Altered Spoons – Cobwebs Spoonie Spoons

In my last post I told The Story of the Spoons, which, if you missed it, or would like a refresh of the story,  you can find HERE.  (it will open up in a new window for you).

I shared a glimpse, at the end of The Spoon Story, of my own personal spoons which related to me and my own story, and promised that I would share each of the spoons in the photograph with you in a separate blog post — and here I am, as promised, sharing my spoons.

In the photograph above, I’ve numbered each spoon so that you can check it against which spoon you’re reading about and looking at.  There are 12 (twelve) spoons in total and each one is decorated differently than any other in the set, and each of them has a meaning to me.  I’ll give a little explanation of each spoon as I share them.  Shall we get on with it?

SPOON 1

The photo on the left shows spoon 1 and a spoon before I’ve given it a make-over.  (The purple rule at the bottom is showing measurements in centimetres).

The close up photo on the right, is the best one out of about ten that I took.  I think it’s the glitter which made this spoon difficult for the camera to know where to focus.  All that twinkling.

The spoon was coloured using Alcohol Inks, then the bowl of the spoon was treated to three different colours of glitter, and I would like to believe it looks like a magical Fairy sky would look at Sunset, with twinkles of many colours.  The crescent moon is a Tibetan Silver charm, of which:-  the moon part I covered in very fine silver glitter dust.  The bright yellow/gold, is a star.  And the Fairy Wings were given a white glitter covering.

SPOON 2

Spoon 2.  This second spoon talks of my love of Poppies. 

My mother grew some spectacular Poppies in her garden, and after she passed, Mr.Cobs collected the dried out Poppy heads so that I could grow her Poppies in our garden.  And then, after we sold our old cottage a few years ago, Mr.Cobs made sure that I had a plentiful supply of Poppy seeds from dried out Poppy heads to take 200 miles to our new cottage and we began to grow those Poppies all over again in our new garden, here in ‘Cobweb Cottage’.

The handle of the spoon is painted in the Poppies and the colours of them – red, black and yellow – using alcohol inks.  The Poppy in the bowl of the spoon is decoupaged, using printed tissue paper and Modge Podge.  The plant pot on the bowl of the spoon which the poppy is ‘growing’ out of, was made by me from clay and I ‘mossed’ it up a little to give it a bit of texture.

SPOON 3

Spoon 3:  Spoon three is about being a Spoonie – as you might have guessed by the teeny tiny spoon on the handle.  I talked about and explained what being a Spoonie was in my last post:  The Story of the Spoons (link supplied in the first paragraph of this post).  The colours of the spoon don’t quite show up as the true colours – but they represent pain, discomfort, golden days of fabulousness, and a touch of black because pain can be a real meanie.  The teeny tiny spoon on the handle basically tells you what the tea-spoon is about.  Again, the colour on the spoon are made using alcohol inks.

SPOON 4 

Spoon 4 is Butterflies.  I love butterflies.  They have a love of life which shows itself in the way they get so excited when they’re flying.  It’s as if, with every flap of their wings, they’re mind-blowing, excitedly saying, over and over,  “I’m alive!  I’m Alive!  I’M ALIVE!”.

I think it was my very first visit to a Butterfly Farm many years ago, which sealed the deal for me regarding butterflies.  I never knew there were SO many  truly  AMAZING  species of butterflies in the world,  and … I found out on that visit, that some butterflies love painted toe nails!!   One butterfly kept me captive, sat on a bench, with my leg stretched out, while it investigated the pinky red nail polish which I had on my toes.  I think it was at that moment that my heart was stolen by that butterfly and I have an allegiance to them for ever more.

Spoon 4 was created using Alcohol Inks,  and I decoupaged the bowl of the spoon.  The silver butterfly is a Tibetan silver charm, and I added those teeny tiny balls, in three colours.  There’s a name for those teeny tiny balls, and right at this moment of typing I cannot remember what the dickens they’re called.  (sigh – brain fog). If any of you can remember, do give my brain a prod in a comment, and I’ll add it here.  (Big Thank You in advance!)

MICRO BEADS!!!  They’re called Micro Beads!   I would dearly love to tell you that my brain started working again, but I won’t tell fibs.  It was the FANTABULOUS  BEVERLY PARKISON from More Ink Please who has a fully working brain and instantly knew what these brilliant beads are called.  Thank you Bev!  ❤

SPOON 5 

Spoon 5  . .  awww, I love, love, love this spoon.  It’s WAY prettier and filled with heaps more magic, than the photo’s show it to be.  It’s what I think a Galaxy should look like.  And … Magic.  I reckon every magic spell should work only after you’ve waved your wand and a flash of magic happens in the colours and ‘amazingness’ of that spoon.

The colours are all made using alcohol inks,  and I then added different types of glitters and teeny, tiny sequins to, and finished it off with some flat backed pearls on the handle.

SPOONs  6  and  7

Spoon 6  (above)  – is one of a pair.  There’s Mr.Bear (as seen on Spoon 6 above),  and there is a Mrs.Bear which is . . .  SPOON 7 (below)

These bear spoons talk about my affection for Teddy Bears.  Not all of them, but there are some bears which ‘speak’ to me and it’s those bears which I fall in love with.  I don’t collect bears though.

I still have my very first Teddy Bear which was given to me not long after I was born, and is actually older than me – (so there IS something which is older than dirt then!).  As a child I loved that bear so much and he went everywhere with me.  Many years have passed since I arrived on this planet, and I still love him (‘Teddy’ – his name is simply ‘Teddy’)  just as much now,  and there are times that I will pick him up and give him a hug – just like I used to all those years ago.

I did have another bear, bought as a Christmas gift by Mr.Cobs, some years ago.  However, one incredible little boy,  Grandson: Little Cobs,  fell in love with him and,  following an urgent phone call one night from his mummy,  I ended up driving like a speed demon, carrying a certain bear on board, to Daughter (No.2) and Son-in-laws house and taking that bear to a sobbing Little Cobs.  He apparently couldn’t continue in life without it.  Being 2 years old, as he was at the time,  is so tough.  😉

Mr and Mrs. Bear spoons were both made using alcohol inks and decoupaged with bear patterned tissue paper, and finally, some of those tiny beads (which I still can’t remember the name of).   amended to add:  They’re called Micro Beads – thank you Beverly Parkison of More Ink Please, for your brain power!

SPOON 8

Spoon 8 . . . tells of my incredulous awe of Dragonflies.  I  LOVE them! They’re the most astonishing, magical little creatures,  made by One who knows more than any artist will ever know.

Dragonfly’s are incredible insects and I am convinced that they’re magical beasts made for fairyland flight.  (hey, Goblins and the like, who have no wings,  have to get around somehow!)

Alcohol Inks were used to create the magical colours to spoon 8.

SPOON 9

Spoon 9 . . .  kind of speaks for itself.  It has a Cobweb (guess why) on the handle, and a tiny handmade (by me) Fairy House nestled in the bowl of the spoon.

I couldn’t get all the colours to shown up in the photo’s, but there’s blue, green, red, yellow, and peach – all of which were obtained using Alcohol Inks.  The bowl of the spoon is decoupaged in tissue and the tiny Fairy Home is finally attached to the bowl.

SPOON 10

Spoon 10 . . . well there had to be a ‘loving spoon’  somewhere in the mix,  because ‘love’ is what I’m all about!  Again, this spoon has some really beautiful colours to the handle, and I love the way the Alcohol Inks blended together in the forming of the pattern down the handle.

The bowl of the spoon was decoupaged with tissue, and I added a wiggly line of three different colours of glitter all around the edge of the spoon.  Finally, I fixed the pink gemstone heart, set in a rose gold colour metal bezel, to the centre of the bowl, added two gems to the handle and VOILA!  Spoon 10 was complete.

SPOON 11

Spoon 11 … is another spoon which features a Dragonfly.  But this one is flying ….and there’s a story behind it:

I once captured a dragonfly – well … I’m not really sure I ‘captured’ it or if it simply wanted me to share its beauty. . . .

It landed on the windowsill outside the dining room window, and I put my hand slowly and carefully next to it as you would if you wanted a bird to step onto your hand.  The dragonfly did that very thing, and I then got Mr.Cobs to put some leaves into a large round glass vase thing.  I offered up the big glass bowl/vase to the dragonfly and . . .  he walked in!!!  (The dragonfly walked in, not Mr.Cobs! eeek! lol).

I knew that Daughter No.2 would have loved to have seen it, but she was only (around) 8 years old at the time, and it was a school day  . . .  the school was only across the road. . .  and I was known at the school as I did some voluntary teaching there with children who had learning difficulties,  . . . so  . . .  I walked the glass vase/bowl over the road to the school, knocked on the classroom door and spoke to the teacher, showing her what I’d got.  She was thrilled to bits, and asked if perhaps I would leave it with them for the afternoon.  I did …. and then when I collected daughter No.2 at the end of the day I took the vase/bowl outside and we released the dragonfly together.  He took off and we watched him until we could see him no more.

That Dragonfly put a memory in my heart so strong and so magical, that I simply had to dedicate a spoon to it.

And finally . . . 

SPOON 12

Spoon 12. . .    the final spoon in the set of twelve spoons, and is a celebration of my love of Pearls.  I have long strings of pearls, short sets of pearls;  medium lengths of Pearls.   One strand, two strands, three strands and four strands.

I have my Grandmothers Pearls (which I got married in, despite everyone telling me that it was bad luck to wear pearls on your Wedding Day).  I’ve got Pearl Earrings – drops, studs and clips, and pearls in different colours.  I have rings with pearls in them – my oldest is a Pearl and Ruby ring bought for me for Mothers Day when our girls were little.

And I have a brand new set of Pearls, shorter than my smallest set, but they’re BIG pearls and the lustre is like they’ve been dusted in Fairy Dust.  They were bought for me as an early Christmas Present, last month.  I saw them, fell in loooooooove with them, and then discovered that they were (just for ten days) on sale at 50% off!  BARGAIN OF THE YEAR!  Mr.Cobs said ‘yes’ straight away when I mentioned them to him, and so the deal was done.

I only have one set of ‘pretend’ pearls – which I wear when I’m with Little Cobs.  Not saying that he would break them – but I would cry a lot less about those being broken than I would about any of my other pearls being broken.

BIG TIP OF THE DAY .. for all you fellow necklace of any sort wearers:  If ever you break your string of beads or pearls, and A) can’t get them re-strung for whatever reason;  and  B) don’t have the special beading string to re-string them with;  then you can use the second best thing….  Dental Floss to re-string them yourself!

Yes, I kid ye not.  Dental floss is really strong and thin enough to go through a bead/pearl and hold a whole length of beads/pearls.

And that’s it.  Cobs Spoons because she’s a spoonie.  (again, if you don’t know what that is, see the link at the top of this post and you’ll be able to read).

Of course …  you don’t have to be a Spoonie to have a set of decorated spoons.  You could have a set just to celebrate who you are.  Or maybe tell a story which is a favourite of yours or someone elses:   Maybe Christmas Bear Spoons?:  Night Before Christmas Spoons?:  Hungry Caterpillar Spoons?:  Harry Potter Spoons:  Wuthering Heights Spoons?:  Apostle Spoons?  – or any thing,  any person,  any story etc etc which means something to you.

You could make one, two, three or as many spoons as you would like, to keep or to give as a gift to someone else.  For a child.  A Wedding Couple.  Anniversary.  Birthday (maybe even give one each year).  Easter.  Christmas.   Spoons in a theme – cats;  dogs;  birds;  cars; fancy handbags;  expensive shoes;  etc.  A spoon for a nurse, your doctor, your childs teachers.  ANYONE.  Obviously, if it’s a gift you’re going to want to present it nicely,  simply wrapped in beautiful tissue and a ribbon.  But it would make such a great gift and because you were making it for a particular person, for a particular reason, it would be personal, and how much more perfect could that be?!!

Do let me know if you feel inspired to make a spoon or two.  You don’t have to spend tons of money.  Just some Tissue Paper, some Modge Podge,  maybe a little glitter or a small decoration (try looking for junk jewellery at your charity shop which  you can break apart and use some of the elements from), and that could be all you need!  Obviously you can get as decorative as you like.  But these metal spoons are a really easy project to make.  Even a total non-crafter could make these.  Truthfully.

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time with me.  It’s great to have your company. 

Wishing you a blessed rest of your day, and a truly fabulous new week . . . 

[Cobwebs:  Cleverly Disguised as an Adult]

The Story of the Spoons.

For the next few minutes I’d like to invite you to come on a [sort of] journey with me.  We’re going to run through a typical day of yours,   but,  we’re going to do it in a way that most of you might not have done before.

There is a saying which goes:  “Everything in life has to be paid for” …  and, when you think about it, it’s pretty much correct.   Now for your journey, I’m going to give you 12 (twelve) spoons.

Here they are.  Your 12 spoons,  all laid out nice and tidy.  

These just happen to be little wooden spoons, but they could just as easily be metal or plastic.  Or maybe big wooden cooking spoons.  Dessert spoons;  tea spoons;  table spoons …  any spoons you like.  Even a total mixture of spoons.  But just twelve of them.

These spoons are going to be your ‘currency’ – but not for buying clothes, sweets, furnishings, etc.  These spoons are a currency for something else entirely.  Something which we all take for granted.

Anyhoo  …  here’s where we begin your journey through your day, and where we ‘spend’ your spoons.   Let’s start with …

• You wake up in the morning.  You sit up and sit on the side of the bed while you put your slippers on and contemplate standing up.  Now doing that  ‘effort’  has just cost you a spoon.  Your balance is now 11 spoons.

• You stand up and make your way to the bathroom.  That effort cost you a spoon.  10 spoons left. . . .

Now … do you have a shower or go and have a coffee first?  Ah, let’s have a shower. . .

• So … shower, towel dry,  and brush your teeth.  Phew!  That was quite an effort!  You just used 2 spoons.  (yes TWO!).  The balance is now 8 spoons.

• You take yourself off to the kitchen,  make a coffee,  eat some breakfast.  Then either watch a little news on the TV,  or read the paper,  or perhaps you log onto your computer and check the news on-line or read/reply to emails.  Pay another 2 spoons.  The Balance on your spoon account is:  6 spoons.

Let’s see …  next on the list is getting to work – by bus or train or car.  Or ... you may be taking the children to school.  Or perhaps you stay home and so maybe cleaning the house or even maybe going shopping!

• Now I know from experience how frustrating getting to work can be, whether you go by car, bus or train (or a combination of all) so just getting to work is going to cost you at the very least 2 spoons.   Your balance is now 4 spoons.
• BUT…  if you don’t go to work and instead you do some cleaning and tidying of the house, then a short walk of the dog, or just a walk yourself for the fresh air and exercise,   then you too will have used up 2 spoons, so that means your balance is 4 spoons also.

Let’s say that it’s now 11.30am.  You began the day with 12 spoons, and you now have  only 4 spoons left.

4 spoons.  It’s only 11.30am, and you still have things to do before lunch, and still have to get through lunch!  You’d better pace yourself.

You decide to just sit at your desk and work.  Not getting out of your seat or expending more than the necessary energy you absolutely need to, just to get you to lunch time.  Or … if you’re at home, you decide the best thing to do would be to sit and watch some day time TV and relax as much as possible.  You need to hang on to your spoons!!!

• Lunch time arrives.  You have to leave your desk to go and buy lunch, or leave the sofa to go and make lunch.  This effort costs you 1 spoon.  3 spoons left.

Three spoons, and you know that you still have to get home from work,  and, or – if you don’t go out to work, then you have to prepare and cook dinner.  Even if it’s only for yourself, you still have to make yourself something … and there are only 3 spoons left.  It’s now 2.30pm.  You’re going to have to work out how to go through till dinner time with only three spoons.

The afternoon sat at your desk (or on the sofa) sounds like the best thing – but you won’t be able to go and get yourself a coffee or tea, or even water …. because that would cost you a spoon.  But you’re going to get thirsty and then you’ll get dehydrated which will give you a headache.  Oh dear, what to do?

• It’s now 4.30pm and you’re hot, dehydrated, uncomfortable and getting just a little ratty because you’re in need of water.  You HAVE to get water.  You think carefully . . .  and tell yourself to get TWO cups or glasses of water so that you don’t have to stand up and get another glass if you get thirsty again.  So you do that very thing.  Two glasses of water.  You’re happy.  You feel like you’ve beaten the system.  YAY!

But you’ve lost another spoon!  Spoon Balance:  TWO

It’s now time to go home from work, – or time to get off the sofa and begin the preparation of food for dinner.  The journey into work cost you 2 spoons – so you have just enough spoons to get you home.  RELIEF!   All your spoons used up, but you’re on your way home!  phew!  That was a close thing!

Or … if you don’t go out to work:  you use up one spoon preparing a simple dinner.  So therefore you have one spoon left. 

Then doorbell rings.  Aw who the heck can that be? 

• You go and answer the door.  It’s the next door neighbour bringing the big punch bowl that she borrowed for her party last weekend.  She stays for a chat on the doorstep – which is lovely because you haven’t seen a soul all day, so it’s really fabulous to see someone and chat!   She shares with you how the party went and how thrilled she was that she’d borrowed your punch bowl.  A five-minute chat quickly turns into 12 minutes of laughing and talking about the weather, the garden, the cost of living.  But eventually she leaves.  You bring the punch bowl into the kitchen and realise how drained you feel, having had to stand at the door with that heavy crystal glass punch bowl in your arms, getting heavier and heavier as the minutes pass by …. and all the time knowing that if you didn’t sit down in a moment you were going to fall down!

You go into the living room and flop down, exhausted, on the sofa....  and as you do so, you realise that you just used up your last spoon standing at the door chatting.

BALANCE  =  ZERO  –  NO SPOONS LEFT.

You’re home, you’re in a safe place ….  but … you’re hungry.  It’s been a long day.  You’re looking forward to dinner.  But . . .  hang on . . .  how are you going to find the necessary effort to cook dinner, then clear away afterwards, do the washing up and tidy the kitchen up again?  You have no spoons left.

This is a problem.  You can’t have what you can’t pay for.  Spoons have been your currency all day, and you’ve had to spend those spoons carefully.  But …  you now don’t have any left to get you through the last few hours of your day, feed yourself or even take yourself to bed.

So … what if you were able to borrow a couple of spoons?   2 spoons from tomorrows 12.  It will mean that you’ll only get 10 spoons tomorrow – but at least you’ll have an extra two spoons today, which will let you cook the dinner, eat it and then clean up afterwards.

Do you take the spoons?  Knowing that tomorrow you won’t then have enough spoons to last the whole day … or do you decide that you won’t eat dinner?

Lets say you take the offer … you cook dinner, eat and clean up. There. All done and dusted.

However,  later . . .  you want to go to bed – so you’ll need to get undressed, take a shower, brush the teeth, and finally … clamber into bed.

Aahhhh   .. hang on.  You don’t have any spoons left again.  You need an extra couple of spoons for all that, and you’re so very tired.  So weary.  You’re in pain.  Your legs hurt.  Your back is killing you.  Your neck is aching.  You’re having some muscle spasms which are hurting you.  Your arms feel so heavy that you can’t seem to pick them up.  You can’t think straight, your head seems to be all fuzzy.   Your hands keep jerking.  You can feel the nerves all over your body buzzing – as if someone has plugged you into some sort of electrical supply.  You NEED to lie down.  You cannot stand up any longer.

You’re unable to think or even talk properly.  You’re beginning to stutter and you can’t think why on earth your body is letting you down so badly.  Perhaps someone should call an ambulance because this really isn’t right.  You NEED TO LIE DOWN.  But you have no spoons which would enable to get you to your bed.

Readers . . .  what you’ve just read is my version or explanation of something called ‘The Spoon Theory’, originally written by a lady called Christine Miserandino who has Lupus, and who made up the spoon theory in order to explain to her friends how her condition affects her day.

I’ve just walked you/talked you through a typical day for you, or someone you know, and it was my way giving you an idea about what is experienced as a daily life of someone who suffers with a chronic illness and chronic pain.

A healthy person can begin a day with an unlimited amount of spoons (or energy), while a ‘spoonie’ (the term used to describe those who fall under the spoon theory) might have perhaps only 8 spoons at the start of their day, or sometimes even less.

There is no control over the amount of spoons because with chronic illnesses, the person suffering has no control over this important factor..  With a chronic pain syndrome, a ‘spoonie’ could wake up one day feeling great and have 12 spoons, but they could wake up the next day feeling just dreadful and with five or six spoons – it’s always out of the control of the ‘spoonie’ concerned.  Even the simplest of tasks can quickly cause them to run out of spoons.

I know all this because like some other readers here, I myself am a Spoonie, and I have to ration my energy.  I’ve had to seriously ration it over the past X number of months, as things have become more and more of a struggle.

I read about the Spoon Theory (by Christine Miserandino) quite some time ago and it struck me as such a wonderful way of explaining things to someone who had no idea of how a chronic illness and severe pain can seriously affect a sufferers life.  Everyone I’ve talked to about the spoon story and talked them through a typical (for them) day, using an imaginary set of 12 spoons, have had a moment where I actually saw a light bulb go off inside their head as they ‘got it’.  Even Mr.Cobs!

I even have my own set of 12 personalised spoons . . . 

. . .  and these spoons hang in my home, here in Cobweb Cottage.

Each of those spoons started life as an ordinary tea-spoon, but none of them are ordinary any more.  I took photographs of them a couple of weeks ago and have been wanting to share them with you.  But … this blog post has gone on long enough so I won’t bore you to tears with them right now.

However – I will share each teaspoon with you in my next post, so that if you want to make yourself some decorative spoons which mean something special to you, or maybe make one or more decorative spoons for someone else, then you might find a spark of inspiration from gazing at my spoons and it could set you off on a course of creativity which you hadn’t thought of before.

Next blog post in a few days time,  …. I promise.  🙂

The reason for sharing the Spoon Story with you today is because I spoke about it,  a couple or so weeks ago,  in a reply to a comment which someone posted on the blog here.  Another blogger read that comment and then we chatted about it, and I promised that I would post a blog post all about the Spoon Story (my version) – and said I’d post it in two weeks time.  Well…. it’s now three weeks (or a bit more), but real life and a poorly doggy have got in the way, but, as the saying goes,  ‘better late than never’, eh?

Thank you so much for coming and for taking time out of your day to spend a coffee moment with me.  Your company is very much appreciated. . .  but then … you know that already.  😉  

May you have a blessed rest of your day, and a truly lovely week.

Sending you much love and a whole bundle of squidges ~