Belly Cast

we made a belly cast last friday night.

we learned to do it by watching this video. the idea was a result of two other friends who had done it in the past. one had a friend paint a really pretty butterfly theme one for her little girl's room. the other is going for more kid-like with a frog painting (eyes on the boobs and a big froggy smile across her belly). it consisted of: 3 rolls of pre-plastered strips (cut into 12" lengths), bowl of warm water, petroleum jelly and me, preggers sitting on the edge of a dining room chair on a tarp in the middle of the kitchen. after the first and second layer hardened (20-30 minutes...), it felt really claustrophobic. it reminded me of a painting of Frieda Kahlo when she had to be in a body cast. it was really tough to sit still, inhale and exhale and stay still with 27 extra pounds on your body.

but all in all, it turned out really nice. g's going to put another layer b/c we should have used a 4th roll to make it stronger. then, he'll take it to work and add bondo to make the whole thing smooth. i suggested he paint it at work, like a flat black similiar to his '66 Chevy and maybe someone can pinstrip it like a car. i think that would be pretty nifty. or a tree. i don't know yet.

propagating african violets

not sure that this qualifies as a "craft." but it sure is a neat lil' experiment.

african violets are ubiquitous at my workplace. i have 2 plants at my desk and i know a handful of folks who have 'em, too. it helps that a lot of the cubes are by a window, so the violets grow really well. a VERY green-thumb'd coworker taught me this trick....

i used a clean razor blade to cut some stalks at a diagonal. say there's three rows of leaves, cutting from the middle row works the best, since the outermost row of leaves are old and no longer maturing and the innermost rows are too young and have too-short of a stalk.

stick the stem in a tube of clean water. that's it. african violet plant food can be used, but water alone works just as well. keep the stems in a bright spot, but not overly sunny. basically, whatever kinda sun works for the parental plant should work well with the baby cuttings. every few days, i added more water.


within a few weeks, i started seeing lil' roots.
this is about a 6-week old cutting. i've actually let it go on too long. these bushy things are now called "water roots" and it'd be harder for them to adapt to soil. they're not gonna automatically die in soil or anything, it'll just take a lil' longer for them to get settled. maybe an eighth to a quarter inch of roots would be ideal for transfering to dirt.

see the lil' itty-bitty leaves starting to come out? cool, eh?


i cut about 10 stalks at a time, so here's a bunch that's ready to go into soil.


here's a bunch in different stages of development.
the super young ones (bottom right) were from cuttings i did back in may or april. the rest are from earlier this year... february, i think.


definitely not an "instant gratification" kinda project. it'll take about a year for plants from cuttings to actually start flowering. but it's a cheap (i mean... FREE!) way to get a lot of african violets from one plant. and since i've started cuttings from 5 different plants (2 of mine and 3 from various coworkers), i should get a crapload of plants of different varieties!

i've also been told (although i've never tried it myself) that if different varities are planted in one container, they'll start sharing DNA through their roots. so if you planted a dark blue plant with a white one, both plants will eventually start flowering pale blue ones. i can't wait to try it out! when i finally get myself a house, all these mini-plants will prolly end up in one long flower box. DNA-exchange away!

hoop earrings with dangleys

i haven't made anything in a while and i had an urge to make something that won't take a long time to complete.

voila! a pair of hoop earrings with interchangeable dangleys.

silver and orangey necklace and earrings

made this as a gift for my orange-loving friend. used sterling silver chain and wire. i added approximately three inches more chain and an extra clasp so it can be worn either as a short or a long necklace.

instead of using headpins for the dangley thingeys, i just cut a piece of wire and made a spiral headpin. here's the instructions, if interested (charlyn! :) )

gotta say, i'm enjoying the wirework-and-chain thing.

"random" blues and greens

i made this a while ago. my first project using wire. i strung the beads just using simple loops. i wired a bunch of beads separately, then just randomly strung them together.

not crazy about this. i think the moral of the story is... you can go for a "random" look, but you still have to think about where things should go. the whole "balancing of elements" kinda thing. meh.

i used 20 gauge cheap wire that i got from jo-ann's. and i'm already noticing it tarnishing. like, it's actually turning black in some places. from now on, i'm sticking to sterling silver.