Monday, June 28, 2010

More Mail Art

I like the postcards to look like they've already been through the postal system, though, perhaps not as beat up as some of the mail I've received lately. This one says, Cannot be delivered for unknown reason.

 
Household has moved to unknown sphere which sums up mom's brain.

Quote-less today.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Painted stamped fabric

Let the painting and stamping of fabric commence; not much choice when the heat in the garage is ridiculously hot. Handmade stamp, white paint, over blue on top of cheap muslin. I'm attempting to create a collection of fragment pieces.

On the left is a handmade Styrofoam stamp. On the right we have stamping from Styrofoam meat trays in gold and metallic rust.

  
A scrap of pellon first stamped with impressions from Styrofoam meat trays, the dark lines/patterns. Then lots of color washes, then more stamping, then gold metallic lines.

 
Painted fusible web. I have no idea what I'll iron this onto. I might use strips of it, or? But in the meantime I've added a photo of it to my digital background collection.

Quote: Do things that make your day precious. Bernie Siegel
              

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Fabric

Discharged Fabric draped over the back of the chair that begged to be photographed.

I finally added a photo to my photography blog.

Need inspiration?  This should do the trick for all fabric artists.



Quote: To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power. J. MacDonald.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Wardrobe



The wardrobe could use some help, I can just see one of those reality shows hosts showing up and saying, "everything has go to go." I'd probably agree in a heartbeat, but unless someone wants to pick up the tab for a complete makeover nothing leaves the closet without a lot of scrutiny. The green shirt ( very uninspired photos!)  had a stain on it and was nearly relegated to "the at home" section of the closet which is much larger than the "okay to be seen in public" section. Now that I've tossed some dye at it I'm still undecided about it, but it's more interesting.

    

The orangey, red, yellow shirt with blotches of black that went blueish will probably make it out of the house at least once. (it's more redish in person.) Yes, I love shirts and practically wear them exclusively for their comfort and anonymity. Most of the year though, I wear short sleeve shirts from the men's department of which the ones that are residing in the closet mostly needed repairing or altering. Buttons were missing on some while others were so long they made me look fat and others needed to be taken in on the sides for a more feminine look. Last Monday is was very apparent that I'd put off tackling the job too long when I ended up wearing a shirt that came from the "at home section" out in public. I'm  nearly done with the job and fear that I won't finish the last two alterations now that I've lost the momentum. I can't do anything with the slacks and jeans except pray for a sale ASAP. I'm not sure that I'm ready to wear capri or crop pants out of the house. (Happy Birthday Meryl Streep! You're now 3 months older than I am!)

This should keep everyone busy for awhile; lists of helpful tutorials and tips.

Quotes:   “Each individual piece is a calculated attempt to entice women to add to their wardrobe.” Bill Blass

“The wardrobe guy [of Blow] was a genius. He was so tapped into that period and he brought me the ugliest things I'd ever seen and then they were somehow beautiful.” Johnny Depp

Just let the wardrobe do the acting” Jack Nicholson

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mail art


Working on these small pieces reminds me of the 52-projects that I did last year. Everything is in the timing and this certainly wouldn't have been the year to take on a weekly project. The fabric background is a serendipitous piece created when I wiped off the squeegee between screen prints.

Have I mentioned that I'm not fond of wasting dye even if it's supposedly exhausted? The blue background fabric wouldn't exist if I hadn't spread dye print paste onto fabric; I wasn't expecting such vivid colors. The torn aged text is from a French book so I have no idea what it says. Don't you love a mystery?    

Quote and good advice: When we are unable to work, we can work at the work of getting ready to work. Julia Cameron          

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nuggets of Joy


Yes, the grapes are as delicious as they look. Bunches of red flame grapes! The other vine, not as mature as this one, appears to be the good old green variety.

Stacy is doing very well, once again. Phew!









   Well, it looks like the dyeing and discharging of fabric has come to an end; the temp in the garage at 8am was 89 and it's easily hit 105 outside. So, the sewing machine was dusted off and seems delighted to be in use again. Some of these fabric mail art pieces might just end up being give-aways for the blog-anniversary that I've extended from the 20Th to the end of the month. Just leave a comment and I'll add your name to the list. (Thanks Doreen for all of the marvelous postage stamps! I'm finally using some of them.)    


Quote sent to me this morning. :)      "Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility."
-James Thurber (1894-1961)  (if I didn't laugh about the dramas, I'd be in a straight-jacket by now.)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Storms!




About an hour ago a storm blew in which fits my mood; way too many personal storms last week, so the dark clouds and wind are indicative of my emotions. Stacy had a bit of a hiccup; two minor seizures meant that something was amiss in her system. It's difficult to be thankful for a seizure but in Stacy's case it helps me figure out what might be wrong. Her language skills have never developed enough to be able to tell me the symptoms she's having. "I don't feel well," is about the best she can do. My gut reaction was a UTI, but of course on Thursday the kidney doctor wasn't in the office Stacy goes to. And the main concern is always kidney rejection so we needed to go to Loma Linda, nearly two hours away. Would she be admitted? And if so how could I have mom with me? Mom's sister, shock, said that she'd take mom. Huge relief. We spent about eight hours in the ER and happily the UTI didn't warrant a stay in the hospital; her blood tests were negative for potential rejection. Loma Linda University Hospital is a trauma center for most of S.CA and crosses the border to include AZ. so the tension levels there are high and that added to my stress. After receiving a round of IV antibiotics and "the word" from a transplant doctor we headed home on the freeway that always makes me anxious; the I10 is fraught with accidents mostly involving semi trucks.


And there is mom who has decided to become more inventive with how she deals with Alzheimer's. Did you know that bathrooms are "notorious for being able to be used as kitchens?" I sure didn't, but it seems that if you pile used Kleenex on the bathroom floor and try to light it with an unlit candle you'll have a way of cooking food. She had a plate to cook on and a bottle of rubbing alcohol on the counter. Anyone who thinks that Alz is merely loss of memory doesn't have a clue as how unhinged the brain can become! Nothing makes sense to her anymore; she can't problem solve the simplest of things and wanders around the yard constantly trying to make sense of where she is. Yesterday, the gravel in the yard wasn't gravel but had become layers of nuts that she was going to eat; she was angry when I insisted that let go of the handful she was carrying to her room, she'd spent of a lot time getting just the right ones. Leaves on plants are lettuce and abundant. . . . Her latest minute-by-minute behavior problems don't leave me a lot of free time to create anything and that makes Gail one cranky person.


This morning, while attempting to calm myself down, I walked around the garden and photographed some "Nuggets Of Joy." From the top down are Mexican Bird-of-Paradise; the first time I saw that plant was the first spring here in the desert! Brilliant orange on a lacy plant. They grow like weeds here and we had to have them, but they can take over the yard so we decided against them. We now have two in pots near the front door and as soon as mom decides that the blossoms will look better in her room the plants won't be as showy. Mom picks everything including green tomatoes that she was going to eat, everything, even if it isn't food, is meant for her eating pleasure. When the Bird-of-Paradise blooms it opens a little at time. Up close it's really magnificent. The color theme by the front door ended up being orange, not something I would have intentionally chosen, but when we fell in love with an African Geranium, the second photo, we had to have that one as well. It loves heat. And the next photo is of the first Plumeria bloom. They shout tropics to me and seem out of place here, but Roger had to have them. They're thriving so well that I had to move the pots from in front of the windows to walls on the side of the house; they were blocking the windows with their glorious leaves.

   
Our boy, Spencer, who thought that if he had dibs on the table I wouldn't put it out in the garage. Stacy used the well-worn table for a nightstand until her sister brought out the nightstands that match the dresser she gave Stacy a few years ago. I now have the steam pot I use when I dye fabric on the glass topped table. And yes, Spencer is one very large cat! Doesn't he look like he's saying, "Don't mess with me?" He is the greatest cat, or is MizRiley the greatest? Or was Zeus? We've been lucky to have amazing lovable cats.

Sally Huss nails it again: "Tune yourself to happiness and adjust the frequency when you get out of sync.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Sunset

It's hit the century mark of 100+ degrees and is holding there; looks like the cool temps are a thing of the past. I'll have to make do with what I was able to dye and discharge over the last few months. This is one of those OAK pieces that I hate to cut up and use. The white flare-like spots were created using glue as a resist, but I poured on so much dye that they mostly dissolved; the effect adds some texture so that's okay with me.

So, I had the great idea that upgrading to a new computer with more gb's and Windows 7 would make my life easier. Maybe it will eventually, but we didn't transfer anything from the old computer so everything is on an external drive and is a jumbled up mess. And my camera won't transfer the older shots on the disk to the computer. The Canon prefers to only transfer photos that are new. And, Windows 7 doesn't seem to like my favorite stand-by of Picture It; I do love PSE8, but sometimes Picture It was just easier to use. Oh, and my speakers aren't working . . . and so it goes. I'm trying to live by the following quote: Want a perfect day? Decide to have one. Sally Huss

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Reds

The Reds turned out grand if I do say so myself. On the left, mono-printed red print paste. Top is a piece of fabric that I swiped with black print paste before covering it entirely with red print paste, actually, the grid piece is done the same way. In the center top, barely evident is cheesecloth and gauze. On the right side is waffle fabric and on the bottom is a piece of kona muslin that I poured dye over just like I did the waffle fabric, and the cheesecloth.

I seem to be slowing down as the temps rise, but then I do need to get my house cleaned up by Friday. My daughter and her guys are coming for the night and all of Saturday. They need to get back home Saturday night for one of Jack's functions early on Sunday; Jack being my 8-year-old grandson. Hopefully, my SIL and I can get the drip system going well enough so that I won't have to do much hand-watering in the blistering heat. Of course, it's supposed to be around 107 this weekend.

Do go and take a look at the outstanding tutorial Judi did about making your own rubber stamps. She spent days writing it up so do tell her that I sent you!

Quote: A day without sunshine is like, you know, night. Steve Martin