noteworthy

A set of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books (yellow paperbacks) were priced a quarter each at the library sale last week. I snatched them up to use the Garth Williams illustrations in craft projects - when making greeting cards, bookmarks, collages, scrapbook pages, blank journal covers, and other fun things.

As Caroline Ingalls would say, it was providential that later that day, I spied flattened glass "marble" magnets in packs of six, dirt cheap. These had pictures of fruits and vegetables under the glass, but a short soak in a pot of boiling water separated the magnets from the paper and the paper from the glass with no prying or scraping. While it's no trouble to take apart purchased magnets and re-purpose them (or recycle some already hanging on your refrigerator, perhaps), you can also buy various sizes of flat florist marbles and magnets at most craft stores. Although they come in colors, clear ones work best. You'll also need some good glue that works on glass.

There are excellent online tutorials for making marble magnets; notmartha is one a lot of people mention. Here's another one from ehow.

I had two sizes of glass marbles, 3/4 inch and 1 inch, so that's the sizes I made. You'd be amazed at how many cute, round little drawings are scattered throughout the "Little House" books: pails, wagon wheels, snowflakes, flowers, lanterns... Since the glass marble slightly magnifies the image beneath it, it's a good idea to look at the images through the glass before cutting to see if it's the effect you want. For example, there's a really cute drawing of Jack all curled up and sleeping (see the Table of Contents page in On the Banks of Plum Creek), but it was a little big for the glass marbles I have; I'll save it until I get some bigger ones.

If you don't have a spare "Little House" book to sacrifice, use postcards, photographs, or little pictures from old "Little House" calendars. What about site brochures, bookmarks, or ticket stubs? The possiblities are endless.

I used a circle template to draw a circle on the image where I wanted to cut, but you could also use a circle punch. Others, I just held up the page with the magnet pressed on the image and cut around that. Glue the image to the magnet, then the magnet to the glass dome, and let dry thoroughly before using. Voila!

[LATER] Yes, you can scan/copy/print illustrations from your LH books. But it's not legal. And no, any text on the "back" of a page you cut out and use won't show through because the magnet is dark and it masks the contrast.
- posted by pioneergirl at 9:05 PM