Powertex Sculpture

This amazing wall hanging was made by my mother this month. She has been experimenting with various sculpture media in recent years. This particular one was made with a substance called 'powertex', which is applied to fabric to create different effects. I thought this example was stunning - particularly as this was her first attempt to use powertex. To learn more, see this link.

Nine Days until Moving Day

Nine days out, and things are still amazingly calm and organised. It will be interesting to see if this is merely the calm before the storm, though. My index cards are proving to be very versatile when it comes to planning a move. Even better, things are getting done, and getting done on time!

Packed boxes are colour coded according to which room they will go in at the new house. Each box is listed in my moving notebook, together with a list of its contents. This has already proven to be very useful. We also seem to be moving only the things that we really want or need to keep (no clutter).

Here's hoping it all goes smoothly from here on in...!

Glass Dip Pen

Never heard of "glass dip pens" before? Neither had I until recently. Now I am the proud owner of a beautiful, handmade pen (made to order by a man in Bundaberg, Australia) and a matching Italian-made ink well. I have to say that the photo does not do them justice. The pen has a glass nib, which you dip into the ink (hence the name) before writing. From my research I expected to only write a few words between "dips", but my pen lets me write about 1-2 sentences at a time. To clean the nib, I simply dip the pen into a little water and dab it onto a tissue.

One of the benefits of using a dip pen (as opposed to using a fountain pen) is that you can swap ink colours anytime you wish. I haven't tested that yet, as I only have blue ink (so far). But I can see how easy it would be. Oh no, I can feel the world of inks, pens, wax seals and beautiful paper beckoning me....

Wheelchairs and Bowel Motions

Not a terribly charming topic, is it? Nevertheless, it has become a very practical problem in our household. The dilemma is this: sitting in a wheelchair is simply not helpful when it comes to needing to "go". Trust me on this one.

Christopher has solved this in the past by asking to lie down on the floor when he feels the need, but I am past the point where I can lift him off the floor. He is adamant about not lying on the bed, for reasons unknown to me. (Perhaps he feels unsafe, even with the side bars up?).

Since the floor is no longer an option, he has been doing his business in his walker. That involves the following steps:
1. Christopher asks to go in the walker, so we lift him from w/chair to walker
2. House starts to smell
3. We lift Ch. from walker onto bed to be changed
4. Lift Ch. back into walker or w/chair.
Sadly, the transfer from walker to bed is really hard on one's back, so this isn't going to be a permanent solution either.

Clearly we need to rethink this, with full awareness that Christopher is almost eleven years old now - and will only get taller and heavier. Also, being the smart kid that he is, how much longer will he want his parents dealing with this? Well, at least that's still another problem for another time at this stage.

Making Lace

Thanks to a very gracious lady, I was introduced to the art of lace-making several years ago. Now, I certainly don't claim to be any good at it, but I do enjoy it!

One of the pleasure of making lace is the use of bobbins - many of which are beautifully crafted works of art in themselves. They are often decorated (in pairs) with glass beads. Handling dozens of bobbins is simply soul-satisfying. They sound soothing, feel wonderful, and look attractive - a pleasure to work with.

Then there's the amazing process of producing actual lace with a little thread and some pins. In many ways I still feel as though it's a mysterious process. I also like the fact that this craft is so rarely seen today.

Here is a photo of a few samplers I have made:



And here are some of my bobbins on a lace pillow:



Not that I have any time for lace-making at the moment, of course, but I thought I'd take a few photos while I was packing my lace-bag away.