Karla Nathan – Page 12 – Karla's Cottage

Hand painted flannel shirts

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2024

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I painted tee shirts and sold them in stores all over, including at Silver Dollar City in Branson, at crafts shows, and local shops.

I painted so many that I said I was done forever. (One year I painted 1,000). Since then, I’ve whipped up a few as gifts for new babies, but that’s about it. I did a couple for Sugarwings, but my heart just wasn’t in it.

Recently, the idea of painted shirts was again lurking in my head. I’d accumulated a pile of flannels that I wanted to sell this fall at Good Juju, and considered embroidering them, but knew it would take hours and I could not sell them for enough to pay for my time.

So, I thought I’d try a few painted ones. I’m much faster with a brush than a needle.

First, they needed to be slightly bleached out to soften the plaid design. Which was simple, since Sugarwings and I had been experimenting with bleach painting last week. I dunked these flannels while we had our bleach mess set up in the driveway, and left them in the sun to dry and was happy with the less vinbrant look of the plaid after they were done.

After a quick job with a brush and acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium, they dry for 24 hours, get heat set with an iron, and then washed and dried.

That might sound like a lot of work, but it all goes pretty quickly. Please wish me luck with them, I hope they sell!

Zombie parts

Halloween treats

By Karla Nathan / August 14, 2024

It’s starting to look a bit creepy around here!

I’ve been painting sculpy clay hands, feet and faces made in molds. Some are now brooches, the rest are bagged up to market as zombie parts for Good Juju’s fall sales

What are the bits and pieces for? Well, who knows what my sinister shoppers will have in mind….

Honestly, I don’t really have a good use for them, they are just spooky and creepy decor.

My work space looks like part of the zombie apocalypse. Not very pretty colors, are they? I’ve learned to use big sheets of poster boards as placemats at my desk. They get one flip over, then I move onto another piece once both sides are wrecked.

It saves the table underneath from ending up like this. After a particularly messy project, I can get a clean slate with a simple turnover.

Before replacing this poster board, I painted all the other planned ghouls. This wedding topper sat in my booths for months without selling, so it had a ghoulish makeover.

I think my new creations will fit right in with some of the great, vintage finds I’ll be bringing in too.

Not everything will give guests a chill down their spine, though. I’ll have pretty bracelets in Halloween colors, glittered crows with handmade crowns, cute witches, paintings of steampunk ravens, and a few happy little ballerina bats.

It has been SO MUCH FUN to craft it all! But now time to get on with making Christmas. I am pretty far behind this year.

As summer closes

family

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2024

Summer started off slowly and lazily.

Sugarwings went to North Carolina for a few weeks, Rich started a job in Nebraska.

I was on my own with just the doggies as company.

Then, BLAMMO! Both grand fairies arrived from out east and we had non stop fun, making the most of our time together.

We had parties, we went to movies, restaurants, shopping, did crafts, spent time in Nebraska with their Pop Pop, went shopping, went to the zoo, a Royals game, and did I mention shopping?

The littlest grand fairy wanted to do all the nostalgic things they remembered from their childhood.

Uhm, she is 13 now.

So we ate at her favorite places, and I did my best to spoil her to pieces, with popsicles in the hot tub, some splurgey shopping trips, and letting her pick out any jewelry she wanted from my shop.

We had planned on going to the Omaha zoo, but realized that sometimes a day just to relax is as much fun as seeking fun on the run. But we did make it to the KC zoo for a couple hours one day. It was a big hit, and I wondered if skipping the Omaha trip had been smart. Oh well, that’s available next time, it’s a pretty cool zoo.

There is only so much time in a summer break.

I treasured every bit of this one. When you have teens that will hold hands with you as you stroll through the mall, that is a memory to hold onto forever.

Summer is winding down now. Dewdrop is back in NC, Sugarwings starts school this week. I’ll be back to nonstop work in the studio to get my Christmas sparkly inventory created. The flurry of excitement, giggles, busyness, (and shopping) is done.

New looks for old clothes

Hand painted

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2024

When I asked Sugarwings to clean out the closet and get rid of anything not worn, the response was, “Those aren’t Goodwill donations, they are craft supplies”.

That began our deep dive into bleach dying, fabric markers, ice dying, and rebooting old pieces into new ones.

Here is one that I made for myself. I’m also working on some Jean jackets and flannel shirts for Goid Juju.

My grandfairy is fond of spritzing or painting bleach onto black shirts. We have been slightly obsessed and spent entire days doing little else.

While Dewdrop was here, we bought a lot of new school clothes, but I am sensing that for Sugarwings, most of the favorite back to school outfits will be the hand crafted ones. And that the pile of Goodwill drop offs isn’t going to be very big.

Oops, the closet is ending up more crowded than when the clean out began.

An order for 8 bracelets turned into me making 60, that’s just how it goes around here

jewelry

By Karla Nathan / August 5, 2024

I had an order for a few bracelets, so while I had my enticing tubs of beads out to play with, I whipped up a few extra for myself and for my display at Good Juju. This soon became a pile of over sixty completed pieces.

Seriously, have you ever made one? You cannot stop at one!

I’m like an addict as I tell myself, okay, this is plenty…well maybe just a couple more then I’ll quit. Hours later I’m still repeating that to myself as the dogs are crying for their dinner, my back is cramped up from sitting at my desk, and my vision is blurry from the close work.

The sales of beaded bracelets at my booth are spotty, but over time I notice the stacks dwindling down, so I guess the few here and there that shoppers get do add up.

As much as I love crafting them, I wish the gradual diminished inventory would go more quickly,

But that is also why I have so many varying items for sale. A little bit of that, a little bit of this, you never know what our guests will be looking for and I certainly enjoy making many different things.

I am blessed to have found a venue where I can sell my hodge podge of arts, crafts, vintage bits, and jewelry.

And any day that I have an excuse to rifle through my gemstone bead collection is an extra wonderful day.

When I first got the order of 8, I was going to gather them from the ones still at the mall. But I soon realized there was no fun in that, and used it as a good reason to get my pretties out to work with.

After creating a few I thought that I would be nice to fill the order, I started thinking about the group they were being gifted to. These were meant for some gals who got together every week and called themselves the Thirsty Thursday bunch.

The perfection inspiration to make beverage toned bracelets! I hope they all get a kick out of these like I did.

Autumn looks for my booth at Good Juju

Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2024

Knowing that I’d be bringing in lots of fall colors, and plenty of brown, I wanted to make sure my space still had a romantic feel to it despite the more traditional, antiquey look I was going to have on display. So I over loaded on the wispy florals.

I’d been saving up old bowls all year for my stepping into fall theme in August.

Each of these pieces could’ve been incorporated here and there in any month and mingled easily with my typical look.

But when brought in all at once, and set out on natural wood furniture, it does make for a whole new style for me.

See what I mean?

Plus I have my western/farm/equestrian corner too.

For September, I am working on a selection of embellished jean jackets and flannel shirts. I thought I’d bring one in early, this is dipped in bleach, then over dyed, and has vintage lace added to it.

There is also a bunch of fall toned mushrooms.

And of course, lots and lots of sparklies.

Vintage in one area, new or handmade on the other side of the aisle. I used to commingle them, but realized, it’s often two different shoppers. So I divided up the shelves, that way there was more space for customers to take their time looking at the jewelry without feeling crowded.

Well, wish me luck, it’s a different look for me this season.

Fall Fairies and other creations

fairies, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / July 30, 2024

It may be 90 degrees outside, but in the studio, autumn has arrived. I’ve whipped up witches, crafted batches of brooms, stockpiled witchy hats, and have made a few fall fairies.

This girl’s scouting days were behind her, so I repurposed the uniform into a woodland outfit.

Complete with posy toes.

And this delicate(?) little sprite might not be as pretty as her sibling, but she deserved a lovely, whimsical gown just as much.

They have joined the rest of the flock at Juju for the next First Friday weekend (this week!).

I bring in fairies each month. They aren’t an item that sells out, but I do have some shoppers who enjoy them, so typically 1-4 sell each time.

That is basically my formula there. Bring in a little bit of this, a little bit of that, make a few different pieces, then choose a theme for the month and decorate with old stuff to complete that chosen idea. I fill in around the vintage pieces with hand made items and a display or two of jewelry.

My little paintings are one of the many additions that mingle with the antiques. Here, I have sorta broken my “keep to the monthly theme” rule. This narrow wall is filled with springtime decor in the center of a booth filled with autumn.

Maybe my rule is more of a guideline.

Some other creations for this month are tiny wooden books covered in old paper. Plus a few more crowns that I made extra blingy.

This formula works out okay for me. I like making a variety of things, but don’t want to rely on just one craft. If I had a booth full of say, just crowns, my sales would most likely be pretty dismal. This way I can sell a few of each set of crafty items, and that adds up to supplement my overall sales.

Next post, I’ll show you the rest of my booth. The non created pieces.

New doos for the doodles

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / July 27, 2024

About half the time, we cut the dogs’ hair ourselves. Rich and I set up a table in the yard, get out the clippers and shave away.

Sugar treats this as a spa day and luxuriates in the attention she gets while relaxed and splayed out on the table. Her eyes start to droop, and she dozes off in bliss as we work on her.

Molly doesn’t agree with the whole bliss thing.

But she is cooperative and mostly patient, so it’s not bad. The trouble isn’t them, it’s me. I can do the grooming myself and they don’t look hideous after.

Still, I hate doing it. Even though the table makes for easy access to the dog, and we work outside so clean up isn’t extremely awful, I just don’t like doing the job. I feel like I end up with more fur on me than is on the pups.

Most of that fur, is in my nostrils.

To keep down the costs on grooming, I do it anyway. Our dogs run in the woods, dig in the mud, tangle up in burrs. And doodle fur is made of Velcro. Every twig they walk by sticks in it. If you don’t keep their coats nice, they will mat.

So 2 to 3 tines a year, we shave it all off. I compromise on the expense by sometimes doing the job. But when I can, splurging on having a pro groom them means more to me than most of my favorite treats or purchases.

Little Dorothy is an easy job, I shouldn’t complain too much about her 9lb body’s little bit of hair. But I still would rather not shave her either. So this week, off they all went to get prettied up.

Honestly, the girls look soooooo much better when I’m not the one holding the razor. See how lovely Molly is after visiting the beauty shop?

Honey doesn’t go, golden retrievers just need a bath in the garden hose every once in a while. And her hair doesn’t tangle or mat, or catch sticks and burns like the others do.

Also, I get plenty of her fur up my nose on a daily basis. The trade off on not needing groomed is the daily shedding.

It’s a good thing they are all so dang lovable.

My Mosaic Group Friends and a New Adventure for Seashell Fairies

friends, sea shell fairies, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 24, 2024

My buddy, Shanna, has hosted a mosaic group in her home studio for years. Its always nice to bring a project and visit with friends.

Not too long ago, she switched it up and rented a studio with our pal, Mary. The group continues in this new location and we have the same members plus a few others joining in.

As artists, we are often working alone. So, an opportunity to hang out with friends while creating, catch up on each others lives, chat about books, restaurants, travel, hear some funny stores, or commiserate over problems, well, that is something I feel lucky to have.

Seeing what’s up with others’ work is inspiring too.

Even though I’m not a mosaic artist, I love the medium. Every once in a while I take on a glass project, but typically, I bring some other, small portable job I’m in the middle of.

This summer it’s been a lot of mushrooms, or beading. I really wish I could attend the group more weeks, but I am pretty sporadic about attending. It’s on a Friday, and that seems to be a hard one for me. Not just First Fridays each month at Juju, but other weekends for travel, or who knows what. Fridays just are a busy day for me.

So, when I get a shot at being there, I make my best effort to pack up a tub of supplies (typically only forgetting a few things I’ll need for the afternoon) and skeedaddling across town to see what everyone is working on and hear about what’s up with who.

Technically, I guess this is a mosaic craft. I decided to make some sea shell fairies that aren’t washed away by the waves, so I took a basket of shells to work on last week. (Oops, after taking the photo, I realized the right wing wasn’t right, so I flipped it around while thinset was still goopy).

These little sprites are something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. On one of my sister trips with Bobbie and Sissy, when I was feeling really bad due to a concussion, along with the anniversary of Ryan’s death, we explored Passe Grille Beach after a walk through the Don Caesar Pink Palace.

The beach we were staying at was low on shells. When I visit Indian Rocks, I always scrounge to find enough to make just one little fairy to leave on the sand.

But this spot? Holy Moly!

Now, the shells I found aren’t what most beach goers are looking for. I like odd shapes and broken pieces, and this place was ankle deep in those. I filled bags with heads, wings, arms, I was in a fairy makers dream location. The terrain was rocky and the beach itself wasn’t as inviting, the parking was awful, but it wasn't crowded and the views were spectacular. My sisters patiently hung out while I climbed around boulders and searched for just the right bits and pieces.

So here I am, a few years later with these baggies full of memories of a special day when my family went out of the way to big sister me, using one of our limited vacation afternoons to take me someplace to gather art supplies. Sis had brought her post cataract surgery sunglasses to help with my concussion headache and Bobbie, who had some mobility issues, hung out with me while we walked this rocky shoreline that wasn’t easy to get around on.

I’m still experimenting with the right technique to transform my fairies into a permanent piece of art. And thanks to my sissies, I have plenty of shells to work with. Each one I create will hold special feelings from our day on the beach.

Indigo

friends

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2024

My friend, Diane, offered to teach a group of us how to do indigo dyeing.

It’s a complicated process that is far removed from regular tie dye.

The vat requires ongoing care, that reminds me of feeding sourdough bread starter.

Diane brought all sorts of doodads and clips and taught us about different techniques. We used more than rubber bands, there were clips, zip ties, pvc pipes as resists.

One cool trick is using wax thread to pull gathers into the fabric to make designs.

After the resists are added, you dunk the fabric in the vat. It comes out a murky green but air starts to turn the dye blue.

The pieces need to hang for about 15 minutes, then get double rinsed The water finishes the color transformation and the murky green is gone, leaving the traditional indigo tones.

For deeper colors, you repeat the process. I kept redoing the bottom of this shirt for an ombré effect.

And I love the way it turned out!

Thanks for the fun morning, Diane!

Author name: Karla Nathan