Starry Night

Happy Weekend to you all! No? Just me, the college student with the sweet schedule? Well, sorry, the weekend will come soon enough for the rest of you!! So yesterday on my day off (I promise, I do take 4 classes!) I spent most of the time gluing on small tumbled sea glass pieces to a 9" by 12" canvas.  I was a long process gluing piece by piece, and making sure everything was exactly where I wanted it, but finally I finished and can show you!

As most of you can guess, this is my own little version of 'Starry Night'.  What do you think?? And I promise it looks better in person when you can really see the textures!  I want to put this up on etsy.com soon, but I'm thinking about covering it in a resin first (which would create a clear, glossy finish to the piece). I'll let you know what I end up doing!


"We spend our whole lives in unconscious exercise of the art of expressing our thoughts with the help of words." -Vincent Van Gogh

(for more Van Gogh quotes, you can check out http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/quotes.html)

Felting!

So, I made myself a new backpack the other day.

Sure, it's a little too big- and pretty flimsy- now, but just you wait! I knitted this bag with about 7 balls of wool, and the yarn is doubled in a few places to try and give it a little more support. So now it's just a matter of getting it to look, and be as useful as, a backpack.  Which is where felting comes in!
This may be a bit of a challenge while at college for me, where I don't really have the convenience of a top-loading washer (not to mention one I can use for free...) or the ability to boil and put hot water into the washer when I want....

Maybe I should start with what felting is, for those that don't know.  It's when you put something made of wool into hot water and agitate it, which is best done in the washing machine.  The material then shrinks up the size of the item (in my case it's usually purses) and makes it thicker.  When I knit something and then felt it, the stitches aren't even seen in the final product.  For many people, felting is that annoying thing that happens when they accidentally put their favorite hat or sweater in the washing machine, and afterwards find it now fits better on their baby.  But for me, well, it's awesome.

It's a process that can take something and complete it by giving it the a whole new look and feel that knitting alone can't create.  And besides, my whole craft obsession was started after I felted my first purse, and then 'felt' the need to keep on experimenting... (Sorry for the awful pun, I just figured I should embrace it rather than try to find a different way to say that ;p)  Sure, I've had many problems with felting, and I have many stories if you ever need advice, but all in all it's a pretty great technique.

So, back to my current backpack and laundry room problems.  Usually I watch things that I felt all through the cycle, and actually use multiple cycles for bags sometimes.  This will be such an experiment for me, since I won't have any control over what's going on, or see it at all! I guess I'll just throw a few pairs of jeans in with it (hey, might as well get some laundry done too if I'm paying for it, right?!) and hope that nothing super crazy happens... I'm very interested to see how this will work, and I can't wait to show you all the finished piece!

I've also finished up something today that I made with sea glass. I really want to post it, but I want to  show David before the whole internet sees! I think it's pretty cool, but I'll have to see what you all think... I'll write again soon, so keep checking in ;)

Sea Glass!

Soooo, I just figured out I could title blog posts (I know, I'm dopey) so I'll have to start doing that.... Well, Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Enjoy your piles of food, funny commercials, and time with some friends and family. Oh yeah, and that football part. And for those of you who don't give a crap about it, Happy Normal Sunday, make it a relaxing one!

As my first-ever title suggests, this post will be mostly about sea glass (duh). Let's start with my attempts to drill holes in sea glass with a Dremel (hand-held drill tool). Things I learned: 1. They are a little loud and annoying to listen to, so if you're in a dorm with lots of people in rooms nearby, make sure they don't hate you 2. Water is a MUST!! -I learned this the hard way. I attached one of my new diamond drill bits into the Dremel, and started to drill, only to literally burn the tip down, as well as snap the glass in half. Continually putting water on the glass will keep it from getting too hot 3. It takes awhile. It might take a few minutes to drill through a piece, even if it's fairly thin, so don't get discouraged that it's not working. In the end, I only drilled a hole in one piece, and I still need TONS of practice, but it still felt so good to finally be successful and see all that hard work accomplish something!

Another topic I wanted to talk about is the rock tumbler I have sitting in the middle of my dorm room that's been on for the last 2 days. Surprisingly, it's not very loud! It's like a white noise machine, and with a bucket over it, it's really easy to forget it's even on. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it'll need at least a few more days, it not more, to actually make sea glass from the broken bottles I put in there.  After a day I could definitely see that the edges were not sharp anymore, but other than that the process is sure taking its sweet time! I'm hoping (if it works) to start using my own tumbled sea glass to make items, since real sea glass tends to be very expensive.

All in all, sea glass and me haven't been getting along too well lately. But don't worry, I'm confident that'll change soon. I have some ideas in the works, and I'll be sure to share once it's done! Next post I'll be talking about felting (very exciting!) so make sure to check back in soon :)

Well, I promised another blog post today, so here I am at 11:55 pm starting it (and even though I won't finish by midnight, it totally counts).  I had one of those really productive days of actually going to class, getting some school work done, and doing some very necessary craft shopping at Michaels, so I'm pretty impressed with myself :) Of course, I ended up taking a long nap to ruin my day of productivity, and I just woke up!!  One thing I got today while shopping was buttons, to finish up some mittens I wanted to show you all.

 

 Ok, I know I've shown you a lot of turtle/tortoise stuff lately, so I promise my next post won't have anything to do with them, I know people love a variety! But I wanted to share these mittens, which I did create my own pattern for, and I'm thinking about putting up on Etsy to sell in the near future. I have a lot of mitten ideas (penguin, panda, sharks, etc.) that I think would look cute, so I want to start making a variety of sizes and types. Would there be any interest in something like this??

Lastly, I want to talk about a project I'm working on. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said, "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever."  As a child, he was deafened by scarlet fever, and subsequently kicked out of school because of his difficulty in the school setting. Instead, by reading books and experimenting himself, he was able to teach himself everything he needed to know to later be named a Father of Rocketry.  Though he never went to space himself, he never stopped exploring the vast beauty that is out there.  

Like Tsiolkovsky, I want to appreciate the wonders of space.  But unlike him, I will not be spending my time catching up on new physics, chemistry, and mathematics topics in the library....  Though space exploration will not be a part of my future, it would be ridiculous to ignore it's impact in all of our lives. I think it's safe to say the world has left the cradle, and knows a hell of a lot more than they did in 1857, or 1946 when this first picture of Earth from space was taken-

http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/FEATURE-FirstPhoto.html

Tsiolkovsky explored what he loved, and did it at a time in which many didn't respect deaf people. Of course, it's become something that impacts the lives of many all over the world. Now I'm not saying to go off and do something that'll impact billions of people tomorrow, but I do want to emphasize how important it is to get outta the cradle and do something you love.  I know it's hard when it feels like we don't have enough time or money (believe me, as an in debt college student, I know what that's like), but it is totally worth it. Start small. If you like to travel, maybe you can take a little road trip to a state you've never been to, then start saving up for that big trip to wherever else. 

I love to craft, and I can't imagine it never being a part of my life.  And maybe, just maybe, my passion will bring some joy to others- possibly through learning how to knit or crochet from me, or enjoying products that they've bought.  I'm inching my way out of the cradle, trying to make what I have into a real business, and contemplating the idea of really making this what I do with my life.  For now, I'll settle with just taking some time to make some new and unique items that will catch the eye of others and maybe make me a few bucks.  But who knows what's next!

Hello Everyone! Happy Thursday :)
It feels like such a long time since my last post, though I can't say I've done anything too productive since then unfortunately. One thing that I did accomplish last night (which I've been wanting to do for AWHILE) was make a key chain for my fiance, David.

 He loses his key all the time. Aaaaaaaall the time. I cannot emphasize that enough.  So I figure if there's a turtle attached to his key at all times, maybe he'll be able to find it easier. Or, even better, stop losing it in the first place! That would sure save ME a lot of time looking through pockets of clothes and messy desks...
On another note, I'm going to start taking piano lessons this weekend! I appreciate musicians so much, but it'll be a miracle if I can learn more than "twinkle twinkle little star." So wish me luck! I'm off to breakfast, but I will be posting again later today to share some of my other projects, so make sure to visit again:)

Hello All!
Other than cramming a weeks worth of reading into my Sunday night, I figured I should take some time out to write another post! I don't have too too much to say, but I do have a question for anyone who is reading this.... What is one (or more) thing you'd like to learn how to craft? Anything you can think of, because even if I don't know how to do it, I may be willing to learn! I'd love to do a tutorial sometime in the future of this blog, and want to know what would be most interesting for people :)

Welcome to TheCollegeCrafter! My name is Savannah, I'm a sophomore at Tufts University and I have my own small business, Savvy Stitches, that I'm hoping to grow throughout the next couple years while I'm in college. Before I go on anymore, I must admit- I'm not a great writer. But I'm going to try!
This blog will a way for me to post new photos and ideas about college life and crafting things, and maybe get some feedback! I'd love to hear anything you would like to share with me. I'm hoping to post at least 3 times a week, so please continue to check in and see what's going on with me in my cramped little dorm room!
I'll leave you with this cute little picture of my pet tortoise, Meh- named because he/she is the epitome of indifference, seriously.

I want to make some tortoise mittens soon, so I'll let you know how they turn out!