Ira

Dear Ira, I hadn't thought of that. That's the best idea I've heard. My cat doesn't go after Ginger, my rabbit because I told him "no". Thank you so much for the input. I knew someone would give me a good idea to keep Fidget alive. Thank you, Kris

Fidget

I don't know what I am going to do right now. We had one before, Ally Mae. We raised her and just let her loose on our place, we have 5 acres. She raised lots of kits, one time she had 6. She was not a happy mom. She just wanted to be with my son, her eyes opened with him so she bonded to him. When she wasn't pregnant he could still get her to ride on his shoulder. She got very mean and cranky when she was pregnant. It was lots of fun seeing the babies all lined up eating out of a chicken feeder trough full of dry cat food. Of course Ally had her own bowl pulled up in front of her with a very unhappy look on her face. She would sit on her butt with the bowl between her legs, grabbing at the food, scratching her belly and looking around. They are always looking around and their hands are busy doing something else.
This story ends very sadly. She killed one of our chickens, she didn't need to, we fed her and all of her relatives. It got to be quite a scene in the back yard, all the different dishes. Ally would open the screen door and let it slam closed when she wanted to eat. Well, we let the first chicken go. The next year she killed another. My husband wouldn't let it go, he shot her. It was not a happy household for a few days. We all understood, couldn't have anything that killed the livestock. It was hard on him, too.
I don't want this to happen to Fidget. He is a male and that would stop all of the relatives from living here. I can have him neutered if I get a license for him and then he wouldn't have need to wander. But raccoons are wild and should be wild. They shouldn't be caged. They are very, very inquisitive, can not keep them out of anything!!! They have hands and they use them. They are not like a dog or cat that lays around and sleeps. If a raccoon wants into a cabinet or drawer they will get into it and empty the contents out. That's fun the first time.

I don't want to dump him anywhere. I couldn't leave him to die, it's a serious decision when you take in a wild baby, one we are never prepared to make. Getting the license and having him neutered and letting him live on the place sounds good, if he doesn't kill chickens. Living inside in a cage wouldn't be a life, would it?

I don't know

Baby Picture!

I couldn't resist taking this picture and sharing it with you. Mr. Fidget lives in a aquarium right now. His eyes and ears are still not open and he is a lot bigger than when we took him out of our wall. He does have a big, fat belly doesn't he? He lays on a heating pad to keep warm. I think he is going to start to sleep through the night, at least he did last night! TTYL Kris

Hello

I am tired, Mr. Fidget takes up a lot of my time, day and night. He is growing.


I have found a way to copy and paste my patterns and when you print them out they will be the same size, so cool.


I have finished another custom order for a miniaturist in California. It's a special size chaise. I have made one for sale but a little longer. I have the legs to stain and apply finish to, that will take a few days. It is black and grey, very narrow stripes, a piece of vintage fabric I bought from Sandy's Lace and Trims a long time ago. I will put it up on the CDHM site soon.

Here's a picture of the custom chaise.


I am working on a shelf you can make with the quilling paper.

TTYL Kris

Bologna!

Hi Guys! Thanks for your compliments, I hope you try it out.

O.K. now for the bologna. My daughter, Katie, came up with this idea a long time ago but it's a good one. She noticed that some pills came in a plastic bubble that resembled a lunch meat package, pills that are a flat circle. Use a pink pencil eraser that fits inside of that pill bubble and you have Oscar Mayer B-O-L-O-N-G-A!

My son just showed me a great website: www.brandsoftheworld.com You can find all kinds of labels and you can resize them!

TTYL Kris

Paper "Pottery"

I make my paper pottery from quilling paper. For some shapes I combine card stock with it, such as a "moonshine" jug. The color of quilling paper doesn't matter, you are going to cover it with gesso anyway. Check Micheal's or go online for the quilling paper, use 1/8 inch wide. You can cut paper an 1/8 inch wide, too, to try this out without going out to buy special paper.






I made my tool from a large needle
stuck into a dowel rod. I snipped off the top of the needle's eye to finish the tool.











To start, slip the end of the paper into the eye and start winding. I glued 3 pieces together to make a tight circle of about 3/4 inch in diameter when finished winding. Remember the pot is only as big as the tight circle you make. If you want a large diameter pot you have to wind more paper. Use tacky glue to glue the end when you are done winding. Carefully slip the tight circle off the needle tool. For the pot I'm making 2 tight circles. They can both be the same size or the second one can be just so slightly smaller, this will be the top portion of the pot. This is so one can fit into to other when we glue them together.



Two tight circles.








The next step is pushing the centers out. Some people use beads as forms. I just manipulate the circle with my thumbs and fingers. Don't push too much or it will all come loose.



The circle can be flattened if you don't like the shape and you can try again. This takes a little playing with. You'll learn that just a slight nudge can change the character of a shape. Play with the tight circles first to get the feel of pushing out the centers.
In picture 14 you can see the shape of the pot I am making. The bottom and top are not quite the same. The top is not as tall as the bottom. The final shape is your design, just asking you to look at what I've done to the tight circles.


To make the hole in the top, carefully push out the very center with tweezers. Grab the paper and pull out until you have an opening the size you want.
This step can be done after smearing glue on the inside of the bowl, that's the next step. It depends on my mood what I do, glue or make the opening.













When you have the size of opening you want cut off the excess paper.










Top of pot with opening.
















I use Elmer's white glue to glue the inside of the bowls we've made. Elmer's dries hard, tacky glue always stays flexible. I don't want the pots to be flexible. Smear glue on a couple of times. Let the glue dry, it's important, if you don't you can smush your bowl shapes doing the next step.


Sometimes I want a smooth finish on the surface of the pottery. I sand the paper with 120 grit sandpaper. You don't have to sand all the rings off, the gesso will cover up a little bit. Sometimes you want to rings to show, like the potter left the rings in for surface decoration.









Glue the two bowls together. They can be glued edges to edges or if you made one of the tight circles a little smaller, one bowl will fit into the other.

I like to drop a little Elmer's glue inside and roll the pot around to distribute the glue. You will have to roll the pot around a few times before the glue dries.














To make a flared lip I use card stock and trace a 3/4 inch circle, then trace a 1/2 inch circle inside of it.
















Cut the circle out.

















Gently bend the circle over a dowel rod or pencil to get it to curve without creasing.


Mix dots of tacky glue and Elmer's glue together. Overlap the lip to match the size of the opening in the top of your pot and glue the lip together with the mixed glue.





Glue the lip onto the pot using the mixed glue.
















I trimmed the quilling paper a little narrower. You can buy narrower quilling paper, but I just trim for now. This narrow size is for the handles on the pot.
Wrap the narrow paper around a 1/8 inch dowel rod. Secure with the mixed glue, paper to paper to begin with, don't glue the paper to the dowel, then roll around the dowel twice. Cut the paper and glue the end. Slip the handle off the dowel and make another.





For the smaller handle I used a toothpick, that's about a 1/16 in diameter. Make two handles the same as above.
















I use gesso to fill in and smooth the surface of the pot a little more than just sanding. Apply a couple of coats, let dry, sand and apply more coats, sanding between until you get the surface you like.









I also stipple using gesso and glue mixed together or paint and glue mixed together. You can use any craft texture product to add surface texture to the pot.
Remember, this is pottery, not china. It's supposed to look hand made, not too perfect.
At this point you can add all sorts of surface decoration. I used flower and leaf paper punches to make an applied decoration. Wire can also be used as handles. You can use thread for ribs, the top edges or as a foot. Fingernail accessories can be used.

Imagination is the name of the game here.

To paint I use acrylic craft paints. Sometimes I will top this with glass stain, like the pot holding the pink tulips. Glass stain can be very useful for different pottery glaze effects, experiment. I generally top it all off with a very shiny, hard varnish. I like Delta's Perm Enamel Clear Gloss Glaze or DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze.






Nesting bowls painted to look like 1950's and 60's Pyrex bowls with the white inside.
















Pot holding pink tulips with brown glass paint used on the top portion of pot.



I love big pottery and mini pottery. I hope you all try making some pots and bowls.

TTYL Kris

Mr. Fidget

I've named the baby raccoon Mr. Fidget. He is a handful. I've done this before, but I've grown older and night feedings are not fun. I've moved my bed into the workroom so I can rest between feedings. Ginger gets up on the bed, too.
I am working on another lesson for you, must take pictures and I will need another hand to do that. This time it's about how I make "pottery" from paper.

TTYL Kris