LorishForrest - An Etsy Store!

After a fair amount of husbandly pestering...

I have decided to try and sell my creative projects on Etsy.  It's takes a lot of time and love to make these things a reality but lucky for me I have a figdity disposition and have a hard time sitting still!

I want to show you all what I have been making and of course gets your thoughts on anything that's needed in your collections as well!  This will be a constantly changing post with updates all the time so feel free to check back often!  And of course, if you see something you must have please visit my Etsy store by searching for LorishForrest.

 

 

    

S7PP: Viserys - sorry!! (not sorry.)

"He Was No Dragon.  Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon."

I've opened up an Etsy shop in case you don't want to do this yourself - we've kind of perfected the process so why mess with all that stupid glue!?! (IT'S HOT, YO!)  

Visit my shop to see for yourself by looking me up, 

LorishForrest

on Etsy.com

I saw this on another blog somewhere and I thought - GOSH HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?!?!  So for about 4 years now I have been bouncing around ideas to make this happen.  It was always something though - the skull is too expensive or who has the time!?!?  But this year I am SO HAPPY I finally made this happen and - to my shegrins - it wasn't too expensive to pull off either.

I was able to find a pretty cheap prop skull on Amazon (same place I find everything...) for a reasonable price.  It's a resin cast and beautifully detailed skull that is not life-sized - it's smaller than a real skull but if you're looking for a life-sized skull, Amazon has plenty of options for you.  I would only suggest that you look for a resin or other material with a higher temp melting point. ____________________________________________________________ For the "crown" I had a few options - gold acrylic paint?  Maybe a gold wax?  Paint would be inconsistent as far as the thickness not to mention messy... and it gets REALLY hot here in the summer time - I could easily imagine coming home to Viserys laughing at me as his gold "crown" was melted in a puddle on my floor... Terrible, right?  So I hummed and hawed and came across gold glue sticks.   GOLD GLUE STICKS, YA'LL!  This was going to be a challenge that I happily accepted.  

The glue sticks melt at 250 degrees F and the resin skull has a melting point at 350 F.  We did a few things here.  Here are the supplies you need:

• gold glue sticks (I used 12 of the small ones)
• Viserys head
• wooden kabob skewers
• tin foil
• an aluminum can (we used a soda can cut in half)
• tongs
• a hair dryer (If you want...)
• a pot to boil water in - careful not to screw up your pot!!
• a wax paper lined cookie sheet

Preheat your oven to 275 F.

Put your glue sticks in your can and make sure they don't stick up over the top too much otherwise they'll melt into your pot and ruin your pot.  You've been warned!  

Put the can in your pot and add water to the pot (don't get any in the can!) being careful not to fill it up too much otherwise the can will float and spill your gold glue all over the inside of your pot which will ruin your pot.  Voice of experience - you've been warned!

Put the pot on your burner and cover it with tin foil - It might not be a bad idea to set your tongs over the top of the covered can to secure it and make sure it doesn't move around too much while the water is boiling.

You can check it a few times but it will take a few minutes to melt.  Make sure your skull is ready on the wax-paper lined cookie sheet.  Once it's melted (and bubbling a little) you'll want to pour it over your Viserys head.  You'll want to encourage it to evacuate the can with some scraping with your kabob sticks knowing that you'll have to toss em after you're done - get some help with this!  You'll need to hold the can with the tongs and scrape the glue carefully on top of  the skull. It's not going to pour easily and keep in mind that the second you take the glue off the heat it will begin to cool making it harder to manipulate.  

From here we set our hair dryer on high to keep it hot and maneuvered it to where we sorta wanted it to drip - it has a mind of it's own though and will do as it wants!  I tried reasoning with it but it found my clothing choices offensive and didn't feel up to working with me.  Once you have it sorta where you want it you can put it in your hot oven and let it go.  I camped outside of my oven for about 5 minutes watching it melt and when I was happy with where it was I pulled it out and blew it dry with my COLD hair dryer.  This is important because when you put the entire skull in the oven, it will get hot which will cause the glue to melt further even after its out of the oven - you have to cool it off.  BLOW MAN, BLOOOW!

It doens't take too long to cool down and the result is pretty freaking amazing.  I want to make more of them.  Maybe for the finale party?  Hmmm.....

  

Thumb Tack Dragon Eggs

S7 Premier Party: Thumb Tack Dragon Eggs (so pretty!)

I've opened up an Etsy shop in case you don't want to do these yourself - we've kind of perfected the process so why mess with all those stupid tacks!?! (THEY'RE SHARP, YO!)  

Visit my shop to see for yourself by looking me up, 

LorishForrest

on Etsy.com

Got some time on your hands?  Some bucks?  See how I make them here - 

Ok - here is the question of the day: Why is it when you drop a tack it's disappears into the nether until you're stumbling around in the middle of the night and it reappears in the precise location to miraculously impale your foot to your dismay.  WHY.  

In order to make these things you'll need the following supplies:

• Foam eggs from your local neighborhood friendly craft store (or Amazon...)
• Tacks - lots and lots and lots of them - Get 5/8 ones if you can, the scales are bigger and it takes less scales/time. If you can't, don't sweat it, the little ones still look awesome.
• Nail polish - lots and lots and lots of it.
• Cork trivets or a few flat cardboard boxes
• An open window or a fan and a glass of alcoholic beverage (you'll thank me later.)
• Patience. (wtf is that?)

It's pretty simple, it just takes a bunch of time. You'll want to start by putting your tacks in your trivets or cardboard so that you can painstakingly paint each and every one.  I highly suggest that you paint them first with a base coat of either black or white depending on your color scheme - I am going to try a hack tonight and see how well spray paint holds up to these for our base coat since it's cheaper and faster.  Seems like a win/win. This is also where you'll need to utilize your open window and/or fan and your alcoholic beverage of choice.

Make sure that you paint the edges too because if you only paint the tops of them, the silver edge will pop out and be a real distraction for you when it's all said and done.

Once you have them painted and they are dry and you're absolutely sure they are dry and you know they are dry (by the way, make sure they're dry!) then you can start pressing them into your egg.  

Start AT THE BOTTOM!  I get unreasonably irritated when the scales are facing the wrong way.  I like to do more than just one color to add some depth to them and make them more interesting but it's completely up to you. It's best to try and get the scales as close together as possible.

I'll have more updates and pictures tonight to help but if you have any questions please post in the comments and I'll get back to you.  

Get your dragon egg ON!

5.5.17

So - PROTIP!  Spray paint your primer first, it goes WAY WAY faster!

S7PP: All Things Food!

After some thought and some deep digging into the inter-worlds I have decided that I really need a separate post for food stuffs.  I'm getting too distracted by the shiny stuff.

Here is what I have so far for our menu - keeping in mind that unless HBO has some sort of miracle planned, this will be the 4th-to-the-last time we get to host this thing...

3.15.17: Menu Planning

This year we will have the more people attending our little swa-ray than we ever have before so we are going to have to pull out all of the stops.  I have an oven, 2 bbq's, a smoker, and a fire pit and my goal is to have meat cooking on all of them.  Here is the plan

Meats:

Honeyed Chicken x 2

These will cook on one of the BBQ's 

Crown Roast x 2

I can get 2 beef ones or 3 pork ones on my roasting pan.  This will take the longest but will also need the most time to prep before hitting the table.

Baked herb and lemon stuffed fish x 6

These don't take very long under the broiler and can go into the oven after I pull out the crown roast.  I'll post a recipe a little later.

Citrus stuffed fire roasted beef haunch x 1

This will be going on the other BBQ and I am still working out what I am going to do to this poor delicious piece of meat...

Hopefully that will be enough... 

Sides:

Skillet Cranberries

Greens with Apples and Pine nuts

Slow Roasted Crown Roast Root Veggies

Frey Brothers Hand Pies

Snacks and Nibbles:

Dothraki Goat Balls

Fresh baked black bread

Olives

Cheese

and maaaaayyyyybbbeee scottish deviled eggs?  Maybe....

Desert:

Apple blossom tarts

Chocolate covered honey bark

I KNOW IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT!  But I have 17 people coming over... I should be able to out-source some of these to take something off our plates... hopefully... right?  *BREATH, JESSE!!*

Honorable Mentions and Other Ideas

Dream Kitchen......  

These things I found that looked amazing and that I still want to make... maybe I can squeeze them into our evening?  Or perhaps sub something else?  Hmm....

Tavern Bread - This looks RIGHT up my ally... I could probably eat this every day for the rest of my life.  I need to make it so I can be sure.  Also, I'll need LOTS of it - you know - for testing.

Nordic Stone Bread - I love me some seeds and looks absolutely delicious.  This would be fantastic topped with some butter or even a fried egg for breakfast... I am seeing many possibilities... must experiment...

Wassail - I know I have mentioned this before in this blog because we make it for just about every large gathering.  This stuff is AMAZING and if you haven't made it, you should.  We won't be making it for our premier party, though sadly, HBO decided to throw us a curve and host their season in the middle of summer.... Summer in California doesn't make for warm comforting beverages.  I'll have another post down the road with what we come up with in the way of beverages - some of my cookbooks have ideas that I might need to pillage.

Viking Apple Bacon - This looks pretty simple and equally yummy... we might have to squeeze this on in somewhere.  I like easy... I like delicious.  I'm easy that way.  Could you imagine serving this on a slice of crusty bread and topped with a poached egg? I just did....

Of course, none of this would have been possible in the first place if I hadn't stumbled into InnAtTheCrossroads.com - those guys are my heroes.  I've been away too long.  <3

4.5.17

We're SO doing this....

I found this on twitter and I gotta say, it's #brilliant.  I will have to have the hubs burn some little smokies and call them "Farmboy Fingers" to add...  muhahahaha

If you have a sensitive disposition, perhaps Game of Thrones isn't your speed, eh?  

I just purchased the perfect plate for these to go on too!  I could even add the Scottish deviled eggs-  The more I think about those though, the more I am certain I'll have to search for some quail eggs instead of doing the regular sized chicken eggs... smaller... more bite sized... better.....

Challenge accepted.

More to come!

S7PP: Mini Dragon Eggs of Awesome

 These are so neat... I saw THIS picture here and thought "You know, I am a pretty craft savvy person, I could make those IN MY SLEEP!."  So I broke out my paints and my markers and my trusty little crafting board - I picked a few different colored eggs and painted them very carefully doing my very best to get as much paint on my fingers as humanly possible.  

Then I let them dry...

Then I grabbed my brand new sharpies and...... 

So... I went back to the tutorial and discovered that they didn't just jump into the burning water with no bathing suit - they actually spray painted them with a white primer that sticks well to plastic before painting them.  That might have made things easier....

We will try again this weekend... I need to make a trip to my local neighborhood friendly craft store first....  Bleh.

4.5.17

I went on Amazon today to look for some amazing things to stuff into these eggs and I came across some 7" jumbo eggs... so I bought them!  I had to come up with some fun things to put in them though so I got some stuff to blow my tax return on this year... Here are some of the things I got for these -

 

I'll break up the sets as much as possible - the little skeleton warriors, dragon, and the armed men come in a bundle - think little green army men for cool people.  I really want to paint the skeleton dudes grey and give them blue eyes but we'll see how ambitious I am here... I'll also have some extra candies, chocolate coins and other goodies to throw in as needed.  I think the hubs is going to get a little blind box for each egg too - all told, each egg will probably end up costing me about $10/each but I am only doing 12.  (TWELVE THAT'S ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SMACKEROOS, JES YOWZA!) I know... I know... but guys, this is the second to the last time we will be able to do this and I want to make it AMAZEBALLS.  Most of my posse has been drooling over my hand made dragon eggs for years and it's only fair that I send them home with one at SOME POINT.  I'll toss in some of the kazoos of winter that I have from S3 - still have tons of those for some reason....

Easter is right around the corner, guys - if this is a project you want to take on, better git on it!

:D

4.25.17

Last night my ex-mother-in-law passed away suddenly... and although there was no love lost between the two of us, it was still a gut wrenching evening as I tried to console my 8 year old who, as horrible as she was, loved her dearly.  We spent some time together last night crying together and holding each other - I told him that in times like these sometimes it makes me feel better to keep my hands busy and he agreed so on a whim, and IN THE HOUSE (bad idea, bad idea, bad idea...) we spray painted eggs!  There were lots of hugging breaks but he did a great job wielding the can and was smiling  while making a huge mess - even if it was just for a moment we could get him to feel better... before the fumes created a toxic cloud in my craft room and we had to evacuate... more to come...

5.1.17

What a crazy weekend!  My poor deaf, blind and seizure-prone senior dog escaped from the back yard and we lost him for a few days... I was a WRECK!  So in a feeble attempt to keep some sanity about me as I frantically checked the lost and found section of Craigslist and with the local animal shelters, I worked on my eggs.  When you're crafting while you're extremely stressed, it's called "STRAFTING."  I did much strafting this weekend.  I started a new project but got to work on these a bit too - and I have some tips for you - here is what I have:

I only have two colors done so far but will paint the green and gold ones during an A's game.  Here are some quick tips to help you with these monsters:

• Use a GIANT marker!  For the large eggs like this, you really need something with some UMPH.  Your standard sharpie isn't going to cut it.  Do yourself a favor and buy a box of the giant Marks-A-Lot markers - these ones were done with the standard markers and I really just hated every frustrating second of it.  
• Don't press too hard!  Though you primed them like a boss, the paint will still come off if you press with your marker too hard.   You'll spend a lot of time teaching your toddler curse words if you do this... (voice of experience...)
• Fill your eggs BEFORE you draw your scales! I didn't do this the first time and ended up spending way more time than I needed to trying to line the scales back up...
• Draw your scales with a light pencil before you draw them with your marker.

 


I will keep working on these more and more as we get closer - once they're finished I'll post the final product for you.  If you have questions be sure to leave them in the comments!


oooo what are those other eggs, Jess?  I'll start another post about those effers now!  Squee!!!

S7 Premier Party - White Board....

Here are the things I WANT to do.... lets see if I can pull it off.  This is an ever-changing post so keep checking back for updates!

3.14.17 - Found these... and remembered that my son has had a pack of these stupid eggs sitting on his dresser since last year and he keeps saying he's going to use them.... MINE NOW!  Gotta find my paints and my brushes... Mess, here I come!  Good thing Easter is right around the corner and egg candy will be plentiful.

I found them at this amazing website - they have lots of other tempting ideas too - maybe something else will jump out at you?  Like that beautiful and surely delicious Nights Watch cocktail?  Mmmmmmm huminah.

They mention the Game of Thrones board game - which we have - and I have to say, if you love board games, you'll love this one, it's worth picking up.  It takes a long time to play and don't play with someone who is a strategy ho - like House Lee.  They win every time, EVERY TIME!



I also found a recipe for Honey Bark .... and oh my stars, I LOVE honey bark!  Naturally, this is a must to send my soldiers home with... Alejandra does a fantastic job laying out the tutorial on making this amazing desert.  I'm not a baker, I am a cook and usually you are either one or the other so here is to hoping I don't flub it up.  Could you imagine this stuff dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with toffee pieces?  We could call it a Dornish delicacy!  You could even get SUPER authentic and stick a dead cricket on the top, heck, why not?

Too far.... sorry... lets just stick with toffee bits... mmmmm

3.15.17: Menu Planning

This year we will have the more people attending our little swa-ray than we ever have before so we are going to have to pull out all of the stops.  I have an oven, 2 bbq's, a smoker, and a fire pit and my goal is to have meat cooking on all of them.  Here is the plan

Meats:

Honeyed Chicken x 2

These will cook on one of the BBQ's 

Crown Roast x 2

I can get 2 beef ones or 3 pork ones on my roasting pan.  This will take the longest but will also need the most time to prep before hitting the table.

Baked herb and lemon stuffed fish x 6

These don't take very long under the broiler and can go into the oven after I pull out the crown roast.  I'll post a recipe a little later.

Citrus stuffed fire roasted beef haunch x 1

This will be going on the other BBQ and I am still working out what I am going to do to this poor delicious piece of meat...

Hopefully that will be enough... 

Sides:

Skillet Cranberries

Greens with Apples and Pine nuts

Slow Roasted Crown Roast Root Veggies

Frey Brothers Hand Pies

Snacks and Nibbles:

Dothraki Goat Balls

Fresh baked black bread

Olives

Cheese

and maaaaayyyyybbbeee scottish deviled eggs?  Maybe....

Desert:

Apple blossom tarts

Chocolate covered honey bark

I KNOW IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT!  But I have 17 people coming over... I should be able to out-source some of these to take something off our plates... hopefully... right?  *BREATH, JESSE!!*