If you’re a sewist -a sewer – or you sew things – then the chances are that you will have heard of a Bodkin. If you don’t sew things, you may still have heard of a bodkin. But … if you haven’t heard of a Bodkin, then I share the definition of ‘bodkin’, as per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:-
Definition of bodkin
1a: dagger, stiletto
b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth
c: an ornamental hairpin shaped like a stiletto
2: a blunt needle with a large eye for drawing tape or ribbon through a loop or hem
This is exactly how my Grandma showed me how to substitute a safety pin if you couldn’t find your bodkin!
It was that:- “b: a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth“ on which I focused while I was embroidering tiny little pieces of fabric, which I wanted to make brooches (or ‘pins’)
Read on dear reader, read on . . .
I wanted a special name for my brooches. One which said something about them, instead of just calling them ‘brooches’ or ‘pins‘. I looked around my work desk for inspiration. Needles; thimbles; threaders; embroidery threads; markers; beads; buttons…. no, nothing seemed to give me the joy I always feel, deep within my heart and within the central core of my body, when I know I’ve found the right name for something.
When suddenly … ‘Bodkin‘ came to mind.
Now I know that there is a Fairy Elf, in the Land of Fae, called Bodkin.
Meet Bodkin ~ image of him according to Cobs
Bodkin is a sewer and stitcher of all things which require a needle, thread and, more importantly … his expertise. His knowledge knows no bounds. He has skills unknown to man, not just in a particular field of sewing, but in the whole worldy world of sewing ANYTHING!
It all made sense! A bodkin is a sharp slender instrument for making holes in cloth …. and a brooch has a pin which is a sharp slender instrument, which makes holes in cloth – in clothes! It makes the holes in your clothes to attach the brooch to your jumper, blouse, top, dress, coat or cardigan, – or even your tie! That was it!!! My Brooches were to be called: Bodkins!
So, now you know this …. may I introduce you to my first Bodkin Brooch ….
~The Lords my Shepherd~
Measuring just 2.9cm, which is just a smidgen over an inch, this little brooch has three, tiny, hand embroidered sheep, complete with white daisies and bright yellow buttercups which they’ve found to chomp on.
The pale pink ribbon you see ‘attached’ to the brooch (in the photo above) is a piece of re-cycled silk. It’s been washed and roughly cut into a ‘flag’ shape, onto which I printed the name of the brooch/pin – ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’. The delicate ribbon isn’t a permanent fixture on the brooch, it can be taken off by simply undoing the pin on the rear of the brooch.
To pack the brooches – rather than simply put them into boxes, I wanted something a little more tactile and textile – so I chose to tissue wrap each brooch, and put them into a little drawstring top muslin bags which have the Cobwebs logo printed on them.
And that, fabulous readers, is what a Bodkin is according to Cobwebs. I think Bodkin the Fairy Elf will approve.
I’m sure I see him nodding – I think he likes the brooches/pins! RESULT!
You might now be thinking that that is the end of this post. Ohhhh no. You still have some Monday Jokes to read!
These are the Jokes Folks!
Q: Why did the yoghurt go to the art exhibition?
A: Because it was cultured.
~~ ❤ ~~
Q: What breed of dog can jump higher than buildings?
A: Any dog, because buildings can’t jump.
~~ ❤ ~~
Q: What do you call a train carrying bubblegum?
A: A chew-chew train.
~~ ❤ ~~
And that’s it! You’ve managed to get through another post from me, with all your brain cells in tact!
Thank you SO much for coming and spending a little time with me. Please… talk to me, via a comment, so that I know who I’m talking to. To make a comment you simply have to click to read this post (click the heading at the top of the page on my blog) – then scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a box, inviting you to comment. You don’t have to say a hundred words of chat – just simply hello and a few words – even inviting me to your blog to see something. It’s just so fabulous to ‘know’ who’s reading and who I’m talking to!
May you have the happiest of Mondays, and I hope your week ahead is a good one.
Don’t forget to count your blessings – you have more reasons to smile than you might imagine.
Sending heaps of squidges and lots of love ~ from me in my corner, to you in yours.
Happy, happy Monday! A brand new day with no mistakes. A new beginning of a new week. A new opportunity filled with new opportunities!
Last week, on two separate days, I was the luckiest girl, for I received some very happy mail. The first was from a fellow WordPress Blogger, Beverly, (of MoreInkPlease blog). Beverly won the very first Giveaway on the Cobweborium Blog here, when the Random Number Generator picked her number to win the ‘ Just for you . . . if you’d like it.‘ <—(clickable link) which was a handmade Card, with a country theme and featured some chickens in their hen house, (and even had a feather donated by one of my own chickens!).
Beverly and I have got to know each other through blogging comments, on each others blogs, over the last couple of years, and a few weeks ago I got a message from her telling me that something had happened and that she’d write again when she could. True to her word she wrote, . . . telling me that her husband had passed on. I will admit that I read that message I don’t know how many times, trying to make sense of it. Just a few weeks previously to this, on June 30th this year, Beverly had posted a picture of her and her husband on their wedding day, and told everyone that they were, that day, celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
I truthfully thought that I’d read that wrong, or that I was getting mixed up and that she was talking about someone else – because, had someone asked me to guess how old Beverly was, I’d have said she was maybe somewhere between about 38/39 and 44/45. So to hear she’d been married for 50 years was a real surprise.
When I learned of her husbands passing, I felt the need to write to her. Send a card. Send an Email. Something. But Beverly and I were only on-line friends. We’d never given each other our snail mail address’ – in fact, we’d never even exchanged email addresses! Yet I loved her like she was as real to me as one of my neighbours. She really is such an absolute darling.
I know, at the moment, she’s not able to post crafty things. She’s still in that ‘waiting area’ …. waiting for …. what? You see, that’s exactly it. WHAT? What next? What now? Where? Why? Who? How? Why? WHY?
That ‘why?’ is something that she probably won’t get an answer to. And as for all the other questions (and there are more than I’ve written), they will, perhaps, be acknowledged eventually. However, until the ‘numbness’ is over-come, moving forward is something which is difficult to do.
So anyway … I was overjoyed when I realised that the Random Number Generator had picked Beverly as the winner of the card. Even though this was a more light-hearted ‘something’ it didn’t matter. It was something that I knew would deliver a smile when it arrived. But … I didn’t want Beverly feel that she had to send something in return … so… I was a little bit sneaky. I didn’t put my full address on the back of the package I sent to her. I simply put the name of our cottage, and the number, and the post code. (a bit like the US zip code).
I guessed that this would be enough for the Customs department, but that Beverly would look at it, see that it wasn’t a ‘proper’ address, and so not feel she had to send anything. PERFECT!
Then, last week, a package arrived from her. [tsk tsk Beverly!] Beverly had trusted both the US postal system, and then the UK postal system (I can hear people of the UK laughing up and down the land right now!), and the address on the package that she’d sent to me had been carefully read, de-coded and then the UK postal system had written the full address onto the package and my postman had brought it to the door with a grin. Bless him. I love my postman.
When I opened the parcel I couldn’t believe what was inside! My eyes grew to the size of saucers. I’d never received this type of Happy Mail before. Beautiful die cuts, for me to use – images, note cards, flowers, incredible sea related die cuts, pretty butterflies, die cut words, OH! all manner of things which I can use in crafting … and tucked inside was a fabulous handmade card,made by Beverly herself. It was an amazing easel card, which could be displayed as it was, or … with the addition of a battery operated t-light, which she’d even packed into the parcel for me, the card would suddenly burst into life and glow! I’ve taken photographs …..
The beautiful card from Beverly, with all the Happy Mail items which she’d packed into the box which she’d sent to me.
Without the flash.
Close up, with the big over-head light on.
photograph taken without any lights, just the glow from the battery operated t-light.
This started my week off in such a wonderful way. I felt like the luckiest girl alive.
Then …the following day I received another happy mail!
The second Happy Mail was from another wonderful lady who is a truly fabulous Jewellery artist: Hannah – of The Artisan Duck <—click
Hannah is a multi talented, amazing Artist – continually making jewellery, changing, and developing new ideas, and I can see how her style is really coming out, for her makes are incredible.
However, as if being a Jewellery Designer and Maker wasn’t enough; her talents don’t stop there … she also makes beautiful handmade cards, and is a most talented artist of the pen/pencil & ink (drawing) variety.
If I ever actually set about writing the children’s book which I’ve had buzzing around my head and heart for a couple of years or so now, I’ve already told Hannah that I would love her to do the illustrations for the book, as I adore her artwork.
Hannah recently did a craft fair but because of a ‘mix up’ . . .
(for that ‘mix up’ read: someone put an ill equipped nincompoop in charge of the craft fair two weeks before the due date and he completely ruined the craft fair in various different ways – for ALL the crafters and artists who were there, – apart from,strangely enough, those artists who were his personal friends . . . . enough said, as I zip my mouth)
. . . although she sold some of her beautifully hand crafted items, she only sold a fraction of what she could have sold, so she’s told me that she’s going to fill up her Etsy Shop with items for sale. (So if you’re interested in taking a peep, go to her blog, and find the link to her Etsy Shop – she’s currently filling it with goodies, so you might have to wait for the link to appear).
Hannah made some blog posts showing everyone what she was making, and it was in one blog post where I saw some really lovely earrings. I wrote her a comment, and asked her if she made Brooches in the same design. (I’m a bit of a scarf and shawl wearer, and use brooches to keep them pinned to me so that they don’t fly off in the wind.). Hannah said that she hadn’t thought of making a matching brooch, but she’d make one for me if I’d like her to.
WOULD I LIKE HER TO MAKE ME A BROOCH??? I darn well nearly passed out with excitement! I wrote to her and said a polite yes please, (all the time panting like a dog whose owner has bought her a new tennis ball!) and asked her to let me know how much, and how she would like me to pay her for it (paypal, bank transfer etc).
Last week …. the brooch arrived!!I could barely contain myself. It’s SO pretty. SO beautiful. And … I felt like such a peacock when I wore it for the first time a few days ago.
I’ve tried to take photographs –but you all know that photography really isn’t my forte, so these photo’s don’t show the true beauty of this magnificent brooch . . .
The brooch was carefully crafted in Polymer and then treated to an Abalone Leaf Metal finish, which then, as the piece is heated, cracks and shows the background colour of the Polymer.
A close-up, to show the cracks.
It looks, in these photo’s that the brooch would be rough to the touch. It’s not. It’s very smooth and very tactile. You don’t ‘feel’ the cracks. But you do see the amazing colours – which again, I’ve tried to capture but failed. Imagine a rain puddle on a black asphalt road, then gentle float some motor oil onto the puddle, and see the colours which suddenly appear, like magic! That’s what this brooch looks like.
The brooch shown from a little further away…. so that you can get an idea of what you’d see if I was wearing it on my scarf and you were stood in front of me.
Hannah also made the card you see in the photographs. See … I told you she’s multi-talented!
The brooch, in real life, is far more beautiful than these photo’s show it to be. The colours change as the light hits it in a different way or from a slightly different angle. So as you turn or walk, the various colours show up and catch people’s eye. It looks really rather expensive.
BIG THANK YOU to Beverly for her box of happy mail – which is already now sitting in my craft room and I have plans to use something out of the box later this afternoon.
BIG THANK YOU to Hannah for the making of my beautiful brooch. I’m thrilled to pieces with it Hannah, and it works so well with my scarves – be they light, floaty scarves or woollen ones. This brooch is perfection. Thank you.
And now I’ve talked the hind legs off a donkey … I shall turn to something which will give you a smile …
How to Shock a Time Traveller:
If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared, what do you think would be the most difficult thing to explain about life today?
One answer: . . . . “I possess a device in my pocket that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. I use it to look at pictures of cats and get into arguments with strangers.”
All hand-made, in a particular mix of polymers which I like to use.Nomoulds were used to make this pin/pendant. All the feathers you see are all hand-made, no two are the same, and each one applied individually by hand. There is, however, one golden, metal feather nestled amongst all the other feathers. Can you spot it?
Suspended beneath the Angel wingsis a glass phial which holds a measured amount of Angel Dust. The lid was applied and then sealed, never to be opened,so that the Angel Dust will be with you forever. Finally, three more feathers were applied to the glass phial, each feather symbolizing Charity, Hope and Faith.
I loved making this pin/pendant and now that it’s finished I love it even more. Hope you like it too.
Thank you so much for coming to visit, and for taking the time to read. While you’re here, please do have a look around. There are many categories on my blog and you can find the links to those categories further up the column on the right hand side of this page. → → →
The Round Tower of my Heart a pin / brooch handmade by Cobwebs
This tiny piece of (almost) nothingness was based upon the last few lines of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Although I’d read the poem before, (way back in my teens), I’d forgotten about it until I opened a book to read one evening and found the ending of the poem at the very start of the book. On the opening page, were these last eight lines of the poem:
I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away!!
Those lines have stayed with me ever since – and I’ve never forgotten them.
It was because of the last four lines of the poem that I decided to make The Round Tower of my Heart pin/brooch.
The Round Tower of my Heart pin.
It’s really quite tiny to look at with the naked eye – at less than an inch at it’s very widest point, and although 2″ tall it looks smaller because of the design. (measurements in the photograph are in centimetres).
I purposely made it with a nod to the more whimsy, but in very dark silvery grey/black, as I wanted it to feel like it was, although a little foreboding and from the depths of somewhere that was dark, actually a quiet, gentle, beautiful place (hence the whimsical beauty of the piece) – but that it was also a place which kept that within its walls a closely guarded secret, and away from the prying eyes of others. Down in the dungeon; in the Round Tower of my Heart.
Thank you so much for visiting, and having a read. I hope the pin brooch is something which holds something for you.
I ~ ‘Shell’ ~ keep you in my Heart made by Cobwebs
This brooch pin was completely inspired by that little piece of shell you see ‘stitched’ into the heart, with polymer ‘thread’.
It was such a beautiful little thing, which I’d found on a beach some years ago. I brought it home with me and popped it in my desk draw for safe keeping, and promptly forgot about it. Never gave it another thought until I found it years later when I tipped the contents of the draw out to have a darn good clean of all the general flotsam and jetsam which cluttered the draw. It was full of things which I didn’t have a place for, so everything and anything which I didn’t have a home for all went into that one bottom draw of my desk.
When I came across this little bit of shellthe memories came flooding back of that holiday years earlier. It totally warmed my heart and made me smile.
So I decided that I had to use the shell in a way which gave it the importance it deserved. … … and this pretty brooch pin was the thing which was born from the memories, love and warmth the shell brought back to me.
Made from polymer (apart from the shell), and then dusted in three colours of Mica powder to bring about the rich warmth which represented the warm smiles the shell had brought to my heart. The little roses and leaves are made from polymer too.
Made from Polymer Clay, each of those tiny little feathers you see, were individually made and attached to a heart shaped base which I built up in the middle in order to give it that plush, plumped up, heart shape which make the Angel Wings.
Before curing the clay I attached a brooch back to the under-side of the wings, so that the wearer could pin the wings to a coat or top. But … I did wonder if I could make these wings into a pendant, so I threaded a couple of links on a chain onto the ‘spike’ of the brooch back and VOILA! … it worked as a pendant too.
Size-wise, the brooch measures (approx) 5cm in length (top to bottom), which is just under 2″.
I liked this little brooch so much that I made a handful of them and gave them as little gifts to members of my family, and close friends.
The golden sheen you see to the feathers is Mica powder, which I gently brushed on before curing the clay.
The Art of Cobwebs 