In my previous post, LINK, I showed how to make lucet cord with the Vasilisa Comfort Dolls that have peg legs.
There are also links to a whole slew of videos that I have made about what to make with lucet cord in that post.
I have made another video tutorial that shows how to make lucet cord with the Bee and Ladybug Vasilisa Doll lucets that I design and make.
Here’s the for the video:
I have been enjoying designing and carving Vasilisa Comfort Dolls that are also lucet cord makers.
If you would like to adopt one of the Vasilisa Comfort Doll lucets, please send me a message.
Here’s a video that I made to show how to make lucet cord with the Vasilisa dollies with legs:
Here is a list of ‘how to videos’ for lucets:
#1- Basic cord:
#2- How to add buttons, beads and charms
#3- Button closures
#4- Celtic knots and interlaces
#5- Shoe laces
#6- Celtic Interlace Hearts
Lucet cord butterfly:
How to attach lucet cord to garments:
Tatting is one of my most favorite things- I never leave the house without a little tin or pouch that has tatting shuttles, thread, a tiny hook and tiny scissors in it.
I have been busy in the woodworking room again… carving more Goddess and Hedgehog tatting shuttles.
Until the end of the year, I will be reducing the price of the Goddess shuttles to $39 + shipping and the Hedgehogs to $25 + shipping.
Please message me if you are interested.
Here are some helpful videos about my Goddess Tatting shuttles:
This video shows how to wind thread onto the Goddess Tatting shuttles:https://youtu.be/94vbtAd9THg
This video shows how to weave with the Goddess tatting shuttles:https://www.instagram.com/p/CN5RZ5_JZPM/
This video shows how to add a cord so you can wear the Goddess tatting shuttle as a necklace:https://www.instagram.com/p/CN2ppKup68P/
How to tat a necklace cord:https://www.instagram.com/p/CN8AV6HJAW2/
I have been weaving a lot of butterflies lately, as a metaphor of hope, transformation, healing, creativity, community, and so much more.
These butterflies are ones that I designed to weave on the Mirrix Saffron loom.
I love the way that I can set up the Saffron to the exact size that I want….
The pink butterfly is made by weaving a full size triangle on the Saffron (see instructions in my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom).
And, the blue butterflies are made by weaving half size triangles.
Because the smaller butterflies are woven using a variation on the technique that I developed for the book,
I have made a video showing how to weave them.
The bodies are made on the loom, using the same setup as the wings, so you can weave away without having to re-set the loom. Yay!
Here’s the link to the Video How to Tutorial:
Mirrix looms are selling a wonderful kit that includes my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom, as well as the Saffron Loom and the Sandy Stand for it. It’s a great kit! Here’s the link for it:
In the video, I mentioned that I carved a chopstick to make the weaving hook for weaving the triangles.
Here’s the link to that video:
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!
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!
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
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 ❤
Oh my goodness! Carving wooden spoons is just wonderful!
Hard work, yes. but…. ohhhh….
I have been a wood carver for decades, but have just discovered the joy of carving spoons.
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:
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! ❤
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:
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 