GIY Tutorial How to make felted bracelet with buttons

I still have some buttons left from my crocheting adventure. I don’t like nice items to rest idle on my working table in my studio so I came up with an idea of a felted bracelet with buttons.

To make the bracelet we will need undyed felting wool, buttons of different colors and sizes, bubble plastic wrap, a needle and a white thread.



I first started with felting a bracelet. If you don't feel like felting today you can always buy a prefelted wool in any of craft and supplies stores. If you decide to go with a prefelted piece just cut a rectangle shaped piece out of a prefelted wool. The measurements could be about 2 and ½ inch by 9 and ½ inch.



I prefer to felt a bracelet myself as, thus, I’m able to make it as soft and thin as I wish.

On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size. I’ll go with about 3 and ½ inch by 12 inch shape this time.



Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Liquid soap should be fine. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt. When the wool has felted I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely.



On my bracelet I lay out buttons of different sizes and colors. I can color coordinate them and add some extra buttons here and there for the pattern to look the way I want it to be.

I sew on buttons one by one with a needle and white thread. It makes sense to sew largest buttons first. It will help you preserve the original pattern and distribute buttons evenly on the bracelet.



Once all the buttons are on the bracelet it’s time to make a snap. One of the buttons can easily be used as a snap. Just make a cut on the opposite side of the bracelet for the button to fit in.

The bracelet looks bright and unique! It can be a great gift for someone who loves buttons. One can always substitute simple buttons with vintage ones or use dyed wool instead of white one as a base.

Happy crafting!

Artisan rye bread Russian style

My husband Andrei is an avid artisan bread baker. He bakes all sorts of breads including baguettes and focaccia breads. However, our all time favorite is Russian style dark rye artisan bread. That's the bread we grew up with and the one that's impossible to find in any grocery store around. We would like to share the recipe with all the bread baking enthusiasts and bread lovers.

Ingredients:
300g rye flour
250g unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
100g mother starter at 100% hydration (i.e., consisting of 50g flour and 50g water)
370g water

Notes:

It's great if you have scales at home as bread making requires a high level of precision.
Give your mother starter a feeding 12-24 hours before you start. It makes sense to keep the starter at 100% hydration, i.e., to add equal amounts of water and flour by weight.

The process of mixing and baking:

In a bowl, mix flours and salts with hands. Add starter and mix in, breaking up starter to small chunks and mixing thoroughly with flour. Transfer to a Kitchenaid mixing bowl, knead using the hook attachment on medium-low speed for 5 minutes (or knead on a flat surface with floured hands). Coat a plastic or glass bowl with spraying oil, transfer dough, cover, let rise for 12 hours. Coat a bread pan with spraying oil. Transfer dough to a floured surface, shape into a cylinder equal in length to the bread pan. Transfer to the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for two hours. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Remove plastic wrap, and brush dough lightly with water, being careful not to de-gas it in the process. Bake for 45-50 mins, or until internal temperature reaches 200F. Remove from pan immediately, let cool. Slice and enjoy!

Rye bread is very healthy. It tastes great and stays fresh for up to a week. Back in Russia we eat it with all sorts of spreads including sour cream, butter, mayonnaise but the all time favorite is a slice of a fresh rye bread just sprinkled with a bit of salt.

Virginia Dogwood in bloom

I've never seen a dogwood in bloom prior to moving to Virginia. However, in Richmond, VA dogwoods are everywhere. Beautiful in their simplicity dogwood flowers add color to our backyards. They come in all shades of pink, white and even greenish colors.

April is the dogwood month as all the trees start to bloom. One can see spots of red, pink and white in the otherwise bright green palette of spring forests. In the fall dogwood's bright red berries will be an excellent source of nutrients for birds, rodents and other small animals.

Covered with many large and beautiful flowers dogwood trees look rather like brides waiting for something great to happen in their life. Plant a dogwood in your yard and you will have a fairy bride coming to your yard every spring.

Red Berry summer bracelet

I love bright colors of the summer: red as a berry, blue as the sky or the ocean, yellow as a sunflower. They bring so much positive energy and create a happy attitude. Besides we usually wear bright and airy dresses in the summer and it's always nice to complement them with equally vivid accessories. Bracelets are wonderful additions to any outfit as they are non-distractive and easy to wear. One can put a few of them to experiment and mix of colors.

I usually make my bracelets of wire and Czech glass beads. I should admit the Czech beads are the best as they are of very good quality and come in huge selection of shapes and colors. This time I created bright red berry bracelet that looks fantastic on one's hand. It's not flashy but stylish, elegant and fits one's hand just perfectly. It could be a great wedding accessory or something a woman or a girl could wear every day.