Jan 22 2010
Earlier this week, Eric nabbed my new camera (while I was still snoozing – sneaky thing) and took it out on a photo expedition. This was the view, photographed just a few feet from the kitchen door, of our shaggy neighbors at Edmonds Farm on that beautifully frosty, misty morning.
Jan 21 2010
Shortly before Christmas I discovered Kumihimo – the Japanese art of braiding. This technique of creating complex, multi-stranded braids appeals to the middle-schooler in me who still occasionally and unabashedly makes embroidery floss friendship bracelets. The opportunity to play with color that Kumihimo affords makes me giddy with glee.
Traditionally, Kumihimo braids were created on a wooden device called the Marudai. While the Marudai is a more flexible tool, it is also more complicated, and you can’t pick it up and take it with you (Kumihimo makes a long car ride go more quickly!). Fortunately for modern braiders, foam kumihimo looms are portable, versatile, and easy to use.
Kumihimo braids can be created with many different yarns and ribbons. All of my example braids pictured right are made using our 1mm Satin Rattail Cord. You can add silk ribbon, eyelash yarn, hemp cord, and other stringing material as suits. The rattail cord is a nice place to start as it doesn’t tangle easily, and is inexpensive and available in a host of colors.
Many of the recent additions in the past month have been Kumihimo supplies. To start with, I have Kumihimo looms – portable, light weight foam disks designed to facilitate the braiding process. My looms come with printed braiding instructions and design ideas. You’ll also need something to braid with – like my thirty three new colors of 1mm “Petite” satin rattail cord, available by the yard as well as in several pre-cut kumihimo mixes. I have a fantastic collection of new TierraCast large hole pendant bails – just the thing for slipping onto a kumihimo braid. And finally, I have end caps and new adhesives for finishing braids and turning them into wearable art. All these goodies are listed or linked to from my kumihimo page:
Eric and I have great plans on expanding our Kumihimo page with tutorials, videos, and an online pattern predictor application – we hope you’ll keep checking back as we expand our selection for this wonderful, creative technique.
Jan 21 2010
I found the coolest website tonight. I’d heard of it before, but never cared enough to go there. I should have – I’ve been missing out! The site is:
Etsy sellers – if you haven’t gone to this site – go there now. Seriously. It is full of wonderful tools to improve your Etsy selling experience I’m sitting pretty tonight with a customized printable Etsy invoice, and a vastly improved Etsy store management and navigation system. Love it!
Jan 18 2010
It has been a few months since Mouse was the “star” of the weekly beast blog. So here he is – looking every bit like the noble and regal American Foxhound that he is while enjoying a sunny morning in Ottoman. Don’t let him fool you, though – he’s an adorable clown most of the time!
Jan 14 2010
Somebody got a new digital camera for her birthday this year (me!), and it is about darn time too. I’ve been using a 4 mega-pixel camera that I bought about five years ago, for, well, five years. Technology has been steadily improving, but yours truly has been living in the past. That is, until now.
My gorgeous new Sony Cybershot H20 arrived bright and early this morning, which was a real treat as UPS usually comes at the end of the day and I’ve been steadily working myself into an impatient froth since Sunday when I added up my birthday gift certificates and placed the order. I was a good girl, however, and filled all my orders before I did much more than drool over it, and have only now started to really play with it. I LOVE the results I’m getting. My crystal pictures are coming out so sharp they almost hurt to look at (it is a pain I can live with, though)!
I mean, just look at these 12mm Swarovski “graphic” beads — 12mm!
I’ve got an incredible backlog of inventory waiting to be photographed (this camera has been in the works for a few weeks, and has been a convenient reason to put off photography) so look for lots of new goodies, soon!
Jan 08 2010
