How to Make Friends

I might have mentioned that heat and humidity are not my friends (um, yeah, like a million times). But I have to admit, however reluctantly, that the weather I find unbearable provides the optimal conditions for  block printing. The solvent-free, water-soluble inks I use dry quickly. The humidity, disgusting though it is, slows the drying time of the ink. This is a good thing. It allows me to keep printing one card after another until I run out of room to spread the cards out to dry. Unlike printing during dry, dry forced air heat winter. Then I could ink and print my block about 6 times before the ink began to dry on the ink plate (the flat, metal thingie on which I roll out the ink), the brayer (the round, rolly thing used to transfer ink to the block), and the block (the hand carved stamp-like thing), which causes uneven ink coverage. This necessitates frequent washings of all the above mentioned tools. Which cannot be used again until they are completely dry. Pain. In. The. Butt.

This is the Friend block, first seen here, cut into 6 separate strips. Each strip is glued to a clear, acrylic mount typically meant for mounting rubber or plastic stamps. The text is mounted on one block, the paper dolls are mounted on a second block. The dolls are red in this shot only because I was in the process of printing them. 

I printed the text on a bunch of cards and allowed them to dry for a couple of days.

Then I inked up the paper doll block and paused for a sip of coffee.

I practiced lining up the paper doll block with the printed text on a bunch of test prints, then tried to place the paper doll block in the same location on each of the cards.

Voila. A finished card, Loyal Luddite style.

The Benefits of a Sinus Infection

When feeling logy and brain-foggy it is best to stick to simple tasks. My sinus infection just barely allowed my impaired motor skills to safely drive a pair of scissors. What would have normally been a tedious process, cutting apart security envelopes and used paper bags for crafting, was satisfyingly challenging. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful, still day just begging for the studio to temporarily move to the porch. 

After screeching something awful, (have you ever heard a rabbit scream?) porch bunny came out to investigate.

And 11 months after moving the CD collection to perfectly sized Ikea boxes, I began to make labels for them. Have I really been living with those post-its for 11 months?

The replacement gift tag punch has successfully cut 80 times and keeps on going, and going, and going... I love that the text is somewhat visible through the wrinkled backing on these tags. And I love that everything but the glue was trash or surplus. The text is pages from a damaged Danish book that began with chapter 32, the brown backing is used paper shopping bags, and the string is surplus cotton crochet thread left over from an art school assignment 20 (oh my) years ago.

I'm picturing many summer days on the porch, processing materials for repurposing, with a delightfully foggy head not from a sinus infection but icy cold micro-brews. Ahhh...

Experimentation

After a long afternoon of not focusing on business planning, I decided to experiment in the studio. I've had a bunch of new ideas turning over in my head for a few days now. Because I research everything to death - in the name of making informed decisions, of course - I tend to get hung up on the details and fail to actually work. Case in point, the next cards in the Loyal Luddite collection. The hold up? Finding THE right solvent-free, water-proof adhesive to permanently bind pieces of carved rubber block to clear acrylic blocks. My google search terms returned nothing relevant. So, finally, I stood in the adhesive aisle at a big box store for a half hour reading labels. So far, Liquid Nails Home Project Repair Adhesive seems to be up to the task. But I digress.

I was having fun playing with discarded safety envelopes, magnets, and a paper punch in the shape of a gift tag. Until said paper punch broke. After cutting it's 3rd shape. Ever.

But, a good thing did happen. While looking for a piece of thin-ish fabric to experiment with, I found these lovely little scraps that I hope are big enough to patch the knees and butt of my gardening overalls. 

The one on the right I've used before to patch jeans. Let's see, I think that would have been 22 or 23 years ago. Out of curiosity, can anyone out there explain the distinction between frugally saving things for possible future use and hoarding (apparently also known as pathological collecting)? There is a distinction, isn't there?

A Little Effort in the Right Direction

I often feel like the tortoise rather than the hare. Until I remember that I'm not running a race. Then I just feel slow. I'm OK with that. Slow can be good. For me, being slow is being careful and savoring the process of whatever it is that has me moving like molasses in winter. My current glacial project is mending, finally.

Rather than unearth the bags of clothing I have stashed (somewhere) and inevitably become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of mending I should do, I chose my very favorite gardening gear for my inaugural mending project. These overalls used to accompany me any and everywhere. But ever since I discovered the holes in the crotch, the holes I imagine blowing out to embarrassing proportions with a stretch to reach an item on the top shelf at the grocery store or bending down to retrieve a library book from the bottom shelf, these naturally air conditioned dungarees stick close to home.

In addition to the holes in the crotch, there's a small hole in one knee, holes at the stress points where the shoulder straps hook to the bib, frayed edges practically everywhere, fabric worn alarmingly thin at both knees and below both back pockets, and they are about 5 inches too long. Oh dear, what was that I said about becoming overwhelmed?  

 

With inspiration from the beautiful and informative Mend It Better, out comes the shoebox of embroidery floss. And then, because for the life of me I can't seem to remember how to sew a blanket stitch and instead keep making a tangled mess, out comes my favorite embroidery book The Stitches of Creative Embroidery by Jacqueline Enthoven. (Copyright 1964, I discovered this book at my teeny, tiny local library, fell in love with it, and hunted down a copy for my craft collection.) 

While taking these pictures I read the label on the front pocket for perhaps the first time. "Lee Dungarees CAN'T BUST 'EM" Oh, really?

Insta-mint

View from the porch

The path to the creek begins by the orchard.  Down and up several tree lined hills, it opens into...

...this lovely, sunny clearing.

Between the grass line and the sheer, muddy cliff runs the creek.

Looking west there is a small falls which enhances the burbling sounds of the water as it trickles over the rocks. 

Looking east. To the right of this shot is the path leading to the top of the cliff and beyond, into more woods.

Mint,

and more mint,

and even more mint to add to the kitchen garden.

Even without the mint this would be a pleasant spot.

Wild flower along the path.

The approach to the house. Our garden cage is slightly left of center.

Mending My Ways?

Recently many things have conspired to encourage me to unearth my bags of clothing that require mending. Both the clothing and the bags that contain the clothing are in need of attention. First, I discovered the book Mend It Better by Kristin M. Roach. Then I stumbled upon The Big Mend by Scrapiana, aka Eirlys Penn, a fantastic idea for a group mending session with tools & tutoring available. If it was a bit closer than Bath, England I might have attended. Next I received an email from a friend who had just completed hemming seven pairs of jeans which made her think of me. (What? I'm nearly positive I have never hemmed anything in my life. Perhaps it was her new sewing machine that put her in mind of me.) Lastly, my very own brand spanking new copy of Mend It Better arrived via UPS. How could I not succumb to these combined forces of nature and mend away? Other than fixing the sleeve of a shirt I just thrifted - which I *cringe* cut when removing the price tag -  I have somehow managed to resist mending.

I have discovered how to read and knit at the same time (audiobooks!), but how to mend and look at all my pretty books that demand my full attention escapes me. In addition to Mend It Better, I ordered Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail and Handmade Garden Projects by Lorene Edwards Forkner. And then there's all the library books I currently have on loan... 

Layered textiles: new surfaces with heat tools, machine and hand stitch

Thittichai, Kim

Weaving without a loom

Burningham, Veronica

Kids weaving

Swett, Sarah

Creative stitching on paper

O'Sullivan, Joanne

Fast, fun & easy fabric boxes

Johansen, Linda

Bento's sketchbook: how does the impulse to draw something begin?

Berger, John

Odd girl out: the hidden culture of aggression in girls

Simmons, Rachel

Odd girl speaks out

Simmons, Rachel

Free marketing

Cockrum, Jim

Marketing shortcuts for the self-employed

Schwerdtfeger, Patrick

This land is their land: reports from a divided nation

Ehrenreich, Barbara

Witches, midwives, & nurses: a history of women healers

Ehrenreich, Barbara & Deirdre English

Under my skin

Lessing, Doris

The grass is singing

Lessing, Doris

Creatures & Cards

I was sitting at my desk, working on the design for the next Loyal Luddite card, when I sensed a hulking shadow pass the window immediately to my right. I looked outside, hoping it was the landlord doing yard work or something else unthreatening. Turns out, it was a turkey vulture buzzing my window.

For the record, these things are huge. And ugly. There was about a dozen of them fighting each other at the end of my driveway. These are carrion birds. They were competing for a dead rabbit by the side of the road. And because there's a decent amount of traffic, the birds kept circling and playing shadows across my window.

Lest they confuse my sedentary shape on the other side of the glass with a carcass, I moved to the studio on the opposite side of house. Where I gladly opened the window for the first time this year. Instead of warm breezes and the scents of spring, I found an infestation of ants. Opening the window acted as a floodgate releasing the ants from between the glass and the screen to spill over the window sill into the studio. Sorry ants, we simply can not coexist peacefully in my studio. This picture shows about 1/10 of them. After giving the ants a deadly feast, I took a shower to wash off the creepy crawly feeling. 

At which point I finally got to work. Here's a peek at the next Loyal Luddite offering. Instead of drawing the paper doll chains, I actually cut them out of dark paper, scanned them, and then resized them and played with the layout in Photoshop. The picture below shows the design on paper in the middle of the shot, which I "colored in" with a soft lead pencil. Then I taped the paper, design side down, to the block which is pictured on the left. To transfer the design to the block, I rubbed the back side of the paper with the bone folder, the tongue depressor looking thing to the left of the blue pencil. This transfers the pencil lead from the paper to the block.

Then, the carving begins. The red and blue handled devices below are carving tools. Shaped blades fit into the shiny end. Some tools have fixed blades, the ones I use allow the blades to be interchanged. I like to use two handles so I have two different sized blades ready to use at any given time.

And, yes, the text is backwards on the block. Like a rubber stamp, the block prints in reverse. So any design needs to be cut as a mirror image to what the final print will look like.