Swatching, Again!

It sounded so simple,
I got inspired to try it,again.

I wove a swatch on a small
piece of cardboard.

I put a pot on the stove,
turned on the burner and
put my swatch in.

OOPS!  I forgot to boil the
water, first.

OK, water boiling.  Lots of foaming.
This looks promising!

Hmm.  It sure didn't shrink much!

Another type of yarn to try.
This one is labeled 100% wool.

Off my improvised loom.

Boiling away.

What?  No shrinkage?

Not that I can see.

One more, today.

Just off the loom.

Boil!  Boil!  Boil!

Oh, my goodness!  Doesn't this work, at all?

Well, how about rubbing it
in my hands?

Look at that!

Oh, my!  This is actually the third one.

Much better!  :)

A Little More Plarn

If one is really interested,
there are many things
made of plastic bag yarn
to view on the internet.

I made the small pouch
with blue yarn & plarn
as a camera protector.

I switched to just yarn
on the top part
so it would  be easier
to close.

That is a button
used as a closure.

This bag is all plastic.

I meant to make it bigger,

but I like it, anyway.   :)

Playing With Trash - Plarn

You know what "plarn" is, right?
I just found out about this a couple of
years ago.
It's plastic, used as yarn, as far as
I have figured it out.

I know there is more than
one way to make plarn.
You can look it up on the internet.
I did.
Here is the method I use.

Take one plastic bag.

Flatten the bag out.

Cut away the parts you won't use.
I do this by folding the bag over
so I won't have so far to cut.

Cut off the bottom (where it is stiff.)

Cut off the handles so that which remains

is a fairly even tube, like this.

Flatten out the tube and fold it over
somewhat evenly.
Smooth it out.

Beginning at the edge where the folds
are inside each other,
cut in fairly even strips toward
the edge where
 the folds are on top of each other.

STOP SHORT OF CUTTING
THROUGH THOSE TWO FOLDS.

It will look something like this.

(You can fold the top layer
down so that you cut right
through it, saving the next
step, but this way is easier
to show in a photograph.)

Open it out and cut through
ONE SIDE of the bag, like this.

(You can just cut from one side
 of the tube to the other.  I find
it easier to fold it.)

Now, this is the part
I mess up, now and then:
On the other side,
cut into the first row from the
outside, starting your
continuous strip.

It will not look right,
but it's plastic - the strip
will be straight enough
to work with.
You can probably do a better
job than I on all this cutting.

Drop down and do the same on each row.
If you goof up, remember this
was just going to be recycled... :)

One grocery bag makes
a nice little pile of plarn.

I like to roll mine up

into a loose ball.

Then I plop it into a container
with some other plarn balls,
where they do NOT stay
all nice and tidy.

I have used the plarn alone
and combined with other yarn.

For this small bag  I used
some purple and some red
acrylic Red Heart yarn.

It actually stands fairly well.

This is crochet.
I tried knitting with
the plarn alone.

I didn't like it

Perhaps I shall have
to try knitting with the
combination.

Perhaps not.  :)

More Glue and Glass

I found this tissue paper
at Dollar Tree.

I love it.

I thought, perhaps,
my niece, Eva Girl,
would enjoy it.
Her attitude about celebrating
snow, to offset the
dread of a long Winter,
is quite inspiring.

So, I pulled out some glue,
spread it around with a
wet paintbrush,
and added torn (or was it cut?)
scraps of tissue.

It still looked "papery."
I thought I had read that
using Aleene's tacky glue
as a glaze might work.
Since my opened bottle
was thickening up,
I gave it a shot.

I loved how it came out.

I had already done this little
candle holder with plastic glitter
from Joann.
The glitter only cost a dollar.
It was not easy to work with
due to static electricity, and
glazing over it
to keep the glitter from "shedding"
took away the snowball look
I liked.

I liked the end result, though.

I think Eva Girl did, too. :)

Notes:

I had to dry the tissue covered jar thoroughly before adding my tacky glaze.

The finished "snowball" was not glazed.

Gluing What I Have, Plus a Little

With the lights on:

I got out the good old Elmer's School
Glue, again.  I stopped at Dollar Tree
for a pack of tissue paper.  I may have
some tissue paper, but this was cute...
oh, dear.

I did have the footed bowl, though.
That was a thrift store find.
I don't remember how long ago
or what I paid for it...

By candlelight:

The candy striped votive holders
are empty Ball jars from my cellar.
The tissue was cut almost to size
for the jars.
For the bowl it was torn into small
pieces.

I spread glue over the glass with a
wet paintbrush.

The patchy paper was put on,
a piece at a time, overlapping.
To save cutting, I lined straight
edges up with the rim of the bowl.

For the jars I "painted" the
whole thing with glue and water.
Lining up the straight edge
with the rim of the jar, I
pressed the top into place.
The taper of the jar made for
wrinkles in the tissue.
I didn't mind, I just kind of
glued them over.

I also brushed gluey water
over the top of the paper.
This can tear the wet tissue,
so, it was an adventure.

Eat Violets!
(et voila)

I popped some tealights from my
supply and a over-half-burned
pillar candle from Christmas past
into my little vessels and lit them.

Total out of pocket cost: $1
AND I still have most of the tissue. :)

Recycled Cone Tree

OK, so I have way too much
stuff. If I had less stuff, there
would still be decorations and
ornaments that would be
missed if I didn't pull them out.

Still, I was thinking of low cost
or even no cost, crafty stuff.

So, removing a box from
the recycling bin, I cut
a quarter circle from it.

Forming a cone from it
was a bit tricky for a person
like me with perfectionist
tendencies. 

I used a piece of tape to hold it together.
(The tip of the cone was a little more
satisfactory after I pinched the
stiffness out of it.)

You could leave the cone plain
cardboardy brown.
I decided to wrap leftover
yarn around mine.
Good old Elmer's school
glue holds pretty well and
is a snap to clean up.

I spread mine out with a dampened
paintbrush, but a piece of left over
cardboard works very well and
requires no clean up.
The brush will never be the
same, again, I have heard,
so I would never use a good
brush for this.

Eat Violets!
(Et voila)
I could add a top.
I could decorate around
the bottom.
I could add beads or glitter
or both.

Well, it was fun,
anyway. :)