Sonya Philip's Shirt No. 1 Hack and More

 I recently purchased some gorgeous linen fabrics from the Doggie Bag sale on Fabric-Store.com. 

It's an ongoing, ever-changing source, and you never know what you might find there. 1/2 yard remnants in interesting colors will make nice scarves; 1 yard cuts for a top; 1 1/2 to 2 yard cuts in textured linens for throws or lightweight blankets. I'm not even half way through my order, and I've already made the two coverlets/throws and one top. 

The throws were easy-peasy. I kept the selvedge edges as-is. Here is a lovely reversible linen in a gorgeous indigo/cobalt blue on one side and natural linen on the other.

The sewn edge is a simple hem ~ iron 1/4", fold over and iron again, then stitch. This is heavy weight, and perfect for so many things, like cozying up in a chair outside on a chilly evening, or cuddled into while watching TV, or placing at the end of a bed. 

The second throw is textured linen/cotton, medium weight in bleached white, ISO10Bleached. The cotton makes it extra soft. When you receive this fabric, it's flat and easy to sew. Once it's washed and dried it magically changes to this fluffy, pillowy texture. Again, I left the selvedges as-is. I cut the raw edges perfectly straight, zig-zag stitched about 1/2" away from the edge, and fringed it to match the selvage edge. I'll put this at the bottom of my bed just in case I need an extra layer as the weather begins to cool. 

For the top I modified 100 Acts of Sewing Shirt No. 1 pattern by Sonya Philip and used just one yard of Fabric-Store IL019 softened linen in Elephant. The color is absolute perfection for me, a gorgeous deep slate gray/blue. It'll go really well with my new pandemic silver hair! 

I decided to have a go at creating a portrait/funnel/cowl type neck on this pattern. There was a lot of guesstimating involved as I've never made nor do I have a top like this. Since I was working with linen with no ease or stretch, I knew the neck had to be wider than my head or I'd never get it on. I measured my head and figured out what the smallest opening should be, added seam allowance, and an extra inch to be on the safe side. I thought 7-8" tall would be ample. I made it 9" for seam allowance, figuring I could easily cut it down if I needed to. The tricky part was just where to start the curve on the shoulder up to the top of the funnel. I approximated at about the halfway point, and used a French curve ruler to make a nice transition curve from top to bottom. You can see my chicken scratch notes on the neck pattern.

I used French seams for the sides; and a simple hem for the bottom, arms, and neck. I liked the shirt on, but the neck opening at the shoulders seemed a tad too large, so I tacked the top edge of the neck at the seam onto the shoulder seam. I also made a small tack in the front top of the neck onto the front of the shirt. Now it sits just about right, laying with a soft, blossomy drape. Next time I will begin the neck about 1" further up the shoulder, making the bottom portion of the neck a little narrower. 

There is ample room in this top for a long-sleeved under layer when the weather starts getting chilly. It will be a great transition piece, and goes with just about everything I own. Next, I'll get to fringing up those scarves; and I still need to figure out just what to do with that houndstoothe-like fabric. Any suggestions are most welcomed!

Beeswax Wraps

We're all trying to do our part to re-use, recycle, and not create so much waste. A few years ago I purchased a set of wax wraps by Meli Wraps. They're a nifty way to cover leftovers without using plastic wrap. They're not leak-proof or completely air tight, but in most cases they work very well and are environmentally friendly. Using the warmth of your hands, as you press the wrap onto your container, it will cling and mold to its shape. I've tried a couple different brands and found Meli Wraps far superior to the others. All the wax wraps I've used leave a slight waxy residue on my container that is easily washed off with soap and hot water. To wash the wraps, use cool water and soap and rub with your hands. Do not put them in the dishwasher, microwave, or use hot water. They are not recommended to use with raw meat. They should last about a year. 

I like to tinker and make. Since I enjoy encaustic wax painting, I had all the tools and ingredients on hand to make wax wraps myself. There are quite a few blog posts and Youtube videos explaining different methods of how to make wax wraps that are worth checking out. Some people used a foil lined pan in an oven. Some people used a double boiler to melt their wax. Some people did not use an iron, which might be a good method to try if you do not have a dedicated wax iron. There are also a variety of recipes for the wax mixture. My friend was ahead of the game and had already experimented with ratios and ingredients, so I was happy to use what worked best for her instead of reinventing the wheel. 

Wax recipe:

100 g beeswax

68 g damar resin

2T jojoba oil

She first tried pine resin, but found it was very pungent smelling and did not stick as well as the damar. I did not have jojoba oil and substituted coconut oil. The results seem very similar.

Tools I used:

electric griddle

oven thermometer

glass jar or metal container

foil

rags

meat tenderizer or hammer

clothes pins

small clothes line (I just used string)

stirring stick

paint brush (natural bristles so they won't melt)

wax iron (an iron without holes)

apron

thinner woven cotton fabric

Use pre-washed and ironed, thin woven cotton fabric for your wraps. If the fabric is too thick it will not be pliable and will be too cumbersome to meld onto your bowl or cup. I made an assortment of sizes: 4x4, 5x5, 8x10, 10x12. Use pinking shears to cut your pieces. The wax will seal the edges so they shouldn't fray. 

I have an electric griddle that I covered with foil. The wax/resin gets extremely sticky, so the foil is essential for cleanup. To clean my hands when I was done I put a little oil and rubbed it around then some soap. I use an oven thermometer on my griddle to maintain a temperature of about 200 degrees. You don't want it much hotter or you'll get smoke which means toxic fumes. I was in a cold garage, so my temperature while melting the mixture sometimes went up to 220.

Put the wax and oil in a metal container or glass jar, place it on the hot foil-lined griddle, and let that melt. If your resin is not in powdered form, crush it. Put the resin bag inside some rags and a paper bag and gently pound it with a hammer or the smooth side of a meat tenderizer.

You'll want to lightly add a tiny (about 1/4 teaspoon) sprinkling (not one big blob) of damar powder, then completely mix that into the melted wax/oil mixture. If the resin is in chunks it will be too difficult to dissolve. Don't rush it; keep adding a tiny bit of damar sprinkled on top, and stir, stir, stir to mix it in. It took me about 40 minutes and my friend almost an hour to completely mix the resin into the wax with no remaining lumps or gelatinous clumps. 

Once your wax/resin mixture is completely melted and incorporated, put a piece of fabric onto the heated foil to heat the fabric. Paint a thin layer of hot wax onto the fabric. I used wooden clothes pins to maneuver and flip the fabric. Paint a thin layer of wax onto the other side. You want the fabric completely saturated but not dripping.

I then placed a clean piece of fabric on top of the waxy fabric and lightly ironed to soak up excess wax. My first go around I ironed too much of the wax off and the fabric didn't quite stick enough so I had to go back and apply an additional layer of wax. It works just fine with the additional wax. I would suggest making one or two, then trying them out to make sure you've got the correct amount of wax. 

After you iron, use your clothes pins to peel the two pieces of fabric apart. Place the cleaner fabric back onto the foil and drape the saturated fabric over the clothesline (ie piece of string). The finished wrap will cool quickly, in less than a minute. While it's cooling, go back to your griddle and add your thin layer of wax to the fabric, flip over, and add a thin layer of wax. Top with another clean piece of fabric, iron, etc. and repeat. 

You can save any leftover wax in case you need to re-apply more wax later on to keep your wraps well primed and extend their longevity. I made about 25 pieces of assorted sizes with this recipe. 

I love the smell of the beeswax! These wraps smell lightly of honey, especially if they're sitting in sunshine or a warm room. I put together an assortment of sizes, wrapped in parchment paper, and popped them into my family's gift bags. 

I hope you enjoy this fun project.

Copper Alembic Still

 

Just look at this beauty. My heart stopped the first time I saw one, and I knew I must add it to my home crafting supplies. Lest you think I'm ALL about the superficial eye candy, rest assured that it was the combination of usefulness and aesthetics that spurred me to covet and acquire this piece of functional art from Copper Brothers in Portugal.

There is a distinct aroma that says Home here in Central Oregon. Over the years I've identified different factions of this smell. While nordic skiing the sun comes out and warms the pine trees, sap, and Manzanita bushes. There's one. While hiking, my foot would crush a bit of pinecone and juniper berries, stirring up smooth yet sharp notes. That's another piece. More recently I discovered the extremely heady, perfumey fragrance of Ceanothus Velutinus or snowbrush. There's that sweet part of the Home scent. We have acres of natural sage, pine and juniper trees on our property, and planted lavender to add to the mix. I wanted to distill these and other native flora into a scent to share with others who may never make it to my neck of the woods or to enrich any environment with lovely natural aromatherapy.

My research into distilling essential oils and hydrosols led me to this striking still. Here I am a few years later firing her up and experimenting with an assortment of vegetation. For all of my research, I came up with only a few nuggets of pertinent information. My best resource was from Erin Stewart over on her website, Floranella. Her site led me to a few local lavender farms; and Youtube is always good for a smattering of useful (and not so useful) videos. There is so much I want to learn. I had intended to take a class with Erin that was offered through Wildcraft Studios, but then the pandemic hit. I just found another excellent resource and video from Mother Earth Living. I highly recommend watching their video. I am a total newby, but I will gladly share with you my limited knowledge and any tips that I've gleaned.

The base of the still is called the pot. The column is next, and is often optional. The top part is called the cap or the onion or the swan neck lid. The lyne arm is the connecter to the condenser, where the coiled tubing is. 

I've heard from a couple sources that you shouldn't use the same still for both essential oils and alcohol. I guess I won't be making any moonshine. It was suggested that 3 litres to 10 litres would be good sizes for home distilling. The column needs to be pretty packed with plant material for making oil. That's a lot of plants to pack the 10L column! The smaller 3L size seemed perfect for me because I only had a few large lavender plants. I didn't want to use all of my lavender for one distillation. I wanted to combine it with other plants and try different blends. 

When you receive your still, check the box, packaging, and still for any damage. In my case, there was a three-day time period in which to file any damage claim, which was clearly stated on the website. I hadn't noticed this reminder, and with Covid I let my box sit for a while before I opened it up and really checked it out. Unfortunately, the box was damaged in shipping and my still had a dent in it. Luckily, I've taken many metal smithing classes and felt comfortable doing as Copper Brothers customer service suggested, and used a rubber mallet to gently tap the dent out. Phew, disaster diverted! And by the way, I found Copper Bros customer service to be prompt and helpful. Also, I received my still within the week of ordering! Yes, that was an international order.

Besides the still, you'll need a heat source. I chose a 1500W electrical burner. You'll also need to cool the coils in the condenser unit by keeping a flow of cold water. I didn't want to be wasteful with free flowing water, and opted for recyling it. A bucket or container for the water, aquarium pump, and some tubing does the trick. I bought a very inexpensive pump for $12. I wish I had gotten a better pump that had a knob to control the flow of the water instead of twisting the tubing to control the flow. The knob would have been much easier. It's worth the extra $10 to get this feature, and you'll probably get a stronger pump to boot. 

I found setting the still up took some time and finagling. You need to find the right height of supports for under the condenser unit to match the burner and still height. The cooling water system has to be just right. And how to catch the hydrosol is another conundrum. Have lots of bricks, tiles, bowls, stools, etc around to figure this all out. I took a picture when it all worked to refer to the next time I set up. 

I like having the thermometer built into the still. You'll want to seal any joints that might let vapor escape with either a paste of rye flour and water or with teflon tape. It's not actually "tape" in that it doesn't have adhesive on it (Thank goodness! I mean, who would want to get this gorgeous copper all sticky and gunked up???) Plumbers use it to seal pipes. It clings to the metal and doesn't allow any steam to escape. My still was pretty air tight, but I did notice one tiny spot that needed the tape.

You can use the still without the column and put plant matter in the pot with the water. You can pack the column with plant matter. You can also do both in combination. If you put plant matter into the pot, it's suggested to put a strainer or something on the bottom of the pot to prevent the plant matter from resting on the pot bottom and getting scorched from the heat. I mostly used just the column. 

It takes a long time to get the water to boil, so it's much quicker to pour boiling water into the pot right from the beginning. Once you reach 100 degrees celsius or 220 degrees fahrenheit you should soon see tiny spurts of hydrosol come out of the condenser. I would run the still anywhere from one to three hours, getting one to two pints of hydrosol. 

The essential oil floats to the top of the hydrosol and can be removed by a variety of methods. I would guess there is only one to two tablespoons of essential oil in one batch. I decided this year to just leave the oil and hydrosol together and not bother with removing the oil. I found the hydrosol to be very long lasting and fragrant. In fact, my sage blend was REALLY sagey, and smelled like Thanksgiving. I sprayed about four spritzes and it lingered for weeks! Perhaps a little too long to smell like Thanksgiving dinner in summer.

I distilled rabbit brush blossoms, which has a very green, lightly pineapple like fragrance. I also tried juniper berries and pine blossoms. My favorite, of course, is the lavender. I tried fresh and dried and love them both.

I've put my still away for the year, but look forward to next season. I hope to plant additional fragrant plants to try along with my native growers. 

If you keep your hydrosol in the refrigerator, it should last about a year. I've purchased some pretty cobalt glass sprayers from Amazon in different sizes to fill for gifts. 

I'll be putting together sets of hydrosol, handmade linen towels, and wax wraps for Christmas gifts this year. I'll try to put up a post on the wax wraps soon. For now I'll enjoy the lingering scents of summer with my hydrosols.

Encaustic Wax, Flower Printing, and Plaster Play

I've finally carved out a niche in my outside studio to play around with encaustic wax!! (Happy dance here.) It's summertime, so I can throw the doors and windows open to keep the studio well ventilated. I just need to make sure no critters get caught inside! (On acreage in the middle of the forest, this is a real challenge.)

Also on my list of things to try out is creating prints by pounding flowers into either fabric or paper. And in keeping with my non-linear, crazy mind these days, I'll throw in a smattering of plaster to mix things up even more.  The options are growing exponentially as I write.

I had a damaged wooden board stained with indigo India ink, cast off from a failed project. This would be perfect to start my foray back into the world of encaustic wax. Blue = sky, easy beginning; and I love flowers, so there you go. 

Here are some detailed shots:

That was soooo much fun! But that's just the beginning. 

I have a large bare spot on one of the walls in our cobalt blue tiled bathroom. Unfortunately, the first piece is a horizontal panel, and I needed a perpendicular panel to fill the void. So on to the next experimental art adventure I go.

We are in the middle of a pandemic, thus I am trying to use things I have on hand. Since I didn't have a correct size wooden panel, I ripped leftover drop cloth into the size I wanted, and added a layer of plaster of Paris to the front (let it dry) and then the back of the cloth. I had seen this done by Jeanne Oliver for smaller journal pages. Perhaps this isn't the best thing for a larger panel like I'm making as it may crack or break fairly easily, but I forged on ahead knowing that it's just for me, and on the wall, and I'm pretty careful.  

What shall I put on this panel? I have been vying to try hammered flower cloth. What, you ask, is hammered flower cloth? Take flowers and hammer them into cloth. I used a very thin, woven, cotton muslin type cloth. I went around my yard and gathered a variety of flowers to try.

I layered a piece of paper underneath, added the thin cloth, arranged the flowers on the cloth, covered the flowers with parchment paper, and used a rubber mallet to hammer the flowers into the cloth. The parchment paper allowed me to faintly see where the flowers and colors were transferring onto the fabric, helping me create a more cohesive design. I went in after the first pass and added more flowers and greenery where it was needed. The bottom layer of paper had a faint ghost print from the color that seeped out from the fabric. You could use this paper for a mixed media piece, or attach it into your journal, or whatever you like. 

Here is the cloth panel. 

I won't wash this. If you wanted to use this technique on a washable item, you would need to treat the fabric before and after doing the flower pounding. Since I knew this was for the wall and wouldn't be washed, I used untreated fabric. 

To attach this fabric onto the plaster substrate I used encaustic wax. I laid the fabric onto the plaster panel and added a layer of encaustic wax on top of the flower print. The wax soaked into the thin cloth and down into the plaster. I am hoping the encaustic wax will not only act as a binder, but also help to seal in the color of the flowers and keep it from fading. 

Here's a portion of the cloth before the encaustic wax was applied.

And after the wax was applied.

 

And here's the same area after I added some darker encaustic wax accents. 

Sweet peas on fabric.

Sweet peas after clear and some white encaustic wax. 

Here are close ups of areas with the darker encaustic wax and some indigo colored wax details added. I wanted a little of that indigo/cobalt color of the bathroom tiles in the piece. 

I left the edges rough, but felt it was a little too rustic. I had leather straps that I added to the piece by stitching a loop and hanging them onto the copper tubing I used to hang the piece by. 

The leather covers the rough edges on the longer sides and makes the piece look cleaner. I used a piece of wire as a hanger, but wanted to obscure it a bit so I added a few pussy willow branches to the top. 

I like how the plain plaster is still visible at the top and bottom of the piece. 

I learned a lot by just playing around with materials I had on hand, trying to make do. I'm happy to have a piece of art to hang in the bare spot of the bathroom. I hope you give the flower printing a try. It's very easy. There are all sorts of tutorials on Youtube showing different methods. I even saw that some people used rocks to pound the plant materials into the fabric. 

Happy summer, everyone!