Aug 20
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Trying to get a sufficient density of petals, I used the stencil on two layers of fabric. The dark fabric background kept the petals from being as bright as I was looking for, although I did get edges!

I added another layer of petals on a bright green fabric to use as background, and stitched down the petals along their centerlines to let the edges loose. I like the way the petals float off the edge of the postcard.

I can’t remember what I was thinking with the very dark green background fabric – it hasn’t worked the way I wanted it to for any of these options. I think I’ll try inks on white fabric next, and see what happens.

Aug 19
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Using a freezer paper stencil, I can get the Lumiere paint pretty thick, although you can see the more ghostly results from thin paint too. That is why it hadn’t dried before I went to bed last night. I may need to rethink the dark fabric background. I like the glow of the paint.

The stencil looks like this:

I tried a plastic stencil from some stiffish contain plastic, but it was a serious pain to cut (like almost removing a thumb at one point), and freezer paper, is, well, paper. Scissors work well. Mistakes are not fatal. Plus the paint seems to make it much more durable. This thing will be fun to play with.

Aug 18
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Metal shim can be stitched, but not much. The density of stitch I usually put on is enough to profoundly perforate the stuff and cause it to drop off the postcard. So I went around it instead, with bobbin work. Metal doesn’t photograph well either.

Alice is home from camp. She rode a small determined pony.

She drove a toy pony.

She slept most of the way home. She was pleased to see us. We are pleased to see her too.

And finally – the fabrics came from the hand printed fabric swap. I made a mosaic of the pieces that came to me, and posted it on Flickr here.  There are two that are not part of the Flickr pool – some astounding frogs, and an intriguing red with black faces printed on it.

Aug 16
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Aug 17
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I worked on these two in parallel – when something didn’t work on one, I tried something different on the other.

I started with Aug 17, laying on a thick layer of green paint over a yellow and orange print fabric, then pressing the stamp into it to clear it away. It mostly soaked into the fabric, so I tried a "primer" coat of yellow and let it dry, then did the same again, for Aug 16.

After they had dried, I could almost see the yellow paint, so I left this one alone. The print fabric had vanished, so I added some Lumiere paint into the petal shapes to make them show up. That helped, and I like the look of the paint a good deal, but it still needed more. So I started embroidering the petals until they both showed more definition. While I like the bobbin work on Aug 17, I think Aug 16 is a more successful card. It is hard to photograph the paint without getting reflections from it. I’ll try again tomorrow outside and see if that makes a difference.

In family news, Aerin is home and ready to be issued her Captain’s papers for 8 ft/100 lbs vessels on inland waters. She spent a happy two weeks with my sainted mother getting ferried to sailing camp in the mornings and then puttering together in the afternoon. She can rig and sail a 12 ft. sailing dinghy, won a race, and made three boys squeak "nooo, please don’t heel so much!!" (to the intense satisfaction of the other 3 girls in her level). I am so pleased to have her back.

I am sorry to bid farewell to the past week. I spent most of it resolutely not acting my age, and I had forgotten what fun it could be. I drank prodigious amounts of beer and wine, stayed up late, talked for long hours with friends, had a very fine time with just my guy (the bike rides, the food – get your minds out of the gutter!), and turned the car stereo up VERY LOUD. Something about parenthood just kind of precludes some of this, forcing me to act closer to my age. Although I may go back to loud music and a bit more beer. I do like beer.

Alice returns tomorrow, and we are all together again for the first time since we returned from England. That will be nice too.

Aug 15
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The paint still isn’t as thick as I want. I may need to rethink the process to get a different result. These are the new Jacquard Lumiere paints, which are really beautiful smeared in the edges of my fingers. Why does stamping wind up being such a whole body experience for me? Or at least whole hand? (and nose – the nose always itches when my fingers are covered with gold paint)

Anyhow, I want thicker paint on the surface of the dark fabric, so the edges have more punch. Maybe stencilling.

More work elsewhere today. Anybody want to buy a car?

Aug 14
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

yesterday’s. again.

I was using up old Deka Starlite paints for dark fabrics. I think for painting it is possible to get them thick enough, but stamping with them makes the paint thinner than I wanted. I wonder if different stamps have more “tooth” and might carry more paint?

Al and I had a nearly perfect day yesterday. We took the grown-up tandem out for a roaring ride in the morning, through some of the most perfect weather of the summer, over some of my favorite bits of terrain, and finished at one of my most favored restaurants for lunch. The two of us work so well together. It is really different having no kids – just me and my sweetie. I miss the girls, but I like having just a glimpse of an empty nest too.

After all that pleasure in the morning, I took supper to Andy, then helped the crew there sort, pile, package and carry. I was very, very tired at the end of the day!

Aug 13
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Yesterday’s card – hand carved rubber stamp petals, plain old stamp pad ink, and an eraser from the end of a pencil for the center.

More later.

meteor shower, no kids, husband early… postcard tomorrow.

Aug 11
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Presenting….. Postcard Number 200.

I’m shocked.

Delighted.

Startled.

Faintly pleased with myself.

Mostly shocked.

Oh – this postcard? I really liked the way the pieces looked on this purple stuff after they were cut out. I experimented with fusing them down, they still looked cool. Happy 200th postcard.

Aug 10
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

What happens if the petals are square instead of triangles?

Lumpy but appealing.

In other news, the Journal Quilt page for May is finished, with a lot of roses for Alice Rose’s birth month. I have a clue for June (Things That Make Me Absurdly Happy) and July (Where We Went on Our Summer Vacation) and the backgrounds are constructed. I even have a clue for August (Al and Me, 21 years this year, and that’s just the married part…). All ready to go to Journaling class tomorrow and make sense and have something to show and something to say.