The Return of Lady Bug

When I was in high school—10th grade, I think—I made myself a ladybug costume. I wore black jeans, a black turtleneck, and black shoes and socks as the base outfit. I made a pair of extra legs (since lady bugs have six, so my arms + my legs + my extra legs = 6 appendages) which had loops at the top for sliding onto a belt, and yarn connecting them to my wrists, so when my arms moved, the extra arms moved, too. A red split circle cape with black dots completed the outfit. Over the years, I have worn the costume many times, and other than the legs and cape, and the fact that the base outfit is always all black, the rest tends to change every year.

This year I decided I needed some new antennae. At some point in the past I had made a pair using black pipe cleaners and pompons, but they never worked particularly well and have long since been discarded. After brainstorming a bit, I decided to use some scrap wood to make beads for the ends of the antennae, and wire for the stems. Since my hair is unusually long at the moment and I can, with some trickery and cajoling, anchor a hair comb in my hair, I decided to take advantage of that fact and use a cheap plastic comb as the anchor.

First, the beads. I used an extra piece of East Indian rosewood, because it is a dark wood (in retrospect, a paler wood probably would have made the antennae more visible). I decided to drill the center hole first, so I could drill both beads at once and be sure the holes were centered.
Next, I traded the tailstock drill chuck for a live center to support the length of the wood, and roughed it to round. I carefully cut the shape of the two beads (and got them pretty close to the same size and shape!), finished them with friction polish, but did not cut them off…I hadn’t left enough room between the two to use a parting chisel to cut them off.
So I used a hacksaw. I sawed with my right hand while spinning the part with my left hand. (I’d show you a picture of the finished beads, but it did not turn out well). I sanded the ends slightly, but the saw marks are still pretty visible. However, I correctly assumed that no one would be looking at them that closely.

Next I started assembling the whole piece. I cut a length of craft wire and centered it in the comb. Rather than placing the wire in the center, I gave it a wider stance for stability and wrapped it around.
I twisted the wires around each other , then started creating loops for a whimsical look. At the ends, I added the beads, then simply looped the wire around itself to hold them securely. And that’s all it took!
Finally, after getting the rest of the costume on I checked the look of the final product by jamming the comb down into hairdo I had created for the purpose.
I was going to a roller skating party, so I had to take the antennae off again while I drove over. As I was getting out of the car, I put my long black gloves on, re-inserted the antennae using the reflection in the car window as a mirror, and attached the loops controlling my extra arms (yeah, I don’t drive with those attached). And I am proud to announce that, despite my inability to skate, I successfully skated around the rink a total of 8 times (non-consecutively) and overall had an enjoyable time.

What Do You Tink About That? (Part I)

A fellow seller on Etsy, TinkersShop put forth a challenge for those daring enough to accept it: use three vintage pharmacy labels, provided by her, in our own creations to be completed by October 2. I thought this sounded intriguing, and had an idea in mind, so I signed up. I received my labels and sadly neglected them for several weeks. This week, living by a very strict to-do list, I have finally carved out niches of time in which to work on the “Tink Projects”.
My first project was using the purple “Belgique” label. The elements of the label that particularly caught my eye were the scroll saying “Machelan (Brabant) Belgique” and the little circles with faces. The references to Belgium made this label a natural for my first idea—a pair of lace bobbins with the label decoupaged onto the handles. Belgium is famous for its bobbin lace, including one particular style, Bruges Flower Lace.
I started by turning a pair of cherry bobbins. The thistletop and neck were turned normally. For the handle, I wanted a smooth recess in which to place the paper. I did not do any decorative cuts, other than a little shaping of the area between the neck and the recess, as well as the end. For once, I did try to copy myself and make a matching pair. Although they are not quite identical (they never are), I surprised myself by liking the second one more! Usually when I am trying too hard to match, the copy is not as pretty. (The one on the right is the second one.)
Next, I cut the portions of the label that I wanted to use. I cut them to fit in the recess, but with excess length to roll up. I then rolled the papers on without adhesive to test the look and fit, and trimmed again as necessary. Then, I applied Mod-Podge to the back of the papers and carefully rolled them tightly on to the bobbins, also being careful not to smear the wood.
Afterward, I applied a couple of coats of the Mod-Podge to the paper (and a very small amount to the wood along the edges) to seal and provide a glossy finish. Then I carefully propped them up to dry. Yes, my drying rack is a cookie cooling rack.
The next morning I applied tung oil to the wood, this time being careful not to smudge the oil onto the paper. After the regular finishing and spangling procedure, the bobbins were ready to list for sale, submit to Tink, and just generally show off!

Spangled Midland does not refer to bellybutton rings.

I've mentioned before that I make lace bobbins. I made a couple of pairs last week, so I'll share step-by-step how I do it. If you happen to have wood lathe experience, you probably have the skills to do this, too. But there is no need to follow the same steps as I do...this is what works well for me, but I will probably continue to refine my process.

As I discussed before, the elements of a Spangled Midland style lace bobbin are:

1. the thistle top, so named for its shape, and which provides a useful location for the special knot used to hold the thread at a given length, yet easily unwind additional thread.
2. the neck, onto which the reserve of thread is wound
3. the handle, which is used for manipulating the thread and generally has decorative cuts
4. the spangle, which provides weight for maintaining tension, keeps the bobbin from rolling, and is pretty.

In this example, I turned the bobbin out of a 3/8" diameter birch dowel. I like using dowels because it saves a whole lot of time compared to roughing from square stock. However, I've only found a fairly small selection of hardwood dowels, so beyond birch, oak, walnut, and cherry, I use pen blanks.
As shown above, I set up about a 6" length in a headstock drill chuck, supported at the tailstock end by a 60 degree cone point live center. I start with cutting the thistle top at the tailstock end. First I cut the angled top,
followed by a simple bead to form the bottom of the thistle shape.
Then, in several passes I cut a narrow neck about 1" long.
After marking off the final length (total length should be 4" to 4 1/2", but should be the same for both bobbins in the pair), I cut a decorative design in the handle. I don't plan it ahead of time, but just follow the whim of the moment. Likewise, I don't try to make both bobbins of a pair match...the second one never looks as good, and the pairs generally don't stay together through the lacemaking process, anyway. However, I do use the first bobbin as a reference for the second, so that the dimensions of the thistle top, neck, and length, will be about the same.

I sand the bobbin with strips of sandpaper, starting with whichever grit seems necessary based on the cleanness of the cuts, and progress down to very fine grit. The neck and thistle top in particular need to be very smooth, so that the thread will unwind smoothly. Finally, to cut off the bobbin, I use a skew chisel to cut down to a narrow point and finally part it off. I've tried using parting chisels for this, but the skew just seems to work better and give a better looking end.
I use tung oil to finish the bobbins. Then, I drill a small hole at the end of the bobbin for the spangle. I cut a few inches of brass wire and thread it through the hole, leaving the bobbin hanging in the middle of the wire. (the spangling pictures are taken using a cherry bobbin I had on hand, because I didn't think to take pictures while I was spangling the birch pair.)
Next I slide on beads symetrically on either side, finishing with one large bead. I do not use plastic beads, as they don't seem to give enough weight.
I cut the wire on one side, near the last bead. With a pair of pliers, I form a small loop. Then I pull the other end of the wire snugly through the loop, cut off near the loop, and form another loop, linking them together.

With the pliers, I pinch the loops flat, then pull the large bead over the connection. And then the bobbin is complete and ready to use!
And here is the cherry pair I made last week:

The girl with kaleidescope woodchips

I won’t have too much how-I-made-it type info for this one, but I’m so darn proud of it, I’ve got to post it anyway. I made a kaleidoscope. I made it for a raffle, and I want to make another for myself, because, well, I love kaleidoscopes. It’s little—maybe 2 ½” tall—but a good size to keep on a desk for the times when you just need to look at something prettier than a computer screen.

I actually turned the body of this out of poplar quite a while ago, but the tube that goes inside didn’t seem to fit (yes, the actual kaleidoscope part was from a kit). I was frustrated, but after a while, turned another body out of purpleheart using the tube as a guide for the length. Silly me, once I assembled the kaleidoscope into the tube, I found the second body was way too short, but the first one was actually only a little too long. 60 grit sandpaper took care of that problem fairly quickly (followed by other sanding, of course), and two coats of tung oil later, here’s my little kaleidoscope! I think it looks kind of like an urn or vase. It’s pretty, though, and stands up nicely on its own:Just for the fun of it, I tried taking a picture of the inside.

And let me tell you, whoever wins this in the raffle had better like it!

Bobbins in her hair...bobbins everywhere!

Not only do I make bobbin lace, I also make bobbins I use to make the lace. A few months ago, when I was showing off a pair of birch bobbins I’d made, a couple of my friends thought at first that they were hair sticks. Since I’ve always thought that the beautiful spangled bobbins I use are just as elegant as the lace they make, I was inspired to make a pair of hair sticks based on the design of my bobbins.

The components of the Spangled Midland style bobbins I use are: the thistle top, the neck, the…well, I’m not sure what the technical term is, but we’ll call it the handle, and the spangle. The neck is where the thread is wrapped, the thistle top is shaped to facilitate a special knot that holds the thread in place, yet is easily unwound when needed. The handle is the part of the bobbin that is picked up and moved to manipulate the thread, and the spangle serves as a weight to provide proper tension on the thread, keeps the bobbin from rolling around on the pillow, and looks pretty. Bobbins are almost always used in pairs, but the pairs generally are not identical. I like to use coordinating bobbins as my pairs to start, although depending on the design of the lace, the bobbins are frequently mixed up into different pairs by the end of the project.

For the hair sticks, I decided to make coordinating sticks with no attempt at making them identical. I selected oak, since I’ve had some sitting around for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to cutting any of it yet. I determined that the decorative portion of the hair stick should be based on the handle of the bobbin, complete with spangle…trying to incorporate the neck and thistle top seemed unnecessary.

It’s a little tricky to turn a long, narrow spindle, so I generally start at the tailstock and work my way toward the headstock, so that the narrowest sections will be closest to the stability of the chuck. After turning each stick, I sanded it down through several sizes of sandpaper, down to 1000 grit for a very smooth finish. Cutting off at the point is always an adventure…I usually end up using a skew chisel from my miniature tool set one handed, while loosely holding the stick with my other hand. Spinning objects have a tendency to go flying when set free, and I prefer not to damage either the item I just finished turning or my parent’s car, which is parked very close by (I did mention my lathe is in my parents’ garage, right?). After the cut-off, I sanded the point.


Back at home, I treated the sticks with tung oil, wiped them, and left them overnight. Well, longer than overnight, actually. I turned the sticks on a Saturday. I prefer not to do anything work-related on Sundays, so after I woke up Monday morning, I lightly sanded the sticks, then rubbed on a second coat of oil. By the time I got home from campus, the oil was dry and the sticks ready for the next step—spangling.

First, a small hole had to be drilled across the end of each stick. I used a small rotary power tool (like a Dremel, but off-brand) with a drill bit larger than the brass wire. Next, I cut a length of wire and threaded it through the hole. In order to allow the spangle to move freely, and also hide the connection, I arranged the beads on the wire, with the stick hanging in the middle, so that the when the ends are fastened together, the join could be slid inside the largest bead. Just as the sticks were made to coordinate, but not match, the purple beads on the spangle also coordinate without matching.

Ta-da! Lace bobbin inspired hairsticks!

Oh. And I have short hair and no personal use for hair sticks.