Tag Archives: Clarice Wynter

Collections as art

Knoontime Knitting

I don’t know how many times I’ve had people look at something I’ve made and confess to me that they wish they were artistic – but they just don’t have any of the necessary skills to create something.

Usually I tell them they might be too worried about making something perfect, and if they just allow themselves to try something and not worry if it comes out flawed, they’ll find they have more talent than they think they do.

And sometimes, if I know them well enough, I manage to find something they’ve created that’s artistic without them even realising it. One thing I think people tend to overlook in the quest for creativity is just the ability to assemble interesting things. A collection can be very creative and artistic without involving the elusive skills that people tend to believe they need in order to be considered ‘artsy.’

I love to decorate with my own creations, and I realized recently that the collections I have are, in fact, a form of my own creation even though I didn’t actually make the individual objects that comprise the collections.

As an example – I didn’t make the shelf or the bright colored bitters bottles that hang in my bedroom, but the collection, as a whole, makes an interesting piece of art.

Here’s the collection of miniature vases that hangs in my dining room. Most of them come from garage sales and cost no more than a dollar or two. Arranged together, they make a pretty conversation piece that a lot of visitors comment on. 
And upstairs in my office, my collection of fancy sea shells, arranged on parchment paper and framed in simple shadow boxes makes a statement on an otherwise borning wall.

Do you have any collections that you display in an artistic way? Tell me about them!

Journey into my supply closet

Knoontime Knitting

They say the first step is admitting you have an problem. So, I’m here to admit that I have an addiction to crafting supplies.

I’d like to follow that up with the usual disclaimer – But I can quit any time I want. Except I can’t. The only thing limiting my purchase of crafting supplies, is the room in my supply closet – and the closet is pretty well full up at this point.

Here’s a rundown of my stuff.
Top shelf: Candle holders, miniatures, scrapbook accessories, pieced quilts [unquilted].

2nd shelf: cross stitch floss, wrapping paper, ribbons, scrapbook paper, candle making machine.

3rd shelf: Beads, crayons, clay, temari supplies, canvasses, quilt fabric.

4th shelf: glue guns, more beads, paints, brushes, palettes, styrofoam, pins, sequins and embellishments, more canvasses, candle wax, threads and needles.

Bottom (not visible): portable easel, maps, greeting cards, paper and stickers.

Yarn and crochet/knitting supplies are in another closet downstairs.

I have a feeling you fellow crafters out there are saying – wow, that’s nothing – and I hope you are, because then I won’t feel so bad about buying more stuff. I’ll just have to rearrange the closet a little bit, that’s all.

What does your craft stash look like?

Solving problems with crafts

Knoontime Knitting
Last month I blogged about my adventures with Japanese temari – a lot of fun to make, but purely decorative.
While I love to make beautiful things, I find I get the most satisfaction when my crafting has practical uses. Going back to full-time office work earlier this year, I found I had two minor issues that needed a solution for my desk at work.
Problem one: I started bringing a water bottle with me to work because the water in the office cooler wasn’t always cold enough. I fill my water bottle with ice which results in it sweating all over my desk. I found I was constantly wiping up puddles and I was worried I’d accidentally ruin some important papers, so I decided I needed a bottle cover.
Problem two: Though I usually keep my cell phone on vibrate, I like to keep it handy under a shelf on my desk. When it buzzes – it’s not very quiet, so I decided I needed a cover for that also, to minimize the vibrations.
My solutions involved a size H crochet hook and one skein of Lily Sugar ‘n Cream cotton yarn. I chose ‘Beach ball’ because I love the shades of lavender.
After scoping out a couple of water bottle patterns on line, I decided just to crochet a simple round starting with 6 double crochet stitches and working around, adding stitches until the bottom of the carrier was about as wide as the bottom of the water bottle.
The yarn provides just enough give to hold the bottle snugly. I shaped the holder by crocheting in the front loop of my stitches once around, then single crocheting rows until the holder was tall enough. The shading of the yarn just happened to create a perfect spiral pattern on the holder, though I didn’t specifically set out to achieve that look.
For the cell phone holder, I just made a band of single crochet, the width of my phone and just about twice the length and sewed the sides together to make a nifty little pocket.
Now my ice water stays chilly longer than before thanks to the insulating effects of the yarn, and the bottle doesn’t sweat all over my desk, and when my cell phone buzzes, it doesn’t vibrate all over.
Quick, easy and practical. I may start making crocheted covers for everything I own.
Have you ever solved a problem with your crafting?

Having a ball with Japanese Temari

Knoontime Knitting
I’ve been in love with the idea of making ornaments for as long as I can remember, so when I came across a book about the Japanese art of temari, I knew I had to try it.
Traditionally given as gifts, these often intricately decorated balls of thread can have designs as simple or as complex as you wish. Getting started is easy – the hard part, I found, is tearing yourself away from the thousands of designs that can be found in books and on the internet.
To start a simple temari, you’ll need a ball of leftover yarn [not a problem for all of you knitters and crocheters], a small or medium sized Styrofoam ball, an industrial sized spool of thread in any color [dark colors are best to start with IMO], an embroidery needle [or one with a large eye], pins and craft thread or embroidery floss.
Preparing a thread ball to start your design is easy. You can start with the Styrofoam ball and wrap your leftover yarn tightly around it until the ball is completely covered. [You can also skip the Styrofoam and just use yarn to start the ball, just keep the base shape as round as possible].

When you’ve completely covered the form, tuck in the end of the yarn so it doesn’t unravel and then begin wrapping thread around the yarn covered ball until you can’t see the yarn anymore. [Best to use thread in a different color from the yarn.] This part takes the longest and can use up quite a bit of thread. Turn the ball often to keep as round a shape as possible. Use the needle to tuck in the end of your thread so the ball doesn’t unravel. The thread layer allows you to ‘sew’ on the ball in any direction and gives you a place to anchor your stitches.

Next you need to divide the thread ball into sections by wrapping a thin strip of paper or a contrasting color of craft thread around the equators of the ball. You can divide the ball into any number of sections – 4 or 8 is easiest, using the needle to secure the craft thread at the poles of the ball or pinning the paper to the ball. The paper will be removed later, but the thread will become part of the design you create.
In this picture you can just about see the divisions I made with gold thread.

The simplest temari patterns involve wrapping your craft thread or floss around the ball and anchoring each pass at the guidelines you created when you divided the ball into sections.  By wrapping the ball in different directions and anchoring the thread around the guide lines, you can make stripes, triangles, stars, net-like effects, layers and even spirals.
Here’s an excellent set of instructions for basic stitches:
After browsing through a few of the on-line tutorials, I was making dozens of different designs in no time. I’m always looking for books to add to my craft library, though, so I also invested in The Simple Art of Japanese Temari by Dominique Herve and Alban Negaret.
One of the things I love about temari is it utilized supplies I already had on hand – beware though, temari tend to multiply and once you master a few simple stitches you may find yourself with more temari than you know what to do with.