Sculpting 'Miss Fitt' China Plates In Hurricane Lanterns

Brigham Young said "use it up, wear it out, make due or do without". For me it was easy to embrace the first two parts...but the 'do without' part...well I confess deep down inside I am thinking really..., is that necessary? Let me find a way. So, maybe finding a way is a form of using it up, making do. By that I'm not really having to due without. It has been said that 'necessity is the mother of invention'. Therefore, maybe while in the act of 'using it up and wearing it out' we are actually in the act of inventing or creating something?

So here is my latest 'use it up, wear it out' creative invention.

Yup,that's right, stacked, cast off, miss matched china plates and undesirable cast off glass pieces, in a super sized @ikeahurricanelantern. (Did I ever mention to you that my maiden name is 'Miss Fitt'?) So... maybe it's that I really have a soft spot for things that don't fit in. (And did I ever mention to you that I have really BIG curly red hair?) I think my hair was bigger than my body growing up...yeah...insight to my inner psychic...

 

 Here's more, stacking plates in an artistic fashion is not for the unenthusiastic artist, designer, merchandiser, or attemptee. One must approach this with sculpting in mind, which could take hours. Oh... I've lost you now...Seriously, I think this project took me four hours or more to get the edges 'right' which is a relative term. And further examines my inner psychic.

 

 

The time was split for me between mocking it up outside the lantern then placing them inside...and occasionally pausing for a snicky snack and to cool the jets!

 

 

Key to my vision of this leaning tower of porcelain was interesting scallops and edges along with creating or fashioning recesses that graded in and out with smooth and fluid transitions from plate to plate.

 

 

My daughter featured 'A Little Homevestures Christmas Inspiration' on @justdawnelle.blogspot.com there you can view more photos of my home this year.

 

 

We entertained for a group of friends and added a short hurricane lantern to this scape and incorporated candlelight on the stacked towers of plates. It was stunning! 

 

Merry Christmas!

I look forward to sharing more of my ideas and inspiration this coming year!!!!

See you soon!

 

Vicki

 

 

 

 

"Road Kill"

Ok! I'm about to share, no... let me say... GIVE AWAY!, one of my biggest $$$$$$$$ making ideas EVER!
 When we lived in Louisiana road kill was very different than here in New Jersey.  It was weird, dead  armadillos all over.

I'll never forget coming home from a vacation one day and finding a similar sight in the center of my front yard...I wondered... "how the heck did that get there"?  It's funny how armadillos decompose...everything goes but that hard shell.  So... I was left with this kind of bowl in my front yard.  That's right, no one got it...we just watched it day after day slowly disappear.  I remember the kids used to mow around it.



Oh please don't go!  The best is yet to come...!

Here in New Jersey it's "BANK"!
 
deer fox

  

raccoon rabbit

 

opossum beaver

 squirrel
 
snake Ssssss

birds & fowl fowl

Unfortunately skunk, cats and dogs.  Sorry if I hit a sensitive cord with the last two.

Now if you commute to work you will probably notice new road kill each day or so.
So what if  "WE" (any takers, investors) set up a company that dealt directly with this lucrative business of dealing in furs and skins...we could start something very different and profitable.

The nice part about this is that you have all the animal protection agencies off your back.

And all of a sudden your a "HERO" because you picked up a huge deer in some one's front yard. 
Now deer skin is very valuable...the Indians used it for shoes, clothes, blankets, tents, etc... because it was so durable, soft, and waterproof. Here you can see this Indian used very "little" deer skin.


Strangely enough I have a couple of guys that will do the pick up... What's worse is your probably thinking how strange I am...but the truth is I've worked for some very high end fur and leather companies and was involved in custom work.  In fact I sized Sammy Davis Jr up for a pair of leather pants.  Also, I had years of experience selling "Gucci" handbags, luggage and ready to wear. It's amazing what a snake, leather bag can go for...

STRANGE

The way I see it working is we build a team of who wants to pick up, who wants to skin, dispose, truck, dispatch, design, market, build social networking and who wants to INVEST?

Then we tell our customers how they can earn a few extra buck just by driving to work.  Having the newest iphone 4S would be the best because the commuter dictates into the phone the animal and location. Then sends the message to us and we send a message back stating the pricing of the animal based on its condition and freshness.  Winter by the way is going to be better. We send out a pick up team, which will be divided by the area geographically day by day and they will pick up.  We then take it to our taxidermy's and begin collecting pelts.

Now... if we want to expand the business the further north we go the better fur we get.  Coyote, bear, moose, fox... Its such a nice way to clean up the environment and make "Bank"!


Here are a few interiors and apparel lines using fur, which by the way is so opulent....

fur



feathers





interior

fur used in interiors

I know some might think "ewe gross"!  But remember necessity it the mother of invention and why let a great opportunity "pass" you by!



Music while posting "Fire On The Mountain" The Greatful Dead

Keep on loving me...Vicki ;)

Pallets on Stecher's

Why hello! It has been awhile... we're over on Stecher's Country Store's blog today posting about one of our new favorite construction materials... pallets and some of the super amazing things we've been doing with them!! Come over and check us out!

Small and Simple Things

Sandhi Schimmel won me with her mastery in mosaics. Then warmed the cockles of my heart when I discovered her medium is junk mail!

I am so inspired by people who make beautiful things from that which is ordinary, or cast off.

It brings to mind the scripture that says..."by small and simple things are great things brought to pass".     Alma 37:6

Vicki

Blowing Bubbles

I have a thing for bubbles... they are so magical and whimsical! I'll tell you a little secret actually... when I was younger I used to think that when you popped a bubble you released a fairy! So popping bubbles was one of the most important things a little girl could do... Still to this day I absolutely love them! So when my brothers were spending the day with me a while ago they kept coming to me complaining they were bored... how can two little boys be bored on a Saturday morning?! Needless to say, I decided we were going to test an idea I found, blowing bubbles with water bottles. The boys got all the empty water bottles out of my car, we cut the ends off, made some bubble mix with dish soap and water and went to town!

The boys had a blast! They were busy building bubble blowers and blowing bubbles for a few hours!! It was marvelous actually!

Dawnelle

yesterday...

Look what I got yesterday...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

vicki

'Enough For Me'

Guess what...?  I've been saving these clementine boxes TOO!  Okay, don't judge me.  But I want to trrry.... to keep a promise to you, this is it... "I promise to use whatever I save or store".  This should make Mark sooo happy...or not.  And I promise to use it even if it is a bag of peach pits.  Yes, I saved those TOO!  Are you still with me?  But you'll be happy to know that I did throw them away after about 3 or 4 years cause I couldn't figure out what to do with them.  It was one of those secrets I really didn't want anyone knowing.  Then I saw Tord Boontjes' (boon tay) cherry pit necklace and thought 'WOW!' "I should have kept those".  Especially since Boonjes' necklace is gleaning $750.

We named this basket "Enough For Me" because of the egg carton.  Which by the way I've been saving those TOO!  And if we had another two weeks till Easter I'd be showing you all the things that have been leaking out of my brain that you can make and do out of these very well design containers. Relatively speaking these cartons might be right up there with the iphone packaging, ( I understand I might have hit a nerve) but the egg carton seems to have more versatility.  And by the way, I've been saving those iphone boxes TOO!

"Enough For Me" Easter basket ends all the woe's of "he got more than me"!  I remember going to school with Dawnelle one day and was impressed with the way the teacher handled the drinking fountain with a class of 20 or more children.  Her secret was this little jingle "one, two, three, that's enough for me" and on to the next child.  It was brilliant!  I thought how simple. Everyone was satisfied and no one felt cheated that someone got a longer drink than another.  'Enough For Me' can help solve the "he got more eggs than me"!  I cut a 2 1/2 dozen carton down to 20.  It fit so nicely into the clementine box.

    

Yes, I used a old pair of ear phones for the handle on one of our baskets.

This one we used an old lanyard from a 'Fame' show. 
If you use an old lanyard cut it in half.  Then string it diagonally from corner to corner and twist it once, that way your strap will meet in the middle and stay together.

The wire works so well.  The beads were made by my children years ago out of 'Sculpty' clay. 

If your children LOVE painting and art, let them decorate the box.  This took me about 10-30 minutes depending how elaborate you get.

Drill the holes in the corner ends of the box.  Cut wire or whatever your going to use for handles and thread through the holes. We used paper with telestial images to cover our boxes. 

It looks and feels so Urban, I really love the way it turned out.  Let me know what you think.

click here to see more Tord Boontje

Happy Easter!

vicki