You need one print-out of the template in either of the two sizes (see above), a piece of string, two small brads (scrapbooking supply stores carry perfect tiny ones), scissors, glue stick. I also added two small circles out of a sturdier cardstock (instead of the paper used for the envelope itself) to make sure nothing rips where it shouldn’t. Punch a small hole in the middle of the small circles. Cut out the shape of the envelope.At the indicated little crosses punch holes with a small puncher, or use a big needle to make a hole. Fold all sides up. Insert brad on the (future) back of the envelope through one of the circles. Add glue to the long edge on the back (where the brad is not) and to the edge of the bottom small flap. Glue long edges together, brad side on top, while at the same time glueing the small bottom flap underneath the long flaps. Attach second small hole-punched circle to the closure flap with the help of the second  brad. Take a piece of string and tie one end to one of the circles. One simple knot is fine. Cut end of string. Insert note or other sweet surprise.Wind the string around both circles until all used up. Just let the end of the string hang, it won’t come undone.
Present mail to happy recipient!

Anyway, one day a boy in the second grade came to school with two versions of his own home-made “kendamas”. He took cups and small plastic balls to assemble them. Very clever. He asked, if we could make them in class and I finally found the practice golf balls that work best for this. You can, of course, use simpler balls for this project – felted balls, paper mache balls, even just bunched up aluminum foil or paper with a string attached. But here is the luxury version:

You need: small cups (5oz.), paper, practice golf balls (in sports shops, mine were $2.99 for 12 of them), string, glue stick, scissors, colored pencils, a hole puncher (optional).Make a template by cutting apart one of your (probably many) cups.
Trace this template onto a piece of paper. Draw your very own design and cut it out. Stick the made-to-measure paper with your design to the outside of another (whole) cup. Punch a hole (or use a big needle, knitting needle, skewer.. to make a hole). Cut a length of string (mine was about 20″ long) and, with the help of a crochet hook, pull it through two adjacent holes in the golf ball. Tie some knots. Tie the other end of the string to the cup and there you have it: a sweet and simple toy – all home-made!

(Thank you, Luca, for your inspiration!)

My lovely second graders came up with ideas like this: a tongue licking an ice-cream cone, a boy playing with a soccer ball, a butterfly on a flower, a dollop of cream on top of an ice-cream sundae, a mermaid on a rock…as usual they were full of ideas and wonderful enthusiasm to go with it. Oh, I will miss them over the summer…

Mask I. Rain Stick (with small bits of pre-dried clay inside). Two Exercises in Hollow Forms. Mask II. Fish (was part of an exhibition). Relief Tile (with stand).I know I am somewhat biased, but I think this is good work. He works with precision, has a vivid imagination and sound aesthetics – a winning combination.

She asked to not post any pictures of her or the participants, but I can show you what I worked on, although her teachings are less about how to produce and reproduce one item, but rather how to get to what you want to make. Very technique-driven, a lot of algebra, the perfectionism of which really appealed to me. I love working small and precise. My son rightly compared my experience to the old parable of learning how to fish rather than being given the fish. This is how I feel – the empowered felter…

We did some color grading by blending/carding it in different percentages,

laid out wool to prepare partial felts in different weights, three different weights here, four different weights here, an example of the kind of math that is required to reach your goal,based on her little bell pendantsI color-blended and laid out wool at 0.4 grams per square inch,
and arrived here together with the others (mine is the one in the middle),
another preparation using the partial felts from the beginning and 0.2 grams of wool per square inch, which turned into this little pendant (like I said, all experiments…), here we used the heavier of the partial felts to experience the effect, and all of this in a beautiful spot on the coast… it was perfectly magical!P.S. Check out Lisa’s Strongfelt page to find a workshop – if you are interested in some serious felting, it is really worth it.

The theme of the workshop? “Resist-based Pendants: hollow forms, found object inclusion and dimensional surfaces (intermediate, advanced)” – music to my ears. Can you hear it?

All the following objects are pictures taken from the book “1000 Artisan Textiles“  – not to be confused with anything I ever made, as I bow in awe of her craftmanship and artistic talent (actually any book on felting and textile arts has images of  STRONGFELT’s works in them).

Apart from the various bags and boxes (see above) I will also bring my still unfinished embroidery piece and after 6 hours of felting I will sit down in my cosy Bed & Breakfast and do some stitching. I am not quite sure how realistic this is…but, the occasions when I go away by myself for such a treat of a week-end are very rare. Very rare, indeed, and I am determined to enjoy every minute of it.

Other than that I am busy with more visitors from Germany who I want to show around hoping they’ll have an interesting stay here with us. This leaves not a lot of time for crafty things. One thing I started, though, was the April assignment for my embroidery class. This month the subject is raised stitches and three-dimensional work. First I prepared my surface by attaching felt circles, buttons, small pompoms and plastic gold coins to the pink felt square. This was all covered with a piece of silk organza and now I am busy stitching….in reality I am further than the photograph below (and in reality I have only two days left to finish!). As anticipated I thoroughly enjoy this type of work, seeing where it takes me as I go along with no fixed ideas about stitches and arrangement of stitches. All in all I will make 6 panels of the same dimensions and in the end assemble them into one wall hanging.

But let’s stay in the present moment and finish the first one first.

You need: pages from magazines (the cover works, too, but is harder to roll), a skewer, glue stick and later a piece of pretty yarn or string and some beads.

Cut the paper into strips about a half inch wide. Start rolling the paper strip around the skewer. Add a little glue after the first two or three rounds to prevent the paper from unwanted unravelling. Add glue again to the last inch or two to secure the roll. Slip bead off your skewer. Make more beads (5 or 10 or 20…you can even go double-stranded, in other words it is up to you how many beads you have the patience to make). String beads onto your piece of pretty thread, alternating with (in this case wooden) beads. You are done! Again, I love the simplicity of making something out of stuff you have lying around anyway. You can omit the wooden beads altogether, you can paint the beads or put glossy varnish on them and, depending on the paper you use, you can play around with a lot of possibilities there. Have fun experimenting!

And here is -with slight changes – the actual table at Panama Pottery’s Spring Bazaar. I was lucky, because I was able use this colorful gate to hang the bunting up, which looked great. Behind me, behind the fence in the parking lot two food trucks (all the rage here in town right now) were catering to people’s needs, you could purchase Kombucha on tap (another very popular thing here) and there were a few other vendors. The ceramic artists had openend their studios, music was good, weather and people stopping by to chat were very pleasant…

I earned a few dollars for my daughter’s class selling the soap we made with the students.

This was my view from behind my table:

The first picture was taken before the whole thing opened, but you can see in the second picture that there were not exactly streams of people passing through. I had plenty of time to sit and needle-felt when I was not talking to passers-by.

Amy, a fellow vendor and textile artist who makes and sells quirky stuffed animals liked the little landscape so much that she and I swapped some things at the end of the day. All in all I can’t say it was a financial success, but I had a really good day and enjoyed myself.