Showing posts with label recycled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycled. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

My garden in Morocco

Indoor gardening

This is a real challenge for me...my blog readers will know that I have a large garden in Ireland


Now I am living part time in Morocco and as I am staying in a Riad I decided to try making an indoor garden.
I bought two planters in the Souk, made from recycled motor tyres, and begged some soil from my landlord.


Both of them are now filled and seeds have been sown ( I probably should have waited for the new moon)


It still is chilly at night so I have been covering them with fleece....now I have to wait and see if they germinate!


I sowed some rocket in October and that seems to be doing very well...a 'creature' ate the basil plants!
And we have mint for the tea.

 
So watch this space for an update.

Friday, 10 May 2013

How I made Series: Woodland Necklace



 Woodland Necklace Series
WINTER FRUITS


 
At the beginning of last year I started experimenting to make a necklace base that was soft and pliable yet strong and wearable.
I wanted it also to be integral with the embellishments I chose.


I tried different types of crochet in different yarns from silk to hemp, ribbons and strips of fabrics.
Then quite by chance I was cutting up a T- shirt for a different project and suddenly realized this was what I was looking for as a base for my necklaces.


A cotton T- shirt cut into bias strips worked beautifully!
After a few more unsuccessful attempts I found a way to wrap the bias strips so they behaved just the way I envisaged all those months ago!
But of course that was only the beginning I had to find embellishments that fitted in with the twisted woody vine effect I had created.

I was using some little red clips to hold the vines together, my daughter on passing thought these were part of my idea. This was enough to start my mind rolling, so I worked with that colour and with the placing of the clips, and chose for my first piece miniature fruit, berries and leaves.


 

Of course like everything handmade it took hours to make but it’s relaxing, peaceful, and portable and needs very few tools.


Now I am hooked no T-shirt is safe from my scissors!




Fastening the necklace was another time consuming process but after a few trails I decided to use my own hooks made from silver plated wire, with rings; neat and effective.

Very Simple Fastening


 I will create a few more in this series and then they will be for sale in  My Etsy Shop

I would really appreciate your comments!