Two Red Threads

Rewind And Fast Forward

2012-02-02T08:41:00.000-06:00

from Lesson 3 of the New Age Looping Basics eCourse with Donna Kallner

So much of my time lately has been focused on production and testing of the New Age Looping Basics eCourse that other things, well.... Let's just say it's time for some housecleaning. Since you can't see my shower but you can see this blog, I started cleaning here first. And then it turned into a rewind.

I'm rewinding back to a traditional blog format. I liked the appearance in Dynamic Views, but functionally it just wasn't working. So we're back to something I hope will work better for you than having to make a visual scan of pictures and the first few sentences of a post to find what you want. In other words, the right-hand column list of categories is back, and I've added a search box that should work more than 10 percent of the time.

I've updated my Workshops page to let you know where I'm teaching this year. I think there are a still a couple of spaces in the Willow Spirit Constructed Vessels workshop at the Willow Gathering in Decorah in June. Maybe I'll see you there! And 2012 Sievers class registrations opened yesterday, so maybe I'll see you in Digital Fabric or Local Color.

This blog housecleaning project isn't quite complete (when are they ever?). I still plan to clean up the overflowing Pages (the bar under the header). So I'll be reprinting here some of the creativity exercises that first appeared on my old blog, Compost and Creativity. That way they'll appear in searches and categories here. No, you're not losing your mind if you think, "Haven't I read that before?" But it feels like a good time to revisit those creativity exercises and rituals, and to share a few new ones.

In the meantime, which mode are you in right now -- rewind or fast forward?

Willow Hearts...And More Hearts

2012-01-28T09:20:00.000-06:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought I'd show you how I make the willow hearts I've been including with orders from my Etsy shop. If you're new to this blog, click on the post to expand the window so you can see the video player.

While I'm at it, here's a link to a post from last year's Who Hearts Looping tutorial

I heart you all. Thanks for reading!

Long Live Picnik

2012-01-24T12:50:00.001-06:00

Word has been spreading that Google is killing Picnik, the popular web-based image editor it acquired not that long ago. Rats, I thought, taking this personally. I don't really use Picnik all that often because it doesn't support layers (like Gimp). But Spoonflower has a convenient interface with Picnik. Has had, since we were still on dial-up. Picnik is super easy to use, and super easy to demonstrate. It's a gateway drug to Gimp and more serious Digital Fabric for some of my students. It's beloved by my Local Color classes.

So today I looked into the matter and found some of the Picnik features are being integrated into the "Creative Kit" on Google+. I've been dragging my heels on Google+, even though I use Blogger, Google Docs, and I don't know how many other Googlified thingies. But I did finally set up a Google+ profile the other day, so this morning I did a quick test.

The second image in this post is the original photo I used. The first image is what I did in Google+ with the selection of Picnik tools integrated into Creative Kit. Not everything made the move, but it's still pretty darn good.

I found an awesome mini-tutorial by Brenda Anderson for first-time Creativity Kit users. If like me, you're new to Google+, it's well worth your time.

As for Spoonflower, last I checked they hadn't decided what they're going to do for an interface. I'm sure they'll come up with something wonderful. But I bet it takes a whole lot of work, expense and stress on their part to "fix" something that was working so well.

Cute Or Creepy?

2012-01-19T08:41:00.000-06:00

While developing lessons and projects for my New Age Looping Basics eCourse, I considered including a doll form made from an oval base.

It's a great project for learning. These forms feel, to me, like something much older than the amigurumi so popular now. They touch an ancient chord in me. But that's me. What do you think?

Near Perfect Conditions

2012-01-16T08:34:00.000-06:00

Lighting for videos and studio photography is a constant struggle for me. But this weekend we got lucky and had near-perfect conditions for photographing outside on Friday for a studio workshop. The day was cold, but the light was ideal. The rock-in-snow image above found its way into a painting demo.

Lynn used fabric paint, markers and thread to transform an image she shot and printed in black-and-white.

We kept tabs on progress in Bill's rustic furniture shop through the weekend, and found this extension-cord doodle in the sawdust on the floor.

That image worked well for a demonstration of the Picnik/Spoonflower interface. I did a little extra work in Gimp and got this fabric design.

Click the link to see what it looks like as a repeating pattern. This design isn't for sale yet, but my Persimmon Pudding fabric is.

There are other things at the top of my to-do list today, so finishing the rock heart piece will have to wait. I might even get a picture then.

I hope you have near perfect conditions for whatever is on your to-do list this week!

I'm Listening

2012-01-12T12:27:00.001-06:00

It's the first week of the New Age Looping Basics eCourse! Members of the pilot group are busy watching videos, downloading PDF handouts, stitching samples and posting their questions and pictures on the course site. And they're giving me great feedback on how to improve the course -- like the request for the illustration above.

I'd like your feedback, too! What can I do to make Two Red Threads better? You know I'm always happy to get your comments and suggestions. But if you have a minute, I'd really appreciate it if you could take this quick survey and share some of your ideas. Just click on this post to see a short survey form. Thanks!

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What's On Your Job Description?

2012-01-09T08:04:00.001-06:00

Do you ever wonder how a high school guidance counselor would describe what you do to a student who wants to follow a similar (ahem) "career path"?

On Saturday, I made willow heart ornaments to include with orders in my Etsy shop between now and Valentine's Day. That was in the "Marketing" column of my to-do list. Throughout my careers (three, as best I can count), I've done a lot of making that went into the marketing column. A few examples come to mind:

dyeing Easter eggs (30 dozen at a time)
building retail display fixtures
painting signs
fusing fabric to paper for product hang tags
sewing garments

(OK, that last one's a stretch, but I put wardrobe in the marketing column because it's part of an artist's brand. Otherwise, I'd probably wear jeans to everything except weddings and funerals.)

Several of the young people in our life are just starting their first careers. On Saturday while I was making willow hearts, I was pondering what they may end up doing in those careers.

I got no answers, just a pile of willow hearts. I have no idea whatsoever what will happen even in the next chapter of the lives of these young adults. We're just staying tuned, a loyal audience waiting to see what they make of the world.

How about you? What's the most unusual thing on your job description?

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What Have You Sampled Lately?

2012-01-07T08:34:00.001-06:00

This week I learned that Everclear (the high-octane pure grain alcohol) makes a dandy glass shower door cleaner. If you had seen my scummy shower doors, you'd know why I decided to sample that idea from the guy who keeps my 14-year-old car getting 35 mpg.

Sampling is one of my favorite things. Here's a quick sample of freeform looping I made for the student who came yesterday for a private studio class. We spent the day working on a solid foundation of looping technique. By the end of the day, she could see the underlying structure in this sample. There were wheels turning in her head when she left about ways to incorporate looping in her handmade felt. But what really made me smile was her statement that first, she had a lot more sampling she wanted to do.

Sometimes we go looking for inspiration. Sometimes it just comes up in casual conversation, like using spirits to clean glass. But inspiration without action is like a balloon that quietly deflates after a week or so. Sampling is a good way to find out if an idea will fly. Even if it won't fly, letting the air out of a balloon all at once so it makes a rude sound and dive bombs everything in the room is more fun than watching it slowly deflate.

So what have you sampled lately? What are you hoping to sample soon?

Holiday Gift Wrap-Up #4 -- Bags For Boys

2012-01-03T11:46:00.002-06:00

For my last post on holiday gifts I couldn't show until after surprise was taken out of the equation, I present a pair of boy gifts and a plea: One of these boys has a birthday coming up, and I need help with ideas!

You may recall that, as a maker, I find boy gifts more of a challenge than girl gifts. Never having been a boy, never having had a brother, never having lived with a teenage boy -- that all seems to makes it tougher. My gift vision is clouded with memories of what these male creatures liked when they were 5, what I see on TV, and how much I want them to love us our gifts. In other words, reality doesn't play much of a role here.

Luckily, economics does. And we don't have the money to buy safe things like gift cards. So it's simple: We have to find something to make, and it has to fit into our no-budget.

So I picked up a few extra T-shirts from the R&R bin at Bethesda (25 cents apiece). From that stash I made the two boys four drawstring stuff sacks each. I had a spool of cording on hand, but for the smaller ones I just cut strips of fabric from the T-shirts and stretched it out to make cording.

I also made each of them a 4-layer velcro-closed 2-pocket pouch. How they'll use them remains to be seen, but they were fun to make.

In just a few weeks, I'll need another boy gift for the 15-year-old's birthday. No ideas whatsoever. Suggestions, please!?! Pretty please? Hit the Comments link and tell me what you think. It won't be just me who appreciates it :)

Holiday Gift Wrap-Up #3 -- A Stretch

2011-12-30T08:59:00.001-06:00

Like the other girl gift I showed earlier in the week, this present included a pair of fingerless mitts made from upcycled fabric. And as usual, I learned some things making in the process of making this gift.

The fabric was a polyester stretch velvet in the form of a too-small short-sleeved mock turtleneck I bought at a thrift store a while back because I liked the color. Might have paid 50 cents. My very limited experience with machine sewing on a) velvet and b) stretchy velvet convinced me to keep my plan simple.

So I cut a pair of simple mitts from the shirt using a pattern I made from lightweight non-stretchy interfacing (also thrifted, by the way).

If you look closely at the left mitt, the seam fell on the palm instead of along the outside edge of the hand. Yup, I should have cut a full-size sample from an old T-shirt or other stretchy fabric to test the pattern before I cut the velvet. Oh, well. I fiddled with the placement of the thumb hole, recut the pattern, made a sample!!, and got back to work.

There was still enough fabric to cut another pair of fingerless mittens. They're a little shorter than the pattern. That's just the way my family likes 'em.

With the rest of the fabric, I pieced together a little hat, pinning and seaming to the intact mock T, which had plenty of stretch to become a hat band. With the wonky piecing, I didn't have to worry about the nap of the fabric.

I covered the back seam of the mock T with a little fabric flower pieced together from scraps and sewn on by hand.

My older-than-me Singer never handled knits well, so I gave up sewing them years ago. My newer hand-me-down Singer doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (and I can't drop the feed dogs), but it handles knits much better.

These mitts were hemmed with a decorative stitch. The hat was put together with zigzag stitching. I'd been fantasizing about getting a sewing machine that would make free-motion stitching easier. Now I'm kind of thinking a serger would be fun.

But for now, I can do everything I need to do with the machine I have. It's just a tool. If I didn't have a machine, I could have stitched this gift by hand.

More important than the tool is the habit of sampling: I should practice what I preach!

Holiday Gift Wrap-Up #2 -- Glove Love

2011-12-28T10:20:00.003-06:00

Girl gifts are soooo much fun to make! For Christmas, the 16-year-old on our gift list got a pair of shabby-chic fingerless mittens made from old T-shirts.

One of my favorite speakers last summer at the Surface Design Association conference in Minneapolis was Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. We can thank her for making reverse applique cool, as well as an economic boost to her hometown and keeping lots of T-shirts out of the waste stream.

Two of the three old tees used in this project originally resided in our closet. I was able to cut around the stains. The third was a probably-never-worn machine-embroidered souvenir tee I thrifted for 25 cents.

I layered the fabrics together and cut from a pattern I made by trial and error. I used a chalk marker to position the thumb hole. I think a disappearing marker would work better, if I could find where mine is.

What worked like a charm was the bent shaft scissors I bought some 15 years ago for cutting the reverse applique.

I didn't buttonhole stitch all the applique edges -- just the edges of the gloves, the thumb holes, and along the seam lines. There's a reason for the prices on those Alabama Chanin garments.

The three-layer thickness and machine stitching I used give these fingerless mitts some body. Maybe that's only important to me because I remember how frustrating it was when we played dress-up with Jody Newhart's mom's opera gloves and they kept sliding down.

Fingerless mittens went to another girl on our gift list. Next time.

Holiday Gift Wrap-Up #1 -- Willow Pillow

2011-12-26T11:49:00.001-06:00

It's all over but the leftovers! Before I start in on the next gift occasion, here's a peek at what I made this year (now that holiday surprises won't be spoiled).

For Mom and Dad, I finished the quilted pillow cover I wrote about here. The fabrics are silks I dyed with willow I grew myself. Dad helped me plant that willow, and one of the fabrics was dyed using my mom's old aluminum jelly kettle as the pot-as-mordant.

The hand stitching was done with pale pink silk buttonhole twist I bought at a yard sale then overdyed in the willow bath.

I purchased the square pillow insert, and used a row of snaps to close the cover. Note to self: Buy more snap tape. That would be easier for aging fingers to do up after the cover gets washed, but I was out of what has become a sewing staple for me. It's not just for onesies any more.

The finished pillow got wrapped furoshiki-style in one of the 35" x 35' willow-dyed silk scarves like I sell in my Etsy shop. I swaddled the works in recycled dressmaker's pattern tissue for mailing. The United States Postal Service moved the box from northern Wisconsin to southern Florida in a timely and efficient fashion and delivered it to my parents' door with a smile and wishes of the season from the mail carrier. He probably got cookies from my mom.

When I'm pressed for time, I sometimes forget how much I love hand stitching and embroidery, working without a plan, seeing how things develop, making it up as I go along. For this gift, I had time to savor the making. And I did!

I'd like to think that good feeling gets worked into the piece and radiates love when I can't be in that room myself.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T08:19:00.002-06:00

How To Feel Like A Kid Again

2011-12-19T07:55:00.002-06:00

This year, Bill did the lion's share of our gift making, saving just the kids and elders for me. During the 4th quarter of the football game yesterday, I finished the last handmade holiday gift on my list. Together, we got everything wrapped before supper last night. Today, everything is in the mail except what goes under the tree. After the delightful obsession of gift-making time, it's like going cold turkey.

So I pulled out the pocket loom and made a potholder for myself. I feel like a kid again!

Chance are, none of the kids in our life would have a gift surprise spoiled if I showed you what I made for them. But they're getting to the age where I'm not so sure. So I'll save those posts for after Christmas.

What makes you feel like a kid again?

Does This Revise Your To-Do List?

2011-12-14T10:31:00.000-06:00

December is a month for impossible to-do lists that look something like this:

Select and/or make perfect gifts for everyone.
Wrap those perfect gifts creatively, beautifully, inspired-ly.
Decorate home (interior and exterior) perfectly so it accurately reflects a) love of family, b) love of season, and c) love of Martha.
Turn oven to preheat for perfect baking every time you enter the kitchen.
Spend time with family and friends making perfect memories.

We all know that's impossible, don't we? Does that stop us from trying to attain at least a few of those impossible goals -- and work, too? Um, don't answer that.

This year, I decided to post a Daily Doodle on my Facebook page every day in December. It was my commitment to myself to spend five minutes a day during the season of impossible goals to do something that's doesn't aspire to perfection -- just a simple little doodle on a 3x5 index card. I missed one day, which I blame on the sugar coma induced by overconsumption of Christmas cookies. But on the whole it started off as a very do-able and enjoyable routine in a month where routine is turned on its head.

And then I did something insane: I thought, "Why not take this opportunity to practice doodling with the Wacom tablet I bought last summer and haven't taken out of the box?"

On the one hand, I've enjoyed spending a few minutes a day away from Etsy selling and gift making and preparations for an upcoming eCourse -- just starting to learn how to use this new tool. On the other hand, I find myself on a slippery slope that leads toward a midden pile of impossible goals: I seem to expect more perfection from something made using an unfamiliar device that has to be plugged in than from something made by my own hand in the few minutes it takes for the oven to preheat.

Over the weekend, I put away the tablet, went back to index cards, and got some perspective. I may still be insane, but I have some perspective on my craziness. In other words, I got my tongue unstuck from the frozen lamp post that pops up when I double dog dare myself to try something new in the presence of witnesses.

And then today, a holiday miracle arrived, via Liz Massey's Creative Liberty: Liz shared The Done Manifesto by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark. Here are my favorite elements.

#6 -- The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

#10 - Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. And

#13 - Done is the engine of more.

It may be impossible to be perfectly at peace with imperfection and failure to achieve the impossible. I wouldn't be able to diagram that sentence perfectly, but I'm OK with that, too.

Have you recently recovered from some impossible expectation? Hit the comments button below, or tell us on Facebook. I double dog dare you!

5 Tips For Holiday Shopping On Etsy

2011-12-10T10:09:00.001-06:00

Etsy is a great place to shop and support independent artists, but it can be a little overwhelming to some people (cough/guys). Bill, for example, looked like a deer caught in headlights when I first showed him the site. (He finds malls even more frightening.)

If you know someone who freezes at the thought of shopping for gifts (probably not just online), I'd love it if you shared these tips:

5 Tips For Holiday Shopping On Etsy

Start somewhere specific. Ask for a specific Etsy shop URL (like donnakallnerfiberart.etsy.com) and start shopping there. When you don't know exactly what to look for, it's hard to come up with Search parameters that don't bring up thousands of results. Your friends and family would be happy to suggest some shops. Just tell them who you're shopping for, and they'll point you to a good place to start.
Look at the shop announcement. At this time of year, many sellers include a shipping deadline announcement just below the banner. And when you click on an item, look for phrases like "ready to ship." Things that are "made especially for you" are better saved for some other gift occasion (for which you will shop earlier).
Look at the listings. The shop may have several pages of thumbnail images. Click on a thumbnail to see the full listing. On the full listing page, you'll probably see several smaller thumbnail photos to the right of the main image. Click those to see different views of the item. There's also a zoom lens below the lower right corner of the photo, when you need a closer look. Read the full description, including where the item ships from. You'll find the price and the "Add To Cart" button in the right-hand column. You can buy with a credit card: You don't have to have a PayPal account.
Get advice from the seller. If you don't find just the right gift in that first shop, click on the shop owner's profile link. I'm about to tell you how to get free advice that can lead you painlessly from your starting point to other Etsy shops with the coolest stuff.
Look for the seller's Treasuries. Below the "About" box on the seller's profile page, look for a box that says "Treasury lists." Some Etsy sellers curate collections called Treasuries. Generally, a seller won't include their own items in their own Treasuries. Instead, they showcase other work they admire. Click "See More" to open a listing of all the seller's Treasuries. Click on a thumbnail within a Treasury, and it will take you to the listing in another seller's shop.

I've curated several Treasury collections, including this one of hostess gifts.

I hope that helps, Bill. And Charlie. And Bob, Jim, Austin, Tony, Clay, Shawn, Larry, Al, Craig, Dan, Alex, Dave, Don, Wayne, Herm, Mo, Jay, Jef, Mike, Steve, Tom...

What's On Your Year-End Inventory?

2011-12-08T14:17:00.001-06:00

With 2012 garden catalogs starting to arrive, it won't be long before well-meaning people start talking about New Year's resolutions and creative goal-setting. Bless their hearts. That's way down my list of things to do right now. But I think I am going to take a little time to inventory some of what I've learned this year. That should make me feel better about how much is still on my to-do list. Could the same be true for you?

December Daily Doodle for 12-7-11 done on tablet

For me, the past six months have been one big roller coaster ride on the Great Technology Learning Curve, which included the purchase of a new laptop with a new operating system and all new open-source software. At that time, I also bought an inexpensive Wacom pen tablet for digital drawing.

Last night, I finally loaded the software and started practicing with with the tablet. I figured my December Daily Doodle project on Facebook would be good incentive to work with this new tool. I forgot that my December Daily Doodle project was intended to be a few minutes of creative relaxation in the midst of the hectic holiday season. I'm sure doodling on the tablet will be relaxing. Eventually.

Willow-dyed scarves by Donna Kallner on Etsy.com

I've learned other things this year, too. Like tagging and SEO. Until recently, my New Age Looping book was the only item in my Etsy shop, and most people found it because they had the link from my web site or blog. When I decided to get serious about selling other things on Etsy, I knew there would be a learning curve. Understatement. It feels like learning a whole new language. Choosing tags that help search engines help shoppers find you is as important as learning to ask "Where's the bathroom" in a foreign country. There may also be a secret handshake. I haven't learned that yet.

And then there's the stuff that's so easy once I learn it that I can't fathom why it took me so long. Like today: I saw on another Etsy seller's web site a Page that goes directly to her Etsy shop, and thought I'd add a similar Page on my blog. I figured it wouldn't take more than a half-hour. What a pleasant surprise to find it was as simple as clicking one box I never noticed before. In fact, it was so easy I made a Page link to my Spoonflower fabric shop, and one to my web site, too. Those are on the bar at the top of the page. OK, this is not earth-shattering stuff, but I can see what I got done today.

And a lot of days, you can't see what you got done. I'm lucky to have Bill to remind me that I didn't do X because I did Y and Z and I had to learn A through W to get those done.

Next time you consult your December To-Do list, think about all that you could put on a To-Done list. What's on your year-end inventory?

Aren't Rules Made To Be Broken?

2011-12-07T15:54:00.001-06:00

Please, please say yes, and that breaking rules is one of your favorite hobbies. I'm breaking a family gift rule this year in a big way. By about a thousand percent, I'd say.

The family gift rule is that presents should fit in the palm of your hand. That was Mom's suggestion when she and Dad were getting ready to move to smaller digs in a warmer climate. It's actually a good rule, one that makes coming up with gift ideas much simpler. For Mom -- jewelry and scarves, naturally. But Dad? That's a little trickier.

So I'm making him a pillow. (My parents are still on dial-up, so no chance they'll see this post). This gift won't fit in the palm of even his big farmer hands.

The quilted cover is made from naturally dyed silks from my Willow For Color collection. My dad helped me plant that willow. I think he'll find it interesting, and I like to give gifts that spark the telling of a story.

A few years ago, I broke the rule and made my dad another silk throw pillow -- one with an embroidered appliqued picture of me and my sister many years ago, standing in front of the milkhouse on the farm. Sorry, no pictures (I barely got it done in time), but I think it's one of my dad's favorite gifts.

I'll really try to get pictures of this pillow cover when it's finished. There's more embroidery to do, buttons, and a bit more stitching on the silk velvet binding. I want this pillow to be soft and cool and soothing to the touch. That's all I can write on the topic of aging parents right now, except to say that the strength and resilience of the willow I used to dye the fabric are a pale reflection of the character of the man.

Mom's gift I'll use to wrap the pillow furoshiki style. She's getting a silk scarf like those in my Willow For Color collection on Etsy. After Dad unwraps his pillow, it will fit in the palm of her hand.

Are you breaking any family rules with your holiday gifts this year? Or are you making family rules that make gift exchanges easier? I'd like to know! Leave a comment below, or post it on my Facebook page.

Sew Much Better Now

2011-12-04T19:15:00.001-06:00

Do you find that the busier things get, the harder it is to convince yourself to do some task that will save you loads of aggravation? Not this time!

With holiday gift sewing about to reach the top of my to-do list, I took a little time last week to tick something else off the list to make it easier and more comfortable. Naturally, it took longer to gather tools and materials from Bill's shop than it did to complete the project. But the project itself was pretty simple.

My goal was to get a larger tabletop around my sewing machine. I've been using the lovely oak table my dad made for my mom when she had this machine. That table was designed to fit in a closet in their house. The small work surface meant I always fought the weight of fabric spilling off the edge of the table as I sewed.

The table I remodeled was made from plywood and a pair of folding banquet table legs bought at Fleet Farm. We've had this table at least 15 years, probably more like 20. I figured if my plan was a bust, I could always screw on a new plywood top.

So I took apart Dad's table and used the hanging shelf as a template. I traced around it, drilled holes at the corners, then cut out an opening with a jigsaw. I drilled four more holes to hang the shelf from the tabletop using carriage bolts, using four blocks of woods as spacers.

The blocks should've made the shelf hang level. But with the uneven floor in my shop, I figured I had better check. No amount of fiddling with the tightening of the bolts did the trick, so I finally just shimmed two of the legs.

One of these days, I may take a pipe cutter to those legs and cut them all down about an inch. I'm going to sew at this height for a while before I go to that much effort. Once of these days, I may also countersink the carriage bolt heads and buff and polish the plywood tabletop. For now, I've just stapled an old tablecloth over it. The cloth covering adds too much drag, but a silicon sheet counteracts that well enough. For now.

We'll see how it goes for a while. In the meantime, I have Christmas gifts to get made. How about you: Is there some small task you could do to make the rest of your holiday gift-making less stressful?

Fun Versus Functional

2011-12-01T08:16:00.001-06:00

Where do you stand on the question of fun versus functional? I'm a big fan of fun. Big fan. But when you open a closet door and realize you haven't worn something in, what, four, five, six years? Yep -- time to turn it into something functional.

This is the remake -- a bag, modeled by my friend Stephanie.

This is what the bag was made from -- a vest, modeled by me. Long time ago.

Way back when, I wanted a vest that would be fun and floaty and make a dramatic entrance. I made this one by looping over a core of bias-cut fabric strips. That's right -- it's entirely hand-stitched. It took many hours and a full spool of Irish waxed linen. But I didn't spend a cent on the fabric: It was all upcycled from three boxes of goodies my friend Diane gave me after cleaning out her aunt's estate.

This fall, I decided to remake the piece before someone has to clean out my estate. So I cut off all the floaty bits (don't worry -- I saved them), seamed the thing together on the sewing machine, and added a braided leather strap.

I can't help but look at this vest now and wish I'd been able to wear it with the white vinyl lace-up granny boots I bought a really long time ago with a year's worth of babysitting wages. Loved them. Couldn't walk in them. If I still had them, I'd probably remake them into something else. Probably a bag.

So what would you remake if it was still in your closet? And what's there now that might be on its way to another incarnation that's both fun and functional?

Ornamental

2011-11-27T09:13:00.001-06:00

Lately, my focus has been on preparations for holiday sales locally and in my Etsy shop. I still have a few more things to upload, but I took a little break to make some ornaments. The ornaments are a variation on the ones showed in this tutorial. I adapted an idea that came from this creativity warm-up (which resulted in this Spoonflower fabric).

Instead of old family photos or digital pics from my hoard of ornaments, I pulled out the play clay. I'm thinking this might be a fun project the kids could take part in.

It's really simple: You just roll the clay into ropes, and arrange the ropes into holiday shapes. I shaped my clay ropes on baking parchment paper, then took them outside and slid them off onto the fresh snow to photograph them with my digital camera.

I photographed several designs together, leaving a bit of space around each element. My equipment (which is nothing fancy), lets me remove the media card from my digital camera, plug it directly into my inkjet printer, select a photograph, and print it directly to inkjet fabric. Couldn't be simpler.

I brushed on a bit of fabric paint (see the tutorial) while the fabric was still stabilized by the carrier sheet. When the paint was dry, I peeled off the paper and layered the printed fabric with some craft felt I bought at a garage sale.

This one, sized to hold a gift card, is stitched together with two buttons and a jingle bell.

This one will be beaded all the way around, but it could also hold a gift card or small gift if you left it open at the top.

Part of my family's holiday tradition is getting a $5 permit from the National Forest Service and going out to cut a small Christmas tree. Our Charlie Brown release-cutting program opens up space for adjacent trees to grow stronger. The trees we get aren't sheared, groomed, perfect specimens. They won't support heavy ornaments, but these fabric ornaments work just fine. Or they will, in a couple of weeks. In our small living room, about 10 days with the tree up is plenty for us.

What do you think: Is this project something parents or grandparents would enjoy doing with kids?

Willow, Indigo, Discharge And Free Shipping

2011-11-25T07:43:00.001-06:00

The turkey carcass isn't cold before thoughts start turning to the holiday after Thanksgiving. If you'll be doing some shopping over the next few days, I want to let you know about what's happening in my Etsy shop.

You can use coupon code 2REDTHREADS to get free shipping on willow, indigo, and discharge dyed scarves. If you're in Wisconsin (as I am) and want to support a Wisconsin artist, I've added another coupon code for you: Enter SHOPWIS at checkout and I'll pick up the shipping and the state sales tax.

You'll find indigo-dyed circle scarves, discharge-dyed silk scarves, and more willow-dyed scarves in my shop (including the 35"x35" square silk scarves like the one shown above).

I've also added a few scarf pairs to wear separately or together, like I showed in this post.

You can find it all at www.etsy.com/shop/donnakallner. Happy shopping and have a great weekend!

Giving Thanks

2011-11-23T16:04:00.001-06:00

With the clock ticking down toward Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, I've been pretty focused on getting listings added to my Etsy shop and getting ready for some family time. But I want to take a short time-out from all that to say something important:

Thank you! Thank you for reading. Thanks for your comments. Thanks for sharing your ideas and inspirations and even your frustrations, because those often lead to more ideas and inspirations.

I appreciate your interest in my wild notions about willow-dyed fabrics, your support of my quest to make looping and netting common again, and your enthusiasm for all things fibery.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And if you decide to do a little online shopping over the holiday, please use coupon code 2REDTHREADS in my Etsy shop to get free shipping through Cyber Monday. I appreciate every purchase. But most of all, I appreciate each and every one of you.

And I'd Like To Thank My Stylists...

2011-11-18T10:07:00.001-06:00

Thank you to everyone who commented here and on my Facebook page for helping me decide what to wear to sell my willow-dyed silk scarves at a local show! Your advice helped me decide on this combination:

brown linen shirt -- thrifted but restyled with different buttons and funky cuffs (sleeves are always too long for me). Thanks, Amy and Kim -- the brown instead of black had a nice glow in the lower light of evening. I was almost convinced there's still more brown than gray in my hair.
black trousers
bigger earrings than I usually wear. I took apart a copper pendant I made a few years ago and converted it into earrings.

Of course, I didn't think to take pictures at the show, where I had both dress forms gussied up in two layers of silk scarves. But I had Bill take these pictures to show the simple way I've been wearing the scarves.

I take two of the 8" x 54" scarves and knot one corner together on each end to make a continuous circle scarf. Then I just loop it over my head. On my frame, three loops works well. And it's so easy to wear that last night when people asked how I tie my scarves I could pull it off and put it back on with no mirror. Easy -- that's my style.

Again, thank you to all my stylists! Bill drew a name for me this morning, and the winner of the free scarf is a commenter from Facebook. Congratulations, Victoria!

Will Pay For Fashion Advice

2011-11-14T08:44:00.001-06:00

Most of the easy work is done for a local event where I'll be selling later this week. Harvesting, brewing, dyeing, washing, ironing, tagging, inventorying, readying the display -- that's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what to wear. For that, I need your help. Can I bribe you with a chance to win one of my willow-dyed silk scarves?

I've been photographing willow-dyed scarves for Etsy on a dressmaker form gussied up with a thrifted light gray silk dress. I think it looks better than the naked muslin. I've been crossing my fingers that the garment suggests a polished background for those who equate silk with dressing up, and it's simple and neutral enough that more casual dressers can still see themselves wearing a scarf.

Now, even if I could lose 20 pounds by Thursday to fit into that dress myself, that would still leave the problem of what to put on my feet. I won't go into the whole shoe thing again -- it's too depressing. That dress is not an option.

So my choices are:

basic-black business-casual
casual-casual, as in dressy jeans and sweater
working artist low-key funky

All of the choices look good with a scarf. All of the choices meet my personal requirements for comfort. Any of the choices would be appropriate for the venue, where I expect some people will be buying for themselves and others will be buying gifts.

So the question is, What style is best suited to presenting my product?

Let me know what you think at the bottom of of this post where it says "Add a comment" or "View Comments." Or post your opinion on my facebook page. I'll go one better for fashion-slash-marketing advice: If you get a friend to weigh in and say "So-and-So sent me," you might both win a scarf.

I'll draw the winner on Friday, at which time I will have sent away the pumpkin, lost my glass hiking boot, and attired myself once again in studio clothes.