These were made from those cheap kits they sell around Christmas time with beads and wire. You just string on the beads and twist. I enjoy making them but they don’t always keep their shape very well so that circles become oblong and stars don’t have sharp edges (as you can see here). Perhaps some stiffer wire is in order. I have a book on how to make beaded flowers but that’s a little more work and I haven’t tried it yet.
Spool elf
This was a very cute and simple kit.
Decorated balls
Angel ornaments
These were from a kit. They were all supposed to be blond and angelic but I got bored. They’re hard to photograph too.
Applique felt ornament
I made a Christmas tree skirt for my mother from a kit out of pieces of felt appliqued and then highlighted with embroidery and sequins. It was slow, painstaking work since I sewed each piece on (some people might glue them). The skirt was printed with design all the way around, so that you did the entire design twice, once on the front and again on the back.
Well, it took me almost two years to get the front and sides done and I decided not to do the largest motif on the back center. I mean, you have to cut a slit in it somewhere, right? I used some of the leftover pieces to make an ornament for myself and another for my friend Sheila.
Sequined ornaments
These were made from various kits. They’re simple to do but somewhat paintful on the fingers as you attach the sequins with straight pins that have to pushed into the styrofoam form.
Shrinky-Dink ornaments
I call them shrinky dinks but they’re not really. They’re made by putting small plastic beads into a pre-formed metal outline. Then they’re baked in the oven so the beads melt into something that looks like glass. These were actually really tedious to make. Getting the beads piled up to just the right height so that the area gets filled in but doesn’t overflow is tricky and it’s not uncommon to open up the oven and find that one red bead rolled off it’s pile into the middle of a white section.
The ones that came out nicely I do like, but it was a little hit or miss. What was especially hard was leaving the white beads in long enough to melt completely but not so long that they scorched and started to turn yellow. I definitely have some yellow spots on my snowman.
College watercolors
When I was in college, my friends and I did the strangest things for fun. We drank a lot, of course, but while we were drinking, we would write poetry to each other or paint or sing along to show tunes. These were guys too! I have a few paintings remaining from those many sessions. I’m not a very good painter, but I did used to have fun with it.
This is my standard “scene.” I’ve drawn, sewn, painted this I don’t know how many times.
One of my favorites. An artist friend of mine (someone with actual talent) even liked it.
An attempt at realism. Rather poor.
My favorite is “The Wall.” I painted this one night when, sitting alone in the dark, the white wall in front of me seemed to turn into an undulating dark blue creature. I almost captured the wall I saw in this painting. So what are the naked people doing there? I happened to be thinking about a guy I had a crush on when I saw the wall, so this seemed like the appropriate foreground.
I recently bought some watercolors and tried to paint again but I’ve lost that youthful attitude that allows you to continue on despite an obvious lack of success.
Good Morning counted cross stitch series
I’m not a morning person. Can you tell? These are my own designs, such as they are. There’s a third one: a picture of a coffin with the legend “If it’s so good, why do they call it mourning” which I never finished. I cut the mat for the clock design myself, which explains why it’s so lopsided. I can’t even cut a rectangular mat and have it come out straight so I don’t know what I was thinking here. The lower one was professionally blocked and mounted and you can certainly see the difference.
Mrs. Claus crewel work
This was only of the earliest pieces I ever made. It was pretty tricky with a huge section of turkey work (the wreath) and those bullion stitches.