Rosalie Gilbert

I did lots of things today- more getting rid of things and more organising collecting, but happiest of all, is that I ticked both crafts and art off mt list.

Craft-wise, I finished hand stitching the arms and neck on my niece's mauve, wool surcote, so now just insides and hem if time permits. The side seams will survive a few nights whether they are or are not.

Arts-wise, I started the paint removal from a ceramic jug for my display to replace one which has a slightly wrongly shaped spout. I bought it at an Op Shop recently. It is unglazed so I suspected the paint would not scrub off as it looked a bit soaked in. I had hoped that perhaps a steel wool or sandpaper mighy sand enough of it off to get back to terracotta, but it clogged up the paper annoyingly.

My next bright idea was to paint over the paint with terracotta so it looks undecorated, and with only one coat on, it sure looks like a second will do the trick! I plan to paint the decorativd semicircles and lines to match the jug in the Bohun Psalter. 

Not sure whether to do a protective glaze over the jug at the end to help injury from scuffs and scratched.

The test catalogue I made using the online photo book template arrived today and it's so great!!  



I do need to add some more pictures, which I can do by printing them and pasting them in, or in the second version of the catalogue. I was planning on a V2 anyway, but wanted to check the quality and cleanness of the text, as it's all just one jpeg uploaded as a "photo" instead of using their text adding tool. I thought if I added the text to the images themselves, everything would be in the right place.

My logo on each page, short description. Price. I LOVE IT!!!!!!  Just waiting on some metal and clear quart crystal gauds to arrive before I can make the coral stone ones, but expecting the cat rescue crowd to go for the fun pink and purple ones instead!

This will allow any helpers to check prices against pictures since a lot of things look similar but use more expensive parts, and will allow me to stealth sell goodies at events by having them "under the counter" with the little book out for people to browse and select from. It won't spoil the look of my medieval bathhouse, and I'll make a few extra dollars to pay for expenses. 

Anyway, extremely delighted with the results! 

 Well, another work in progress. 



The cheap Kmart shoes I got for my sis and niece for helping out at non-history events have cutwork on them. Not proper historically accurate stuff, but enough for me to feel that I might be able to recut them to look less obvious, and tonight I grabbed a pair, some tiny scissors and hacked into them. 

They're a little scrappy, need a tidy and obviously won't be as strong as leather, but, gosh! They look pretty cute if you don't pay too much attention to them! 

The originals have rows and rows of small and larger dots and semi-circles which I have cut into triangles. These are larger and smaller and have acted as my guides to keep the rows straight.  I'm loving them so much, I'm now eyeing off my 14th century turnshoe pattern and thinking I could actually make a proper set.  My current cutwork turnshoes are still holding together, but they are getting old.

Anyway, please remember these are not finished and need tidying up. 

No sewing today, but a lot of computer work achieved. I finished making my catalogue though I need to still make and photograph one or two items, but I can paste them in later. I needed to get it in for printing, so I have it back for the first event. The little photo book format was 20% off, so it was a good saving. Time consuming, but okay.

Now all I need to do is add the images to the square shop under the COLLECT IN PERSON tab and match up the text. Not everything is available all the time, or will be, but I added any little thing I sometimes make and are likely to make again. I've made little sections to make it easier to find things, which I really like. 

I'm looking forward to getting it all done and dusted. I had a phone call with the Senior Curator of the museum today and have extra jobs to do now . 

 I've cut out the circles for the pouches from the latest colection and starred assembling them. The yellow leather is fantastic but I'm having very mixed feelings about the faux leather results, sadly.



On one hand, the white is the softest and most beautiful and it looks just so pretty! Unfortunately, I only had enough to make two. 

The black looks fine until assembled, whereupon it really looks more fake than it did flat. I had enough material to cut out eight or so, but have only assembled two. I'll need to consider if I like them enough to make more.

Dammit.

 The little pouch making is going well and it's the perfect couch-and-a-movie recovery craft! I went Op Shopping with my best friend and came home with a huge haul of movies for this express purpose, including some old classics which I know well of but hadn't actually seen. I'm on a bit of a Doris Day kick at the moment and just love her to pieces although there's a bit of a man-deceives-women-then-she-forgives-him-for-love theme to most of them. Sigh. 

Anyway, movies to craft by!



Leather? Check! Holes punched? Check! Strings? Check!

Time to get busy!