this and that and then some

Hello Readers!

The calendar says it has been five days since I was here last. Feels like it was yesterday. I've been sleeping a lot for the last three days. I have felt like something the cat dragged in and left laying on the floor where it fell. I am much better today though. I threw my back out this afternoon while digging through a box that was sitting on a chair. I bent over just far enough and out she went! I've sat on my ass in my straight back chair in front of the computer all day, drawing 1 x 3 inch masterpieces with my markers. This chair is much more comfy for the old back when she's out than the recliner in the livingroom is. I don't hurt too bad sitting in this chair, but it's a bear to stand up and get going again! 

Before the sun went down, earlier this evening, I took my lizard cane out on the back porch for a session of whittling so its new rubber tip would fit. I wore the old rubber tip right through the bottom! I decorated that cane almost two years ago. I got a new wooden cane on the yard sale hop I went on with Ma last weekend. 

I want to finish the snake cane before the first of November. We'll see if that happens. It's been waiting in the wings for a few years.

I've worked on the two elastic projects I showed you all in the last post. 

I started sewing the envelope together. I wasn't much into it. Sewing through 4 layers of elastic is hard to do! I wasn't feeling all that great when I was doing it and my heart just wasn't in it so this is still a work in progress. But progress has been made! 

As has it progressed with the little pink basket as well. Same day, same crappy body aches. I just wasn't into it. I did sew two rounds on this little guy though. I'm liking how it is looking!

I drew a few ATCs. This is Asian Elephant. 

markers on cardstock

Mushroom 

ATC

markers on pastel paper

I bought some ATC blanks on clearance at Wally World last month. There were three packages of three different kinds of cards. One package had a whole slew of different colored cards in pastel paper. This one was done on white though. The paper isn't very thick and needs a backing on it for sure.

Green Lizard

ATC

markers on manila cardstock

Yes, I know, lizards don't generally have fangs. 

I told you all the bowls were still calling to me. I made one from fabric scraps, tissue paper and glue. It wasn't exactly a success. It's a cute little bowl but...

It's a damned wonky little bowl! I should have put a few layers of newsprint between the layers of fabric on the inside and outside of the bowl. I used two layers of tissue paper. That wasn't enough apparently. It's a flimsy little bowl as well as being wonky. 

I've got a whole box full of little fabric scraps! I think another experimentation with the fabric bowls will happen in the near future beings as how I already have the mold covered in tin foil and ready to go. 

I started some fish.

Wish I could say these fishes were for the newest fish picture, but they aren't. They're way too big to go on that thing! This one above has glitter on his fins. I've not yet taken a good look at that fish since I put the glitter on his fins so I don't know what's gonna happen before these things are done.

Might just be more glitter on the horizon for them.

Your eyes aren't fooling you. This one is shorter than the previous two. I cut this one out of a different box then the previous two and the bend in the box was in the wrong place. It was either cut his tail short, make his nose have a big crease or get a different piece of boxstock. I chose to make him short.

You'll see more of these fishes in the next post. I traded one of them this morning. Can't send it away if it isn't done.

Yesterday Ma brought me a box of microscope slides. She paid ten cents for them at a yard sale on Saturday. It is a box of 72 but there were a few missing when I got it. I used 18 of them today.

I drew 18 masterpieces today. All are markers on one of three papers:

manila cardstock

linen cardstock

paperboard

I don't remember which is on what.

It is one microscope slide with the drawing held to the back of the glass with copper foil tape. I'll slap a magnet on the backsides and put them in the inventory for the shops.

All of them are done with markers.

It looks like a lot to do in one day. Some of these took longer than others to draw and color. The six fishes that look pretty much alike were the quickest besides the two red and blue ones that follow.

The red and blue one is part of an ATC. I did the elephant first before any of the others. He's my least favorite of these.

I really like the yellow fish. Bottom one is another part of that ATC.

Microscope slides are 1 inch by 3 inches. 

I've seen microscope slides made into pendants with a slide on either side to make a double sided pendant. The edges were soldered together. I don't know how to solder. I know how to tape. That was problem though had I wanted to make pendants...I don't know how to attach a bale with tape. So magnets they'll be!

I've worked on Fish Picture 9 also. Haven't worked much on it...but progress has been made. 

If you click on this picture it will get bigger and you can see some detail on it.

Those black and white 'sticks' are broom bristles. Nylon, I think. I bought a bundle of about 3000 of them for a dollar. I tied a small bundle in a knot and stuffed them between the rocks on the bottom of the canvas. Those are the only new doodads added to FP9.

 There really isn't any rhyme or reason to how the colors get on the canvas. I don't know where this is going! I've never made a fish picture with such a background before. If I put strings on this thing, they are going to disappear!

It's rather Jackson Pollackish, yes? 

I think a revision on fish color is in order. I said I was thinking the fishes should be bright green....I'm leaning more to a very dark color, black perhaps, so they'll show up in that chaos! 

Work continues on the doodads for the rock shelf.

That's it from my neck of the woods! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember....

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831

Mostly Works in Progress

Hello Readers!

I've been busy in the last two days but also been sleeping odd hours. Well, odd for me anyway. Can't say as I've actually finished much work in that time, but busy I have been!

I told you all about the new (to me) markers I got at a yard sale over the weekend for a quarter. I played with them. I kinda felt like the character looks, at the time. I used each marker for a few lines. I think I need a whole set of brush tipped markers. The ones in this batch were wonderful to work with! 

Scratch that. I really DON'T need any markers! I have more than enough at the moment!

Earlier today I dragged out all the markers. That entailed having to clear the debris field that had accumulated atop the marker box that sits on my desk. I used those markers again today on two ATCs that you won't see in this post. (Mainly, cause I did not scan them!) 

Yes, I did say SCAN....I figured out my scanner after having taken it from its perch beside the desk and installing the new printer I bought. I wasn't aware the printer didn't scan till I got it almost hooked up to the PC. I know. I know. I know. I should have read the box the printer came in much more closely before I chucked it in my cart and brought the damn thing home! Turns out the old scanner only had a loose cord. I scanned photographs of Mel Tillis the day I hooked it back up! So ATCs and other flat things will be scanned from now on! YEAH!!!! (I hear you all squealing with glee!) No more crappy pictures! Well, no, that's not entirely true. There will still be crappy pictures, I'm afraid. Just not crappy pictures of flat things.

I probably could have scanned this altered envelope but I already had the camera out at the time. It's a bit thick too cause it's stuffed with goodies I hope my September partner will be able to use. That's the backside.

This is the frontside. I've scribbled out all pertinent information so Laura doesn't get any kooky mail. The unicorn sparkles cause I painted him with silver dimensional magic.  It also buckled the paper envelope which I was not expecting. No biggie though!  I MUST get this in the mail tomorrow.

I believe I told you all about this little pink and white coil basket in the last post. If I said it would be finished by this post, I lied. It still looks exactly like this. I took this picture the day before yesterday.

Another weaving with the 1 inch white elastic. This will be sewn into an envelope bag. I'll put a pretty little button on it for a closure.

This is a work in progress that will be around for a bit. This box was full (to the brim) with quilt scrap material. Pieces not big enough for much more than quilt making. I tore/cut most of it into long strips of various lengths and widths. I'm going to weave something out of them. Might be a rug. Might be a few mug rugs. I don't know what they'll become at this point. I have to weave them before I can wash them. And believe me! They need a washing! They smell like they've been in an attic for eons. That smell took me back though! Oh yes, it did!

Ma paid a quarter for the whole box at a yard sale on Friday.

This little owl is the front cover a book that is yet to be sewn. All the components are ready...just need to poke some holes, cut some string and sew it all together! The owl is done in markers on a linoleum sample. The back cover matches the front cover sans the owl. It's 4 inches square.

The red book the owl is laying atop is called Hollywood Beauty Secrets Revealed. It was published in 1931 and is a riot to read! Ma loaned it to me. I don't know how women made it through to the 1940s if they actually did some of the things suggested in this book! Quite an eye opener! 

This canvas is no longer! Ma brought me this canvas, along with several others, a few months ago. She paid $2 for like 7 canvases of varying sizes. Some with things, like this above, on them. Others completely blank. This one is 19 x15.5 inches. Strange dimensions!

I did this to it. Layers and layers of paint, puff paint, spackling compound, wall paint and glitter paint. Styrofoam rocks, leftovers from previous fish pictures along the bottom of the canvas, covered with more puff paint. 

It took me two days to make it look like this!

Then this morning I got up and now it looks like this!

I think the background is done. The rock shelf needs some doodads. I have to figure out some fishes for it. (I'm thinking bright green fishes-though that is subject to change!) Slap some fibers on after the fishes and fluff up the rock shelf with those doodads it needs and it'll be done! And where the hell am I going to hang it when it is done???? I'll figure that out when the time comes!

Those little white balls along the rock shelf are glittery pom poms. I used some of them on the last fish picture. They were in a baggie on the painting table. I picked it up to get them out of it and found my silver bracelet I've been missing for about 4 days or so. I thought it was probably in the laundry. I knew it was somewhere in the house because I hadn't gone anywhere for a few days when I noticed it missing! I'm glad to have found it, just wasn't expecting to find it where I did! My hands are shrinking apparently. I've worn that bracelet for years and this is the first time it has ever slipped off my hand.

copper colored doodads for fp9

failed buckyball units, decked out in glass paint, glitter paint, puff paint and a bright yellow glass bead. I have enough failed buckyball units to make a dozen more fish pictures with. 

There are more doodads done that I forgot to take a picture of this time. There will be even more than these to show next time. 

Evelyn is still asking after her turkey. He's now drawn on a canvas board, waiting, waiting so patiently, to be painted. Now to get the muse onboard so the painting can commence! Evelyn has requested her turkey be black, red, yellow and green. God help me!

Some paper things must be done! See this? It's a box of antique sheet music. I gave $2 for it at a yard sale. The oldest one I've seen is 1914, the youngest, 1934. I've skimmed but the top three inches of the 10 inch deep box. The ones I've seen are all high school drama productions. Musicals, obviously! That's an awful lot of paper to add to an already overflowing paper room.... It had to be done though. $2 for it all! I'll trade some of it for sure. I can see origami balls, star ornaments, backgrounds, canvases for small acrylic paintings....lots of things to be done with it! It was a good find! 

I shouldn't talk about the three rolls of wallpaper I couldn't leave behind at another sale. Cause I needed more wallpaper like I needed another hole in my head! But who can pass up avocado green flocked flowered wallpaper? And the gold shimmery black flowered wallpaper, it literally screamed at me! I left a good dozen other rolls in the box. I'm not even sure just what that other roll of stuff is. It's not wallpaper though! Same size roll, but it's a pure white cloth of some sort, man made, I'm pretty sure. Looked like something I needed. I gave the lady $1 for all three rolls.

What I need is to go in the cutting room and make sense of that chaos! I need a professional organizer. When I win big in the lottery, I'm going to hire one.

I finished the woven paper fish magnets. I gave one of them to Ma and put another of them on my fridge cause his eye got all buggered up somehow while they were drying. I'm betting a cat had something to do with it!

The copper doodads you saw earlier came from the dregs of the bottle left of top center. The copper puff paint looks like a full bottle, but it's all dried up, gooey in spots, just a general mess. I painted the cuttings from the doodads I didn't show you today with the gooey copper paint and then cut the rest of the blob from the bottle into little chunks that will become part of the rock shelf on fp9. The cuttings from the doodads I didn't show you are cuttings from the white woven mat you saw earlier in this post. 

I've retired the paint paper beneath the fishes. It's just a page of newspaper advertising that I wipe my brush on before I clean it in water. I use these papers to cover cereal box chipboard when making book covers. I still make a mess on the table around the newspaper, but this helps. I usually stack 5-6 sheets, one atop the next and when one gets full or looks good to me, I change down to the next one. Sale ads are a good choice because they are not as large as a regular newspaper sheet, they are colorful to begin with and they are easy to come by! You also get a little more mileage out of your paint.

I sent a box off the Historical Society in Topeka last week. No word yet. 

There is a photography convention in Lucas this weekend which means more traffic in the gift shop at the Art Center, which could mean some sales for me. 

My daughter in law called me this morning to talk me into coming for a visit the last week in October into the first week of November. I think I surprised her when I didn't put up a fight! She wants to participate in the craft fair the VFW is hosting the 2nd of November. I up for that! I'll continue on my merry making way and add to my inventory. 

Expect to see some little books in the weeks to come. Lots of little books! Bowls have been nagging me for a few days also....

At any rate, that's it from me today!

Thanks for hanging in there!

:)

Remember.......

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831

Fish Picture 8, Some Other Little Fishes, A Couple Baskets and A Bowl

Hello Readers!

I have a few things to show you all today. Can't say I've been overly productive in the five days since I was here last, but I do have a few things ready.

Shock of shocks! There's a Fish Picture in this batch! Fish Pictures usually take months to complete! This one took only a few weeks from the time I dragged out the canvas to this point where it is completed. I've hung it in my cutting room for the time being but I'm wanting to send it to one of the shops next time they need more inventory from me.

The fishes kinda disappeared into the background, but I like it! Today I will start another one this size. It's only 12 inches square. A nice manageable size compared to the larger ones I've always done in the past. 

The canvas was originally a saying of some sort...I forget what it said....it had a butterfly and flowers on it. It also has a music box in it. I probably should have checked the position of the hanger before I added the lower shelf of rocks cause I put those rocks on the wrong edge of the canvas! It's upside down. So I will have to move the hanger to the right spot before I can sell it. 

I painted over the original screen printed, mass produced picture with black acrylic. Then it was drizzled with gold acrylic fluid paint. Then it sat for a few weeks and nothing more happened with it. I got up at 3 a.m. a few mornings ago with that fish picture in my head and got busy with it. It was finished by noon that day.

I've used puff paint, glitter paint, ribbons, fibers, yarn, silk fabric, styrofoam rocks, pompoms, buckyball units, eyelash yarn, stringed fake pearls and probably other things I'm forgetting at the moment.

The fishes are left-overs from FP7. Drawn on paper, painted with fingernail polish and cut out. I still have fishes left-over from FP6 and FP5. I have amassed a few left-overs from previous fish pictures so these newer ones won't take weeks to complete. 

My muse is still contemplating the turkey painting that I need to do for Evelyn. I don't know why my muse is so unsettled about it. I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact it needs to get done if no other reason than to appease Evelyn. Perhaps this week it will come into fruition. 

Weaving has been on the muse's radar.

If I had saved the tutorial to My Favorites, I'd share it with you all but for some reason it is nowhere to be found! These little fishes are easy to make! Well, easy, once you figure out the weaving! I made mine out of two different varieties of paper, cut into 1/2 inch strips. These are painted with varnishes and/or glitter paint. They weren't very sturdy so I added some 'paint' to stiffen them up. They are a work in progress at the moment. Still need to slap some googly eyes on and put a magnet on the backsides.

Ma went out yard saling with Aunt Sherry on Friday and brought me a bunch of junk she says is art fodder. OK, I can't argue with her....it IS art fodder. I don't think that I needed 3 very large boxes of art fodder though. But as Ma would say, did say, "What does NEED have to do with anything?" 

Then on Saturday I went with her to Phillipsburg and Logan. In Pburg we hit every garage sale we passed and I brought home some more art fodder! (Along with some other stuff I just couldn't leave there!)  I got a walnut rocking chair for the front porch for nothing. Ma paid the $2 the guy wanted for it. It's not in the greatest of shape but it's sturdy and I did need a new chair for the front porch. 

I made one little basket out of a tiny fraction of the elastic Ma brought to me on Friday. She found a whole box of long lengths of different colors and widths of elastic. All of it on spools. Most of them are 1/2 inch or so, but this white stuff is 1 inch and there was a giant spool of the stuff! I'll be making a few more baskets out of this stuff. This one is 6 inches square by 5 inches tall. I had to sew it together to make it stay together but I like the little ties on each square around the basket. I think the next one will be sewn with embroidery thread in different colors instead of just white crochet cotton. Though I do like the all white basket. Even though this basket is made from elastic, it isn't very stretchy as the elastic is old and the rubber is shot! It is a sturdy little basket!

I've just been invaded a by a cat. Miss Lola has decided she needs to know what all the racket is about! As I'm hitting the keys on the keyboard, typing this, she is sitting on a tiny spot on my desk trying to get my attention. She wants some lovin's. I'm kinda busy at the moment, cat! 

I still have tons of elastic to make into whatever. I'm going to give crocheting it a try. Not sure if that will work with the skinnier elastic or not. It's not quite so bad off as the white stuff I used to make the basket above. I've never tried to crochet elastic. Might not even work. The only way to know though, is to give it a shot!

Weaving will be on the agenda! I also got a big box of fabric scraps that I have already cut into strips in anticipation of weaving some mats. Some will be little for mug rugs and some will be larger for hot pot mats. And if I can figure out how they made those bags from the fabric strips, I'll make a few of those as well.

I finished the magazine paper rod basket. This one had been sitting on the work table in the deskroom for at least two weeks, just waiting for a 15 minute session of weaving it all together. It's about 6 inches tall, base is about 3 inches across. Would make a great pencil cup for a desk.

I said I was going to be done with making paper bowls once this one was done.

But I think I was mistaken on that account. This one is about 8 inches across the rim and about 6 inches deep. I used my large orange ceramic mixing bowl for a mold. It is chiefly tissue paper. It does have one layer of newsprint and one layer of white register tape paper in there as well though you can't see them. The stripes inside the bowl are shredded money. There's a layer of shredded money on the outside of the bowl as well but I covered it up with tissue paper and it pretty much disappeared under the tissue paper and the layer of green glass paint I put on the outside of the bowl. 

I say I think I was mistaken about being down with bowls because of the acquisition of a box of antique sheet music I got for $2 at a yard sale. We shall see what becomes of some of that sheet music in the coming weeks.

Old paper works much better for paper bowls than new paper does. The old paper soaks up the water/glue mixture better than new paper. 

I also got a box of old 8mm films. I did a search yesterday to see what could be made from them and came up empty handed more or less. I have about 2 dozen reels of this stuff. Plus a few reels of 16mm film. The only things I found made from film was some earrings and a bow to use to decorate a gift package. The earrings were a tad weird! The bow could be done! I probably will make a few of those and see how they sell in the shops. All of these films are high school football games from the 1970s.  

I have plenty of it to play around with and try to figure something out! 

One of my best buys of the day was a handful of zig markers for a quarter! There were some other brands of markers in that bunch as well. Every single one of them with the exception of the silver paint pen, works wonderfully! I needed some new colors of grays and browns and now I have some! Will need to clean off my desk if I'm going to play with the markers though. Can't even see the marker box for all the crap laying on top of it at the moment!

I have another basket in the works. A coiled basket using some white macrame cord and pink elastic. It reminds me of hard christmas candy at the moment. I'll probably finish it sometime today and start on something else. 

I almost forgot to tell you all about the short trip to Logan. There was a craft fair going on over there on Saturday. We by passed the craft fair-we were both pretty worn out by then! We went to the Dane Hansen Museum to see the paper art exhibit.  Allen and Patty Eckman cast paper sculptures. Go check out the link! Pictures just don't do this artwork justice! It was gorgeous! I'm a color kinda girl when it comes to artwork. More of mine has color than not. These stark white paper sculptures though, they don't need color. I'm glad Ma decided to drag my hide there!

I would have liked to have gone around the courtyard of the museum and seen those 50 some vendors that had set up on the grass, but the old body was already in complaint mode and I was more than ready to call it a day! Riding in the vehicle is hard on my old body and then climbing in and out of it for all those sales we hit.... yeah, I was bushed!

I'm still recuperating from the exertions of Saturday! The old body goes into rebel mode when I push it too much! And that damn fibro kicked my butt all week. I should be back to 'normal' by tomorrow! I have got to go to the grocery store sometime today so will have to get dressed to do that! I was in my pj's all day yesterday.

I am just rambling now so I will let you get on with your day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember......

Be good to one another!

It matters!

831

More Paper Bowls and A Few Painted Rocks

Hello Readers!

I really don't have a lot to show for the time that has passed since my last post. I've been busy, just haven't been busy on anything that doesn't take forever to finish. 

The fibro has been kicking my butt for better than a week and not a lot has gotten done because of that. It's hard to work on anything when you're asleep most of the time!  That will ease in due time and I'll be fine for awhile again.

Good news came on Wednesday about selling my artwork at the Historical Society Gift Shop in Topeka. I got the paperwork to commence with that endeavor today in the mail. Tomorrow a box will be sent to them and we'll see what happens after that! I see good things on the horizon.

Bowls were the main focus but I did make some owl magnets.

3inch cork disks, plastic bottle caps, beads. game piece, thick paper for the top feathers, a stick from the yard and some copper wire. All held together with glue. Each has two magnets on the backside.

I went on a shopping spree and bought -I can't believe I bought!! - black rocks. For $2 I got 15 nice sized rocks. I painted on three of them with the paint pen. Perhaps more will get painted sometime in the future. Rock painting wasn't near as fun as I thought it would be. The remaining rocks will probably end up in the large planter beside the front porch where a bunch of other rocks live.

You all saw a couple of these bowls a post or two earlier. These are in no particular order. 

This one is about 8 inches across and 4 inches deep. It has paper stars on the inside sealed with sparkly glass paint. On the outside is a layer of dark grey glass paint. The bowl itself is made from layers of paper and glue formed over my large clear glass mixing bowl.

This one is about six inches across and 4 inches deep.  Newspaper was used to form the bowl. The bowl was first painted with metallic blue acrylic inside and out. Inside the bowl is a coat of gold glass paint. I used a clear blue glass cereal bowl for a mold.

This one is about 4 inches across, 3 inches deep. Inside is paper stars sealed with sparkly clear glass paint. The outside is green paper maple leaves sealed with sparkly clear glass paint. The rim has sage green acrylic paint sealed with the sparkly clear glass paint.  I used a small glass bowl for the mold.

This one is about 4 inches across, 3 inches deep. Inside are paper stars sealed with sparkly clear glass paint and irredescent glitter. Sage green acrylic around the rim. Outside are more paper stars sealed with clear glass paint. I used a small glass bowl for a mold.

This bowl is about 8 inches across and 2 inches deep. Inside are paper stars sealed with gold glass paint. Outside are paper stars sealed with red glass paint. The rim is painted with gold acrylic and sealed with gold glass paint. I used a soup bowl for a mold. 

This one is 6 inches across and 4 inches deep. Inside is gray acrylic sealed with clear glass paint. The rim has sage green acrylic sealed with clear glass paint. The outside is sealed with red glass paint over gray acrylic paint. I used the clear blue glass cereal bowl for the mold.

This one is about 4 inches across and 3 inches deep. Inside is orchard paper sealed with gold glass paint. Outside is shredded paper money laid down in long strips. I used a small glass bowl as a mold. This bowl took longer than any other to make simply because of the time it took to lay down the shredded money.

This one is 6 inches across and 4 inches deep. It weighs quite a bit considering it is made of paper. That's because I put a layer of homemade gesso on the outside of it and then sealed that with different colors of acrylic paint and glass paint. Inside, the blue rim is gesso with blue acrylic and the gray is acrylic paint. I used the clear blue glass cereal bowl for a mold.

This is my favorite of all the bowls so far. It is about 8 inches across and 2 inches deep. Inside is cut up shredded money with a layer of tissue atop the money. The inside is sealed with clear glass paint. Outside is orchard paper sealed with gold glass paint. I used the soup bowl for a mold.

This one is about 4 inches across, 3 inches deep. Inside are text page stars sealed in gold glass paint. Outside is the same stars sealed in red glass paint. I used the small glass bowl for a mold.

And here they are all in one spot. 

And another one in the works....

This is what it looked like yesterday. The strings you see showing through the white tissue paper is strips of shredded money. I know I said I wasn't going to make another bowl with the shredded money but it had to be done!  The shredded money will show on the inside of the bowl when it is finished.

It looks like this as I type this post. It's shiny in the picture because the glue holding the manila colored tissue on is still wet. My plan is to put another layer or two of white tissue paper on it and then another layer of shredded money to match the inside of the bowl. This one is about 8 inches across, will probably be about 5 inches deep once the rim has been trimmed. 

I have been playing around with weaving some fishes and will show you them the next time I come around. I also have a little book ready to be sewn. 

I think once this last bowl is done, I will have bowls out of my system for awhile. I need to get busy and sew the monster bodies that Ma started weeks ago! 

Thanks for coming around today!

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831