It Was a Day of Semi-Accomplishments - LOL

I actually got quite a lot done yesterday, driving here and there and then over yonder. I did get my salmon cooked, and it looks lovely. I'll enjoy having those for my next two dinners. I also went on a hunt for a screw which was semi-successful. I finally found one tiny enough to fit the holes in the item I need to mount, but they're about 1/2" too long, so I'll have to clip them down before I can use them. So that project returns to the back burner for another few days until I have time to take it out, clip the screws, and see if my idea will work at all. 

I basically need these. These are from Rockler, and 
I think they have a local store, so I might hop over there 
next week. This is EXACTLY what I need - the right 
type of screw and the right hanger. 

My health insurance had decided to send me a home kit for colonoscopy - ColoGuard. I had one of these last year as well. I know it's not quite as thorough as the more intensive procedure, but my insurance company has decided it's sufficient for them, so great. I got that done and sent back off yesterday, so one more thing off my "To Do" list. 

The hard part about ColoGuard is that it must be 
shipped within 24 hours and they use UPS only. 
But I took my box to my local shipper late yesterday 
afternoon and it's only going to a lab in Wisconsin. 
They should be receiving it today. 

Somewhere I have a baggie of assorted sawtooth hangers. It's supposed to be in my framing area, but it's MIA. I'm not seeing it on my computer desktop (although it could use a good tidy to be sure) and it's not in the drawer in the workshop area where we keep it. DH will be VERY pissed if I've lost it. I doubt I've truly lost it, but it's definitely taken a bit of a walk-about. *sigh* I'll try for a deep hunt tomorrow because I'd like to get these two smaller artworks finally completed. The larger piece will require eye screws and wire for hanging - totally different. 

I'm relieved that I finally got my email out to Kate, at 
Lady of the Lakes silks. She does such amazing work. 
I already own several of her pieces (not as many as my 
friend Melissa who owns more than 80 of her scarves). 
She does incredible work - beautiful, durable and perfect 
for Ren Faire as well as everyday use. 

I did get my email sent out to Kate at "Lady of the Lake" silk scarves. At least I managed to accomplish one more thing on my "To Do" list for yesterday. Apparently DH and Chickie were at odds yesterday, though, so I'll have to sooth Chickie a bit when I get in today. DH doesn't mean to be a bully, but he's under a lot of stress, and we've asked her about this particular issue a LOT and nothing's really been done about it. So ... time for a chat. We'll manage to make things work out again, but sometimes it's rather like herding cats. *sigh* Have an excellent Thursday, I'm off to the swimming pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Progress!

I remember how the call "Freedom" rings out periodically in comics, etc (based on Braveheart - the movie).  Well, I can do the same with "Progress".  Count me happy.  I was sitting on my painted silk, looking and looking at it.  It was a bit smaller than my box top and I wasn't happy.  I put my silk frame back together, painted more at the edges to extend the size, dried the paint, set the paint, washed and ironed the silk, cut a new backing that was the size needed, and glued the two together.  I'm now happy.  I started the beadwork last night and it's giving me the look that I wanted.  Would it have been better if I had painted it larger to start with?  Of course it would have.  But, I can't turn back time, nor would I want to.  I can work with it the way that it is now.  And, after all, I have never painted silk before this project, so there has to be a small learning curve going on here also :-) 

I had my car in the repair shop yesterday to get a thorough look-over before I started my summer road trips.  After we picked DaGrape up from the shop, we dropped one car off and decided to have a nice dinner.  We went for Thai food - LOVE IT.  Unfortunately our favorite Thai restaurant is leaving their location at the end of the month, moving to Minneapolis where they feel they will get more business.  It's a shame - it's a much worse neighborhood.  I don't mind going out that direction, but I'll go much less frequently.  Then we went to Michael's where I got a clock-works for my next enamel project - a clock featuring the twelve houses of King Turgon in the city of Gondolin.  That will be a fun project to do and I can start on the design parts fairly soon - there's no rush. 

A Journal In My Future

Last night DH wanted to go to our local art supply store for some posterboard.  After finding what he considered to be the perfect weight, he asked me how I was coming along on my leather-bound journal.  Since I hadn't done any work at all on the journal, I was able to say that I had other projects in front of it.  But we looked through papers - handmade, hot and cold pressed, watercolor, pastel, drawing and sketching, finally ending up with a larger sketchpad for drawing with a slight texture, but not as deep a texture as the oil pastel paper that I had also loved.  I will cut that up and start making signatures of the pages soon, and I'll probably have to take another look at the journals that I liked at Renaissance Fest to see how they are binding their signatures into their journals.  I really loved them and had decided to try and make one for myself because I love to make my own and because I'm too broke to buy one of theirs for myself.  I have all of the components - the paper, the leather, the closures - so it seemed reasonable.  But looking through my bookbinding books late last night, I can't find specific directions for the type of binding that I recall their using.  I can get the signatures together, but that's as far as I'll be able to go until August.  (Isn't the pictured journal amazingly fun?  It's a design idea, I won't copy it but there are aspects of it that I might put into my own journal.) 

I set the colors on my silk and washed out the resist last night.  I'm in love.  The colors are bright and vibrant and exactly what I had wanted.  Now I have the resist that I had down at the horizon that needs to be painted.  I will put the silk back into it's frame tonight, put a small amount of resist back onto the fabric, and touch up the small amount of white at my horizon.  Or I will look at it again tonight and agree with DH who says that he rather likes the white.  But I just can't make up my mind completely.  I just know that I'm very happy with the colors and imagery and that the whole project, as it shifts into it's final stages, is turning out to meet my mental imagery and project requirements.  And that's important because I want to get this completed and move on to the next two projects that are perched in my mind. 

What a Great Day!

I had one of the nicer Studio Days that I have had in a long time.  After starting out doing some errands for the shop, I stopped by a local hardware store that happened to be on my way to my box supplier.  It was just on the off-chance that they might have the perfect screws to mount my etched copper plaques to my box lids - something that I had been unable to find at the larger "big box" hardware stores.  Amazingly enough they had exactly what I needed - exactly!  I was so happy.  Today I'll put one of the screws in my digital caliper and determine the size of drill bit that I need to use for the holes in the metal.  I can then begin the final processes for the front disc and I can mount the plaque to the inside of the lid.  The plaque translates the Sindarin text of the front disc. 

I then went on to my box supplier.  She opened late because of some health problems that her DH had the previous evening - a kidney stone - very painful and an expensive hospital bill for the after-hours Emergency Room visit.  I found four boxes that I fell in love with, after more than two weeks of buying nothing.  And she was a sweetheart and gave them to me at no charge.  I showed her my etched plaque which I happened to have with me and she loved it!  She wants to see the finished product - that won't be a problem at all, since I'll have some time when I am photographing it to bring it over for her to look through. 

And finally I got home and applied resist to my silk, took my courage in hand, tested some colors along the excess borders of the fabric, took a deep breath, and started painting my silk.  It turned out absolutely fantastic!  I am thrilled with the colors and how they dried.  Tonight I'll set the colors and wash out the resist.  Then I'll look very carefully to make sure that I don't need any touch-ups.  If not, I can mount the silk onto the stiffer backing and begin the beading and embellishment segment.  That is the last segment necessary for the box and so I'm starting to wind it down.  If I can get the beadwork to look the way that I envision, this project will exceed my expectations - count me happy! 

Success and Car Thoughts

I washed the resist out of my silk last night after heat setting my paint.  I had a few areas that could use some touch-up, so I'll try and get to that on Wednesday.  Reading the instructions in-depth last night, I can just wait for the paint to dry, then set it, then wash it - I don't have to wait a full 24 hours.  So I should be able to do several different things on Wednesday. 

Since I leave for Bead & Button Show in two weeks, I need to get my car into the shop and get it looked over thoroughly before my summer road trips.  DaGrape - yes, I always name my cars - anyway, DaGrape has more than 80,000 miles on her rigbt now.  When I bought her in late 2000, I hoped I would get at least ten years out of her.  I have, and I continue to rely on her, and I still love my car.  If I continue to care well for her, I hope I can get at least another five years out of her - hopefully at least 150,000 miles.  I was able to pay for her up-front because of my mother's inheritance money.  But any new car I would buy now would probably have to be financed and another monthly bill is not what I really want to have.  So I'll continue to care for her in the best way that I can, and give her two road trips a year because she really loves the open road :-)  We'll focus on that 150,000 mile goal :-) 

Happy Sunday!

I had one of the nicest Sundays that I've had in a long time.  My DH took it into his head to mow the entire lawn and then cut down a tree that needed felling.  He's not as young as he used to be (duh!), so after we bundled up all of the tree detrius for pickup, he was exhausted, so he showered and went to bed.  He slept for most of the rest of the day, so I was free to get my silk painted for stage one, and then read on my computer until Celebrity Apprentice's final came on at 8 pm.  (Way to go, Bret Michaels!)  I got a lot read and had a happy, happy day.  Combine that with Subway for dinner and all was good!   

Tonight I'll set the painting that I did yesterday and wash the resist out of the silk.  Then tomorrow I'll get the silk back into the frame so that I can do the next stage of resist and the next stage of painting.  This is one of those projects that has several stages, but stage one is almost complete and that makes me very happy. 

Happy Weekend

It is Saturday.  For most people that is the start of their weekend.  They will sleep in this morning, wake when they cats walk over them or their dogs ask to be let out.  Or maybe their children will turn on the TV in the other room and the volume will wake you up.  You'll have your morning coffee, think about what tasks you have mentally scheduled for the two days, and get dressed.  The chores of the weekend may include planting your garden, mowing your lawn, volunteering at a charity or soup kitchen, going to a concert, going on a bicycle ride...what about art?  Does art or craft play a part in your weekend plans?  Are you going to paint?  Do a mosaic?  Melt some glass?  Throw a pot?  Compose some music?  What are you planning to do that will help your creative side?  Here's an idea for you - build craft or art into your weekend plans.  Make sure that you indulge yourself by allowing your creative side to have some expression; not just throwing basketball with the kids, but thinking about those arcs that the ball makes and putting them onto your paper or computer screen later.  Set your kids down to practice their music and sit down with your own instrument, keyboard, or voice and work on a new composision.  Open the tempra paints for the kids and take the last easel for yourself - see who can express their views of summer better or in a specific time frame.  Then get the sprinkler out and run through the sprinkler - it will help get any paint overindulgence washed off.  Play this weekend. 

I'll be working today, but I'm already looking forward to my pasta for dinner and a relaxed evening and Sunday.  I haven't put the resist down on my silk yet because I've been too tired after a day at the shop to sit down.  I hope to get that done on Sunday.  Then I could paint the center tree on Sunday, set the paint on Monday and wash the resist out of the silk.  Then I could put the new resist onto the fabric on Tuesday and do the next painting on Wednesday.  It will be pushing things to stick to that schedule, but it would get me a bit closer to schedule.  So we'll see if I can get Step 1 done tomorrow.  Have a creative weekend. 

Take the Time Needed

We were slow at the shop yesterday, and I had a lot of work that I needed to do at my home computer to get some beads scanned and up on my website for a customer.  So I pulled rank (something that usually doesn't work at all) and left the shop at 12:30 pm.  By 1:30 pm I was seated at the computer keyboard and finishing my work.  At 6:25 pm I was finally finished, the beads were scanned and added to the website and my customer was Emailed so that she can now begin to shop.  It was very intensive work, but I'm pleased that it is done.  I really need to continue this work - I have other beads that need to be put up, but right now I'll just be happy that I got this complete. 

But I was too tired to begin the outline work on my silk piece last night.  Because of the detail, and the fact that I have to be careful about exact placement of the resist material, I felt it was too dangerous and a possible serious waste of my time to attempt the outline last night. Any errors I might have could really mess things up.  I hope I'll be able to do it tonight, but certainly no later than Sunday. 

Floyd Landis is being an idiot again.  That he was taking performance enhancement drugs when he was cycling is not a surprise, nor is the fact that he wants to drag as many people into his personal cesspool as he can.  But really!  Blaming Armstrong, many other cyclists and Bruyneel as well as others who are tested regularly and extensively and who have never tested positive is beyond good manners.  Cycling has faced its' doping problem head-on for years and is doing a phenomenally good job of policing itself, unlike baseball, American football, and other sports where doping is often swept under the carpet.  Doping is annoying and not healthy, but at least cycling tests often and is not ashamed of pulling titles and banning perpetrators who get caught.  Landis got caught and still is upset about that. 

And Happy 30th Birthday to "The Empire Strikes Back" - usually acknowledged as the best of the six Star Wars movies. 

Little Mountains

Small molehills in my art seem to become little mountains.  The focus of my art, many times, is keeping them small, rather than allowing them to grown into large peaks.  Yesterday was a day of learning.  As I had mentioned, I have never silk painted before, but I have a vision of what I want, and I have a center element that is quite detailed.  I had purchased applicator bottles with three different tips, the smallest of which was 0.5mm to apply the resist.  As it turns out - 0.5mm is quite thick when it comes to resist.  NOT good.  I had spent 45 minutes drawing my tree onto my silk, and it took less than 5 minutes with the applicator to realize that it was too broad a stroke.  I knew I had smaller needle-point tips at the shop; I use these for application of resins.  So in mid-day, I went to the shop and collected my needle-tips.  I had to rewash my silk, dry it and retrace my image so that it was darker and easier to follow.  I tested the smallest needle tip before I threw the silk into the wash and it is much thinner.  I may still need to apply some of this with a brush to be super accurate, but I think this will work. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get to this step.  I had to settle down and do some work.  I promised a customer that I would scan the opaque 14o/15o hex beads that I had available for her to purchase.  There are 66 of them, and I got almost half of them scanned in yesterday.  I'll continue working on these over the next few days and then get them onto my shop's website (www.beadstorm.com) so that she can look over the colors with ease.  It really is an amazing amount of work to do this, but it will be nice to get some more product up on the store website.  All in all, it was a productive studio day, even though I didn't accomplish  what I needed to get done.  I'll just have to be more focused over the next few days. 

On the Hot Seat

Summer temperatures are here.  I actually had to have the air conditioning on at the shop yesterday - it was hot and stuffy and we want our customers to be comfortable.  We're working like little demons trying to get all of our new products packed, tagged, and ready for sale.  I'll send out an E-newsletter when we have things ready to go and hope that my poor staff doesn't get slammed while I'm out at Bead & Button in a few weeks.  We haven't had large numbers of customers through the doors lately, but they have been spending money (thanks to the Powers) and that's what we need.  With all of the products we have ordered, we're walking a very sharp edge.  Good thoughts are always appreciated, so please continue to think kind thoughts for us today :-) 

I will take my own courage in hand today and get my silk painted.  Since this is a new technique for me, I'm a bit nervous.  But I have a clear image in my mind and just have to hope that my skills won't desert me.  Once I get the image set into the fabric I can begin the beading process. 

I'm watching the early news and they are saying that Stress, Anger and Worry drops off greatly after people turn 50.  Well, I'm older than 50 and I agree with this in my own life.  My DH, however, is swimming against the stream here.  He is nothing BUT stressed, his anger management needs some serious work, and he worries all the time.  He is a walking time bomb.  Tuesdays are his day off from work, but he spends his day working anyway, just searching things out on-line, etc.  He doesn't know how not to work, and I think that's a serious problem - a heart attack in the works.  But it's things like today's studio day that keep MY personal stress levels lower.  I'll be experiencing that first-hand today while I play with silk :-)  Have a creative day!

Sushi Revenge

I love sushi.  It's expensive and my sodium intake goes through the roof because of the soy sauce, but I truly love it.  Last night I indulged in a very nice roll - tuna wrapped in brown rice.  Today I'm up THREE pounds!  I can place those directly at the feet of my sushi, and I'm not happy about it.  I know the pounds will be off in a day or so, but I'm not happy about the gain anyway.  I blame all of the things that I love to eat for putting pounds on me, but I can either eat a diet of no enjoyable food, or I can indulge rarely and simply lose the weight back afterwards.  Afterwards seemed the best course of action, so that's what I have to do.  It does get frustrating, though.  I'm working so hard on dropping some weight and in reality I'm just running very hard to stay in place. 

I did get my silk washed last night, and I'll assemble the stretcher frame tonight.  I plan to paint the silk on Wednesday and set the colors on Thursday (it requires a 24 hour period before heat-setting the colors into the fabric).  Then I can remove it from the frame and begin beading.  It's been a long haul to get to this point.  I started beading samples in March before I decided that what I was trying simply wouldn't work.  I shifted gears and moved from jewelry to household, beginning my box.  It has taken regular and intensive work to get to this point, but I'm very happy with the results thus far.  So, now I am moving into the final stages.  At every stage I had the chance to ruin my vision.  I still have that opportunity, so I have to be cautious.  I don't count myself any expert on silk painting - in fact I have never painted on silk in my life.  But I'll get it done because I need to, and if it turns out half the way my mind says it will look, I'll be very happy with the finished project.  I'm trying to get this finished before I leave for Bead & Button in June.  That's a tight deadline! 

....Back to Work

Someday I will have two days in a row off again, but I don't see that happening anytime in the foreseeable future.  I had a really delightful Sunday.  I had a 40% off any regularly-priced item coupon for Dick Blick's Art Supplies.  I can't resist a coupon like that, so I got some more water-soluble resist for my silk and because brushes were on sale at very good prices, I picked up three large paint brushes for my watercolors.  It's getting down to crunch time for my silk painting.  I'll wash the silk tonight to get rid of any sizing or other chemicals and I'll cut it to size and hem it.  I'm not 100% sure if I will hand sew the rolled hem, or use the sewing machine like I did for the lid lining satin fabric.  The rolled hem foot for the sewing machine isn't cut and dried - it is a bit tricky to get it to work properly.  I might be better off with hand-hemming the top since it will be "front and center" and the focal point of the entire project.  All that I know is that the sizing has to be exact. 

After our excursion at Dick Blick's, we wandered over to Barnes & Noble and wandered through the stacks.  We ended up with some magazines of interest and one bargain book with some amazing photographs that I would like to bring into silk painting and enamel work.  We went out to TGIFriday's for a couple of drinks (he had his usual beer, I had some wine) and then home for a light meal and the "Survivor" final.  Sandra won the $1 million.  Personally, I think Parvati deserved to win.  Russel received no votes, but once again won the "Sprint Player of the Game" and the $100,000 prize that accompanied that.  It makes two times in a row that he has won the $100,000 but not the grand prize for the game.  DH thinks that Russel should have won, but I am grateful that in the end it seems that evil does not get rewarded.  It reaffirms my basic faith in humanity which has been bashed and battered at the hands of current events and intoleration throughout the world over the past few years.  I can hardly wait for the fall session which will be in Nicaragua. 

Walking Wounded - LOL

It is not possible to make a project in my house without a blood sacrifice.  For my studio day yesterday, I stabbed myself with my craft knife and cut myself with my sewing shears (they are VERY sharp).  Then, of course, because I am a ninny (don't 'cha love that word? - ninny?) -- because I am a ninny, I didn't bother with gloves when I pulled out my finished pieces and neutralized the acid.  Ferric chloride is a mild acid (I would NEVER do that with other acids I work with), but the acid hurt all of my earlier injuries.  I'm pleased with the etch that I got even though I was still etching at 8:30 last night.  I had a lot of trouble getting the image transferred well.  It was transferring to the copper without a problem, but then it wasn't accepting the fusible protectant film.  After a couple of calls to Frank (he's the person who invented this particular system of image transfer), we determined that because my pieces were (1) larger and (2) using 20 gauge copper, they weren't getting hot enough.  He suggested a different thermostat, which I will order today, and a couple of little techniques that I hadn't thought of.  That gave me about a 96% fusing rate and I was able to paint the rest with my resistant ink.  He thinks that I should be able to get 100/% transfer and fuse with the new thermostat and I have never gotten a transfer that is that clean.  So I look forward to getting the new thermostat.  A friend has requested a particular image and, even though that one will use 24 gauge copper and, thus will be easier to work with, I will be happy to play again.  I also have my next project perched in my head just waiting for it's opportunity to play.  So today I'll polish my etchings and darken them, tomorrow I'll drill them and wire them, and I'll have them mounted by the end of the week.  Then I can concentrate on the silk. 

Breakfast with Meghan, Sebas and Chickie yesterday was a lot of fun.  Meghan is turning into a great Mom - very attentive, and obviously very much in love with the little man in her life.  She's looking forward to moving to the U.P. of Michigan in August to begin school.  Since money is always tight for single Mom's, I doubt we'll have the chance to see much of her once she has moved up there.  We were talking about maybe taking a road trip to Yellowstone National Park as a graduation trip.  That would be SO fine. 

Getting Down and Dirty with Copper

Today is my Studio Day.  I'm starting out by having breakfast with Chickie, Meghan and her wonderful little baby boy, Sebi.  We'll get all of the scoop about Meghan's recent trip to Peru to visit Fernando.  He's a very good looking young man, but rather unformed, still.  The way that many young men are without clear goals or a strong woman in their lives.  I don't really know why women tend to mature better and faster, but they do.  Many men don't really grow up until they are in their 30's or 40's, and that's too late in my opinion. 

After I drop Meghan and Sebi back at their home, I'll start my errands.  I have a 15% off coupon at Barnes & Noble, so I'll buy myself a birthday gift with that.  I need to drop by my box supplier, and I need a couple of things at the office supply store.  The grocer is also on the agenda.  Then I'll get home, start a load of laundry, and start transferring my images to my copper so that I can etch the images later this afternoon.  There is nothing I like much better than playing with acid.  It's just something about it - preparing the metal correctly so that, after allowing it to sit in agitated and heated acid, I get the impression etched out that I need.  This etching consists of two pieces for my BFAC 2011 project - a round piece featuring two lines of Tengwar script, and a rectangular plaque for the inside of the piece that translates the Tengwar words.  The project itself is called "The First Sunrise" and those who are familiar with "The Silmarillion" of JRR Tolkien will have an idea of where I'm going with my imagery here.  If I can get the etch to work properly, I should be able to stretch and paint the silk next week and begin the beadwork portion of the challenge after that.  My goal is to have this finished by the time I leave for Bead & Button.  It's a tight schedule that doesn't leave a lot of leeway, but I think I can do it if everything clicks into place. 

DH really came through for my birthday last night.  Even though he was angry at me for the past few days (that means speaking the bare minimum and ignoring/grumping around the house), he focused and got it together.  He bought me a dozen red roses, two very nice cards, and cooked me dinner of stuffed chicken breasts, rice and veggies.  We had some marzipan bombe cake for dessert.  I put on 2 pounds from all of that - guess my treadmill time today will be longer than usual , but it was worth it :-)  Have a creative day! 

Progress Towards the Weekend

Weekends are really a bit of a joke for me. I do get Sundays off, and this Sunday I will attend the American Craft Council's show in Saint Paul, but I work on Saturdays. Saturdays are always a bittersweet day. I'm always exhausted because it's the end of a week of minimal sleep, and I'm happy because the work day ends one hour earlier and I get pasta for dinner. The day that so many people look forward to - Friday - is pretty much a non-day for me. Just another work day. And since we got a huge shipment in from one of our Czech bead suppliers earlier this week, it is a day when we will all be doing nothing but packing in between helping customers. I think I'll be in front of my scale for more than a week because of all of the beads I need to weigh and pack. I only hope I will have enough baggies for all of the beads I'll be packing.

I received my silk painting supplies on Wednesday and finally had a chance to unpack everything this morning. The piece of silk that I have for my box is just wide enough - it's a very narrow, but long piece of silk. It looks like I'll have two chances to get the painting right. I think I can deal with that. ...The things that I do to make my inner visions into external realities. This box is turning into an expensive enterprise, although it is also expanding my skill set into yet more areas of craft. No wonder my DH gets frustrated by me. I might spend my off time dreaming about enamel projects that I want to make, but I'm spending my time with fabric, glue, and paints instead.

Today's Beading For A Cure auction piece is by Anna Walker. As we move into the last few weeks of auctions, make sure to visit the current auctions and place your bids. Each piece is stunning and is one of a kind.