Jack of all trades. . .

I have fabric for a new summer dress, and decided to make enameled buttons for it. I've been using more porcelain or stoneware buttons of late, but it's hard to beat the lightness and thinness of metal, and the enamel doesn't add too much weight. These are a simple design, and the enamel looks more "organic" than I had initially planned. But that's ok. They're do the trick. Made of 22 gauge copper, lichen green enamel, and Iron Oxide (from an old laser printer) decals. Pretty fun. All of my dresses have hand-made buttons on them, and they are almost never noticed. Still. Like good underwear, YOU know they're there. And it feels good on the fingers when you put on the dress and button it up!

Also on my mind is that Jasper. He's been with us for almost a year now. On one hand, he adapted beautifully from the start. No accidents (though he hadn't lived inside), walks on a leash beautifully, and comes when we call him. And while it took several weeks, he became quite lively on the trail, but is still very calm in the house. 

He has, however, always had a sadness about him. He lost a lot in the months before we adopted him. . . hundreds of sheep, tens of dogs, and the few people who he knew. His canine teeth were all down to nubs (still a mystery), and he never chased a thing in the yard. Never even paid attention to it. Not even squirrels. His dog friend Luke taught him about chasing squirrels, but he has yet to do it on his own. But. Here he is, focusing on the bird feeders, which also inadvertently feed squirrels and deer. That Paying Attention is new. He is also chasing a tennis ball with great focus and enthusiasm, which is also a new behavior. So I hope that his inner spirit is allowing itself to come out and take a risk. As with every dog I've loved before him, I wish he could talk. You have to think that Border Collies would be better than average conversationalists.

My last thought is about drop spindles. These are the tools that shepherds used to turn wool into yarn as they walked around the fields. A simple and much cheaper spinning wheel. Also much slower. When we sold most of our stuff, I donated some drop spindles that were similar to these to a local yarn shop. It has been interesting to see what things we miss. Things that we can't easily replace. These were made by a local crafts-person in Pennsylvania. They worked beautifully. She had several sizes, but I liked these best. . . making about a medium size ply. She doesn't sell at the wool markets anymore, but I'm hoping I can buy one from her from afar. This looks like a simple tool, but the devil is in the details. It is beautiful, for one thing, with a lovely glaze that highlights the relief of the clay whorl. But it also has to be the right weight. Not so heavy that it breaks the fiber before you can get it spun, but not so light that it doesn't keep spinning easily on it's own. And of course, the spindle needs to be in pretty much the exact center of the whorl. I'll try making one myself, but I have no illusions of this being an easy task. Besides, I want to support folks who make beautiful functional tools. It takes a particular kind of thought, skill and madness to pull this off.