Step Forty Five: A slight obsession with snowflakes!

Dearest Sylwi

Good Grief! What a few weeks?! I have no clue where time went, but it WENT! And fast. Hopefully, I can catch up with my missed posts today... that's the plan anyway!

I've missed being here. I'm so glad you were here instead, though. I dropped in to read your posts and they cheered me up no end!

I did actually make this week's Step during the correct week, but it went so horribly wrong (ha ha! I think I say that every week!) that I didn't want to upload it. I wanted to take some time to better it and ... well, then... the week's flew past and I completely missed last week's post, so I realised, that I have to upload it ... in all of its imperfect glory! ;-)

So, here it is! Snowflakes again! I'm obsessed with them.

Somewhere on the web {which of course, I can't find now I want to give credit! I'll keep looking and add in the link, when I find it!} somebody blogged about a project they did where they cut 2 identical letters out of cardboard, stuffed in between them with paper and then covered them with papier-mâché! The result was large, solid letters that could be painted.

I thought I'd get adventurous and try the same technique with snowflakes. I had a zillion ideas buzzing around my head about how to do them and how I could paint them and even lots of different ideas for how I would use them... garlands for the Christmas tree or fireplace, window decorations, gift tags, hanging mobiles and so on! :-)

It all started out quite well. I cut out a typical snowflake shape from cardboard twice...

... and glued on little rolled up pieces of tissue paper for the stuffing.

I then glued on the second piece of cardboard and was ready to begin with the papier-mâché.

... which is (a) where it all began to go wrong and (b) where I forgot (in my panic) to take any pictures of the unfolding disaster! heeeee! ;-)

I quickly realised my snowflake was far too small for wrapping wet, gluey newspaper around! It would have been much easier to wrap a larger snowflake. It was very fiddly and quickly became a bit too wet and mushy!

I'm sure if I had more patience, or skill (this is my first time with the papier-mâché technique) that I could have made this work, but I was really beginning to get quite annoyed! Not least, because it was all taking so long. I'd forgotten that each layer needs to dry before you can apply the next.

I didn't get around to painting or collaging it - apart from a quick, messy coat of white. And so, this is where my snowflake adventure ended. A hugely time-consuming project for... well... a bit of a disappointing result. However, I did learn infinite amounts about papier-mâché and its (or should I say, "my") limitations...

... and despite the mess, I did actually really enjoy the project, for the most part! Although, I think I'll stick to buying my Christmas decorations in future! ha ha! :-)


Lots of love
Fi
xx

Step Forty Four: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Dearest Sylwi

Ever since I saw your Step Six on creating stamps, I've wanted to have a go myself!

Last week, I ordered the rubber stamp material and a carving tool and was thrilled when it arrived in time for this week's Step!

Inspiration for my stamps this week, came from the extraordinary website of Wilson A. Bentley, Snowflake Bentley, in the shape of images like these...

By adapting his camera to work with a microscope, back in 1885, Wilson Bentley became the first person to photograph a snowflake.

He went on to take more than 5,000 photos of snowflakes during his life, forming a collection of exquisite images, all of them different. It's really an extraordinary collection!

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

~ Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, 1925

First, I traced the snowflake in pencil, simplifying its shape, ready to carve...

I transferred the pencil snowflake onto the stamping mat by placing the drawing, pencil-side down and rubbing the back of the tracing paper with a ruler.

When I began carving, I realised I didn't have quite the right tools for the job. I didn't realise the cutters came in different designs! My cutter had a hook on the end and was quite large, whereas I think yours (and Gennine's) were almost like thin scoops? 

I was too far down the line to back out, though. I used the smallest blade in the pack, but it was a bit too clunky for the delicate design of the snowflake. However, I did the best I could! 

I had meant to do three, but ran out of time! :-) So, two it was...

I used the stamps to cheer up a gift tag, the outside of an envelope and also, created a liner for an envelope. 

I found fantastic instructions for envelope liners here, at Paper Source. They sell liner templates, but I just created my own.

Have you had any snow yet? None for us here, but the temperature has really dropped and is set to plummet further over the coming days, with a possibility of a dusting of snow! Yipee! 

Well, when I say "plummet", I mean we might get into single digits! Gee we might even hit zero! ha ha! 

I think "plummet" is more what it does on your side of the Atlantic! :-)

Lots and lots and lots of love

Fi

xx