I got one of those Yudu things...

From Dharma trading and then read all sorts of stuff about how awful they are including complaints about how they're impossible to use and that they're just a toy and total crap. It is a
screen printing system that includes all the steps including a light to burn images to photo emulsion to a dryer for the screens and a platen to hold t-shirts while you print. Not a professional system by any stretch but pretty compact and user friendly...IF you read the instructions and watch some Youtube tricks and tips. Most importantly: let the emulsion dry, no really really dry.


Here's what I did after only one emulsion disaster:


The black is my first go at printing the entire image. The squeegee that comes with the kit isn't that great so I couldn't get the ink all the way to the edges and all the way to the far end of the image. So I taped off the parts I didn't really like anyway and printed the white. A nice opaque white, it worked!

Am currently cleaning the screen for the next go!

Christmas Eve eve

This wasn't the 23rd, it's the very beginning of the lunar eclipse on the 20th. You can just see a wee nibble being taken out of the lower left side of the moon as our shadow sneaks along. I didn't get any other pictures...probably could have tried harder but it was cold and I was busy watching the amazing amazingness!
This years wee tree! I love it, and the wee felted birds get to hang out on vacation instead of being on display for sale. See them with their little party hats?
The weeness of the tree revealed, it has to stand on the blue stool to be seen. You can just see the princess dog at the bottom enjoying the splendor of the wee tree.

and now with hats!

Birdies have been selling like mad so I've been restocking like mad! Stick stick stab with the felting needles and so the wee birds evolve...



This is the most recent one using some Harrisville roving I got from Webs (yarn.com). I like this kind of roving for felting, the staple length is really short and it's not combed for spinning easily. The Fiber Trends kits and most of the other rovings are really nice and smooth with a pretty long staple so when you poke the wool in in one place you can actually feel it pulling out in another.
Wanted poster for bird in a dunce cap.

for display purposes only

Birdies ready to sell:
I hung the wee birdies in a branch I cut off the lilac tree a couple of months ago. I think they like dangling about better than lounging around on the table. I'll have to take it apart to get it to the school gym for the crafts fair, but this is a good way to keep the birds' bills from getting smushed and keep the cat from clawing them out of a box and on to the ground for the dog to gnaw.
They did that to a body the cat flicked out when I was in Juneau. Pet cooperation is hard to hate, but fairly annoying.
The whole thing in front of a window salvaged from a neighbors' weatherizing project. Too pretty to put outside. 1/2 gallon mason jar...canning jars are the perfect crafts project container. Smaller ones are great beer mugs.

it's only just begun!

Winter scenery time is here again! Sunrise kissed the mountain tops at about 8:00 this morning and there's about 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground, yippee! So worth the cold ears to get to walk in the beauty!


Fall sales mean little felted birdies, it's time for Christmas crafts fairs!

Last but not least, it's time for cats to be inside near the woodstove or on the crafty table.

accidents in the home

Allowing your pets to do chores in the house is not recommended and can be down right dangerous! The cat was splitting the kindling for the day when a huge log fell on her pinning her legs to the ground. She called out in agony, meowing at the top of her little lungs for help. I, naturally, took a picture before freeing her from her potential grave. Poor dear, it takes a long time for all 9 lives to flash by.

nothin' to see here

So... there I was feeling guilty for reading instead of working on crafts show products. (uh oh) I decided to do something that's been on the nagging list o' shit to do: fix the dripping faucet in the bathroom (oh dear god don't you remember what happened when you "fixed" the bath tub faucet?).

I was all ready, had the tools, the screw drivers, the wrench and the ipod to listen to the Jon Stewart interview on Fresh Air. I shut the water off, disemboweled the faucets, cleaned the o-rings and put it all back together, no problem (yeah, right). When I went to turn the cold water back on the little handle under the sink came off in my hand and water shot out. Right in my face. I didn't swear! I screamed NOOOOooooo! and put my hand over the leak. Other hand found the little handle and together they tried to screw it back on...3 (or more) times. No dice. I said NO a few more times and tried to figure out what to do. Thank god my cell phone is water proof. I ran into the living room, grabbed the phone and made the humiliating "HELP ME" call. I fucking hate plumbing.

another go at lace

After reading the Yarn Harlot's post about arsing up a pattern, I thought I'd share my latest attempt at lace knitting "a fun fast knit" from Knitty. Nothing complex, something small and oh so soft and lovely... mmhmm, I have been un knitting and re-knitting a lot. Apparently, I can't count above 19 or is it 17? I have given up on lace more than once when the lumps and holes don't line up correctly.

I'm not going to toss this one across the room for the cat to enjoy, really I'm not.

This month has been incredibly kind to late bloomers... My first successful sunflower courtesy of 70 degree fall days, yay!
My brother after hours of splitting wood to help fill my woodshed, thanks bro!

wishes granted at a cost

I took in a renter this summer since I was working very part time. Working part time to give me time to make art. Having this person rent from me sucked the art right out of my summer and I took a second job. I met her last summer, she seemed pleasant enough... sounds like the beginning of one of those teen angst vampire books, doesn't it? She's leaving in less than days that now number less than 2 digits, thank dog.

My wish is to get back to my art. To felt and dye and bead and paint and sew and not carry around the annoyance of a renter that doesn't wash dishes, empty garbage, sweep floors, remove hair from the drain thingy or shut her mouth. Seriously...she won't stop talking even as I walk in to the bathroom and close the door. I feel mean going to use the toilet!

Deep Breath.

jam!

Blueberry jam! My friend Julia and I made jam from some of the berries we picked...my first time ever making jam. It all seemed like scary (could make jars of bacteria laden ooze) voodoo to me, but I might be over that trauma. Jam. We made jam and have a lot more berries and those cherries to jar up! Some of last year's berries got made in to liquor...that helped with the 'making bacteria' trauma. yeah.

more than a month later...

I'm not going to do that "sorry I haven't posted" post...no really I'm not. (sorry I haven't posted)

I've been busy making stuff and doing stuff and letting summer get away with me in a good way. I have another job...getting paid to weed a giant garden! An acre or so of veggies and a huge flower garden. I am being paid to do battle with my favorite enemy, the canadian thistle.
This is the latest raven bracelet to go out to Svenson's. It hasn't sold yet, but got rave reviews from the owners. I kinda really like the red outline for the birds...and they look a little like a chorus line to me.

This is sweater duck. (see, I've been busy since we last met) His owner said "you scare me" when I said I'd knitted him a sweater, it's good to scare people with random knitting. I suggested that sweater duck would be a good deck hand on the owner's commercial fishing boat, but he's still shore side.
One of three quart + containers of blueberries picked yesterday. There's jam in the near future. I also have a tree full of pie cherries I'm hoping to pick tomorrow before work...jarred pie filling to go with the jam. Can't wait for winter to sit and read and wonder at how busy I suddenly became in August.

I organized volunteers for the merchandise booth at the fair this year. That's the booth I worked in last year when I put up the 'fair hair' post. No fancy hair this year, but 4 days of free passes for my organizing efforts, not bad pay if you don't think about the frustration of working with seemingly vacant humans. NOT the volunteers, they rocked.

and last of all...summer has returned to Haines, it's sunny and warm and beautiful.

another one sold!

Another cuff sold! Again with the 'thank goodness I'm freaking about money' moment: in the same stack of mail is the property tax bill! Maybe I can conjure up another sale before the bill is due...maybe a couple of them.

Currently working on another raven cuff and a couple embroidered necklaces with very slow progress. I have a whole list of excuses for not beading, some of them good (extra hours at work) and some of them lame (Alias on DVD) and some I don't want to admit to.

I made a springtime/flower doll for Lora K. who's dealing with chemo (my excuses are so lame in comparison!) and has two young boys and a seriously good attitude. She was diagnosed with cancer but they downgraded it to something less dire...but really? Chemo is awful no matter what the diagnosis.

Last year at about this time, I took myself off to the clinic to talk to a therapist about why I was so miserable. The therapist agreed with me, it's incredibly difficult to make friends here especially with women. She described it taking years to get beyond surface polite behavior. This year... I know why. There are many more women than men here and once a woman gets a guy she guards that relationship with her life. I thought he was a better person than he is (the excuse I don't want to admit). I fell for his b.s. and now get to trudge through the recovery... bleh.

cat fight!

Biscuit the bold got herself beat up by a neighborhood stray, again. Actually...I don't know what sort of damage she did to the other cat, but she's got a big gash on her neck and is limping on her right front foot.

So, I chase her around with a syringe full of peroxide (no needle) to keep the gash from getting infected. I haven't figured out what wrong with the paw, she may have shredded a claw in the battle. There is a lick lick lick spot on her inner "arm", but I don't think that's what's causing the limp.

She is already asking to go back outside, no wonder her head is so tiny...no much brain in there.

more black birds

Experiments with abstract birds...I think I like it, but it's all about getting the beak right.

wood, beads and dogs, summer here

The wood is in the shed, but just like always doesn't look like enough. I might get another cord delivered...sale prices available til the end of June. Yeah, I'll get another cord...just makes sense.

The wood arrives, it's lovely dry beetle kill spruce and hemlock. "Beetle Kill" refers to trees that were killed by the spruce bark beetle infestation a few years ago and seasoned standing up in the forest. It's excellent firewood when it's cut down, fuel for devastating forest fires if left standing.


The shed before...

...and after. It just doesn't look like enough!Still room for the bicycle.
Dog waiting for the start of a road trip to go camping in the Yukon. My brother was coming down from Anchorage for a bluegrass festival near Haines Junction. Not the kind of camping and music experience I'm used to...tickets were sold out in January and cost 150 dollars! I listened to some of the free stuff and enjoyed the beer and campfire part of the trip. Best thing about camping at a provincial campsite: free wood!

Worst thing: partying kids, but this campground had someone that actually patrolled to keep the noise down. Pine Lake Campground near Haines Junction...spot #10.

more black birds

I think this one is better than the last...


It was so much easier to bead this one knowing what I wanted the wings to look like, where to put the bugle beads to make the wings shine. It's at the gallery waiting to become part of the property tax/firewood fund.

There's a couple of cords of spruce/hemlock coming today. Every time I say that I sort of sigh, it's a lot of work to get it in the shed, but it's really good to have it done and really really good to check it off the must do list. Months of summer drying make it happy winter wood too. It will make the bicycle storage space in the woodshed small...seasonal conflict of interest!

sold!

Hey guess what? Oh, you already read the title...yeah it sold! They're mailing me a check tomorrow. Oh how happy is my little money grubbing heart. Money from all sales will be put in the account labeled "property tax" until further notice. woot!

it's alive!

Dudes, sorry I'm being the blogger from lame land...but it's springtime in Alaska. (the rest of the line from the song is "and it's 40 below" but it's not, it's sunny and warm. I've already eaten my first salad from the garden! I have rhubarb that's doing what the 'barb does: taking over the universe one giant leaf at a time.

I have been beading and painting to keep myself from being a total lame land slacker...but I have to admit to having tan lines on my feet already. My favorite sign of not being totally employed is tanned feet.

One of the tulips that's come and nearly gone out by the porch...think I need to paint or bead this, it's so pretty!

Gardening...daffodils and tulips doing their thing, thank goodness for bulbs! 3 sunflower plants starting to shoot up wildly after a few cool nights under plastic. I had to replant them after the neighbors dumb-ass dog dug up the other ones. Lavender in the other warm and dry spot up front next to the sunflowers. In back: lots of cutting (as in not head) lettuce, the rhubarb, peas starting to race the sunflowers for height, last years strawberries flowering again (yay!) and a couple of different squash plants, zucchini and summer squash and one pot of decorative gourds. We'll see if any of the squash survive my fumbling. Oh yeah, and a couple of buckets of potatoes, because I loved squealing over them this past fall.

Guess I need to take more pictures. Thanks for waiting for me to come back from lame land!

done.

I finished it yesterday afternoon, finally! I mean really? It's just another embroidered piece...but it's designed to be worn so it needs to fit a human, needs to lie flat and hang straight. ...and it's the piece that caught the eye of the gallery owner!

The clasp is double snaps. I couldn't see putting a totally unrelated silver clasp there and don't really like the peyote toggles so I used some black snaps. Need to remember (again) that I hate white pellon and should only use black so it doesn't look like underpants are showing through the beads.

fish frames

I'm leaning toward having him break the 'frame' on 3 sides, like he's swimming in front of it. Still leaning that way after posting then editing. The lower bottom edge looks too rectangular and he's a square fish.

I really haven't been that busy...

I just seem to have had a lot to do for the (almost) month since I last posted. Activities have included extra hours at work (yay) a little more mercenary knitting (yay) and a trip to Juneau (yay again).

Folk Fest was going on while I was in town so I got to join in the chaos with the Hoskinsons. I love how involved they are in the music community there, I feel pretty lucky to get to be an honorary member with out being able to play more than a few notes. Nights of music at Centennial Hall were punctuated by the morning "Buddy Report" from Buddy Tabor. Damn that guy is funny...when he's not wandering the grave yard or mocking Rush.

I've been getting beadwork ready for the gallery opening at the beginning of May...brainstorming how to display the flat stuff with out frames. I want people to know it's fabric and beads, not a glassed in painting...texture on display. So with the heron, I'm putting in the twigs and will layer it on the blue and stiffen with pellon. Visual: is it better with the twig through his beak or just
below?

It's weird to me how the vertical line above his bill makes him feel trapped to me...or is it that he's in the swamp? Geez, I love a good annoying detail.

rocks

Icy feathers on the windshield of my car a few days ago. There's now about 6 inches of snow on that very windshield...and I've cleared it off twice! I think it's snowed about 16 inches since midnight. spring this.

Rocks front and back, or back and front. I hope the one in the upper right sells this year, it's been around too long. I'm trying to make a small 'basket full' to put in the gallery for the opening. It would help if I didn't let myself get distracted by embroidery thread!

a dog and her granny square.

bead 'weed

The superhero/heart cuff was one of my monthly bjp projects that was flat and had snaps to make it in to a cuff. Remember? I posted it waaay back when I was still doing that exercise. Anyway, it was small enough to fit me...too small for your average human wrist. I cut the snaps off and slid it on to one of those inch and a half brass cuff blanks and now it's sell-able! One more product for the gallery. whew.

The 'weed that's in the title: fireweed. Second only to ravens in the popularity contest that is Alaskan art. Hey, I buy raven and fireweed art so quit getting all touchy about it.

A little more beads...getting closer. I have another step done but haven't taken pictures yet. I kinda like this project..pink is way easier than black. HOWever...any beader reading this knows that pink, good pink, is usually dyed. I am taking a risk here, hoping that these little 15's are durable enough to be a cuff. I figure the beads aren't going to be touching skin and the owner won't be rubbing them with acetone (I hope) so the cuff should be ok. Damn pinks.

Oh yeah...Facebook buddies, pals, friends, I got offed by the book of face. My profile with the purple sweater picture suddenly is off limits to me, I can't sign in to it. It's some sort of witness protection program, I'm sure. They've taken my identity and given me a new one, what else could it be? Anyways. I am living in an apartment they've rented to me for a while under the assumed name Kelly Mitchell. Tricky eh? No profile photo yet but I'm rebuilding...assuming that once I get it all set up they'll give me my old life back. * pfft. * Not snubbing, just in witness protection...come find me!

winterspring, knittingbeads

All springy and shit...or maybe mid-summer, that's when fireweed looks sort of like that.
Mmmhmm, that's what the willows look like about now, but the cottonwoods surely aren't dropping leaves. Artistic license much?

MMph. Black and shiny makes a blind woman blinky. This will be wrapped around a brass cuff to make a bracelet. ...and I won't be making any more raven birds for a while.
Egg and butter plus fireweed, must have been a fire through this scene not too long ago. Apocalyptic beading anyone?
Oh thank goodness, we made it back to winter. Why look, it's snowing out in the real world too, all is well.