Trompe l’oeil is derived from the French meaning “to fool the eye” and is a form of art that produces extremely realistic images that create an optical illusion by making them seem to be three dimensions. There is an ancient Greek story about a contest between to rival painters about 464 BC that tells about […]
Knitting & Crocheting
Knitting and crocheting both have similar definitions in the dictionary, a method in which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Although they have similar definitions in the dictionary and can both produce beautiful results there are differences. Crochet derives from a French word meaning hook and consists of pulling […]
Marquetry
Marquetry is an art that forms pictures by combining different colored veneer pieces but may include anything from bone, tortoiseshell, pewter, brass, ivory or fine metals. In fact there is record of some marquetry that was created with colored straw in some specialty European spa resorts near the end of the 18th century, so you […]
Aprons
I’m sure most of us have watched TV reruns of Leave It To Beaver, My Three Sons, or any of the number of other classic TV shows that portrayed the “perfect mother”. The TV Mom’s always were able to manage the whole house, keep the kids in line, cook the perfect meal while always looking […]
Greeting Cards
According to a dictionary, a greeting card is an illustrated and folded card featuring an expression of friendship and/or other sentiment. That description doesn’t really show the thought or feeling behind giving or receiving a card. According to what I have found, the history of greeting cards goes back a long ways. The ancient Chinese […]
Temari Ball & Tea Bag Art
I recently wrote an article about some of the different types of crafts or hobbies that are available. When doing some research to see how many I could find, I came across a couple that I had never heard of and they really piqued my interest. Tea Bag Art and Temari Ball Art. Not having […]
Rag Rug Weaving
With the emphasis in today’s world on recycling, going green and not wasting our natural resources, I think we would have been better off today if we had paid more attention to our ancestors. They had the practice of reusing items and not wasting anything from the start. One of the items that they recycled […]
Dichroic Glass
Dichroic glass, commonly called dichro for short, is glass that bends light to reflect colors as a prism makes a rainbow. I will give you a hint as to how it is pronounced (dye-crow-ick) because I certainly didn’t get it right the first time I tried it. The unique feature about this glass is that […]
Quilting Memories
The early settlers brought with them their skills and techniques for quilting on cloth. From there, quilting grew in many ways. From decorations on cloth, to layers of cloth quilted for bedding and up to elaborate quilts and quilted wall hangings. Quilts were known to have become family heirlooms and handed down to the next generations […]
Embroidery
Embroidery is one art form with a long history that today’s technology has taken to a whole new level. From what I have read embroidery has been around since man began to wear clothes back to the Iron Age. According to history it all started when man realized that he could use thread to join […]