The DU Lounge

🚨 Looong post. Love craft, art talk!

I draw either w a black Bic pen (but not in super tight biro style], or ?Sakura thin line black markers. Sometimes a light pencil under drawing. From HS though mid 40's I used a bunch of Rapidiographs (technical pens).

I quite rarely now, but did bead stringing from my late teens through ?mid-late 30's. But it got to be too expensive w the more semi-precious stones, instead of just glass beads, brass beads.

Then - and don't remember (at least right now) how I got into working w wire in my ? esrlyish - mid 30s Inless it was my veru early 40s. Der! Most of my stuff is quite unique. At first brass, then fairly soon after sterling silver for a fairly long time. I still used some semi-precious beads, or water pearls at times but waaay less than in bead stringing. I still have some of the early charts of wire gauges, and simpler drawings of earliest ideas. Oh, for a somewhat short while at first I used anodized aluminum beads. The aluminum that ?has an electric charge run through it (possibly bathed in liquid); depending on the strength of the charge various colors happen. [It's possible someone will say I'm remembering it all wrong!] 😄 That's ok!

Unfortunately 3 major pieces; 2 fancy, complex pendants with labradorite, and one fancy bracelet with labradorite, ss bead caps, and? pearls got lost in the mid-late '00s. Maaaybe if I slowly save up I might be able at least one or two of them. Probably take a longish time.

I still.have some thick brass 10g I want to approximately remake a thick curve & circular bracelet I did ? middle '10s.

When my income went down I switched to silver plated. I still have some very thin sterling silver which I may wrap around the plated wire.

Reading, I've done all my life. Physical, and e-books since covid. Have to get back our big library for books not in e-format.

Painting will be in acrylic, as previously done .

Yarn craft I a successfully picked up later - inspired by these wonderful women sheep farmers who did the whole thingcfrom shearing to finished gorgeous single, and multi-colored yarns! I bought their multi colored yarn sampler it was sooo pretty! Also they had some finished items, and maybe kits.

They had this very fine open knitted shawl. Couldn't afford it, but they told how I could make it. It took 4 books from the library to find one who instructions, and drawings I could understand! Actually I'd tried when I was 17 with my mom, and in my 30's from instructions but didn't work out. This time was mid-late 40's.

Then early 50's I learned crochet from on line instructions! I got inspired by a special multi group project(s). So I switch back, and forth between the two. No real big projects. Very infrequent midfle size projects. Too boring for me, plus afraid of over extending my hands/fingers for drawing. Kudos to those who can do the big projects!