CRAFTS: Rag Doll Rehab

Over the last 6-8 months I have "rehab-ed" 3 Rag Dolls that belong to the Education Department (School library section) in the South Australian Government. My sister works there and she saw how the three dolls had seen better days.

 Let's call her "Purple"!

My sister had already bought Purple "new" clothes from the op-shop, and did some sponge bathing of the face, feet and hands. Purple needed immediate attention to her posture (stuffing) and her face and hair.

She had just sparse hair on the top and a line of hair down the back centre of her head.

After taking a sample of her hair wool shopping with me, I found wool that was fairly identical and cut lengths along my desk. Two pieces of tape kept everything kind of together and ordered.

I then pinned the wool inside a folded over piece of tissue paper, and marked a dotted line where I was going to run the sewing machine.

Sewed from one end to the other. Then tore away the paper carefully.

I then hand sewed the stitched line of wool down the side of her face. I also stitched down some of the wool that existed on the top of her head - to give her a permanent fringe and to cover bald spots.

I opened her up via the back seam and stuffed more wadding into her face, neck, shoulders and torso. She will now be able to sit up herself and hold her head up too.

Now for Purple's face. I removed her eyes and mouth, and left her eyebrows and nose.

Out of white and black felt I cut out new eyes and glued them on using a strong craft glue.

Every girl needs a little red mouth that is demure! Red felt came in handy and several go's with scissors formed the perfect pout!

To finish her hair - It was such a lovely length that I decided Purple needed plaits. When the plaits looked even I trimmed the ends to tidy her up.

She even scored a pretty pink glitter bow!

FINISHED!! Purple is all ready to face the outside world and be loaned to teachers to "help" with the Education of little people!!

I'm sure she feels like she can take on anything now!

CRAFTS: Mosaic Garden Ball

The Mosaic Garden Ball

I had this vision for the longest time - of a permanent garden decoration in the shape of a ball that I could mosaic. I had started to look high and low for something suitable..... and was trying not to buy a solid concrete thing..... but really I needed something very sturdy for the purpose.

A venture into my local "pots and plants" shop gave me the "jack-pot" amongst the Bargain Corner items .... (where the chipped and unloved stuff end up) ....I spotted two concrete balls that were supposed to be part of a water feature... but something had happened to the pedestals! Before you could say Rumplestiltskin..... they were in the back of my car (yes - I did pay for them first) and I was happily driving them home.

My sister is heavily involved in garden clubs and such. She had been on a tour of gardens interstate where the group were taken to a garden which was heavily studded with interesting garden ornaments that were mosaic'd - and she said to me that it really struck her at how lovely it looked.

So this was an invitation to stud her garden! And an opening for homemade Birthday and Christmas gifts for the future.

Here it is sitting on a tray filled with sand, then the tray is slipped into a plastic bag. This gives a nice surface to work on.

I wanted to give the ball a strong base - sort of like built in legs so I applied a heavy layer of adhesive 

And glued in four flattish river stones. This should elevate the ball slightly to allow water and moisture to run off and not soak the base of the ball.

I stuck on a combination of glass beads and assorted ceramic items.

Someone was fascinated with the project!

I then had to move it inside because of the cold winds outside. I decided to use white tiles as the background as I have a healthy supply thanks to my brother's bathroom renovation. For some extra bling I stuck on random pieces of mirror as well. 

Finally - all covered.

Outside again after a drying time of two days. Now is the grouting. You need a big bucket or tub of water (I use an old kitchen bin) and fill it with rain water.

Get your grout powder and some water - then mix the grout with the water until it is thick.

The right thickness is important - you need to be able to put a big blob on the end of your spatula and it needs to hold its shape and resist coming off the spatula. I suppose this is like bricklayer's mortar.

With a dry sponge I squish it into all gaps really really thoroughly - allow to dry for about 5 minutes - then begin to carefully wipe it over and over with a damp sponge to clean off excess. This is where the big tub of water comes into play.

Sorry to have no photos of this process - but handling wet grout and wet sponges and a camera is not possible!

I did the bottom half first..... then came back after an hour or so and grouted the top half.

It's messy and I don't enjoy grouting much - but you get there in the end. The trick is to allow the grout to dry enough so it stays in the cracks..... but is wet enough to wipe off the pieces in the project. You must be very careful not to wipe too much out from between the pieces. The grout here is still drying and looks darker than the finished and dry product.

Here it is - temporarily in my garden - ready to transfer into my sister's garden on Wednesday. (Thank goodness for strong husbands!)

Happy Birthday Sis!

CRAFTS: Ceramics For The Outdoors

It is rare now-a-days to be able to create and fire your own ceramic pieces. The vast influx of cheap mass produced items that you can buy in the "two-dollar" shops have made a mockery of the crafting, time and expense that needs to be put into the real deal.

I am lucky enough to know Sandy, a friend who is a "ceramics artist" and has all the supplies and equipment (including two kilns) she needs at home. Sandy will make anything you want to order, in your colours, style and your wish is her command.  She does beautiful work, but won't ever admit her talents....in fact she is surprised when we make a fuss of what she produces. Beautiful, funny, humble girl. Even though a piece may take her hours and hours, she is apprehensive about charging people anything close to what I feel she deserves for it.

I digress. Sandy has taught me the art of ceramics. The really wonderful part about ceramics, is that when your house and shelves are heaving and are full to overflowing......you can start to make them to decorate the outdoors and garden. The sun and rain and snow won't touch them, but they will of course break if knocked or dropped! So a little care is required in placing them.

This is the Mega Mushroom - it stands 45cm (17.5 ") tall and is 37cm (14.5 ") across.

It's glaze is called Harvest Time and it's a crystal glaze.

Brad the Turtle guards a part of the garden and never complains.

Small mushroom

I've made three sets of these - and don't own any..... they are adorning two gardens (including one interstate) and one set decorates Lynn's entertainment unit. She couldn't bring herself to put them outside.

These were made by my husband. These two are in his sisters backyard.

And he made these for ours.

This is a Chinese Lantern I made for Lynn's Birthday. It's bigger than the Mega Mushroom. The lid lifts off and you can put a pillar candle in it. This is in Lynn's backyard.

CRAFTS: Mosaic Candle Holders and Garden Ball

I saw a template for a garden candle holder in one of my Mosaics books. My husband made the wooden back and shelf out of MDF - a thick craftwood - and I picked up the small terracotta dishes from a garden centre. They are the smallest size pot saucer they carry and are the perfect size for this project.

Most of the ceramic materials used on these are made by my friend Sandy - she is a clever lady.

At the moment these two are on display in the Mosaics Shop I trained in, as a project "idea" for the students.

I'm a sucker for the humble flower. This was the first candle holder.

These little leaves were the right size to pop them down the flower stem.

I managed to incorporate a couple of my hand-painted parrots towards the bottom.

Second one - same background crystal tile used.

A full burgundy colour tile is the background for the mirror decal.

Sandy's beautiful ceramic embellishments. Really love them.

We had these mirror decals in the shop - but never sold one. The shop owner wanted to have something made with them so the customers could see them, she didn't need to ask twice.

This is me mucking about with left over bits. I made the ball (baseball size) out of leftover grout.  It can go anywhere in the garden or outdoors.

CRAFTS: Antique wash stand Restoration inc. Mosaics

I have been known to "save" the odd piece of furniture from a "certain death" from time to time. I tend to see the beauty within, and small pieces can often be squeezed into an already bulging house - if you get creative about it!!

I remember my first marble top washstand I restored.....my parents bought it for me after I spotted it in a second hand store. They looked at it, then looked at me as if I had completely lost my mind. They could not see any beauty. I'll show you that one later.

This one was broken and forgotten and dug out of my husband's father's garage when both parents had passed away and we had to clear the house for sale. No-one gave it a second look, and I snapped it up greedily! Initially I restored it for my husband's niece, and therefore it became off-white. If I restored it for me - I would have stripped it to bare wood, then stained and varnished it to a baltic colour. After a time - the niece changed her mind over her decor - so the stand is still with me.

The first pictures I remembered to take. I had already started the sand/strip down of the top.

This is more indicative of the condition - snapped bottom shelf and paint that had seen bad times and years neglected and unwanted in a garage.

 All the sanding and stripping had taken place, and three coats of a light cream acrylic paint had been applied. I'm still wondering what to do with the inset feature of the door, and had started the mosaics on the top.

My mosaics shop (the one I had lessons with and later did some shop-minding duties in) had these beautiful ceramic hand painted tiles for $5 each. I jumped at the Iris, then found it was perfect for this project. Mosaic surround is taking shape.

And now finished and ready for grouting.

 Taaaa Daaaaa! Finished. Finishing and then looking at the piece FINISHED is always a euphoric moment. It's "my high" without any chemicals!

Grouted and re-assembled. My friend Lynn suggested to paint the door inlay with the same colour of yellow as in the background of the Iris tile. Genius!

With the flip top hinged lid on the top box, small drawer, and roomy central cupboard - I think it's a really handy piece.

All of my furniture is "wood" look - and this is doesn't match my house style. Lucky my main bathroom is Black and White so I can just get away with it in there. I don't think this is the final spot, but it will do for now. And it's very handy.

A Star is Re-born! (Not me, the washstand!!!!)