Cows & Cooking & Crafts. . . B J O'S Way

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Covering objects with scraps can extend to anything else you have that might need a bit of sprucing up. Of course, you can get carried away with this type of project. If your family calls in white-coated chaps from the Home for the Gently Bewildered, I'd take it as a hint that they really didn't appreciate your pasting patchwork on the privy seat.

Don't stop however until you're tried "calico beads". Grandma, who was also an herb doctor, used to put me to work on these when I was too sick to go outdoors, but well enough to make a pest of myself in the kitchen where she was brewing her potions. You make calico beads the same way you make newspaper beads (remember making a string of them for mother in school?), by rolling up the calico with glue. You can't use heavily textured materials like velvet and corduroy (unless you want lumpy beads), but just about any other fabric works.

Just in case you didn't make paper beads in preparation for Mother's Day, here's how:

[1] Take a longish wedge of calico (or paper) and a piece of wire (as in Fig. 2, A).

[2] Starting at the big end of the calico, roll as evenly as possible until you run out of fabric (Fig. 2, B). The whole mess should be liberally coated with white glue as you do this. The younger the artisan, the more glue needed (one of the Facts of the Universe).

[3] Wait until the bead is solid to the touch and then remove the wire. If you forget to do this, your wire is now permanently embedded in the bead, but you can pull it free with a pair of pliers.

[4] When the bead (sans wire) is completely dry (if the kids are impatient, hurry the process via your oven), you can slip the wire in again and dip the bauble in shellac. (Adults can use spray varnish if all precautions are followed, but never allow ch ildren to do so.)

[5] When the varnish is dry, you can string the beads alone (Fig. 2, C) or interspersed with large donkey beads or handmade clay beads or eucalyptus medlars . . . or whatever is handy that appeals to your craftsmanship.

If Char Lou Dolan (in the Swaps section of MOTHER NO. 23) and others are interested, I can make patterns for animals and dolls and designs for needlework . . . whatever people want, whatever size they want. Last year I did some 18" dinosaur designs for a small boy in the cuddly doll stage who was intrigued by prehistoric monsters. A brontosaurus makes a really lovable toy (right?). I'd be happy to trade crafts for crafts. I have a princess pattern I designed for Barbie dolls (it sells like hot cakes at church bazaars, by the way, and is made from sewing scraps).

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