Archive for June, 2008

On Beyond Crackpot…

Friday, June 27th, 2008

I decided to do a “color movement series” with the fabric paints. The idea is to make a dilute solution of paint and water and dip the fabric in it and squeeze it out. When the first piece is laid out to dry, add a few drops of second color and a little water and dip the second piece of fabric. Continue with a few more drops of the second color and a little more water for the third piece of fabric. And so on…

My color movement series used Golden Fluid Acrylic paints in magenta and cyan, and this is the result.

color movement

I spread the fabric outside to dry, thus offering the opportunity to explain to my neighbor what I was doing.

pieces

The wrinkles sunprinted, giving an interesting texture.

purple

One surprising effect is that the front of the fabric is darker than the back. I also discovered that after I added the blue paint to the solution I needed to make sure my fabric touching hand was clean before touching the dry fabric. Some of the pieces have blue splotches. My idea is to work the same way you would in breading vegetables (or meat for those so inclined) before frying–one hand in the breadcrumbs (dry fabric) and one hand in the egg mixtures (paint).

I also did a few other pieces.

plue pieces

And I had some help.

fly

As to my neighbor’s question about what I’m going to do with this stuff? Hey, it’s a Crackpot Project, and use and function are of no importance!

Bead Journal 2008

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

I’ve decided to join the 2008 Bead Journal project. http://www.beadjournalproject.com/about.htm

This means I am committed to making a beaded project each month for a year, starting in September. I get to choose the size and shape, but all the projects are expected to be the same size and shape. I think 3″ x 5″ is reasonable for me. I will challenge myself to try some new techniques and to move out of the safety of monochromatic color schemes.

To see what some of the 2007 participants have made, go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/2007_bead_journal_project/

Food Miles: <0.005

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

On the topic of eating locally: it’s now strawberry season in my yard, and my mostly-organic technique of “plant and ignore” is working well. This is one of my first pickings of the year, from last weekend. Now I’m getting more berries at a time – plenty to keep one berry-lover satisfied on a daily basis. The strawberries are not super sweet – I haven’t yet tried adding sugar yet since adding milk or yogurt provides some sweetness, enough for eating them with cereal.

strawberries

Long time, no blog

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

Here’s my current progress on my birthday present from my parents – Hanne Falkenberg’s Mermaid jacket. The pattern is available only as a kit. I’m doing colorway #3, which is lovely turquoise/sage/sea blue.

I’m done with the body:
MermaidBody
(I learned that knitting applied I-cord bindoff and watching the Stanley Cup finals are just not terribly compatible activities; the edging along the front went a lot faster yesterday morning when I wasn’t trying to keep track of 3 knitting needles and a hockey puck at the same time)

The yellow yarn at the armholes is what I used to mark increases/decreases (I could probably take those out now). Marking each increase/decrease as I went was extremely helpful since the instructions for the second half of the body are basically “now do the same thing as you just did, only in reverse”.

I have just started on the first sleeve, but I’m going to take a break from that this afternoon to work on quilting a baby quilt I’m making for some friends who have a boy due next month. I kept with the family baby quilt tradition of arriving at the baby shower with the top and backing completed but not sandwiched or quilted.