the Soul 🙂

Oooh! I had to carve a Star Baby spoon from walnut:

And, I have started a series of ‘Stardust Sisters Spoons’- articulated dolls with moving arms,

This one is carved from a blank that my son made for me from a birch tree that died and was cut down

in his neighbor’s yard:

I carved this Stardust Sister from the bass wood blank that came with the kit:

I love the metaphor of hearts and hands working together, so I went back to

the drawings that I did for the first scoop that I carved for my daughter.

But, I added a hand to the spoon, and carved out a bowl in the palm of the hand

as well as in the scoop of the heart.

While I was carving it, it came to me that spoons are meant to gather things,

but also to offer them, which is the perfect metaphor for this spoon:

I will be working with Hearts and Hands together a whole lot!

I made a video showing some of the carving that I have done over the last 30 odd years,

as well as the very very first beginnings of getting started in spoon carving.

These are just the first spoons that I have carved, and now that I have worked out

a pattern language for myself with this, there will be many, many more!

(I hope!) 😀

And, I hope that you are finding things that bring you joy, too!

Be kind, be safe, be well! ❤

Here’s the video:

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Tagged as #carvedspoon, #spooncarving, #spoondoll, #storytellerspoon, #woodcarving, #woodendoll, carved spoons, hand carved dolls, spoon carving, Spoon doll, Storyteller spoon, wooden doll

December 21, 2020 · 2:49 pm

Hearts and Flowers Large Teneriffe Lace Loom

All through the Covid pandemic, I have been working on designing and fine tuning a large new Teneriffe Lace loom that is my response to the situation that we are all in.

I wanted to create a loom that would be a way of celebrating love, compassion, kindness, resiliency, hope and friendship. The image that came up for me was of hearts and flowers.

So, I have designed a large Teneriffe Lace loom that is meant to be woven on with thicker yarns or threads than ‘normal’ and to be much larger than ‘normal’.

Here’s a video introduction to the loom. NOTE: The list of the ‘how to’ videos is further down this post.

At the beginning of March 2020, a very kind lady sent me a pair of ‘Polka’ Teneriffe looms to say thank you for all the hard work that I put into writing the ‘Potholder Loom Weaving’ book.

I was delighted with them- but didn’t like the way the foundation strand was put onto them.

So, I figured out a different way of continuously chaining on the foundation chain.

I also figured out a way of warping the loom continuously, and then had to work out the logistics of weaving the heart and flower motifs, and, also, how to get the motifs off the loom in a workable way.

I wove hundreds of samples and made dozens of variations on the looms.

Lots of them became firewood 🙂

BUT eventually I arrived at the configuration that I love.

Gary McFarland is the mastermind behind the CNC machine at Dewberry Ridge Looms and he has added his finesse to the final version of the loom.

The link to buy the loom is:

https://www.dewberryridge.com/products/hearts-and-flowers-large-teneriffe-lace-loom

I have made 4 videos that show the complete how to’s for how to weave the Hearts and Flowers motifs.

They are:

1- How to put the foundation chain onto the loom.

2- How to warp the Hearts and Flowers Large Teneriffe Lace Loom.

3- How to weave the Heart motif on the Hearts and Flowers Large Teneriffe Lace Loom.

4- How to weave the Flower motif on the Hearts and Flowers Large Teneriffe Lace Loom.

I hope that the Hearts and Flowers Large Teneriffe Lace Loom will bring happiness! ❤

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Tagged as #heartsandflowersteneriffelaceloom, #lacemaking, #teneriffelace, #teneriffelaceweavealong, hearts and flowers teneriffe lace loom, lace making, Teneriffe lace

December 5, 2020 · 10:52 am

Tiny Woven Snowmen are so much fun

One of my most favorite things to do at Christmas time is to make ‘the ornament of the year’ to give to family and friends. I usually end up making a LOT of them and it’s totally delightful.

This year, I have been weaving up a ton of tiny Snowmen- I designed them last year and made a video so other people can make them too.

Here’s the link to the ‘how to’ video:

https://youtu.be/a-9cfTzd4QI

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Tagged as #snowman, #snowmen, #wovensnowman, how to weave snowman, video tutorial on how to weave snowman, woven snowman

October 21, 2020 · 2:39 pm

Embroidering on Hand Woven Fabric

If you would like to embellish your hand woven (or knitted or crocheted) fabric with embroidery, but aren’t quite sure how to do it, then I have some suggestions for you.

I have made a video showing one of the ways that I have figured out how to embroider on hand woven fabric- this technique will work just as well on crocheted or knitted fabric. Here’s the link to the video:

Here’s how to embroider on pin loom weaving:

Here’s how to embroider on hand wovens using the tambour chain stitch crochet technique:

Here’s how to stitch lucet cord to the edges of a handwoven piece:

Here’s how to make loop embellishments with lucet cord:

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Tagged as #embroideryonhandwoven, #handwoven, #howtoembroider, how to embroider

October 1, 2020 · 8:50 am

Quick and Easy Clip On Pouches to Weave on Potholder Looms

Our small dog inspired me to weave a clip on pouch to carry hand sanitizer.

She picked up a chicken bone when we were walking and I had to stick my fingers in her mouth to get it out.

Oh, so in need of getting my hand cleaned off quickly!

I decided that NOT having to stick a messy hand in my pocket was a great idea, so I came up with clip on pouches to carry hand sanitizer.

Then, I wove up a stack of potholder squares to play with different ways of exploring color and texture and also different kinds of hanging loops.

I also figured out different ways of connecting clips, toggles and clamps.

This is a quick and easy project and would make a great gift!

Here’s the how to video:

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Tagged as #freepattern, #potholderloom, #potholderloomtechnique, #potholderloomweaving, clip on pouch, free pattern, hand sanitizer pouch, potholder loom, potholder loom pouch, potholder loom technique

September 17, 2020 · 8:24 pm

How to Make a Tutu for Dolls Using Upcycled Cloth Tea Bags

For links to video on how to upcycle cloth tea bags into Teabag Yarn, and how to weave triangles with it, please go to: LINK

I love finding fun and unique ways to upcycle things, and so I have had so much fun turning cloth tea bags into yarn and weaving with it, to make tutus for the Merrie Sunshine and Mermaid Minnie Moonbeam dolls.

For the main page about Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam dolls, please go to: LINK

Here is the video that shows how to make the Upcycled Tea Bag Tutu:

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Tagged as #dolltutu, #mermaiddolls, #merriesunshinedoll, #upcycledolltutu, #upcycleyarn, doll tutu, how to make a tutu for a doll, how to upcycle cloth tea bags, Mermaid Minnie Moonbeam Doll, Merrie Sunshine Doll, upcycling

September 17, 2020 · 9:30 am

Tips for Weaving With Teabag Yarn on the Diagonal on Potholder Looms

One of my favorite things is to find creative new ways to make small looms even more useful by thinking ‘outside the box’ on how I weave with them. So, that’s what this video is about….

Here it is: Tips for Weaving with Teabag Yarn on the Diagonal on Potholder Looms-