@rocklady I am so glad you found the thread...Welcome....your items are beautiful and I would love to be that talented. Please stick around and share your talents. Your things look so professional it makes me feel like a novice. If I were younger I would be green with envy.

MISSINGROSIE said:Love that seaside horseshoe!
Puts me past the winter blues

My felted dryer balls ( store bought ) just bounce around pounding on the quilt or pillows or whatever in the dryer fluffing it up. No odor

I use tennis balls for dryer balls and have for years since they are better for large comforters. Never heard of dryer balls (store bought or other).

@plantmanager I just saw the seashell candles.....how did I miss those? They are beautiful. I want to show them to one of my friends. She makes candles and they will be wonderful for her to try. Can you explain how you make those for me please? Where does the wax go? The wick? things like that. The shells are exquiset.

Thanks @rocklady I will look for one when we get to a store, it is a long way to hobby stores around here so I don't get to one very often.

My friend owns this farm and I thought you felters may be interested in some of her wool. I have used it and it is great to work with.

http://www.applerose.com/

https://www.facebook.com/searc...

Please check out both if you have time. Her colors are beautiful. She lived down the road from me for years before moving to NY and she does most of the preparation and dyeing herself.

Can you explain how you make those for me please? Where does the wax go? The wick? things like that. The shells are exquiset. [/quote]

It's quite a process, but easy for anyone to do. I used an ice cream carton for the mold on the tall one, and an old fishbowl for the shorter round one. I stack the shells inside, putting a glass votive candle holder in the top middle.Put the nicest shells on the outside, and fill the inside with junk shells. After the glass and shells are ready, I melt paraffin and pour it in up to the top, and let the candles set up. Tear off the mold or break the mold. Then I take a small hand propane torch to melt the wax off and expose the shells. I put the candle on a turntable over newspapers and gently and slowly melt the wax off. If you get it too hot, the shells start falling off, so you have to be very slow and patient. There is a fine line between leaving the shells embedded in too much wax, and over exposing the shells. At the end I put a tea light candle in the glass. These candles do fine unless you put them in a very hot area. One of our daughters put hers in a closed off room with no AC and it melted down. I'll have to remake it for her. She lives in a hot area of Texas.

@daylilydreams Betty, you can also find just about anything you want to do from beginners to advanced classes on YouTube. I am lousy at written instructions. Example: I ripped out a bracelet twice before realizing on the third try what the instructions meant! Give me a diagram or show me the actual instructions and I am fine.
@JB for the nice compliment. However, just remember, you're never too old to learn. I know you are only a few years older than I. I must have been living under a rock because I never knew about the lovely things you did with felting. Must have been popular in the years before we retired when I was raising 5 kids, and spending long hours at the typewriter, and later at the computer when I was an independent contractor transcribing for insurance adjusters, and being the Administrative Secretary for two associations.

Jean that is a great resource!

@daylilydreams You're welcome, however, I might warn you that this can become addictive! When I started out I never dreamed that I would lie awake nights figuring out patterns (most of them didn't work when I tried them out in the morning ) Some of the prettiest at least in my opinion, come from the Russian ladies, however, since I don't speak Russian, when I can't see their hands, I am at a loss as to what they are doing!

I agree it is addicting! I spent a lot of dollars on beads and findings for jewelry. Right now they are sitting, waiting for me to get back to it. There are always too many things to do.

Karen, thanks. I am going to show this to her tomorrow when she comes. I am sure she knows what you are talking about.

JB! You could make one too! You can use almost anything you have. It doesn't have to be sea shells. I've used sea glass, glass beads, old keys, and whatever else I find that needs to be used or thrown away. The candles make great gifts too. If you only have a few shells, you could make a small candle in a qt milk carton. The ones that are about 3 inches high look very cute.

I have restarted my origami hobby--recently made these from 8 squares of 7.5x7.5 cm or 3x3 inches.

they're excellent, Francine!