Dye-ing to know?!

I've been interested in natural dye-ing for a long time, though hadn't actually tried to do any.  

This week I discovered many YouTube dye-ing tutorials - which led to my first experiments in tea-dyeing.  Finally!

I had tea-towels to play with - two that a dear friend had made and gifted, as well as other, less precious versions.

Some information suggested I could dye with tea only, while others used mordants and fixatives (yep, I've watched lots of YouTube and read blogs also).  

I decided to try the most basic version first - and see what happened.  I made a big pot of tea on the stove-top and then put wet tea-towels in it.  

The tea returned to the boil for a period of time and I then extracted the tea-towels at what I deemed was a suitable interval.  The rabbit/hare pair were fished out first because I didn't want to wreck them!

I started my experiment around 10:00am.  The hares came out about four hours later.  The others stayed in overnight.  I didn't add anything to the tea.  It was just standard, strong tea (a variety that hadn't been popular in our tea cupboard)!  

The tea-towels were rinsed and then hung on the line.  (It was pretty working in the afternoon light, both in the kitchen and in the back yard).

I'm happy with how the hares have dried.  One is paler than the other though they had the same amount of time in the tea.  I think the difference is one was freshly washed, while the other had been re-wet in the sink. Maybe?!

I'm not so chuffed with the other tea-towels.  They had a lot longer in the tea and are definitely darker.  I'd read that it was a good way of revamping stained linen though and it's not been so great for that, or my expectations were far too high!

In any case it was cheap entertainment on a quiet day at home.  I bought some soy milk when shopping today, to use as a mordant for my next fabric experiment.  I'll do some more YouTube research and raid the stash for suitable test materials.  

The hare tea-towels have been ironed, folded and stored in my box of Easter mugs and decorations.  I'm deciding what to do with the other six.  Of course, they are fine to be used and washed, which will be a good test.  

It will be interesting to see if the colour holds and I guess the worst that can happen is that they fade back to their starting colour.  

Happy Easter!

Facebook reminded me this morning that in 2012 I first started using a bread-maker for Hot Cross Bun (HCB) production. I'd made them by hand the previous year with Vaughan's assistance (bottom collage pic) and was keen not to knead so much, given our multiple batches.

(Recent investigations revealed some arthritis and small ganglions in my left wrist but both wrists have had niggles for quite a long time).

The breadmaker was a $10.00 bargain, sourced second-hand.  Such a great investment!  I was very pleased to find it still going strong in 2017 (after 18 months or so in storage).  It gets a big work-out at Easter!  

Quick calculations. Ten years of home-made HCBs with batches made for all but one Easter. I'm not sure how many individual buns have been made. I've noted five dozen in 2019!  I only make them at Easter, so we indulge but we gift them also.  It's rare for Nick to be not-working at Easter and we often send some with him to share with colleagues.  

In 2014 they were made at Yowah on our Cobb Cookers and then in Lui's fuel stove when we ran out of heat beads. 2016 was missed, cos the gazebo kitchen was even trickier than its tent successor!

I've been happily pottering today, baking several batches of HCBs.  Well, technically these were Hot Cross(less ) Buns cos I wasn't feeling up to the angst of failure!

Some years I excel at piping crosses - but most years I don't do so well.  2015 was a good year (see the third and fourth collage pics). You can see Vaughan  wearing the same shirt in 2015 as he did in 2011, which was pure co-incidence!

The house smelled so wonderful as I was baking. By the end of the day I'd made three batches, 16 in each. 

I use the breadmaker to mix the dough, a cycle of one and a half hours. 

The breadmaker beeps at a certain part of the dough cycle for any inclusions to be added.  I haven't had great success doing this.  Chocolate chips have completely melted into the dough, and sultanas have been mashed to a sticky paste!  Given that experience I prefer to knead the fruit and/or chocolate in by hand when the dough is ready. 

I stood at the kitchen window dividing and shaping the dough into buns, watching the breeze in the trees and listening to a few birds. It was quite meditative.  "Mine" were the first batch. Heavily spiced and fruited. Baking in the turbo oven caused the sultanas at the top to swell hugely and candify - perfect! An experimental batch were next. White choc and cranberry. Not so spiced, which meant the dough rose a little higher before added the choc and fruit. Interesting.  

Miss Erin was the official taste-tester of "her" batch and was delighted to declare them "better than the shop's"!  Vaughan prefers a double choc version.  Lightly spiced chocolate dough with choc-chips mixed through.  The chocolate bits tend to melt when baked - which is a bonus!

From time to time my mother baked Hot Cross Buns.  I can remember her doing so at Yowah because they wouldn't have been available otherwise.  I may have made them earlier than 2011 but I can't clearly recall doing so.  Why did I start making them?  Well, I don't like orange peel and am not a fan of bland supermarket offerings. It was tricky to find somewhere that made HCBs how I liked them and then they were usually more expensive, so I decided to perfect my recipe!

Felt brooch fun ...

I like wearing brooches and have quite a few in my collection - some lovely gifts, family heirlooms, op-shop finds, retail bargains and also those I've crafted. 

During our Yowah trip in 2014, I made many owls.  The first of those were made when Erin and I joined the local ladies at their weekly craft group.  I continued to make owls once back home again (in Victoria at that time). A few sold and others were gifted or used on projects.  The last seven sold via Facebook, soon after arriving in QLD.  

Foxes were simpler creations, crafted around the same time as the owls.  I made several foxes as gifts and kept one girl for me.

I revisited felt-work in November, when Erin purchased this ice-block dress and we both agreed it needed something extra.  

I traced one of the ice-blocks from the dress and used that as a template .From memory, three layers of felt were used - and the (new) paddlepop stick was glued between layers, prior to finishing.

Based on the ice-block success, I crafted two felt Christmas brooches for myself.  One features an opal pendant I won on my 9th birthday, when we lived at Yowah!

We very recently had a family outing to a motor museum on the Gold Coast.  I had two lengths of fabric in my infamous stash.  One featured cars and the other, an opshop bargain remnant, had road sign motifs. 

I used the car material to make one a small, reversible handbag.  (I have back and neck issues, so prefer a smaller bag to avoid carrying too much weight).  The reverse bag side features dark grey denim, which I used on both sides of the strap.  There was a tiny red Herbie photo holder in the shed and Nick converted that to a small brooch, which I wore on the handbag strap.

I cut two signs from the t-shirt fabric and backed those with interfacing, to prevent stretching.  I cut two black pieces of felt for each sign - and again applied interfacing to each, for extra body.  I stitched a brooch back to the bottom felt piece, before sandwiching all three together and hand-sewing in place. You might just be able to see my tiny stitches. Once completed, it was possible to see a little of the white interfacing on the edges of the brooches, so I carefully coloured those using a black permanent marker.

This is how I looked on the day of the motor museum visit. (Nick was keen to include the luggage on the car behind me).  I really doubt anyone noticed my handbag and/or brooches but I was very happy to be wearing a themed outfit.

And yes, we all enjoyed the outing (in spite of the very wet weather).

A love-ly bag - for Valentines Day!

Erin spotted a very cute Gladstone handbag on Facebook marketplace last week.  When I made contact with the seller, the bag was already pending collection.  

Fortunately for me, that sale fell through - so Nick and I collected the bag yesterday.

Given it came home on 13 February, the bag was deemed to be a Valentines gift - and a love-ly one at that!

We were aware the bag was missing one of the buckle prongs and had thought we would replace that small part.  

When I was examining the bag on the way home though, we decided removing the second buckle prong would be easier - and the strap seemed to sit nicely without it.

As you can see from the top pic, the bag was otherwise in very good condition.  A few small marks were evident, along with light tarnish to the clasp.  It had a key and really just needed some TLC.

I enjoyed meeting and chatting with the seller at the arranged pick-up time.  She had bought the bag from a vintage shop and didn't know anything else about it.  

There is no maker information but it appears to be  quality, hand-crafted leather. 

I used saddle-soap to clean the bag today and used a damp magic sponge to gently rub at some of the marks.  I then applied a number of leather conditioning coats.  The leather was very dry and drank in the treatments.

There really wasn't much other work necessary.  I went over the tarnished clasp very lightly with superfine steel wool and think it looks better for that minor polish.  

Nick asked if I was going to put an initial keyring on it, like the larger bags.  I admitted I was thinking along those lines!  After pondering, I remembered my baby bracelet, engraved with my full initials. 

There was a long period after my first marriage when I used a different surname.  Since Nick and I married (15 years ago!), my childhood initials are again appropriate to use.

Nick removed the chain from the initial plate of the bracelet and punched small holes in the clasp strap.  

Initially the plaque was pinned to the leather, while we pondered the best method for it's permanent attachment.

At some point Nick remembered a hobby store in Ipswich, so we took the bag and plaque there to discuss options with a lovely gentleman.  Once we showed him our plan, he brought out boxed of tiny bolts and nuts.  He had so many!

Nick fixed the plaque to the bag clasp while I was napping in the afternoon.  As with the larger bolts on the hatbox handle, he made sure the slots lined up perfectly - cos I'm fussy about those details!  

So now the latest baby Gladstone bag has formally joined the ranks of our monogrammed luggage!  Don't they look wonderful all lined up together?!

I'm really not sure how this bag will be used.  It might still serve as a handbag.  In any case (hah!) it was well worth the $20.00 asking price - and I'm sure I'll have a love-ly time using it!

Nick and I called into an op-shop after buying the bolts.  The volunteer behind the counter was very taken with my little bag and praised it most highly.  We spent quite a long time chatting and laughing - so completely overlooked browsing the shop for bargains!

Owl drink to that!

Nick and I very recently celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a bit of a splurge - lovely accommodation, dressing up and dining out - it was wonderful!

Tea, coffee and small cups were provided in our room but both of us prefer to use a larger mug.  Nick found these dancing owl mugs at an op-shop while we were away.  There were a $2.00 bargain!

I made them each a padded carry bag once home again, so they can come on other non-camping adventures - safely stowed in our Gladstone bags.  

The project became a bit bigger than I first intended but I quite enjoyed some creative pottering.  (All the fabrics and notions were downstairs, which was another bonus).

I'm not sure we'll use the mug rugs (aka oversized coasters) but I found the scraps of owl fabric when rummaging and they were such a good match for the mugs that I decided to liberate them from the stash.  

The tea wallet was an easy make to hold a few of my usual favourite teas. (Some brands/blends trigger headaches, hence I prefer to bring my own).  There's enough room to pack small containers of coffee and sugar replacement tablets with Nick's mug.

I followed an online tutorial to make the drawstring bags.  They are a little different to those I've made previously.  I adjusted the described method to add interfacing and batting because I wanted to provide extra protection for the mugs.  Gotta look after our $2.00 investment!

Hats off to us!

Happy New Year!  I ended 2020 by giving Herb (a Gladstone bag!) his spa treatment - and then we welcomed 2021 by restoring this leather hat box.  How good does it look now?!

We bought the hat box at a December garage sale for the princely sum of $5.00 - yep, it had definitely seen better days.  It was very nicely made and we believe it might have been a special piece when new.

The box was in pretty good condition inside but I really wasn't sure I'd be able to restore the piece, given all the stains to the outer leather.  However, given the bargain price I was going to have a try!

I've watched many bag restoration tutorials on YouTube and decided to darken the leather with a few coats of Neatsfoot oil - hoping to lessen the visibility of the stains.  After a number of those oil applications, I used dark tan shoe polish to further even out the colour.  Once I was happy with those efforts, Nick was called upon to assist with handle repair.

In rummaging for something else, I found a belt in my drawer.  It was the same width as the mounts for the previous handle and deemed suitable to use for the repair.  I wasn't keen on the colour but thought to flip the piece upside-down and then darken it with the shoe polish.  Success!

Luckily Bunnings was open on New Year's Day and we ventured out to acquire a leather hole punch, some brass screws and extra glue.

Once home again, Nick attempted to punch holes in the belt piece.  Contrary to the belt's claim to be leather, at least one layer of it was not - and the punch wouldn't cut through.

Plan B was to first glue the handle in place, then drill holes and install the brass bolts when the glue had dried. 

Nick took a break to walk the dog and I had an afternoon nap while they were gone.  When I woke later, the handle was finished and looked absolutely splendid!

Nick used six bolts (with 12 washers) to attach the replacement handle - and they cost just under $5.00.  

So for an investment of just $10.00 we have now added a leather hat box to our growing set of monogrammed luggage!  The glue we had was enough for the handle attachment and all other leather cleaning, moisturising etc products were also on hand.  Minimal outlay was necessary, just a lot of TLC and some thinking outside the (hat) box.  Gotta be very happy with that!

Glad to see in the New Year!

In about mid-October, we found another leather Gladstone bag in an opshop.  Yep, that brings the tally to four of this style (one in vinyl) - as well as the darker leather medicine bag!

Both opshop purchases weren't planned but we do love a bargain and this bag seemed a good deal at $40.00. 

The previous vinyl opshop bag was $20.00 but then required a $10.00 repair and yes, that was excellent value for the work done.  (Replacing the lining and re-assembling the bag is a mission for early in the New Year).

The $40.00 bag was made by Herbert Caspari, so has been dubbed Herb.  It seemed in pretty good condition, albeit in need of some TLC.

It came away with us, untreated, for our late October/early November camper trailer trip and proved a handy addition to our "monogrammed luggage".  Today I decided to give it an overdue spa treatment - as my last 2020 project.

I cleaned the outside with saddlesoap, treated some scuff marks with magic sponge and applied a few coats of neatsfoot oil as well as one of hydrating cream. Later in the day I went over the bag with a light application of shoe polish, particularly to disguise the wear marks - which worked well.  I  followed with a last generous treatment of the leather cream.

The lining is intact, though the pocket may need some stitching.  I've left everything as is for now.  Reassembling the vinyl bag is next on my project list.  Depending on how easy that goes together, I might consider replacing the lining of this bag. Maybe!