New Stuff And A Really Good Day

I may not buy much if any fabric anymore, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things out there tempting me. I was reminded to check one of my favorite online shops, Connecting Threads, to see if they had next year's AQS Engagement calendar, and in the process found that they carry Kraft-tex, something I've not been able to find locally. When I first heard about this product, sturdy paper that mimics leather, I could not imagine what use I might have for it. If I want to work with leather, I reasoned, I'll buy leather. I kind of have a built-in bias against faux things. Anyway, over the years, it kept cropping up, I kept rejecting it, until finally, the Facebook bookbinding group I joined started talking about it, how great it is for book covers. Hmmm. Well, what the heck. No harm in trying it. And as long as I'm at it, let's get these Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Galaxy sparkly pens that are on sale. I'm SUCH a sucker for a sale!

So my order showed up this week, and although I haven't opened that Kraft-tex package, they do conveniently staple a small sample to the outside. I plan to put it through its paces, cutting small pieces to use as samples, trying out all the things it's supposed to be good at. On the surface though, I'm not convinced. It strikes me as thick paper with texturing on one side. But I'm mostly curious about sewing through it so we'll see. In the meantime, I got out those pens to make a sample in my multi-media sketchbook and thought for sure they would show up well on the black Kraft-tex. Well, not really. But boy, do they ever sparkle off the white paper. And at least one of them shows up ok on the brown paper I'm using in that recycled bookbinding challenge project (which frankly is why I bought them). Lots of experimentation could be on the horizon.

As long as I was at my work table, I decided it was time to quit dithering over the placement of a few dragonfly images on several of the spreads. I really need to go through my small bin of catalog and magazine pages to see if I can find more dragonflies. In the meantime, it took only a few minutes to paste down these that were ready to go and muse some more about further additions.

You may have to click for a larger view in order to see the faint pencil sketch

After lunch it was time to hit the beach . . . city beach that is. Still enjoying such beautiful fall weather, and I was having a good day physically which often is all I need to have a good day confidence wise. Time to revisit the accordion sketchbook drawing of the view from the park. I think I started this last fall, getting what I thought would be the hardest part of buildings at the start done and then some of the boats in the marina, filling out mountains and some trees in the background. The park itself juts out into the lake in a semi-circle and I thought I could get the entire 180 degrees in this sketchbook. I soon discovered I was wrong; after yesterday's bit of sketching, I think I will only get half way. I also discovered that all of the sailboats in the marina were more difficult to suss out than the buildings had been. I added enough to have to flip to the back, ending with the jetty. When I fill both sides of the sketchbook with this pencil sketching, I'll go back over it in ink and probably add some watercolor.

You know it's Easter because of the rabbit

Once home, I had a wild hair about those family slides I want to start scanning (remember, it's on THE LIST). They've been airing in the garage and I thought I'd take the opportunity to identify which carousel(s) harbored The specific time period I need first while I had good light with the garage door open. Mom had written on most of them in the first few carousels and then failed me after that! But what fun holding them up to the light and spotting ones I remember so well from the many evenings growing up when mom would make popcorn and dad would set up the screen and slide projector to view the family slides. One carousel had three years all intermingled and that orderly side of me could not stand leaving them that way. All chronological now and ready to scan!

As I eyed the calendar, noting how quickly September is passing, I suddenly remember that with October comes Inktober, that challenge to draw something in ink every day in October. Yikes! I think I pondered a theme for this year as soon as I finished my shoe collection last year, but now I have no idea what it might have been. Maybe something with rocks? Oh well, I'm not feeling like I want to be tied to a theme (whereas in 2016 & 2017 I found a theme very helpful to keep me sketching each day and interested). I have several thoughts and am leaning towards Zentangles. I have the step-outs for quite a few that I have not tried to do yet and it's been a long time since I've put together a Zentangle drawing so that almost has a killing 2 birds with 1 stone feel to it. Also on my mind is adding more in my "and then add red" sketchbook, practicing more with the brush pens I've bought but not mastered and rather than sketching from a model of any sort, more working with possible quilting motifs. I generally like to be so organized and logical but at the moment I feel more spontaneous and whatever the day brings. I did take a look at the official prompts for this year but no, they turn me off more than they help. I do hope some of you will join in. You don't have to be good. You don't have to be fancy. You just have to draw, and in the process, get better each day.