DIY: Pretend Parchment

Earlier this month, I took my kids to a pirate encampment (a historical re-enactment of one, anyway) and to see a rare Dunlap Broadside Declaration of Independence, all in one week. (I know, awesome mom, right?!) My almost-7yo son has drawn treasure maps before, so it was no surprise when he began drawing some more earlier this week, pretending to be a pirate. He put his map in his treasure box, because, as he reminded me, the pirates had told him that one of the first things pirates went for when they took over a ship were maps and charts, because those were truly valuable at sea. Quoting The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence, he rolled up his map and said, "You never, ever fold parchment."

The next day, while he was at school, I decided he needed some paper that looked like parchment. This is how I did it.

I grabbed a couple large sheets of drawing paper and tore off the edges. Then I crumpled them up, uncrumpled them, and put them in my roasting pan.

I poured a cup of cold coffee into the pan and made sure the paper was submerged. You could also use tea.

I left it there for a bit--maybe fifteen minutes? Long enough to wash the lunch dishes, make some more coffee (for drinking), and finish reading the paper. Periodically my daughter or I would tilt the pan, and I flipped the papers over once. After a bit, I dumped the coffee and ran some water over the paper, mainly to wash away any sediment (that coffee had been in the fridge longer than I can remember). Then I set the papers out on a cooling rack to dry.

I tried to hurry this part up by using a blow dryer, but my daughter (she's two) was terrified by the noise. So we let them dry naturally. By the time my boys were home from school, I needed my counter space, so I ironed them on the "paper" setting. (Just kidding. I think it was the polyester setting. Not too hot, in other words.)

And here is the finished parchment.

Doesn't it look nice and old? Makes a good map:

Make sure you roll it, not fold it. My son tied his map with twine.

Ahoy, mateys! There's treasure about. Happy Pirating!

Custom Commissioned Ort Jar Label

My, that does sound impressive, doesn't it? A couple of months ago, I used a stamp I'd carved to make a label for the pickle jar which has been holding my DPNs for years now. I learned the process from Print Workshop by Christine Schmidt, and once I knew it worked, my boys and I labeled every jar we could in our art studio. So my sister's recent request for a labeled jar in which to keep her orts wasn't completely out of left field, although I wasn't quite sure what an ort was. In this case, an ort is "the snippet of thread left over in the needle after finishing a section of embroidery."

And this would be a dressed-up jar in which to keep your orts.

I just realized Blogger lost an entire post, in which I mentioned I'm participated in Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day. Thanks a lot, Blogger! I'll work on re-creating it... maybe?   Here it is!

(Re-Post) Procurement of Supplies

For a while I had a string of jobs that all contained "procurement of supplies" within the long, open-ended job description. Honestly, isn't that such a fun duty? That's what my daughter and I set out to do today. Her room is ready for curtains, but the local stores have a limited selection and a high price, so I decided we needed to head to the cavernous fabric store about 45 minutes north of here, where cotton fabric is just $5/yard ($2 in the bargain loft). My daughter found purple fabric all right. It's not quite what I'd have chosen, but it's not my room, and I do think kids ought to have control over these sorts of choices.

It's covered with tools. She's ecstatic.

This store doesn't offer fat quarters, but with prices like that, it's cheap enough to gather up your own. Mindful of time and budget, though, I didn't. I simply went for a yard of this:

As you can tell from the buttons, I have plans for it. I was only going to get a half yard, but at the last minute I decided, Oh heck with that extra $2.50. Let's get a whole yard. (That stop by the button section cost me an extra $10, by the way. I didn't photograph the silver skull & crossbones buttons I got for my sons, or the five button cards my daughter just had to have. Letters, numbers, ducks, ladybugs, and fish, all terribly cute.)

Since we were already up near the city, we swung by Utrecht. I order most of my art supplies online or pick up what I can at craft and hobby stores, because the actual art supply stores (there are three of them) are all in the city, 45 minutes away by car and with challenging parking situations. It's not always easy to get to one of them. But I wanted some paper for bookbinding, and that's the sort of thing you really need to buy in person. See?

That charcoal one is actually for my daughter. I'm not sure what she plans to do with it, but she'll let me know.

I was super lucky and found free, one-hour parking right across the street from the art store, and right next to a hardware store that's been there for nearly 100 years. Do hardware stores draw you in? Especially independent ones? I checked with my daughter and she agreed we should go look (after putting the carefully rolled-up paper in the car). We ended up with a plastic funnel and an aluminum scoop for the sandbox, some nightlight bulbs (seems like we go through those like water here), some foam-tipped paintbrushes (which may have a date with that charcoal paper tomorrow; we'll see), and some free stuff.

That piece of fabric over on the left is a sample--this hardware store also does interior decoration, apparently, not just paint and wallpaper but fabric, too. I have something very specific in mind for that piece. The other two books--books--of sample fabrics were also free. I asked if they ever sold the sample books when they were done with them, and I was told exactly where I could find the discards and that I could have whatever I wanted. They just give them away! (Did you know this??) I'm not sure what I'm going to do with those sample books, but I'm sure my kids and I will come up with something. They're heavyweight, with some sort of backing--I don't know if that's because it's all upholstery fabric or because samples are always reinforced--whatever the reason, it definitely expands the possibilities of what we might do with them. I'm so glad I asked.

Also? Now that I've procured some supplies, I'm signing up to participate in Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day. I just haven't decided yet if I'll be using that pink fabric or some of that paper to make my giveaway...