I am such a loser as it has been about a million years since I have posted on Craftster....

Anyway, I have been taking a metalsmithing class and have been making all sorts of cool houseware type thingies.  Right now I only have photos of the copper bowl that I made.

This bowl started out as a flat disc which I then heated up with a torch to make the metal easier to work with, I then shaped it with a couple of different hammers and finally, I took two hours to planish the entire bowl to strengthen it and make the shape more permanent.  The base that I started with was waaaaay too big, so my husband helped me by cutting it down by half.  Once I finished shaping the base, it was strapped onto the bottom of the bowl with wire and soldered together with two torches.  I then spent a good amount of time shining it up and waxing it to keep it from tarnishing.

Formed bowl:


Base before it was cut down:


All finished!


Hope you like!

I made this for my best friend for Hannukah.  I am so happy with how it turned out.



Close up of back:


BTW, she loved it!

It's Mr. Hankey!  I made this for my husband who loves South Park.  I didn't use a pattern, I just sort of made it up as I went along.  The face was the hardest.  I am not much of a sewer.  I had to make four different faces before I got it right.  The arms are seed beads strung on wire.

Enjoy!


Close up of face:


Arm and mitten:

My husband recently spent days making me a pirate costume for a party we went to.  To thank him, I made him an amigurumi chihuahua for his desk at work.  I got the pattern here: http://katcrochet.com/chi.htm

I haven't come up with a name for him yet.  Side view:



Front view:



Jesus with his new brother:



This is my first amigurumi project and I am very happy with how he turned out.  Enjoy!

My husband has mad sewing skillz yo.  Me, not so much.  We were invited to a Pirate party last night and he completed our costumes at the last minute.  They look fabulous, except now we have to be pirates for every other event in the future because I can't tolerate the amount of swearing that went into these costumes.  Also, my husband doesn't like sewing all that much.  The consolation?  We won best costumes!

Here's full length:   



My husband used to do historical reenactments, so the leather overcoat and shirt were already made (by him).  His pants are linen and he added turn downs to his motorcycle boots to make them look like bucket boots.  All of my costume was made this week.  We just used linen and home decor/upholstery fabric.  The fabric for my skirt was gorgeous.  Lucky for me it was originally $20/yard but on clearance for $5.  I did all the eyelets for the bodice.  He made everything without patterns.  Like I said, mad skillz on that boy...

Better picture of the tops of the outfits:



The flintlock pistols are real and were a huge hit at the party.  Everyone posed for photos with them. 

Has there been a swap based on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series?  If there hasn't, would there be interest in doing one?  I wouldn't be able to organize, but I thought I would throw it out as an idea. 

Craft for your partner and their daemon!

My sister's birthday is on December 1st and she just moved into her first apartment.  So, inspired by all the great Advent calendars on Craftster, I made her this to take her from her birthday to Christmas in style.  

I bought a Coca-Cola bottle crate at a local antique store for $15, cleaned it out really good and then spraypainted it a dark reddish-brown color.  For each day, I made a small brown paper sack type bag out of scrapbook paper and put a gift inside and tied it shut with a bow and used stickers for the numbers.

She really loved it, especially because of a mix-up at the post office, she received it late and opened 11 days of Advent all at once.

Here are the pics:

A friend of mine recently got breast implants and I wanted to make her an appropriate get well card.  Here's what I came up with (she really likes monkeys):



The inside says "Feel better soon."

How long do you suppose before Hallmark starts selling these?

Here are some random things I made.  Most of this was made this summer so it is kind of summery.  I was on a coral/shell kick and made a lot of pieces similar to the first one:



I made six sets of these for one of my friend's bridal party.  It is all freshwater pearls hand-tied on silk with Swarovski crystals.  The earrings are sterling silver.



Lastly, one of my co-workers wanted an ankle bracelet in black and red (her two favorite colors) and this is what I cam up with:



Let me know what you think!  I LOVE making jewelry!

I am a 1997 graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, VA.  The Board of Trustees recently notified the entire college community that they are voting on admitting men.  The college has been in existance as a single-sex educational institution since 1891.  A large group of Alumnae, current students, friends and family members are planning a group protest/rally/parade to show support for the college as a woman's college and to protest the vote.  One of the things that we want to do is showcase the talents of students and alums by doing a large craft project during the event.  The idea of a quilt was discussed, but we are looking for something more unique...any ideas?

Also, any suggestions on slogans for signs?  We are looking for positive type slogans, right now we have "Keep RM a WC"  Someone suggested "Better dead than Co-ed" but that's not the direction we want to go.

Thanks for all the Craftster-y help!

Check out http://www.thepowerof141.com/mc/page.do for more information on the campaign to save RMWC