The Art Alchemist's Guild

Sometimes my felting projects don't work out, so I sew these little dudes out of the felt and fill them with dried herbs. They smell better than they look.

Pysanky are Ukrainian dyed eggs that use layers of die over wax to resist and preserve previous layers of colour, similar to batik dyed cloth.

This is how I made easter eggs as a kid.

Sometimes my felting projects don't turn out, so I turn them into little mans.

All my handles are just leather wrapped around the metal. I wish I hade a drill press and a band saw so I could try this.

Just playing around with some pre-reduced indigo to dye some muslin fabric and wool yarn. If I'd followed instructions I would have use thin cotton fabric and soaked the fabric a couple of hours before hand for a more uniform result.

Just playing around with some pre-reduced indigo to dye some muslin fabric and wool yarn. If I'd followed instructions I would have use thin cotton fabric and soaked the fabric in water for a couple of hours before dyeing, for a more uniform result.

Edit: I should mention, Shibori is an age-old Japanese method of binding and stitching fabric to create beautiful, intricate patterns. As you can see, my method was neither beautiful nor uniform, as I just saw a reel on instagram and was like "yeah i can do that" and made many mistakes. If I can find any good sources for Shibori stitch patterns I'll share them here, but most of them seem to be behind a pay wall

I hope I didn't post this before, I've been posting a lot of hats lately.

I just bought my very first gold pan after learning how to do this a few years ago. I helped a friend fo through a pile of paydirt where I got to keep all the garnets I found, saving them for a later project that will happen... eventually.

There are few things more satisfying than finding your own gemstones in a pile of mud.

I used a pattern from the local makerspace and sewed it all by hand from an old curtain. There's a wire in the brim for support.

Every year I look for oak galls but haven't found any.

Time to get a welder.

Why Kites Are Awesome

Kites are amazing. Flying a kite isn’t just about watching it soar — it’s about feeling the tug of the wind and being part of the magic.

Kites might seem simple, but they’re full of surprises. They teach us about science, aerodynamics, and even ecology, all while improving coordination and motor skills. Kites also open doors to creativity and learning. Did you know the Wright brothers used kites to help invent airplanes? Or that parachutes and hang gliders were inspired by them?

Don't know if cool or crap. Either way, I made a thing.

To make this I wet-felted wool, cheesecloth and burlap over a flat form, cut it open, then rinsed and let dry over a piece of hard plastic rolled into a cone.

I did something like this with a community garden, except we shoved the ends of the willow into the ground so they would root and grow into a living fence.

This is japanese indigo which is supposed to be easier to grow compared to other varieties, and most of the seeds sprouted easily, I have six plants going so far.

I'll have to wait until the fall to see if it dyes anything.

Behind it is a madder and beside is wormwood.

I lost my mind the first time I tried making these.

Well, wool and some cotton thread. I just learned about the french knot, so I had to use it.

I've yet to try this since the leaf buds are barely awake where I live. I'm looking forward to it this summer.

Been watching this guy's videos about mixing Portland cement and then using it to paper mache polypropylene fabric into shapes. The interesting shape for me being planter pots.

So I purchased a roll of the fabric from Amazon and will be trying it out sometime this week.

I finished my old bedframe like this, but we used a ethylene torch on it directly. Lots of fun!

I cheated at making "seaglass" with my rock tumbler. Since I enjoy the soldering of stained glass more than cutting and shaping, I put my pieces together in random order so I can have more colourful sun beams.

I already made lots of these this spring, though I favor the circle over the heart.

Remember, red dogwood likes low, moist areas out of full sun. Check by creeks and swamps.