Working on that Covered Vinyl Head Again

Change from the way she looked on March 9.

I am not finished with the face on this doll. I have more work to do on the eyes. I think they are too dark now, so I'll lighten them up the next time I work on her.

Another Wool Cat

A cat with attitude, she's 22 inches tall, and made with the usual repurposed wool from thrift store clothing. Wool clothing doesn't sell well in thrift shops because it has to be dry cleaned, and people who shop at thrift stores don't want to buy garments that need this special treatment.

I have my own "special treatment" for these garments: first, I take them apart, and then I wash the pieces in the machine with hot water. The agitation makes most wool fabric felt a little; if I want it felted a lot, I wash it several times in hot water. I usually air dry it, although if you want it VERY fuzzy, you can try drying it in the dryer. Some of mine has gone this route, usually by accident when DH gets ahold of it. I don't mind, though. I don't decide what to use fabric for until it has been washed; then I let it inspire me and tell me what it wants to be.

Introducing Wool Boy

I made this doll from parts of two recycled thrift store sweaters, one partly felted when I bought it. I like to buy them when they are 75% off, which makes them about 60 cents each. I wash them and then I turn my imagination loose.

Wool Boy was made in one sitting while I listened to a rerun of Part one of Ken Burn's The Civil War on PBS. (I was a hard working, very new first grade teacher when it was first shown in 1990 and didn't have the leisure to watch tv except on Fri and Sat nights, so it was new to me.)

I liked this film very much, and realized anew what sacrifices people during that time made to allow our country's government to survive. We take so much for granted, you know? We either don't know history, or we forget what we've learned. Kids taking history today are lucky they have access to such great programs. Seems like all we did in OUR history classes was memorize facts like dates of wars and treaties, etc. and never really had any understanding of how those wars, etc. affected the lives of average people. I like history from the bottom up, which is what this film tells. When you hear excerpts from the diaries/letters of ordinary people, you get a much more interesting view of history, and one that you tend to understand, relate to, and remember.

Green Knitting, Green Monkey

This monkey is GREEN because he has been made from two mismatched, handknit wool socks. A dear lady gave us a dozen or so pairs of wool socks she'd knitted for her now-departed husband, to pass on to the clothing bank we work for and at. However, there were four stray socks, and even very destitute people like to have their socks match just like everyone else's do.

What could I do with those four socks? I could always use them for dusting and polishing, but I wanted to give them a more dignified task than that. Knowing and honoring the work that had gone into them, I wanted them to be seen, not stuffed into my ragbag.

I had made many sock monkeys, but none from handknit wool socks, and so this little guy was an experiment, as is much of what I do. I wished that there was more contrast in color between the two socks I used for him, but there wasn't, so I tried edging the "shirt" he is wearing with turquoise, and I was happy enough with the result.

This picture is a bag of yarn of various fibers, all gleaned from unknitting/frogging (rip it!) items from rummage sales/ thrift stores. It takes a little time, but can't be beat for the price, which is usually a dollar, sometimes much less than that, for each garment. I highly recommend doing this and will continue doing it myself.

Recycled Project

I am big on recycling, in case you haven't noticed. Anyway, our doll club in Pierce county is doing a project using a styrofoam wig head. One of our members saw one at the FiberFest that had felt adhered to it, and she wanted to do one, too.

I had planned to use felt on mine, also, but when I went to find it, I found a felted sweater first (I look for them at thrift stores), so I used that instead of felt. I worked on it all day Saturday, until I was almost sick of it. I had planned to give her jewelry on Sunday, but got sidetracked with other things, so will try to get started on that today. I like her and now I want more of those styro heads to do more.

I am suggesting to the co-op art gallery that we have a show next fall featuring art using repurposed material--we might draw a totally different audience for that kind of a show.

I swap with Swap-bot!
I have recently joined SwapBot after noticing them mentioned in a Toy Society Post. I have bought a thrift store sweater and am in the process of reknitting into something new. I had read a long time ago that Chinese grandmas did this all the time. They'd knit a sweater for the grandchild and then take it apart when he/she'd outgrown it, and reknit it, with a little added yarn, into a bigger reincarnation. Very green, very smart to me!