Stuff and Things I hashed my way through making

if you can't blind them with science, baffle them with bullshit. all of the craft and hobby stuff I make or find. sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.

[thehobbygremlin]

Today I decided I was going to infuse some coconut oil to use as a scent for pillar candles I want to make.

I smashed some palo santo resin and frankincense resin on seperate bags with a rolling pin (cathartic as all hell) and put around 30g of each into jars, with about 150g (ish) of coconut oil. Both jars went into my slow cooker to warm and infuse for a few hours.

I just wanna make churchy smelling candles

UPDATE:

The oils smells so good, and my hands are soft and smell pretty from straining and jarring the oils. After 3½ hours of being in a water bath, I filtered them earlier through cheesecloth and I have a decent(ish) amount of each. I really like how different the shades are, which makes sense as the palo santo was darker than the frankincense resin.

I have a little 32g jar of each alongside these ones. I didnt have any bigger jars with lids (boo).

[thehobbygremlin]

I recently got into candle making.

This came about originally because I disliked burning a scented candle and having ⅓ to ½ the wax left in the jar. So I learned how to melt remaining wax in to cubes to use as wax melts.

And then i was still left with wax pucks, which I saved in a box to add scents to to reuse.

Eventually, I got pig sick of having 2 quality street tins full of wax and melted them down into bars of each colour and put then in a cupboard for a rainy day.

The first mould was the skull one, and the skulls turn out nice each time. The spine and mini skulls can be a bit hit and miss, but i'm making a bunch to sell, scented like coconut.

[thehobbygremlin]

These are belemnites, and were some of the first fossils I found.

All of these were found by me and Mr. Hobby Gremlin in Skegness while beach combing. Theyre a type of prehistoric squid

[thehobbygremlin]

I have a half pound rock tumbler, as i enjoy going to the coast and picking up milky quartz, agates and things that I think will just look pretty polished.

This was the last lot I tumbled, and most are agates with a couple of nice inclusions. I want to eventually learn how to turn them into keyring or pendants for friends.

[thehobbygremlin]

This is a bit of fossilised coral, most likely the biggest is a rugose coral (from what I found on the internet).

This one was found on a pebble walk at Skegness.

[thehobbygremlin]

I adore fossils and mineral collecting as a hobby.

This is one of the fossils I have found, a very small amonite I collected on a trip to Hunstanton in Norfolk. The cliffs there are gorgeous, and according to wikipedia, The eroding cliffs expose a mid-Cretaceous sequence from the Albian to the succeeding Cenomanian around 100 million years ago, with exceptionally rich Albian ammonite fossils.

(I have no idea what type of tiny amonite this is, I have yet to ID it.)

[thehobbygremlin]

I have on occasion done a bit of knitting and crochet.

I find crochet much easier, since Mr. Hobby Gremlin got me some ergonomic hooks.

I sat and did this cat eared hat in one evening, and it still gets paired up with this coat even now.

[thehobbygremlin]

These were the Halloween scrunchies I made. I think I ended up making two dozen for charity, and they sold out quick. I kept one of each skull print one because I do love skulls.

[thehobbygremlin]

I had a chest of drawers that was going to get skipped/sent to the dump and I H A T E Waste, so I decided to turn it into a little sewing table and recovered the top with some funky vinyl film from dunelm. The handle was from a wardrobe door that was removed ages ago.

I want to do something to the drawer and sides, but i'm not sure what (the fake beech does my head in).

[thehobbygremlin]

I had a go at some simple sewing too. Last year.

My machine is a janome reskin (argos value outside/janome hello kitty inside) and I have had it for years, but never really sewed with it, apart from making totes and using it to fix clothes.

The fabric was from boyes (if you know you know) and is from a William Morris vintage print fat quarter pack. These were the first ones I made, but i also made some for Halloween for a charity to sell in funky skull and pumpkin fabrics.

[thehobbygremlin]

So for Christmas 2 years ago, I got a linoprinting kit.

This was my first attempt and I liked it, despite cutting myself with one of the tools (that shit hurt).

I am aiming to make birthday and christmas cards this year, so I may end up having to learn more about how to draw and to carve lino correctly.