Incoming!

I want to say "don't ask" but I'll try to give some sort of explanation for what's in this package from yet another Danish yarn company.

I've returned to an obsession I've had off and on over the years: yarn and knitting patterns. Add to that the trend for so many in the knitting community to have Youtube channels where they share what they buy and make, often along with critiques and helpful hints. I've mentioned before that there are several of these knitters I've started to follow, learning so much, and I kept hearing about Drops Belle yarn. Never heard of it but soon learned it was a cotton/linen blend with apparently good qualities. I started hunting for it and couldn't find any U.S. distributors. That's why I ended up at Rito where they were having a ridiculous sale on an already reasonably priced yarn. There was a bit of tariff to pay but I still wound up paying around $2 a skein - a fraction of what I pay for my wool blend yarns. Risky doing this sight unseen on the recommendation of strangers, but I decided to load up. 

I'd been looking for a very long time for a cotton/linen blend yarn for a mobius shawl, so that was the main reason I wanted to get some of this. It's another cotton yarn that is not twisted but which construction is called chainette. It seems to make for a sturdier yarn - cotton does not have the same strength and "stickiness" that wool does. Picture's a bit blurry but perhaps you can spot the chaining.

There's also some viscose in the blend, exactly what my mobius pattern was recommending.

I ended up choosing four colors - 4 skeins each of the off-white and chocolate, 10 of the lilac and blue. The 4 skeins of off white should be what I need for the mobius shawl, but not sure what I will do with the four chocolate at this point. The others should be enough for a short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve top, and I've already picked out a pattern for the lilac. But starting on any of these is way down the road. Just couldn't pass up that incredible sale.

Another incoming was this picture from my favorite nephew. I'd given him the Tetris quilt when he showed an interest in it during a visit. I could tell he would not only take good care of it but actually use it too as he asked questions about if it could be washed. He has a fiance now who decided it should be placed on the back of their couch and I'm so happy he sent me a picture of it - perfect!

The last incoming is new information on that berry-filled tree behind my place. Pat took issue with me calling it an elderberry and with good reason, so I did more research, finding a plant identification site on-line that would scan my photo and give me a name. It came up with a kind of Buckthorn, which I must admit was one I'd seen when doing some searching before and wondering if it fit. Now I went to Buckthorn specific sites including this one if you're interested, and started adding up the evidence, starting with this thorn-like protrusion at the end of branches that gives the tree its name.

I'd not actually got up close to the tree before this but needed to in order to check out the leaves. One variety has smooth edged leaves while another has slightly serrated leaves. I thought mine were smooth until I had one in hand. 

Between the wind blowing and the birds making noise showing how upset they were that I was messing with their tree, I struggled to get a good shot of the third thing that identifies a buckthorn - white lenticels on branches, which is what I think is on these branches. Added up, I think what I have here is a Common Buckthorn. According to several sites I studied, there are different kinds of Buckthorn, some native to an area while others are considered invasive and are being actively stamped out. Not sure of the situation in my area. No matter the variety, the berries are toxic for humans but a feast for the birds and a very large squirrel that I caught feeding on them as well. Mystery solved!

True Confessions

As the weekend approached, I realized I was experiencing some "Olympic Fatigue". i.e. as much as I was enjoying watching the various competitions, my enthusiasm was beginning to wane (confession one). How many more short track speed skating heats do I have to watch until the final A & B races? Aren't the bobsledders done yet? I couldn't even bring myself to watch the figure skating gala yet, recording it for when I'm not tired of watching these same athletes strut their stuff. I was beginning to look forward to the start of motorcycle roadracing season at the end of the month. I hadn't caught on to the fact that the weekend would see the wrapping up of the Olympics AND the start of Superbike racing until Thursday when an e-mail alert arrived in my mailbox. Maybe it's a good thing the two overlapped, giving me the fresh excitement of a different kind of sports watching to get me through the last of the old.

At the same time, I'd been tracking an order from Denmark (!) that came quickly enough to New York, but sat for days before showing up in San Fransisco where it also sat for a bit (weather?). An order that originally was projected to arrive by February 13 blew past that date, not being delivered into my mail locker until last Thursday. I was amused at how on pins and needles I was about getting it, excited when the key to the package locker showed up in my box (along with delivery confirmation e-mail), then highly frustrated when I couldn't get the key to work. A note to the postperson produced the package at my door the next day . . . at last! And what was in that package?

3 yarn "cakes" plus a sweet treat

Yarn! I'm not supposed to be buying more yarn until I use up what I have on hand, or at least put a big dent in the stash. But as is often the case, I was lured into the purchase partly because of a sale (confession two). It all started with my downloading of free patterns that I hoped to pair up with that yarn on hand.

I'm discovering, though, that many of the new patterns aren't designed for use with the worsted weight yarn that was popular back when I was learning to knit. But they are beautiful so I download them anyway, and in the case of this pattern called Autumn Waves, I thought it possible to substitute my worsted wool for the cotton/acrylic blend called for. And of course, since I'd downloaded this pattern from the yarn company's site (Hobbii). I started getting e-mails from them. I'd look at what they were offering (always enticing) but blanch at the prices, and eventually question ordering from them at all when I discovered they were based in Denmark. Then came the sale e-mail with the yarn for this sweater 40% off. Ok fine, I'll give them a try. And I was able to use Thank You Points from my credit card to bring the price down even more. Sold!

And at least for now, I am not disappointed. This cotton yarn is so soft, unlike the 100 percent cotton yarn I knitted into sweaters years ago. Must be that addition of acrylic which should also give it more stability than that cotton I used that produced a sweater that was not only heavy but stretched under that weight. I still marvel at my excitement waiting for this yarn to arrive. It's not like it's something I will start right away. In fact, there are at least three smaller projects ahead of it on the knitting priority list once the current socks are done. Which, by the way, are progressing in spite of all the sports watching. Sock one is at the heel turning point, and I've switched to sock two to bring it up to the same point.

My conclusion: I'm insufferable when it comes to these things! But I can't deny how they excite me. 😊

Now THIS Is Something Different

The gal who cuts my hair is a long time serious hunter and she can't talk about her hunts with all customers. But having been brought up in a hunting family, I actually enjoy hearing her stories, especially since she is an ethical hunter and nothing she kills goes to waste. Her husband is a taxidermist to boot (talk about a marriage made in heaven!) so many of her best he has mounted for her. The highlight of her hunting career was a safari trip to Africa a few years ago. The company she chose for her trip has what I think you would call a reserve; not a fenced in place where they are raising the animals for the hunt but more managing the area wildlife as it comes and goes off their private land. The meat from game taken is given to local villages and they do all the preparations for the "trophy" parts to return with the hunters. One animal she successfully hunted was a blue wildebeest, also known as a gnu, a native to Africa related to antelope, cattle and goats. Hers looked close to the size of a small cow or big elk, and after mounting, there was quite a bit of hide left over which she offered to me, thinking about how "crafty" I am. I've never worked with anything like this but sensing a challenge I couldn't refuse, I accepted. The hide is quite thick as leather goes and the hair surprisingly soft. I may just admire it for awhile while I'm pondering how to use it. Any ideas?

I had a doctor appointment down in the almost big city last week, and there's a Michaels craft store there which I hoped might have the kind of buttons I'd like for that orphan block pillow. I think the lack of the right buttons in my stash is partly responsible for my not getting on with the project. They didn't have a great selection but you don't need a lot of options if what you do see is just what you were looking for. Not sure what these are made of, possibly wood but could also be nut shell (made in Thailand) and struck me as a bit pricey ($5 a card but I had a 20% off coupon), but I decided worth it to be happy with the final look of the pillow. As for the larger single button, well, it was all alone, nothing else like it, and it spoke to me. It might be perfect for a book closure, who know? I just couldn't leave it there. 20% off! 

Getting There

Tiny needles, thin thread, slow progress . . . this second sock is taking forever even though I am now past the heel turn and into a steady knit two purl two ribbing. I pick it up in the evenings when watching certain tv shows that don't require my eyes to be locked onto the screen but many evenings I find I'm too tired to move from the couch to the big leather chair with the good lighting to work on it. Ah well, eventually . . .  In the meantime, I keep running across sock knitters who talk of blocking their socks when done. Somehow I don't feel the need but there must be a reason. So with nothing better to do, I started searching for sock blockers that would accommodate knee highs since I plan my next pair to be a pair of those. Such a wide range of blockers are available but all short with one exception. These birch blockers with free customization were a bit pricey but since they come from Ukraine, I decided to splurge. My name and logo are burned into the birch, and the length of the foot can be adjusted for many sizes. I am pleased!

I'm about ready to dive into the baby quilt. My ironing board is functional as an ironing board again and half of the work table cleared of bookmaking projects etc. so I can get that new fabric washed and ironed and start cutting. While I'm at it, I'm planning on washing the last fabric splurge I made back before I started having physical issues keeping me from sewing - they were one more thing I'd left on the floor and never got around to tending to. One is a batik with mariner compasses on it that I thought I could pair with one of the specialty fat quarters - why I didn't want to put either away. Maybe I'll finally get them together. Three or four spotted batiks which I've always loved, reminding me of water and were on sale. A dark brown solid that I thought might bleach interestingly. A rusty orange batik that I thought could work into one of my nature-inspired art quilts. Time to get them washed and into the stash.

Speaking of art quilts, Ellen Anne Eddy recently described art in conjunction with her work with some students. Ellen was quite prominent in the quilting world when I landed in Wisconsin in the early 1990's and discovered what a hotbed of quilting the Midwest was. My late friend Judi somehow knew so many of these quilters who taught and hung out at quilt shows and Ellen was one she introduced me to as we queried her about dyeing fabric. I'm not a particular fan of her heavily thread painted nature pieces, but she knows her stuff and is a delightful person still. Here is what she said:

"I run into a lot of people who tell me they aren’t artists. Usually, that’s because they’re more verbal than visual. If you talk with them they can explain their images and the concepts in a way that brims with art.  Perhaps the problem is how do we define art?. If it has to be set in a mold, like figure drawing, or landscapes, that’s a pretty big limit on a much wider world. But if art is, vision out of chaos., order out of disaster, and the creation of beauty and sense in the retelling of ourselves., that may be where my definition hovers. Art is life. The way we live creates our own beauty, our own songs, soothes our worst fears, and helps us to see ourselves in a different mirror that focuses on our strengths and beauty, instead of our failures and misgivings. Art simply flows out of that. The things we produce our wonderful. But they are largely the byproduct of the process of restructuring who we are through our imagery. These kids already have it. I believe we all do, from birth."

You can see some of the kids' beginnings of their fabric art on Ellen's blog post here as well as read more about the project.

One and (Not) Done

I started last week with unusual vigor, and when I sat down to do my usual checks on the internet, I instead found myself pulling things out of the center cubby of my roll top desk. There are smaller cubbies on either side that are fine in terms of being organized, but this larger one is where I tend to toss papers I think I will want to reference soon or just don't know what to do with yet. It always gets totally out of hand and gets searched through throughout the year without ever really doing anything about the pile. Not this day. Out came everything, including 2 years' worth of Christmas cards (I always hold some back thinking I will answer them before the next Christmas rolls around but rarely do), a paper clipped group of recipes from magazines (I have no idea why I put them there), and various papers that could either be filed or tossed. In the process, the fountain pen I'd been looking for I think 2 years emerged; I must have tossed it up there with something too and it had rolled to the back and down near the bottom of the stack. I know I looked for it several times in that cubby, lifting up papers from the front but probably just burying it further. Anyway, excited to have it back. Then I attacked the corner of the writing area where I had let those insurance "explanation of benefits", prescription labels and paid medical statements pile up, waiting for me to match them up and file them. Well look at that - a clean desk and my first organizing of the year done.

Also one and (not) done, the first sock of the pair from the grey wool. I actually knitted into the wee hours of New Year's Day to finish them, only to find the instructions for binding off merely saying to do it with a sewn bind off. A sewn bind off? What is that? While these directions did include illustrations of how to cast on and decrease/increase, it assumed I'd know how to do a sewn bind off. Luckily, when I first got interested in knitting socks, I invested in a book that absolutely has everything you need to know about knitting socks, all the different methods and stitches, and then patterns to try them out. I did a quick check and yes, it had instructions for a sewn bind off, but it was way to late for me to absorb the method. Another day, a study of the method, and I quickly finished off this first sock. It really is an easy and nifty bind off for the top of a ribbed sock. Speaking of ribs, I realize that the sock looks a little weird, but that's the 2 x 2 ribbing which stretches out when on the foot, keeping them snug all the way up past the ankle without being too tight. That bodes well for the knee high version which I just may try. It's a good fit though maybe a tad long heel to toe, but I think blocking will made it all better. I've started on sock two, having the same struggle with that different cast-on and the first few inches of increases. I may have done a better job than on the first sock which has a curious lump of knitting under the middle toes and a few holes I need to sew up. Anxious to get past the increases and on to the ribbing pattern.

Do you remember the Celtic Weave handmade book from August? I intended to add a few things to the pages before gifting it to my niece who has been researching her Irish heritage and making a few sojourns to Ireland. Plenty of time, I told myself as I set it aside to work on other things. And then not plenty of time as I realized it would be a Christmas gift and Christmas was almost here. So that week before Christmas, I got busy, cutting out the stained glass images of a Celtic design that repeatedly showed up in catalogs. I'd been tossing them in the bin of ephemera for art journaling/mixed media and now they had a home. The signature papers are off-white while the Celtic design had a white background, so I used an X-acto knife to cut away the white within the design. I've been wanting to try the Artist-tac adhesive that is especially made for open designs like lace or doilies; instead of a solid sheet of adhesive, it has dots of adhesive. Here's the video where I found out about this product and shows it in action as well as Art Graf's Double tack which I used to adhere a large print out instead of glue so there'd be no wrinkling. Both product worked great.

The book has 8 inner signatures and I had just enough of these Celtic designs to place one on the first page of each of those signatures.

I also wanted to add a couple of Irish Blessings and decided to invest in a wood stencil designed for drawing evenly spaced lines on a page. Oh, where have you been all my life? I found this one on Etsy and decided that even though a little more expensive than some of the plastic ones for sale, it would be worth it and I think I was right. Here I've drawn the lines in pencil and they were erased after I finished writing. The finished book is now in the hands of my niece and she is delighted with it. Call that a finish for 2023. On to 2024 projects whatever they may be!

Into A New Year

Time once again to reveal my resolution word for the new year. I often have ideas pop into my head in advance of the end of one year and beginning of the next, but this year I was drawing a blank, no inspiration hitting me. But at last I had a thought, and the thought became something I warmed to. And I decided, this is it: my resolution word for 2024 will be "ORGANIZE". I'm generally quite the organizer but I've fallen off the wagon for too long. One look in my studio will tell you how badly I need to get that space organized again, but it is not the only space in my house needing attention. Also, my computer, full of photos that need sorting and/or deleting, saves to read later, things to print out. I need to get back to making lists too, short term and long term things and projects to complete, and I know that will help me stay more organized. I think I have a big job ahead of me but I am very ready to have a less clutter space everywhere, with organizing keeping me on track. Because you know, I still have so much to finish and no end to new things I want to try.

Speaking of new things, I have a confession to make. I've definitely been bitten by the knitting bug again, and have been spending a lot of time poring over patterns I have and downloading new free patterns to print out. I'd gotten out my stash of yarns, thinking to match what I had to patterns at hand, so that once that pair of socks is done, I can dive into the next project and start using up yarn. As I went through the bags, I was reminded of the mill end wool yarns I used to get at a yarn shop in town and wondering if they still carried them now that the shop had changed hands. The owner must have ESP because shortly after that, she posted that they had just gotten in a new shipment and showed a picture of them hanging on the wall. It was too much for me to resist, although I kept telling myself I did NOT need more yarn. But yarn is like quilting fabric, and one buys it even if one doesn't need it, because it is beautiful, and in this case quite a deal - just $4.50 per 190 yd skein. Be still my heart, as I focused on a lavender one. Against my better judgement, I stopped by, and not only bought all of the lavender yarn, but also the beautiful blue yarn right next to it. So there is my big bag of yarn, with enough there for a couple of sweaters. I already have it paired with patterns and am way too excited about getting started on them.

So that's how I'm starting off 2024 - with high hopes to get organized and way too much yarn for evening knitting! How about you? Have you done any reflecting on how 2023 went for you? Any plans or resolutions for the new year? Calm has a Facebook page where they post meditative and well, calming things, and I thought this offering might be good to work through; maybe you will too. Let's have a great New Year!

 

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For previous year's resolution words, see these posts:

2008 - Freedom

2009 - Calm

2010 - Focus

2011 - Refocus

2012 - Balance & Harmony

2013 - Perseverance

2014 - Explore

2015 - Fearless

2016 - Light

2017 - Endure 

2018 - Refresh

2019 - Wing It!  

2020 - Go! 

2021 - Finish 

2022 - More 

2023 - Continue

 

Just Playing

This has been on my mind for a long time and now that the challenge books are out of the way and I'm eager to start going through the other book projects lined up with their directions and materials, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. "Real" painters are quite passionate and insistent about swatching your paint colors, to get a feel for how they react on paper and their true color once mixed with water or other colors on a brush. You can probably guess that true to form, I've wanted to swatch my watercolors but never made the time. But I made time this weekend.

Here was my thought. I'm planning to make another 5 Day Mixed Media Journal Challenge in a larger size. It's the one with the accordion fold spine that I had painted with acrylic paints. Journal pages painted with acrylic paint have a bad habit of sticking to each other, or just to an opposing blank page. When I got my journal out to refresh my memory about its construction, those parts of the folded spine sticking up between the signatures had to be gently pried away from them. So after some thought, I hit upon the idea of using watercolor paint instead to bring some color to the spine.

A "what if" posed itself. What if I paint the spine paper while I swatch? I knew there'd be lots of paint left on the brush after painting each tiny swatch square so rather than waste it, I could expend it on the spine paper. So I can't start that book project until I do my swatching. I decided on inch wide vertical stripes on the paper because the accordion folds will be made at each inch. Kinda iffy about this now that it is done. Maybe need to add some pen drawing over the top, zentangles? Note: I actually have two watercolor paint palettes. My original purchase was a nearly half-price mini Sennelier set. These paints are quite pricey but even with my limited knowledge and  experience, beautiful to work with. But I was frustrated that I couldn't manage anything resembling pink with the red that's in it. So when a larger palette went on sale with only a few duplicates and a red that would dilute to a pink, I splurged on it. It also has a purple that I would soon need.

Because there's actually a third bird to kill here. I'd finally gotten around to putting the plants I'd bought into various pots and planters early in the month and in doing so, had broken off a stem full of blooms off one of them. I put it in some water and studied the flowers, ending up doing a simple sketch of them. A few days later, I matched their color to a colored pencil and added that to the sketch. 

But because of a certain watercolor artist's videos about bringing the garden in and making simple botanical sketches, I was compelled to try that too. Again, I wouldn't be using much paint and I could do it while I swatched, using my colored pencil sketch for reference. Nothing to write home about, but it was a chance to get a feel for how to use the brush and how the paints flowed (or didn't flow) on this mixed media sketchbook page. Also in the picture at the top, everything is laid out on a new investment: Tim Holz Media Surface Mat. Not cheap but I think it will definitely reduce some of my frustrations when working with inks and paint. It's a non-stick surface that is also heat resistant (i.e. you can use a heat gun over it and hot glue dripped on it won't hurt it) and the corners are slightly weighted to keep it flat. The flip side sticks to almost any surface - it's rock solid on my work table. A big improvement over the freezer paper I'd begun to tape down shiny side up on my table.

The deck garden is a sorry sight at this point. All that was blooming when I bought them have spent those blooms. Most that had buds only saw those buds dry up rather than open up. A few scraggly pink blossoms have emerged, and I'm sure once our roller coaster weather settles, the rest of the blooms will come. In the meantime, the pot by the front steps has taken up the slack. While pondering what I might buy to put in it, the violas from last year have come back with a vengeance! They are now showing 4 or more inches above the rim of the pot, saying, "No need for anything else!" We'll see how long that lasts, but in the meantime, they are a cheery sight as I come and go on my walks.

One Down, One To Go

I had my first cataract surgery yesterday. As the date neared, I hustled to get as many important things needing good eyesight done as I could, knowing that there would be about a month between surgery one and when both eyes were healed enough to order up new glasses. They all promise me I will be seeing near perfect but for my best vision I will need some corrective lenses. I'm already astounded at how well I can see with my right eye without glasses, but being farsighted, deciphering things up close (like words on a page) requires getting the glasses on and some squinting as now the right eye isn't seeing well through the current prescription. I know some of you have already had this surgery so you must know what I mean. I had wanted to get a new blank journal made for myself as I had few pages left in my current one (used for writing prompts and yoga meditations). Well, I almost made it. I picked out fabric (I believe this is a hand-dyed fabric from friend Susan), fused it to felt, did some minimal quilting (following the textures in the fabric) and turned the excess along the edges to the inside for fusing. This makes a very soft cover and I found myself dithering over whether to fuse another piece to the inside for a little more stability. Still dithering. If you click for a larger photo, you can just make out white dots marking where I still need to punch holes with that awl for attaching the signatures. Said signatures are all folded and punched.

Which brings me to my fancy new punching cradle, made by Jim Poelstra of Affordable Binding Equipment. It wasn't cheap, which is why I've been putting off purchasing one, but it is beautifully handcrafted of sturdy birch. Sure beats making do with a catalog or phone book, and much sturdier than the DYI cardboard one I made. Punching my signatures was a joy instead of a struggle, and isn't that what we all strive for when plying our particular crafts with the tools we use to make them?

So even though I got this far just days before the surgery and probably could have eked out the time to sew in the signatures, I'm sure I can see well enough to do it in this time before surgery two in a little more than a week. I'll probably even be able to see well enough to write in it!

 

Batting

I'm arranging the rectangles in the last 3 strips of the Kaffe inspired strip quilt for baby Jesse Charm. For several reasons, I've generally used cotton or cotton/poly batting in quilts for babies but in the end am a little disappointed in how thin and flat they turn out, even after washing. So I perked up when I saw this Warm & Plush batting in a Connecting Threads catalog. Compared to the other Warm Company battings on the page, it looks to be twice as thick. Granted, I still have a fairly big stash of batting at my disposal so I didn't necessarily need to buy more just for this quilt, but my curiosity was piqued. I checked with my local quilt shop down the street who wasn't familiar with it but said they'd order it for me - perfect, as I really want to spend my money locally when I can and keep this shop going - the owner has done such a fantastic job of building it up and surviving even through the covid shutdown thanks to the loyal customer base. The batting arrived this week and I will soon be testing it out. Have any of my readers used this in a quilt?

Gardening and Sketching

Things rarely go to plan around here.

When last I wrote, I had plans to get all the plants I'd bought into pots on my deck over the long holiday weekend. It didn't take long for me to realize I'd succumbed to something similar to "eyes bigger than my stomach". That dahlia and some salvia needed bigger pots than I had on hand. So I scouted out the two charity shops near me, sure there'd be some cheap pots to be had. There were . . . and a lovely hand-thrown pot from a Seattle pottery (could hold a houseplant?), a couple more silk ties, and the ugliest dress I've seen in a long time made from the most beautiful blue Shantung or Dupioni silk (can you say lakes and other water features?). Not shown is the glassware I also scored on - just everyday pieces but I am getting down to just a few of several sizes and have company coming in July. This is why it is not safe for me to pass through these stores!

View from my couch

I picked all this up on Saturday, couldn't make up my mind where I wanted some of the plants to go, then didn't feel good on Monday and ended up sleeping away the afternoon. I found some time during the week with cooperating weather and enough breeze to fend off the mosquitoes (they have been many and aggressive this spring) to nearly finish up. Nearly. As I neared the finish line, I was running out of potting soil. And wishing I'd picked up a second salvia I'd considered because I had a place for it out by my front steps. Friday found me at another garden center to remedy this. Monday turned out to be a good day to put that salvia and some extra small plants in that planter out front and the dahlia in its big pot. Today I tossed some seeds in a long planter I inherited from the next door neighbor and filled the second one with the remainder of the small plants. There! I think I am finally done! Not only do I get to enjoy this garden when I sit out on the deck, but I also see it from my couch when I'm watching tv and as I pass from livingroom into kitchen.

I almost always put geraniums in my big copper tub but choose different colors each year. This year, this particular pink really appealed to me.

I've had good luck with dianthus, having some even winter over in their pots that get left outside. These burgundy ones seemed a good contrast to the pink of the geraniums.

These are actually more blue than purple

The salvia is new for me. I was looking for some blue to add to the yellows, oranges, and reds, and unless you like petunias (and I do not), one is pretty limited in what's available in blue. Didn't hurt that there were bees buzzing around it when I was shopping. I'm very pleased with how they look back by the geraniums.

 

Buying more silk garments to deconstruct is as close as I've gotten to getting back to my textile work. Instead, I've been finding great relaxation and even peace in working on some of my sketching. Hard to see because at this point it is fairly faint, but I've finally completed the pencil undersketch of my "sit and rotate" assignment from long ago Sketchbook Skool class. I'm ready to start adding ink and color of this record of my office/guest room, half on one side, half on the other. Still dithering a bit on what to use for the color. I don't think this paper will take wet media but I have brush pens, markers and colored pencils that should do the trick.

With the warmer weather, urban sketching starts tugging at me and I spent time on two different days working on this house that has been on my list for a long time. So intrigued by those multiple roof lines, but had entirely forgotten about the stones partway up the walls and around the doorway which caused a moment of panic until I remembered the same feature on the Veterinary building I sketched last year, and how I discovered it wasn't all that hard to master. More work to do on this one, but the basics are sketched in.

I'm back to taking a turn through the small park along my walking route and was surprised that I hadn't noticed a couple of trees doing interesting (to my eye) things. They warranted a return trip with sketchbook in hand. These are very sketchy, need a little cleaning up and lots of leaves added, maybe even some color. But the point is that in one tree coupling my avid imagination thought "one tree is caressing the other."

The other pair on the opposite side of the trail told a different story. I got the impression that one was trying to hide behind the other, maybe because it was injured and needed protection (it had sap running down it from a scar). Yeah, overactive imagination, but this isn't the first time I've seen trees suggesting a story to me. I have other such sketches and more than a few photos, and the thought did occur to me that I have enough ideas for a small grouping/series. We shall see.

And this is one of the reasons so many in the know stress how important it is for an artist to work in a sketchbook. It can unleash your imagination as you really look at the world around you.  

What Sparks An Idea?

Check out the dotted lines printed on each page

I'm finally doing something with the sketchbook I bought specifically to organize my thoughts and work out ideas regarding this water series I'd wanted to pursue. That idea came from those three months I spent with my friend in Rochester MN while she got treatment at the Mayo Clinic. We discovered so many water fountains, a couple of small lakes, and even a little creek and a man-made waterfall with pool within the city limits. They all provided respite from our serious business, the sound of them and the movement of the water healing. Could any of this be captured in fabric? I started jotting down ideas in the sketchbook I'd brought along and once home started setting aside inspirational photos and fabrics. But I decided if I was ever going to make progress, I needed to have everything in one place, and I needed to start jotting down some of the small things that came to mind, not just design sketches.

Make your own table of contents

I chose to try a Leuchtturm1917 notebook with dotted line pages. I kept seeing references to this sort of notebook, apparently all the rage lately for organizing your life. The dotted line is sort of a compromise between lined and graphed pages, subtle enough to stay in the background but there to guide writing and sketching when you want straight lines in any direction. This version has other handy features, including numbered pages and a space for developing a table of contents so you can quickly find specific things. 

Reminding myself of what I thought I wanted to explore

So I've been doing some writing, printing out photos, transferring some of the sketching and notes from other sketchbooks, feeling in my element (I really do love organizing!). This is in preparation for making a very small sample that I can add to that sketchbook, a sample that has to do with portraying sparkles on a body of wavy water. I'm finding those dotted lines wonderful to work with, keeping my script in line and providing vertical and horizontal references for lining up the pictures I'm adding.

A bag of silk ties, a spark of an idea from just one

And what sparked the idea that I want to try in the sample is this, this one tie peeking out of the bag of Goodwill silk ties. I'd walked past that bag a number of times with no reaction, but it only took the one time when I only saw a sliver of those multicolored squares and could envision it creating the kind of visual movement I had in mind.

Reminders of the illusive "color" of water

It doesn't take much to move you forward, give you a possible solution to a challenge. But it also doesn't take much to lose it. Or to repeat something without realizing it. One way to avoid that is with a sketchbook, designed to hold all those flashes of insight and all those little things that may not appear directly related but feed the whole.

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Addendum

I just found this great short video explaining better than I have about the value of keeping a sketchbook, or as Austin Kleon calls it, an art journal, a place to put your thoughts, all your thoughts, down on paper.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtweA9JHYqe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading

Test Test Test

While I'm still babying my shoulder and thus unwilling to give any actual sewing a try, I did test out something multimedia-ish that I've been meaning to try for awhile. I watch a lot of videos on Joggles.com that, granted, are tutorials featuring products she sells but which really give a lot of good general information about how to do a lot of multimedia techniques. And while the majority of the ideas are geared towards use on paper, a lot of them involve paint and could easily adapt to use on cloth. That's my justification for watching them. One thing she showed was how to remove design elements printed on tissue paper without using scissors. I recently realized that I had some tissue paper printed with dragonflies and maybe I could use it in my recycle bookbinding project. Step one is to take a wet paint brush to "draw" around the image, making a damp line - you should be able to see a bit of reflection around the lower dragonfly.

Now the tissue paper has been weakened and you can gently apply pressure to cause the damp line to tear. Ok, so far so good. I'm guessing that soft uneven edge is part of the reason that, when adhered to your project, the unprinted part of the tissue paper "melts into the background and virtually disappears." Yes, that is what it appears to do in the video, but that tissue paper is white. Mine is this tan, but since I'd be adhering it to my brown paper pages, I assumed the disappearing act would still take place.

But I have learned over time that many techniques that work so beautifully in videos and other instructions, don't always work the same when I attempt them. So time to test on a scrap of paper, along with trying out adhering with matte gel medium. Everyone uses this almost interchangeably with regular glues and pastes, and I could see that my preferred adhesives would be a pain if not downright impossible to use on tissue paper. So out came the medium and the brush and I tried both putting it just on the underside and as well as underneath and over the top. I didn't know what kind of visual change the medium might make on top but it literally looked and felt no different from the one just underneath, and the brushing on top helps to smooth out any wrinkles and give a nice even stick. However, as you can see in the picture, the unprinted portion of the tissue paper did not "virtually disappear."

So I will be going back to scissors and cutting these various sized dragonflies out leaving just a small margin of tissue paper. Here you can see an example of how they might fill some space on some of the pages - these are not adhered to the page yet.

Speaking of Joggles, look what came last week - a box full of goodies to play with. Joggles was having a closeout on Marabu paint products and I decided to get some more of their opaque textile paint. And try the textile paint in a spray. And while so much on their site was marked down, I checked my wish list and added a few more things like another stencil. And then because I had the paint and stencil coming and I'd watched so many videos using these on a gel plate, I added one of those to my shopping cart too. I bought enough to get half off shipping and two free Marabu crayons. Yeah, I have a bit of new supplies to play with.