I first baked "no knead" bread many years ago, but then my oven broke and I had to stop. I picked up bread baking again about a year ago, and even made my very own sourdough starter. Bread is incredible - how some flour and water and a teeny bit of yeast magically turns into a gorgeous loaf. Crusty on the outside. Soft and airy on the inside. It blows me away every single time I pull one out of the oven.

During these strange times of Covid-19 and our shelter in place orders, artists are having a hard time selling their work. Many of the local shops where we sell our work are currently closed or operating with limited days and hours - and all public events have been cancelled until who knows when! We are reinventing how to stay creative, how to keep selling our work, and how to stay happy. So many more artists are now selling online than before.

Bewtween 2008-2015 I made and sold bags and accessories, and had an Etsy shop running for a short time while I sold my work at art fairs and in local shops. That creative phase gave way to making hats, dying yarn, and generally exploring all kinds of art mediums and methods. Remember the tiny dishes I made back in 2018? I recently made a bunch more, and they're even better than before. Added to the houseboat collection are tiny dishes with local area themes. And I reopened my Etsy shop! Visit my shop at www.heathergraefstudio.etsy.com.

The floating home community where I live is speckled with brightly colored houseboats, and potted flower gardens on the docks. I hand-made each ceramic dish, and painted the images, some resembling my neighbors' boats. These are high-fired with majolica glazes, and are dishwasher and food safe. These are the best size to hold small things like jewelry, paper clips, soaps, or even wasabi and soy sauce. These are not currently officially for sale, but let me know if you want one!
UPDATE: These are now available at Studio 333 Downtown, 803 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94965

Last Sunday I lead a workshop at Studio 333 in Sausalito. I demonstrated how to make the yarn bird ornaments. The idea is based on a tutorial for similar birds which stood on wire feet. I created this ornament version because Studio 333 was looking for some unique handmade ornaments for the holidays. My students had a great time, and all succeeded in making some fantastic little birds! I will be teaching this workshop again. Click here to Like Studio 333 on Facebook and learn about more workshops they are hosting, from finger knitting blankets, to paint pouring. I'm available to do bird-making workshops at private parties too. Contact me for info.

I've always really loved drawing. When I was little I would draw ladies in fancy dresses and costumes. My skills evolved as I became a graphic designer and now I also love using my iPad Pro or Adobe Illustrator as drawing tools. This illustration of women in historic costumes is a project I'm working on: These images will be printed on fabric and stuffed to make a simple doll. There are so many other variations with this project, from little girl and boy dolls, to men, to costumes from around the world! The same designs could be converted a paper doll kit as well. I would love to know what you think of this idea - feel free to leave a comment!

I love beautiful, hand-dyed yarn. I've tried working with many different manufactured yarns, but so far nothing lives up to the subtle variegated colors created by the hand-dyeing process. If I could dye my own yarns, my crochet goods would be that much more original. So I watched a bunch of YouTube videos about how to dye yarn at home before I psyched myself up for trying it. Today I went with the only dye I had around, some black food coloring. Food coloring is perfectly acceptable and more or less not much different than using more 'professional' acid dyes. My color come out more chocolate than black, but I think it is because I didn't use enough dye to begin with. In my second pot, I decided to remove the skein before it soaked up all the dye. What dye remaining in the pot was blue; I put in a small wound ball of yarn to see what would happen. The result was the mottled purplish-blue-gray and white yarn on the right. I'm excited about how similar my dyed yarn looks compared to some of the yarns I was buying. I could easily get hooked...

My first attempt at crocheting a hat turned out too big, lumpy, and just unwearable, so I all but gave up... until a friend showed me the correct method for creating the increase and decrease stitches to make a proper hat. After that I was hooked, and when I became good at it, my friend asked me to help make 40 hats for a commission from the local surf shop. That's when we started up BONEYARD BEANIES. I have since been designing my own patterns and selling crochet hats and accessories. More photos and an Etsy shop will be added in time...