Beading

Assistive Tools

by CZeitler

Yes, I am only in my early 40s. It could be commonly thought that I should not need any type of assistive tools since I do not have any major disabilities. However, I have been crafting ever since I was about 5 years old, so my joints see a lot of stress. Due to an incident at work, a previous job, I had to have ligament repair surgery in my left wrist…and according to the orthopedic surgeon my bones in that wrist are dissolving. Horrible things that the human body can do for 800 please Alex.

All of this means that if I want to keep crafting and maintain a good quality of life for myself I need to take care of the joints as best I can. In addition to physical concerns, I also have ADHD which means that organization is very difficult for me. I can put things ‘away’ and have a logic to my organization, however, I then forget where I put everything and cannot remember if I have something or not. The one that drives me insane is ‘I just saw that five times in the past week, but where did I see that?’

Due to these circumstances my assistive tools mostly revolve around keeping my joints supported and healthy, as well as basic organization, or advanced organization if you prefer. I will be mentioning some basic devices that work for overall maintenance of joint health and organization, but most of what I will be talking about is specific toward crafting.

Starting with organization, my favorite tool is this label maker. I can customize the size, font, tape, and even add some symbols to the labels using a simple and free app from my phone. The labels are not huge, however I can easily get two lines of text while still having them legible. I use these to label the clear boxes that I prefer to use for storage. I have also begun using what is sold as a photo storage container, that has smaller containers inside, for storing a wide variety of items. Each individual mini box is labelled inside of the larger container. To keep things in order I have set up a system where each item in the box is labelled on a sleeve, and the item name on the sleeve corresponds with the box label. I currently have 3 of these boxes, though they are not all full, so I have a sheet that corresponds to each box. It sounds complicated, however it is easier for me to pull the sheets, check which box has what I am looking for, then pull the box. Previously I had been pulling the boxes out, opening them, looking at what was in each compartment, and then putting things back willy-nilly. For me, organizing is often a trial-and-error method which is why I seem to be constantly rotating through different types of organizing supplies.

I also enjoy putting labels on several sides as well as the top of a box, that way no matter how I choose to store it I have an easily seen label. While I prefer clear containers, sometimes it is not possible such as in my Kallax Units. This is another way that my labelling system comes in handy. Not to mention my unfortunate tendency to put things on top of other things, labels come in handy then, though I hope that my final bookcase will help prevent that tendency by forcing a place for everything. This will probably mean a spate of attempting to use things up and de-stashing items, however I hope that the result is a productive workspace in 2026. Enough about organization, how about getting to items that help my hands, joints, and more?

The first three items are for holding items so I do not have to pinch things quite as often or tightly. The first and third pictures are items that are intended for people working on circuit boards, soldering, or similar. I can easily use them to hold a piece of embroidery I am working on, some fabric that I plan on stitching, wire for a piece of jewelry I am working on, or similar. The top middle is a clamp intended for woodworking. Since it is very adjustable I can use it with an embroidery hoop to hold things steady while I try to stitch. The larger picture on the bottom is of some ‘bead stoppers’ intended to be placed on wire/string/filament that you are putting beads on so they do not fall off of the end. I have not been beading much recently, though I have a couple of projects that might change that in the near future.

Just today I have been working with my embroidery machine, and so had to discover a new assistive device. I have a small flat head screwdriver that I use to tighten up the hoop so that my fabric does not slide around while the machine is running, this has happened a couple of times. I was very productive this morning and managed to get five motifs embroidered on the quilt this morning…and now I have to wear my wrist brace because my thumb joint is protesting. Of course, I have to wear the brace on my ‘good’ hand because that is the one that I have been using, lol. This caused me to see if there is any kind of screwdriver that I can use without having to create a pinching motion, there is! I T-Handled Screwdriver! I will order it when I next get paid.

There are a few more tools, such as the ones I mentioned in an earlier post, however I will have to get to those later. I did discover that the Crafteaze pillow by Valari is manufactured in India and their supportive gloves ship from China. I have not had an opportunity to test them yet, though each finger in the gloves is finished with a serger so they seem to be good quality.

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Time Flies

by CZeitler

I did not realize that it had been 7 years since I saw my dad’s cousins for Maryland Sheep & Wool. I also did not realize that it had been about 20 years since I saw some of my cousins. Time flies so quickly and all too often we think that we will have another day, another week, another year to see someone, however that is not always the case. I hate that it takes tragedy for me to find time to see some of my family. I think that this year is meant to open my eyes to possibilities, chances lost, and steps that I can take to change things. I’m bad at small talk, even with family, however I think this is well worth taking the time to work on.

Talk about time flying, I wrote the above paragraph last week when I had just returned from my Uncles funeral. I did not realize how much this was going to effect me, which seems stupid to say. I do not recommend having two funerals within two months, it really takes a toll even if you do not feel that you were especially close to those involved, though I loved them and still do they were always periphery for me. Before this post was started last week I had a burst of energy and I was making progress on projects, this was probably so I did not have to think about anything. In the past week my progress has come to a halt. Over the weekend I decided to give myself the opportunity to play while working on a few things that I needed to get done around the house.

Most of what I worked on were embroidered quilt blocks that I hope to use a quilt as you go method to put together as a completed quilt. I did play around with adding beads to a bracelet, and I hate how that turned out, so I will need to try again.

The final thing that I am playing around with in my mind is doing some wholesale purchasing from some smaller creators that have awesome materials I would like to share with more people. I believe that I would put some on my storefront and then also do one or two craft shows this fall.

Until next time remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract!

H&H Aftermath

by CZeitler

I will freely admit that since I have returned from H&H I have gone a little overboard with my inspiration and trying to bring those to fruition. There was a bit of a lesson to everyone about how disease is still out there, I and several other attendees, came down with COVID when we returned from H&H Americas. I wore a mask the entire show, except for meals, so that I would not get sick and miss more work. Despite my precautions I tested positive. Next year (or trip) I will get a booster beforehand to minimize risk further.

Due to my excitement about the binding tool and information by Pauline’s Quilter’s World I ordered the tool set from Fat Quarter Shop and the book “Pauline’s Quilting World: Quilt As You Go Handbook Book” from Amazon. I could not order just the tool set, so looking at the items that were on sale from Fat Quarter Shop I also got several mini charm packs, as well as a half yard of one of the Highland patterns and a half yard of one of the colorful fabrics.

I also ordered some amazing beads from Artbeads, they had some beautiful seed bead assortments I am hoping to use to experiment with the seed bead mosaic techniques created by Sabrina Frey. I was able to see this in person at H&H, they were absolutely gorgeous. I will be ordering the Skinny glue and art edge foam strips from fire mountain gems when I am ready to take that project on.

I did order 2 shawl buttons from Jul Designs to try out. I am really excited to see what they look like and how they work.

The final 2 things that I ordered are the Spindles I need for the class I will be teaching in May as well as the wet felting fibers I need for the class I’m teaching in June. Writing this out I realize I have not ordered as much as I thought, so I’m doing better that I thought.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Back to Etsy for Now

by CZeitler

Okay, so I did make one direct sale on Facebook and it really did come in handy since I am also trying to start building my own displays for the jewelry I am making. Right now I have re-opened my etsy store with plenty of earrings and some necklaces. ALittleMoreAbstract.etsy.com

Below are a small selection of the earrings I have been making, they are all on sale right now in my etsy shop with free shipping.

I’ve also made a couple of necklaces, and I will be putting some Embroidered Pendants on sale later this week, likely Tuesday morning.

As you can tell I have been very busy crafting. I also have been destashing all of my ‘good yarn’ to afford a ladder to repair my downspout. This just became a bit more urgent since I found out that the water is seeping into my foundation. If you are interested in bargain priced yarn then you can check out my destash link here: https://www.ravelry.com/people/czeitler/stash/trade/

As you can see I have been trying to ‘hustle’ a bit to get some more income. I’ve also found some Skillshare workshops that have been helping me to price my works in a reasonable way. So that has been my last couple of weeks, hustling to create, trying to build up my website, and working on getting rid of a few items that I no longer use. I hope that your week goes well and you remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Weaving Adventures

by CZeitler

So yesterday I taught my last planned scissor fob class, and it went very well. I had seven people take part and they all made beautiful scissor fobs. Someone did ask if I would be willing to teach another class for another organization that they belong to so if that goes through, that would be lovely. I organized and brought a lot of materials that I had created out of resin because we were going to be having a sort of garage sale event, however, no one was interested in my creations. They were mostly seconds that I had priced just for the cost of the resin and slight cost of the molds. However, since they did not, so at this point, I am probably going to either offer them through Facebook marketplace as seconds, or try to gift them to someone. Onto the very exciting parts of this post, the crafting.

so over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to get my loom, completely warped, and I have completed two towels, one of which was finished and washed. I am currently working on weaving the third towel and I love how the pattern is turning out. I’m not going to post a picture of the first towel because the warp was not accurate and there are a bunch of weird floats. I swear it took me almost halfway through the second towel to get the warps completely correct but I love how it looks now.

Yesterday I had a lovely phone call from a friend of mine that is on a very long drive back home, so we spent a wonderful six hours chatting. Since I am in capable of keeping my hands, still while talking on the phone, I managed to begin weaving, a beaded weaving project. That is something that I’ve been telling myself that I would do this entire week that I was on staycation, but it never wound up happening until yesterday. This was woven on my mirrix loom, and I spent another three hours this morning, working on it because I had another phone call from a different friend who was having trouble. It did take me about another hour or two to get a completely finished finish off the warp ends, glue everything down and put a back on it. So this less than 10 inch woven piece took me about 11 hours. That means that if I were to put this for sale just at my time at around minimum wage, I would have to sell this less than 10 inch piece for $165. That would not be taking into account the price of the loom, the thread, and the beads. I think that it’s beautiful but I don’t actually see somebody paying 165 for it.

Well, I have not just spent my entire staycation crafting. I did manage to get some things done around the house. I finally managed to get the thorn bush cut down from my side yard so I’m now working on figuring out how to get rid of the stumps so that it does not come back again. I am so excited by how much I managed to accomplish during my staycation and well I will not have another one until early September. I think that I am prepped and ready to get through August.

I hope that everyone has a great week and remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract.

Promised Update Post

by CZeitler

This post my contain affiliate links.

I know, I promised you an update post a couple of weeks ago, but here we go. There will be crafty content, most of this post will be around how I am monitizing my crafting.

The first two steps I took, after getting in contact with my local small business association to figure out how to legally set up my business, were to obtain a Federal Employee Identification Number (this cost over $300 if you are looking into the startup costs for a new business however they do state that it is deductible on your next tax return), and to obtain a New York State Tax ID. The New York State business website has a checklist of the other steps you need to take to start up a small business. In total it took me over 3 hours, and a few phone calls, to make my way through the paperwork. I still have to send in the ‘Doing Business As’ paperwork to my local county if I want to sell at craft shows. Another aspect is that I will be filing business tax papers quarterly starting in September since my business will open June 2, 2023.

The next steps were to set up an etsy site, which I still have to complete this weekend to open on June 2nd, and become an amazon affiliate. For now the amazon affiliate links will be primarily on my book review pages, ayearofbooksinreview.wordpress.com , though as I start putting togeter tutorials I will be linking to the supplies so that people will be able to complete them with similar supplies to what I will be using. That is a another surprise for this site, I am going to begin posting tutorials for various types of crafting with step by step progress photos. Some are going to relate to items that I will have for sale in my etsy shop, but some are just going to be FYI, this is how I do this, type posts.

To begin promoting my business I set up separate Instagram and Facebook pages where I have been posting updates and some photos of merchandise I have been creating. Now to the actual crafting!

I have been busy creating Ear Cuffs and Progress Keepers. Right now each ear cuff and progress keeper is going to be completely unique, as I see if some styles are more popular I may be expanding into some items as production items.

This is not all, have you ever known me to stick to one type of craft?

I have also been making some lovely book page holders out of resin.

Also I have been experimenting with my brand label for a special product I will have coming out when the store opens, the version that Instagram decided they like the best is shown below, though the final product should be on spring green fabric.

Until next time, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!