Crafty down time

Life and work has been very busy and stressful this year so this weekend I designated as lounging in sweats time and leisurely creative time. I have to say that I am very much in my happy place. 

First, I had bought this shelf from Hobby Lobby but wanted to make it more cheerful and add knobs for hanging jewelry from. Still need to hang it but here is before and after.  It is actually more turquoise than the pic shows. 

The other project I completed was a lamp makeover. I had seen some cool lampshades with the wire frame and various fabric strips tied on. The shade that came with the lamp didn’t have wire ribs so had to find an alternate. I bought a lampshade at a thrift store for $5 and stripped off the fabric and then raided my stash of fabric ribbons.   Here is the before and after and live the results. I may add a pom trim later. 

A fun weekend

Last weekend I went to Artworks Vass https://www.artworksvass.com/ to learn how to do powder coating with Jean Skipper. We had so much fun and did a bit of metal smithing and some loose wire wrapping techniques. I haven’t put the powder coated pieces to work yet but here are all the fun creations. 

And to top off all the fun, I now have more of my art at Artworks. 

So Excited!

I found out today that Netflix is buying two of my pieces, Stepping Stones I and II, that were on display at my friend Ann’s space down at Westside Market for the set of a show that is coming out next year. I don’t know if I can stand the wait to see how they place them. 

Studio coming along

Plugging along on the studio and almost everything has a home now. A few ads and ends to deal with and still need to hang some artwork. The tables have wheels and are right side up. They feel a wee bit taller than I anticipated but if it bugs me I can shorten the pipes the wheels are attached to. I’ve been debating on whether or not to stain the tops and I think I will but may wait until fall. My second rug is down and the colors are perfect with my other rug. Next weekend it is time to reclaim the dining room which has become a dumping ground for any leftovers. 

Art play date...

Saturday was an art play date with friends. Had a lively time and it was great getting to see one friend’s new home as she was the host this time. Our project was to try our hand at tie dye. Of course we were all watching video tutorials all week to prepare. It takes a lot of die. Here is the progression and I was pretty sloppy with my rubber band technique but pleased with the results.

Art studio update ...

Last weekend I put together a couple of Alex drawer units from IKEA. Instead of using the plastic casters I added some wooden mid century legs. I don’t know why it seems the rule these days but every project seems to need multiple trips to the hardware store. The legs have these things called hanger bolts that were too long since they were made for couches. Off to the hardware store for shorter 2” ones instead of the 4”ones. Settled in to get them all installed which swapping out screws is not as easy as it sounds. Anyway, down to the last two which were being even more difficult. Some of a gun!  I bought one set of bolts at 2.5” so I gave up since it was Sunday night. At least one was done.

I also managed to get one set of legs put together. Again, not as easy as it sounds. They went together pretty good but it is hard to get them all level since the threading isn’t exact. Also, since they don’t screw in all the way you find out they don’t match your placement of the boards you ere going to attach them to. Sigh!  Will require some squares of 1x2 added. 

The work continued this weekend. Friday night I was armed with two 2” hanger bolts to get the last two legs on, placed the units and added the wood top.

Today I finally got both sets of pipe legs attached and am now waiting for my wheels and adapters to arrive this week. I tried ordering wheels and adapters from different suppliers but the adapters never work even though the measurements are right. The two made for each other should work much better. Then the trick will be getting these puppies flipped over cause they are heavy as heck.