Plain and Practical

$20 worth of Fun

$20 worth of $5 chairs

= 20 minutes good vigorous exercise with a hammer, and,

= nice pile of oak sculpture pieces with interesting shapes and pegs

= enough rusty screws for a batch of dye for wools, put to soaking

= if you are whacking apart a chair on yer front porch, some lady who comes out of the water department across the street will hurriedly scurry back to her car and lock the doors when she sees you glancing up at her in mid-whack

I love being an artist.

peace.  and don't be too worried about gray-haired ladies wearing long aprons that you see on porches disassembling old chairs with a large yellow hammer.  She's perfectly harmless.

Paper, Scissors, Rock, Water, Wood

Oy, life is spinning round and round in this house, no, my vertigo isn't acting up, but here's the round and round cards yesterday evening:

you see the supervisor there, in my spinning chair . . .

and I reworked some of the cards and here they are drying:

and on the stove, this is NOT for lunch or dinner, it's the dyepot soaking with three pounds of mohair stuffed into it:

and now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast--spinning, with rockabilly music on the CD player, husband upstairs recouperating from the flu, dishwasher is running, washer doing all the sheets and towels today to hopefully ward off germies getting into ME next.  Here's a nice batt of purple on the wheel:

rainy and gloomy outside, no wooly blankets today, but that's okay, only four or five more to go and those are caught up.  You'alls be good and productive today.  Peace.

Good Thing There's Lots of Water

even if it's not cheap here in Marysville, Ohio (my water bills run $100-150 a month, egads, more than electric).  Because I'm soaking all these wool blankets for the show in Traverse City in September and laying them aside for mending on warm sunny days this summer--

and dyed a batch of mohair from Edie this nice raspberry color for the Penguicon spinning coming up--

and I finished writing the Plain And Practical newspaper for March, got it printed and mailed out yesterday evening,

and here's the next batt to spin, fresh off the drum carder:

it's much prettier in person.  Watching over Husband today, he is ill at home with bathroom troubles, going to make him chicken soup for lunch and browbeat him into at least sipping the broth and maybe munching on a couple of saltines.  When the sunlight is in the middle of the studio, going to lay out materials for half-aprons for Gus, up in town, he asked for some, and for Mallory, working at the ice cream place.  Boo is giving me the stinkeye because he wants to see where I'm working today so he can settle in for his afternoon nap, so must take leave, friends, may Peace find all of you today.

Hurry Up and Out The Door

Washer has three big wool blankets--two of them are 80% camel/20% wool--less than $6 each thrifting.  Seven more to go, but I don't think I can hang up more than three in here after they drip outside this cold afternoon.  I soak them in 115 degree soapy water, to make sure there's no bedbugs, and of course I check them thoroughly before purchase, when I get them into the laundry room, and just before they go into the washer.  I sure don't want any of those little beasties in MY house.  And here's a belt I will take apart for the beads:

and two sheets are drying, and here's some wool pettipoint spools I use in my chained yarns--

   
I might keep that sheep print for a tablecloth at the farm market; the spiral one is for aprons, of course.  Off to Quaker Meeting, found one up route 31 and when we stopped there yesterday a nice fellow chatted briefly with us and yes, it's still active, so will be out the door in thirty minutes.  My treasures will be here when I return, husband prolly still sleeping too--I have such a blessed life!   Peace.

Squeaky Slimey and Good Things Drying

So here's two of the three wall sculpture pieces, they have been covered with the first layer of paper and solution, which eventually will make all those clunky looking closures beautifully seamless and smooth.  This is nearly three hours' work and there's one more to go, and then tomorrow afternoon another layer.  Then a third.  Then paint, second paint, and seven layers of clear coat, in-between those I'll be finishing up the panels that fit in here and there to provide a balance of positive and negative space.  More gesso, more paint on those, then clear coat them after they are set into the pieces.  It's deep and thoughtful work, and I sing to them and tell them stories and feel simply wonderful doing it:

and here's the pan and the "pulp fiction" (LOL) that I use for the first layer,

and meanwhile the washer is running, hot water wash and cold rinse, doing sheets and clothing from yesterday's thrifting--here's two vintage fabrics, the first is yardage and the second is from pajamas:

 
a little piano, make a pot of tea, reload the dishwasher, think about what I'm cooking for dinner . . . there's still four $5 chairs to unload from the truck and the twin bed header and footer.  It's cold out.  I am tired, relieved from the paperwork being handed in, thrilled to be able to just do my art now and make plans to grow and expand into these new materials, but my head feels heavy today and I keep thinking about how soft the couch is in the warm office where hubbin is playing his game, so I don't think it will be too many more hours before I'm laying back and reading for the evening.  Oh, and husband stopped by a Friends church on the way home, service is at 10 a.m. tomorrow, so if it's not icy and snowing, I'm going.  Maybe this will be a Meeting that feels "right."  Peace.

Kick That Crap To The Curb and Let's Have Fun

Yeah, finally got all my accounting paperwork for the business dropped off to the accountant.  I would let my accountant do brain surgery on me.  That guy is the calmest, most unfazed human being on the planet, I think he missed his calling, he should be solving world problems.  I guess he already is, he's solving all of mine.  So next is personal paperwork, getting the USPS account set up and start listing this closet full of Etsy stuff soon.

Pat and I not only went a-thrifting, and I loaded up on good wool blankets to wash and repair for the show in September, but we also finally got to the Golden Hobby shop in German Village, Columbus, and got our consignment forms and questions answered so we can start selling items there (I'm convinced, not sure about Pat).  I'll be taking them 12 skeins of knitting weight yarns and see how those go, so I started on those this morning:

and wanted you to see the $2.50 chair I whacked apart and scrubbed on my very useful front porch, I'll be spending a lot of time out there this summer.  This was a couple of days ago, now it's trying to snow and it's cold and dark with threatening clouds, won't be out there much today!

and proud to say this Ginko box went out with another $200 of yarns--

there's enough here to fill another box but they haven't been plied yet.  Heavens, we just can't run low on our to-do list, that would be unnatural for me.  After some spinning and hubbin wakes up for his breakfast tray, I'll roll up my sleeves and start the papier-mache process on these first sculptures, it makes my hands all slick and pruney with the slimey mixture so once you start, there's no interruptions until you are done.  Whatever station you pick on the radio, it's the one you'll have for hours unless hubbin comes in for a snack and you can trade a kiss for changing the dial!  Peace, be warm, be kind. 

More Gesso, and the yarns are ready to label

There's a pile of raw wood bits by the door to go into the truck with me tomorrow to a car wash (truck needs washing too) and I figure that will save me 15 minutes of dizzyness scrubbing out the bathtub, which is how I did it the last time.  But it will be 40+ tomorrow so no problem putting them in the truck bed, making sure I wear bloomers, and climbing over the edge to scrub them that way.

Here's the latest batch of gesso'd sculpture pieces:

Tomorrow, I have "newsprint" on my shopping list so I can start to mix up solution and cover the first set of pieces, getting them ready to paint, and start on the filler sections to them.  One step at a time with lots of waiting in-between, I'd go crazy if I didn't have several going at one time.

And those yarns are ready to price and tag today, inventory, and pack to go out in the mail tomorrow after the holiday:

lovely stuff.  Short errand with Dawn today, paperwork rest of evening, whoops, gotta go make the jello for dinner tonight, and then vacuum a bit, sweep the studio so dropped things don't come up tweed.  Today is mostly getting things ready for tomorrow, but there's nothing like looking ahead, aye?  Peace.

More Gesso'ing, laying out sculpture four

here's the current gesso pile.  Husband may not see the kitchen table until after June.

and here's Sculpture four, tenatively titled musically red dot,

that should be sideways but couldn't figure out how to rotate it once I got it into the blog.  But, who knows, maybe it will end up being upanddown instead of sidetoside.  I already moved the ends out to become two more separate pieces to make it a three parter.  We're headed off to pick up a DVD rack I won on an auction, it will have the dowels for the end pieces.  All good.  Peace.

I Gesso'd a Pile of Elephant Bones

well, maybe Stag sized, but between those and the wood boards for another sculpture project, and both sides and edges and flip and do again and flip . . . and they still aren't done.  Good thing my husband doesn't like to eat at the kitchen table . . .

and remember that little poem I wrote, here's the yarn spun from the batt that inspired it, on the bobbin, the last one I did today--

pretty stuff, plied it this afternoon, this was the single last night, got my pics mixed up, d'oh, and maybe it's my brain going gooey, here's the plying from today, and you can't see the three teal ones that are hanging elsewhere to dry tonight:

17 all together (I think) and that is enough plying for one day, yes indeedy.  Plus the four I spun singles early this morning.  Even though they are bulky and fat yarns it is still a lot of holding up the wrists and bending them and using them all day.  And that gesso painting.  Yep, wearing my brace tonight!  Tomorrow, finishing up the gesso, paperwork sorting, maybe a little trip out in the afternoon if we win any of the items from the auction in Columbus.  A good solid day's work, and every minute pleasant.  Peace.

Breakthrough Day

I woke at five this morning with sinus issues and decided, well, I can take a nap later today, nothing is scheduled for any specific time.  So I got up and did the coffee and decongestant gig, a little dizzy with vertigo, using both hands on the stairs, a hot washcloth to wash out the crud from my eyes.  Human bodies can be disgusting.

And then I got an itch to put something into my sketchbook and one idea flowed after another for a whole series of wall works to go with the wood sculptures, they are all wood but some are more about weaving and basketry techniques, some use large wood beads and wire, and best of all, everything is here already in my stash.  So when I get un-dizzy this morning and finish gesso'ing the three large pieces on one side, I can start on another five-section piece that's more detailed and woven, it'll take at least a couple of weeks.  When that's started and put aside to "ferment" then back to plying this large order of art yarns for Ginko Gallery.

A wonderful weekend.  Even if I am walking around with a roll of tissue and making yukky sounds and looking like I'm a little drunk from the vertigo.  Just need to pace myself and rest as needed.  Peace.