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Every Cloud......
.......... has a SILVER LION. It has been cloudy and windy here the last few days. I got out this little fellow I hand-built from clay many years ago. Then the 🌞 made an appearance.
Tutorial: Wind catchers
We are in the midst of the most amazing wind storms....... Leaves are blowing from the trees.....ferries are cancelled.....birds are flying backwards (ok, maybe that is an exaggeration but the ones gathering on my balcony at the feeders have their feathers billowing)....... The post below is from 13 years ago. I could make one now, a small one, put it on a windowsill - indoors! - and use breath to make it twirl. The song Mariah comes to mind.
(re-post)
I became aware that pinwheels could work horizontally and that certainly expanded my use of them in the house and in the garden. This one is made from the foam-like paper you can get at the dollar store; the cork base is glued to a beach rock. It sits on the deck railing for the moment and twirls in the wind and mimics the clouds. There was the thought to write words on the mills but I was reluctant to mar the whiteness.
I can imagine a garden party or a wedding with small pinwheels like this in the top of bottles. Or decorating a cake. Or stuck on the ends of branches in a tree. Or.....
The way to make them is simple: take a square (this is cardstock but I also am experimenting with a heavy gauge clear plastic and a nubbly plastic meant to line drawers) and draw lines from corner to corner to get the center. Mark dots as shown.
Make a dot at the center as well. This will be considered the top (the side with the markings); the other side will be the bottom.
Now cut from each corner in toward the center and stop a little more than 1/4 inch from the center dot
Make a small hole at the dots in the corners and a hole in the center with a paper punch or a knitting needle or an awl or a darning needle or what-have-you.
Now take a T pin and put a small bead on it. You could cut a thin straw in lengths and use these in place of beads - straws come in wonderful colours.
Poke the T pin with its bead through one of the holes in the corner coming from the bottom side and turn in toward the center.
Bring the next corner up and put the T pin through the hole again coming from the bottom and again turning in toward the center. Repeat with the final two holes in the final two corners.
It will now look like this. Turn it over....
....and put three more beads on the T pin.
Push into cork. I forgot to hold the beads onto the T pin the first time I turned it over to push it into the cork.
Amazing how beads can scoot across a floor...under a frig....surprise a bare foot in the middle of the night.... Hold onto beads when turning pinwheel over!Adjust the depth of the T pin in the cork so that the blades of the pinwheel move freely. Ignore the piece of paper that escaped my notice while photographing this shot and which confused me until I realized it was a scrap and not part of the pinwheel. Once you have the pinwheel twirling merrily with your breath as the power source, take it outdoors and introduce it to the wind.
Here is the completed cardstock pinwheel. At the top is the one made from plastic drawer lining - or so I was told this was its use - got it at a garage sale - it has a lovely nubbly texture. Next to it is the one made with clear heavy gauge plastic which would be quite stunning in a tree and spinning against leaves and sky. The bottom one is again of clear plastic with two sheets of origami paper, back to back, put on top of the plastic and cut along with it. I can imagine using a lacey handkerchief or a piece of colourful fabric or maybe burlap in the same way as the origami paper. Or painting on the plastic first. A nail could be used instead of the T pin. Or a pipe cleaner if you wanted to tie the pinwheel onto something. Or knitting needles poked into florist foam for a 'bouquet'. Have fun!
Blowing bubbles in a rainstorm with thunder and lightning, too!
It has been raining quite a lot (for Victoria!) lately and there was even talk about possibly a THUNDER STORM! Alas no. But I remembered when there was thunder.... and lightning........ If we do get a storm - I will get out the bubbles!
(re-post)
Twenty minutes ago, the sky darkened. Then there was thunder and then there was lightning; actually I think it is lightning and then thunder.
These are becoming more common it seems, here in Victoria, and we Ontario born and bred are less likely to stop and stare and listen and marvel and reminisce.
I had stopped reading and was staring and listening.
Then it started to rain - heavy, Vancouver-type rain.
Bubbles! I don't recall blowing bubbles in lightning and thunder and rappaty tappaty rain.
So I blew them out the window and the storm blew most of them right back in; at least for a moment. Then, for a moment or two, several wandsful of bubbles went prancing madly out and about, high and low and I did not see one single bubble popped by a raindrop.
The birds had left the feeders and gone back into the trees when the heavy rain started (they kept on feeding when it was thundering and lightning and seemed a bit skittish) but one nuthatch came sailing back in the midst of the rain and the bubbles and tsk'ed tsk'ed on the peanut feeder.
Then the bubbles went into pat-a-cake behaviour and then dosey-doe square dancing steps. I went and got the camera.
But twenty minutes had already passed and the rain was stopping and the sky was clearing and Victoria was reassuring the tourists that the legend of Victorian "wait twenty minutes" weather was a fact; the bubbles, by now, were rather ho-hum. If you click on the photo and squint you can see the ones that were still around for the photo shoot.
You'll have to take my words for the drama.
Ladybugs
There are ladybugs out on my balcony: I have seen three in the past two days on and around the birds' water dish. But this is autumn. I then remembered I had posted about them in the past. If I come across any indoors - I am prepared.
(re-post)
The ladybug who had begun to visit me at dinnertime and ate the piece of potato I offered and then did not show up for several days and I was worried that it was 'something she ate'; the ladybug for whom I Googled and found out that if a ladybug hatches in your home and you want to keep it alive and well until released outdoors in the spring, the food of choice is aphids, second choice soaked raisins; the ladybug who did not show up for this more suitable food: that ladybug! Well, listen to this.
A few evenings ago I turned off the computer and stood up to walk out of the room. I chanced to look down and noticed a dark spot on the floor which, in the dim light, I thought was a piece of mud that had come off my shoe as I came into the room because it was exactly where I would have stepped as I came into the room. I picked it up carefully - not wanting the lump to crumble into crumbles of dirt - and discovered it was a ladybug.
I took it into the kitchen and looked at it under the light. It did not move or respond to my attention - no, not CPR: gentle pats. I had cleared away the raisins and wet cloth days before when ladybug had not returned but got out the glass plate again and put the 'corpse' on it, on the table, thinking to have not exactly a funeral the next day but some sort of memorial: maybe bury the ladybug who had shared my dinnertime in the scented geranium pot by the door looking out onto the deck. I marvelled at how it had appeared in my path, so to speak, and that I had not trod on it and crushed it; wondered if it had been on the ceiling and fallen just then. I acknowledged the loss.
Next morning - the plate was empty! I now know ladybugs are either very sound sleepers or they do mini hibernations. As I picked up the plate I discovered the ladybug had crawled over the rim and was on the underside. Well. I soaked some more raisins, wet another piece of paper towel, put the raisins on the plate, nudged the ladybug along to the food. Well, again! She perked up immediately, climbed onto one of the raisins, latched on and, unless she flies around at night or when I am away from the house and returns to the exact same spot - she has not moved since.
Seagull with a very long memory......
(re-post) (third one!)
Many months ago I put out a piece of food on the deck that I knew was of a size to attract BIG birds but was just too lazy unthinking to break it up into smaller pieces for the frequent (smaller) visitors to the feeders.
This guy showed up. (If it is a gal, I beg her pardon.)
He squawked and ate and squawked and ate whatever it was (seems to me it was a stale bagel) and so, of course, all his buddies showed up as well. I am a five minute drive from the ocean on all three sides as the crow seagull flies (being on the bottom tip of Vancouver Island) but I swear, when the "wow! wow! food! bagel!!!" squawk goes out, seagulls who have been leisurely on the beach in Oak Bay or Fairfield or the Inner Harbour downtown hear it and zoom over to Fernwood.
Zillions Many seagulls on and around and over (I need NOT explain the perils of this, I am sure) my deck is an event that greatly startles me, the neighbours, the neighbourhood cats, the neighbourhood chickens. When I am thinking properly I avoid it.
The rest of the crowd that showed up for that bagel so long ago have given up coming back: some did persist for a time, arriving daily or whenever I was on the deck trying to eat something. A mother learns the skill of hiding a treat in her hand should a child suddenly appear and say, "Hey, are you eating something? Then how come you're chewing? Oh, okay." Seagulls can see through hands!
This guy continues to return on a regular basis. Today he was right outside the glass door and I had a fright when I walked into the kitchen and saw him peering in.* He flew onto the railing and tried his 'poor me' pecking at the tiny seeds on the railing. I finally opened the door and shoo'ed him away because the sparrows and finches will not come near another bird to whom they are knee-high. Can't say I blame them.
He may or may not have done an immediate return; I left the kitchen. The sight of him picking at the rope that ties one of the bamboo feeder holders to the railing gets me thinking he - likely she! - is nesting and needs some binding material and I have a so much natural fibre in my stash.......but I am sure putting out strings will result in more squawking and more buddies.......
* There is always the fear, when living on one's own, that should one suddenly drop dead from being startled by, oh, say a gull at the door, or stepping on something squishy in the night in one's bare feet and thinking it is a huge spider (instead of the grape one dropped at supper and could not find), or having a skein of wool suddenly and inexplicably slither down from the basket where it was nestling, there is always the fear of not being able to explain the interesting reason for the sudden demise.
Beyond Buttons
(re-post)
A fluid coatlet; a jersey cotton fabric. Cross slits were cut as the button hole.
The material from right front is drawn through.
Pulled through further and then turned back and drawn through again to secure more firmly.
A simple fastening; the ends remind me of the wings of a dove.
Might as well mention the cuff-less cuffs while I am here.
I did not want to sew on cuffs to narrow the sleeves as this would compromise the integrity of the simplicity and flow of the design so I rolled up the sleeves two or three folds, took a substantial hair elastic ....
... turned the sleeve inside out, zapped the material at the seam pony-tail style, turned the sleeve right side out and tucked the tail inside.
Here is what it looks like when being worn.
It's a comfortable sleeve ending, holds its stance if pushed up on the arm for coolness or style, can be adjusted to make the cuff wider or narrower. You can also use a colourful scrunchy without turning the sleeve inside out and this results in a funky external cuff LINK.
Humming bird diner: sitting down to eat
(re-post)
The humming bird feeder on the left was a lovely gift months ago but it was only today that I had an "aha" moment.
(The "aha" moment about it being blue and not having to be red to attract hummers occurred as soon as it was hung and the birds flocked to it!)
Today's epiphany had to do with the feature that allows the hummers to perch and eat - like a diner.
Past feeders have been like the one on the right - the bird must keep its wings in that astonishing motion to eat - sort of like a drive-through.
They don't ignore the fly-through. But they seem to enjoy the diner more.
Documenting : Home
This is where I lived many years ago. Documenting is a worthwhile endeavour on many levels: some of the items I still have and it gives me an idea of how long I have had them: some remind me of past projects: ideas that worked then and may work again in my preset day : how new acquisitions have changed the atmosphere. I have also documented where I am living now and am glad I did!
re post from Dec 31 2010
Hand-carved cedar day bed serves as a chesterfield with those seated at either end facing each other.
Hemp and linen t-shirts are sewn and knotted onto foam pillow shapes.
A green plastic comfortable reclining deck chair retains its function and takes on a futuristic form when covered with a cylinder of stretchy material.
The simple modular units on top of a regular book case can be configured to accommodate the contents.
Bowling balls and a plant stand in front of a mirror add whimsy and depth.
A Mission style desk provides studio workspace and can become a dining table with a quick shift of the machines. Old suitcases act as a bureau. A magnetic knife rack attached to side of the desk keeps scissors handy.
By the doorway a southernwood plant has come in from the garden to give a welcome to those entering and leaving the room with its scent.
Another bowling ball is on another iron plant stand . The green plastic garden table will return outdoors when something more interesting is found to replace it here. A length of silver flashing rolled into a column and pierced with a design like the old pie cupboards is being considered.
The dining area serves as studio also.
A draw leaf table has slide out leaves to extend the eating or working area.
An Australian bushmint plant offers clippings for scented bouquets and invites touching to release the fragrance.
Stretchy material has been pulled over an old wooden windsor chair and a tiny carpet used as a seat cover.
The angled mirror reflects the bird feeders outside the window.
The intent was to have a narrow slatted bed suggesting Japanese style but this futon base happenstance'd and expanded the vision. The floating aspect and contrast of narrow space to the wider wood elements are visually pleasing.
An orikeito (fabric folding) art piece is done daily with the amber fleece blanket.
Another plastic garden reclining chair has been covered in stretchy fabric. The old crocheted blanket is an artifact of fibre archeology discovered at a thrift store dig.
The dressmaking form has a work-in-progress draped on it - scrunching and securing material in the ongoing exploration of playing with energy and producing a garment.
The project is satisfying and satisfactory; the dress form is not and a substitute is being searched for.
The south-facing window can be opened on cool days and sun rays captured in the indoor/outdoor intent.
Bowling balls representing the sun and the moon are on and under a stand meant to hold a bag for jelly straining.
A variegated Australian bushmint is by the door, again as a scented welcome.
The small bureau was used as a sample by a traveling salesman; so said the seller at a garage sale, his daughter.
An indoor wall window - most sensible and underused feature in house construction - gives light to the hallway.