~Pottery Class~

 

 

Last year I took an evening pottery class in hopes of making soap dishes to sell with my handmade soaps. It was fun and I learned how to work with clay but my creations were less than perfect. Far less. I was disappointed to say the least. Take a look:
 

 

My disappointment subsided when this beauty emerged from the kiln:

 

 

I had picked a fresh comfrey leaf from the herb garden right before class.

Anxiously, I rolled out my slab and with my rolling pin, pressed the leaf into the damp clay. Peeled off the leaf and smiled in excitement. It worked!

 

 

The clay picked up every detail down to the finest vein. I curled the ends a bit, fired it, glazed it and now it sits on my desk holding my phone. I love it.

 

 

I'm considering taking the class again....working on soap dishes (I learned a LOT last time!) and definitely making more comfrey leaf dishes. What do you think?

 

 

 



 

 



Felted Soap

Felted soap is a pretty cool idea. Although it's certainly not new, many people have never seen it and those that have, don't quite understand it.

Basically, it's a bar of soap with a washcloth adhered to it. Bathe with it, rinse it and put it aside to use again and again. The soap shrinks inside, leaving you with a nice piece of felt.

Wool is wrapped over the soap, hot water is applied and the wool is rubbed until it shrinks and becomes tight around the bar. You know what happens when a wool hat accidentally goes through the laundry, right? Same principal.

The technique has been around for a long time and I've been unsuccessful in my attempts to achieve the perfect felted bar. It can be tricky to get a nice, even felted layer without clumping, bare spots or stray wool fibers sticking out. And it's so time consuming!

I spotted a soap felting tutorial on a blog from a fellow Etsy seller. Her soaps are gorgeous, the instructions clear and precise... I had to try one more time.

Success!

Thank you, BeckyRose for your generous contribution. My felted soap turned out just right. It's also a great way for soapmakers to turn a not-so-perfect looking bars into something beautiful.

Check out Becky's tutorial here:

Beckyrose Designs: How to: Felted Soap

Zutter Bind-It-All...(and dieting)

I love the Zutter Bind-It-All!!

With it, you can make your own custom journals and books EASILY. I'll show you how....

First off, let me say that I'm going back on a modified version of the old Weight Watchers program. (Not the points system.) Back in '99, I lost nearly 75 pounds on this program within 15 months. Kept it off for a long time. The past few years have been difficult ones and unfortunately, I've gained back 2/3 of it. Haven't been exercising like I should. Or making the best food choices. Or watching my portion sizes.

Writing everything down...keeping track of food and water, logging exercise and moods...it helped tremendously. As much as I'm NOT looking forward to that aspect of it, it must be done.

So, I decided to make a diet journal using the Zutter. Here's how I did it in a matter of minutes:

Ok, decide on a size for your book. Mine is 6" x 6". Print out your plan on paper, as many as you need. This journal is for 2 months, so I printed out 30 sheets. (2 journal pages fit on 1 sheet of regular computer paper.) Cut to size.

Place a stack of pages into the Zutter and press down the lever. This creates holes in each sheet. Continue with remaining sheets. Your stack will look like this:

I covered two 6" x 6" chipboard squares with a cute Amy Butler paper, then with the Zutter, punched holes in each.

Stack the covers and pages. There are nine punched holes, so I snipped a length of binding ring to size...nine loops. Slip the binding into the holes. It's really easy!

Place the journal into the zutter, pull the lever and squish the rings together.

Now you have a great little book, just the way you want!

Here are a few dog treat recipe books I'm working on for my Etsy shop. They're so cute...wait until you see them completed!

I bought my Bind-It-All slightly used. It was still new and in the box but the price was about $25.00 cheaper. They aren't terribly expensive at all. If you want to check them out, this website has instructions, project inspirations and zutter products: http://www.zutterzisters.com/ Note: I have no affiliation with this company, I simply like the product.