Handmade by Rae

I made this recently for Tatiana, our amazing piano teacher, to give a boost to her young students who are too short to comfortably reach the piano keys when sitting on a regular piano seat.  I found the foam left over from an earlier project and cut it to fit an old shelf which I’d sawed in half, then sewed a cover from some bright red fabric from my pile of  “useful reclaimed materials”.  My old staple gun was pressed into service to fasten fabric to wood, then felt glued over the base to create a scratch-free surface.

The students, and their parents, love it!

Piano Seat Booster

And here’s the one I’d made earlier for Ethan to use at home, made from the seat of a chair that broke years ago, covered in fabric from a pair of old curtains found in our basement when we moved into this house.

Ethan’s booster

Ethan’s school supplies list called for a soft pencil case to fit in his desk so, of course, we had to make one.

We had all the materials on hand:
flame fabric from the kindle cover project; zippers reclaimed from old backpacks; clear plastic from our kitchen tablecloth; black tape from the wallets project – and a brand new sewing machine to play with!

It went so well, we made one for Aron too.
(…and, judging from the positive comments coming home, we might need to make some more!)

Clear Pencil Case

Viewed from the back

When Ethan’s teacher went on maternity leave, he wanted to give her something for the new baby.

We made a template using a script font and printed it onto gridded paper to mark the nail positions.  He selected a different colour for each letter then used a random pattern to “colour it in”.

Baby Jason and his family loved it.

Art in progress

The final nameplate

Ethan made this for Mother’s 91st birthday this year.

He went online to find a shape he wanted to make, then with Daddy to the store to get the wood cut to size. He covered it with grey felt using a staple gun (with help) to anchor the edges, and even hammered in most of the nails himself! On the back, he wrote his birthday message in permanent marker, practicing on scrap felt first to make sure it looked perfect.

She loved it, and was especially touched because Father used to make similar pictures in the 1970s!

String Star

Looking for an interesting new art challenge, Ethan came upon string art and has made it his own.  This was his first creation, using two different colours of string to form a heart shape.  Daddy helped with hammering in the nails!

String Heart

Rosin is an amber-coloured block used for lubricating the bow of stringed instruments like the cello.  It seems that small boys are compelled to drop it regularly and we have discovered the hard way that it is brittle and cracks easily.

Having just bought our third rosin block from Amazon, it seemed time to create a protective sack in which to transport it.  You may recognise our much-loved flame fabric and “secret” leopard skin lining. The padding is bubble-wrap from a recent delivery of school supplies.

Let’s see how it holds up in regular use!

Flames outside	Leopard skin lining	Bubble wrap in the middle
…and the completed rosin sack

Wallets Galore

When the boys asked for a wallet, we looked at those around the house, pulled together the design elements we liked, raided the sewing box – including zippers from old backpacks and clear plastic from the packaging of a new sheet – and whipped up a selection as birthday presents for their friends.  As you can see below, all incorporate a “secret” leopard-skin pocket.

Multiple Pockets

…and our trademark leopard-skin lining!

The product of a creative half hour with some felt and an old bed-cover, the GuineaPod allows guinea pigs (or other small animals) and small boys to sit together comfortably, and relatively still!

A&E with Shaggy and Freddy in their GuineaPod

…and in close-up, showing the “handmade-by-rae” label