My ears are full of dreams...

... with these miniature dreamcatchers. I made them today. It was quite difficult to make the web in the centers, because it's so small. I'm very pleased wit the result, though. What do you think?

All the little things

'Enjoy the small things in life,' who hasn't heard -or read- about that sentence? Well, I take it very literally.

Hodgepodge. The feather is from a brown hen.

The snail family.

An ammonite fossil on the left, a Great Ramshorn (Planorbarius corneus) on the right

 Say hello to my little friend! This little crab in clear plastic has the same size as my fingertip.

At the feet of Mother Earth

Today, I took a walk through the park near my boyfriends place. The center of the park consists of artificial, low hills in a female body shape, and is called 'Mother Earth'. So actually, Mother Earth is surrounded by her own park full of trees, ditches and swaying reeds. Although the park is made by human hands, it slowly gets it's own character. Trees grow tall and nature goes it's own way. The farmers mow some paches of grass, so everyone can picknick and play with his dog on the fields, but that's it. I once saw a Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) and when you look closely to the ground between the trees, you can find feces of foxes. I love to just sit on the grass and meditate, at the feet of Mother Earth.

The sky and the clouds were wonderful, today.

Bridges keep your feet dry. All the bridges are made out of wood, so they fit perfectly in their environment.

A branche of an English oak (Quercus robur).

Moss on the bark of a tree.

I picked chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla). When the flowers are dry, I use them to make herbal tea.

Burned flower

As I said in my previous blog post, I am working on a new flower press. I thought it would be nice to show you the work in progress!

This is the actual drawing and text on the press. I put it on using carbon paper (an old-fashioned way to make copies).

After I put the image on the wood, I used my wood burner tool to create the external lines. I use small paintbrushes to color the image.

A messy desk! The light isn't what it should be to take pictures, but I have to use strong artificial light to work proper.

Drying plants

Today I would like to show you a project I am working on. I'm drying plants, because I'm creating a herbarium.

Normally, I use a flower press to dry plants and flowers, but my flower press is full of other leaves and plant pieces, so this plants I dry in a... Bible! Of course you can use every thick, heavy book instead. I use this Bible, because you can close it very firmly by closing the locks on the sides of the book. (By the way, I'm working on a new, bigger plant press, but it is not ready, yet.)

Mostly, I use coffee filter bags. These bags are very absorbent, so the plants will dry quick. Besides, the filter bags protect the delicate pages of the bible against moisture from the plants. I simply cut the compresses edges from the filter bag, fold it open and lay a plant on it to dry. Then, I put another open filter bag on top of the plant and turn some pages to put another plant on, etc.

The way I dry my plants:

This is the front page of my herbarium. When the leaves are dry, I will glue one in the centre of the page.

Some plants, like this thistle, fits in one filter bag. I just close the bag and put it in the book.

Look how wonderful this little thistle is!

This plant didn't fit on a filter bag, so I used ordinary print paper.