Silverware as an Art Form

I received an email message this morning that I had a new follower on Pinterest, which is encouraging, for as much as I like the site and have read that it is beneficial to those in retail, I admit I don't spend as much time on it as I should or would like to. There just always seems to be too much to do just to maintain the status quo of my business (like, writing a blog post more often than once a week, for example).

 Anyhow, I checked out this person's Pinterest boards and came across this delightful chandelier (yes, another chandelier, for those of you who read my test tube post).

inhabitat.com

I just enjoy how clever folks are. Don't you think it's perfect for the kitchen?

So this got me searching for similar things, as I seem  to have a bit of a weakness for the creative use of  silverware (not that I do it).

Next I found this...

shelterness.com 

...which is even more clever and probably easier to put together. Would have to use a soft-white bulb though.

Not too fond of jewelry made with silverware, but they're popular I guess, because they seem to show up everywhere. Maybe it is because they all look the same.
But when time is taken to add a little extra, this can happen. Isn't it lovely?

xeontribe.com

Then there are wind chimes, which, I think, is where my infatuation with the creative use of silverware  began.

www.learn2grow.com

I've never made one--don't know why, because I've loved wind chimes ever since I saw "Body Heat," a steamy, sultry 1981 movie starring
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt
(if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean). 

I was going to put  a video of the movie trailer here,
but it is rated "R," so I decided not to do that.
If you watch, turn up the volume:
Body Heat

songbirdblog.com

A B C ... A Button Craft

I was searching on the Internet for some odds and ends to use in a piece of jewelry I'm creating for a show at the gallery that carries some of my bracelets. It has a cat theme, so I have already found some relevant charms and buttons. Wanting some other bits to use, I thought about looking for buttons or charms with initials or letters to spell out a specific word that would be intermingled with the other stuff. Suddenly I came to this site and was fascinated by the idea of sewing initials onto nine hole buttons. 

Why, I could do that, I thought, and went over to my stash...

...only to find, yes, you guessed it, they are all either one, two, three or four hole. not a 9-hole in site. Duh!

I won't bore you with the rest of this tale, as you either have to make them with sculpey clay or purchase them from the German site. I do want to share the website, Style-Files, where I found this cute idea.

 

They actually found it via the designers on a German website ABC Button .

                 

On the spur of the moment, because I was so taken with them, I pinned the picture to my Brilliant Buttons board on Pinterest. Several minutes later, over fifty people had either re-pinned it or 'liked' it! There is definitely some buttonmania going on out there!

Paper

Lately, my eyes seem to be caught  by objects, sites, DIY lessons, all with paper as the common theme.

These have been stuck in my mind for two days, ever since I saw them on a blog that I follow, A Collective Journal, who found them on another blog, A Storybook Life.

Recycled Newspaper Beads

Aren't the colors wonderful?

The process sounded like fun, until I read that each one has to be sanded....

Here is a site that sells lovely decorative papers, for creating or wrapping, Papers!
 These are some of their offerings.

 Bamboo

 Map of Rome

Asian Calligraphy

Pretty cool, huh?

Speaking of cool, check these out.

 All Things Paper
 Yep, made of paper. It is a technique called quilling.
Also known as paper filigree,
quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper
that are rolled, shaped, and glued together
to create decorative designs. (Modified quote from Wikipedia)

Oh So Beautiful Paper

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper." 

Steve Martin