A Word about Wrought Iron

I've been on a wrought iron kick lately. I like the way the iron feels, weighs and looks, but I did not know anything about it.

I always thought the word "wrought" was the kind of iron, in other words, what it is composed of. Nope, it means "working" and I believe it was assigned by the Britain.

Wrought iron is no longer made commercially due in part because of the process it goes through. My understanding of it is, wrought iron needs the correct amount of carbon and oxygen to have the strength it needs to stand up for beds, handrails, shelving, etc. I'm not clear about there being too many fine Forgeries around anymore, some iron smiths left today, even horseshoes are manufactured.
There are many processes of making wrought iron through the centuries but I've chose to talk about the two most popular ones.
PUDDLING-which was the method used during the industrial revolution, it dealt with melting contained over a reverbertory furnace. The melting is stirred with rods that dissolve within the iron. This gives it the correct amount of oxygen and carbon.
OSMOND-A open hearth, narrow and deep, with charcoal fire blown with bellows. The iron drops through the blast and is lifted into the fire with rods spinning rapidly to form balls.
Today we smelt iron or steel, that's a process where it's cooled just before reaching melting temperature, cooled to form a spongy matter that is hard and able to recycle.
Both above mentioned methods are obsolete in today's market.
Out of all the steel and iron in the world, wrought iron has the least carbon, manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon. Wrought iron becomes soft and is forged easily when placed in red heat.


Truly pathetic my dog has his own bed with mats. C & G Design.

A Flower Collection

For Pink Saturday.....life's little pleasures.

Thanks, Beverly.

C&G Design.

Clothscapes, part 7-- church

I have been posting on my cloth scape's with two articles in each post, this post is different. I found this lovely needle painting in one of my craft books, it comes close to my scene with the church. Both have a foreground leading the eye back to the horizon, most everything is done in the outline stitch or tiny flat stitches, and each one has a category of vibrant colors to call their own. The above portrait is a interpreted needle painting of Van Gogh's "Apple Orchard".

My cloth scape has quite a bit of age on it. I always thought the stitcher who used the pinks and blues in the piece was actually making a statement. Could it be this is a version of a impressionist painting? I've decided it is, certainly beautiful enough to be close. The fabric isn't stamped like kits are. In fact I can not find any direction under the stitches. My book indicates needle paintings are done in silk threads and is hard to tell if this is the reality of my church scene. Maybe one day it will come forth as a painting...if it is one.

Too bad it wasn't signed. C&G Design.

G I Joe

Back to school today! And gosh! If anything reminds me how quickly kids grow, this is one of them. My son and I started this quilt when he was ohhhh, four.

It's the hero's and the enemy Cobra from GI Joe, one of his favorites. I stumbled across it in storage when I was looking for something else. Must get all my crafts out of storage!

We used fabric transfer crayons, great product! You use them by drawing on paper then iron the back of the paper while it's face down on your fabric. Obviously I had to reverse the writing otherwise it would come out backwards!

I can tell you, my son had a good deal of help, while I did the small work he colored the insignias. If you look closer you'll see.....the coloring is every which way!

Cobra icons.......

My intention (and still) is to block quilt each drawing with the camo being the sashes. Red, white and blue around the outside edge. Babe's too big for this little memory quilt. Maybe the reverse side will be a solid camo and he'll use it that way.

Wondering about the GI Joe's, bet they would do good on EBay. C&G Design.

Birthday Doll!

Love, Mom, Dad, and Brother. C&G Design.

Dustcovers

Admittedly.....I got excited about plastic, I hope it's not addictive.......I hope that feeling comes only once a decade.

In defence of myself, a single doll stand for a character 5 to 9 inches, retails for $5.99.

These are better, I consider them dust covers for my small ladies and gents. They aren't fancy glass globes, or atmospherically controlled, but works for what I need!

59 cents apiece, it's amazing what the brain does when it finds something inexpensive (cheap)! C&G Design.

Tammy

A juggernaut for Barbie, Tammy was made by Ideal Toy Corp in 1962 to 1966. In her short production she became a loved companion for boys and girls alike.

Tammy was 12'' tall, she had a sister, Pepper and a brother Pete, along with a set of parents, a boyfriend and a best friend Patti who was only 9'' tall.

Although Tammy had a teen body style that appealed to many mother who weren't enamored with Barbie's more adult curves, she never approached the sales that Barbie had. Tammy's inability to adapt by having long hair, twisting waist and lush eyelashes ended her popularity after 3+ short years. She always had painted features and rooted hair. Sold separately was a extensive wardrobe and other accessories such as my case.

No other company marketed Tammy. C&G Design.

Blue Willow

How sweet is this?! I can't stress enough how important older craft books/magazines are to me. I found this pattern in a book published in 1975, I'd looked thru the book at least three times, but this morning it opened up to the above page! I hadn't noticed it before.

How lucky am I? I know I could use the old pattern, it's the main theme in my kitchen and dining room. The above photo shows how exquisite blue on blue needlework can be.

Whether it's for painting, needle pointing or creative machine stitchery, this pattern is a true art.

This is my choice for our dishes, it's Blue Willow.

Blue Willow is a antiqued pattern originally from China but adapted to dinnerware by the market in England. Today, there are many versions of this pattern and one must look close to see what they are purchasing. My type in showing up in flea markets lately, they are made in England but are not a 70 or 100 year old set.

Enjoyed just the same. C&G Design.
(I seem to have got the hang of my pictures, they should all enlarge!)

Pink Saturday!

Today is Pink Saturday, it involves a group of bloggers who all decide to post pink on Saturdays.

My flamingos were copied from our local newspaper. One of our Christen academies has a donation project in the works, contribute a dollar for a flamingo and the students will prop all the flamingo's on the yard of your choice. The lady in the paper had the 21 flamingos show up on her yard for her 64th birthday! How nice was that!

I would like to thank Beverly for hosting Pink Saturdays.

C&G Design.

Clothscapes part6-Orange house+Small surprises

I will change my mind a ga-zillion times about a project before it's done. Then I still don't know what comes out until I get that completed feeling that calls to me to...stop. I'm so happy I finished this little dam house (pun intended). It wasn't to bad to do it just appeared it would go quick, guess there is no such thing as quickly with a needle point project.

Anyway...few more stitches to review, they can be seen closer when you enlarge the top photo.

The tree trunk is made with a chain stitch used as a fill in, very creative.

The pink outline of the porch is the brick stitch, it is what it says. A staggered stitch of the same size, placed one above another, like bricks.

I'm not too sure about the stitch used in the tree foliage, I suspect it's a filler designed to create texture.

The water is what's called long and short stitch, similar to the brick stitch except it's a random pattern of long and short. It's meant to give the object gradual dimension.

All the other stitches in this landscape picture is either the satin, seed, or french knots. One interesting note about the way the house is stitched. I'd mentioned in the flower basket about the basket weave being done in a small satin stitch, it truly is....and it's in the house. BUT, but it is called Roumania stitch. With a name like that you'd think it came from Romania, no, it falls under Oriental Laid work from China. It's a stitch used to give shading as you can see well in the roof of my house. It's loosely based on the satin stitch and it is said the New England women preferred this stitch to the long and short because you wasted nothing on the back of your work. Every stitch begins a thread over!

On to small surprises....guess I was a bit bored with this house (shocks me so!).

I picked up First Prize at the County Fair. Each one was done in a day.

Strawberries in the satin stitch.....

Peaches in the long and short stitch.......

Raspberries in french knots.......

I'm thinking I'll frame each one in fabric before stitching together. C&G Design.

Happy Birthday

Wishes for my Mother and my niece, Heather.

C&G Design.

Faces, faces, faces

For greeting the mailman, a cheery, bright, most delightful pair.

I painted this mailbox when I was laid up with a broken leg.

The trim is sponged on and the hair of Ann + Andy is single stroked, paint consisting of four mixed colors.

The first time the mailman saw it posted up and ready for use, he passed by it!

So did I and my husband......C&G Design.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock...

Such a loud clock......

I knew the Kitty has abandonment issues. C&G Design.

Lady Head

I'm excited about the current acquisition of composition dolls.

Well, she is closer.....it's just the head for now. Isn't she lovely?

I have a funny story to go with her.

Hubby and I took a trek about the State of Maine on our anniversary this year.

We stopped at a barn set off the road, he had alot of wrought iron in the yard so I thought it would be worth it.

The poor gentleman owner,....as we entered his barn, he was in the corner struggling with an all glass showcase, he couldn't hook the back on the J board he'd mounted to the wall.

He blurted, "I'll give you 15% off anything in this store if you can give me a hand" After abit of laughter, Jack of all Trades jumped in.

In time the discount price jumped to 20% if they could mount the showcase WITHOUT breaking it (wanted to keep his girlfriend happy, she would cook supper). LOL

Of course I scouted while they busied themselves! I found this darling head on a lower shelf of a display cabinet, ah....

I let hubby look around (imagine she had her hair up in a gaudy ponytail!)
What! You don't see anything you want! Say, what about miss curly Q?
Let me see if she has any marks.

Nope. I got her for a steal anyway. C&G Design.

Dollhouses

Time to do a post on my dollhouse even though I've done nothing to it since I last wrote about it.

I thought I'd show some items as they can only be photographed individually because they are so small.

Today, it's a couple of rugs.

This cute little braided rug was made by me. I found it's a great way of getting rid of all the extra hem bindings you have hanging around and it's quicker than making a real room size rug, just as nice.

The next rug is a plastic doily, what's good about it is you can weave ribbon in and out it's holes and it's temporary, easy to change with the decor of any room.
Plus, it makes a perfect pet pad. Tee hee. C&G Design