dream wants a scratch.
call looking pretty...
...and getting dirty.
making stamps
Over the weekend I carved some stamps, to use as examples for class, and it was fun--I love how the flock of little birds came out! I cut up a larger block of e-z cut into small pieces and carved some images from the book Graphic Ornaments by Pepin Press (a fantastic resource with a wide range of images). The deer stamp is mounted with wood glue onto a piece of scrap wood from the woodshop. I'll definitely be making more of these : ).
journals
I recently made this little journal for a customer to give as a college graduation gift to a friend. The friend was graduating from college in Ohio then moving to Pennsylvania, so I used a map of Ohio on the front cover and Pennsylvania on the back. The pages are a mix of different kinds of paper and there is fold out flap in the back to hold stray bits. I rounded the corners of the covers and inside pages with a corner rounder punch I just got and am pretty happy with the results, it's amazing the difference it makes in giving it that extra finished touch. The dictionary page in the front came from an old 1930's Merriam Webster library discard, and, lastly, check out what I found tucked into the back...
If you're interested in having me make a custom journal for you, let me know! I can personalize it with maps of anywhere in the world. It's a perfect gift for graduations and also would make a great Father's Day present!
thank you adafruit
Thank you to Adafruit Industries for linking to my blog on decorating eggs! That's Limor "Ladyada" Fried on the cover of Wired magazine. You can find out more about her and Adafruit and the awesome projects they do here.
a walk in the woods
It's still chilly around here, but over the weekend we went for a long walk in the woods with Benny.
rock collection
I'm very proud of my rock collection...especially that huge hunk of mica that I found at Ruggles Mine in NH- when I was 10 years old it was my most prized possession.
decorating eggs: high-tech vs. low-tech
I recently rediscovered my Ukrainian egg decorating supplies, and, coincidentally, the same day my Dad surprised me with a gift- an Eggbot and an amazing rainbow selection of Sharpies! You're probably asking- what's that? An egg robot? Well, sortof...from the Eggbot web site- "The Eggbot is an open-source art robot that can draw on spherical or egg-shaped objects from the size of a ping pong ball to that of a small grapefruit." It's controlled through your computer, and it comes as a kit that you have to assemble. That was the fun part for my Dad, and the fun part for me is going to be creating designs for the Eggbot to draw on the egg using Inkscape, a freeware illustration program similar to Adobe Illustrator. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I have made a few eggs using the sample designs.
The far right egg in the front row was my first try...tip #1: read all of the directions first. ; ) If you do you'll get something that will make you very happy, like this:
The Ukrainian egg (or pysanky) decorating method is a lot of fun too. It takes some getting used to the way the wax flows through the kistka, and figuring out what order to cover and dye the lines in, but once you get started it's quite absorbing. If you're in the Burlington, VT area, Boutilier's on College St. is a good place to get supplies. This time of year they do frequent Ukrainian egg decorating demos. Also, learnpysanky.com has tons of info and free instructions.
Once you mix up the dyes, they last for several years as long as they're tightly sealed. These are 4 years old.
Beeswax, matches, kistkas, egg-blowing tool. I forgot to include a candle, which is what you use to heat the kistkas with so you can scoop up some wax.
Finished eggs: the two on the right are by me, and the beautiful cameo egg on the left was made and given to me by a friend.
I'm hoping to make more Eggbot eggs and Ukrainian eggs before Easter. If I do, I'll be sure to share the results!
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