Handforged Steel Flowers

I showed pictures of these flower in progress awhile ago.  I made a lot of more of them, to fit into a wetland meadow scene of a railing.  These individual flowers are now done, photographed and available in the Decorative Arts section of my Etsy shop.  (The photos link to the flickr pages, but the Decorative Arts link will take you to the section with the detailed listings.)

Homemade Sorbet and Ice Cream

My family really does gobble up the ice cream and sorbet, so I've been making plenty. I love it. It's so easy!

Let me give you a little recipe review. So far I've used the recipes from the Cuisinart recipe booklet that came with the Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker . For all of these recipes, you have to freeze according to your own ice cream maker's instructions. These recipes are for a 2 qt capacity ice cream maker. Please click on any picture to be taken to the larger version on my flickr pages.

I've made lots of the lemon lime sorbet. I follow the recipe for the most part- a sugar syrup made from 3 cups organic sugar and 3 cups water plus 2-1/4 cups of mixed lemon and lime juices. I use bottled organic lemon and lime juice rather than squeezing my own. I do not add zest, because the kids hate it.

I read on foodnetwork that you can pretty much make sorbet out of anything- fruit, juice, alcohols, anything that is sweet enough or that can be sweeteened. I made my own yummy pomegranate ginger sorbet by combining
1 can of flat organic ginger spritzer
1 16 oz bottle of Pomegranate juice
1-1/5 cups of sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water).

I guessed on the sugar syrup, and it seemed to come out alright. The pomegranate juice is tart, so if you use juice alone, I'd add more sugar syrup. In my case, the spritzer filled in the extra necessary sweetness.

You can see that I started storing the frozen treats in 1/2 cup resuseable plastic containers. They are the perfect portion size and easy for the kids to serve themselves. It's amazing how we are all generally satisfied with a 1/2 cup portion when it's easy to find and eat. If we were to scoop out each portion, we would likely put in more, whatever filled a bowl.

Now for the ice cream. I tried the custard base vanilla bean ice cream from the Cuisinart recipe book. It used gobs of cream and egg yolks. It was horrible!!! It tasted fine but had the consistency of frozen butter and left us with an icky fatty coating on our tongues and teeth. We threw that batch out.

I went back to a simple ice cream, and knowing that we prefer a lighter texture, I reversed the ratios of whole milk to cream. I kept the step of infusing the vanilla bean into the milk because I really love the way the little vanilla specks look.

3 cups organic whole milk.
1-1/2 cup organic cream
1 whole vanilla bean
1-1/8 cup organic sugar ( I estimate that 1/8 cup)

Read up on infusing the vanilla bean into the milk. I basically split the bean and scrape out the goo. I put the goo and bean in the milk and cream mix, let it come to a boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the sugar and mix to dissolve. Let the whole mix cool until you can stick your finger in it without wincing. Then take out the bean and discard it, leaving all those lovely vanilla specks floating in the milk.

At that point, for Vanilla ice cream, I would add
1-1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

For Vanilla mint ice cream, I would add
2 tsp real peppermint extract
food coloring if desired.

For both options, I like to add approximately 1 cup of finely chopped or grated chocolate. You can either grate a chocolate bar or pulverize some form of sweet chocolate in the food processor.

We love it! The texture is light. The flavor is rich and natural. The chocolate is just strong enough to enhance the flavor, but not overpower it. Yes, there is my hand, scooping the fresh vanilla mint ice cream into the 1/2 cup servings again. Just call me the queen of homemade convenience :).

**Note** You can see that I try to use all organic and natural products in our treats, especially for the high fat items like whole milk and cream. The conventional products work just fine and also taste good. So use what best fits your lifestyle and budget. We also use plenty of conventional (non-organic) products in our kitchen.

Copper Studio Warm-ups

I love making the tendril jewelry when I am warming up to more involved work.  I had lots of fun making 4 more pairs of copper tendril earrings.

As always, please click on the photos for full details.
 

    

I had extra tendrils, extra copper wire, and lots of odd size copper chain bits from previous necklaces.  So I decided to make a super long necklace, lightweight, fun, with a vine heart dangling at the bottom.
The necklace is about 36 inches long, with the pendant hanging nearly 2 inches longer.  You can see the length in the last picture, on the mannequin. 

 

photos printed on muslin

photos printed on muslin, originally uploaded by knitsteel.

I spray mounted regular muslin on to regular paper, using Elmers spray adhesive. Then I ran it through the printer. It worked! It would help if I had more ink in the printer. I wonder if ironing will heatset the ink.

Swirly Girly

Here is a recent stitch sketch that I did.  (Yes, I know I've been lazy with them lately.)

Then I was going through the storage loft yesterday, in search of recyclable non-ferrous metals, and discovered these parts from an abandoned project.  I must have abandoned this six years ago, put it out of sight, and forgot about it.

This section is a little under 4 feet wide and I have 2 of them.

These are acanthus leaves in-progress, most likely part of the same project.  They are in the six to seven inch size range.

I don't know about you all, but I see the swirly girly connections and possibilities.  Honestly, I haven't been excited about steelwork in a long time, but this is reviving some interest.
I am not sure what I will do with the large scroll elements.  I might make them into 2 twin size headboards, or add to them and make a king size headboard and footboard for my own bed.  The acanthus leaves would just be fun to finish up and make into wall art.  hmmmmm.....

Marshmallows!

Isn't Easter about marshmallows? Peeps and such? I can't eat peeps in front of my daughter- the whole corn sensitivity issue (and corn syrup). So we made our own marshmallows at home using this recipe from www.sugarplumvisions.com . There are lots of marshmallow recipes online. Many use corn syrup. Some use egg whites. A few just use sugar and gelatin for the main ingredients. Look through five or six different recipes and see which one suits your cooking style and needs the best.

Ours were not quite as pretty and neat as the ones pictured in the recipe, but ours are sooooo tasty!

We did not freeze the marshmallow overnight, as suggested in the recipe. We let it sit out for about 4 hours, cut it up into the squares, and dusted them all with organic powdered sugar. They tasted good then, but wow, they are PERFECT after sitting overnight in a cookie jar! Yum. I will be making these again.

corn sensitivity (non art related)

**I wasn't going to post this on my public art related blog originally. However, it got such a response on Xanga that I decided to post it here as well. It seems that a lot of people have to deal with food sensitivities, for themselves and their children.****

We like this ice cream maker!
We used it to make lemon sorbet, lemon sorbet sweetened with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Earlier this school year, we figured out (after 4 years of unexplained pain & cramps) that daughter is sensitive to corn products and HFCS is in just about everything. Pre-made sugar sweetened treats are expensive. We've also found that the entire family prefers to eat the expensive sugar sweetened treats. So I am learning how to make our own, even if I have to buy expensive household appliances to do it for me ;).

Imagine your two year old waking up screaming every night with leg cramps. Imagine these inexplicable muscle aches, sore legs, stomach cramps going on, with no explanation and just confused sympathetic looks from the medical people. Imagine that everyone thinks you are the overprotective overconcerned overwrought mother, or that you and your daughter are just over sensitive drama queens!!!! Oh that pissed me off. So imagine my relief to finally find a real, true, concrete solution. Cutting out corn products has made a huge improvement and nearly eliminated these symptoms. I'd say about 95% better. She is still a sensitive person, physically and emotionally. She always will be. But now we knows at least one way to make life much much easier- just don't eat corn products. She is six now. I wish we would have figured it out earlier.

Now if someone could please teach me how to make suckers and other candies without corn syrup.

Spring Hearts & Spring Fever

I finished the last section of the torturous trade-railing! Yippee! That means I can play again without feeling guilty. I can make all sorts of stuff!
Indulging in a little spring fever, I let my hearts re-awaken, quite indulgently. (click on the pictures for the full details)
I made a heart pendant and chain, all in 18 karat gold.

I used chasing and repousse to form the puffed heart itself. I shaped, soldered, and hammered each one of the links in the 26 inch endless chain.

It hangs nice and long on the chest, a fantastic amulet, a token of spring, completion, and awakenings.

I also made one in silver, and hung it on a 20 inch sterling silver link chain.

The chased heart floats on a forged tendril. It reminds me of streams racing, as the ice melts in the spring, the rush of life energy that pours through.

In my next blog entry, I will update you on the stitch sketches. Now that the great stress railing is done, don't be surprised to see jewelry, stitching, metal, fiber, all coming together in experimental ways. I have all sorts of vague unformed ideas that need to be "sketched" out.