Today’s experiment: Vegan pizzelles

I interpolated between three recipes online, then fussed with the consistency as I griddled them off.

Results:

Round 1: too thick, retain too much moisture/flexibility. Delicious; crisp exterior; inside is a little chewy.

Added water for Round 2: too much water. They puffed into little balloons. Fun, but difficult to eat.

Added cornstarch for Round 3: closer, but batter still too thin.

Added masa for Round 4: bang on batter consistency, but probably a touch too lean and under leavened. Crunchy. Would be great for dipping.

Did I measure my edits? Of course not. But I will measure when I make them again, and we’ll spiral into a final recipe. Notes: switch from abuse extract to ground aniseed; reduce 3T flax meal to 2; increase 1t baking powder to 1.5t; increase 1/2c liquid to 1c; increase 1/4c coconut oil by 1T or so. But go easy on the liquid increase until you know what the reduced flax is doing.

(yes it’s a stroopwaffel iron. hush)

#food #recipeDevelopment #pizzelle

In the last bulk order for oat groats I also grabbed a selection of wholemeal flours to try in this summer’s pita experiments. My standard recipe is 100g wholemeal, 100g white bread flour, 65% hydration.

First up: khorasan

Incredibly elastic and bouncy without being tough, even though we were on the griddle indoors and not the pizza oven. Flavor and aroma is very mild; is fine but I expected a foxier character from an ancient-style grain.

Would probably make amazing phyllo.

#food #bread

Summer skirt 2026! It will be linen, five gores, with godets, back placket, and slash pockets at the side front seams. Pocket fabric still TBD

#sewing #selfDrafted

Yessss finally decided that was enough french polish

You can see reflections in it and it doesn’t hold fingerprints

I only refinished the parts of the cabinet that were easy to disassemble, plus those were the ones with the worst water damage

#shellac #diy

It’s time for new pants! I’m adapting my 2024 pattern to reduce some bulk in the fly area by merging the fly facing with the pocket. Notes to self to make up in tissue tomorrow.

#sewing #selfDrafted

She lives!

I need more treadle practice. And she makes a racket, so something is probably not quite aligned perfectly. But she sews!

(video to come; mastodon currently refusing to accept a perfectly good file)

#treadleOn #sewing #humanPowered

Last year's shutdown of @glitchdotcom was a blow to my pedagogy. Glitch was ideal for creative coding classes and workshops. I looked around for alternatives. But there was nothing that was open, decentralized, and not at the mercy of VCs or Big Tech.

So I built my own. Here's Glitchlet.

Glitchlet runs on any shared hosting service (e.g., Reclaim Hosting). If you can run WordPress, you can run Glitchlet. Projects-in-progress are stored in the browser's local storage, but you can also one-click publish to make them public and remixable. Glitchlet is designed with educators in mind.

There's no single, primary Glitchlet that everyone uses. The idea is that every instructor installs their own Glitchlet and manages their own classes/workshops/projects. You can seed your instance with template files, or Glitchlet can easily import projects (including archived Glitch .tgz files).

Making something so easy to install and host has trade-offs, of course. No fancy pants Node or React projects, but Glitchlet works beautifully with HTML/JavaScript/CSS. No live collaboration, but you can still remix published projects.

Best of all—you're in control and not subject to the whims of some startup that suddenly decides to "sunset" a key pedagogical tool.

Glitchlet is alpha now, but its code will available to all very soon!

Ult: TIL “fraise” means both strawberry and drill 🍓🧰

The four genders

Ladder-experienced people and adjacent:

I have been spending significant time on a ladder and exerting upward force in order to repair a ceiling. I tend to stand with the peak of the ladder behind me, and brace against the next step up.

I have been getting truly epic bruises on the backs of my calves. Like, enough to make it painful to squat. Any advice? Does one just get used to it? Should I be wearing squishy leg warmers? Put shin guards on backwards?

“Turn around, dingus” is understandable but would make it hard to access the corners.

#askFedi #diy

New scent day! I use an ethanol-based deodorant that I acquire unscented in bulk so I can mix my own, 2-3 months at a time.

The last one will be hard to beat: Ylang ylang, cardamom, and black pepper

This one is: Geranium, balsam fir, and yarrow

The yarrow EO I only really have for topical therapeutic use in salves, but I was surprised how well it supported the other two aroma-wise. A sortof crunchy baritone.

#perfumery

Disquiet Junto Project 0715: Err Apparent

The Assignment: Make a mistake on purpose. Build something from it.

Step 1: Play something wrong and record it. The sequence could be a fumble at a keyboard, or a series of bum notes on a guitar, or a erroneous beat.

Step 2: Emphasize the flaws from Step 1 through repetition and variation, and in the process record a piece of music.

#DisquietJunto

Yo #Pittsburgh! I’m teaching a workshop on Saturday to upcycle fabric scraps into wee woodland creatures and there are still open spots!

If you’re a sewist with a looming scrap bin, or sewing-curious and love the idea of learning while reducing textile waste, I’d love to see you there. Morning and afternoon sessions available, no prior sewing experience required, ages 12 and up 💕

https://protohaven.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/protohaven/event.jsp?event=18264

Ooh, Patreon, except it’s a coop:

https://www.comradery.co

#coop

Finally, back on this particular hobby after months of having no spoons for nonessential grimy activities.

This is my Singer 127, rescued from decades of storage after being the least-used machine in a leather repair shop. It has definitely not been serviced since Pittsburgh started cleaning up its coal smoke problem, and is commensurately filthy with black gunk on top of the expected hardened grease lint and dust weasels.

Finally got the presser bar out with some gentle percussive action with the machine on its side. Need to find or make a simply enormous vintage screwdriver before I can get the rest of the “easy to put back together” stuff out of the nose of the machine; the screw for the last bit is like an inch wide with quite a narrow slot, and it hasn’t yielded to the biggest ill-fitting driver I have. It’s probably also time for proper penetrating oil.

Meanwhile, I found the scrubbies that fit the dremel, and omg the front plate is gonna be so gorgeous.

#treadleOn #sewing #antiqueSewingMachine #repair

Any black licorice fans out there? I’m looking for a candy with:

- no gelatin
- no synthetic food coloring
- no anise
- yes licorice root

I don’t care if it’s soft or hard, I just want the flavor, and a little bonus numbness at the end

#askFedi #licorice

Prototypes for a workshop I’m giving in a few months:

#sewing #handmadeToys

@RussSharek we have a hand crank burr grinder you can borrow if you’d like to try one out (it’s our backup)

Unfortunately this particular company went under so they’re hard to find now, but it would give you a general idea.

I made this cool owl! I was part of a tester group for a new class at Protohaven for laser engraving and used a couple different techniques to get this effect.

#protohaven #pittsburgh #makerspace

Yesterday I had hoped to finish the last chair, the fanciest chair, the leather chair. Folly had other things in mind.

First, I forgot the foam. I had precut the forms for all the other chairs, and miscounted, and somehow failed to notice that the bag of Chair Things I bring with me to the maker space had no foam in it. So, an extra trip.

Then. Y’all, this leather was not intended for upholstery, and I knew that. But working damp 5+oz mid-temper leather around curves is a major workout. My arms. They are so wee and baby, and I asked a great deal of them. It took hours to do the seat.

Of course the back wouldn’t go on the normal way, because it had to be damp so it would stretch, and damp things don’t slide, even against slippery plastic. So I had to wrestle the thing inside out (which had taken a half hour when dry; thankfully way easier when wet) and slowly work it down from the corners like turning rouleaux. I wound up building a jig so I could use my entire body weight without the thing tipping over and even then it was excruciatingly slow going. I got maybe two thirds down in an hour, then P came looking for me. He was able to use his superior weight and grip strength to do the rest in about five minutes.

Stapling the back will have to wait for next time. Ideally once my arms have forgiven me.

#upholstery