25 September 2013

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



No comments:

Followers