Pin – The Art of Cobwebs

I’d like to introduce you to a ‘Bodkin’ called: The Lord’s my Shepherd ~ by Cobwebs.

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.

Is it Time for Tea?

About two weeks ago I went into my local Charity store to have a look around and see if there was anything I needed which I didn’t know I needed until I saw *it*. (what ever *it* might be).

Amongst the china were some little cups and saucers which someone had made into pin cushions. “One of those would be great to replace my current pin cushion, because the one I’ve got has really had its day!” I said to Mr. Cobs. So I duly bought said pin cushion and took it home.

The following day I found that this ‘pin cushion’ didn’t want to the job it was supposed to do at all. The felt which the maker had used as the ‘cover’ was that thick childrens felt – and it just didn’t want to accept that it’s job was to allow pins through it. After a week of trying to jiggle (force) pins into it, I was about to throw the whole thing in the bin in frustration, but something told me I should try removing the red velvet ribbon around the rim of the teacup, and the white felt – along with whatever was inside that felt, and, if the cup was still in an OK condition, perhaps I could re-make the pin cushion. So I did. And it was. So I did!

I cleaned up the glue and bits of velvet threads stuck to the cup by using an emery board, then gave it a wipe. I then went and had a bit of a look through my bits of fabric box. I found some bits of soft denim fabric from some old striped jeans I had and laid it flat on my desk and with a chalk pencil I drew around the saucer (and added about half an inch, just to be sure). I then did a running stitch all around the circle of denim, and left a long thread at the end – but didn’t knot or over-sew the end as I wanted to be able to draw that circle together.

pin-cushion-cup-2-height — The cup itself (without the saucer) is just a shade under 6cm tall – *which is around 2.25 inches*. Such a tiny little cup.

Then using some foam (from an unused sponge), which I’d cut to shape (so that I could see that it fitted into the cup as I wanted it to do), and then wrapped a little toy stuffing (or cushion pad inner stuffing) around the outside of the sponge, to give it a bit of a filler to make it more ’rounded’ in shape.

I sat this wrapped sponge onto the middle of the circle of fabric and began to pull the loose threads, which in turn began to gather up around the foam. This is a part that you have to do carefully, as you want to make sure that all the foam and stuffing are in the exact places you need it to be, and that it’s all encased inside that fabric.

After this, I re-threaded the needle with those threads and stitched the gathered up denim closed, so that it wouldn’t come undone.

pin-cushion-cup-3-width — The width of the saucer is roughly 10.3cm – *which is around 4 inches.*

I tested it in the cup to make sure I’d got it just right, then, using Pinflair Glue Gel in a syringe, I squeezed out a thin line of Glue Gel all around (about an inch down) the inside of the top of the cup, then carefully placed the denim ‘parcel’ into the cup, and once happy, I gave a gentle press downwards, to make sure that the fabric actually was at the bottom of the cup, and that it had touched the glue gel, all the way around and so would stick & be held in place.

Then it was simply a case of decorating around the edge. I chose some Jumbo Ric-Rac and some tiny dollshouse Pom-Pom Trim in the same shade of pink as the Ric-Rac, and hand stitched them around the edge, to finish it all off.

This was SO easy to make that I think even Little Cobs (grandson) could manage this one. And the best thing about this? From start (removing the old ‘pin cushion’), to finish …. the whole thing took me about 30 minutes! One – Half an Hour craft project!

pin-cushion-cup-5 — *Handle to the left ….*

Oh! Hang on…. NO!!! The BEST THING about this is . . . IT NOW TAKES PINS! It’s now a really real Pin Cushion!

pin-cushion-cup-6 — *. . . and handle to the right!* … A view from above, so that you’ve ‘seen’ all the way around it, in case you want to make one for yourself … or for someone else.

If you do decide to make one of these for yourself.... the day before you actually make it, glue the cup to the saucer with some strong glue. Not crafters glue, or PVA. Use something which is suitable for china.

If you have Pinflair Glue Gel, I’d guess that would do a great job – but remember to put enough glue on (which ever glue you use), because there’s a little rim around the bottom of a cup (normally), which will make the base of the cup stand proud from the saucer – so you need to put enough glue so that it makes a good grab onto the saucer and the cup.

And that’s all there is to it!

This was such an easy make that I wasn’t going to post about it. I felt like a bit of a fake because I hadn’t sweat blood and tears over it. But then I thought that maybe there might be someone who needed a pin cushion and so could make something like this in their spare time.

Happy Thursday all. Sending squidges to you, from me!

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The Round-Tower of my Heart.

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.

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.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

I ~ ‘Shell’ ~ keep you in my Heart.

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 shell the 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.

Have a great start to your coming week!

Angel Wings Brooch.

post 1 – in ‘Polymer Clay’

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.