A lot of cereal

A month has slipped by in sweet summer time...it's like no other time in the year!

The kids go back to school on September 1st and my son is getting ready for the big transition to 'Secondaire'.  Here is Quebec, there is no middle school, just 5 years of high school with the big kids.  It feels ( to a mother, at least) like a lot for a boy who just turned 12 yesterday!   He is going to the same school as his older sister ( a very good thing, as they are close and she is sensible without being smothering) and it is an excellent International Baccalaureat program.   We'll just see how it goes.  None of his friends from elementary school are going to this program, so it will be a chance to re-invent himself.  Haven't you ever wished for that chance?

To ease myself back into work-autumn-blogging and the rest, I made this funny little tutorial about the way I wrap and ship things.  But what it really highlights is the incredible amount of boxed cereal that we eat in my family.  Of course, if my Etsy shop were booming, I'd soon be through all these boxes I've stockpiled and then I would have to beg my neighbours to save boxes for me or scout through their big blue recycling boxes at the curb before pick-up day.   Really, I need to stop - I'm enough of a scrounger as it is!  ( For the life of me, I can't pass up a discarded bookshelf at the side of the road...can you?)

Here are the basic tools that I use to make my shipping envelopes.  Unless I'm shipping large round beads, most of my work gets shipped this way:  this is to keep shipping costs down so that the envelope can pass through the aptly named Canada Post 'Slot of Doom'.  ( The package can be no deeper than 20 mm, or 13/16 inches)  This way of creating an envelope creates a rigid springy package that is fairly flat and can withstand a fair amount of handling.  I've had one breakage only since I started wrapping this way and that was a bead with projections...so therefore, understandably fragile!

I do this as each box empties as part of my morning clean-up routine...

Open up the cereal box

 Then, flip it over and on the centre back panel, make a score line with a bluntish knife (or with a bone folder tool).  It's really important that it not be in the centre, but to one side or the other.  This is to make the final fold want to sit to one side or the other.  I often just eyeball it because I can't find my ruler...note close-up of score on the printed side of the box.

Flip over and fold nicely with your bone folder (or the soft edge of your knife...)

Now, fold the fold over to the side that it naturally wants to be (because it is off-centre) .

Then tape it down and cut off the bitty ends that stick out. (this instruction is pictured below) Also, cut along the seam edge of the box through both layers on the edge opposite the fold you've just completed using the existing box fold/edge as a guide.  Now the envelope is nearly done and just requires a couple of folds to finish.

Then swing it around and on the open side make two score lines on the shiny side of the edge opposite the first taped double fold - again, one larger than the other!  FOLD....

Over lap and tape securely

Voila - the completed envelope!

For small orders I cut this in half and get two shipping envelopes from one cereal box.

I use origami 'star' envelopes for my inner package.  The folded paper (from whatever cardstock I can buy inexpensively) provides extra padding and rigidity.  Stuff that you are shipping should not be able to move about within the package if it is fragile.  I just really like the way these look, and they seem to give me some kind of mental tidiness around completing an order.  ( In complete contrast to the chaos from which it came, I might add.)  This system evolved over time and now I have all the components prepared ahead of actual shipping days which really helps me.


The next grid shows the origami package being filled.

Closing it up - they are surprisingly rigid!

Yup, it fits!

The final flourish of linen thread (collected over the course of my very pack-rat life)....

Done and shipped.  It probably seems a little weird since you can buy padded mailers for a song these days, but I haven't had great results with them as the Canada Post restrictions make them too bulky.  Besides, have you ever noticed how much cardboard there is all around?  Love cardboard, so useful....plus, as I said, we eat a lot of cereal around here....

Check back for news about the Bead Soup Blog Party and an introduction to my partner!  As you can see, I am starting to change my blog template and am resting with a neutral background until I decide what to do.

A quick word

Summer is upon us and while I love it all, it's not conducive to all out working time for me.  Or any working time, really.  Lots of bike riding in the Gatineau hills (small mountains to my out of shape physique, but I'm slowly improving....) and swimming with the kids.  We aren't planning any major trips, just hanging out and enjoying each others company.  I should just learn to let go and not worry. 

Thank you for the lovely responses to my last post.  I will be working on the tutorials for the next while and I will post here when they are ready for purchase in my shop!  A worthy summer project....

And also in my last post, I said I would return with a finished bead to show you - it hasn't changed that much - but has been darkened and enhanced with different colours in certain areas.

The unfinished bead:

The finished bead:

As a final note, I just wanted to show you a picture of something someone made with one of my beads.  Someone I admire very much....a glass artist with huge talent!  I'm sure you all know Lori Lochner, but if you don't, you should go and look at her work.  Here are a few samples:

She sent me a picture of a little talisman she made using one of my beads.  She combined it with a most wonderful electroformed glass pod.  I do love it when people send me pictures of what they've done with something I've made because it enlarges my view of the possibilities.  Shakes off the tunnel vision, so refreshing!  Thanks, Lori....

 Go forth and summer....can I make that a verb?

Frustration and release ( in tutorial form...)

This postal strike we're having here in Canada has made me feel cut off at the knees:  can't go forward, can't ship to people who've purchased from my shop and who are waiting patiently (they can all expect an extra something when they do get their orders..), can't get supplies.  Obviously, for large companies this is not a problem, except as an extra temporary expense for shipping, but 17 -23$ to ship small items (under 12$) is just not realistic for me or my customers.  The back to work legislation was introduced into the House of Commons on Monday, but may not make it through to law before the summer recess starts tomorrow!  Honestly, I would expect my elected members to stay and finish the job before they leave for their ridings for the summer, if that is the course to which our new majority Conservative government is committed!  My shop is now closed until this is resolved and I will be putting my efforts into new work and finishing up a heap of half-done stuff.  Trying very hard not to let this sap my forward momentum.

In a effort to distract myself, I have thought up a little tutorial to (hopefully) amuse you.  If you have read any of my posts, you will know that I have an obsession with hollow beads.  I am putting together a tutorial for purchase to demonstrate my way of making hollow beads, but another quick and simple way occurred to me for making hollow beads while I recently made some of my new 'Strata' beads.  I'm sure this has been done a million times elsewhere, but here is my take on it.

Before I start - another reason to make these beads hollow is that it is then easier to manipulate them into shapes a little different from the cutter shapes.  I highly recommend making your own cutters, see tutorial here by Daniel Torres (thanks, Daniel):
Cutter tutorial

Start with well conditioned clay - this is that dreaded of all white clay, the cheap original Sculpey in a box.  I often use it for prototypes, because if I can make something in that clay, I can make it in any of the better clays (and it will be stronger..).  Pick  two cutters that have the same profile, but one smaller than the other.  I chose Kemper circles but it could be any shape.

Roll clay into thin sheets (or your preference for thickness) .  Cut the larger circles - I find cutting on a dedicated silicone baking mat gives much cleaner cuts.

Start stacking up the circles till you have almost the thickness you want.  DO NOT stack evenly, you want the strata to be visible and interesting.

Compress your layers, but do not fiddle with the strata or smooth them in any way.

Line up the smaller cutter on the stack and take some care to try to get an even wall thickness.  Cut through all layers and remove the plug.  This will make your bead amazingly lightweight, especially if the smaller cutter is just a bit smaller.

You can see that the outside layers are still there in the above picture.

Next choose your top and bottom.  For this demo, I am cutting out of a piece of new crackle sheet that I made today.  It has a bit of cornstarch on it, so it looks a little dim...

Cut top piece and attach to a blank circle so that your top (and bottom ) are double thickness.  A single sheet is too flimsy to function well as a top.   Attach and compress slightly and integrate the top into the layers.

Flip over.

Attach the bottom and integrate. Add points of texture interest on the layers if you like - tweak the whole thing, make it a little off round if you like.  Push back an errant layer that looks like it got out of control - just look and see if it is how you like it!  Make a hole and inflate slightly if you'd like your piece a little domed.

Make holes and bake.

Then comes the painting.  I'm not going to go into detail because I'm doing a tutorial on surface finishes as well, but I'll briefly show another bead being finished.

This group of photos shows the raw ugly bead (square with layers), then the raw ugly bead being fearlessly covered with black paint, then navy paint, then the gradual removal of those layers and slight addtions of other colours to enhance the design.  Finally, it is waxed and polished.  A large round bead that I made earlier is beside it.

Here are the two cutters I made and used to make the big bead in the picture.

I don't have any more time to post more today, but will come back on Monday to show the crackle topped bead finished and a textured surface variant which is altered after assembly.

The possibilites for using cutters are endless so I hope this mini-tutorial gets you interested.  If you are not interested in making your own, Clay Factory Inc. has a great deal on the entire set of Kemper cutters.

See you Monday and hope the postal strike is resolved!  Wow, that was fun, must do it more often - the tutorial, I mean, not the rant!