Ottoman

Dave and I found an old floppy ottoman on the side of the road a couple of weeks ago. We loved the old wooden claw feet, and decided it would make a sweet first stab at learning to reupholster furniture. It was a lot harder (and more expensive) than I thought. All that measuring and figuring -- I'm not so great at it, so thank goodness I have a husband with a brain for fitting shapes together. I'd rather wield the staple gun.

Here's the before series. First Dave tore off all the old fabric and webbing, and then built a new sturdy wooden platform for the foam to sit on.
(click to enlarge)

We laid two layers of inexpensive 1" thick foam, and topped the foam off with a standard bed pillow. Extra space was stuffed with pillow batting from an old floppy one we had laying around. We checked out the prices of really good foam at the fabric shop, but decided that this project did not warrant $75 worth of foam. Did you know that the price of oil drives the price of foam? Petro products. Whouda thunk. But the pillow worked perfectly. Here's the end result (topped with a burgundy button where the two fabric triangles meet):

The most expensive part was the fabric. 2.5 yards worth for $27ish but I have plenty left over for future projects. I think the whole project set us back about $45 -- more than I anticipated, but still better than buying a brand new ottoman.

The fur kids test it out:

Two Pound Press: A side project

Hi folks,
I’ve started a new little project focusing on writing and drawing over at my other brainchild, Two Pound Press. Check it out if you’re interested in seeing how another part of my brain works.

Window Ledge Arts will remain my place for art, craft, and photography.

Paint break

Had the urge to put some paint down on a canvas the other night.

A young bear discusses the logistics of going home, but ultimately decides against it. Mixed Media on canvas. 2009.

Tea stained.

I recently posted a few hand embroidered pillows up in the shop. They're so pretty and so soft, it was a bit hard to come to terms with selling them. Two of the pillows feature tea-stained fabric, dyed with love by yours truly.

And happily, my Hello pillow was included in a clever Etsy treasury titled "Not all stains are bad," which was featured on the sweet S and O Productions blog.

Oh. Wow.

I'm under the weather today, and the flipside is that I'm left with plenty of idle time to browse the web for bad youtube videos and good art. I stumbled upon the work of Jon Carling on Etsy and completely fell in love. His drawings have a wonderful worn, vintage feel and a slightly creepy/humorous aesthetic that totally captivates me.



Here's where to find him:
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5157983
Website: www.joncarling.com

gold stars