Saturday, February 24, 2024

Pysanky for Today

 Pysanky for Today

This is the basic design for pysanky that I am working on right now. It is based off a design of Lorrie Popow’s. I think she uses ostrich eggs, which are much larger than the jumbo chicken eggs I’m using. So, I don’t have all the egg real estate to do everything she does. Plus, I get bored easily and feel the need to just change things up every time anyway.




Friday, February 23, 2024

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Pysanky Time

 I’ve been working on my yearly pysanky production. Only 2 out of 6 eggs came to a horrific end so far. (Fell off a table or work stand.)



I’ll get better photos later, but here’s what we have so far.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Bike Wheel Wreath

 Looking through my photos just now, I found a photo of the wreath that I made before Christmas. I had been wanting to make one out of a bike wheel for a long time. My wheel gave up the ghost last March during “Freezing Saddles” and I saved it just for this very reason!




A Drawing A Day

 A friend of mine posted on Facebook, drawings she was doing for a challenge. The goal is to do a drawing every day this year. I thought this was a great way to motivate myself to draw, so I joined in. Here are a few of the drawings I have done so far.













Friday, January 19, 2024

Scherenschnitte Christmas Cards

 Santa’s Workshop Papercutting

Here it is January 19, and I haven’t gotten around to posting my Christmas card design from 2023.  Oops.


It’s always such an ordeal for me trying to figure out what the theme will be for my yearly card. I take forever and go through lots of prototypes. 

This year I ended up using the theme of Santa’s workshop. This way, I got to cut a fancy border design, which was the house. Architectural designs make such nice designs that can be set on a table or hung. And in Santa’s workshop, I got to add a bike, which was something I really wanted to include. 



Most of my cards were cut out of heavy drawing paper. After about 95% of them were cut, I noticed a pack of watercolor paper I have hoarded for years. And wouldn’t you know, that stuff is perfect for my greeting card snips! 

Etsy or No Etsy - Cat and Mouse Valentine Scherenschnitte

 

Valentine’s Day Card

This week I got all inspired to reopen an Etsy shop. I made a valentine design; cut it out; sewed it; and photographed it. When I went to upload it to my long ignored Etsy shop, it no longer existed. Whaaaaa. No trace of it anywhere.

So I got all inspired to open a new shop. In jumping through all the hoops at Etsy to open a new store, I got to the part where you have to enter your social security number and then banking information. Oh, boy. I just couldn’t do it. Possibly, there would be no issue with it ever, but I am just hardwired to be skeptical. Trusting the security of websites with my most precious secret information? Ooooooooooooh. I dunno. Scariness!!!

I’m contemplating other ways to sell my work. I’m not trying to get rich. I just want to cut my designs and not have them filling up my house.

Anyway, here’s my latest cuts! I cut these out of 90 pound watercolor paper. They are 4” x 6”. As they turn, you can see cats chasing mice. 




Chip Carved Cherry Spoon in Progress

 I wrote this back in August, but I guess I forgot to publish it! So, imagine yourself reading this in the summer.

It was finally nice enough to sit on the porch today and carve.  I had stuck this cherry spoon away a month ago, disappointed with my messy chip carving.  When I pulled it out today, it didn’t look quite as horrible as I remembered. Hopefullly, tomorrow will be another nice day and I can finish it.  


***Okay, now that I have posted this 6 month old entry, I need to go look for this finished spoon. Hope I haven’t given it away already.

Friday, June 30, 2023

Sycamore Spoon and Scoop with Chip Carving

Sycamore Spoon and Scoop with Chip Carving

 I wanted to mail these to a friend weeks ago but I couldn’t get myself to box them until just now. Hopefully, I will make it to the post office this morning. The carving and fun stuff, I can get done easily. The administrative stuff is a little more difficult.


Saturday, May 13, 2023

Scherenschnitte Vacation Memory

Vacation memory from Bulls Island, SC. Lots of alligators there!