I decided ahead of time that today was going to be a studio day. I have my Studio Six meeting on Tuesday and will be mortified to be the only one without new work -- again! Oh the pressure!! In any case, I did spend most of the day in this room, but nothing on the wall was working. So I made postcards. Making postcards is a great way to use up scraps. Here is one I am working on -- doesn't look like much at the moment. But maybe I can make it work. I am not sure whether this is avoidance or whether it is the only thing my feeble, turkey-saturated brain can manage. But, along with my scarves, which always sell well, I am planning to drop them off on Saturday for the annual Pierro Gallery Winter Craft Exhibit and sale. I would think they could make great little gifts, especially since they can be mounted or mailed. In the meantime, I have put them here before they go to market. I will check back with you anon.

sigh of relief

The company has gone home, the leftover turkey is about to be ground up, and I don't want to look at another bird: EVER. We have wild turkeys in the backyard - disgusting, raucous, nasty creatures who come up to the front door in a gaggle, or flock, or gang, or whatever turkeys are called en masse. They bark. They bite. They chase you. My husband heard on NPR this morning that if you feed wild turkeys (ha, I would never do that) - they think you are their servant and they feel superior and arrogant and get nasty and bite you. I hate the wild ones and the ones you eat. Bah humbug. Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey should be the national bird of the U.S. because eagles are mean and predatory. But for some reason, he was outvoted. Imagine, if the turkey had been the national bird, we'd be eating something else for Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that have been nice? The rest of our weekend was really exciting. Yesterday, we went to buy a shredder. My daughter Jessica was here and decided to weed out her memorabilia. At the same time, I thought it might be a good idea to get rid of all the cancelled checks and paid bills from 1991-2. But these days, you can't just THROW OUT things like that - so we went shredder shopping. So far, we haven't plugged it in. It has wheels. How cute. And it takes credit cards. Today, we went to Home Despot to look for a fixture to replace the broken one over our washing machine. Bought one: cheap fixture, expensive bulbs. The alternative was the reverse but all the expensive fixtures were uglier than the cheap one and who needs fancy over the washer and dryer? I did actually have about an hour to do some work in the studio tonight before we went out to dinner -but nothng was working -- so I made some postcards. More, tomorrow.

I have to share this

Back to the kitchen in a minute, but I have to show you a finished piece by Pauline Salzman, one of my students in Printing with Found Objects in Houston. She just sent me the jpg and I'm so excited to see finished work that I need to share it with you. This is what I love so much about teaching!! She printed the black and white grids and the red section in the class and then added the other layers. I rarely get to see finished work that the workshop fabrics turn into, so this is a bonus. That's it -- I need to go check on the turkey.

since you asked...

I thought it would be easier to respond to all the comments from yesterday at once.

Well that has certainly brought that piece to life. You'd never know it started life so bland! And you've pushed me into adding copper to my Golden range! Bland is putting it mildly. First layer is printed with a gelatin plate and a couple of random things I grabbed as I demonstrated this technique. I love copper best of all the metallics, and I don't use a lot of metallics in my work. But they are great as little accents.

Is that onion-like thing a stamp? ... Have you ever resorted to using your feet and the floor to stamp? (I've run out of counter space) I think the onion thing is a radish, but who cares? No, it is a Thermofax screen but I am sure it is a stamp somewhere. My BARE feet? I haven't, but it sounds like a plan. Except that I've run out of floor space, too.

I love this, the additions really make this piece. Now, I really want to take a class with you. It seems that's what's calling me now. Cathy, I'll be teaching in Denver Sept 12-15 at Front Range Contemporary Quilters, so contact them to see about registration.

Wow, you really enlivened that piece! Is it instinct or years of training that tells you what to add next and where? Pure instinct. Never had any training. Never took an art class, except for art history in college. Trial and error and asking myself "what if?" I highly recommend it.

I'm thinking about getting some Golden paints after hearing wonderful things about them. Do you know of a good source? Michael's doesn't seem to have them and I'm unfamiliar with art stores or catalogs... Lisa, Golden makes the best acrylic paints. Since they are not fabric paints, you might want to check Michael's where they have the regular art supplies. I bet they have 'em. Otherwise, Dick Blick has them, as does any 'real' art supply store. Just keep a few things about acrylics in mind if you are going to print fabric with them:

• They dry very quickly, so if you screen with them, wash them out IMMEDIATELY or they will clog the screen.
• The antidote to that is to use Golden's GAC 900 and add a little bit to the paint. This is a fabric medium that keeps the paint from changing the hand of the cloth. But I would still wash it out fairly soon.
• Golden's fluid acrylics are great. They're not as thick, and are very concentrated.
• If you are stamping with acrylics, or gelatin printing with them, this is not so much of an issue.

when in doubt -- print!

Or overprint. Taking up the challenge of dealing with the ugly demo fabrics, I am playing a game of 'can this fabric be saved?' My theory that more is more doesn't always work, but sometimes it is a definite improvement.Here is the fabric I started with tonight. Nothing to write home about, so I added a layer. I mixed Golden acrylic copper paint with Golden's GAC 900, which keeps it from being too plastic-y and changing the hand. And since I generally don't think a piece is complete unless it has some text, here we go. I think it's done -- at least for the moment.

rainy Tuesday

What is it about rainy days? How do they make you feel? For me, in the autumn, and especially when I am in, there is a sense of comfort. The drumbeat of raindrops on the skylights; the musky fragrance of dead, wet leaves, and the luminosity of the wet, grey sky at this time of year. I want to iron or bake, or bury myself in a can't-put-it-down novel with a strong cup of English tea at hand. And I feel an odd sense of freedom: elation that I don't have to GO anywhere. The day is all mine. Today was that kind of day -- warm enough so I could rescue the last of the houseplants before they got cold, cool enough so I could open the sliding glass door to counteract the heat of the oven as I baked my Thanksgiving pies. When I opened the door, I saw that my woods had turned monochromatic. The tree with the dead leaves on the right will stay that way all winter: those leaves don't fall. Strange, isn't it?

And the deck was pure poetry in the rain.

While I was outside, the pies were baking: two pecan pies and an apple-cranberry. I don't know why I bother with the apple, since everybody fights over the pecan. I will have to kill my husband if he even THINKS of breaking off a piece of the crust before Thursday.

tonight's treasure hunt

As I continue cleaning up the studio (is this my full time job?) Here is what I have found so far, this evening:

• a Halloween-size Nestle Crunch bar
• a receipt for $9.68 from a half price bookstore, dated 07/24/94
• one of my business cards with the name and phone number on the back of someone named Juanita Thompson
• a bar of no-name bath soap
• a broken foot from my $20 suitcase
• 20 old francs 1952
• 5 centimes 1964
• 5 centimes 1980
• 50 heller from Slovenska Republika 1993
• a Garden State Parkway token
• a plaque that says "Grandchildren are the reward for not strangling your teenagers."
• a dead leaf
• 2 bottles of nail hardener
• innumerable free pens from the bank, none of which write
• a darning egg
• a New GEM Micromatic razor with 5 blades: a giveaway from a bituminous coal dealer in Newark, NJ - still in the box

These are the easy items: the tough ones are the pieces of really ugly fabric I have printed in class demos and can't do anything with but can't throw out. I read an article in the venerable NY Times about a year ago that said people who can't throw stuff out have a form of mental illness that stems from an inability to make decisions. Oh, woe. Do I have company out there?

camera work

Rather than cluttering up tonight's blog with pictures of my grandchildren, taken this afternoon at the birthday party, I thought I would clutter it up with some things I came across as I was making a feeble attempt to clean up. When I moved the bookcase from the hall to the studio and displaced 50000 quilting books and other stuff to the dining table, I created a monster. I displaced not only the books, but the stuff on top of the bookcase. Here are some of the wondrous artifacts I came across just a little while ago, in an old cigar box on top of my studio ironing surface. 1. A relic from WWII - 1942, signed by my mother and with a description of my father, who was then 26, 5'10" and weighed 10 lbs less than I now weigh. I am neither 26 nor anywhere close to 5'10". Quite a few of the stamps are still intact.

2. I was in high school when this one was printed and disseminated...although this seems to be a 1961 reprint. There are instructions inside for building a fallout shelter. And get the grammar in this first sentence: "Fallout is tiny pieces of dust and debris, which are made radioactive by nuclear explosions." They left out a word or two, didn't they? My editorial finger is twitching. The last page should get the award for understatement of the year:

" Fallout is dangerous."

3. Jumping back to a more pleasant topic: I found the brochure that came with our family's first dishwasher, somewhere in the early 1950's. My mother swears that we all stopped getting colds as soon as the thing was installed in the remodeled kitchen. The countertops were salmon with little boomerangs on them. So much for today's trip down memory lane. Back to my feeble attempt to straighten up...

Yawn...

It's been a long, busy, fun day. Taught gelatin printing and had the pleasure of Mary Manahan's company yet again, along with Gloria Hansen. Turned out that the two of them know each other because Gloria designed Mary's website. So they had an unexpected chance to spend a day together. Mary brought her quilt, which is beyond beautiful -- and she made some lovely fabrics with her antique found objects. I brought my camera but, of course, left the battery charging at home. I give up. So I didn't get a picture of the class at work, but Gloria has promised to send some that she took. At Mary's request, I brought my batik fabrics so she could see them 'in person.' And I brought the box of scarves that I was getting ready to take to the Winter Quilt & Craft show at the Pierro Gallery. Here is a picture of the scarf that Mary couldn't live without. It looks splendid on her, too! And one of the other people in the class bought this blue chiffon one as a gift. The pink one was printed with a sink mat, among other things. And the one below, with bubble wrap. And now, either I am hallucinating, or the clock radio has gone on in the middle of the night upstairs and my husband is sleeping through it. I'm going to find out.

I'm losing it

Is is creeping old age or just fatigue? I seem to think I had a alot to talk about yesterday but was too tired to post. Do you think I can remember what pearls of wisdom they were? No-oo. I spent the entire day yesterday revamping my website Studio 78 and am glad it is finished. But I need you to let me know whether you think the black background makes it too difficult to read/look at or whether it's ok. I've resisted black backgrounds because I think they are tough on the eyes, but I must admit they make the work pop. And I've redone the workshop page. So, opinions please, dear friends. Went to the opening of Quilts for Art Sake IV tonight. I didn't enter this year but I've been juried into previous shows. My friends and Studio Six compatriots Joanie SanChirico,Judy Langille, Rachel Cochran, and Diane Savona had pieces in the show. As did Lori Pelish, Sally Sellers, Marilyn Gillis, Randy Frost, and Ms. Mel's friend Tommy Fitzsimmons. Of course, I forgot my camera.

I really need to finish ironing fabric and packing supplies for the gelatin printing workshop I'm teaching tomorrow. Went to the podiatrist today for a problem with my foot which turned out to be a pinched nerve caused by a bone spur. Not bad enough, but he gave me an injection in the bottom of the selfsame bad spot on the foot. Teaching requires standing. Uh oh. Maybe not tomorrow.

ok, Gabrielle...

Per your suggestion, I went to work yesterday afternoon to take the sweetness out of the fabric on Monday's blog. I waxed and dyed my little heart out: you can see the before and after, below, plus detail. Much better. I also went back into the one with the spirals. It is better, but still pale - but I am not sure whether I will go back into it, do something with it as is, or cut it up and sell off bits of it. Finally, the piece I am really happy with!! I started with a blecchy pale wisteria green and red blotches I dyed last week. u-g-l-y. This one cheers me up immeasurably. I started out trying to be orderly (notice the ovals, which are in some sort of order. But then I was so bored I couldn't stand it, so the result is what you see. It makes me smile. Another thing that made me smile today was the class I gave in Jump-Starting the Art Quilt. I am constantly amazed at the creativity of people who come to class telling me they are not creative. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures because I ran out WITH camera but WITHOUT smart card, which was still in my little card reader. Not so smart. But one of the people in the class promised to send me jpgs that she took with her camera. For the next two days I plan to be in my studio. Let's see if the plan works. I think I am ready to start something new on my design wall.