How To Hollow Out Rocks

A lot of people have asked me how I hollow out river rocks to make my river rock necklaces, so I took photos of today's process to share with you.

I recommend drilling softer sedimentary rocks (sandstone, limestone, etc). When scouring the beach for rocks, these tend to be well rounded. Those that are not rounded are probably harder igneous or metamorphic rock and are likely to break apart while drilling or even break your drill bit.

Materials Needed:

• High speed rotary tool (I have a large, used drill press), but I've read that a dremel tool works well.
• A small (2mm diameter) and large (10mm) hollow, diamond-tipped coring bit.
• Plastic container to hold water so you can drill your stone under water (I use an old dog bowl). Drilling underwater cools off the bit and which will speed up your drilling and keep your stone from over heating.
• Adjustable wrench to hold your rock in place while drilling.
• Goggles
• Small sedimentary rocks

Directions:

1. Put on your goggles and choose which rock you'd like to drill.

2. Attach the small coring bit to your rotary tool.

3. Using your wrench, firmly hold the rock inside your container, just beneath the water. You are about to drill into the side of the rock (not into the face). This takes some practice. My rocks kept popping out at first, but I've since learned how to hold them steady.

4. Turn on the rotary tool and hold it perpendicular to the edge of the rock. Press firmly but gently. Do NOT rotate the hand holding the rock or else the rock will crack. The water will become cloudy, but that's fine. Continue to push firmly until the bit cannot drill any further.

5. Rotate the rock and drill a small hole into the opposite side.

6. Remove the small coring bit and insert the large coring bit into your rotary tool.

7. Now, using your wrench, hold the rock beneath the water, and slowly drill into the face of the rock until the coring bit pops through the other side.

8. Put the wrench aside. With the rotary tool still turned on, hold the rock steady in your hands while you press the coring bit firmly against the sides of your hollowed out rock to sand off any rough edges.

9. Rinse your rock in water, and that's it!

That's it! You may choose to throw your rocks into a tumbler, but I prefer the raw, rough look.

 

A Country Store: Sponsor Feature

The Mazama Store is a must-stop destination in the Methow Valley. If you don't experience the store while you're here, one might argue that you you haven't really experienced the Methow. It is a gathering place for many locals and visitors, offering cozy indoor and stunning outdoor seating areas. Many of their products are locally made or crafted, and they incorporate locally grown, organic ingredients into their tasty menu.

Missy and Rick LeDuc purchased the Mazama Store in 2007. Once they determined that much of the original structure was rotting beneath them, they transformed the old store into an open and modern space, still balanced with much of its original rustic charm.

Missy and Rick strive to carry as many local vendors as possible, including grains from Bluebird Grain Farms, meat and eggs from Crown S Ranch, greens from 8th Street Greens, Blue Star Coffee, fruit, honey, and more.  They added an extensive bulk selection which includes their delicious homemade granola. But that's not all! The Mazama Store also carries dozens of flavors of fresh, handcrafted Husky Deli ice cream! Imagine blackberry cheesecake ice cream with real blackberries, or Oreo Cookie with real Oreos...or Vanilla Bean with real, flavorful ingredients. Established in 1932 by Missy's grandfather, Husky Deli is one of West Seattle's oldest icons. As one of nine children, Missy worked at the store with her siblings. She recalls waking up in the middle of the night to make party trays with her father. Now, she laboriously carts a freezer in the back of her van up and over Washington Pass just to bring the prized ice cream to her store.

In the future, Missy and Rick would like to increase their bulk selection to avoid the expense and waste of pre-packaged food. Yet their biggest goal, as always, is to welcome the community into their gathering space, help them feel comfortable, and give them a true Methow experience! Rest assured, you won't regret a visit.

Thank you to the Mazama Store for sponsoring Live In Art!

Elderberry Syrup: Recipe

It's definitely that time of year. Have you noticed little dusty blue berries hanging from dark green shrubs around your neighborhood or countryside trails?

Elderberries...

Most elderberry syrup recipes require you to add water to your boiling berries. I prefer not to water down the unbelievable goodness and, without the water, the berries make a sufficient amount of syrup.

Elderberry syrup is delicious drizzled over ice cream or pancakes, served overtop wild birds, rabbit, mixed in Italian soda, and much, much more. It's a great recipe for pretty much anyone since elderberries grow in most of the 50 states, as well as in Canada and Europe.

So, here's my process:

Harvest approximately half of a paper grocery bag full of berries. It'll take about an hour to destem them, but that part is crucial since the stems are toxic. One reader suggested destemming the berries with a fork rather than picking them off by hand.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds elderberries, destemmed and rinsed
• 4 cups sugar

Directions:
1. Pour the elderberries into a large pot and mash them thoroughly with a potato masher.

2. Turn the heat on medium high, and bring the elderberries to a boil, stirring often.
3. Use a food mill to extract as much juice as you can from the berries.
4. Pour the juice through a fine mesh sieve to catch any stray seeds or pulp.
5. Clean the pot and return it to the stove. Return the juice to the clean pot and add an equal volume of sugar, approximately 4 cups.
6. Bring the juice and sugar to a boil until it froths. Turn off the heat and pour into clean glass jars.
7. Unless you plan on eating this syrup immediately, can the syrup in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Allow the jars to seal, and let stand until the lids pop.

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Recycled Traffic Lights

The United States is upgrading traffic lights to a more efficient technology, leaving these old glass lenses obsolete. They are now being tossed into landfills across the country. If you could scavenge them out of the trash, what might you do with recycled traffic lights?

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Would you make table ware?

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Would you create a bird feeder?

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Would you design a hanging pendant light?



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This is what I came up with:

 

 

 Break. Tumble. Drill. Assemble. What are your ideas?

Perhaps All Body Products Should Be Edible

It makes sense to me that all of the products we use on our bodies should be edible. I don't mean that shampoo should contain chocolate or Bailey’s Irish Cream, but if we're going to pour it over our heads, it should be natural enough to consume.

I don't like buying body care products. First, if you’re going the more natural route, they’re expensive. Second, just because it’s an organic product, that doesn’t mean it's natural. When you browse the isle for lotion, do you recognize any of the ingredients within?

In my opinion, simplicity is where it’s at. Homemade body products are generally easy to make, and often incorporate ingredients already stocked in your pantry. To start, below is a sampling of recipes that will treat you from head to toe. You'll feel like you just emerged from a spa.

Coconut Milk Shampoo

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/3 cup liquid Castle Soap
• 1 tsp vitamin E, olive or almond oil
• 10 to 20 drops essential oils of your choice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar and shake well to mix. Store it in the shower for up to one month. Shake before each use.

Banana Honey Oat Mask

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Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 Tb honey
• 1/3 cup oats 

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together until you have a thick and smooth consistency to spread on your skin.

Wash face with warm water, and then cover it with your mask. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.

Gently rinse your face in warm water and pat dry with a towel.

Pore Strips

Thank you to Petite L'Efant for this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp unflavored Gelatin
• 2 Tbsp milk

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Directions:

Measure gelatin into a disposable container

Quickly add milk to the container until you have a chunky consistency. Add more milk if you’re uncomfortable with the volume of chunk.

Microwave your mixture for about 10-15 seconds. It will become creamier in the microwave. Stir that around and start applying it IMMEDIATELY to your face. Act quickly because the mixture solidifies very fast.

Let it dry for about 15 minutes.

Peel off the crusted mixture until it's entire removed. Rinse your face with cool water.

Lip Gloss

Ingredients:

• Solid vegetable shortening
• Honey
• Unsweetened powdered drink mix (i.e. Kool-Aid)
• Hot water

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix 1 Tbsp of the vegetable shortening and 1 tsp of honey.

In a separate bowl, mix the drink mix and 1/4 tsp hot water until it has dissolved. Stir in as much of the drink mix as possible. The more you can dissolve, the stronger the flavor will be.

Add one drop of the water mixture to the shortening/honey base. Stir well. Repeat until you get the color/flavor combination you want. 

Pour into a clean container or old lip gloss pot (I recycle Altoid tins for this purpose)

Store in the refrigerator. This will keep for one week.

Peppermint Deodorant

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp unrefined coconut oil
• 1/4 C. arrowroot starch
• 1/4 C. baking soda
• 4 capsules Vitamin E oil
• 20 drops peppermint oil

Directions:

In a double boiler or in the microwave, soften the coconut oil.

Mix everything together until smooth.

Transfer mixture to a glass jar. If it becomes too soft in warmer weather, store in the refrigerator.

Apply a small amount under each arm with your fingertips and gently rub in.

Honey Cuticle Cream

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz beeswax
• 3 oz olive oil
• 1 Tbsp honey

Directions:
In a double boiler, melt the wax and oil together.

Stir in the honey, and pour into tins or other containers.

Oats & Honey Exfoliant

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp ground rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

In a grinder or food processor, grind oats until it has almost become flour.

With a fork, mix in the honey and apple cider vinegar until smooth.

Wet your face. In circular motions, gently apply a small amount of the scrub.

Leave on for 10-15 min. Rinse off with warm water, and moisturize.

Vanilla Cream Massage Oil Lotion Bar

Ingredients:

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• 3 Tbsp Shea Butter
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa Butter, grated
• 2 Tbsp Virgin Coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp Sweet Almond oil
• 1/4 tsp Vitamin E (1 capsule)
• 1 tsp confectioners sugar
• 6 drops Vanilla Essential Oil

Directions:
In a double boiler, mix Shea and Cocoa butters over low heat until melted.

Stir in the almond oil.

Remove from heat. Drop in the vanilla essential oil and whisk briskly to incorporate it into the liquid.

Whisk in the Vitamin E and sugar.

Pour the hot massage oil lotion into ice cube molds or muffin tray. Let cool. Once they're cool all the way through, remove them from the molds store them in a glass jar until ready to use.

Strawberry Foot Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 oz glycerin
• 1/2 oz corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp strawberry extract

Directions:
Combine glycerin with corn syrup, and stir.

Mix in extract. Continue stirring until well blended.

Transfer to a small glass jar, and rub into your feet as needed.

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By now, I hope you feel like royalty! Feel free to comment and leave your favorite edible body care recipe!

Make Your Own Sea Glass: Tutorial

If you don't have access to a beach but want to work with sea glass, what are your options? You can purchase it bulk from a number of sources. Bedrock Industries in Seattle is my favorite, with a large variety of recycled, tumbled glass. Another option? You can make it yourself!

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Beach glass is the frosted glass you find along a beach or sea shore. Glass rolls around in the sand as waves toss it back and forth. The frosted effect is caused by the sand slowly scraping its edges over the course of time.When left to tumble long enough, the glass eventually turns into sparkling sand.

Beach glass is frequently used in jewelry, stained glass, mosaics, and a number of other arts and crafts projects. Nowadays it can be difficult to come by, so it's in increasingly high demand.

So, following are the steps to make your own beach glass:

Make Your Own Sea Glass

1. Fill a tumbler barrel 3/4 full with broken, recycled glass.

2. Add water until you can see it just below the top layer of the glass.

3. Begin with a coarse grit, 60/90 silicon carbide. The amount you use is determined by your tumbler size. This step shapes your glass by rounding the edges.

4. Close the barrel and tumble your rocks for 7-10 days. Check the glass every day to see if it is round to your liking. Once it is, you can move on to phase 2.

5. Wash the glass, barrel, lid, and your hands. Be sure to pour the murky water outdoors, not into your sink.

6. Repeat phase one, using 120/220 grit silicon carbide. Allow the glass to tumble for 7-10 days, or until it has frosted to your liking.

7. For a more refined frosting, repeat the process one more time with 500 grit silicon carbide for 1 to 5 days.

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River Rocks

I'm taking this opportunity to show off. I'm very excited about my new river rock pendants, designed and drilled by me. They're currently for sale at Confluence Gallery & Art Center and Sun Mountain Lodge. I will soon sell them in my shop, so I hope you like them! I'd love to hear what you think.

Bee Balm Tea

Bee Balm is also known by the names Monarda, Bergamot, Oswego Tea and Horsemint. It is native to North America and was initially used to make an infusion by the Oswego Indians, hence the name 'Oswego tea'.

Bergamot is a member of the mint family. The flowers range from pink and mauve to a rich, vibrant red.
This herb is easy to grow and can be dried to make an aromatic bouquet. The petals taste offer a citrus after-taste or have a peppery quality similar to oregano, depending on variety and where it is grown.

Culinary Uses of Bee Balm

Bergamot can be used as a culinary herb. It is best to use the flowers for tea since the leaves have an oregano flavor. Add a splash of color and deepen the taste of salads by adding a sprinkling of flowers. Use fresh or dried leaves in tomato dishes, and as a substitute for sage in meat stuffing. The fresh leaves add an excellent flavor when added to jellies or lemonade.

Medicinal Properties

Please note that I am NOT a doctor, but I do endorse using bee balm for personal medicinal purposes.

According to Tea Encyclopedia, the leaves and flowers of monarda can be used for colds, reducing fever, soothing sore throats, headaches, insomnia and menstrual pain. A steam inhalation of the plant is used to soothe inflamed mucus membranes. Poultices and compresses are used for skin infections or bruises. It is also good for soothing the digestive tract. The plant has antibacterial properties, which helps to treat infections, and it has antiseptic qualities that fight bacteria, parasites and fungi.

Oswego Tea can be made as a soothing drink to calm nerves and as a relaxing sleep aid, and is often combined with other well-known relaxation herbs such as Valerian and Chamomile for this purpose.

Cultivation

Monarda grows well in full sun but tolerates light shade, and will thrive in any moist, rich soil. It grows up to 2 to 4 feet, depending on the variety. The plants are known to attract butterflies and bees.

Like other members of the mint family, Bee Balm can become invasive, but you can keep your clump contained by dividing the roots in either spring or fall. The plant should be divided every 3 years to keep it tidy. Dig up the root clump in the early spring, discard the inner, older portion, and re-plant the new divisions 12 to 15 inches apart. Stimulate a second flowering in the same season by snipping off the flowers after they bloom. In the fall, prune your Monarda plants to within an inch of the ground. Fertilize in the spring with ample straw and manure.

Bee Balm Tea

1 Tbsp. Fresh bee balm leaves or petals
OR 1 Tsp. dried bee balm leaves or petals
1 C. water
Honey (optional)

Bring water to a boil. Place bee balm in a cup (or a tea ball and then in a cup). Pour boiling water over bee balm. Add sweetener (optional) to taste. Let steep for 10 minutes.

Saving Seeds: Miniature Origami Envelopes

There are so many reasons to harvest your own seeds. Saving seeds is sustainability in one of its purest forms. You’re propagating food from your own food without spending a dime. You become well acquainted with your plants and your seeds, and you know every speck that went into your garden.

Whatever your reason, you don’t need to be a botanist or a farmer to save seeds. If you can grow plants, you can produce your own seeds.

If this will be your first time saving seeds, start out with some easy plants that produce seeds without much intervention. Collect seeds from the highest quality and healthiest plants. A good specimen is disease and pest free, has bright foliage and flowers, and grows vigorously. Squash, carrots, tomatoes, peas, beans, and basil are a few simple seeds to try. Poppies, sunflowers, cone flowers, and Calendula are easy flowers to start with.

Normally, deadheading flowers is crucial to encourage a plant to produce new buds. However, to save seed, leave the flowers on the stem after the flower dies off. That way, the plant will put energy into producing seed instead of new flowers. Before long a seedpod will replace the spent flower. Leave the seed head on the stems as long as possible, letting it ripen within the pod. Seeds are generally ready when the pod turns brown, dries out or cracks open. If you notice that the seed pod is cracking open, attach a small paper bag around it with a rubber band, catching the seeds as they fall. When the seeds are fully ripe, cut the stem at the base of the plant and shake the seed head inside the bag. If some seeds are lost to the soil they will probably self-seed next year.

If the seed heads are not fully dry and ripe when you cut them off, either hang the stems with seed cases intact or lay them flat to dry on a newspaper away from direct light. Make sure that all seeds are completely dry before removing them from the pods. If you package them before they are completely dry they will grow moldy in storage. Once the pod is dry, extract the seeds by carefully crushing or breaking open the seedpods. Separate crushed debris from the seeds by sifting everything through a fine mesh screen.

Seeds from fruits and vegetables should be collected when plants are at their peak, before they are over-ripe. Some vegetables such as beans are the exception and should be harvested when the pods are dry. Seeds from most fruits and vegetables are encased inside a wet environment. Vegetables with wet pulp such as tomatoes, pumpkins and squash can be separated from the pulp and laid out to dry on newspaper. The seeds of harder pulp fruits and vegetables are simply opened removed manually.

The best way to store seeds is to package them in paper envelopes or bags. The temperature should be cool to enhance longer storage. Write the name of plant, date and any pertinent growing instructions on the envelope or package.

To get you started on making your own seed packets, below is a simple tutorial on how to create miniature origami envelopes. Enjoy!

Miniature Origami Envelope Tutorial

1. Cut a piece of recycled wrapping paper into a 4"x4" square. Place the square face-down in front of you.

2. Fold the paper in half diagonally so that you make a triangle.

3. Fold one corner down to meet bottom edge.

4. Fold right corner over 1/3 of the way across the bottom edge.

5. Fold the left corner over 1/3 of the way across the bottom edge.

6. Fold corner back over to the left 1/2 of the way across the bottom edge.

7. Stick your finger into the small pocket triangle and press it open to make a square.

8. Fold top corner down to create a crease, but do not yet close your envelope.

9. Fill your envelope with your collected seeds.

10. Fold shut!

Store your decorative envelopes in a cool, dark drawer until next year.