Taking a Break

I am taking a much needed break from all things mental.  My poor addled brain needs a rest!  And right now with the weather pretty much perfect here in Middle Tennessee, what could be better than to spend time outside digging in the dirt and doing some home improvements.  My husband has cleaned our beautiful cedar fencing with a pressure washer and yours truly is applying a water sealant to it.  A daunting task as we have lots of fencing and arbors in our landscaping.  But I am doing a little bit each day and have already made some noticeable progress.

But when the winter winds start nipping at my nose, I will be back, hopefully with my head clear and ready to immerse myself in whatever appears to be my next venture.  I am spending my down time knitting so I should have much to share about that before long.

Enjoy the fall, it will too soon be over!

Work in Progress

Last meeting of the Book Babes, theTennessee Bookmakers' Guild, we made a prototype for a concertina bound book.  When I got home, I decided that it would be fun to finish up the prototype, warts and all.  So I got out some old "Art in America" magazines and tore through the pages to make collages for my "book".  Once that was done, I felt that I wanted some content, so I went looking through my journals for quotes that had particular appeal for me at this time.

As I began to collect quotes, I started to tune in to some underlying anxieties and very quickly the small book I was playing around with became something that I rather needed as a gift to myself to help me cope with an emotionally trying time.  Another member of the Book Babes, our only regularly attending male member, had recently shared with the group that he and his son, who was battling cancer, were working on a book together of memories of how they each dealt with difficult periods of life.  So, if you are reading this, John, thank you for planting that book "seed" in my mind.

I still need a title and a few more quotes, but I am already feeling pleased with my little book, imperfect as it is.

Home Improvement

Summer is losing its grip after a hotter than usual July and August, and hubby and I have spent the past couple of days tending to our much neglected landscaping.  Our backfence neighbors have taken down a walnut tree that was growing into our fence which has inspired us to pressure wash the fence and do some pruning and garden cleanup.

Our new and improved view and clean fence!

Now if only I could get Blogger to cooperate and put the pictures and text where I want them, I would be a very happy camper!

Making Paper

Today I sent off my ginkgo leaf paper samples for the 2010 Papermaking Swatch Swap.  I also sent two cover papers and will receive a bound book with samples from a total of seventy papermakers.  Just about the entire group I think.  So here's my paper samples . . .

I harvested the leaves last fall and partially cooked, rinsed well, and put them in the freezer right next to the frozen meatloaf!

 

Using my crockpot for cooking fibers has revolutionized papermaking for me.  No more pot boiling over on the stove and stinking up the whole house.

Hand beating fibers.

And finally, I got to use my "new" hydraulic press that makes a world of difference in the quality of the papers I can make.  Smoother and stronger and more able to put through my printer.

And here's a list of the junk that was used to make my press by my ever handy and resourceful hubby:  1.  Hydraulic press and handle.  2.  Long bolts from electrical poles.  3.  Clothing rack.  4.  Scrap angle iron.  5.  U-bolts from cable assembly in chicken house.  6.  Eyebolts from TV antenna brackets.  7.  Pre-formed metal for Peterbilt truck replacement parts.  Modeled on a picture of a press that retailed for $1,200!

Now that the weather has cooled some, I will be making lots of paper -- and some experimenting with new processes, too.

A New Swimming Hole for Me . . .

I am a water baby and come summertime, I need to be immersed in water.  So when a friend offered me the use of her pool for the summer, I thought I might have died and gone to heaven.  Tucked away inside 350 acres, is this beautiful pool.  The house is vacant and no one uses the pool after the early morning hours.  A dream come true to for me to swim by myself, surrounded by the natural beauty of the Tennessee countryside.  Do you think that if I make her one of my famous New York cheesecakes it will even begin to thank her for such a gift?

Customizing My Printer

I can't believe that I actually poked around in the mysterious insides of my printer in an attempt to follow some instructions for disengaging those pesky pizza wheels that have been ruining my transparencies with their dotted trails.  According to the information I read about doing this to an Epson printer, it was just a simple matter of undoing two screws to get to the wheels.  But as is typical of these things, this did not turn out to be the case with my older model Epson.

But first a disclaimer here -- I only attempted removing the wheels because 1:  my printer is old and I would love an excuse to get a new one, and 2:  because my husband can generally fix anything and I figured he would come to my rescue if needed.  And he was needed and did rescue me.  In my attempt to remove the wheels, I only succeeded in pushing away the plastic things around the wheels and when I tried printing a transparency, it looked like my cat had gotten into my printer and had a field day!

So, a couple of hours later, after my husband had taken my printer completely apart, all those tiny parts and screws spread out all over my computer table -- a scary sight -- I now have a printer that will not ruin a printout with pizza wheel tracks.  So far everything is working just fine, and it seems to be true that those wheels are not really needed.  And here is a picture of those parts that were removed that had done all the damage to my prints.

Here is a link to the site with information for removing the wheels.  Proceed with caution!                                                                          

          

Having Fun . . .

"If you're interested, you will do whatever is comfortable.  If you're committed, you will do whatever it takes."  And that's pretty much how I operate.  But what about just having fun?  Now that doesn't come so easily.  So I surprised myself when I signed up for an ATC exchange through my Digital Magic class.  And found myself doing just that --- having fun! 

I began with a digital collage that was based on a photo I had taken of some wonderful rusty gears.  The barn simply appeared.  These lovely old barns are everywhere in Tennessee,and I stop and photograph them often, just for the sake of preserving something that will never exist again.  So I was not surprised to discover that the image of an old barn is forever etched into my memory and will surface at any given time.

For the image I used a piece of iris/abaca paper with marigold inclusions that I made this summer.  For the text I used some paper that I made from dress pattern tissue.  And in the process, I made an incredible mess in my studio for six little cards!  But I loved the process and will most certainly sign up for another ATC swap.

Now back to those things that I will do whatever it takes to make happen!

I love junk . . .

And here's my latest in a series of "junk journals"' made from cardboard food and drink packaging. 

The Writing on the Wall . . .

There are several notes to myself taped to my studio walls.  Most recently, "Become a Student of the Art You Love", followed by a quote by Hannelore Baron:   ". . . there was a long time when I wasn't completely satisfied with what I was doing . . . not that I didn't think each collage was good, but they didn't have a message . . . finally, when I felt I had the message, then I thought, okay, now." 

Inspiration as I make my way through the world of collage.  And in the spirit of such inspiration, I have created another message for my walls, this one made from an excercise in Marie Otero's class, Digital Magic.  This simple text collage actually involved the use of numerous texture layers and clipping masks, various fonts and multiple layers in Photoshop Elements.  I can't believe I'm actually doing this!  I don't know if I'll really make a collage a day, but I'm determined to take some action everyday to discovering my own unique collage "voice".

For more about Hannelore Baron, click here.  And I hope that others who read this post will share their own methods of inspiration and motivation.   Now, back to work . . .

A New Beginning . . .

Today is the day! I have toyed with the idea of creating a blog for over a year now. Enough waiting for the right moment . . . time to take the plunge.

I think a major impetus for getting over the hump has been a fabulous class I have been taking on-line with Marie Otero in digital mixed media. At long last, I am beginning to create using the tools I have worked so hard to master in the Adobe Photoshop Elements program. You can read all about her here.  I will be sharing my digital mixed media creations in the days to come.

The big event in my life right now is that I have recently upgraded from a Kodak Z612 to a Canon Rebel T1i. I have had it for barely a month and am finally getting over being intimidated by it. It is a beautiful camera, a joy to use, and it will take me a lifetime to learn to use it and do it justice. But that's exactly what I plan to do!

So I am beginning my first post with a picture I took yesterday with my wonderful new camera. After a rather long hot, dry spell, we have had two lovely days of rain here in Middle Tennessee. In the morning while things were still fresh and the temperatures reasonably cool, I took some pictures of my flower pots that are scattered about in my gardens. Everything was looking so refreshed by the rains and the leaves on the begonias were glistening in the sun. A perfect photo opt for an image of a new beginning. Life is good.