I got my vanilla beans from Vanilla Products USA on Ebay today. First the cold stats. I got a half a lb of their Madagascar Bourbon extract grade beans. This wound up being about 80 beans from 5 (at the shortest, and only a couple of those) to 7 inch beans. Delivery was fast, I did a buy it now on March 17th and got them today. Communication was good. When I opened the vacuum sealed pouch, I was hit by an intense vanilla/bourbon smell. Yum yum. The beans were thin, but full of a nice dense caviar, and they were moist, out of the ones I rendered for my extract, I only hit one woody bean in the bunch. Bonus- they sent me 10 free Tahitian extract grade beans to try. It was 10.95 + 3.12 first class mail. So about 18¢ per bean, which is a really great price.
( lots of vanilla pics )
So to make my extract, I used the method at Vanilla Review, he's got great instructions and takes vanilla super seriously. So I'm just going to give a quick overview and my math on it.
I *can* use a lot of vanilla, I use lots more than most people I think, since the complexities of underrated vanilla never fail to thrill me. And because vanilla meringues toasted to just golden are as close to a guilt free cookie as you can get. So if you're not as much into vanilla and think less will do fine, just reduce measurements.
So a quick reference for people who don't drink and need measurements (like I did.. so I'm just saving you the google time)
1/2 pint= 8 oz
1 pint= 16 oz
Fifth (the standard bottle size) = 1/5 gallon =25.6 ounces
VR recommends an ounce of beans per cup of liquid, and having 80 beans to 8 ounces roughly (I didn't weigh it) meant approximately 10 beans=1 ounce.
I used Skyy vodka because it was the only mid-tier vodka in a colored bottle. He recommends dark bottles, and in this bottle, I feel safe letting it set until it's ready. I won't put it in sunlight, but in one of my cupboards, it's fine. I got a fifth. Because I needed room for the beans, I poured 3/4 of a cup into a jar to use for something else (footspray actually.. I did mention I don't drink right?)
I wanted a double strength or better vanilla extract. So..
(25.6-6)/8= 2.45, or roughly 2 and half cups of vodka. So for a single strength extract, that would be 25 beans, for my double strength thick extract, it would 50 beans. I sliced off the tops and bottoms of the beans with my sharp knife, and put them in the bottle, then I sliced them lengthwise and used the back of the knife to scrape the caviar out and put the caviar in the bottle, and cut up the pods into inch long pieces and put them in the bottle. And did that for 50 beans, which was time consuming, but if you're making a smaller amount,or just want a single strenth you wouldn't need to do that many. I really like vanilla. When I was done, I recapped the bottle (oh.. a nice easy screw cap!) and gave it a good shake.
In 6 months, I'll strain out the beans, and decant it into smaller amber or green bottles and probably give away a few bottles to friends so my next batch can be made with Alaskan vodka. I'm planning to include a recipe for meringue cookies with it when I give away a couple bottles as gifts. It's supposed to be "done enough" after a month, but I want to let it go the full 6 months for the richness of flavor. A couple weeks before we strain the bean pieces out, we plan to make sugar crystals and then put the pieces in with them for a very fancy sugar for tea and coffee.

Of course, my husband was very patient about the whole house smelling like vanilla. Because he rocks like that.

What would it have in it? This is set up as check boxes, so you can pick multiple fillings. If you aren't a LiveJournal user, you can post a comment with your suggestions and choices.

Poll #1350832 Favorite Fillings?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Plants (veggies, herbs, that sort of thing)

Any suggestions?

Meat

Any suggestions?

Dairy

Any suggestions?

I was talking to jehanna about vanilla extract, and a little bit of research revealed that cinnamon extract has been proven to be helpful to people with type 2 diabetes. We talked about adding a bit of cinnamon to a vanilla extract, and then talked about making a rum for eggnogs. Sort of an adult version of flavored creamers that could be mixed with milk/cream/eggs/sugar for a strong rich flavor. Since vanilla extracts improve with age, it stands to reason if you started infusing flavor into a good rum now, by Christmas it would be amazing, and if you wanted to make it extract strong, you could make a low alcohol egg nog as well. Decanted into smaller bottles with a label printed up with an eggnog recipe on it, it would make a nice hostess gift. I'm thinking nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla to make the extract, after 6 months, strain and bottle, and when you gift it, bag and tie some pieces of vanilla beans and cinnamon around the neck.

Since the micro sd card and adapter worked so well with my phone, Mike checked his to see if he had a spot for a micro sd, and it did, so he did the same thing to finally get the photos off his phone. Hmm.. one warning/possible trigger. A plastic spider.
( he hadn't downloaded them off his phone since he got it )
What's on your menu today? For the first time, I let the kids pick. So we are having marshmallow crisped rice cereal treats, hotdogs, and veggies with dip. This is also probably the last time I let them pick.

But my sleeping schedule is still all messed up from being sick. So instead of waking me, Mike asked what I had planned for dinner, he knew I had a plan, or I'd have told him to stop by the store. I said "Turkey burgers, mac and cheese, fresh fruit." and he said he'd take care of it. A couple hours later when I came out of the bedroom wiping sleep out of my eyes, E and Mike were discussing the fact she wasn't thrilled with dinner. Which was odd. She LOVES turkey burgers and mac and cheese, and we have apples! Mike said "She didn't like how I seasoned it."
See.. he tends to over season, and rather than make me something I couldn't eat for seasoning overload, he underseasoned it, and apparently didn't know I use Worcestershire on turkey burgers (a no anchovy kind, Krogers if your curious. It's easier to find a no anchovy sauce then to make it from scratch). E only ate one, she usually has two. So I said "So you like mine better?" and she said "OH yes." Then, because she hates to be mean.. she said "I mean.. no. Daddy's are good too. I just add lots of pepper." And I looked at her plate, and she wasn't kidding. There was no food, but still a ton of pepper around the edges of her plate. Like she POURED the pepper on to eat it. Mike of course was laughing at this point, and said "It's okay, I prefer your mom's too."
So I decided before I go to sleep, whenever I go to sleep, I'm going to try and stay up late enough to work on getting my schedule right by the weekend, I'm going to mix up some of my mom's sauce, and Mike can make sloppy joes for dinner.
I'm designing a new gift box in my head, so I'll probably work on that, I also need to write a book review, and try to figure out what I'm entering in Fur Rondy this year. I'm half tempted to make a new mermaid necklace and enter that. My last one turned out so amazing, but I'm also thinking of beading the incredibly sparkly 27 mm after market coated rivoli I've had sitting on my desk for a few months. Make something sparkly and formal looking.
Wm came over this weekend, and we finally did his birthday dinner. He picked China Lights as expected, and ate a lot of sushi. I ate a plateful of fruit and veggies, a couple pieces of fried shrimp, and a couple chicken skewers, and sort of regretted that I wasn't hungrier since they do have great food there. He was planning to learn to bake bread this weekend, but decided he'd rather read, so he did. I joked when he left that he came over for the food and books.
Sunday morning, I decided to make biscuits for everyone. E came over and saw what I was doing, and asked if I was going to add anything. I said "Well.. your grandma used to make cinnamon rolls with biscuit dough, I guess I could do that." and she said "I'm not sure daddy would like cinnamon and sugar." and as she kept giving me suggestions, I finally gave her half the dough to do what she wanted with. What she wanted turned out to be dried pesto seasoning and cayenne. I swear that child will put cayenne on ice cream someday. We popped them in the oven, and she was happy with how they turned out. I think she was inspired from the bread we baked last week.
Mike was less enthused. He told me next time to let her know that being creative for dinner breads is good, but in the morning, he LIKES cinnamon and sugar. He did manage to eat one of her biscuits and told her they were good. Wm was a lot more enthused, and ate a couple. One with nutella. I don't even want to know what that tasted like.
So.. that's a not brief at all run down of my food weekend. Other than that, we read, and avoided going out too much. It's slick outside, treacherous, but it's at least warming up. It's 20 degrees right now! So now that I'm not worried about drafts (it's a lot easier to keep the house warm at 20 then at -20) I started my sourdough. So this weekend, I'm going to make a nice happy loaf of sourdough bread. Yum yum!

I'm working on a crocheted version of a Danish paper heart, and I'm not sure I have quite enough yarn left to do one side, so it may turn out tri-colored, with the strips of one section being one color, and the semi-circles being a different color. Pattern *will* be posted later, and I think it has possibilities sized up a bit as a really thick nice hot pad to put hot things on since it's 4 layers thick in the woven part. I think it also would make a nice scrubbie the size I'm making it.
I'm feeling a little better today. Sorry about the whining last night.

No new versus was posted, but at the store, where it was just John vs. Iron Man, John won by one vote. 58/57. Here, my two added choices were tied. 2 votes for The Santa Bear (hey, he's vicious!) and 2 for the dumbo octopus.

I was thinking of doing knitting vs crochet and scrapbooking vs. plastic canvas needle point then running the winners against each other, but really, while we are all responsible adults capable of intelligent discussion, discussing politics, religion, or crochet vs. knitting in a polite setting is really just a way to start a fight.
( a fun screenprinting youtube vid )

Sorry about not updating in a few days. I wish I had a good excuse, but I really really don't. I was reading books, and spending time with my family.

Today the vague plan is that we will make little paper mache ball type covers for an led light string. Think jack'o'lanterns, skulls and eyeballs. The shortest strand I could find locally was 50 lights, so that's how many we have to make.
Other then that, I'm really not sure what we plan today. It's a very chilly 27° F out.

I made smoothies for the kids yesterday. I forgot how much I enjoy them. I gave myself brain freeze! I used frozen oj concentrate, ice cubes, yogurt and a banana. Yum yum!
More later. You know, after I do something productive. I've been really unproductive for the last few days! Yesterday, the only creative thing I did was make a 20 inch wide x 16 inch tall Jolly Roger wall decal to put in my bedroom wall. I think I've decided this week at least, repositionable spray adhesive like 3M's Repostitionable 75 or spray mount is not only one of my favorite things for cut and pastes, but it's also wonderful for home decorating. I think I'm going to play with Rasterbator and make some big posters soon.

Well.. this weekend was a bit rough. I pushed it too hard again, and despite the pretty Potter's Marsh icon, I didn't go there.
( long, lots of boring detail. Skip )
So I planned on doing some beading, but I never get to it this weekend. Instead I worked on knitting another kerchief, this one I think for Mel, it's in rainbow-y colors with a triangle design worked into it using yarn overs, k2tog, and ssk. Nobody told me that ssk looked better on the opposite side of a symmetrical design then k2tog. C'mon ladies and gentleman.. you know I'm a beginner! Help a girl out! I'm not going to follow patterns except my own, it's sort of the way I work... so I need all the helpful hints you can give me.
Next up, for knitting, is either an eyeball pouch or a fair isle pouch, so any hints on changing colors, carrying colors, etc.. please?
The hardware store was full of stuff I can see using soon. All sorts of meshes I want to play with to make things out of. I also got the oak dowels for the sets of dpns I'm making for people for the holidays. I'm thinking of getting some dowel caps and beading them with geometric peyote designs for straight needles or hair sticks.
For the gym yesterday, I braided my hair into a long braid down the back, then coiled it up into a bun and pinned it with 2 dpns, it wound up looking very fancy for going to the gym in a pair of shorts and a Linkin Park teeshirt. I think I need to teach E how to weave ribbons in my hair when it's up like that. Easiest method is just to thread 1/8th inch ribbon through a plastic yarn needle and "sew" it through your hair to help pin it into place and to decorate.

To start with, because it's the prettiest to me.. check out this entry from men_in_full about Sumo.
E is totally into steampunk lately. I'm not sure if it's because a lot of her favorite movies and books have that feel, or because of ThreadBanger's series about steampunk fashion, but she is.
You can buy aluminum foil tape in the hardware section of most places that have a hardware section, and we've used before for crafts, and after seeing this tutorial it occurred to me, I've got a lot of pill bottles. I can't make myself throw them away because hey.. plastic! and they might be useful for something.. and my pharmacy uses a computerized filling system and refilling old bottles isn't easy for them since they don't fill by hand unless the machine is broken.
( more information and a picture behind the cut )
I was trying to think of other things I can do with the bottles. Some I've turned into mini-purses in the past, and I'll probably do that with some, and I was also thinking maybe advent ornaments for our Christmas tree, but another idea I think would be fun is to use them as a block for stamps made with silicone caulking, this idea just makes me happy. We can make a bunch of mini stamps that fit the lid, and keep them in the bottle itself, then stick them on the lid to stamp with. I think we will have to separate them in the bottle with parchment paper to keep them from sticking to each other, and then using some sort of repositionable glue on the backs of them to attach them to the lid, but I think it will work. We can stamp paper and glue/tape it around the bottle to decorate it.
And I really have a lot of pill bottles. Do you have any ideas?
Aviary is a lot of fun. I drew this a couple days ago in Peacock. Peacock is a pattern maker with different "hubs" you use to build pictures out of. Way fun. I still have invites if anyone wants one.

After finding out that I can get a music movement of the Alfred Hitchcock theme, I have a very strong desire to make a little amigurumi Alfred Hitchcock with the music movement in it.

But I also love Those Were the Days. That's been one of my favorite songs since I was little.

It's almost time to start seriously thinking about the donated pieces of art I'm giving to a couple auctions this year as fund raisers. The zoo is easy.
I was thinking brick stitched earrings for our American Legion Post and for the United Way auction, but the obvious issue is.. I don't really design for either venue. I tend to do a lot of bats and skulls and ankhs and stuff that's just purely cute. I did design a simple pair of RWB earrings about a decade ago that will work for the American Legion I think.
I was looking at information about curve stitching, which was designed by Mary Everest Boole. Think 1970's string art. A way of making curved lines with straight lines. :) I remember Mom teaching me to cut a circle out of paper using a variation of that technique. I really like the idea of curved stitch embroidery on stuff like very 1950s ish looking aprons, maybe on a patch pocket on a blue gingham apron trimmed with red rickrack.
( example I drew )
That's a pretty simple design, not too complex, and I think it will work in thicker flosses and threads. I'm going to redraw it a bit finer for regular cotton floss. I need to pick up some color card stock so I can practice stitching these on card stock and see how they look.
If I do make an apron, I'm going to use a fusible interfacing on the back of whatever fabric I use to stitch it on for extra support and to keep the fabric from stretching and ruining the lines.

Well.. all my plans of making s'mores with homemade marshmallows, good quality chocolate, and homemade graham crackers are shot because of all this rain.. and my darling husband thought it was a bit extreme anyway..

But! He got me a food dehydrator. Probably so I'd stop making notes about how to convert one of the old tower cases into one.. boy is he fooled! I'm still working on that..
I'm considering, seriously, making him homemade yogurt covered raisins. He loves them, and the regular brand he gets has a lot of partially hydrogenated oil in the coating. Which is not strictly necessary if you are willing to refrigerate them.
Ingredients of his favorite yogurt covered raisins..

Chocolate Flavored Yogurt Coating (sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, nonfat milk, cocoa, nonfat yogurt [cultured nonfat dry milk], whey, natural chocolate flavor, soy lecithin, vanillin), Raisins, Confectioner's Glaze, Corn Syrup, Tapioca Dextrin, and Maltodextrin.

If we make the yogurt from scratch... well.. then my dad will decide I've completely gone over to the Tie Dyed Side.. but yum yum!
Ingredients for homemade yogurt coating-
yogurt for cultures, non fat milk, instant milk powder to thicken it a bit (basic yogurt ingredients)
Good quality cocoa powder
Honey? Maybe.
Sugar
Vanilla
possibly a bit of soy lecithin for smoothness. (which is in a lot of non stick sprays, and that's the easiest way to add just a touch for smoothness)

Of course, I'm half wondering if I can do sugar free pretzels with chocolately yogurt coating for my uncle.

I decided when I was nearly done with the pendant bag I'm working on now that I wasn't happy with the size, so I frogged. And picked up stitches. And I gotta tell you.. picking up stitches after frogging perle cotton knitted with size 4/0 needles is not my idea of a good time. Really. And Mike mocked teased me gently about my OCD issues, because I knew I wouldn't be happy with it almost right.
Then when I was 9 rows from the end of the body of the bag, the thread broke on a partially broken bead. So I frogged the thread back to the beginning of the row and picked up those stitches, tightly knotted the thread back together with tails long enough to weave in, and now I'm back to finishing up the bag part.

I couldn't get to knitting lessons today. I was too busy knitting and frogging and saying bad words.

Anyway, remember way back when I did an entry on antiperspirant alternatives? Well, the wikihow feed had this link for making underarm guards. They look sort of uncomfortable and inconvenient to me, but I do like the idea of using baking soda to absorb odor. Having a bunch of clever seamstresses who read this, I'm certain someone can come up with something better then Mom's bit of velcro to stick to sweaters, or that harness. I think what I'd like is something along the lines of a choli bra type top made out of a nice cotton knit with built in but fairly slim line pockets that you could spoon a bit of baking soda into because that would be convenient for the gym, which is where I sweat the most, but I also need light support while I'm working out. Anyway, a camisole of some sort made with 4 oz cotton knit would almost have to be more comfortable then a harness.
Kim has found a good solution for her is to use vodka and lemon juice. But that's a lot easier when you're a bartender. I wonder if you could use dry lemon powder or lemon slices and infuse vodka for a while, and keep flannel pads soaked with in a water proof pouch and reapply when needed? Witch hazel if you absolutely can't stand the scent of vodka.

Well.. back to my knitting.

Remember a while back I posted about the possibility of using old business cards by recycling them with your name and contact info on the back? Truth is.. if you're in a job that gets you cards, they usually get more then you'll use over the lifetime of the job, and I asked Mike if he had some E and I could use for crafty purposes, and he gave us most of a box. There are lots of neat modular models on the net, and of course, the classic jumping frog model, but I think I'll see what E can come up with before I make any suggestions.
Last night I dreamt Mike and I were radio djs. Which doesn't make any sense at all. I'm too nervous to talk on a mic. I don't even much like talking on the phone except to a few people. I was also making an elephant in my dreams out of construction paper, and very upset because the poor quality of most construction paper would fold instead sculpting when I was working on the trunk, and getting it wet only ruined it.
I graphed out tie tack designs for Mike that will use the size 15 delicas. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time graphing out non-whimsical ideas that will be appropriate for work. The first one I'm making is the Hal Jordan GL ring design, I debated the Kyle Rayner ring, I like that ring really well... but he likes the Hal Jordan better. I also graphed out Deadpool's belt buckle as a pattern, an alien, and an American flag and an Alaskan flag pattern. I need to go pick up red size 15 delicas for the Deadpool and American flag if I do that one. (sort of doubtful, I don't think he'd wear it)

Two versus. and I missed one so I'll have to call and ask about it later. But this is week before last, and this week.
Poll #1225066 Superman vs. Thor
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Superman vs. Thor

Darth Vader vs. Sephiroth

Remember my devil duck earrings? They were always meant to be the first in a bunch of non-bead beaded earrings.
( here's a few others, plus a necklace I made a while back )
Of course.. what I *was* going to work on was a brick stitched winged skull tattoo necklace design, but I got distracted by the dragons on my work table.

Me: I imagine.. if you had a food processor.. hazelnuts, a bit of hazelnut or peanut oil,cocoa powder and sugar substitute would make an okay "sugar free nutella" simulation.
Her: i have a baby one
Her: i make salsa and hummus in
Her: ive never had nutella, so i wouldnt know
Me: it's a chocolate/hazelnut spread E loves
Her: ive heard of it, but not tasted.
Her: and how can you go wrong with chocolate and nuts.
Me: her favorite.. when we have a working fridge.. is to make phyllo shells and smear a touch of jam in them, top with nutella, and bake until golden.
Me: BUT! you could do something similar and fancy schamcy looking by grinding up almonds into almond butter with a bit of almond oil and cocoa powder and sugar substitute, and a sugar free raspberry jam in phyllo shells with an almond on top for decoration.
Me: I think I might try that for Lamar.

A friend of mine got me a bunch of craft books, and I'm going to be putting up reviews for them in case anyone is looking for good craft books.I think I also need to add book review to the zine and indie books I've reviewed in here in the past.
Simple Screenprinting : Basic Techniques & Creative Projects
I've been reading a lot about screenprinting and wanting to try it, but the part that always baffled me was how best, at home, to do photo emulsion stencils. This book explained it really well with photos and lists of easy to get equipment to do it at home. It took the intimidation out of it for me.
The projects in it are great. I would have liked more cloth projects, but even with that, the ideas were good, and the explanations for how to do layered prints were really well written and easy to understand.

Recycled Crafts Box
A friend got this for my daughter and I, and a lot of the projects in it are really suited better for parents with younger children, that being said, we loved it.
My daughter is almost 13 years old, and while a lot of the projects were a lot easier then she likes, they gave her ideas for doing similar things with a bit more complexity. The cardboard castle is a favorite, and she's got big plans for building her brother a dice tower now.
The other thing the book had that we both liked was a lot of information about how things are recycled, and a timeline of disposable manufacturing, so we both learned from it. It's good without being overly preachy, and since it's recycled crafts, the crafts are very inexpensive to make. I liked it a lot.

Last night, about 5 pm, my back started spasming really badly, and didn't *stop* even with muscle relaxants, so I went to sleep about 8 pm. Pain is exhausting. I had a dr ask me once if I needed something to help me sleep through the pain, and I explained to him "No. Sleeping isn't an issue when I hurt really badly because I wind up exhausted. All I want to do is sleep." That's what convinced him I really was in chronic pain despite the fact I look good for it. (that's a quote by the way, from one of my physical therapists)

When I get tired, my mind tends to range all over the place, and I started thinking about a spoon my mom used to have. It got broken after 20 years of regular use, but it was carved out of cottonwood by my paternal grandfather, and it had a deepish bowl and a beaver carved on the handle. He was the traditional chief, and a really good wood carver. Mom used that spoon all the time. She believed strongly that pretty and precious things were meant to be used, to be enjoyed, not just to have.

So while Mike was tucking me into bed, I asked him if he had ever wanted to carve spoons, and he said yes. I'm not sure if he does, or if he was just humoring me and trying to get me to go to bed since when he got home I was a bit weepy and emotional. But I think I want to this summer. I'm not sure if I'll use cottonwood, cottonwood is really easy to carve, and it's what I've carved in the past, but I want spoons out of a harder wood. I need to find my tools and find some wood blanks, but that shouldn't be too hard, I'll ask my brother if he has scraps I can use.

I'm feeling a lot better today, and made it to the gym this morning.

and I'm working with Mike and my brother to see how we can do it and how much it will cost with stuff scavenged where ever possible..
I think we can make a heated food dehydrator in an old tower case using an older power supply (because we have a brand new old power supply in a box from about 4 years ago) and scavenged fans, and light bulbs. But I think it's such a great idea I figured I'd share.
See, the best food dehydrators has fans on the sides of it instead of at the top or bottom. Top or bottom fans don't evenly distribute air through the layers, plus if it's on the bottom, food/liquid can drip in them and needs to be cleaned. But good food dehydrators with fans on the side can be a bit pricey. Computer parts are easy.

I was also watching E turn a plastic bag into a wind sock and remembered another one of those things mom used to do with us.. she would give us washed used aluminum foil and plastic bags to make comet balls out of. We had a lot of fun batting them around with old badminton raquets.

Yesterday I learned about Armenian needle lace, which is a very pure form of lace making. You need a needle and thread. Traditionally it's done with a size 100 thread. Uh... yeah.. no. I'm too modern. The world is instant, and I like my gratification close to the same way. I'll use something like a size 20, which is more then fine enough for me.
Today I learned that during Victorian times, men would retire for brandy and cigars, women would have wine jellies, since it was a more genteel way to have a drink after a meal. Well, these days it's jell-o shots for men and women both. But I LIKE the idea of wine jellies. I had lots of fun making coffee and tea jellies with the kids.

You can use pectin, gelatin or agar agar for jelling I'm sure. I'm not sure what's most traditional, so I'll have to look. (well..I'm reasonably sure it's not agar agar)
Imagine a blush wine with rose petals suspended in it. How pretty would that be? With a bit of whipped cream on top and if you wanted to be truly over the top, candied rose petals on that to decorate! If you skip the whipped cream and use whipped until silky tofu with vanilla and sugar, and use fruit based pectin or agar agar, it's a vegan variation of a Victorian victual. Okay.. sorry. I couldn't resist the alliteration though.
A dark wine in flutes with dark grapes in it could be really pretty too.

<beadgeek>
Generally, in the last 35 years at least, most loom beading is done with a double weft, and isn't really weaving. You're sandwiching the warp threads between the double weft. That's the instructions with the little "Indian Bead Loom" (I have a "Genuine Indian Bead Loom" that belonged to my non-Native grandmother she got 32 years ago). So I assumed that was the standard, because it's been the standard for.. well.. my lifetime at least.
HOWEVER.. rigid heddles were used in the past by some NA weavers. They used a double warp, and a very finely carved rigid heddle that allowed matched sets of up/down warp in a box shaped loom, not a tape loom, it was basically the heddle suspended in between 2 ends with round dowels to wrap the warp/completed beadwork around.

I'm not sure if anyone makes heddle that fine anymore, but I'm going to talk to my brother about what I need to build a similar loom. I'm wondering if modification on an inkle style/string heddle loom could work for a similar effect. It's going to have to be built to spec though, which means if my brother can't build it, I'm going to have to figure out someway to build it myself with Mike's help. Maybe I could cast the heddle to get the spacing I need?
</beadgeek>

Oh yeah, and sorry R. I just couldn't picture a way to do bead weaving with a rigid heddle that would still look neat and work as well as the double weft method. I still think the double weft method would be quickest, and I think this may be too thready, but I want to try it and see.

Also, we made cupcakes!
We used this recipe but modified somewhat.
First, no almond extract. We used a full tablespoon of good organic vanilla instead. We also added a tablespoon of instant espresso to the batter. The batter? SOO fluffy. I've never made a cake with batter that fluffy.
Like I said, we made cupcakes, and the recipe makes 36 cupcakes. Plan accordingly. Reading the comments, I knew it made a lot of batter, so I used my 12 cup cupcake pans. Shorten the time to 35 minutes.
We frosted with an espresso butter cream frosting that I made WAY too much of.
Espresso Butter Cream Frosting-
1 cup of butter
1 T of vanilla, or less if you don't like vanilla as much as I do.
2 T. of instant espresso powder
2 T of cold milk
2 T of coffee
2 lbs of powdered sugar

Cream the first 5 ingredients with an egg beater, then work in the powdered sugar a bit at a time until it's all incorporated and beat it until it's light and fluffy. Give one egg beater to your husband and one to your kid, unless you have two kids, then give both to your husband, because you can't expect the kids to share one. *laughs* I'm joking of course, but Mike does like to lick the beaters.
My mom always asked "Who's gonna be the slickapot?" so we use that term too for whoever gets to scrape the edges of the mixing bowl for frosting/battery goodness. E slicked the pot happily and got all covered with coffee frosting.
Dad's coming by after work to pick up some of the cupcakes, because we really don't need 36 cupcakes.