Leather-like used tea bags + a great ice-cream-related invention!

Our van is currently parked here:

Travel-related

Yes, a carnivore’s delight here on Pardoo Beef Corporation’s station stay!  They specialise in growing wagyu beef, the cattle having about 200,000 hectares to run around on.  There’s also unlimited fishing and crabbing just a few kms away on the coast – or, if you’re like me and have no inclination to fish – you can watch the potty calves have their twice daily feeding, where patting and letting them suck your fingers is encouraged!

If you are planning on visiting any part of Australia, here is a great travel blog.  It’s far more informative, great pics, not too much text – and  this couple do lots of stuff at each place they come to – than mine is.  But it won’t tell you about cool textiley stuff!

mnmtravels blog – it’s well worth a read.  Even if textiles are never mentioned ..

On a completely different tangent ..

Mr Whippy: I’ve not had one of these soft serve choc dipped wonders served out the side of their van for many, many years.  And probably won’t for another long while.  However, instead of their clangy music speakers being stuck in the 1950s (I am SO over hearing a tinny ‘Greensleeves’ being belted out…), I discovered the individual ice cream drip tray:

Device to hold cone whilst catching melting ice cream drips before the flies/dad/mum/child can lick them up. No more sticky wrists and arms – yeah!

Here’s another blog goody – entertainingly written and often fibre related (yay!):

Weirdweekends blog

A book that I am seriously considering buying .. an information pill to become a super fantastic chef.  Apparently most chefing knowledge comes down to just 4 things: salt, fat, acid and heat.  I reckon I could be pretty smart – pretty soon.  Well, as soon as I get around to getting this book ..

Salt-Fat-Acid-Heat by Samin-Nosrat

Craft-related

Aaaahh, yeeessss, you were probably wondering:  hhmmm, how can I turn my used tea bags into a leather-looking item?  Well, I have the answer.  It may have taken me 5 months and many attempts, but here’s how you can do it without the learning curve 😉

Jumble of haphazardly placed tea bags on top of fusible interfacing.  Best if pre-ironed, unlike the above ..

Iron protection! .. a layer of baking paper over the tea bags which are laying atop fusible interfacing

Should look something like this

Add another layer of tea bags over the top of the previous tea bag layer if you want – using a layer of cling wrap in-between as the glue – before ironing again.  Magically, when ironed, cling wrap doesn’t adhere to linen or silk (ie my backing cloth shown here)

Using non-woven stabiliser behind the fused interfacing, sew a grid (or free machine) all over your project (best if space between stitching is no greater than 10mm)

Decorate the front – if you choose …

Once you’ve finished decorating, seal with 2 layers of neutral shoe polish.  Just add flaps to hold the book in place

And you’ll end up with something like this.

Inside front flap of completed cover to my cook book

Cook book front.  Finito – woo hooo!!  woo hoo – again!!

And just to do a bit of a pre-empt on my next random post, I’ll be doing a bit more leather work – though using the real stuff this time, with a hint of medieval armory flavour to it.  Anyone can do it – and in a confined space too!

Oh yes, so much to learn – so little space to do it in … that’s what living in a caravan does to you.  Hopefully we’ll stop searching for our ‘forever home’ and just find it very soon.  Crafting sanity may depend on it ..!!

Many best wishes on your own crafting endeavours, hopefully you can turn them out faster than me ..

Cath