Comment on summerflake for Helen by jadisofeternity
Fun isn't it? When I was a kid, mom had an old book called "The Master", which had all kinds of things that one could make from spools, buttons and basic art techniques... I had fun trying to make all those things. Mom kinda inspired the art in all of us kids. Popsicle sticks had lots of uses, too. I think I collected them by the hundreds along my walk to little league baseball a mile or so away. There were several mom & pop gocery stores along the way, so kids would drop the sticks along the way...and I always ended up with a pocketful...LOL I think I made everything from 'forts' to trivets to bowls & baskets using them. 
Wooden thread spools were a neat material, too, in building things....even wooden soldiers to hang on the Christmas tree. Mom and grandma were quite creative in their handicrafts.
Wooden thread spools were a neat material, too, in building things....even wooden soldiers to hang on the Christmas tree. Mom and grandma were quite creative in their handicrafts. 
awesome, I love all those simple free materials...when I was young, I had alot of fun with scraps of wire and scavenged bits of random nuts and bolts...not to mention seashells, rocks, twigs, seeds, yarn and fabric scraps...my mom was quite the arts and crafts supporter.
now days you can buy a big box of nice clean popsicle sticks from the craft store, but that's not half as cool as collecting them, or eating all the popsicles to get them
now days you can buy a big box of nice clean popsicle sticks from the craft store, but that's not half as cool as collecting them, or eating all the popsicles to get them
LOL Yup...I had sticky pockets in my jeans, that's for sure. But, we usually washed the sticks before using them for my little projects. My mom and her mother used to teach craft classes for the stuff that they made from tin cans and weed pods and pine cones. Grandma used to make flowers from the sea shells, with the small shells used for the flower petals. Their tin work ended up all over back then....even to Japan, South Africa and Czechoslovakia to name some countries. My grandfather was worried about having nothing to do when he retired, so grandma put him to work cutting the tin for her... I always remember bunches of flowers and such hanging from the ceiling in the basement drying for use in some of the centerpieces. Old goblets had moss and mushrooms, seed pods and small plastic animals inside the upturned piece. And, it's base had a beaded chain around the edge to prevent a vigil light candle from sliding off. They put out a looseleaf booklet titled: "Don't Throw it Away". I have a picture of one of mom's "Bird Rings" in my scraps gallery, along with a pattern for one of her "tin can lid angels". [link] [link] [link]
I looked...I used to make tin can lid angels, with a fairly similar pattern, I hadn't thought of them in years thanks for reminding me...and I also used to make bells out of tincan lide I had so much fun making those and teaching people to make them.
I had so much fun making those and teaching people to make them.This pattern was used on the smaller soupcan lid and made a great placecard holder. I remember that she made over 100 of them for some business dinner meeting, with an angel holding the caligraphic name of each guest on a card. Other angels on the tables held small candles, too. With a gold cord, they could be hung on the Christmas tree as ornaments, too. I think they had about 3 different sizes of angels that they made.
Mom and grandma used to make all kinds of things from both the lids, cans, and even rings that could be hung on the walls. I wich I could find the folder that made up their booklet of how-to's and patterns of their cone, pod and can works. I'd like to re-edit it on the computer to make it more readable than their mimeographed pages from back in the '60's. They used to look for the cans that had the 'gold' colored finish on the insides and those that had no ribs in them. They were the best for their tinwork. I remember when I lived with my grandparents while in college, that people that worked in school cafeterias used to bring big boxes of cans over to the house. Another time, some of the college officials brought over a number of Japanese businessmen to the house. They kind of went nuts over the craft work and had to buy everything in sight, it seemed. Their chair, rocker & sofa pincushions and vigil lights used to go out by the dozens at times. If I ever find a slide projector to use, I'll have to go through mom's old slides to see if there are any in that box of her crafts.. I know that she photographed her paintings before they were sold or went to juried art shows. One of these days.........hopeffully..
Mom and grandma used to make all kinds of things from both the lids, cans, and even rings that could be hung on the walls. I wich I could find the folder that made up their booklet of how-to's and patterns of their cone, pod and can works. I'd like to re-edit it on the computer to make it more readable than their mimeographed pages from back in the '60's. They used to look for the cans that had the 'gold' colored finish on the insides and those that had no ribs in them. They were the best for their tinwork. I remember when I lived with my grandparents while in college, that people that worked in school cafeterias used to bring big boxes of cans over to the house. Another time, some of the college officials brought over a number of Japanese businessmen to the house. They kind of went nuts over the craft work and had to buy everything in sight, it seemed. Their chair, rocker & sofa pincushions and vigil lights used to go out by the dozens at times. If I ever find a slide projector to use, I'll have to go through mom's old slides to see if there are any in that box of her crafts.. I know that she photographed her paintings before they were sold or went to juried art shows.
One of these days.........hopeffully..