What creative projects have you been working on?

I've been converting a corner of my basement into a little all-purpose workshop. Collecting basic tools for woodworking and electronics etc.

Up to this point I never really had a dedicated space to work on projects around the house or repairs, I was always sprawled out on the floor or table or whatever so I finally committed to creating a space where I could organize those efforts. It's made doing little projects a lot more pleasant, and having a collection of basic tools has given me a sense of independence that's nice -- I'm finding I'm capable of doing more myself than maybe I thought, and my first resort now when something breaks or needs fixing isn't just to hire someone or buy a new replacement, but to see if I can do it myself.

It's weird because part of why I felt in the past that I was not capable of some things was because I had attention issues and would get scattered and demoralized, have trouble keeping everything organized and coherent. For whatever reason over the last few months those tendencies have just kind of...cleared up? I'm able to focus and stay ontop of the "big picture" a lot better which has allowed me to see things through. It feels like something in my brain clicked into place that had been misaligned, no idea what to make of it.

I've been trying some pottery-- slip casting to be specific!

Slip casting is where you make pottery by pouring slip (a diluted clay suspension) into a plaster mold. The plaster draws water away from the slip, leaving a thin layer of solid clay at the plaster surface. This is a way to make really precise shapes out of clay, and to make many replicas of an object which would be otherwise very time consuming to make by throwing the clay on a wheel. I find it totally fascinating!

I designed a mug using Fusion360 and 3D printed it. Then, I made a 3-part plaster mold. I mixed up some slip from powdered clay and figured out the right conditions for casting. The mug then dries out, is bisque-fired, is glazed, and then goes through a final firing. It was really awesome to hold the finished product in my hands and drink out of it!

I really like the design I made on my first attempt; the size is just right for drinking coffee and the handle is super comfortable in my hand. That being said, I already want to completely redesign it and try again!

After seeing the absurd markup on the simplest of wedding bands, I have been been working on casting my own in a custom 6% platinum 1% gallium sterling silver.

Just did the casting tonight but there is lots more work to do.

I finished that embroidery I've been working on for a while, that I've talked about in the last few editions of these threads! Take care of yourself

With it, I also finished my wall which @cfabbro was gracious enough to give me some pointers on! Before and after

The most important part about the wall to me is that outside of more shelf space, I also got everything properly framed so it looks way cleaner. Mostly it's hoops from China but they were 10-20 times cheaper than buying them locally 💀 Close-up of what I have on the wall now

Very happy with it overall, plus there's space for more projects to go up! Although I have currently begun working on some bookmarks on some new fabric, 18 count linen, which is more detailed but also more difficult than 18 count aida. And these will obviously not be on the wall lol, but in books! I am thinking of making a whole bunch to give to friends and family for Christmas or whatever. It's a really nice change of pace as it's just straight cross stitching which is a relief - no french knots, no backstitching, no double three quarters stitches... current progress!

That was a lot of pictures but thanks for clicking through! 😊

I'm working on a conference portfolio folder for work, I need something to carry various paper but I want something nice. I've sewn most of it, it's almost finished and then the only other thing I have to sew are plain tops for work.

I also do sublimation so I've been printing on a lot of mugs and coasters!

Two projects in progress at the moment, with too many on the back burner.

I'm working on an embroidery project, a floral wreath with the words "this took forever" lol. It's from a kit, so I don't know if that counts as particularly creative, but whatever it's what I'm doing.

Second, I've got some quilt squares I'm assembling for the quilting group at my religious institution. Eventually it will go to someone in need of comfort and warmth. My job right now is to try to make a not-terrible arrangement of semi-coordinated fabric squares into a grid and mostly line up the seams. I've never done this (quilts) before, so yay! New things!

Eminent back burner is sewing a Tshirt design that I attempted a month ago or so, and screwed up learned from in ways I'd like to implement. I've got plenty of leftover fabric, because that's also something I'm learning: I haven't trusted all the people out there who say they make shirts out of a yard of fabric or so, and overbuy. Well, now I can make this shirt twice, and fix it!

I’m into birding now and am taking pictures of the different birds I’m seeing. I’m trying my best to have the images look good, beyond just snapping them for identification and logging purposes. I got one picture this weekend that I think came out pretty nice! This is a Red Tailed Hawk that was kind enough to pose for me:

https://i.ibb.co/TmqXCgm/IMG-4458.jpg

I've been looking for hobbies to do and started doing origami the other day. Bought some paper from Daiso for $2 and so far I've just made a modular cube and a flapping crane but it's been fun. Currently working my way through a modular firework piece and it only requires 12 modules total. I've just been a bit lazy and got a bit distracted by some Lego so I've only made 3 so far. Hope to continue this through the week.

Speaking of Lego, now that I have two of the city skyline sets (SF + NY), I was thinking about mounting them to the wall. Saw that you can buy mounts on Etsy that basically snap onto the base and then let you screw that into the wall. I'm kind of tempted to buy those pre-made mounts but I think it'll be a fun challenge to make some on my own.