so what? sew buttons

so much has been happening in such little time and it's all really alot of awesome!

for a long time, almost light years, i've been in love with tree branches.

tree tops when they're bare or not, the way it reminds me veins and how they sprout in all directions and up, i love it all.

for the last little while i had a reoccurring daydream of making buttons out of tree branches whether for brooches or scarves or maybe even a monster or two but didn't really have the tools to make that happen. 

i know, total bummer.

being in this lovely crafts and design program though, i've had the privilege to meet some really great people that are genuine and polite and total awesome weirdos.

With the help of a couple furniture design buddies, we took a stroll through a forest to pick out the branches to make my daydream come true!

after drying them out a bit, we took them to the balcony to dice up some tree branch buttons!

the air was a perfect cool chill and the sunshine was beating loudly on our faces, mine with a huge smile slapped across it even while sanding them down. 

i'm sure my heart drums could have been heard by earthworm kings in their underground homes.

I watched in total awe when the holes were drilled in, making them officially tree branch buttons. by this point i could have floated right off the balcony in happiness, especially when the bark more or less stayed on and none had cracked like we feared they may have with the holes being made.

these will be used in the (sadly) few scarves that will be up for sale very shortly in my shop!

i've been wanting to spit up some more work for the new listings to be a decent sized batch but it's tough with everything that goes into school and the workload, but i'm making do as best i can.

the textile studio has scored far too many points with my funny heart so when i heard that the studio was going to have a sale in the Workroom in Toronto to raise money for the third years, i of course wanted to help out.

once again i looked like a wacko and picked out about ten rocks, put them in a bag and brought them home. I gave them a wash and started to cozy them up like i did with the first batch i did to leave by the crafts studios. 

i hadn't thought of it before really but these things can be pretty useful. 

door stop, book end, paper weight or even just a pretty thing on your shelf.

i didn't have time to really make anything or find anything to display them in but the ladies in third year did a great job showcasing these heavy gems and i thank them very much for that!

and a thanks to ladyface Rosalyn for taking the pics!

there will be another studio sale come the 5th of December but this time at the school and hopefully will find the time to cozy up a few more rocks for that too :)

new faces with tools aren't the only great things about being in this program but the many chances for collaborations! those are fun and neat.

a third year glass student, Tommy Cudmore, makes all sized hand blown glass penguins with bug eyes and had asked me to make a sweater for one that is currently on display at school gallery!

the color of this one penguin is a great and flecky looking pink with black. i really like colors that don't exactly go together but at the same time do, so i went with a soft green color with a bit of grey detail in a neck pattern with three perfectly matching grey buttons down the front, made to be able to take it off if you wanted.   

i haven't gotten a chance to snag a picture of it but now that it's on display, i will be posting one up when i get the chance.

so with all this and school work that doesn't seem to be getting any lighter till xmas break (which is actually kind of still awesome), it has left me with not a lot of time to actually sit down and work on some shop stuff, le buu. 

eep! and xmas is just around the bend.

i may be giving myself  a harder time about getting enough stuff to post than i should but that's how i roll...i guess.

there is a little light though at the end of the beat-myself-up tunnel though: we started a knitting club, delightfully named the Knitty Gritty!

a first year furniture ladyface by the name of Betty has been asked by a couple of people to teach them how to knit and since she has been for a few years now, she was all for starting up a club. 

with a growing reputation of having a yarn addiction, one of her studiomates stopped her and said "you have to talk to F." haha

so i'm in charge of the crochet bit and she's in charge of the knitting bit for every degree of addictions whether it being a new and light one or an old and heavy one. this is wicked to really pencil in some time to work on some more hearts and crafts, isn't that wonderful?

internally yours,

 sister valentine