Walnuts

Hello dear readers

I tried Megan's tip for splitting walnuts into halves. "soak them in water for a day or two. It softens the seam and you can split them easily and without damaging the shell. Of course, the flesh of the nut will be soggy and unappetizing so you have to decide what you want, the nut or the shell".  This method is far better
than the previous one.  Almost all the soaked nuts split in perfect halves which were easier to scrap clean
inside. Thanks again Megan.

I never expected so many people around me, especially family members who never before
showed much interest in my work, to want the gnomes homes. Now I have my hands full with work
making more.

But it gets boring doing gnome scenes only, so I'm attempting nativity and maybe, later on, snowmen, etc.

I  wish you a pleasant, creative week with blessings.

Birthday gifts from Maria

Hello dear readers,

A little late but worth the wait! My dear, wonderful and generous friend Maria sent me
these lovely gifts for my birthday.  The parcel got here later than usual due to some local post
errors.

This tiny watch almost blew my mind.

The Nativity kit is to be painted and assembled.  Hopefully before Christmas.

In addition, Maria sent me a whole load of craft stuff, ribbons, flower stems, stickers, etc. etc.
THANK YOU DEAR MARIA, I AM BLESSED TO BE YOUR FRIEND.

I wasn't idle this week.  Finished several nutshell homes, made some extra gnomes
for Baalatovah's garden, at her demand.  All three nutshells are for 3 wonderful caretakers at my husband's nursing home.

I have to ask Birgit what kind of plant this is.  I never saw such tiny leaves and these, I believe, are not artificial, but dried and painted living plants, perfect for these scenes.

The extra gnomes.

This is one of my clay vases with real flowers. forgot to put a match for size. It's about half a walnut.

I wish you all a lovely Sunday with blessings.

Nutshells and gnomes

Hello dear readers,

Have I gone nuts?
First I learned how to crack open a walnut in two perfect halves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVTG3T_fTz4.

Then I learned how to make little gnomes -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSbZ66cH3Qc



The house is one of my ceramic clay houses.  All the leaves staff are a gift from dear Birgit.

And this is my first nutshell scene.

Making the tiny mushrooms gave me a real headache.

Have a wonderful Sunday and a very creative week ahead with blessings.

Gifts

Hello dear readers,

It has been a while since my last post.  Real life issues had to be taken care of.  I had no time for
creative work but I received a few wonderful gifts for my birthday which was about two weeks ago.

From my dear friend Faby

Thank you, dear Faby, for your thoughtful gifts.  The dried flowers regretfully did not endure the journey and crumbled away. This is what's left of them.

From two close friends who ordered these beautiful china vases and sculpture from abroad especially for me.

My cell phone camera didn't do justice to the beautiful goddess. 

My daughter and son-in-law are back.  I already have some ceramics waiting for the kiln. They'll have to wait however for Nilly's large items to get thoroughly dry, and be fired together.  Nilly gave
me for my birthday some very valuable new craft tools which are hard to find locally. My other daughter Galia, gave me books.

I wish you all a lovely weekend with blessings.

These came out of the kiln

Hello dear readers,

These are from the batch I left for Nilly to fire with her own work in her kiln. 
I made them during my visit to her studio.   Just played with the clay, created
a ball, stuck a short piece of a wooden skewer in its middle and moved the
ball around it to make an opening.  While the pieces were still wet,
I stuck on clay leaves which I market with a needle.  Pinched the opening of
one of the vases and it looks as if its borders are almost being torn out.

The pieces are not glazed or painted. I rather like them the way they are as if
carved out of stone.


They were still wet when I left and therefore not sanded.  My second batch
will look better because I made it at home with no hurry and sanded it after it
was dry.  Since I have no plans to give them away, they'll serve as examples for
my future work with clay.

Nilly and husband are flying to Europe tomorrow and will not be back before mid-June, so
the little houses and other items will have to wait until then.

I wish you all a wonderfully creative week ahead with blessings.

Ceramics

Hello dear readers,
This is my first post for May.  The last part of April was mostly holidays
spent with family and guests. and of course the daily visits
to the nursing home to see my husband.

All the projects I was working on are packed away to make my home clean
and tidy, ready to receive guests.
The projects will stay packed until I finish my experiments with ceramics.
Somewhere on Pinterest, I saw tiny ceramic houses which I loved.
Nilly, my daughter, gave me a large
block of clay and here are some results before glazing and firing.
At this stage, all the items are very fragile, white colored and clay dusty.

Leafy vases

candle holders

fruit and cake stands

The whole lot

A previous lot was left to be fired in Nilly's kiln,  I am waiting excitedly for the results.
Clay shrinks considerable,  everything you see here will be smaller after firing.

There's still a lot of clay left.  I hope my next batch will be better than this but already the
items look nice to me.

Have wonderful creative work with blessings.

A miniature carpet beater tutorial.

Hello and Happy Easter and Passover Holidays to all my dear readers.

This very simple and easy tutorial will be, dear readers and followers, a holidays
gift to you.

An original carpet beater is made from three wicker strips.  A miniature beater
looks better if it's done with two strips. But, if you are able to get
very thin strips you can do it with three, just follow the steps in the photos.

For demonstration only I'll be using two strands of bendable miniature
flower stems.

A.  Bend carefully the center of the length into a round loop.

B.  With the right end of the strips enter the top loop and make another round circle.

C.  Do the same with the left end and make an opposite loop.  Now you
      have three loops with one end coming from under a loop and the second
      from over a loop.

D.   Twist the two ends together leaving an oval opening.  (this is the point to
        bind the ends of wicker with raffia).

E.   Twist until you reach a length of 2.5"  (10cm) and bind again with raffia.)

Materials:

Wicker strips
a strand of raffia
Cutter of scissors

1.  Cut two 30 cm (12") lengths from the wicker twines and
     soak them in hot water for about 15 minutes until they are completely     bendable. It is very important to keep them wet
     and pliable all the time.

2.  Bend the two strips together as seen in the A to E demonstrations.
 
You can see the end results when done with wicker strips.

Happy beating dollies!