Our Christmas decorations, for 2022 - first thread berlingot experiments

 I spent some time considering what I wanted to do for this year's hand made Christmas decorations.  Last year, I had a blast making these scenes inside of upcycled aluminum cans.  The year before, we did wood burning and painting on wood slices.  After taking a break from making our annual Christmas decorations for a few years, it felt good to get back at it!

This year, I stumbled on a link to make "temari" ornaments - except it was not temari at all.  That is something I have made before, and we have whole bunch of temari Christmas ornaments we still use.  I found another link that called these "berlingot", which is a type of brightly coloured candy of a similar shape.  So that's what I will call them.  

After doing some experimenting, this is what I've decided to make for this year's ornaments.  After the first one I made, I ended up combining instructions from both sites and today, I made two more.

Here, you can see the first one I made, using two colours.  The cardboard I used is from empty facial tissue boxes, which limited the size I could make.  For the first berlingot, I used a 2 inch by 6 inch piece, then taped the shape together.  For my next one, I added the folding tabs, instead.  I definitely recommend using the version using tabs!  As for the size, as long as the basic rectangle is a ratio of three times longer than it is wide, it will work.  The links I found used 3"x9" and 4"x12".  If I'd had large enough cardboard, I would have gone with the 3"x9".  Anything bigger would be too large for our tree, though I think the larger sizes would also be easier to work with.

The lines were all scored with a pen, so the creases would be nice and crisp.  All the folds are done in the same direction.

This is what it looks like, after the creases are folded.  I then applied a very thin layer of glue to the tabs, using the tip of a bamboo skewer and some ordinary white glue.

This is what it looks like when it's folded together.  Once I was sure the tabs wouldn't pull apart, I set it aside to finish drying while I made another one.  By the time that one was ready to be set aside, the first one was ready to work with.

With my first berlingot, I used two strands of pink for the wrapping.  For this one, I decided to try three strands.  I have a package of mini yarn from a dollar store, and I chose pale purple, pink and black.

Doing the wraps is actually very easy, but getting them started is probably the most confusing part.  I don't know if these next photos will help, or make it even more confusing!

The folded shape has three "sharp" points, and two slightly flattened ones.  The wrapping begins at one of the flattened ones.  The thread ends would be attached where you see the 1 in the above photo.

The threads would then run to one of the "sharper" points.  In this photo, from the 1 to the 2.  From there, it wraps around the point and follows along the other side of the fold, back towards the starting point.  In the first photo, you can see where the thread would run from 3 to 4.  The thread will be crossing the starting ends in the process.  The thread then wraps around the point with the number 4, then continues on to the point with the number 5, in the above photo.

Wraps 5 follows along to the point marked 6.  After wrapping around that point, the thread follows the crease back to mark 1.  After that, you just keep wrapping.

Clear as mud, right? 😄

Trust me.  It's a lot harder to describe it, than to do it.  Once you get started, it's really obvious, and it can't wrapped any other way and still stay in place.

Here, after deciding what order I wanted the colours to be in, I used a bit of glue to fix the starting threads in place.  If I'd had some, I would have used double sided tape.  That would have made things much easier, and less messy!  Plus, I wouldn't have had to wait for glue to dry before I could go on.

Once you get going, though, you can't really stop.  An even tension needs to be maintained, so it's not like you can just put it down for a few moments, or the whole thing would unravel.  Which means I wasn't able to take any progress photos.  So here it is, fully wrapped.

I'd added a bit of fabric glue at the last point, then waited a bit for it to dry while maintaining tension.  Once it was dry enough, I threaded all strands onto a tapestry needle, and pulled them through, running the needle under the bottom layer of threads, right against the cardboard.  After the ends were snipped, I used the needle to move the threads back into place, making sure the cut ends were covered by the wraps.

This is what the "bottom" of the berlingot looks like.  When first starting the wraps, it seems like the back is left open, but all sides get fully covered in layers of threads by the time it's done.

Here is a side view of the "top" of the berlingot.  I do like how the three different colours, wrapped as a group, looks.  It is, however, harder to keep them smooth and in place, without twisting, compared to using two colours at once.

Of course, I had to try something completely different for the next experiment.  I chose another three colours, white, peacock and navy, but this time wrapped only one strand at a time, changing colours along the way.

This is the "top" point view.  

While wrapping with only one strand is a lot easier, changing colours was a real pain!  At least when using the glue.  After finishing the rounds in one colour, the end had to be glued and tucked under the wraps to maintain tension.  With the first wraps of blue, I could leave the end uncut while I did the navy, then once the navy was done, I could pick up the blue to finish off the next warps.

Double sided tape.  Must get double sided tape!

Here is another view of all three of them.

So... my thoughts so far.

This is a great, fun little craft.  They look great!  My daughter even suggested that, rather than making them into ornaments for the tree, they'd look great with just a whole bunch of them in a bowl.  They certainly would!  It would be cute to have a whole bunch in different sizes on display.

For our Christmas tree, though, more will be done with them.  They will get hangers, of course.  For the points, I want to add things like beads or maybe even little tassels.  One thing that can be done that we will NOT be doing, is adding a small bell or a couple of beds inside the cardboard before sealing the edges.  We have too many cats, and it's hard enough keeping them out of the tree as it is.  😉  However, adding some kind of noise maker inside them would be a fun thing to do.

Now, I just need to find myself some more cardboard.  Cereal boxes would be great for the 3"x9" ones I want to make, but we rarely eat boxed cereal!  I might also experiment with different materials.  With larger sizes, I might use thicker or textured yarn, instead of thread or a fine weight yarn like these minis.

This is going to be fun!

A prototype

 It has been ages since I've posted anything here!  

There are a few reasons for that.  One of them is that life in the real world has been busy, and I've been doing more gardening and yardwork than crafting.  Another is more of a problem.  This year has been bad for my osteoarthritis, particularly in my hands.  It is affecting every finger joint, and I am starting to lose the use of my hands.  I can still do a lot, but I find myself dropping things a lot more often, and my grip has gotten to the point where, on bad days, I've had to get family members to do things like open jars, or even turn door knobs, for me.  I've already replaced the door knob to my office/craftroom/bedroom (it's a big room!) with a lever style, and we will slowly replace others around the house as well.  I knew this time was coming, considering the sorts of stress and strain my hands have gone through over the years, but I'd hoped to have a few more years yet.  Ah, well.  It is what it is, and we do what we can!

Some days are better than others, though, and I do still manage to make things.  Usually things to use around the house.  Winter is coming, though, and things are getting chilly out there.  For most of the year, while working outside, I've been wearing a ball cap.  It keeps the sun out of my eyes, and protects my head, but it doesn't do a thing to keep my ears warm!  So today, I dug out the hooks and yarn, and made myself an ear warmer to go with my ball cap.  

I spent some time looking online at different styles.  Of course, there were always things I liked or didn't like about each one, but it gave me ideas to accomplish what I was after.

This is my prototype, modelled by Dolph.

Normally, I make ear warmers as a long strip that gets joined in the back.  My favourite version has a narrow part in the back, which helps keep the ear warmer from being pushed upwards when moving my head - a feature I kept with this project.  

 

After joining in my usual pattern, I would do edging at the top and bottom to give it more structure and a finished look.  For this style, I made the ear panel first, then combined making the edging with adding the strips to go around the visor. 

For my prototype, I used some very basic yarn I had handy.   Some time ago, my husband bought a case of So Craft, Knit & Purl, Accent Brights yarn.  The individual packages had 10 skeins of 50g, 100% acrylic yarn.

What my husband missed when he bought it, though, was that these are a light weight yarn.  For this type of yarn, we both prefer medium weight.  He hasn't been using it, so we still have plenty.  For this project, I used 2 strands of the yarn, and a J/10 6.00mm hook.

The ear warmer fits my head better than it fits Dolph in the photos.  The edging along the bottom helps it sort of cup around the ears, which is both comfortable and warming.  

I will definitely make more of these, and will eventually make some with reflective thread added as well.

This is going to be quite nice to wear when I'm out doing my chilly morning chores!

Reflective

 One of the types of yarn I enjoyed using was the Red Heart reflective yarn.  Here is an example of my using it as a contrasting band in a hat.

I've also used it in entire hats, as well as to make high-visibility wrist bands.

Unfortunately, none of the local yarn stores carry it anymore, and while I can buy it online, I really prefer not to, if possible.

Instead, my darling husband found an alternative for me.

This is a nylon reflective sewing thread. This is something that can be used in sewing machines, if desired.

Here is how it looks with flash.  

The beauty of this is that I can use it to make any yarn reflective.  I tested it out by making a simple bracelet.

First, in normal light.

Now with flash.

I think that worked our rather well!

I look forward to using it with other types of yarn, or even with crochet thread.  There's a lot on the cone, so this is something that will last for quite a few projects!

I'm quite pleased with it.

Our 2021 Christmas ornaments

 Oh, my goodness!  I can't believe it's been 2 years since I last posted here!  But then, I think the past 2 years has been a blur for a lot of people, lately.  

Honestly, I haven't been doing much crafting lately.  Since our move to an acreage, 4 years ago, our focus has been elsewhere, and for the past 2 years, my focus has been more towards gardening, on top of other outdoor work.  This has had an unfortunate affect of making my hands very rough, so I can't really handle yarn much.  Especially the fussier or delicate yarns.  I also find I am increasing losing strength and dexterity in my hands.  Arthritis sucks!  Still, I do what I can.

And this year, doing what I can meant cans!

(Warning: this is going to be a very photo heavy post! :-D )

We don't often buy canned goods, but every now and then, we pick up canned chicken at Costco.  These are larger cans than what I see in the local grocery stores, and I really liked their size.

For this year's decorations, I decided to create little scenes inside the cans.  This turned out to be a collaborative effort with my daughter, who started things for me by using her gold spray paint on the cans.

This job took several days and several coats of paint.  Normally, this would have been done outdoors, which she tried with the first coat, but it's just too cold out right now.  The paint doesn't like the cold!  Thankfully, she found a way to finish it indoors.

For the scenes, I rifled through my craft supplies and got other things at a dollar store.  A family member had gifted me with a box of wooden items, and I finally got to use some!

I started off by wood burning details on some of the wooden pieces, which I then passed on to my daughter for painting with her acrylics.

I got glitter paper in gold and silver, and used the cans to mark out circles to fit inside them, as backing for 4 of the cans.

I had some metallic card stock and used a can to mark off the dimensions to create a platform to set scenes on.

I used what adhesives I had to fix the backing paper to the cans, and the platforms to the backs.  The main thing was to have the adhesive dry clear. 

The first platform fit perfectly, so I used it as a template to make three more.  

Having a scoring tool to create the folds made things much nicer.

One of the easiest decorations to make was the car.  Among the wooden items I was gifted with were several of these cars, and it fit just perfectly!

I'd picked up packages with strips of mixed ribbon and cord at the dollar store, in gold or silver, with a few that had both.  After choosing a ribbon and cutting it to size, I hot glued it in place.

For a final touch, some fake snow was glued on as well.

This one was done very quickly!

The next ones used the pieces my daughter painted for me.

Don't these little books look fantastic?  I love the metallic gold details.  Just gorgeous!

They were hot glued together to fit into the can.

Then they got hot glued onto the platform.  After this, they got a ribbon around the edge, and this one was done.

The next one was not quite so easy! :-D

I found some floral wire made to look like sprigs of pine and used them to create little trees.  They were positioned so that the larger ones would be behind the church, and the little one in front of it.  The stems were punched through the paper, bent and glued in place, before fitting the whole thing into the can.  It needed some time to dry before I could continue!

I just love the tiny details my daughter put on the church!

I added some fake snow to the church...

... as well as onto the trees.

The church was almost too tall to fit into it!  

Once the church was hot glued in place, I spread white glue around the platform and added more fake snow.  A rather messy job! :-D  Once that was done, instead of a ribbon around the edge, I added more of the decorative floral wire that I used to make the trees.

In one of the cans that did not get a backing or platform, I glued fake snow to the back and a bit on the sides, then added moss as a nest on the bottom.  One bird was glued in place, then the ribbon added before the second was glued in place.  Another quick and easy one!

The last one with a platform ended up taking a couple of days, to allow glue to dry.  I used the same floral wire the trees were made of, to make a tiny wreath.

I had decorative gems that were way too big, but my daughter happened to have these absolutely miniscule ones!  

I could not have done this without craft tweezers, and even then some of those gems were so small, I could barely handle them!

The rest was much, much easier!  

For the last can, I added some fake snow on the background.  I then had to drill a hole, so I went ahead and did all of them.

Where the holes for the hangers were drilled was determined by where things were inside, and their weights.  I used a carving bit on my Dremel to make the holes, as that was the only thing that worked.  The curved metal was a bit of a challenge to work on!

The third hole in the one can was to hang bells inside.

I used more of the decorative floral wire to create a loop to hold the bells on the inside, pulling it tight before bending it at the top to hold it in place.

I'd added fake snow to the bells before hanging them, then more fake snow was added to the bottom and a bit up the sides after the bells were in place.

I selected an extra wide ribbon to go around the can, so it would also serve to hold the wire in place.

The final touch was to thread the hanging cords through the holes. With some of them, I had to use craft tweezers to manipulate the cords inside the cans.  The church one had very little room to work in! :-D

Here they are, all done and ready for hanging!

I am very happy with how these turned out.  

I just had to take a flash picture to show how shiny they are!  I think the gold details on the books are my favourite.  

These are too big to fit on our Christmas tree.  With so many cats in the house, we have a smaller tree hanging against a wall, out of their reach, so these are now hanging with some lights and garlands we have hanging near the ceiling between our living and dining rooms.

These were a lot of fun to make!

Wood slice Christmas ornaments: complete!

Here are the finished wood sliced ornaments.

I decided to keep it simple, and just used hemp cord through 7/16" screw eyes.

I think they look just dandy in the tree. :-)

Wood slice Christmas decorations

Since moving back to the family farm, I haven't been able to do a lot of crafting.  I have, however, been finding all sorts of potential crafting materials!

Years ago, I had to drop what had been an annual Christmas tradition: hand making ornaments, for our tree and for gift giving.

This year, I've finally started this up again, collaborating with one of my daughters.

I've been pruning a lot of trees over the past two summers, plus cleaning up storm damage and taking out dead and dying trees.  Some of this, I've been setting aside specifically to use as crafting material in the future.

The wood slices I am using for these ornaments are from crab apple tree branches I pruned last year.  I cut some fairly thick discs and, little by little, sanded some of them smooth.  Since this is an experiment, for the most part, I started with only 4 slices.

I penciled in some sketches, in some places using the colours and shapes that were already in the wood in planning the designs.

I broke out my wood burning tools for the first time in ages.

Since I was out of practice, I started with the simplest design - the snowflake - and worked my way through.  I used the same wedge shaped tip for all of this, though I really should have changed tips for things like shading.  I wasn't too worried about the detail, though, because after the designs were burned in, I passed them on to my daughter to paint.  She questioned me on what I had in mind, which was mostly just using white to highlight details, but mostly, I just left it to her.

This is the result!

I love her use of the gold!

Once the paint was dry, I screwed in tiny eyelets.  At this point, we could just add wire hangers that we already have and call them done, or I might string on hanging cords and add other small decorative elements.

If it works out, I've got a whole bunch of apple wood slices just waiting to be sanded, to make more. :-)

Happy crafting!