Terrifying New Project

For an online class about gender and comic books, I had to draw a comic based on a personal experience with gender. I'm no illustrator, so that was pretty tough for me to manage. However, the assignment did start me thinking about another project that I've been working on in my head, something so personal that I'm not really even comfortable sharing it openly yet.

In the class chatroom, I was talking to another student who encouraged me to start putting things on paper (even if it was just random brainstorming) and get it off that mental back burner. So yesterday, I worked on it, pretty much all day. What I have to show for hours of work? Six hand-written pages, that I then distilled into 2 pages typed into a Word doc. That's it. *sigh* I obsessed over naming; every name was chosen deliberately, and I needed 21 names.

Then I decided to hit up our new Half Price Books store to see if they had any good books for learning to draw. I ended up with:

How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains by Christopher Hart,
and How to Draw Manga V. 1 by Ben Dunn* -- I found things in both books that I thought would help,
and since it was Half Price Books, it was reasonable to get both.

I don't know what my style is, if I even have one, but both of these offered some basic mechanics as well as particular styles. I already had a sketchbook that I bought for this purpose (before I bought those books, before I started the class). So I guess now it's time to work on figure studies. The writing may always come more naturally to me, but if I can make the images I have in my head come out on paper, then maybe I'll be able to translate it into something that's really mine.

The fear comes into play when I'm honestly afraid to try, and possibly fail. This particular creation is the convergence of a number of things that are meaningful to me, so it's incredibly personal, and why I have only entrusted some of the details a couple of people. It's fragile yet...

When I have something I'm proud of, I'll share it, but until then, this project is under wraps.

__________
*Ben Dunn's website doesn't seem to be working, or I'd link him, too.

Not Even Cold Enough

Goofy weather; I finally got an old project completed, and it's not even cold enough to wear it.

When my daughter was a toddler, I bought a pattern, material and thread to make a poncho. The fleece fabric was clearanced, and I just fell in love with it. My daughter is now 15.

Our old house was small, and so in an attempt to make more space, my material got put into one of those Space Bags. Clever me, I even thought to put the pattern envelope, front facing out, in with it, along with sequins I had bought to embellish it and the thread in a small margarine container. Once the air was sucked out, I had a much smaller project, and everything was in one place.

Now that I've gotten more comfortable with the sewing machine, I rediscovered that shrink-wrapped decade-old project and finished it! Huzzah! Thursday night I cut out the pieces, Friday I sewed it up, and this morning I added the darts I should have put in to begin with.

I used Butterick #3649 (©2002, looks like it's out of print), view A, but modified it. The 60" material I bought had a wide border, and that was what I wanted. That view had two pattern pieces, one diamond-shaped front piece, and a triangular back piece (cut two). Bah. That wouldn't have used the border to its full potential, so I cut four triangles, carefully getting a chevron for the front and back, but the chevrons do not match. I would have needed another yard (at least) to do that.

It's a smaller poncho than I typically prefer, but it's probably a better size for me to wear so that I don't look like I'm dwarfed by it. And, after looking at it, and playing with the sequins, I decided not to use them after all. The border pattern is busy enough that it probably doesn't really need anything else. I have a ton of the upper half of the fabric to make a shirt or something, since I only used the border edge, and enough of the border pieces to make a hat, I think.

Fast & Easy: yes it was
Views C & D are basically, "Hem the edge of a huge rectangle,
sew on these leaves (C) or this fake fur (D)." For that, you need a pattern?!

Front and back, respectively. The little pink flowers on the maroon field is what the rest of the material looks like.

Totally do not match, but I can live with it, because my chevrons
line up pretty well in front and back views.

Detail of the darts I added this morning.

I also added some detail to a beret I made on Wednesday, using some wonderful rose-patterned fleece I bought that I didn't know what I wanted it for at the time. I cut out a rose and appliquéd it to the top, quilting it somewhat with a scrap of fleece stitched between my appliqué and the crown of the beret. I also knotted some embroidery thread as stamens for a little more dimension.

So now I have this awesome finished project, and it's supposed to get up to 42ºF (5.5ºC). Hell, that warm in January in this part of the Midwest, it's practically shorts weather! (Why is it that 40º in January is so much warmer than 40º in June? Isn't that a bizarre perception shift?) I suppose I could wear the poncho over a t-shirt... But not with the hat. I have a tiny bit more fashion sense than that. (The colors totally clash. Non-matching patterns don't phase me at all.)

Reclaiming the Basement

Two years ago, we moved into this house. Things we didn't know where they were going to go or what was in the box ended up in the basement. I've chipped away at it periodically, unpacking a little here and there, but it's driving me crazy. There's space down there that's supposed to be for dancing (it used to be workout space, complete with mirrored wall, stereo and rubber-matted floor; previous owners had a home gym). Since it's full of stuff, I can't dance, which makes me sad.

I've got art supplies, craft supplies, miscellaneous sewing supplies, fabric, etc. strewn all over. I can't find things I know I have, and that also makes me sad. Part of the reason I have so many UFOs is because I can't find the things I want/need to finish them. (The other part is because I have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird.)

This weekend is WorldCon/ChiCon 7, and my husband (whose office is in the basement) is going. Since he won't be home, I won't feel guilty about making noise and playing music he doesn't care for, distracting him from whatever he's working on. (He's a mad scientist, who knows what-all he does in there...) So given this opportunity, I'm going to work some more on getting that space organized. Which will mean making a bigger mess as I sort. I may run over to the dollar store and get some cheap containers to sort things into, that way if I can't finish, at least the piles are contained and sorted instead of heaps on the floor.

Once the mess is contained, I can work on (not this weekend, LOL) getting the newly emptied and clean space decorated. I have Pinterest boards for the dance side and the lounge side. And I really want to get started... It's really the last space in the house that needs to be finished, and it's kind of important to me that I have a place to dance again, since I my classes are too far to reasonably drive for an hour-long class. I'll also be able to do yoga and tai chi in that space, once it's cleared out. Health, exercise and sanity are all hinging on me getting that done! Perhaps a small exaggeration, but only a small one...

SO... with the idea of stating my intention to the universe (and by "universe" I mean "internet") as catalyst for actually accomplishing something, here's the current "before" pictures...

Mirror wall on the left, lounge area on the right, mess everywhere...

Sewing area left, drafting table (for various projects) center, more mess...

The black floor (what you can see of it) is the rubber floor matting), the goal is to clear it all.

Boxes of toys that need to be dealt with.

The wall visible on the left will be lined with bookcases, and my action figures will move to there.
They don't fit my dance theme, but they belong more on the "feminine" of the basement. I'll make it work...

Drafting table, and one of the natural light sources from a window well. (Need a sheer to cover the "view.")

Sewing area. Believe it or not, I have been using the machine like that, for small felt food stuffies
for my daughter. Imagine what I could accomplish if it were cleaned up!

The mostly-done lounge. The wall on the left of the photo (which is also the mirror wall)
will be painted red. All those DVDs will be moved to...

...where the action figures are now.

See? I'm trying to keep it all organized!

I really am! It will be easier (I hope) when I have everything sorted so I can find it all.

So there ya go, my in-progress basement as it looks this morning (Friday, August 31, 2012). I will update on Monday with what I got done. I'm kind of hoping to be able to show a ton of progress, but when I worked on it a few weeks ago, it hardly looked like I made a dent, even though several boxes of children's books made it up to the new children's library/guest room.

Organization

It's really the bane of the creative mind, isn't it? Inspiration strikes and a mess is born. Or maybe that's just me... I like to work on small things at my desk, because that's where my computer is, and where I reference ideas, chat with friends, and obsessively check my email. My desk is a disaster.

For Christmas a couple years ago, my husband and mother-in-law got me two incredibly useful things: a sewing table and a drafting table. The sewing table meant I could have a dedicated place for my sewing machine, which would mean I could actually use it -- and I have! The drafting table meant that I could work on a nice clean surface on a variety of projects and not work at my desk. That hasn't quite happened, even though all my art supplies are in the basement, I still haul everything upstairs and clutter up the main floor to work on things at or near my computer. My wonderful husband also got me a small netbook that would be perfect for using at the drafting table. I could still access all the things I need to from there, and I would have a much larger space to work on with the table than I do at my desk.

Currently, the basement is a much larger-scale version of my desk: random stuff everywhere. I've been working on the basement, trying to get it unpacked and finished at long last, after having been in the house for three summers now. For some horrible reason, since childhood, my method or cleaning up a space has consisted of making a much (much) larger mess, sorting it all out, and eventually putting it all away. That's sort of what's happening downstairs. I have to see what-all I have before I can figure out where it needs to go. Plus, there's a ton of stuff down there that either needs to be pitched or given to charity. (Trash day is Monday, and I am motivated.)

We had to replace the furnace yesterday, because the circuit board that runs the blower (which the air conditioner needs to work) failed. Fortunately, we found this out before it was -20º and after our wretchedly hot July. The space where the installers were working is where I store all my stuff. I had to move things out of their way so they could work. This morning, I worked on getting things put back, as well as organizing a little as I went. I found a small pouch that had things in it I'd stashed for safety (fragile components for necklaces that haven't yet happened) as well as a sandwich bag full of more beads and more unfinished jewelry pieces I've been sitting on for ages, because I didn't quite have what I wanted for them.

I've been trying to find the best way of organizing various UFOs* so that I could lay hands on them easily. Want to work on the Jacket Project? No problem, here's all the stuff for that. Find a component that would be perfect for that purple necklace? Here's the rest of the pieces. I do have some of that done. There are boxes for the Jacket Project, and there's one for the Christmas granny squares I want to make, one one for the altered book I want to get back to, but there's so many little projects, like the necklaces, that really need smaller storage. I'm thinking that a small parts organizer -- one of those things like for holding screws and washers and whatnot in the garage -- would be perfect. The little drawers could be easily labeled with what's in it, and a lot of related things could be stored together without getting jumbled up.

From Harbor Freight

If I had something like that (above) not only would it hold individual projects, but also a great deal of my beads... maybe even all of them (well, ok, most), and tools in the larger drawer. Having all (most) the beads in one place would certainly simplify my storage, which is currently pretty scattered and non-uniform. I think I could also rig it to hang on the wall, and that would be perfect.

At any rate, I have some ideas which should make my life easier and undoubtedly my husband happier, since it means that all my crap won't be scattered everywhere. Imagine the creativity that could flow if I could actually lay my hands on the stuff I know I've got but can't find! The mind boggles...

*UnFinishedObject

What I'm Working On

At any given moment, I have tons of UFOs (UnFinished Objects), but really -- doesn't every creative person? I'm not sure what it is, but I have a dreadful habit of bouncing between projects. Inspiration strikes, and I drop one thing to start another.

This summer has been kind of a rough one. I had some health issues that put me in the hospital after ER visits. My daughter didn't have summer school this year, so we've been sort of on top of each other. Stress levels (which may have contributed to the health concerns) have been pretty high, and to make things worse, my anticipated summer trip to Ontario disintegrated, in part due to those same health issues.

But what, you might ask, does that have to do with projects and UFOs? Well, earlier this month during a visit to my parents' home while Dad's sis was up, we got to talking about family history. When I got back home, I dug out a CD of scanned genealogy notes, sent to me by someone who's probably a cousin somewhere. I'd printed out maybe a quarter of them, and I finished (yay!) that, and comb-bound them. Once that was done, I started inputting that info into my genealogy program (Reunion), in a new family file, since I'm not sure where all these people connect. As I'm working on all this data entry, some familiar places keep popping up; these Loyalist cousins (at least, I think they're cousins...) were settled near where my friends live in Ontario! And there's a museum with researchers who know the line. So now my desire to get back to Canada is even stronger, since now there may be some research links there, and I might be able to tie myself to the original family that emigrated from Germany, pre-Revolution! But that's not creative, you may say, and I suppose you'd be right. "Creative" research is not the sort you should engage in. So even if it's not a creative endeavor, it IS a work-in-progress, so I mention it here.

Another semi-(un)creative project is my selective catalog of superheroines and villainesses; I've made it to the Rs. For someone who hates data entry, I sure have a bunch of it going on. Anyway, the point of that started out to be a more inclusive list of female action figures than the best one that existed online previously. The writer of that list stopped updating it (life goes on) and I thought I'd pick up the slack. But I went a step further and included the good and bad girls of note, regardless of whether they have an action figure. Why? Because I'm insane, clearly...

I still haven't finished my Flame Jacket, and all that needs doing to it is putting on the sequin appliqués. It's been sitting on Mathilda in the basement for months... *sigh* And if I'm going up to Ontario this fall, I might actually want a jacket. Better move this one to the top of the To-Do list.

I did finish one of the skirts, and am happy with how it turned out. I started working on a second, but stalled on that one. Hemming the dress is probably the easiest thing to finish, and if I hurry up and do it, I'll be able to wear it this summer. (Heaven knows it's been too bloody hot for long dresses!) I mostly finished one of the shrugs, I just need to get the right color of ribbon for the tie. (And that's another thing that's been sitting for ages, and would be so easy to finish!)

I sort of finished the t-shirt necklace, but I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with it, so it may not be finished. It's set to the side, while I consider.

I have a wall quilt planned and material purchased for the foyer. I have decided how I want to do the wall quilt with the Hawaiian fabric I bought on Maui (5 years ago...). And I want to make a wall quilt using material from my wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses (Mom made them, so I have scrap material from those, will not be cutting up my dress).

I want to finish redoing my closets, but I need to consider the second space carefully, since I learned things on the first space. This is a more back-burner project, although fall is a good time to be working in the garage.

I've sort of taken the year off after the gallery where Shattered Photos pieces were sold closed. I'm trying to regroup, and haven't been very diligent about picking myself up from that and moving on.

I need to do a revised edition of my book, and that's sort of stalled, too. Really, all that needs revision is one (important) chapter, but I'm having trouble getting started. I'd also like to do a new/revised family cookbook, since so many children have gotten married and started their own families since I did the first one 12 years ago. Those two things go hand-in-hand, or would, if I could jump-start the process.

Plus there's various other small things, ideas, planned projects, etc. I have materials to make various things with, and haven't gotten started... Not to mention the basement, which is one huge UFO -- have the paint and the plan, need to finish reorganizing the space (still not completely unpacked from the move 2 years ago).

I'm exhausted thinking about all this. Maybe I'll go take a nap...

Old Things Made New

I have skirts I love, but never wear because they're too long. Two things can happen: I can stuff them back in the closet and ignore them, or I can alter them so they suit better. (Or I could donate them.) Since I've already altered some of my other too-long skirts, this was a no-brainer.

 

PROJECT ONE

Ankle-length skirts on someone who is already short just makes a person look like they're standing in a hole. I don't want to look like I'm standing in hole.

There are three side seams in this skirt. The two in front I'm going to pull up the skirt about an inch above where the black starts and sew it in place. I have some velvet ribbon I'm going to sew over the seams to emphasize and make it look like the button I'm adding is functional and not merely decorative. I suppose I could stop there, and leave the back alone, but it's really quite long, and I don't want that much of a length difference between front and back...

 

...so I'll pull it up too, wrapping it over the waistband and stitching it in place. I also have a pretty black lace I'm going to sew onto the hem before I start all this. It's sort of steampunk-inspired; Steampunk Light, maybe.

PROJECT TWO

Same skirt, different colors. But for this one, I want to try something different. I'm going to open up those three seams about halfway, and stitch the corner of one "panel" to the next seam, then the next panel to the next seam, all the way around.  I have no idea how that's going to work...

...but it probably won't look anything at all like that. In the above photo, I haven't ripped open any seams yet, so who knows how it's going to look. If I don't like it, I can try something else!

PROJECT THREE

I love the colors in this skirt, but it's soooo long! I don't want to cut it off and lose any of the color or sequins, so...

...I'm going to turn it into a dress. It needs a wider belt (white?) and I think I'm going to try and make a shrug for it, too. The straps will be made from the tie that was in the waistband.

PROJECT FOUR

Cute dress, eh? Goodwill find, and it fits nicely... except it's too long. Gonna hem that baby to knee length, and maybe (maybe), I'll open the side seams a little for a sexy little glimpse of thigh.

PROJECT FIVE A, B, C

This is a tan polyester lace t-shirt, lined with more polyester. I'm going to rip out the lining and turn the lace into a shrug. It may or may not work well with the black and tan skirt. We'll see.

I got two more tees that I thought might work well as shrugs, but maybe not, after all. The tutorial for the shrugs (link above) says to remove the neckband, which is one of the things I like about black tee #1. Nothing fancy, just a small braid of the knit, but I don't want to remove it altogether. I'm going to see if I can find a way to keep it.

With black tee #2, not only does it have a neckband that I like, but it also has a tied keyhole back. Again, not sure how to make it work, but I'm going to give it a go.

PROJECT SIX

And here's the part where I've pretty much gone a little crazy. The only thing of the four items above that fits reasonably well is the cotton plaid capris, and they're a little big. The solid green capris (left) are a linen/rayon blend, as is the striped skirt. The paisley skirt (right) is polyester. The two skirts on the right are new, tags still in them, and much (much!) too big. I bought them basically for the fabric. In fact, all four of those pieces were basically because I loved the colors. I have in my head a dress or a skirt or an outfit... made from all those things. And no idea how I'm going to do it! :D All I know is, if I had not bought those two skirts, I'd have regretted it for a long time. I don't know what it is about them, the soft mossy green, mocha and beige just really grabbed me, and I love the idea of using a stripe with the paisley, and the plaid with both.

Since I have no idea how I'm going to pull those things together, I'll sit on that for a while, until I know exactly what I want to do. Just the two skirts would be fun as a spiral, like this (version #2). Not as colorful with only two fabrics, since I don't think I could get the pattern piece onto the pants (each gore needs a 25" x 23" piece of fabric), without piecing them or having a seam in the middle of the gore, but we'll see. Maybe it will work... or maybe I don't want it to. The different fabric weights, sturdy-to-filmy, might make for a bizarre skirt. Or it might be amazing! 

At any rate, I have more than enough to keep me busy and out of trouble while I wait for the weather to improve long enough to bring home the plywood for my closet overhaul.

Closet Woes, Continued

I got the memo board put up. I used clear pushpins and glued rhinestone stickers (I didn't want to trust the adhesive) with E-6000 glue to the tops so they were more decorative and had a larger head to keep things from slipping off. I did way more pushpins than I needed -- it's a small memo board, after all, but I figured I might as well.

The original memo board had 4 hooks (though one was missing) and I couldn't find the exact right kind of hook to match, or even ones that were the right size at the hardware store. I did find what I thought would work at D. Lawless Hardware, and they worked great! I even added 5 more hooks, staggering them in a row above the original 4 to accommodate 9 necklaces.

I did hit a bit of a snag, though. Many of my necklaces are on longish chains, so there's not as much room at the bottom for bracelets as I'd hoped. I also discovered that my jewelry boxes contain a number of broken chains, one's I'd kept with the thought I'd repair them one day. (If I haven't by now, it seems unlikely I will.) So perhaps I'll replace them with shorter ones...

The other issue with the length is that the ones hanging below take up considerably more room than I'd budgeted for, for the shelves I want to put in below. I may go ahead and put in the shelves as planned, and put the longer necklaces elsewhere; I have a lot of organizing to do! But this was a good start, and I'm pleased with the results.

The coloring of the memo board (purple, pink and yellow-green) matches the colors in the bedroom. When you open the closet doors, when I'm all finished with my closet reno, it will look like a part of the room and not just something that go thrown up on the wall randomly.

Inexpensive Library Table

When we bought our house, we were excited about the formal living room. Not because we're formal people, but because the space was perfect for a home library. We're both bibliophiles, and have a ton of bookcases. We bought more...

Because the room was sizable, we decided to make a library table using six short bookcases (two rows of three set back-to-back) with a furniture-grade plywood top, and trimmed out to look like a single, sizable, piece of furniture. The whole thing sits on a rug that protects the hardwood floor and breaks up all the woodgrain, floor to (laminate) bookcases. We bought the bookcases (furniture-in-a-box; I think the manufacturer is Sauder) on sale at Meijer as part of their back to school sale, so if you're thinking of trying this, that's a good time to buy them. 

The top of the table is made from a sheet of plywood, cut to size and stacked. A single layer didn't give us the height we needed to add trim and have the trim be high enough to get books off the top shelf.

We used that grippy shelf/drawer liner stuff to keep the plywood from sliding on the tops of the bookcases. I used green wood stain on the plywood, a color close to one of the shades of green in the rug. (The room also has one green wall.)

Two coats of Minwax Express Color in Emerald, much prettier in person.

Once the top was finished, the trim was stained. I used Minwax PolyShades hoping to do it all in one shot -- don't be lazy; I hate that crap and won't ever use it again. Use stain, then seal it with polyurethane. PolyShades is nearly impossible to apply evenly. ANYway, we found trim that had a leaf motif, an excellent complement to both the green colors in the room, and the leaves in the rug. The trim was mitred to fit perfectly onto the table surface, and nailed into the plywood. (If we had to, the table surface can be lifted off of the bookcases, but it would take several people to do it -- it's heavy!)

First coat of poly/stain. We found the trim at Home Depot.

The finished table, exactly the right height for looking something up in the big unabridged dictionary, is my pride and joy. It's the first thing I see when I come downstairs in the morning, and it still gives me a bit of a rush.

Completed table, with the trim stained to closely match the color of the laminate bookcases.

I call it an "inexpensive library table" only in comparison to something that was made in a single piece and out of wood instead of particle board. I honestly don't remember exactly what we paid for each one, but it was probably around $20 each on sale (this was two years ago), so "inexpensive" is highly relative. If you're thinking of picking them up one at a time, as finances allow, remember that availability may change, styles may be discontinued, etc. 

Also, if you're a serious bibliophile and need to keep track of your collection, I highly recommend LibraryThing, an online book cataloging website. It's fantastic!

A Million Ways to Procrastinate

I signed up at Pinterest in June as part of 30 Days of Creativity, but didn't really do much with it after the month was done. A friend of mine started using it, which made me take a second look at the site. And I have been using it to daydream about new projects ever since...

Ever since I got over my initial horror of destroying books, working on my own altered book, I've been looking at them with new eyes. So many books are discarded! I would never destroy something valuable (collectible, rare, etc.), but there's an awful lot of books that don't fall into that category. If you just look at the people who've tagged recycled books on Pinterest, there's tons of amazing, creative and fun projects. There's Christmas ornaments in particular I am dying to make. Currently, my vintage aluminum tree is set up in the library... but wouldn't it be awesome to have a book-themed tree?

We're working on finishing up our unpacking and organizing (we moved in last July) in the basement, where a lot of boxes ended up, yet to be unpacked. I know how I want to decorate that space, and Pinterest is giving me a lot of inspiration there, too.

Whatever you can think of, there's probably someone at Pinterest who's thought of it, too. And you will find a million ways to procrastinate.

UFOs

UFOs... the bane of my existence. UnFinished Objects are all  over the house. They're in boxes in the basement, in pieces all over everywhere, mocking me. How often do I start something, all gung-ho, only to get bored/disgusted/distracted/stuck with a project? Sometimes it's that I just don't know how I want to finish it. Sometimes I know what I want and can't find some elusive something I think I must have. Other times, I run out of time finishing a seasonal thing, and shelve it for next year (theoretically).

A couple days ago, I picked up an oldish crochet project that I keep meaning to finish. And I need to hurry it up if I'll get to use it this season: it's an openwork poncho sort of thing, and if I don't get it in gear, it'll be next year before I can wear it. The front and back pieces are finished, and I've stitched the shoulders together, but I think I need to make the neck hole smaller, since it's pretty ginormous at the moment. Then comes the fun part: adding the fringe. Miles of different textures and fibers, all in rusty autumn shades (another reason I need to get it finished). I hope I can make what I see in my head come to life in the yarn. There's only one way to find out...

Will post a pic when I get it finished, hopefully in a day or so. (Don't hold me to that!)

Procrastinating Creatively

I do not enjoy assembling the matted prints. It has to be done, but I don't have to like doing it. Because I am me and put things off until they can no longer be avoided, I have come up with many creative ways of avoiding things I don't want to do. This may be my best yet.

You know that foggy waking dreamstate you have before the alarm goes off, when you're not quite asleep, but you couldn't be called awake, either? This morning I had one of those awesome ideas that come in that in-between time. I could take men's handkerchiefs, make iron-on transfers of the kaleidoscoped photos, and make a string of "prayer flags" to hang from the tent/booth for the art festival -- eye-catching advertising that is also inexpensive. I went today and got the hankies and the transfer paper, and got to work. There were 13 hankies in the package but only 12 transfers (of course!), so I got 2 packages -- which also gave me insurance in case of a goof-up.

Here's the first one I did:
The hankies are considerably wider than the 8-inch print size my printer will do. It's good, but it needs something... not sure what exactly. I ruminated on this while I printed out the others.

Later, I realized what was needed was a border. Fortunately for me, the hankies have a design woven into them, making a nice-sized border and guidelines for where to paint. Here's one half-done:
Finished:
And a close-up of one corner. I coordinated the paint to the red in the photo. These may need a second coat of paint; the cotton-poly was pretty thirsty.

As I mentioned, there are 13 of these, 2 of them have my logo for Shattered Photos on them, though one of those is crooked and I don't think I could stand to look at it knowing that it's off. Haven't decided yet how to make a string of them, though I'm considering several things, but when finished, it will be more than 12 feet long, and the tent I'm borrowing is 10 feet square -- making my length of flags just about perfect for hanging across the front of it.

Once I finish painting all these (each one will have a different color-coordinated border), I'll be out of excuses (theoretically) and will have to start assembling the prints. Unless I decide to go shopping for the boxes I need to display the cards... hmm...

Hallowe'en Necklace-to-Be

A few years ago, my mom, a friend of ours, and I went to the Bead & Button show up in Milwaukee. As we wandered, I picked up some gorgeous raku ceramics, some dyed mother of pearl, and some Hallowe'en-themed lampwork. On the ride back home, I started describing an idea I had for a mixed media necklace for Hallowe'en. Wool beads, wooden beads, felt, fabric, Shrinky Dink, paper, polymer clay... I sketched quickly (and crudely - I'm useless with drawing) and Mom and Melinda added their 2¢ as well.

I have made a few pieces from that original idea (the mini needle-felted sculptures, an experiment with mokume gane, and some of my first felted beads), and Melinda had made some lampwork ghosts for me, plus the little ceramic hat-wearing ghostie from her as well. Most of this, like the idea that spawned it, moulders in a box, waiting for me to finish it. I want to work on it, I can't wait to see my creation completed, but... like many of my projects, it has stalled. Too many ideas! I stare at them when my eyes close and it's so overwhelming!

Maybe if I leave The Box out where I have to look at it all the time, perhaps then I will complete my masterpiece and have something to show off this Hallowe'en.