Weekend projects

I've been wanting some more cloth cat collars for my foster kittens, but the lady who had made them for a local shelter to sell doesn't make them any more, so I went online. Aghast at the $18+ prices I was seeing, I kept looking, and came upon a site that sells the sewing pattern for the collars in question. Perfect. I ordered it, and this weekend I made four from my scrap fabric:

And now my mom and 5 kittens all have collars, woot! And Jeeves' collar is wearing out a bit, so I can keep an eye out for a fabric that doesn't clash *too* badly with brown tabby and make a collar when I need to. Huzzah for the feeling of self-sufficiency.

I also turned my first pen (well, pencil) on G's new lathe this weekend. My technique seemed fine, which was reassuring. I turned a blank of koa with what G calls a 'dart' shape, and decided to experimentally dye it with G's blue. The notes I have from the class say "dye it dark, because some of it will rub off later". Not so much with this dye and koa! The result was dark, and not particularly blue:

This is a fairly complimentary photo, I'm glad to say...but...meh. ;-) Bluish-black with medium brown grain isn't my favorite combination of colors. Like I said, experimental pen. The next one has more potential (and I don't plan on using dye); it's a fancier pen kit and involves turning the pen per usual, then removing a specific measurement of wood off of one end, down to the brass cylinder...it's not something I've tried before. Hopefully it'll come out as nifty as it looks like it can.