#crafting with nature

[fastwiemagie]

Seed berry ornaments

Making these was so much fun!!! I collected the empty seed coats on a walk in a local park and pretty soon knew I wanted to make some kind of ornament with them.

Because they were empty I took a wooden bead and wrapped it in wire, with little beads threaded onto each wire string. It was a simple process of stringing the beads and wrapping them through the wooden beads opening, but still time consuming. For me it was relaxing and fun to see the berry form with all the beads attached to the wooden bead! I hot glued the beaded berries into the seed coats and also hot glued red satin ribbon onto them (for hanging them up) and added some red velvet ribbon shapes into bows (for further decoration and festive cheer)!

I really adore how they came out.

[image description]

Picture 1: Picture 1 and Picture 6 are basically identical, they are just slightly different in zoom and are there to show of the pretty seed berry ornaments twice. Because, why not! They both show the finished seed berry ornaments, made with empty seed coats I found on a walk in nature, they kinda look like flower hats in my opinion. A berry made from different red-and-black beads has been glued inside the empty seed coat as a new berry and the ornament is decorated with a red satin ribbon loop and a red velvet bow.

Picture 2: Two empty seed coats, one laying on it's side and showing it's cap/hat like shape and one standing on top of the table. Two wooden beads wrapped with wire and beads are laying next to the seed coats, looking very much like red-and-black sparkly berries.

Picture 3: A close-up of a finished bead "berry" placed into an emtpy seed coat, showing how cute this ornament will look once I glue everything together!

Picture 4: A wooden bead wrapped in wire and covered with little beads is laying on top of a table. It looks very much like a sparkly berry in different shades of red and some black beads. Next to the wire-wrapped berry lay the used tools: two kinds of miniature-sized pliers and one miniature-sized wire cutter, the collected empty sead coat and a little transparent tin with a red-and-black bead mix.

Picture 5: A close-up of one wooden bead that has been completely wrapped in strings of wire with various shades of red (and some black) beads threaded onto the wire. The final look resembles a sparkly berry.

Picture 6: See picture 1. The picture almost look identical. I just wanted to include both! [/image description]

[53v3nfrn5]

Warped medullary rays found on pieces of wood that resemble animals

[theknitpotato]

In 1850, a farmer found a secret village. It was later determined to be older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Archeologists estimated that 100 people lived in this village named Skara Brae, the "Scottish Pompeii." The houses were connected to each other by tunnels, and each house could be closed off with a stone door.

[lookingforcactus]

Because I'm feeling whimsical,

What the fuck do you mean that's a quilt??? Round 2

All quilts are contest winners from the quilt show Road to California, 2022. You can see these quilts and the other winners from that year here.

Best of Show Quilt

Title: Harlequinade Maker: Rebecca Prior Quilter: Jackie Brown Design Basis: Maker's Original Design "Harlequinade" is a theatrical quilt filled with visual clues guiding viewers to discover a hidden story. Inspired by Venetian Carnival masks and commedia del'arte characters, the quilt features the antics of Harlequin, the trickster, who has his own ideas about freedom and fun!

Director's Choice

Title: Welcome Home Maker: David Taylor Quilter: David Taylor Design Basis: Original image by Margo Clabo, used with permission I first saw this image from friend Margo Clabo more than a decade ago. It took years to convince her to let me adapt her photo into a quilt. The image it depicts is especially sentimental for her. The challenge for myself was to create a pieced pictorial background and recreate a traditionally pieced quilt by using my hand appliqué technique. The project size was overwhelming, but I'm thrilled with the finished quilt. So is Margo. Time to exhale.

Note: To be clear, that is not a photo with a quilt in it, that WHOLE THING is a quilt.

Best Machine Stationary Quilting

Title: Emerald labyrinth Maker: Kumiko Frydl Quilter: Kumiko Frydl Design Basis: Maker's Original Design As a starting point I used an image from the entrance to the EL Barkookeyeh Mosque in Cairo. Thinking of an elegant and intricate garden I added bursts of natural color and filled the area between the large elements of the design with finer ornament inspired by butterflies and plants. I set the circular image in a rectangular frame with a subdued complimentary design of rippled reflective pools.

1st Place: Animal

Title: Woodland Wilds Maker: Ann Horton Quilter: Ann Horton Design Basis: Maker's Original Design My morning hikes in the woodland hills of our northern California home inspired this quilt. The rabbits are always alert for danger. This machine appliqued, thread painted and embroidered view through a window is surrounded by wild flowers on hand dyed silk and again surrounded by other wild birds and animals. I love my wilds things in the woods!

1st Place: Human Image

Title: The Memories That Remain Maker: Lynn Czaban Quilter: Lynn Czaban Design Basis: Library of Congress Photos - LC-USF33-006183MI and LC-USF33-0061 I am fascinated by the human face and our ability to communicate without uttering a single word. The Portuguese word 'saudade' meaning a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for something or someone that one cares for and loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again.

1st Place: Naturescape

Title: Desert In Spring Maker: Andrea Brokenshire Quilter: Andrea Brokenshire Design Basis: Maker's Original Design My Mom and I embarked on an epic travel trip we named our "Thelma and Louise Adventure" In Palm Springs, CA we visited the Living Desert Botanical Garden. This quilt is inspired by one of the photographs I took that spring day of a Prickly Pear Cactus in full bloom. I loved the leathery texture of the cactus leaves (paddles) and the almost translucent citron yellow blossoms.

2nd Place: Animal

itle: Not Today Maker: Kestrel Michaud Quilter: Kestrel Michaud Design Basis: Maker's Original Design The chase is on! The Roadrunner is after his next meal, chasing a Common Collared Lizard through a steampunk junkyard. The desert is a favored dumping ground for the detritus of progress, even in a fantasy world. A steam-powered industrial revolution creates iron refuse and pieces of broken machinery have been left to decay in dry desert air. That doesn’t bother these critters. To them, this is home. Will that lizard wind up as dinner? Not today!

2nd Place: Human Image

Title: Declaration of Independence - Voices of Freedom Maker: Nancy Prince Quilter: Terri Taylor Design Basis: Reproduction of John Trumbull's Painting The quilt is a reproduction of John Trumbull's painting which depicts the moment in history when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. The quilt front and back were created in Photoshop and custom printed on fabric. Four thousand hours over 4 years was necessary to create the quilt. The back captures the story of the Declaration and its signers.

Note: I'm not at all patriotic. But credit where credit is due. That's a fucking quilt.

3rd Place: Animal

Title: Midnight Flight Maker: Joanne Baeth Quilter: Joanne Baeth Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Several years ago we had an injured Great Horned Owl roosting in our willow tree during the day. I took several pictures and was inspired to create him in fabric. The background features a painted sky, old buildings, melting snow and a rabbit on the run The foreground is the swooping owl which was constructed by painting and inking each feather and thread painting over fabrics and needle punched wool rovings

3rd Place: Naturescape

Title: Day Into Night Maker: Deb Deaton Quilter: Deb Deaton Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Inspired from photo by Robert Murray with his permission. When the Arizona sun begins to set, the sky comes alive. I saw this photo and knew the splendor of this landscape needed to be captured with fiber! Sky is hand painted. Raw edge applique. Mixed media used: oil pastels, color pencils, inks to enhance the fabrics and create more dimension. Cheesecloth: painted to create spikes of cactus. Tulle used to capture the sunrays. Machine quilted.

[sixteenseveredhands]

2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia, c.400-300 BCE: this figure was crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This plush bird was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artifacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.

Currently housed at the Hermitage Museum.

[handmade-by-me]

giant red-headed centipede, handmade rug, 2023,

11" x 7"

[dame-nostalgique]

I made some little fairies out of pressed flowers 🌷

[beausbugbiome]

Guys look at this GIANT millipede!! Free pattern from Projectarian! 🐛✨

Definitely want to make one myself!

[itscolossal]

Andrea Spencer’s Painstakingly Layered Glass Sculptures Intertwine Tendrils of Seaweed

[rosieandthemoon]

cemetery beauty

[maviyenot]

[fastwiemagie]

Wichtel 1.0.

I had a vision in my head for these pine cone goblins and wasn't satisfied with the outcome of these. Don't get me wrong, they're certainly cute but didn't mash with the picture in my mind. So, these are the first version of pine cone goblins/imps I tried to make. Figures that they would be mischievous and give me trouble. For the advent calendar swap I made a second version that I sent to my swap partner, because they came closer to what I envisioned.

But these are very cute as well and got to stay with me!

[image description]

Picture 1: Three pine corn imps in a test state. White papermache balls have been places on the pine cones as heads. The middle imp has a simple face sketched out in pencil. Because those pine cone imps can't stand on their own, they're resting against sand-coloured cotton yarn (which will be used later to add loops to hang the imps up as decoration).

Picture 2: Five chubby pine cones laying on a brown table top.

Picture 3: Three papermache balls (which have been painted green) stuck on toothpicks, which in turn are stuck into two cleaning sponges. This construction holds the papermache balls up while the paint is drying. Two wooden disk have also been painted green and are propped up at the side of the cleaning sponges as well. A plastic file and some newspaper keep the table top clean from paint!

Picture 4: A tilted image of one finished pine cone imp. It's got a green painted head with a simple face drawn on in kind of thick brown brush strokes. On it's head the imp wears a red felt cap, with a sand-coloured string coming out of it, so you can hang it.

Picture 5: All three of the pine cone imps (version 1.0./first try). Two of them are hanging in a way that they're not facing forwards but rather to the side. [/image description]

[slinkyslugs]

Yarn Snail!

Colors on the body didn't quite turn out how I wanted, but overall very pleased. One antenna broke off before its last kiln journey, but will be glued back on.

[snailygoon]

“You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” -Max Ehrmann

[tompuschautz]

Radiozoa Floating In Cosmic Cesspool.

https://instagram.com/tom.puschautz

[thesilicontribesman]

Pictish Stag Symbol Stone, circa 9th Century CE, St. Vigeans Stones and Museum, Arbroath, Scotland

Considered by many to be one of the finest Pictish animal depictions.