DIY Hairy Buddha Bust

Remember the Medusa bust I posted about a couple of days ago? Using it as a source of inspiration, we decided to make them ourselves.

What you need:

• Hollow bust (we used a Buddha head)
• Stone drill bit
• Stone cutter
• Potting ground
• A ‘hairy’ plant
• Ear and eye protection (you’ll need it)

First of all we drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the Buddha. Then we drew a very nip-and-tuck-ish cutting line through its hair. Tom used a stone saw to cut through the stone. I have to tell you, it really felt like preforming brain surgery on a Buddha! We then put potting ground in, and planted a pretty hairy plant. We’re so happy with the result.. it feels so zen!

Honestly, I have the bestest boyfriend ever!!

Postal Chair – before & after

The Before & After!

Have a look here if you want to see the stripping apart.
And have a look here if you want to see how we built it up again.

Postal Chair–part 1

After buying what Tom calls an ‘atrocious chair’, we decided to give it a new look (to make it a little less atrocious in Tom’s eyes. This is the first time we’re trying a chair with nails, so don’t judge if we fail miserably.
We got the nails out with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, but we didn’t manage to salvage a single nail! We’ll have to find a way to get them out a little more carefully. Anyway, we got the nails out, and the staples that were beneath the nails. We ended up with a pretty clean chair. Along the way it became clear that the chair had been reupholstered before, we think the original was a reed chair. You can see the reed holes in the last picture.
Now it’s off to the Lapjesmarkt in Utrecht to get some supplies!

Dyeing Fabric With Food

Last night when I was soaking a blue stained white shirt in chlorine, it occurred to me that I should give dyeing fabric another shot. After the debacle of trying to dye the couch green – I ended up replacing the covers all together, I should really give it another shot. However I was not prepared to lay down another 9 euro’s for a package of dye. So, I hit google in search of natural dyes. My mother used to dye wool in her hippy years, meaning it should be possible. I found a couple of recipes using either vinegar or salt as a fixing agent, and various types of food and herbs as dyes. I even found a pretty good chart of what (easy) foodstuffs give which result (from Anjou).

 

This morning I pulled an old cotton pillowcase from the closet to give it a try. Since it had been used before I decided only to hand wash it briefly. Than I brought 1 cup of vinegar (the cheep one), 1/2 cup of sea salt, and four cups of water to a boil and added the pillowcase. Every recipe I encountered said to let the fabric boil for an hour.. I’m still waiting for that now. By the way, vinegar really stinks when boiled.

After thoroughly rinsing the pillowcase, I brought some more water to a boil and added about 1/2 cup of tumeric. I put in the pillowcase and stirred it through for about ten minutes. After that I rinsed it and dried it inside.

The color is really amazing! However I’m still unsure if the color will keep. I’ve been scouring the internet to find a way to fix the color, but no luck so far. We’ll be testing it out over the next couple of weeks, and if the color sticks we’ll have a winner method!

Dining Room Table Redo

Since the weather is so nice today, I decided to stop procrastinating and sand down our dining room table. We got the table before we moved into this apartment at a second hand shop. Although it was not that expensive it looked pretty good. The table top had once been painted with something clear, and this paint had been slivering off. So the previous owners (and we did the same thing) waxed the top to keep it water proof. Although it was not ugly, it lacked the shine it deserved. 

With the help of the cat I started sanding it down, until a nice clean table was left.

And then I finished it off with two layers of Pledge furniture polish (yes, the expensive one). And this vibrant beauty is now in our living room!