Feb 8
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Working with Golden Gel Medium – Light Molding Paste, not frosting. Both kids sensibly sniffed it before thinking about licking it, a step I probably would not have taken at their age. Red Kate swore it must be the stuff they use to frost the plastic cakes for decoration and demonstration. I dunno. I colored the impression with marker, and then embroidered it with silver thread, trying to go the same direction as the coloring strokes. I tried to stitch around the edge of the card, but the presser foot got hung up on the medium and it wouldn’t move, so it is either free motion an edge or leave it be. At the moment, I am going for leave it be.

I got to buy supplies today! I’d finished off all the thick interfacing that makes the base of the postcards, so I took a couple completed cards (to show off) over the the LFS and bounced at Linda and bought 6 weeks of double fusible heavy duty pellon. I also sprung for a new set of fine markers, because I’ve had the others for about 5 years, and they sort of blurped and ran after being in the car in weather like this several winters ago. I think the ink froze and expanded, and then melted into a mess. Anyhow, the new ones are lovely and dark and easy. And my Dharma order came, so I now have fabric for running through the printer that should be more permanent than simply ironing some onto freezer paper and running it through.

Last year, in a fit of fiscal grumpiness, I started writing down all the money I spent in a notebook in my wallet. At the end of each month, I’d enter it all into a spreadsheet. It took a couple months to get sorted out what I’d write down (everything) and how to categorize it (idiosyncratic but functional) and it has certainly been an eye-opening experience. This January, I decided to dissect all the crafting/sewing I pursue. So I broke out a second spreadsheet on $ spent on supplies, classes, books and magazines, and even a column (ah vain hope) for income. It feels educational, and I am very curious about the data I wil get from it, but I don’t know what it will ultimately tell me.

In case it doesn’t dry in time for me to do the embroidery I had in mind, find here the picture of the potato masher impression in the Artist Gel Medium I’ve had around forever waiting to figure out what to do with it. The stuff resembles, well, mashed potatos, making the conclusion obvious to me. The card is waiting on the radiator for the heat to come on when the kids come home, so it can dry so I can do some machine embroidery in the space where the masher was.

I have run out of interfacing for postcards. I bought enough for three weeks, and I had an extra yard from a previous enthusiasm, and it is ALL GONE! Tomorrow’s postcard and Illustration Friday will be the end of what is in the house, and I need more. Hooray! I am using fabrics I dyed and painted and manipulated at a tremendous clip. Some of the more boring or egregious have been pre-fusibled and cut into backs for postcards, some are being used as backgrounds, some trimmed and used as key pieces. In this culture where we are encouraged to acquire stuff for our stash, and hoard it, it feels kind of subversive to make stuff from the stash. I love the feeling of using things I made. I like finding a purpose for stuff I made with no particular purpose.

Feb 7
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Thinking of Andy Warhol and the repetition of shapes. I like that you can see the image in the batik of the masher I used to make it, the same one in the "portraits". Like multiple points of view on the same object.

I did finish it yesterday. We went to see Cirque Eloize, another small strange circus from Canada in the manner of Cirque du Soliel, but smaller. And Funny! I had a great time, but we didn’t get home til after my collapse time, so here is Wednesday’s postcard at the crack of dawn Thursday, and still another for today. You are SO lucky.