|
|
|
|
|
|
August 2009 Issue 30
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After just two
rains...
So much COLOR on the property now!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-------------------------------------------------
We were having "desert conditions" all summer.
Two rains at the end of August, and everything's green and/or flowering again.
go figure...
..........................................................
Inspiration for the new little
Flower Joy Dolls
(see them in the Fall at TRF)
****************************************
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All this time the Dollmaker has been thinking about those Bottle Dolls
and how to strengthen them....
Bottle Dolls take on a new strength!
Now Reinforced with a NEW
"Miracle Substance"...
and you thought you knew all the applications for....
TILE
ADHESIVE
(...this is the stuff that will stick a ceramic tile to a vertical wall
and keep it there.
a substance which has been around since the dawn of Hardware Stores...
ahem... only recently did the Dollmaker realize... ahem... but just think of the things you could stick together with such a lovely fluffy strong adhesive...)
It even works on Glass!
here is the Dollmaker's latest Tutorial...
The Reinforcing-the-Bottle
Photo
Tutorial!
>>>>>>
The Dollmaker is using a Topo Chico Mineral Water Bottle here
but she has also tried other types of bottles for their shapes... Pompeian vinegar bottles, for example, look like little glass dresses...
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The Base
Here the Dollmaker is using a cleverly fashioned custom wooden base made by the Queen of Woodworking, Bev Taylor, with a circular indentation carved into it
as
a Stand for the Glass Bottle... 
...but if this idea excites you, remember that you can cut a rudimentary stand from a 1x4 or 2x4 board or use any square of wood to get started.
(in fact: The Dollmaker wholeheartedly recommends using whatever available materials will work.)
So...to begin....
A good dollop of the magical substance
is all you need to get started...
and then let the magic begin when the Tile Adhesive adheres glass to wood.
Of course it doesn't happen instantaneously... it does take a while...
(this next step may be hard for the restless...)
Let the bottle stand undisturbed for about 8 hours.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The Spread
Then (after waiting 8 hours) when the bottle feels secure (doesn't move at all) on its base, we come back and cover the whole bottle this time...
with the miracle adhesive. Note that the Dollmaker is using a specialized tool: a butter knife from the silverware drawer.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The Wrap
Stretchy fabric works best, but this fabric here is not stretchy and it is working just fine. A pre-cut shape is fitted onto the bottle, pressed directly against the (kind of squishy) adhesive.
(but if you don't do "pre-cut shapes" and you are just "wingin' it", you can just use a 12" square of fabric and, after the wrap, cut away the excess fabric with a scissor)
Tile Adhesive is water-based, so it cleans up easily too. (Good thing, because it DOES squish through the cracks!)
Wipe off the seam where the two edges of fabric meet with a damp sponge. Wash hands with water and clean your tools...
...so begins the magic of strengthening.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
One more thing about the magic........
The directions on the magical bucket actually say that this adhesive finishes curing in about a month... What? A month! What! That's right, Grasshopper...the Dollmaker was shocked too, this kind of patience seems uncalled-for...
No worries! The Bottle Doll Body is hard as a rock in 8 hours.
the Dollmaking May Continue!
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
This is what the Bottles look like when they are Strengthened
NOW the Bottles are ready to be made into DOLLS!
Dolls which are also Vases!
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
**********************
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Thoughts about a Class
The Dollmaker is thinking about having a Bottle Doll Class.
Making one of these... a Bottle Doll. They are fun, but
Kind of Advanced... We would have to work quickly to get one done in a day.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Contact the Dollmaker
if you want to make a Bottle Doll.
The class would be $95 with the bottle included...
or
you could bring your own bottle by following the directions above
and save $10.00 on the class.
It would have to be in early to mid-September.
EMAIL THE DOLLMAKER AT
CLASS INFORMATION
The Dollmaker will send out a Special Notice (E-Mail) based on the response to this idea.
The Notice will include the DATE.
Probably the 12th or 13th of September... a Saturday or a Sunday...
YOU cHOOSE.
All persons interested please let Kandra know right away, because the Bottle Doll Bodies have to be made in advance for this class.
*********************************
Fixing the Shoppe...
Bracing the wall with a 12' 4x6 and a 20-ton jack
At the Texas Renaissance Festival
August 2009
The dear Wee Peeple Doll Shoppe underwent some repairs...
The Dollmaker found out how a sagging wall made of heavy stucco can be restored to level!
Yes it was a busy August.
See the Slideshow of the whole job at Shutterfly:
http://kandrasonlinephotoalbums.shutterfly.com/#
We also Re-wired the whole TRF Shoppe with all new armored cable!
Wow! Electrical!
The Dollmaker likes to feel safe when she is using her 16th Century appliances!
....................................................................
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>))))))))){{{{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}}}}}((((((((((<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
..........................
... Okay now .... it's been a while since we've had a story...
....and this is a TRUE Story!
The Card
by Kandra Niagra
I was driving home in a good mood, heading West, engaged in my usual attempt to outsmart the sunset... but once again it had gotten to be late afternoon and the sun smiled down flamingly in a most glorious yet impersonal manner, upon and through the windshield and around the visor of the Big Blue Whale in which I was traveling at a pretty good clip, for a big old lumbering Suburban.
After four days of working on my shoppe at the Texas Renaissance Festival, where a Contractor friend and I jacked a two-story stucco wall back to vertical level, I was tired but satisfied that the job was well done.
So there was a blue streak heading down the open highway. Driving my "construction vehicle", just driving along, listening to some jolly tunes and occasionally bursting into song, I noticed gradually that the Big Blue Whale was starting to shake.
When the driver's side visor started shaking it's screws out, and the visor was beginning to hang down across my vision, I fumbled for the cell phone and called my mechanic, Brad, who warned that it could be a tire causing the shake.
I was kind of liking the visor way down low like that... shielding my eyes from the sun's high beams... but the shaking suddenly became violent, and seconds later, the rear tire on the driver's side blew. The explosion sounded quite unnatural. I pulled over. The tire was Shredded. The journey home came to a complete standstill.
Wow.
Well.... Okay.
Well. Okay...
So where was I?
When the dust settled, I noticed a nice view of the surrounding countryside.
The poor Blue Whale with it's rear tire shredded in long ragged pieces... was perched upon a high grassy bluff... kind of like... a beached whale... but there was an underpass a few yards behind and beneath us which I could use for shade.
What luck, I thought... it was probably nice and cool on those concrete slopes under the bridge.
I whipped out my phone, called Mechanic Brad, evaluated the condition of the spare tire, and trotted down the hill, away from the beached whale, heading for the welcoming shade to read my book.
I figured- with a hundred miles behind me and only thirty miles left to go.. I should be waiting only about 30 minutes.
Well, down under the bridge it was not cool, like I had imagined, at all. It was more like an oven.
By contrast, up on the high bluff it had been quite breezy and spacious, overlooking the beautiful landscape. Hmmm... that was a no-brainer. I decided to vacate the oven and trot on up to higher ground.
Picking out a breezy spot about midway up the hillside, still way behind my car and concealed from the view of the traffic, I got settled with my book again.
In spite of the hot sun, and besides an occasional assault of the obligatory nerve-wracking fear that my car might be rear-ended by some maniac, it was not such a bad place to be stranded. What a view!
Always on the look-out for fire ants, I made sure to scan the ground around my feet...
That was when I noticed
in the gravel, to the right of my foot, there was a card.
A playing card. Face down.
How unexpected.
I just stared at it. A playing card. Right HERE?
Kind of mysterious. I looked around...(for what.. a witness? the owner?)
No, I was alone.
Oh sure. Here we go.
Okay, I surrender... to the Already quite familiar penchant of the Omnipotent Dealer to provide strange and unusual circumstances... presumably to get some point across, although it's frequently questionable as to exactly what point is being made.. Well,
Alrighty then! So deal me in! Why not? I certainly wasn't going anywhere!
Anyway, the Mind had already seized upon the idea of this being a Game..
Guess the card.
oh brother...
Once unleashed, the Mind... Na! Too Late to stop it! The churning had begun.... the Mind was getting going now!
"in the big picture... there are no accidents."
"...According to the Tarot, every card has a Meaning..."
and now
the Mind took careful aim and posed the Grand Underlying Question:
"Will this card be Relevant to my Present Situation?"
No Gambler with a face-down card in front of him in the dust, the sun in his eyes, and a grimace on his poker face, ever studied a card so diligently as I, to the sounds of vehicles whishing by on the other side of the concrete guardrail. Otherwise the hillside seemed to be held in a hush.
Yes, my eyes stayed narrowed as I stared down at that card in the dirt.
The wind brushed me gently and I leaned back to include the distance in my vision. I felt like a Pin... like in the game: Pin the Tail on the Donkey. How did I end up here- pinned- by blind chance, to this parched patch of ground out in the middle of nowhere, at this totally random location, with a card sitting next to me?
I know the card.
What supernatural conspiratorial quantum quirk of fate would lead a person right to this spot anyway... where this one lone card would be waiting?
It's the Queen of Hearts.
I know that tacked to my wall in the kitchen there are a few Queen of Hearts Cards but how many times in a person's life can the same card come up?
Guess the Queen of Hearts.
For weeks, months, maybe even years, this abandoned card has been sitting here. How long has this Hidden Symbol waited to be discovered? Waiting for Fate to deliver a wayward traveler- a particular wacky individual who would haphazardly arrive in the midst of an explosion of rubber and light and who would already have a collection of Queen of Hearts Cards at home in her kitchen!
Turn the card over.
Actually, it sounds like a Disney movie. In fact, wasn't there a Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland"? Yeah, right... it would be the Queen of Hearts AGAIN in a World where Playing Cards got up and sprouted skinny little arms and legs and grabbed paintbrushes because they were gravely concerned about the color of the Rose bushes! Think of the Probabilities against the same exact card showing up yet another time! The Mind was loving this debate!
Guess.
I slowly shook my head.
I had to admit, it could be any card...
My gaze slid over the panorama of farmlands and forests...
Guess.
This is- Too Random! I held my breath.
I reached for the card and turned it over.
It was the Queen of Hearts.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hmmm. ...but it would be just like the Queen of Hearts to be waiting patiently in the dirt for somebody! Like the Guardian Spirit of the Highway!
Queen of Mercy- Angel of the Afternoon! Madonna of the Stranded!
I tipped my hat to the low afternoon sun. Whew!
What a Journey.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************************
Hmmm... isn't it time to make witches yet?
til next time.....
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
|
|
|
|
|
