Christmas Open House At Homestead House

Here's an add for where I'll be this Sunday. I'll just have my corn husk dolls out there. My dad and brother are going to be playing their mountain dulcimers and we'll all be dressed in 1860's styled clothing. We may get there up to half an hour late (Dad and Nathaniel are playing at church beforehand) but anyone is welcome to come. Click here for directions.

Little Lady

This picture is made of: daisy, dogwood, corn husk, a skeletonized leaf, aucuba, Queen Anne's lace, corn silk, bark, cantaloupe peel, maple and something I don't know the name of for the border.

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair

A couple of friends of mine where going to the 16th annual Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. They had an extra seat in their car and invited me to come along. There was yarn everywhere I looked, as well as spinning stuff, felting demonstrations, pattern books and much more. I saw light-up knitting needles (I guess so you can knit in the dark), and larger-that-life knitting needles like in the picture. It was nice walking around the show with Miss Cecile and Miss Carol because they could tell me what I was looking at. I bought some wooden knitting needles, gray yarn and some roving in hopes of learning how to spin. Oh, and we saw rabbits and alpacas. Below is a movie of the alpacas and the funny sounds they make.

24 Corn Husk Dolls

Here's what I did while watching some movies. They're corn husk dolls, between 3 and 4 inches tall. They go pretty well at shows because there are a lot of little girls who like them and I sell them cheap. We don't have our TV hooked up to anything, because we don't want our heads filled with junk, and it's often a waste of time. But we do like to watch a good movie, and I like to make dolls.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

OK, I get my seasons a little mixed up, but that's what happens when you have a Christmas show Nov. 1 and a harvest festival Nov. 21. My Dad and brother, who both play the mountain dulcimer, are also getting ready for shows, and so lately I've been listening to live Christmas music.

By the way, the picture above took around 8 hours to make and it is made out of: redbud, bark, aucuba, baby's breath, delphinium, unknown evergreen, cornflower, poinsettia, Japanese maple, tendrils, forget-me-not, Queen Anne's lace, maple and other fall leaves.

Gowns for Corn Cobs

Many of my friends inspire me to reach new heights and try new things. This is how I found myself sewing dresses for corn cobs. Miss Charle' helped me gather dried corn, I popped all the dry kernels off, sewed some tiny dresses and here they are, corn cob dolls.

Cardinal in the Snow

This picture took around 8 hours to complete and it is made of: nandina, oak leaf hydrangea, garlic peel, maple, Japanese maple, cardinal flower, banana peel, bark and aucuba.

Sunset

This picture took about 11 hours and it is made of dogwood, banana peel, orange peel and corn silk.

Cat Picture

This picture took approximately 7 hours and 20 minutes and it is made of: cotton, cattail, maiden grass, Japanese maple, pampas grass, aucuba, fall leaves, mica and some sort of purple flower I don't know the name of.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Picture?

A frequently asked questions at art shows is, "How long does it take for you to make a picture?" I hardly have any idea. People have encouraged me to time my pictures. But it seemed so hard to time when I sit down and work for a half hour, leave, come back for five minutes, leave, come back and work on it for the rest of the day. How do I remember to always look at the clock when I sit down and get up and then record it?

Here's my solution: I almost always listen to a CD while I work. I listen to books on CDs, which are produced by Focus on the Family Radio Theater and are done with sound effects and different voices. They have everything from biographies, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Squanto and Corrie Ten Boom to fiction such as Anne of Green Gables, A Christmas Carol, Billy Budd, Sailor and much more. So what I do is every time I sit down to work push play and every time I get up push pause. Then I make a list of everything I've listened to during a picture, look at the approximate running times on the back and add them up. So If I've listened to Les Miserables, Silas Marner and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I just add all of there times together. And that gives me a good estimate as to how long a picture took. If I don't want to listen to anything but still want to be timed I can just turn the volume all the way down.

Banana Black Bear

Though I semi lost track of the time, my best guess is that this picture took approximately 14 hours and 15 minutes. This picture is made of: oak, banana peel, bark, cornflower, mushroom, pampas grass, dogwood and mica. I am planning to donate this picture to an organization my Dad has been a part of for nearly 20 years - the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA) - for their fundraising auction.

Loofah Snowmen

Last weekend some of our grandparents came for a visit. Grandma Mary and I made these snowmen out of loofah sponges. Many people think that loofah sponges come from the sea but actually they grow on vines.

Toccoa Falls

It took me six and a half hours to glue down, hydrangeas, banana peel, mushrooms, cotton, onion membranes, bark, ferns, orange peel and various herbs for this picture. Of course that time includes pressing, figuring the picture size and finding a reference picture. That time does not include framing.

Untitled Picture

This picture is made of: bark, cotton, corn husk, skeletonized magnolia leaf, corn silk, delphinium, azalea, Lady Banks' rose and alyssum.

Aunt Laura's Cat

Here's what became of the pieces I posted last time.
This picture is made of: daisies, aucuba, pampas grass, maiden grass, cattail, delphinium, cornflower and mica.

A Work in Progress

This picture is a work in progress. I'll post the finished piece after I've finished it but I thought you might like to see what a picture in the making looks like.

Dulcimer Picture

This picture is made of: forget-me-not, tendrils, brown hydrangea leaf, money plant and heuchera.

My First Appliance

The other day one of our good family friends asked if we knew anyone who could use a microwave. It turned out we did know someone who could use a microwave...me. I often press big batches of plant material in a microwave press. But I can't press in one long session because I know from experience that if I press in too long of a session and let the plate get too hot the microwave catches on fire and then you have to buy I new one (oops). I don't want to do that again so I press a few mushrooms and then come back later and then press a few more when I'd often rather be able to do more in a session. I thought about how nice it would be to have two microwaves so that when one got hot I could let it cool while I press with the other and just go back and forth. Well now I have access to the family microwave and one of my very own! God provides!

Little Blue Lady

This picture is made of: delphinium, corn husk, bark, onion roots, Queen Anne's lace, aucuba, corn silk, cantaloupe, alyssum and spiraea.

Learning How to Make Shirts

We're starting to figure out how to use the heat press. Above are some of the shirts and the tote bag we've made. We're still working on centering the transfers and we've put pictures on upside down, crooked, had them come out dark and had them not completely adhere but it's a learning process.

I'll tell you one funny thing we did just after getting the press. We printed the image we wanted to transfer at 200 DPI like we'd been told, placed it on the shirt with the little protective sheet over it and pressed it with the heat. We counted to 20 and nothing happened. The transfer was not sticking at all. After a few attempts we realized that instead of printing the image on to the transfer paper we had printed it onto the protective cardboard packaging. It works better when the image is printed on the transfer paper.