got time, make a hair wreath

For those of you who have never seen "the art of hair work", I'll give you a little history.In the Victorian era, mid 1800's, hair work was a ladies drawing room pastime. saved hair was intricately woven into wreaths and jewelry. Mementos of deceased loved ones as well as symbols of love and friendship. they were usually placed in shadow boxes with a picture of the deceased or loved one. i can't imagine the hours it took to make these. but, with no other form of entertainment, it definitely passed the time.i don't see many of these any more. Alot of people are grossed out by them. One guy i know compared it to saving finger nails in a box.I think they are beautiful.

"more busts"

"collection of busts"

this is my collection of female busts. it started with my largest one about 8 years ago. I've been searching ever since for new and different ones. Only vintage , no repros please. My only problem is finding a good spot for new ones. Bill keeps complaining he has no room for "HIS" stuff. poor fella.

flaming bust

Give me a mannequin and I'll cover it with something!I seal it then out side it goes, so people driving by can scratch there heads. I'd like to do a sculpture with a cement mixture of large phallic symbol, that would really get the tongues a flapping.

doll collections

I want to show some of my stash, my many collections. I love dolls. all kinds, all ages, all conditions. I want to start a collection of creepy dolls. I see alot of Really creepy ugly dolls and think if i had a collection of ugly dolls, that WOULD be mine. SO i decided to start one. I really like boy dolls and boudiour dolls. Unfortunatly i have'nt added many lately, to exspensive.I want to know what other people collect. leave a comment and let me know.

bills cave

bill's cave, what can i say. he would'nt want to know i even put these pic s up. no one sees his room. He has the coolest stuff. But, everything is on top of every thing and very dusty. He'll sit in his chair with all his stuff all around him. Arrow heads antique kids games, pin backs and old radio premeiums. Old kites, great turn of the century books and tin toys from the turn of the century. a mother lode of wonderful things BUT>>>>>What can i do. It's his room. or cave.

craft books galour

my studio?

Help, i need i bigger room. i have all my stuff crammed into this little extra bedroom, with no room to spare. but, an abundance of natural light. i can stand in the middle of the room and work on stained glass or my mosaics and turn around and work at my desk on collages. At least it not on my dining room table like alot of folks. But, it's "MY ROOM". A girl has got to have a room of her own no matter how small. Filled with my stuff, creepy, weird or stupid stuff, cool stuff, or stuff you like but, don't want others to see it.I'm a natural hoarder. but so is bill. our house doesn't have paths thru it yet. but, give it time. I will post a picture of bills room later. WOW!!! he's got me beat on disorganization skills.
I have so many books, i tend to do more looking and reading than doing sometimes.

i snuck one in

The rain just keeps coming. but, there was a break today. i rode my 20 miles today. i surveyed the farmland on my way. it's pretty well under water. the farmers were out with shovels trying to divert the water out of the fields. looks pretty hopeless. we are pretty high. i don't anticipate any flooding, although some people are getting water in there basement.

easy composting

i used to have the traditional 3 bin compost pile. adding food scrapes and leaves and grass, all that good stuff.i never could keep up with the turning and aerating. So, nothing ever happened with it. It just sat there, then the weeds would take over. A big mess. Then, i read an article about red wigglers. I ordered a couple thousand from "gardens alive".I started out with a medium size rubbermaid tub with a lid. Drill holes in the bottom and along the sides for some air circulation. shred news paper into thin strips,soak them in water and ring all the water out.About enough to half fill the tub.mix in alittle potting soil to break up the clumps of matted paper. the soil should be damp also. throw in the worms and some scrapes and your on your way. Keep adding scraps till all the paper turns to a fine dark brown compost. when you want to get the compost out, start putting all your scrapes to 1 side for a few days and all the worms will migrate to that side. scoop up all the compost from that side and replace with more shredded paper and food scraps and repeat the process on the other side. i keep it in my house and there is NO Smell at all. and very very easy. it started out slow , but, now i put something in and it's gone in acouple of days. It's incredible. when i empty it out i transfer it in to a large bin in my shed.

"my kids"

i have acouple of new pictures of my babies. they are frequently are in the sleepy mode. peanut, pickles and jimi. emmie must be upstairs in bed, under the covers. Her favorite place.

Business isn't booming

Where are all the antique stores? Where are all the small businesses. My friend Sharon of http://thefabricofsweetrepose.blogspot.com/ just put up a post about closing shop, and just do shows and flea markets.They can't keep up with the overhead. I love shopping in antique stores. buying all your stuff off eBay is fine but, you lose the thrill of the hunt, and meeting people.traveling from town to town and seeing things you wouldn't have seen other wise, eating in restaurants you wouldn't have, if you weren't searching for that prize.granny's in Iowa city is closing it's doors this month. the Iowa city antique store on Gilbert closed this winter. My Friend Mary has a bead shop in lone tree. It's a great little shop. She opened last fall with high hopes but, it doesn't look to good for her. She'll be next.I agree with sharon, buy american!!! www.howtobuyamerican.com/store support our country, boycott walmart,everything is made to be disposable. that is such bullshit. where is QUALITY!!!

riding

another beautiful day. It wanted to rain but, the sun came out. i got 24 miles in today, My incentive is my middle. i am turning 51 next month. I'm having trouble keeping the fat off, mostly around my midsection. So, i go out and hop on that bike in hopes it helps. It gets harder every year. Keeping that fat off. i don't feel 50, i do think it because i have NO KIDS. They age a person. I have never regretted that choice. Hallelujah!!!!!

smells great!

The flowers are beautiful and smell wonderful!! i love bridal wreath, iris, Oh what a treat it is. i have'nt been up to much. cleaning out my studio(if that what it is) mopping floors. the house smells like dogs. riding my bike, another 20 miles. We went to a flea market in bentonsport, iowa saturday. BAD, real bad. cold and windy and not to many people selling. We saw "iron man" the new movie out with robert downey jr. I give it a thumbs up!! i liked it alot. recommend it if you like marvel comics. next, indiana jones, i can't wait.

Down memory lane

Wow, I've really been taken down memory lane,after reading the comments I've received on "Grandma" my fortune telling machine. I loved Iowa city in the 70's. There were so many cool shops. The walmarts and big shopping malls hadn't taken hold of our country yet. Anybody with an idea and some ambition, could go out and open her own shop and make a go of it,and they did. "Red Rose Old Clothes, Ivy's, Bushnell's Turtle, (they had the best carrot cake) and how about nemo's and buc leathers. Epstein's book store and the portable buildings all lined up when the town was doing alittle rebuilding after a fire. I still have some vintage dresses i bought from red rose, beautiful vintage rayon dresses. i really hit the mother lode.
I rode a motorcycle around town back then and believe it or not i was 1 of only 3 women that had one. i rode the streets on my little honda twinstar. dressed in appropriate motorcycle attire. Halter tops and short shorts, and lace up sandals boy was i a site. My blond hair blowing in the wind. I was also the disco queen. i frequented fieldhouse and maxwells and woodfields. In my crazy clothes and danced the night away. I sure had fun!!!!!

weekend ride

Saturday i headed out north on my bike. i rode to hills, and then to Iowa city. i had head winds the whole way out. but, was blown home. It took me all afternoon. The Iowa river is way up after all the rain. There was a weekend ride with some of the ragbrai teams. it was starting in north liberty. I really wasn't in a drinking mood. Since that's usually what those rides are for. i declined. i really just needed to get some miles in,and come home and get some other stuff done. I call those group rides "day ruiners" since when i get home all i want to do is lay on the couch. All because i drank way to much. Total miles around 35.

Morels

Bill went out early this morning and filled a very large bag with mushrooms. He was so happy.What he doesn't eat he gives them to friends, i don't eat them. I'm going to try and send some to my mom, by using overnite shipping. It was a good weekend for finding them. Just the right amount of rain and warm nights.

did a little better

Today was Gorgous. I got out this morning and rode my 20 miles and hopefully will get more miles in this weekend. We are putting in a short wall to divide the yard. A fire pit is in the planning stages. We have a burning ban. We can get around that by having a fire pit. All my bank statements etc... will go in the pit. It's funny, dig a hole and border it with some stone and add some seats around it. It become a fire pit and not a burning barrel.
Every thing is growing like crazy. Unfortunately for bill so is the grass. Seems we are actually getting a spring. it has'nt gone from 30 to 40 degrees to 80 and 90's. like it has been doing. Love it!!! i also made my 1st rubarb crisp. WHAT A DELICACY OF SPRING> i can't get enough. Tomorrow I'll need to make a couple of more.

new artwork

When the weather doesn't let me out side. I'm in the house at my table conjuring up new things to paint or put together. I have so many obsessions, making art is just one of them. I started a book, where every page has a female in some form. It's my "Book Of Women". Here are 2 pages.

great new vintage floor cloth

Another fabulous linoleum floor cloth "SAVED". I thank barb from sister's in kalona for recognizing a wonderful thing when she sees it. I picked it up on Wednesday, and was alittle afraid to roll it out. i bought it without seeing what kind of shape it was in. But, voila, It's beautiful. i am very happy. These aren't to plentiful. They usually ended up in the dump. What a great idea they were. indestructible,with alot of pets, that's a plus. i now have one in most of the rooms in my house. They were real popular in the 20's and 30's.

fortune telling machine

We bought grandma from a unique store in Iowa city,Iowa called "Things Things and Things". they went out of business and she was for sale. Bill and i just had to have her. she's in perfect working order. and was made in 1927. the owner of the store bought her in new york in the sixties, (i think) She's beautiful and the ultimate antique. We are very lucky to have her.

shelly shellshock in all her glory

I finally finished Shelly. It's taken couple of months. So she will take her permanent place on my dining room table. There isn't any other available place. Now I'm on to my next big project. A large mosaic, a portrait of an Indian. It will probably take all summer.

biking

I'm just trying to keep track of my miles. Today i rode 15 miles. i got a late start. I had to take jimi and pickles in for there shots and heart worm test. Uneventful

rape in the congo

rape in the congo
Originally uploaded by picklepoo12

This collage was inspired by an HBO documentary,called Rape in the Congo.It was horrific. it made me sick to my stomach. Once again my idea we are reverting back to savages.All the women were raped and torn apart from the inside out. (literally) but, could still manage to sing. There were GOOD souls. The men on the other hand were like reptilians. they were killing and raping and torturing every thing in site. No compassion of ANY sort. They were"nt human. There were afew good men. All i wanted to do was sweep all the women to a safe place.I want to know how i can help them.