Who is Orange Sink?

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Rice Lake, WI, United States
My home town is Rice Lake, a small town in northern Wisconsin. I own Red House Wool Studio~ an in-home wool and rug hooking business. I enjoy collecting and decorating with antiques and primitives. Orange Sink Blog is a journal of my interests and ramblings about life. Cathy Greschner

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Friday, March 25, 2011

Icicles in March Meshness!

Mother Nature decorated a pine tree in our front yard while we slept last night. It appears she worked all night hanging the conical shaped little ornaments more commonly know as icicles.  Well, I hate to be the one to inform ya Mom Nature but you are a few months behind or ahead of yourself.  Could have used these free decorations around December.  These shots were taken this morning March 25th. 

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On a more warm and inviting note, things have been progressing along here in my well lit studio.  Seems the new lighting Dave installed out there has given me more energy to get drawing up some patterns.  Or maybe it's just that I can finally  SEE what I am doing without the Ott Lamp hovering over my head!

In the photo below I am working on transferring a pattern onto linen.  The rug pattern is one I designed called Mary's Garden.  Mary actually requested that I design and make this rug sometime last year I think late summer.  Well...... as you can see I'm a lot like Mother Nature.  I tend to ignore what season it is and when the creative urge strikes that's when I finally get around to doing my creating.  But to be truthful it's 
probably due to procrastination more than anything.

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The material I'm using to transfer my pattern is soft plastic drywall mesh.  It has a nice self adhesive backing and you can see through it.  I purchased it on Ebay about three or four years ago.  The seller I purchased from is no longer selling it.  I checked the local stores here that carry building supplies and would have had to special order it.  But you can Google (life would end without Google, no?)  drywall mesh and find several places that sell the rolls.  The size of my roll is 38 inches by 150 feet.  I just cut the amount I need and lay my paper pattern underneath and  trace onto the mesh. Peel it off ( nothing sticky or  anything remains) and stick it on to your fabric backing.  Trace away.  It's way better than red dot tracer or anything because it holds your pattern in place and stays there. Then you can keep your pattern and use it over and over and over and over.....

Thank me later if you ever try this stuff.  If you do finely detailed rugs it may prove a little more difficult for the finer lines because of the density of the mesh.  But you could go back and fill those in free hand.  

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I hope this is useful information for those of you that do a lot of pattern designing and transferring of patterns.  It has made that task for me a little less daunting.  But sad to say it hasn't helped the procrastination side of me one bit. 

Cathy G



20 comments:

  1. I'm going to scout out that mesh!! It's perfect. I'm tired of trying to keep tulle netting still, even weighted with several books which don't seem to do the trick at all! I also love, love, love your pattern. Is this a commissioned rug? Are you offering the pattern for sale? It's a beauty!
    Courtney

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  2. Cathy ~
    You are just full of great ideas! I've never seen that used before. I like using window screen much better than red dot, but this might be even better, but Lord knows I don't need 150' of it...lol!
    I have to say your tree is gorgeous, but I'm with you...enough is enough. Oh, well. At least it won't stick around long :)
    I'm good at that procrastinating stuff, too.
    Pug hugs :)
    Lauren

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  3. Thanks for the great tip. The adhesive would make it so much easier. It's a darling pattern. Sorry about Mother Nature - we woke to white too but not that much.

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  4. I am going to ask my husband about this. what a great idea. I need a studio all I have is a spare bedroom and a closet.
    Cathy

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  5. Wow that mesh looks great and simple!! It almost makes me want to try doing my own design sometime. Thanks Cathy!!! Oh ps...sorry about the icicles but they sure are pretty.

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  6. Now that is the best idea I've seen yet for tracing a pattern. Never even heard of drywall mesh. I googled it and found that you have to be careful...some of it is drywall mesh TAPE which would be much to narrow so be sure to search for the mesh on a roll. Thanks so much Cathy. Appreciate the help. Your hooking is beautiful! ~Cyndi

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  7. What a great tip, thank you for sharing. We too had snow, but thankfully just flurries. Tomorrow sun, temperatures in the twenties no signs of spring for us as of yet. Have a great weekend.

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  8. Hi Cathy,I've heard of this tip and I'm not sure but I think that it was on Rug Hooking Daily a while back and I didn't know what they were talking about. Thanks for the picture. I love your floral pattern.

    Procrastination is going rampant around here. Love your icicle tree, so pretty but so useless, for this time of year, lol. JB

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  9. Hi Cathy,
    Mother Nature needs to save the lovely decorations for next year! Doesn't she know it's Spring and the Christmas decorations should be Long Gone?!
    In our area the drywall mesh can be purchased as 'crack stop'. And yes, it's very handy for not-bery-detailed transfer. A lot of my hooker friends love it. Red dot is NO FUN!!!
    What we need next is an antidote for procrastination. Do you think they sell something at Lowe's?
    BTW, your hair looks beautiful!

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  10. Kathy, there is a product on the market called "crack." It is the same type of material except the mesh is smaller, also sticky on one side that is wonderful for transferring patterns. Some sewing stores carry it. It also comes on a roll and is 36" wide. I use it all of the time. It is made especially for hobbiest. Hope this helps.

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  11. Oh those pine trees are beautiful! I have never seen a tree naturally look like an indoor Christmas tree with the glass icicles! Know what I mean? I guess the proper weather conditions don't exist here in central nj. lol! Thanks so the tip on the mesh. I have heard many people talk about it... though (I think) this is the first time I have actually seen it being used.

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  12. You can find a roll of the mesh at Menard's bck by the sheetrock and drywall compound. It's called crack stop or crack ease - something like that. I couldn't find it at Lowe's or Home Depot - only Menard's. I think it was about $37.00 for a big roll.

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  13. Thanks for sharing that great tip, Cathy. PS Love that flower design. Cheery.

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  14. The design looks great! Worth the wait :) ♥. I've heard of that mesh-- seems like it can be tricky to find, but worth the search. Blessings-

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  15. Thanks for the heads up on the sticky backed tracing stuff! I am out of red dot and was about to go purchase some tomorrow from the fabric store. I'll look around for some of this stuff! Sounds great!
    Sheri

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  16. Thanks for sharing that tip...I hate using tulle because it always seems like it is alive when trying to handle it..I pin it down but it always seems to move...I will try and find this...
    Your tree looks gorgeous, by the way...

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  17. I agree ~ thanks for the drywall mesh tip!! I use fiberglass screening, which works really well ~ but the sticky back factor is an added appeal!! And I agree ~ your hair looks fabulous!

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  18. It is an awesome tip - thanks for sharing. I will share with my students this afternoon.

    And Mother Nature did an amazing job on that tree!

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  19. Hi Cathy

    That's a great tip. I still use red dot and have to pin it to the linen. Your pattern is wonderful! Mary should just love it. You know, I couldn't get Gundrun to send me a catalog for the longest time. I even ordered something and asked them to put it in with the order, which they did not. So..... I requested again (I now have a customer #) and got one in the mail. I don't think it went out with the regular catalog mailing. My friend gets them, and has never purchased anything.... and I used to get them, then they suddenly stopped. So,,,,, that's not much help I know. The reason I ordered was that they're no longer charging shipping. Even all the way to the States!
    Thanks for checking in, always a treat to hear from you, and love your work!
    xo
    dulcy

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  20. I just have to say I am so jealous of your beautiful hair!!! You look beautiful! Its Emmylou Harris hair!

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