Cooking Rose Petal Clay... a 5-day process!

I don't know anything else.  Re-cycling has always been part of my life. Of course I use organic plants, dryer lint, shredded office paper and natural dyes in my homemade paper which I use to package rose petal jewelry which is made from discarded fresh  roses from a local florist. 

Other interests range from cloth diapers with super absorbant center panels made from re-claimed felted wool to hypertufa garden accessories.  Hypertufa is made from found materials such as sand, old newspapers, peat moss, vermiculite, potting soil, sea shells and the like.  It's very strong when allowed to cure properly and can withstand our New England Winters without cracking or deteriorating, as other planters do.  I can't pass up anything that could make an interesting mold.  Even containers used to package meat at the market  or an old bucket. 

As a child, my dad would take us to the local dump and bring back more stuff than we dropped off!  My brothers learned how small engines, tv's, microwaves, etc. worked by taking them apart.  Dad refinished discarded furniture (often genuine antiques) and sold them in our ongoing 'garage sale' and raised us with the profits.  I collected almost everything for my hope chest as a teen, including an entire set of dishes, pans and other household items and stocked my first apartment this way. 

I specialize in Native American themes including spirit animals, cave drawings and hyrogliphs.  Other interests range from religious to wiccan.  Masculine  themes are incorporated into many useful items such as potholders and aroma therapy hot/cold wraps.  Hey, men get aches and pains and enjoy being in the kitchen too!

I bought an old house recently, sold it off floor by floor, wall by wall, window by window.  I salvaged everything I could, including some stone walls within the property boundaries.  My oldest daughter told me recently  'I'm so my father's daughter!", which I consider a compliment.  I'm using panels from the interior doors as wooden signs, floor joists to add on to my chicken coop and chestnut beams are now mantels with lots of character. 

I hope you enjoy these useful products that I make from re-claimed finds