Howto & FAQ Page, Or

the joys of following another's directions

I finally decided there were enough howtos to give them a directory of their own. You are very welcome to email me whether you find these instructions helpful; but they're more likely to improve if your criticisms are specific. After thinking about it, I concluded (hoped?) that there weren't ever going to be enough FAQs to deserve a link (if not directory) of their own, so I've stuffed 'em with the howtos.

N.b. Some of these pages are in older directories (String versus HowtoString) because thus far I've been too lazy to move them...my recommendation is bookmark a higher level page, and type in a description (why am I saving this person's website, again...?) because I do move stuff around and, try as I would, can't predict where something will be in 5 or 10 years (and yes, some of these files really are that old. Scary.)

The lily pond at Matthaei (indoors).

I happen to enjoy dressing up webpages with pretty pictures. And, by using these images as basically oversize link buttons as opposed to semi-educational floral photography, it meant I didn't have to go back and attempt to identify what all the various plants are. I don't know their names, or their dimensions, or much else, except that I shot the them at the Conservatory at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which to be fair, has those educational tags on many of them. (If the link proves dicey, they're affiliated with UM, and don't have their own domain--I have indeed spelled the name correctly. Google is your friend.)

The Gardens, which include nature trails identifying various native species, their medicinal uses by the local First Americans (presumably the Huron Indian Tribe), as well as more traditional flower type plots, are free of charge. You pay $5.00 extra to get into the conservatory, which has both wet and dry environments--well worth it. My pix were all shot in the jungly part of the Conservatory. As I said, they've nothing to do with the topic at hand, but now you have an idea of what some of buttons on my desktop look like, since I was able to customize 'em all. Yay linux/kde etc.

Artist's statements, oh how thrilling, of three lengths and vintages, and if you manage to survive those, a working methods as well.

 

FAQ. Includes a lot of guff about how to buy stuff, plus marginally more interesting info like the origin & pronounciation of the company name. Probably more useful is the current price schedule. Here's the page for specifics on purchasing the orange curliQ beads featured in the Oct03 Beadwork Mag, woefully out of date, but left here for historical interest. (Updated 14jun06)

 

Stollen is a German Holiday Bread. No, it wasn't passed down from the old country. My mother does have some german heritage, and back in her more crafterly days, found a recipe she liked the Settlement Cookbook because the candied fruit is cut up small. I purchased a copy of this same cookbook for that one recipe, folded their orange peel recipe into the mix, and added a few of my own variations, which is documented here. 10dec05

 

I've updated the stringing howtos link to reflect the fact that at some point in time I collected the various posts, some of which used to be listed below, together on their own page. Scattershot to be sure, but at least there are now instructions for making bead curtain strands. Updated 05may06.

 

Glass Bead Howtos: mostly demos on hollow bead-making; twisted dot floral tutorial; comments on striking Effetre silver pink/opal yellow; also photographing glass beads which of course could be used for photographing other small shiny objects. 02mar05, added pages for some flameworking/beadstringing studio setups I've had, and rearranged some of the older stuff just a bit (without breaking any links, mind you.) This is a directory unto itself.

 

Edible Pysanky howto---very basic.

 

file updated 05may06