Copper Star Creation

There is a wonderful ADVENT CHALLENGE which runs each year

over in the laughing purple goldfish group on Ravelry

click here to check it out

Each day during DECEMBER, a nominated member will post a

Christmas Decoration they have made using recycled goodies

It's truly incredible to see how creative some people can be!

I’ll be honest here…

I didn’t really have much time to allocate to the challenge this year!

Even all my brain space is currently occupied with a million other things at present…

But somewhere in the deepest, darkest corners of my mind, 

an idea started to filter in - and I just couldn’t shake it.

I wanted to create the most glorious Christmas star

using some of the copper wire I have been stripping from old electrical cables…

In my mind it was perfectly shaped from all angles, each arm was identical,

 and the centre of the star was slightly raised to form a small peak…

In reality, it’s a little quirkier than that - AND I LOVE IT

Best of all - since I already had the wire stripped - this star took about three minutes to make!!!!

(it’s taken me longer to put this post together, than it took to make the decoration)

I just formed myself a basic star shape, 

wrapped the arms a few times to bulk them up,

 then a few wraps around the centre to bind it all together…

Oh - and a tea bag string for the hanger! Of course.

Celestial/Outer Space Challenge

 

Thanks to everyone who posted in support of my 'mustard' addition to the Freeform Hat. I've worked on it some more, and I'm feeling a bit happier about the colour choice now. Will hopefully be able to post some FINISHED photos of the piece tomorrow.

But for today I'm heading back to that Designer's Challenge I talked about earlier in the month.

My plans changed dramatically on this!

I originally thought I'd go with an alien style toy (as I so often do) but it would seem that the TOY idea didn't fit with the SCULPTURE/ART FORM requirement.

Oh well... back to the drawing board...

So then I was planning a set of three alien heads for the wall. Each one was going to be the size of a human head. I'd assessed my 'plastic coated cable' stash, and decided that I had enough green to make two of the heads, and would make the third head in red.

I couldn't have been more wrong!

I had to make the first head so tiny... and even then I ran out of cable...

So it was back to the drawing board AGAIN

This time I went for a different theme, and steered away from ALIEN and more towards CELESTIAL.



I worked up my representation of the sun, crocheted from recycled copper wire and embellished with a random assortment of beads. It's a piece of wall art, which measures 27cm across. I haven't yet decided where in my house it will live!

Here's the competition thread if you would like to see the other entries.

saved...

It turns out that the old Christmas lights which I showed you yesterday, was not one continuous cable.... but that the cable was cut at each fitting. So I have lots of short lengths of cables.



Inside each cable is a bunch of fine copper wires. Certainly worth keeping - for a yet to be determined project! I'm not planning to strip them just yet. It may well turn out that I want to use them as they are... and they are easier to store in this state.



I've also saved these plastic rings... they'll come in handy, too... and for the moment they can live in my bead jar.

think before you throw

Oops... almost made a big mistake today...

We were sorting through some Christmas decorations, and came across an old set of lights which no longer work because of a wiring problem. I was ready to toss them, when Mr Goldfish said... "hang on a minute!"

First he collected all the globes, to use as replacements for our other sets of lights.

Then he handed me the cables... "you'll want to see what's inside here, won't you?"

Well... of course I do!!!!

more electrical cables

Mr Goldfish managed to salvage some more electrical cable for me, this time from work. Apparently it was being discarded because it is too short to be useful! Not too short for me though...



This one is a seven-core cable. See all those colours inside? Count them... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... That makes it seven-core cable.

Unfortunately I won't be able to use those pretty colours. As is, they are just too thick to knit or crochet. In fact, when you bend them you get stress marks in the colourful plastic coating. So I will strip them even further. Right down to the copper wires.

Not sure what I will use it for. But I'm sure it would look fabulous worked up with some recycled glass beads. If you've had any experience working with copper wires like this before, please let me know. I'd love to hear any tips you might have.

a surprise from my husband

It was late. The kids were all settled for the evening, and the chores were out of the way. Time to relax.

Mr Goldfish approached me. His hands were hidden behind his back. He had that sweet puppy-dog look in his eyes. "I've got a surprise for you"



Now what wife wouldn't appreciate a gift like this? I was so excited. I may in fact have danced a little jig. A handful of old telephone cables he had discovered while cleaning through the study. Who needs diamonds?

No. He wasn't planning to tie me to the bed with them. Nor proposing that I tie him to the bed....

See that tiny bit of red and green wire poking out from one of the cables? I'll be crocheting with that. Or maybe knitting. Perhaps macrame? Who knows!

I wonder what other colours I will find hiding inside?