My Craft FAIL: Yard Stick Desk

I admit it, I have many craft FAILS that are conveniently left off my blog. I thought I’d share this one because I am super pissed about it and need to vent! It had such potential…*sigh*.

I was inspired by this photo found on Pinterest:

Awesome, right? I had this old school desk that I thought would work great. It was in good structural condition but the top was a mess, so covering it with rulers would be perfect!

I got these yard sticks at the dollar store, 2 for $1. I was SO excited to find these. They obviously aren’t vintage, but I liked the different colored writing and designs and thought the unfinished rulers would be perfect for staining.

I measured the length of the desk top and cut them down to size with my handy jig saw.

Using E6000, I glued down the yard sticks and clamped them down good and tight to dry.

At this point things are going great and this project looks like it’s going to turn out awesome! I scraped of the glue lumps that seeped through using a small blade and then gave the top a light sanding to smooth it out. I also sanded down the edges to make them all flush with each other. This is where I should have stopped because it looked pretty cool.

Next comes the staining. I thought this Minwax stain was a medium shade, as it appeared on the label. Turns out it was a little darker than I thought.

TA-DA! So yeah…it’s WAY darker than I thought and there were all these little areas where stain did not absorb. I think that’s because there was glue residue on the surface that wasn’t completely sanded off.  It looks gross. I am contemplating sanding it down and trying a different stain or a different technique all together.  Just polyurethane? Should I? Or should I bag it…

Here she is…my major craft FAIL!!!

Oh well, I guess this is part of crafting. You gotta learn what works and what doesn’t. I’ll take another jab at it eventually since I have a sh*t load of yard sticks left over from the dollar store. Feel free to share your craft fails…I’ll post them here along with this hot mess!!!

Beach Memory Jar

Thanks to Pinterest, everyone has a million mile long list of projects they want to try. One of my favorites that I was determined to do this summer is this fun beach memory jar. We just got home from vacation up in Sackets Harbor, a quaint little village on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. We have a family cottage right on the water with a small beach, where I was able to scoop up some treasures for the memory jar. Here is the one from Pinterest:

I started out with a glass terrarium jar from Michael’s craft store. With a coupon, this was about $10. I suppose you could use a large mason jar too, which would look pretty cool.

Here are some of my finds…shells, cool rocks, some sea glass, drift wood, and feathers.

For the tag, I used my quick “grubbying” technique of slathering on some gel stain (plain brown craft paint works just as well) onto an unfinished wooden tag, and then wiping off.

Then with a fine black sharpie, write whatever. “Knobby Knoll” is the name of the camp ground where our cottage is located. I tied it on with some jute.

And here she is, all finished…except I am going to eventually add a few pictures from the trip.

There were a few stunning sunsets that are a MUST for this memory jar:

In other news, I am slowly adding more items to my Etsy store, most of which are craft supplies. It seems that Texture Fierro is slowly disappearing from the shelves at craft stores, so I scooped up some for my fellow crafters that have had difficulty finding it. I also have some jute twine and cotton twine which come in handy for all kinds of projects!

I will also be adding these hang tags very soon, as I have had many inquiries about them. They are the ones I use for tea-staining. Great for scrapbooking, stamping, gift packaging, etc. I use them as backs for my pins and other small crafts that I sell at my craft show.

Some fun red and white baker’s twine…

Loads of vintage buttons (my fave)…

…And much more. Keep checking back to see what’s new!

Thanks to all you loyal followers and to those who have ordered from my new Etsy store – I appreciate it so very much! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Some Interesting Eyeball Photos

Sure I’ve been doing a lot of “crafting by night” lately…however, the “eyeballs by day”  (i.e. my REAL job) has been keeping me rather busy as well! Photographing eyeballs, that is. So, I thought I’d share some of my favorite images from the last few months. Day in and day out, eyeball after eyeball, the beauty and complexity of the human body never ceases to amaze me.

I’ll start with a series of images during an iris fluorescein angiogram.  This patient has neovascularization of the iris. Note the fan-like formation of blood vessels on the lower portion of the iris.

Here’s a close up of the iris neovascularization.

And here is a different external image, where the cornea has been stained with fluorescein topically, causing it to illuminate. You can see 5 small sutures on the top part of the cornea. Kind of looks like a creepy, zombie eyeball…which is why I love it…hehe…

Below is an early frame during a fluorescein angiogram – around 20 seconds after fluorescein dye was injected into the patients arm. You can see the retinal blood vessels are only partially filled. This patient has patches of atrophy in the pigmented layer of the retina, thus allowing you to see the blood vessel layer beneath, the choroid.

Here are two frames from this same angiogram, around 1 minutes time; the right eye and left eye respectively.

Next is a super highly magnified image of the foveal avascular zone, or central vision area, in a diabetic patient. There are areas where the small capillaries have died off, referred to as “capillary dropout.” This is due to poorly controlled blood sugars.

And another similar magnified image…I love the bizarre formation of those microscopic blood vessels. Again, the jagged looking vessels and lack of capillaries are from poorly controlled diabetes.

Below, color fundus images of the right eye and left eye respectively. This patient is a young boy who stared at the sun during the recent transit of Venus in early June. A photochemical reaction has essentially burned the retinal tissue, particularly the central vision area, or macula, of each eye.

Here is an image from the same patient, magnified and photographed with a green filter. Lesson learned: do not stare at the sun! Even on a triple dog dare!

Lastly, this series shows a macroaneurysm surrounded by a hemorrhage. It is a large bulge in one of the blood vessels. In the late frame of the angiogram (last photo), you can see the “light bulb effect” where the macroaneurysm is lit up and defined by the dye. This picture acts as a road map for the physician, showing him exactly where the source of the leak is!

I hope you find these images as fascinating as I do. I am lucky to have such an interesting career. In other photography news, I have been working on photographing a bunch of items for my new Etsy store. This whole Etsy thing is a lot of work! So far it’s been a lot of fun.

Have a great week! Til next time…

Some Recent Thrift Store Finds and Updated Pics from The Carriage Place

It’s been complete chaos in my house between trying to keep my booth at The Carriage Place stocked up and getting my new Etsy store up and running! And I’m excited to announce it’s officially up! I’ve only got a handful of items listed right now but plan on adding more in the very near future!

You can check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/UpstatePrimitives?ref=si_shop.

In the mean time I thought I’d share some recent “finds” that I’ve accumulated from various thrift stores over the last couple weeks. I got two extra large glass mason jars, a cool apothecary jar, a reproduction stoneware jug, a flower frog and little Anchor Hocking piggy bank.

I also found this awesome yellow lamp a few days ago and I HAD to have it!!! It’s sorta ugly but COOL! Lighting sells well at the co-op. I can see it in a cottage or lake house, or in someone’s funky retro living room…

And some “Americana” items…a little late for Independence Day, but still always a popular theme!

I LOVE this repro game board that was handcrafted by a local artist in 2008. Great wall art.

And something I pick up any time I see them…vintage BUTTONS! These will be going up in the Etsy shop soon. Love em for crafting or just filling up random jars and displaying them.

I was able to get over to the co-op yesterday and do some re-arranging and re-stocking. Here are some updated pics!

These wooden pieces were hand crafted by my step-dad Mike. He has made these mini hutches, some candle boxes, horseshoe boxes and milking stools. They are made of very old wood and constructed the old-fashioned way – hand sanded, knobs hand turned, and old square head nails. He does incredible work!

I have another cool project in the works and will be posting about it soon. In the mean time hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer! Later gators!

Creating a Simple “Studio” for Photographing Your Crafts

So, my big announcement…I am finally going to open an Etsy store!

It’s been on my to-do list for a long time, and I think I’m ready to make the plunge! I think my small crafts and many un-used craft supplies have potential to sell better in a venue like Etsy, whereas I will continue to sell my antiques and larger pieces at the co-op. I have been doing some preparation in getting this baby up and running, the first being a small “studio” area to properly photograph my items!

While my photographic skills excel in photographing retinas, they are not quite as proficient in studio work. I have never had any interest in portraits or studio photography that require traditional lighting methods, studio lights and back drops, lighting ratios, etc, etc. One thing I do know is that natural light is ideal in photographing almost anything. I wanted to be able to use natural light to photograph my products, but also not have to wait until the sun comes out and the weather is bearable to be able to shoot. I do live in Western New York after all! My solution: artificial natural light.

These 7.5 watt bulbs from Lowes emanate “natural light”, or an artificial full spectrum of light. They measure at 5000K, which is comparable to noon daylight. I bought two bulbs and two of these clamping work lights:

…and set up a small area on a table in my basement. I have some white foam core boards to use as reflectors as needed. I am using a large crate bottom as my background, because you know I love that rustic look. Here is my basic set up:

And a picture snapped with hardly any adjusting of the lights. I think this is going to work just fine!

Not too shabby for a studio that took 10 minutes to set up and cost about $35.

Here it is with the lights on so you can see. I am using the slatted crates on either side, as they work well with the lights’ clamps. Also, I’d like to mention that I used my digital SLR camera for my photography; my trusty Nikon D80. It’s slightly outdated but works very well for the work I want/need to do. I would recommend an SLR over a point-and-shoot camera if you are able.

I’ll keep you posted on how it works and what tweaks I might make as I start in on this new adventure! In the mean time I have been working on lots of marble magnets of varying themes to sell on Etsy. I can’t wait to start photographing them.

Phew…I don’t know why I keep myself so damn busy these days. I figure it’s going to take at least a month or so to get the store “live” and running. I have lots of items to photograph and some other prepping to do. Anyone out there with their own Etsy store…do you have any advice for this rookie? Any tips/advice you have to offer would be appreciated!

Have a great week!