Josephine Owen
January 26, 2012 2:53 PM
Craft station by Josephine Owen
In preparation for the crafting she would need to present at the fair at the end of the year, Josephine had already begun work on a couple of projects. For better light, she'd brought her materials down to the Pecari commons, and had set up a craft station in a relatively quiet - this was Pecari, so total quiet was not usually achievable - corner of the commonroom. Today she had brought down with her a spool of coral-colored cotton thread, a collection of beads made from assorted dried beans, and a couple of sets of findings (one gold one silver, each of which had been removed from broken jewelry thrown away by people who could afford to replace it).The third year pulled a chair out as she laid her supplied on the otherwise empty table, and sat herself down, making sure she pulled her green corduroy skirt down as she did so, otherwise it would rise above her knees and show the hole in her tights. The tights were cream, the same as the light sweater she was wearing. Josephine rolled up the sleeves of her top to enable her to work better, and she tossed her long chestnut plait over her shoulder as she bent over her work.
She began by measuring a length of the cotton thread around her own neck. It was a slightly greater thickness than the cotton she would use for sewing, but nowhere near as strong as the embroidery silk she'd prefer to be using. Beggars couldn't be choosers. Josephine was creative, though, and that included being adaptable with her materials. She couldn't afford to buy even basic beads, let alone finery, so she'd become accustomed to making her own, including the beans that were now before her. They were versatile - using them as they were gave a more natural look, but she could use paints to coat them, if she liked.
Having cut the thread to the correct length and tied the fastened findings onto one end, Josephine laid out the string in front of her, and began to line up beads in a pattern, parallel on the table. She had almost a full set laid out before someone joined her at the table. "Please try not to knock it," she asked, trying it with a smile so that she didn't sound too much like she was telling her housemate off before they'd even done antyhing wrong. It would just be immensly frustrating if she had to lay the beads out all over again.
0
Josephine Owen
Craft station
196
Josephine Owen
1
5
Waverly Canterbury
February 01, 2012 1:32 PM
Crafts! by Waverly Canterbury
Waverly had been brainstorming for her cardboard house that she had decided to build for the fair. Though schoolwork kept her busy, nothing in the world could contain her excitement to begin a building project. So right after class, she went around finding pieces she would need for her house, and after gathering several knick-knacks, cardboard, glitter, and lots of paper, she went back to her common room, eager to begin. She didn't think of the load of work she still had to do for classes, of course. That could wait.She entered the common room, trying to find a quiet sort of place to work in. She saw someone else working on what didn't look like homework in a corner, so she decided to go over and join them. The first-year sat down at the table, consciously trying not to disturb whatever the girl was doing.
"Ooh," she said as she looked at the beads. "Those are really cool. Are those beans? Where'd you get them?" It looked like, from the string and bead-beans being lined up that the girl was making a necklace of some sort. She carefully put her things on the other side of the table, allowing them to be tangled up in one another. It was a good thing she wasn't working with string.
"Are you making your project for the craft fair too, or just for fun?" she asked. She assumed it was for the fair, though she had known lots of people, muggles, that made crafts as a hobby. She thought she'd like to do that someday, maybe when she wasn't busy with school and fascinated by the magical world.
19
Waverly Canterbury
Crafts!
218
Waverly Canterbury
0
5
Josephine
February 10, 2012 10:09 AM
It's a happy time by Josephine
The girl who'd come over was a first year, which meant she had to share a dormitory with Jade. As someone who'd been sharing her bedroom with Jade her entire life, Jospephine could empathise. "Yeah, they're beans," Josephine replied, not needing to sound defensive because the first year girl actually seemed to think they were cool. "You can get dried beans really cheap at markets and stuff," Josephine told her new companion, who seemed to be setting up materials for her own craft project. "You can bake them to make them hard, or you can paint them, or allsorts. I push a hot needle through to get the little holes," she explained as she held up one of the large beans to demonstrate how she threaded them together."Sort of both," Josephine replied to the craft fair versus fun question. "I always make stuff, but I will submit something to the fair. I don't know if it will be anything I do today. How about you?" she nodded towards the stash of bits and pieces the younger girl had with her. "What have you got planned?" She thought that general question was sufficent to encompass queires about what type of craft was being planned, and whether or not it would be for the fair.
"I'm Josephine, by the way," she introduced herself with a smile once the other girl seemed to be done speaking. Then, she added, "I'm Jade's sister," and this extra statement held a tint of regret, as if the words 'so I understand if you feel sorry for me' could have been spoken afterwards. Josephine loved her sister, no doubt about it, but Jade was a handful and a half.
Having laid out her beads in the right order, Jade set about fixing one end of the cotton she'd cut to the silver clasp. She tied it round tightly, leaving enough extra thread one side to pass through the first couple of beads to keep it out of sight. Then, one by one, she began adding the neatly arranged beads onto the thread, snipping off the end of the cord every time it began to fray.
0
Josephine
It's a happy time
0
Josephine
0
5
Waverly
February 12, 2012 4:13 PM
Happy dance! by Waverly
Waverly was pretty entranced by the bead-beans. She wasn't exactly sure how one could push a hot needle through a hard, dried bean, but then she remembered gloves. And then magic. Of course. She really had to get used to using magic for things at school and not looking dumb. The fact that the older liked to make crafts just to make crafts made Waverly pretty happy. She hadn't met anyone here yet that was very crafty like this. Finally someone who liked to make crafts too!The girl's question reminded Waverly that she had her own project, and she busied herself with setting up her things. "I'm planning to make a little house out of cardboard. I love making crafts too! My family used to make crafts when my sister and I couldn't play outside. I wish I knew more magic to make the house cooler. I think I want to put little lights to line the roof and paint it purple or blue or something. It'd be cool to have a slide going down to the first floor too." Waverly's green eyes were shining with the cardboard house already built in her mind. "Or green! It could have a green roof. I think I need to remember how to use the sticking charm correctly too."
Waverly was getting lost in her own world, and so she snapped back to reality and smiled sheepishly. "I tend to start ranting when I get excited about things like this." She smiled brightly when Josephine introduced herself, realizing that she hadn't done that yet. And then she said she was Jade's sister, and Waverly smiled. Although she and her roommate didn't always understand each other, she liked having Jade as a roommate. "That's cool! I'm Waverly. If you couldn't have guessed already, I'm her roommate." She smiled.
Waverly watched Josephine start to work, and she decided that she had better get started on her own project. She looked at the bunch of cardboard just lying sadly on the table, and rolled up her sleeves. She started to piece the cardboard together, trying to see how it would fit well, and then narrowed her eyes to visualize her creation. She took out her wand then and pointed it to the edge of a piece of cardboard. She muttered the sticking charm and stuck her other piece of cardboard on. It stuck, and she sighed happily. This was so much easier than just using glue and waiting for it to dry.
0
Waverly
Happy dance!
0
Waverly
0
5
Josephine
February 17, 2012 8:04 AM
*Dances* by Josephine
Waverly's project sounded interesting. Josephine had only really worked with card before to make greetings cards and the occasional gift box - it hadn't occured to her to use it as a primary material for other projects. Waverly hadn't specified what sort of house it was going to be, nor the scale she was going to use, but she had indicated that it would be 'little.' Josephine wondered if it was intended to be used as a dolls' house - they there could be all sorts of furniture and things inside - or if it was just a craft in its own right. She also wondered whether they project would be modelled on Waverly's own house, but she stopped herself before asking the question. Josephine wouldn't necessarily want other people in the school knowing what her house looked like, so she granted the first year the same consideration. It wasn't really any of Josephine's business whose house, if any, would be the inspiration for the project.There was, however, one aspect where she might be able to offer something constructive to her younger companion. "I can help you out with the magical aspects, if you like," Josephine volunteered. She was two years older, and already much smart than plenty of the fourth years. There was obviously more to just plain intelligence that denoted who was in Aladren House, otherwise Josephine wouldn't have landed in Pecari. "I know a couple of different sticking charms, and I have a few ideas about how we could add lighting, too," she mentioned. She didn't want to pressure Waverly into taking her help, though, so she added, "I mean, if you want my help. I won't be offended if you want to just go it alone." It was, after all, a personal craft project, not a group assignment.
"Is it going to be used after you've made it?" Josephine soon decided to voice one of her early musings. "I mean, is it supposed to be a doll's house, or is it purely for decoration?" If Waverly wasn't making a doll's house, then Josephine would definitely have to steal the idea for herself. Not that she had any dolls to play with, but she was far more interested in decorating the inside with tiny matching curtains and bedspreads than she was in actually role playing with it, anyway.
0
Josephine
*Dances*
0
Josephine
0
5
Waverly
February 17, 2012 4:25 PM
I wish I knew how to salsa... by Waverly
Waverly beamed at Josephine's offer. "That'd be awesome!" she stated happily. She hadn't had much practice with sticking charms and, as much as she loved charms, she really didn't have anything to practice with. It was also hard because she didn't know the counter-curse either, so all of her stuff would have been sticking to everything. "Thanks!" she added with a smile.Josephine's other question brought up an idea that Waverly hadn't thought of. She did intend on keeping it after the fair was over, of course, but for what? A doll house sounded so cool, but she didn't have any dolls that would fit in a mini house. "I don't have any dolls to put in it," she said slowly, thinking, "but I do want to make it look like somebody could live here if they were a mini person." She smiled. "I want to make it kind of like my house, except I live in an apartment so it wouldn't work." That was half true. Her house was half-bakery, half-apartment. As much as she loved it, it would much more difficult to create.
"I wish I knew more spells to decorate." It would be so much easier to get tiny curtains and chairs and stuff if she could just transfigure tiny chairs and an itty-bitty toilet. The thought of a tiny toilet that actually flushed made Waverly laugh out loud. "Sorry," she said, "I was thinking of a tiny toilet. That would really funny to have in this house, if only I knew how." The more she thought about it, the more complicated this house seemed to be. She'd just have to brush up on her origami skills or something to make these things. She'd have to look up how to make a chair, then...
"I can see it all in my head," she said out loud. "I don't really know how I can make it all happen though. Ooh! I could hang little paper cranes in one of the bedrooms! It's going to have to be really small though. Hmm." She frowned, thinking, and then shook her head. "I may ask for your help a lot with the charms part," she said sheepishly. "If you're willing to help, of course!" She smiled.
0
Waverly
I wish I knew how to salsa...
0
Waverly
0
5