My latest project is a clear polyester resin cuff. From what I’ve seen on the internet, there are available molds for resin bangles. These two molds on etsy.com are only 3/4 and 5/8 inch deep. My cuff requires at least two inches of space in order to better display a piece of lacework or crochet. The bangle mold would be too klunky at that depth.

Since there are no commercial molds available for the shape I want to make, I had to make my own mold. The mold builder I used was Castin’ Craft Liquid Latex Rubber for resin or plaster casting.

Before you can build your mold, you have to have a three dimensional model of the item you want to create. For this portion, I used Creative Paperclay. I liked that this clay was inexpensive ($4.99 for 8 oz), dries hard, and can be sanded or whittled when dry. The worst part of this clay is that as it shrinks, it dries. This can be fixed by either making your object bigger than you need, and then whittling it down, OR by my favorite property of this clay. The property is that when it gets a little wet or moist, it gets slightly pliable.

For this cuff, I needed an opening of exactly 1 3/8 inches. When the cuff dried, the opening was down to 1 inch! Luckily, I made the cuff pretty thick, so I whittled out the middle with a boxcutter. The opening was also enlarged.

After that, the sanding, and more sanding, and more sanding. Encountered another roadblock when I sanded too hard and one side broke off. It all glued back together well, built it up with a little Modgepodge, and after drying, sanded down well also.

The mold builder requires porous surfaces to be sealed before application. In some cases Modgepodge is considered a sealant, but the mold builder required an acrylic sealant.

Ok, let’s look back here and count how many nights of dry time we are up to: one for the mold, 1/2 day for glue, 1/2 day for Modgepodge, one day for the acrylic sealant.

We’re finally to the mold building portion! I used a disposable brush that comes with resin mixing cups. The brush ends up very clumpy like the old brush inside of a rubber cement tin. The mold must be built up in very thin layers.

Every layer then must be cured with dry heat, as well as left to dry for 15 minutes. Bubbles can also form, and blow up when exposed to the dry heat. I popped one of these as I began the process, and I think the hole has been covered up enough.

I started painting on the layers yesterday morning before the football game, more after the game, and a few more layers this morning. I’m glad I started taking pictures yesterday, but I wish I would have taken more earlier on. This is after about four layers:

This is after about ten layers:

Today, after the last layer cures, I’m going to remove the clay cuff and toss the mold with a little talc. Soon, I’ll have some mold release spray for the inside, and I’ll attempt to actually pour a cuff.

Aside: Most crafty folk have some sort of OCD built into them. I first realized mine peeling glue off of my fingers in 2nd grade. What is great about mold building is that the latex dries on your fingers and then peels off in gigantic chunks. I’m sure it sounds really gross to most people, but I was fascinated by it.

This picture is for fans of The Postal Service, Thomas Pynchon, and Radiohead. WASTE at the US Post Office:

We deliver underground for you! I saw this on Monday, and I’ve been inspired to create some Thomas Pynchon crafts. I haven’t even read _Gravity’s_Rainbow_ yet, but that is next on the list.

Yet another thing that is uniquely southern. The box on the top is “waxed paper” from the fine Iowa grocers: Hy-Vee. The bottom is “wax paper” from Kroger.

Can we get an English teacher in here to make a ruling?

In other news, I have a new cousin! Cora Flanagan Dunekacke was born last night. This is the cousin for which the granny block blankie was made.

The final bit of good news is that the Nebraska vs Virginia Tech football game will be televised nationally on regular TV in a few minutes. If you’re a Cornhusker fan, make sure to check out the Cornhusker necklace in my shop.

Drilled a bunch of holes yesterday, the new pendants will be up shortly. I busted one of my pendants. The top of this circular one is beveled. The drill may have slipped a little, or maybe it was just too thin to drill.

I showed it to Ty, he had some ideas. So after sanding and drilling two more holes, we have something nice like this:

…and I’m keeping it!

Yesterday I spent a lot of time gluing a piece of silver hardware, called a bail, on the back of the new pendants. Some of the pieces have a large amount of clear resin between the crocheted doily and the outer rim of the pendant. In this case, if the bail is glued to the pendant, the bail will show.

A new technique is in order. A drilled hole with some string or yarn drawn through it would help to finish the piece properly. There is little on the internet about drill bits and resin. I’m here to verify that wood bits work. This test piece is on a scrap square, with a 3/32 inch hole.

Also got some tatting done. Just learned how to read a pattern with knots, picots, circles/rounds, and joins. Can you believe how tiny this is?

It also appears the macro setting on the compact camera is much better than on the DSLR.

September 25, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Staples Auditorium
David Henry Hwang: Keynote Lecture

David Henry Hwang will open this year’s programs with a discussion of the global influence of Asian literature and language. A highly acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and librettist, Hwang is best known for M. Butterfly, which ran for two years on Broadway, won a Tony Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In a style wholly his own, his numerous works explore the complexities of merging Eastern and Western cultures in contemporary America. Hwang’s visit is co-sponsored by the English Department’s Robert Drake lectureship fund.

Wow, no USA encoded DVDs of M Butterfly on Amazon! I’m looking forward to this lecture. We watched the movie starring Jeremy Irons a few months ago. He’s always been a sort of creepy actor, but even more so since I started listening to Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Tyrone is going to have a full day tomorrow. Both of his classes are getting a special lecture. We’re excited to have this great screenplay author here in Conway.

Every Christmas, it seems like my mother makes bouquets of greenery for half of the county. When I was younger I was put to task, putting Styrofoam berries on floral picks, cutting out Oasis foam for the bowls, tying bows off with wire and needle nose pliers.

I had no idea that training would help me for my latest mad scientist experiment. In craft stores, there are entire rows of merchandise dedicated to beading, bead-making, and different types of hardware to string together and finish off all sorts of jewels and baubles. Yesterday I bought the tools to help me do this.

My new favorite thing is the crimp bead. It holds loops in place on ribbon, leather, or nylon necklaces, allowing for one to attach clasps. My new least favorite thing is the jump circle, or jump ring. It is a ring with an opening so it can be attached to a chain or a band. I have squashed quite a few in the past 24 hours.

Added a few pendants to the store today. USPS has been sitting on my hardware in Little Rock and there is nothing I can do. If that gets in soon, I’ll have more in tomorrow. Here is a preview:

Last Friday night we headed out to the Faulkner County fair with our neighbor Sujith. None of these pictures need captions, except for the “WTH?” on the equal opportunity belt buckles showing the Mexican flag and the Confederate flag (complete with a “13″ and skull and crossbones?). ROCK ON for the Slayer ones.

It was a good night for corn dogs and soft pretzels. We talked to a family that raised lambs from Wooster. A band decked out in gold colors played country and rock hits from the 50s, and of course “Sweet Home Alabama”. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it seems in some ways Arkansas is the red headed step child of the south. It has the Mississippi, but only half of it. There are no songs about it like Alabama, Georgia, or Louisiana. There aren’t very many blue smoky hills or green pastures of grazing horses like Kentucky, Tennessee, or the Carolinas. Then there is the Texas envy, which probably has something to do with football, but I suspect it goes much deeper. I’m not even sure if Texas is technically the south, or if it is just Texas.

I believe it is for this reason that the crowd at the fair enjoyed the southern rock hits. Being from Nebraska, I know we don’t embrace the Wizard of Oz, or that Iowa band Slipknot. We don’t try to claim the Black Hills of South Dakota, or anything about Wyoming (except water of course). If there is an Arkansas song I’m missing, please let me know. You’d think there would be one since Johnny Cash is from Arkansas.

I thought I would get more jewelry into the shop before the official opening, but the US Postal Service and our non-functional doorbell disagree.

My etsy shop has some jewelry, some finished change purses, and some knitting patterns. Click on the pictures to go to the store.

Here are the featured patterns:

This knitting pattern shows you how to make a rug out of recycled T-Shirts. I used some terrible looking T-Shirts from my brother Tom. I’m amazed that they turned out to be so pretty. The funny part about this pattern is that it evokes the Denver skyline in the team colors of the Denver Broncos.

This knitting pattern is the first one I ever wrote. Yes, it is a knitty.com reject, but mostly because ponchos just aren’t as popular as they used to be in the hipster knitting crowd.

Both patterns are $4, and are in PDF format, delivered by email.
Thanks to Ty for taking the pictures!

Aargh, Between getting the my store open, volunteering, and meeting new friends, I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked before.

Shiver me timbers, I wake up on my own, sometimes BEFORE 7AM, throw on some grungy clothes, and go play with chemicals, sand paper, adhesives, drills, and other mad scientist tools. I turn on the radio, listen to the news, correspond with family and friends, and then get back to work on the fiber and the paperwork. Sometimes there is even time for a work out to get away from it all. That is when I get my best crafty ideas.

Yesterday I met a new friend, Julie for lunch at a Conway icon, Stoby’s. They have deli sandwiches, but also grilled chicken and burgers. They are well known for their meaty cheese dip. I was delighted to see summer sausage as one of the sandwich meat options.

Later that day, I met up with some friends to help register voters in downtown Conway. I liked the sound of the live band, despite the horrible public address set up. Julie and her husband Chris showed up too! I ended up chalking some sidewalks. My favorite one was “REGISTER to ROCK”. My friend David, who has a birthday today, took this picture:

Happy Birthday David! Happy Anniversary Sasha & David!
I promised I would post my National Geographic wanna-be, miracle of grasshopper life on my back deck pictures, for them, in honor of this day. Please avert your eyes if you are an underage grasshopper, or if you are offended by naked grasshoppers.

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY, MAATEES!