These days, SHB is sleeping somewhat better in the evenings, meaning I can be fairly sure of having an hour or so to myself after dinner. I was so excited at first (a whole hour! I can do ALL the things!), but I quickly learned that after working part time and taking care of SHB the rest of the time, not to mention making dinner and cleaning up, I have no energy left for anything mentally taxing. There are so many lovely new patterns I want to get to (hello Sewaholic
button-down shirts -- perfect for breastfeeding access!), but I can't seem to muster up the gumption to tackle muslins or fitting or even thinking about where that one fabric is in my stash.
I still want to do something mildly productive, though (I can only read so much before the words start swimming before my eyes), and I have that whole irreversible task resolution, so I have to settle for my brain-dead craft of choice: pyrography. It's essentially tracing, with very little thinking involved, so it's perfect for a tired new mom. And being the geek that I am, naturally it would all be Tolkien-themed. I'm lucky that one of my fandoms lends itself so well to this medium; it's harder to do convincing wood-based, rustic-looking crafts for say, sci-fi fandoms like Star Wars and Firefly.
So, during Christmas break, I burned two small cheese-sized cutting boards:
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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." |
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It was tricky getting the wood grain to cooperate to make the elvish designs smooth enough. |
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Not actually from the books, admittedly, but I still love the list of hobbit meals. |
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Oak leaf motif. Because hobbits. |
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IKEA won't let me forget where I got the board from. |
I ended up gifting one to Elaine and keeping the other for myself. It was awfully therapeutic to do, and there's the added bonus of a pleasant smoky wood smell (so nice in winter, especially when you discover that your fireplace is out of commission and will cost $4000 to fix!). It was so fun, I found myself itching to do more. Then I realized that we were storing our teabags in an old gelato container, so when
I was at Daiso the other day I picked up this wooden box for making into a more aesthetically pleasing receptacle:
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I've always been the tiniest bit sad that I gave these boxes away at my hobbit-themed birthday party, so it was about time I made my own Thorin's-map-themed box. |
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It pleases me that the green tea is on the Lonely Mountain side, since it's vageuly Mt. Fuji-esque. |
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I'm really pleased with how well the wood grain works with the mountains on this side. |
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The great wyrms of the North came out looking a little goofy. |
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Even though nobody will see it, I like knowing that this inscription is under the mountain...er, tea. |
All credit for the design on the box goes to Tolkien himself, of course.
It's tempting to make even more random LOTR decor -- Jo-ann's has so many nice blank wood items -- but considering only one person in this house is actually a fan, I think I'd better hold back. Unless, of course, I can indoctrinate SHB...then it'll be two to one!