How Not to Do It.

After Action Report: Mission: T-shirt Tornado

Little Flyer Reporting.

2009 June 16
1030 -Receive via UPS 45 white, 100% cotton t-shirts, sizes XS to 3X.

2009 June 17
0630 -Scour 15 t-shirts, mixed sizes.

0715 -With shirts in washer, fill washer to medium level
with 110 degree Farenheit water.

0730 -Prepare ammunition using 3 TBS. turquoise dye powder.
Add to agitating washer.

0745 -Add ammunition support: 1 C soda ash to agitating washer.
Reset washer to agitate for 15 minutes. Leave area of operation.

0805 -Realize washer has drained completely due to
screwdriver depressing lid's safety switch,
allowing artist to watch agitation as entertainment.
Also allows full cycle to proceed. All dye and soda ash
not attached to shirts lost forever.
Dye recipe and careful calculations are out the window.

0806 -Contemplate success of mission. SNAFU early in
process does not project favorable outcome. Artist thinks
objectionable language.

0830 -Artist AWOL.

Be Inspired

Hello, Blogophiles,

I've noticed a rash of bloggers posting about inspiration this morning. Here are a few of my faves, in case the cyberverse doesn't take you to the same haunts I frequent.

Lorraine Glessner:
lorraineglessner.blogspot.com
Lorraine is a mixed media artist and an academic. She posts work from a wide variety of artists. This feeds my eyes and my soul.

Sandy Snowden:
sandysnowden.blogspot.com
Sandy is a garment-head from the UK. Today, she has posted about finding inspiration in photographs. She encourages us all to look at our photo collections a bit differently to find inspiration. Fire up that camera!

Christine Predd:
www.christinepredd.com/quiltingontheedge/
Christine is an art quilter who posts "Tuesday's Ten", a list of 10 inspirations that riffs on one subject. Today's flavor: Scents. It took me straight to Olfactory Heaven. Check it out.

As for me, stamp carving is on hold this week. I'm knee deep in planning for an event next week. Will post more about that tomorrow. I can still think about stamp carving, just can't pick up the tools, or nothing else will get done.

So that you're not left completely fiberless, I'll share a little knitting, my "waiting for kids" passtime:

This is a sock trial based on Cat Bordhi's new book. For those not in the know, Cat is to knitting what the globe was to Flat Earth believers. She's the knitter's physicist and I find her to be very inspiring.

More Carving

My Dick Blick order arrived and I've finished two more blocks. Here's their battleship grey linoleum in action:

It's hard, slick, and crumbly. The hardness stresses my already overused right arm and shoulder, though it does hold a nice, fine line. The tool slippage I experienced felt a little out of control. I don't have one of those nifty carving benches that let one brace the block in place while carving. Might have to work on that. And the small dots I'd envisioned carving flaked right off. Maybe my tools aren't sharp enough. At least it was cheap.

Behold Wonder Cut:

I like this stuff, though haven't tried to carve anything too detailed. It cut more easily (not as easy as soft-kut or erasers). It's less crumbly. Plus I like the bigger size of the pieces I bought. My dh mounted this on plywood with wood glue. It seemed to hold up to printing and washing.



I didn't care to work with the grey stamp. It's smaller and my throbbing shoulder was mad at it. Plus, my last carving rendered similar images. The Warrior-Elf was delighted. She made this:

I like it. She had fun. It's all good.

My first shot, not so much. Whenever I see sponge painting done like this, it makes me cringe:


Here, the block is repeated differently and printed more closely together, even overlapped in places:

I dig this. The bigger block covers more turf. It gives an all-over feel without the hassle of registration marks and even looks almost random. I think this stamp might deserve a run on fabric. What do you think?

Garden and Kid Post

Tomorrow, I'll share the stamps I carved today. Tonight, I talk about my daughter and one of my Fiber Heros: My Grandma.

Every year, my Grandma Tanguay comes to life in my yard. She lived for her flower gardens (and her fiber arts). Now she lives through the flowers transplanted from her yard. She insisted that these day lillies and irises belong in the same bed because they bloom together:


She called the lillies "Lemon Lillies":


She had a huge bed of the lillies and these irises all intermingle...30+ years old.


God rest her soul. I miss her, even though I didn't see her very often.

Grandma also passed on the gift of foot dna.

Consequently, in Kid News, the Monkey-Warrior-Elf will be having super powers put in her feet sometime after her 12th birthday. In the mean time, she gets orthotics, $100 sneakers, ibuprofin when they really hurt and a warm rice bag at bed time.


Orthotic Molding: better than mucky puddles.