Homemade Bench Block Pillow

As you know if you've read my last couple of posts, I recently won a spot in Deryn Mentock's BoHo Bliss Hoops class this summer, and I've been having an awesome time making some really cool ear wires and hoops.

One of your must-haves in metalworking is your bench block pillow. I did not have one at the start of class, and I didn't want to spend $20+ on it, so I looked up tutorials. There's a turtorial for everything, right? Well, wouldn't you know that I found one right off the bat from Jenni's Beads, a lady who was in one of Deryn's classes back in Oct '11. Serendipity!! Since I don't have a  sewing machine (and also the reason why I never finished that cute little sundress from the sewing class I took when I was 14), I quickly emailed the tut to my sewing-sister so she could get a look-see. Come to find out she never read it, but I should have known better, she's a master seamstress. She took one look at the pic and just 'knew' what to do.

In the meantime, I knew it would take a bit before we could hook up and get 'er done, so I searched for something in-the-meantime.... and found this at the dollah store:

It's the padded vinyl shelf liner stuff.

At $1 + tax for a 10 ft roll, that's a steal!

Here it is with some copper dust on it.... after being test driven

and waiting until I can hook up with my sister to make the "real" one.

It took probably 20 minutes to make this little guy, including scooping up the sugar sand in the back yard - SO convenient living in Florida. I got to help, even... I held the bag open while my sister scooped up the sand and put it in the bag (I had brought a sandwich bag with me with zip lock top), and I cut the material, and held the bag up so it would slide through easily while the stitches went in (can you tell I don't sew? Who knows what kind of sewing jargon I'm supposed to be using here). She did the rest. :) And silly me, I forgot to take pics of the "during!!!" Ack. So I quickly regrouped and took pics of the aftermath. 

Scraps of the black leather we used; leftovers from a custom dress she made someone...
who knew bench block pillows could be so glamorous!

Her mondo sewing machine that can do everything but wash the dishes....

Whalla! Finished and ready for action.
 Double seamed, all safe in its zip-locked bag, there'll be no leakage here!

So here she is! Isn't she beautiful? Maybe I should add a beaded fringe to pay homage to its original purpose...? Price: $1.07 and a hug. (Is it wrong to admit that the $1.00 roll of padded vinyl liner deadens the sound better than the pillow? Nah, forgetaboutit.)