Artistically Speaking

'Pressing

2010-02-10T23:16:00.003-04:00

The letterpress is on its way to functionality! The hope was to have it ready this weekend, when my partner in crafty-crime will be here to help decipher the mystery, but we are not certain some vital parts will arrive in time. Disappointing. But exciting to finally be on the verge of learning how all this works!

Tools of the trade: The lovely man at Ace Hardware recommended the SOS pads, and let me tell you, those things are like magic at getting off the rust. And of course the trusty WD40 (which I always accidentally call DW40 and therefore completely lose face with the Ace Hardware man I'm sure) was put to good use. I think I used the entire can.

Not quite entirely clean, but a good two hours scrubbing and oiling I would say, and the parts that are supposed to move seem to move, and the hinges and springs are well lubricated, and the platen is as shiny as my arms and those fantastic SOS pads could handle in one sitting.

She's a beaut, yessiree! I just can't wait to ink up and make the first print!

She's There!

2010-01-25T12:51:00.001-04:00

Check out the new doll and support Craft Hope for Haiti at crafthope.etsy.com.

Thank you!

An Introduction

2010-01-24T20:47:00.005-04:00

This is the new paper doll I have mentioned before. She has been ready for a while, but I had to do a final print to make sure the outfits still fit when everything was cut out. And that inexplicably took a while, but now it is satisfactorily taken care of and the new lady is ready to be seen.

She will be in my shop shortly. However, she will be available first at Craft Hope for Haiti, a shop of craft work sold to benefit Doctors Without Borders work in Haiti. The Craft Hope organizers have apparently had an fantastic response from artists and the public, which is so terrific.

There is some lag time in getting items posted, so I am not sure when this doll will be available. Do visit the CraftHope Shop though to see all the other wonderful things that have been created and donated to this cause.

Boy Oh Boy, Its 2010!

2010-01-04T03:56:00.003-04:00

To a terrific New Year!

I Made Caramel!

2009-12-30T19:49:00.006-04:00

Caramel, it seems, is quite a popular holiday tradition. I saw recipes in countless places around the nets, inspiring me to give it a whirl myself.

The one criteria I had was the recipe must not call for corn syrup. Which recipe was actually fairly hard to find; it seems corn syrup makes caramel creation much simpler and is definitely a popular choice. I ended up finding one here that fit the bill entirely. After a quick run to the grocery store for a candy thermometer I was ready to go.

Of course, I decided to embark on this candy making experiment about 20 minutes before leaving for a holiday party, so time wasn't really on my side. Add to this that I really did not know what it meant to let the sugar and honey "carmelize" or exactly how to read my thermometer, and it is probably not surprising that this first, and let's call it trial, batch did not turn out the lovely chewy caramels I had envisioned. Instead, we have a ridiculous amount of soft caramel sauce. Not actually too terrible after all.

The next time, however, I meant business.

I cooked that honey and sugar until it was a strongly odorous (you might want to warn the family), lava-like concoction, whisked in the butter and hot cream (that part is a blast, sometimes quite literally. Be careful.) and let the whole deal boil and bubble until I was sure it was 260˚F at least (my candy thermometer is somewhat difficult to read). I had a cookie tray all lined with parchment and poured the sticky liquid out, creating a disappointingly small, shallow puddle. It was the right color, though, and hardened nicely on a spoon under cold water. Thrilled with my success, I tried the whole thing again. This time I used a small cake pan lined with parchment and I would definitely recommend this strategy.

In the end, the cookie tray caramels stayed pretty soft and very thin. The cake pan batch hardened beautifully and I sliced them into small squares, twisted them in wax paper, and had a mountain of lovely smooth caramels to package and give away. I salvaged the thin batch by folding the whole thing in half. They were just hard enough to cut and wrap, though scraping them back out of the wrappers to eat is a little tough. However, they taste divine.

And a Very Merry Christmas to You!

2009-12-25T03:36:00.002-04:00

Happy Solstice!

2009-12-21T15:03:00.002-04:00

Welcome back, light!

Oh Christmas Tree(s)

2009-12-14T01:52:00.002-04:00

This was a fairly productive weekend around these parts. Today especially, with gift purchases so-close to done and handmade ones coming nicely along as well.

We got our Christmas tree on Thursday, C. carried it all the way home from the downtown food coop (that's about 8 blocks!) over his shoulders. We decorated and this year C-3PO, with a stocking hat and a red ribbon belt, is our tree topper. I like the personal touch.

And here are the trees I decorated at the Syracuse arts festival last weekend. I kind of wimped out in the end and stuck with mainly just the lights, but they were festive enough.

Hot or Not

2009-12-10T00:24:00.003-04:00

Since my camera is not connecting and uploading photos on its own (do I have to do everything around here?), and because I have enjoyed reading others of these lists, and for lack of anything else to write at the moment and it is still Wednesday for another 30 minutes, here is my contribution to Loobylu's Hot or Not Wednesday...

Hot

• Snow days! Even if I had already driven to work by the time I got the message. I give myself props for being a hardcore Northerner who ventures unflinchingly forth into the storm (next time I will check my voicemail first).

• Christmas lights. My late night long drive home from Syracuse last weekend was brightened by the cheerful (and not at all cheesy) light displays in the small towns along the route. I am determined to do my part to cheer the weary traveler and have begun with a nice garland over the door (I should take a picture, I suppose). More are in the works.

• New boots! Since I was already on the road, having driven to my office, I detoured to the mall on my drive home to find some winter boots (the danskos, while much beloved, aren't much good at keeping the toes warm and dry in 5 inches of powdery snow). Hooray for toasty feet!

• The Three Musketeers. I have read this book before and am in the process of reading it again. I went through a Dumas phase in junior high and I just might be ready to relive this part of my youth. Such fantastic stories, with dashing heroism, clever intrigue, and cheeky humor!

Not

• Sore throats and stuffy faces. Yuck. Need I say more?

• Carpal tunnel. Yeah, I'm just a mess right now.

• I was considering telling you about the rest area washrooms I experienced on my drive home from Syracuse, but that's really just gross.

I guess that's all, I'm not feeling very complainy right now. Plus there are only ten minutes left of wednesday (I know, slow writer), so I'd best get this thing published! This is fun, its a good way to stop for a minute and consider things - something I need more of these days.

Syracuse NY

2009-12-03T22:17:00.004-04:00

I am away at our last 2009 Arts Festival this weekend, in Syracuse NY. The best part about this show is I get to decorate five little Christmas trees for the entrance way. I keep it simple, lights and ribbon and tinsely strands, but it is rather fun! I'll take some pictures...

ps. And of course, if you happen to be anywhere near the New York State Fairgrounds, come and see for yourself in the Horticulture Building.

pps. Oh, and there will also be 125 really talented artists and artisans selling their handmade work. You know, if the trees aren't enough to tempt you...

First Day of Advent

2009-12-02T00:01:00.002-04:00

Mmmm

2009-11-30T02:41:00.004-04:00

To finish off the Thanksgiving weekend with a taste of Christmas, we decorated a few oranges with cloves. Mm-mm. They smell amazing.

I hung mine over one of the radiators, hopefully the heat will make our house clovey and orangey and wonderful.

I am Thankful

2009-11-29T00:41:00.003-04:00

for great friends who travel all the way here to spend a weekend cooking, eating, talking, taking walks...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving; delicious food prepared together (including probably the best pumpkin pie ever), a warm cozy house, cards, champagne, and This American Life on Netflix.

Despite temperatures in the 50s today, its starting to feel like actual Winter. Something in the wind, maybe?

Veterans' Day

2009-11-11T16:23:00.002-04:00

Thinking of all the men and women who have fought for the ideals of this country. Feeling sad about all the people in uniform out there now.
Wishing for an end to the violence that begets violence and ruins so many lives.
Wishing for the safe return home of those brave soldiers.
Wishing for a renewed focus on taking care of our own - those experiencing PTSD, missing limbs, sick, maimed - rather than supporting the war machines, weapons manufacturers, wartime profiteers, and others looking to capitalize on the suffering of our people and others less fortunate around the world.

This is my great grandfather, taken in France in 1918 or 1919.

One of those Days...

2009-11-05T19:10:00.004-04:00

I had one yesterday. One of those days where you wake up knowing you shouldn't get out of bed, but some ulterior sense of duty forces the situation and you, or in this case, I, found myself at work, after nearly causing a multi-car collision at the post office. I proceeded to destroy our company website, then botch a mass mailing, and then left early before the computers started to actually explode. Gah.

Today, nearly everything was easily corrected, though I am still uncertain how many of the 2,000 mailing list recipients actually heard our important announcement. Norton Anti-Virus self-updating system, I shake my fist at you!

In local news, I have a new paperdoll in the works, something a little different. I'll introduce her here first, so stay tuned!

There's Nothing Like a Little Light Plumbing in the Evening...

2009-10-13T18:59:00.004-04:00

Funny the things that get a person to write. For instance, this evening as I was fishing about with a clothes hanger in our disgusting basement utility sink, searching for the ancient drain - or more specifically, whatever nasty bit of muck was keeping laundry water from draining through said drain - as I was doing this, I was inspired to jot down some recent happenings here. I really can't say where that connection formed, but here I am (C went for the drain cleaner).

I have been living the glamorous Arts Festival life for the past two weeks - early mornings, cold fingers, running noses, lots of coffee and disgruntled artists... and then the ones that are so happy to be there, the ones that actually enjoy what they do and have beautiful work that they are inspired to share with the world!

And then there are the customers; they grumble about the weather and make the same jokes over and over and over and over and over (you get the picture?) and they ask the same questions and complain mainly the same complaints (there is always someone who comes out with a new way to complain, that can be counted upon) but then they go through the show and they have a glass of wine and taste the chocolate and fruit crepes, they walk through the tents and talk to the artists, and maybe have a nibble of chocolate or taste the maple candy, and when they come out they are exclaiming what a fabulous day it was, how they should plan their Vermont holiday around this festival next year and maybe the year after that, they take me aside to compliment the management on the gorgeous bathrooms, and, my personal favorite, they comment to no one in particular - perhaps even just to themselves - how very much fun they had. And they don't want to leave (the wives, that is. The husbands, weighed down with purchases, have no problem getting themselves through the exit).

So, over all, its not a bad way to spend a few weeks. Tomorrow we head out to another, our last of the fall season and what looks like it might be the chilliest yet. I can't say I am particularly looking forward to spending the weekend in a cold and most likely wet fairgrounds in central New Jersey, but at the same time I really do enjoy knowing that what we do makes possible what a lot of other people do, and what they love to do, and gives so many other people the opportunity to become inspired by this handcrafted creativity in such a real way.

And those are my evening plumbing thoughts. I will be back for another installment when the sink clogs up or the toilet overflows... or hopefully not.

What I Did This Weekend

2009-09-29T23:35:00.002-04:00

Discovered that the sticky stuff that has been on our stairs was actually (you are not going to believe this) glue! wow. And it was water soluble

Except that there was a lot of it, so I moved on

Painted stairs

Tore apart our bedroom (can you say that if you actually just moved piles from one location to another?)

Painted bedroom

Put things back together... ahhh

Relaxed

Refused to leave new room

Demanded food be brought to me, along with white wine and mystery novels

Fell into a deep funk at the prospect of monday

(I'm recovering slowly, hopefully lots of rest in my new bedroom will have me ready to go for the Hildene Fall Arts Festival this coming weekend in Manchester)

(That's Manchester Vermont, for those who might be in the vicinity - you should come!)

International Day of Peace

2009-09-21T09:16:00.002-04:00

Today is an International Day of Peace.

It is also the last day of Summer.

The Tree is Glowing

2009-08-26T15:24:00.001-04:00

Sunset over Lake Champlain, and a particularly favorite tree at Battery Park in Burlington.

First Sunflower

2009-08-25T19:46:00.002-04:00

The others are all facing into my neighbors' yard. I am trying not to take it personally, they probably just don't want to be picked!

Pesto!

2009-08-24T11:56:00.002-04:00

I love pesto. Basil pesto especially. But I have not made it since I was little, helping my mom. She used to buy full rounds of parmesan cheese and the first step in the annual pesto process was grating it all. My sisters and I liked to chew on the hard edges - do we sound a little savage? we possibly were - and we called it "gnaw cheese". Good memories.

So I made my first two solo batches last week and yum! Better than store bought and super simple with the handy dandy cuisinart! I had pesto sandwiches and pesto with pasta and some pesto just licked off a spoon... And the rest I froze in an ice cube tray for instant dinner gratification in the months ahead.

Procrastination Project

2009-08-22T20:41:00.003-04:00

This was one of those projects that people do - or I do, do you? - when there is something else quite pressing that should be done but is somewhat distasteful. In this case, vacuuming and mopping and doing some general cleaning up were the items on my to-do list that had been successfully avoided until about 10pm on the evening before I was leaving for an arts festival and C's mother was arriving. So of course I decided that this was the perfect time to make leaves using the serger and some wire, one of those ideas that come in bushels when there are other more important things to take care of.

The serger/leaf idea worked quite well. I think it could be done on a regular machine using a zig zag stitch. The beauty of the serger is the blade that trims as you sew, making a perfect edge. Here's the scoop: cut out a leaf shape, stitch all the way around, insert wire all the way around using stitches as a channel. I made some flowers by cutting strips of fabric, sewing a loose running stitch up one side which were tightly gathered and then the edge twisted into a spiral. I ended up pinning the entire wreath together rather than sewing it, so it can be taken apart simply when the time comes (next deadline, perhaps...). The wreath itself is a foam mold from the craft store, wrapped in a Guatemalan print fabric. I pinned some buttons into the flower centers to cover the spiraling and for a little extra sparkle.

Seeing the Details

2009-08-21T10:50:00.003-04:00

These gradations of grey caught my eye as I was moving the camera from "sunset landscape" to "dog in the park portrait". I am making a conscious effort to live more in the moment, to see and appreciate smaller and seemingly simpler things, while at the same time learning to not stress out over the details.

Reaching for the Sun

2009-08-20T12:57:00.002-04:00

This is volunteer vine that I encouraged to climb the porch. Now it has reached the top and still wants to grow!

Oh Summer!

2009-08-19T22:43:00.004-04:00

I hope you have been enjoying summer as much as I have! Its been a busy month here, what with arts festivals to work and babies to visit! In between I am trying to keep up with my tiny little garden and do a few projects too.

Today a large package containing my new food processor arrived. I have big plans involving pesto and salsa, but for a trial run I sliced a dehydrator full of carrots and had so much fun. C and his friend were not nearly as impressed at the speed and power with which the carrots were chopped, but even that did not damper my enthusiasm. Too bad the dehydrator has only four levels, I could have chopped for hours!

The other night we saw Julie and Julia and now I have a very strong desire to de-bone a goose. Is this a normal reaction? I am also curious as to what kind of knife one should use if stainless steel is no good. I am guessing regular steel.

If you have not visited Tongue In Cheek", you really should. I recommend starting back a few posts to read Corey' and her husband's motorcycle trip through Europe. So beautiful and completely inspiring.

That's all the randomness I have for now. Good night friends!