All posts by Sylvia

Crafting

Halfway done.

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I currently have 50 mini watercolor paintings. Painting every three days or so is working. Some are blah, some are okay, some might actually be decent.

The first two mini albums. The upper one has 24 pockets and the lower has 26.

Another view of the albums.

My studio is quite crowded. I’m thinking of putting the drafting table in the shop’s free area and bringing in another folding table. The drafting table is a couple of inches too high and can’t be adjusted any lower. Plus I need another flat surface more than a tilted surface. I have a couple of easels if I need paintings tilted.

I covered up the logo on my lab coat. The kitty patch adds character to a nice cover-up for messy crafts.

I’m rather messy when I’m painting or crafting. Actually, I’m rather messy everywhere. The only two places at home that are not messy are my bedroom and the bathroom. My house is a little short on storage space. People in the 1920’s didn’t have a lot of possessions and no one since has upgraded the storage. My need for storage is for craft supplies and yarn.

I cleared out my Craft room at the house to make a bedroom, but it turns out I’m trying to stuff way more things than I have room or storage for into what is actually a smaller space. I can’t go as high up with the angled ceiling since I can’t use the end wall without blocking the stairs. I have a desk against the half wall, but can’t go higher because then I can’t reach the light switch for the area.

I did not plan very well. An alternative is to get rid of the dining table and chairs and move the crafty stuff to the living room. Another alternative plan is to move two of the tall bookcases from the living room to upstairs and then move the craft tables and their attendant storage pieces to the living room.

At any rate, I have too much stuff and need to weed some of it out. Hey Makerspace— incoming!

Crafting

He got a job!

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So the boomerang child is once again employed. I hope this works out. If you sense a bit of underwhelm, it’s because he has quite a shaky employment history. The longest he’s held a job is just under two years.

More tiny paintings

I’m still painting. I have three paintings to do and the second book will be filled. That will be 50 out of the 100 paintings completed. I’m also working on some larger pieces— 9 by 12 inches.

My soap making class was cancelled due to a lack of interest. I only have one person registered for my paper making class on Saturday. Maybe my teaching fee is too high. I think I’ll make some feedback forms to find out what members want.

Mostly me, My own damned opinion.

Newest painting

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It’s different. it has a colorful background and a slightly stoned looking cat.

Goofy cat

I’m still doing the painting project. So far I have 40 paintings. Some are okay, some are bad, and others are just plain weird. There’s no particular theme. I’ve probably done more cat paintings than any others because they’re rather easy. No one cares if the cat isn’t realistic. I swear sometimes my own cat doesn’t look realistic. When she sleeps, she’s so calm. But when she’s awake – bitey scratchy thing.

I allowed my son to move back in and his old habits are already coming back. I really wish he could stand on his feet, but there’s something broken. I can’t fix it. All I can do is wait for the crash. sometimes I think I’ll out-live him. As a parent, that makes me sad because I can’t fix his problems. That’s not my job anymore.

Sometimes, I’m ready to raid my stashed liquor, but common sense takes over. When I die and the kids find all the stashed alcohol, they’ll probably think I’m a secret alcoholic. Not so. It’s stashed because it will be drunk by my son very quickly if he finds it. I rarely have a drink and since I’ve been on multiple medications, I don’t want to risk a bad interaction so I abstain.

I guess I’ll start mowing the lawn. My son won’t get to it. I never understand. I have bad knees, brain damage, bad wrists, ankles that give out, and excruciating pain in various other parts, but I manage to get things done because they need to be done. Otherwise, my house would be a hoarder dump, people would avoid me because I would smell bad and look dirty and I’d just be wandering around mumbling.

Oh wait. Parts of my house look like a hoarder dump – I need to finish my re-arranging of the upstairs areas. I smell bad because I had my morning routine disrupted by a trip to the ER and then to the free clinic. And here I am mumbling at you.

So I’ll end here, go do some organizing, mow the lawn while I’m still stinky and then take a shower. And mumble at you another time. Peace and tranquility to you.

Crafting

Crud!

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I’ve had some sort of crud for the last week — mostly dizziness. I still seem to have it. I had 2 bookbinding classes Saturday. Attendance was light. I know one person was refunded, but two other people didn’t show up.

This was my Binding Single Pages class. Only 3 signed up.
Another set of single sheet books.

The morning class was Bookbinding 101.2 – Binding Single Sheets. We did three types of bindings. The first was a Perfect Binding. Thats the type of binding you have on a paperback book. It’s a glue binding where PVA glue is brushed on the edges of what becomes the spine.

The three students created their own covers out of cardstock creased in the center to form a spine which was then glued to the text-block. The paper used for all three of the text-blocks was copy paper cut to size. For more advanced classes, I use medium weight sketch paper. I also charge more per student.

The second book was a simple form of the Stab Stitch. Two of the students used two holes and one used three. When I do my class on Japanese binding, we will use more intricate threading patterns and chipboard for sturdier covers.

The third book was a combination of sewing and gluing. It makes more of a scrapbook-type book. The pages were sewn together with a 3-hole stitch and then glue was applied to the thread to secure it. An additional layer of glue was applied to the spine to hold a separate piece of card-stock as a spine. The covers were then applied to the spine piece with glue.

This a great way to keep kids artwork together in a book form. For the covers of that type of book, I would recommend chipboard covers cut to the size of the largest piece of art being bound. The chipboard could be covered with wrapping paper, rather than pieced together card-stock. A coat of Mod-Podge or thinned white glue could be brushed on the covers so they would last longer.

The second class was basic bookbinding where my 4 students learned how make a book with three signatures and how to attach the signatures to a simple spine. I didn’t get pictures because I started feeling off again. All I know is that whatever I have is not Covid. I’m going to have to find out if I have an ear infection since my balance is off.

After everyone left and I had cleaned up,I decided to spend time in my studio. Mistake! I sat down and almost immediately filled my tiny wastebasket with barf. Fortunately there was a plastic bag in there. I sat for awhile and then carefully drove home and went to bed.

My own damned opinion.

Time to feed the cat and other musings.

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The Gingersnap has a routine. There’s 15 minutes until she is fed and she has already tapped my arm. Next she will touch my knee and stare up at me while licking her lips. If it were morning and I was in bed, she would do the poke where she manages to hit my forehead practically dead center with one claw.

If that fails, she bounces to various pieces of furniture and shoves things to the floor. Once I get out of bed, she will lead me to the kitchen, frequently looking back to make certain I am following. Once in the kitchen she will stare at her dish stand until I fill a bowl and set it down.

If it’s her evening mealtime, she will come to wherever I am, to do the arm tap and knee touch. If I don’t comply, she will jump up on the counter, desk, back of the couch, or table, and sit and stare until I head for the kitchen.

Right now now, I’m being glared at. How dare I leave her alone for FOREVER with only three bowls of food to last for 78 hours! She could have starved! Of course there was still food in one bowl, but that doesn’t count. The other two were empty! The amount left in the bowl was the equivalent of the amount she gets in a normal feeding, but she could have starved.

I went on a road trip to visit my now closed alma mater, Northland College (1892 – 2025). Keeping the college open was no longer sustainable, even with a reduced curriculum. One hundred thirty-three years and now shut and abandoned. From the outside, it looks like everyone packed up for the end of the week like normal, except the campus was dead silent. No people except for a maintenance person in a truck.

They didn’t stop and ask why I was wandering the campus. Honestly, I might have burst into tears if they had. There were only a couple of empty campus vehicles parked near one of the buildings.

This was my first Wisconsin home for two years – Anna McMillan Hall. The second floor window to the right of center was my first room. The second room was in the rear.

I found a Civics textbook in a resale shop up there. I don’t even know if they teach civics anymore. With what’s happened in the last three elections, I would say that Civics has gone the way of Handwriting, diagramming sentences, and Social Studies, along with Literature, World History, and Geography. We have become a nation proud of our ignorance. The great technologies that were to give us access to the world’s knowledge have made us more ignorant, gullible, and just downright stupid. We now lack the ability to sort out truth from misinformation. Just my opinion.

Crafting

Caught up

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Latest three paintings.

I’m not sure if I’m improving or not. My progress seems inconsistent. I’m hoping that it’s not some sort of symptom of old age. Of course, if it was, I don’t think I’d know it. That’s probably normal for my age.

Here are some pictures of my studio.

Back wall
Another view
Last view

I think I mentioned that the space is 48 square feet 6ft by 8 ft. I have a selection of watercolor and other art books, canvases, card-stock and other art supplies. I also have a box of containers of pho and some energy juices in case I miss dinner or lunch.

The light bar on the wall is held up by five layers of heavy duty double-sided tape. It seems that every three weeks, the tape needs to be reinforced with a new layer.

I need a new strategy for that light.

Bookbinding, My own damned opinion., Painting & Drawing

I’m a bit behind in my paintings

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Partly because I was setting up my studio, and partially because I’ve been in a lot if pain lately. Probably because of setting up my studio and too much lifting. I keep forgetting I’m old.

I made a book to hold the second group of paintings.

This one has 26 pockets to bring the total to 50
Latest paintings

There are cats for the most part.

I’m currently 2 scheduled paintings behind. I’ll catch up. I’ve also been clearing out fabric scraps at the Makerspace. I’ve emptied one bin and have the bin equivalent in unusable scraps in a trash bag to take for recycling. I still have two bins to sort.

I’ve been winding the lengths I’m keeping on pieces of mat board and standing the wound fabric upright in the bins. It’s much easier to see and touch the fabric. I didn’t bother to measure the lengths. For right now, I just want to get usable fabric organized. You wouldn’t believe how many tiny scraps were in the bins. Why was someone saving a 2” by 2” scrap of felt?

There were all kinds of tiny scraps. I suppose they could have been stitched into a “crazy quilt” but I doubt it would be worth the effort. If one of our sewists wants to take the bag and stitch the scraps together, I’m all for it. I have my own bag of scraps waiting for me to sew. I don’t need to add to my hoard.

I hate to give stuff to Goodwill. One of the local agencies gives vouchers to women to get clothing there. But the pricing for the donated items has gotten outrageous. Or so I’ve heard. I don’t shop there. I’m going to check with one of the local Hospice organizations that operates a resale shop. If they will take my clothing, I’ll give the extras to them.

My next project needs to be weeding out my closet and dresser. I probably have enough extra clothes to dress an entire homeless women’s shelter. My youngest granddaughter took half of my sweaters. She would have taken them all, but she doesn’t wear v-necks.

I almost never wear anything but tee shirts, flannel shirts, and an assortment of leggings, knit pants, and sweat pants. If the clothing exchange still existed, I would take my stuff there. When I retired, I gave them 7 bags of my work clothes so women who needed nice clothing for work could make use of them.

Tomorrow, I’ll take pictures of the studio.

Crafting

I didn’t realize how long it was between posts.

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I’ve been having a devil of a time with the shop light in my studio and the concrete wall. Even though the light weighs less than 5 pounds, the double-sided tape I was using wasn’t strong enough to hold it, in spite of the claim of holding up to 10 pounds. I used double layers of the tape and the light fell down,

I added an extra layer of tape and the light stayed up for two days. Finally, I bought a different brand of tape which is rated to hold up to 38 pounds. The light fell down. At no point had I removed any of the prior strips of tape. I bought another roll of heavier tape and applied enough to create a 4-strip deep layer and added several more of those thick layers to the back of the light. It hasn’t fallen yet. Yay me!

I like the light. The two led panels tilt down so I have bright light on my desk. There are six outlets and two USB charger ports. It’s working quite well now. I’ve been spending most of my time at the shop. The internet has been wonky so I haven’t posted from there.

I made a book to hold the paintings I’ve done so far. The paintings slide into the pockets. The idea came from a woman on YouTube named Joke Hardenbol. Even though I don’t speak Dutch, her instructions were easy to follow. I left a like and a comment on her channel.

By the way, the light is still on the wall.

Crafting, Mostly me

Studio

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I signed a 6-month lease for a studio at the Maker space. It’s a whole 48 square feet. I moved in my drawing table, a chair, and some smaller things. I have a cabinet which was left behind two tenants ago and what I think is a microwave stand. I stacked them to save floor space and form a half wall at the entrance.

There’s already a wall from a different studio on the side where I created the half wall and I’m going to bring in some wire cubes to form part of the opposite wall. The back wall is the block wall of the room the studios are in. I’m debating whether to bring in the bi-fold door that’s been in the basement since I moved in. It would make a good backdrop and I could use S-hooks to hang my shop light so I have light at night.

We had an inspection earlier this year and they had a few recommendations for electrical drops in areas instead of extension cords. We should have put them in when we were re-wiring the place prior to moving in. We’ll probably do it if we extend our lease for another two years and acquire Suite A to expand into.

If we do extend the lease, I’d like for electronics to move to a different area, so I can expand to put in a nice printmaking area. Every tour, someone asks about block printing. If I could enlarge my area, I would get a good press to accommodate a variety of sized prints.

In other news, I’ve managed to do a few more paintings. My schedule has been disrupted by pulling assorted muscles doing heavy work. I shouldn’t have to do it, but The Boy Wonder is notorious for his lack of assistance.

Next update will include pictures.

Mostly me, Painting & Drawing

Where did I leave off on the paintings?

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They’re not all good. Painting such tiny paintings is tough. But I hope that by the time I paint 100 of them, I will have improved. I’m scheduling my life now. I have so many unfinished projects and so many unused craft supplies that I could open a second-hand craft store in my garage.

I’m running out of time. I probably only have ten or twenty years left, or an hour after I leave the house. I don’t want to leave a giant pile of craft supplies that will be tossed away. I don’t want to die and leave the neighbors talking about the craft supply hoarder. Recognition of the problem is the first step even as I sit here trying to decide if I really want to spend money on some more paint markers.

There’s a void I’ve filled with stuff like that. I think it goes back to the nomadic life of a military dependent and oldest of way too many siblings. Everything I had had to be shared. I had nothing for myself. Dolls, games, art supplies, books, and even clothing. The only thing I have left from my childhood is my original birth certificate. I don’t even have my baby pictures any more. That’s the only thing that is not my parents’ fault.

My daughter took my pictures and albums to make a scrapbook of my life. She didn’t get to create it though. Her house caught fire from an electrical fault and everything was lost, including my baby book and photos. A few charred fragments were found outside afterwards, but everything else was gone.

You may ask “doesn’t your family have some of those photos?” Well, no. The Crazy Lady ( mother, dearest) burned everything in the fireplace during her mental collapse. Paintings I did in college which were in stored in the attic — broken, torn apart, and burned. Actual furniture from the living room — burned in the fireplace. Clothing, books, whatever — shredded and burned.

Her fragmented mind created fantasies — people were breaking into the house and taking things or leaving things, the children living at home had been replaced, but sometimes they came back. My father tried to get her help and take the kids, but no. This was the olden days where mothers got to keep the kids in the divorce. He almost got them, but her sister spirited them away to California where her other siblings and her mother had settled.

Why am I telling you this? Probably because I’m just as crazy, but in a different way. No one is out to get me. People aren’t talking about me or looking at me funny. Well, no more than they would any other white-haired older woman dressed in tee shirts and leggings, wearing a ball cap. Comfort first, looks second. At least I comb my hair.

I think I’ll go get those markers.

Newest of the series. So far, I have 17 out of 100.