Stuff I Make - Maneating Flower's Blog

I've moved

2011-07-23T04:57:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. Long time, no post, I know. Thing is, I've gotten to the point where work is taking over a great deal of my creative thought, and that + the mold in my basement means Maneating Flower is officially on hiatus. I'm still making art though, and I've started a tumblr account for all the random stuff I do. Maybe I'll start this up again at some point, but until then, there's this: maneatingflower.tumblr.com

Owl Flask and a Contest

2011-04-05T17:37:00.004-04:00

Yes, I know I've been gone for far too long. There's a simple reason: I've been really busy. Remember the Theorizing the Web stuff that I was soooo happy about because I was done with it? I wasn't. The conference is this Saturday and I've been a crazy mad designer on the loose, making posters, banners, fliers, business cards, printed programs, custom individual name tags, everything. It's been insane. I'm even doing a twitter-based installation. Crazy! On top of that I'll be at Spring Bada-Bing again on the 17th, and I can't wait.

This brings me to my next point. I MADE NEW WORK OMG. I know, it's been ages since I've put a new flask out there, but like I said, I've been busy. I've also been in a major creative slump; the downside to having a job in the art business and freelancing on the side is that all my creative energy goes elsewhere. All of it, that is, until last night, when I sat down and carved this:

He's a hoot, right?

I love this design. It's probably the fastest thing I've ever carved, and it was a fun exercise in mark making. I did break one of my cardinal rules though; I didn't use my own reference. I learned this lesson a very long time ago in my first printmaking class, when I and two other people in the same building used the same dead bird as reference. Affectionately known as "that fucking dead bird", I've seen it in a lot of other artwork since then. It's not like it was the first result either, it was many pages in, so everyone else probably felt the same justification I did.

In that case, dead birds were fairly plentiful in Savannah and I feel like I should have just found one to work from. This time, I didn't have an owl, so I used Google Images. This brings me to my little contest. First person who finds me a piece of artwork that clearly uses this particular owl as reference gets an owl flask! Here's the photo, GO!

Theorizing the web

2010-12-07T07:19:00.003-05:00

Those of you know know me know that I don't really "do" websites anymore. The design process makes me angry, I hate having to manage them for other people, and they cause me so much more stress than I ever get paid for. As a result, I'd sworn off ever doing freelance web design again... that is, until a couple friends of mine both completely capable of generating their own content and managing things without me needed to add some legitimacy to their endeavors. So I've designed them a logo and a site that I love, and I never have to touch it again!

http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb

Check it out. If you're an artist and interested in doing some cyborg/technology themed artwork that'll get hung in a gallery for the opening reception please please please email us! I'll be on the jurying committee, something I've never done before, and I'm really excited. The actual call for artists is on the CFP and under the artists section of the site.

The Drink of my Forefathers: Virytas

2010-11-27T22:01:00.007-05:00

It’s holiday season again, and this year my gift to all of you is a recipe. No no no don’t go away, this isn’t one of those “find it anywhere” recipes for cake or brownies… it is, in fact, my family’s recipe for a potent, whiskey-based drink that smells like Christmas itself: Virytas.

Pronounced “vititas”, this Lithuanian recipe is hard to find. I’ve only come across one online, and it isn’t the same one we use. I have many childhood memories of this drink being concocted on my mother’s stove, filling the house with the aromas I now associate with Christmas. Ok, I’ll admit they weren’t fond memories. I actually hated the smell when I was a kid, but as I grew older I gained a certain nostalgia for it, and now, as I sit here writing with a pot of Virytas cooling on my stove, I can tell you with no uncertainty that it smells absolutely wonderful.

I had been wanting to make Virytas for years; I’d asked my parents about the recipe several times but somehow it never made its way to me. This year I was determined, and today my stepmom emailed me with my second cousin George’s recipe complete with her warnings about the difficulty of making it. I’m going to chalk them up to a bunch of people in one kitchen, because it wasn’t difficult at all.

George’s recipe was funny but all in paragraph form (much to my stepmom’s chagrin, since she was trying to tell me what I had to get over the phone) so here’s my version, with some of George’s commentary mixed in.

Ingredients:

1 orange peel
1 lemon peel
10 whole cloves
8 cinnamon sticks, crushed into slivers
4 whole nutmeg, cut into eighths
2/3 cup (about one and a half of the 1.5 ounce containers) fennel seed*
2 pounds honey
1 750 mL bottle Rye Whiskey
1 quart of water, plus a bit more for later

* I’m pretty sure my dad’s side of the family makes this recipe differently from my mom’s side. The smell I remember as a child was pretty heavily of the caraway seed persuasion. I'll have to give that version a try some time.

Ingredient buying hints:

Spices are expensive. Even on sale, this could be a really pricey recipe if you buy everything from the spice section of the grocery store. Other than the fennel seed, the other spices can be found dirt cheap in the international foods section.

I used the Aunt Sue’s Raw-wild natural honey. My cousin specifically said to use the “wonderful stuff you buy at roadsides, not the junk in the stores unless it is the true dark Sioux honey form South Dakota”, but I was in Giant, and the Sue Bee’s stuff was from Iowa but it was dark and in a nice big bottle and it actually tastes pretty darn good.

On the topic of the whiskey, George says he always uses “Pikesville Rye”, which I actually managed to find in the local liquor store here in Silver Spring. It’s dirt cheap, and it’ll take the skin off your teeth. Cheap is good though, as far as I’m concerned, and when all was said and done this recipe cost under $30.

And here’s the actual recipe!

Making Virytas is a two-step process. In the first step you make the bitters, and once that is done you make the rest of the liqueur.

For the bitters:

Peel your orange and lemon and throw the peel in a large pot. Just for the record, seeing a peeled lemon has the same psychological effect on me as seeing an egg without a shell. Annnyway, measure out your fennel seeds and count your cloves and throw them in. Chopping the nutmeg wasn’t too bad if I scored the nut first and used a large knife to cut it. To get the cinnamon all chopped up, I stuck it in a Ziploc bag and hit it with a hammer. Add those to the pot too, along with a quart of water. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and stir it as it goes. Allow it to boil for five minutes, and add a little water (about ¼ of a cup) as it evaporates, then take it off the heat. At this point, you should have a cider coloured mixture and your kitchen should smell wonderful. I wound up with just about three cups of bitters. Scoop out the big chunks and strain the rest into another container.

Step two:

After your bitters have cooled, add one cup whiskey, one cup bitters, and one cup honey to the pot and bring it to boil, then turn off the heat. Here my cousin George says to mix the ingredients one at a time until you get a mixture you like. I wound up using all of the whiskey, all of the bitters, and about 2/3 of the honey I bought. To quote George, “You will know you have attained perfection by two criteria 1. You will suddenly exhale and shout Wow spontaneously and 2. You will see saints dancing and can converse with your long departed grandfather.” Well, the second didn’t happen, but I definitely had a “wow” moment, so I guess I did something right!

Oddly enough, I don’t recall ever drinking Virytas as an adult, so I really can’t tell you if I botched it or not. As far as I’m concerned though, it tastes fantastic. In the end I had two 750 mL bottles of Virytas, minus the bit I’m sipping now. Always be sure to serve it warm.

So to conclude, if you like sweet, warm wintry drinks, by all means give this one a try. Make a bottle for yourself and give the other away to someone you love!

Wishing you a boozy holiday (hey, what else do you expect from the flask lady?),

Ned

One of my cards in action

2010-10-26T15:17:00.002-04:00

Spotted by PJ Rey in Washington, DC

La Fée Verte

2010-10-04T17:18:00.003-04:00

Oh pin-up girls, how do I love thee. I realized a few days ago I hadn't added a new flask to the shop that I printed since May, and that I was getting bored with my current lineup. I really wanted a new pin-up to grace the collection, I had a large pair of lime green pants lying around, and I had been knocking around ideas for an absinthe flask anyway. It all just kinda flowed out in one easy-to-draw evening, which is unusual for me since I normally go through many rounds of revisions with my sketches. Carved on Saturday and printed on Sunday, I'm really happy with the speed and the outcome.

My favorite thing about this flask is the ink. You can't see it online, but in person the green ink really shimmers. I mixed it from a dry pigment, a first for my flasks.

On another note, since this design really requires green, I'm thinking of discontinuing the quail flasks. I can hear the collective "nooooooooo" from those of you who like it, but it almost never sells online and rarely at shows. I'm thinking of moving it to a greeting card format. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that though.

I just want you

2010-09-15T18:28:00.005-04:00

Here's a little project I've been talking about for a while. Make a bunch of inexpensive, free text-based artwork and leave them places. I want to communicate, make people happy, and add something interesting and unexpected to the lives of total strangers whom I will never meet. These will be going around DC and possibly Baltimore.

My partner in crime for this project is Atom Davis, a painter, musician, and historic preservationist living in Savannah, GA. This phrase actually one of his but I just had to run with it. Eventually we'll be making bigger prints, and some of them might (ok, probably will) wind up for sale at some point, but I'm starting small.

This design was a compromise between what Atom did for the original and what I wanted to do, and for a little bit I was worried about how they were going to look. I used the Speedy Carve stamp material instead of my normal lino, and just used hand pressure instead of running them through the press. I have a hard time carving cursive in general, and the stamp material is so easy to mess up. I was also concerned with the overall aesthetic, since it speaks to letterpress but is completely hand carved and imperfect... but I love them. Right now they're drying on Bertha, I'll get them out and about this weekend.

Houndstooth Flask

2010-09-05T15:18:00.004-04:00

Finally! I made something new. I have a secret to tell you though. I didn't print this.

SAY WHAAAAAT?

Ok, so you know that I use old clothing. This whole summer has been awful trying to buy leather because the Value Village shops pull all of it until the fall, and Goodwill sticks everything, good or really damaged, it is expensive "boutique" section. My friend Andrea is in town from Chicago and today we went on a giant thrift excursion and guess what? It's all back! I got some great colors and things I needed... and this crazy screen-printed houndstooth jacket. I've never come across something like it! And being the houndstooth addict that I am, it had to come home with me. The colors are just great, the printing is crisp, and it fits in perfectly with the rest of my collection. The only downside is that even though the jacket was pretty large, when these are gone they're gone.

Chesapeake Roller Derby

2010-08-15T18:55:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned earlier, the Chesapeake Roller Derby is having a game on August 28 in Westminster. Someone at some point asked me to do a flask with their logo, but since I wasn't sure how well a roller derby mermaid themed flask would do outside of that venue, I opted for 8x10 print instead. It's the largest thing I've printed in a while that was actually meant to exist in multiples.

Oh, and here's a treat. I actually remembered to snap some pictures of my blocks before I took off the marker/inked them up. I love these, I can't wait to print the smaller two too!

Proof I'm working on stuff

2010-08-11T21:32:00.005-04:00

Hey kids, Chesapeake Roller Derby has a home game on August 28, and yours truly will be there peddling my wares. In their honor, I'm doing a postery type thing:

Yeah the hand is horrid, I'll work on it. More to come soon!

What I've been up to

2010-08-05T21:42:00.004-04:00

It occurred to me today that I haven't posted in over a month. It's not that I haven't been making things, it's just that I don't have anything to show you yet. Let me explain... I have a full time job now working for the Gary Rosenthal Collection in Kensington, MD, and let me tell you, it's a blast. I've actually been making a TON of things, it's just all for work. As soon as I can finagle some photographs out of the graphics guy, I'll put them up to show. No it's nothing like my normal work, but I've been having such a good time with the laser cutter, hydraulic press, and copper that I just want to give you an idea of what I'm doing.

In other news, I moved! I now live in Silver Spring, not my beloved Baltimore, but the commute was just a killer. It's not all bad though, my press is, get this, INSIDE!!! HOLY CRAP! I also have my entire crafty production studio in one place for the first time, and I printed today for the first time in over a month. No it wasn't something new, but it's a good step. Hopefully once the adjustment period is over, I'll start making again. I have a TON of ideas.

There's also a bit of news I feel a little bad about. My wholesaler for the flasks raised their prices, so I had to raise mine. This sucks because I was really comfortable with where they were, and I hope it doesn't bite me in the butt. But that's how it goes, I guess.

Ok kids, that's all from me for now. Sorry about the gap, I'll make something soon.

Boot Flask

2010-06-20T11:09:00.003-04:00

Whew. I thought it was going to be ages before I had anything new to put up, due to my super awesome new job. That's right, I'm gainfully employed at a permanent, non-seasonal job for the first time in just over a year. Only downside currently is the hellish commute that sucks the life from me. Read: I've been too damn tired to do much of anything.

That aside, I just had to show you this. A neighbor of mine, an amazing crafty woman who puts me to shame, asked me if I thought I could use some of her old cowboy boots to make flasks. Even before I saw them my answer was, um YES. So yesterday, instead of working on things for Pile of Craft like I should have, I made this:

THEY'RE SO COOL. This particular pair of boots will give me four flasks, and each will be one-of-a-kind, albeit similar. I'm going to have to get some smaller flasks for some of the other boots, and it'll be nice to have some size variation. I'm so excited about these and I can't wait to make more... well ok, I'll wait until after Saturday.

Oh right, speaking of Saturday, anyone in the area should come down to Charles Village for Pile of Craft. The vendor list is really impressive, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

End Times Trading Post

2010-06-06T21:57:00.003-04:00

They're finally here! This isn't my artwork, instead it's the first really custom work I've done using polymer plates. A few months ago Ginny from End Times Trading Post got in touch with me about making these, and I'm really glad she did. I was a little worried about how they would turn out from the get go... the artist who created this image has been/will be in China for a while, and I had to get the required 1200 dpi image from the 72 dpi image on the splash page. All I can say is thank gods it was black and white!

I waited to do this flask until after I had gotten the knack of printing with the photopolymer plates on leather. It seems like it should be so simple, but placing the leather so it doesn't smudge is SUPER tricky, and I didn't want to lose any of that detailed linework. Another fun bit of trivia for this flask, that amazing colored skirt I used was so damaged. Most things I use have a bit of staining or tearing, but sadly a full 1/3 of this garment was completely unusable. That means the six of these I made for Ginny are the only six in these awesome colors that will probably ever exist, unless I get super lucky and find similar leather again.

Good things are afoot! I start my job tomorrow with the Gary Rosenthal Collection, I have an assortment of work available in the Artspring in Silver Spring, and soon these flasks will grace the shelves at End Times in Fell's Point. On top of all that, I have to get my butt in gear for Pile of Craft at the end of this month. Can't wait!

His & Hers flasks

2010-05-30T23:10:00.007-04:00

There are so many good things that revolve around these flasks. By far best is the inspiration behind them: the marriage of two amazing designers, Helene and Santi Saucedo. I've had classes with both of them during my time at SCAD, and I owe a lot to Helene. I was already printmaking-obsessed by the time I met her, but she got me to love typography and her beautiful letterpress business cards were only the beginning of my obsession with the medium. They really are truly wonderful people, and while my wedding present to them may be a few months late, I hope they enjoy it.

Both Santi and Helene love letterpress, and even had their invitations printed by Hatch Show Print. I knew I wanted to use good some crazy old wood fonts for their flasks, and carving them just wouldn't do. That's right, these are my first flasks made with photopolymer plates! I used high-rez scans from an old type catalogue combined with borders made in Adobe Illustrator to put these together. The "Hers" flask has two layers of printing, a wood flat and the polymer. The curly font and ornate border allowed me to leave it at that, but the "His" flask needed more. That flask combines a wood flat, the polymer plate, and a hand-carved argyle layer. I'm SO happy with how it looks. It's just so charming! I finished both flasks with an open-backed binding using the original leather scraps and hand-waxed embroidery thread. Both of these flasks were made with large jackets I found next to each other on the rack at Goodwill. Fate!

These flasks also represent my first flask set. Whether or not I'll be doing more I have no idea. So far it's my most complicated product, consisting of two flasks with complex printing and binding. I'm glad I did it though, as this week I'll be printing some custom flasks with photopolymer and it's good to know it works on leather, even if it is a little more tricky than linoleum or wood.

Ok everyone, it's Memorial day and I'm off to celebrate by stomping through whatever river I can find, listening to my Poppy's war stories, and chowing down on some traditional Drummond family grub! Woot!

Handmade Mart Wrap-up

2010-05-25T11:54:00.003-04:00

Phew. The past few days have been an absolute flurry of activity, I finally have time to post a wrap-up. What started as a very rainy day with a small lake forming in front of my table ended up sunny, dry, and a lot of fun. The rain may have wreaked havoc on my hair and makeup, but it didn't stop loads of people coming out to see the vendors and buying some amazing handmade items. I forgot my camera, so I didn't take any pictures of my booth but Pang from Pretty Little Fings (who has an adorable shop, by the way) took some great photos of the event and has them up on her blog. My only regret at shows is that I don't seem to get a whole lot of time to check out other vendors, but I did wind up with an adorable flower pin from Jen at The Littlest Bean.

In other (very good) news, I just had my 100th sale on Etsy! One of my Dogwood Flasks took that title, and I'm so happy. I'd really like to thank Andrea for making me actually set up my shop and post some those hand-painted flasks back in July. I can't believe how far I've come since then, from selling my first letterpress flasks in October to buying a new press so I can develop my line further. Seriously, it's just awesome. Thanks everyone!

Snake oil

2010-05-22T14:16:00.002-04:00

Here's something I've been working on. Yes I know it's not a flask, but it's nice to just print sometimes. 3 color linocut on chipboard, 6x9.

Sweet Baby Jane

2010-05-21T16:38:00.006-04:00

So Tuesday I brought home my new baby, a Kelsey 5x8 Excelsior. I purchased her from a nice man in Laurel who had owned her for at least the past 50 years, since his mother purchased it for him in Connecticut when he was in high school. Over that time, the press became a lot of things that rhyme with "usty", namely rusty, dusty, and musty, but overall she was in really good shape. Here's one of the original photos from the Craigslist posting, which he was nice enough to supply me with:

It was my original intent to let the restoration process wait until after Handmade Mart on Sunday, but this is me. The only time I'm happier than scrubbing some rusty old machine is when I'm actually printing. I did some research on how to restore my press and found two really great resources, Letterpress in the UK (who just happens to have the same press as me!) and Excelsior Press. Jax especially was super helpful, and answered my questions and eased my worries about painting some of the more delicate parts.

One of my biggest worries with the press was how to get the rust off. I hate having to use Naval Jelly and harsh acids, but Excelsior Press used a solution of vinegar and lime juice. I didn't know the exact ratio, so I took a wild guess and let the press sit overnight in six gallons of vinegar and two little green things of lime juice. This was enough liquid to cover all the parts I was really worried about, especially the enclosed area behind the platen.

I spent all of yesterday and today scrubbing bits and pieces, painting, and getting the press into good shape. She really is gorgeous now. Check out these before and after shots:

I had a good time with the gold detailing too. Originally I was going to just to the letters for "The Excelsior" in white; it seemed like that was the only colored paint on the press until I gave it a good scrub. There were bits of gold that had either been rubbed off or painted over at some point, so I decided to restore the press to what it must have looked like plus a few more details I just liked. Okay so I may have gone overboard but still. So pretty.

I cannot tell you enough how happy I am with this little press. I'd been checking Craigslist off and on for the past two years, and solidly for the past six months, trying to find something even remotely similar. I really couldn't believe my luck when I found the exact press I wanted at the price I wanted, in good condition, and only half an hour from my house. The only things that need replacing are the rollers (which was expected) and everything that has to do with the grippers, since those, the gripper bar, and the gripper spring are missing. For now though I can make due with a rubber band, so I'm not concerned. I'll replace it eventually.

Oh, and I thought this was cool. This is the back of the chase bed, with the patent date. I really didn't need to embellish this, but I wanted to.

I do feel a few pangs of guilt right now. I think I spent more time total scrubbing Bertha, but she really is a mess. She's nowhere near as lovely as Jane, even though she's my workhorse. Maybe one day I'll get her shined up too, but it isn't going to happen any time in the near future just because of how heavy she is. I did have fun restoring Jane though, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Ok everyone, back to work for me. I have a few more flasks to bind and some snake oil prints that need to be bagged. Woof. No rest for the wicked.

Handmade Mart this Weekend!

2010-05-18T17:39:00.005-04:00

Hey everyone, it's been pretty crazy here and I'm posting this later than I should, but this Sunday is Handmade Mart down in Silver Spring, MD. It's an outside show and the weather forecast is looking favorable, so if you're in the MD or DC area stop on down. Be sure to check out the amazing vendor list too!

Ok, and now for some big news. Omigod omigod omigod. I GOT A KELSEY! This is really super exciting for me, and for those of you who have no bloody clue what I'm talking about, it's a new letterpress. That's right, I've added another rust bucket to Ned's Home for Wayward Machines. Her name is Sweet Baby Jane, she's a Kelsey 5x8, and I brought her home pretty much two years to the day after I found Bertha on Craigslist. This is not my exact press, but it's more or less what I have.

Mine is in a similar condition, except more rust and the rollers are totally shot. This was completely to be expected, but overall the press is in fairly good shape given its age. All the moving parts have been kept well greased and I can't wait to get it in working order. I'll do a better post for her once I get her restored. In the meantime, I'm just giddy.

Meet Alex

2010-05-07T19:53:00.011-04:00

Hey everyone, meet Alex. Alex is a pretty nice guy, but he hasn't been treated very well. See, after his birth in a Taiwanese factory as a Bianchi Europa, he was shipped to the USA and sold from a bike shop in South Carolina. At some point he was loved, ridden, and even made his way up to Maryland. Then, over time, he was neglected. He sat outside and got rusty. Someone removed his wheels. Eventually Alex's owners decided to clear out some things they didn't want anymore, and he was partially buried in a dumpster. It looked like this bike was done for.

Luckily for Alex, I decided to take a walk on a rainy day, which meant I took a shorter route. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, thought about it for an hour or so, then came back and asked if I could have him. I'm almost thinking I should change my shop name from Maneating Flower to Ned's Home for Wayward Machines, because something about a bike in a dumpster tugs at my heartstrings. He isn't the first beat up machine I've taken home either. Apollo the Merckx and Bertha the Letterpress were both in pretty bad shape when I found them.

When I work with things, I let them talk to me. Everything has a name, and every broken thing has a potential to be something better. It took me a while to figure Alex out, and I seem to be unable to plan too far in advance what I want to do with him. However, after stripping off the rusted components, spending several hours stripping the paint and sanding him down, I vaguely decided on a darker paint color. The auto parts shop had a great selection of nice colors, and I fell in love with the metallic black.

Here's Alex completely stripped down, and suspended from a tree in my backyard. Don't laugh, this setup actually worked great. It kept the bike still, I could get it from all angles, and I didn't have to stoop or hold the can at a bad angle. There's still a little bit of paint on him here, I had some amusing issues getting him stripped. Turns out I'm allergic to something in the nitrile gloves I used and it made the backs of my hands burn like none other. Since the paint stripper would have been worse, I kept them on as long as possible then just sanded the rest. Some parts just weren't happening, but since they weren't likely to get beat up I just sanded it flat and left it on.

Even primed I was pretty happy with how my first repaint was going. Gone were the rusted spots and chips on the frame, and the smooth black looked great. I was even happier with the paint, and the glossy topcoat just made it shine. He could probably stand another coat or two, but it really looks fantastic. It couldn't have turned out better.

Look at those sexy lugs!

This isn't the end of the road for Alex. There's going to be some leather-wrapping done when I can fully decide on a motif, some cut vinyl decals, and eventually I'd like to build him up and get him rolling again as a 10 speed. Really, I wish there was a market for this, because I've had as much fun repainting this bike as I do making flasks.

On a fun side note, I tied the frame up with twine because it was cheap. I left the roll on the ground outside and didn't think anything of it. I looked out the window during one of the drying sessions and there was string everywhere in the tree. A bird had picked up the end and hopped around with it, but gave up when it didn't fully unravel. It was so cute! I cut her a few lengths and left them outside, just in case.

Gouzenko Wrap Flask

2010-05-06T17:59:00.003-04:00

They're done! These are custom flasks for Sparky (Aka Ashley McAlpine) of Castle of Cards, featuring the sometimes pesky but always cute Gouzenko. I started these a whiiiile ago, but got frustrated when it turns out I'm an idiot who can't measure. The first prints I did of these flasks were a weird color, and the tail didn't line up. I fixed it all buy printing a wood flat first and open back binding them. Normally I wouldn't line a gap this small, but it just looked nice. I really hope these go over well, Sparky is the only webcomic artist with kickass custom letterpress flasks!

Some cute chicks for ya

2010-05-03T13:08:00.006-04:00

No, these aren't the normal kind of cute chicks I usually shell out. I went to visit my mom and siblings this weekend, and on top of the normal 15 big chickens there are now something like 25 little ones. I actually had the foresight to bring a camera (with a charged battery, no less!) so I thought I'd share some, starting with my favorite. This little guy had an attitude.

My youngest sister Katy with the "Littlest One", aka the runt.

I had no idea chickens could be so photogenic! My sister Mary (the leg in the second photo and hand in the fourth) helped me round up some of the chicks to get these shots. The small red chickens are the Rhode Island Reds that she hatched herself, and will be added to the existing flock to produce eggs. The yellow bigger chickens are roughly the same age, but are destined to dinner at some point in the future. It makes me a little sad, but they'll have a good life in the meantime, way better than most chickens ever get.

Speaking of eggs, my mom was making deviled eggs for dinner, and got a heart! I've never seen one like this before.

So, in other news, I have actually been up to stuff. I'm working on cuffs, but that's going pretty slowly because I haven't come up with any designs I really like. I'm trying to keep them kinda unisex, but I'm on some crazy girly kick right now and it's not working out the way I'd like. I need to get my butt in gear though, cause Handmade Mart is only 20 days away! This one is a bit closer to home, and I don't have to do any more flask printing for it so I'm nowhere near as stressed as I was for Spring Bada-Bing.

In addition to printing stuff, I've also been working on Alex the dumpster Bianchi. I've got it sanded down now and ready to paint, and at some point I'll get to that. I'll do a whole before and after when that's all done.

I also have some bad news. My teeth hate me. I have to go to an endodontist tomorrow to check out if there's any nerve issues with one of them... this tooth has been filled twice and apparently is no end of trouble. I think I'm going to be selling some of my artwork to help me pay for whatever may come, since insurance is not something that comes with the flask making territory. I'm not 100% happy about that, I wanted to include the fox, lemur, and froggy as part of a series in a show, but right now that just isn't my priority. Thanks, teeth.

Siggi's Rocks

2010-04-22T14:54:00.006-04:00

Any of you who haven't seen in person me lately probably haven't heard me rave about skyr. Being a total nut for weird yogurt products, my curiosity was piqued when I came across something called Siggi's in the grocery store. It proclaimed itself to be "Icelandic style skyr" and "non-fat strained yogurt". Non fat is one of my favorite food phrases, so I turned it over to find it packed with 16g of protein with only 120 calories. Boo-ya! I had no idea what strained yogurt was, but I figured hey, why not. I picked out an appealing taste combination, Orange and Ginger, and went home. I fixed lunch, and opened up my little cup of skyr. The result? It can only be described as yogurt-induced bliss.

I was only halfway through the first cup before I made up my mind to email Siggi's. There was literally nothing I didn't like about their product. It was low in calories, had a ton of protein, was made with completely natural ingredients, hit me with an incredibly rich texture and taste, and to top it all off, was made with responsible easy-to-recycle packaging. I'm not the type to ever email a company, let alone one that makes a food product, but I was really excited and I told them so. They sent me a friendly email back pretty quickly, and they offered to send me some coupons. As far as I'm concerned, that just makes them so much more awesome. Skyr isn't the cheapest yogurt product by far, but the protein content makes it surprisingly filling, and thus totally worth it.

Anyway, those came in the mail today, and they didn't send me one or two, but 20. 20! And the letter wasn't the standard form letter I expected either, but a hand-signed letter with a PS saying "Your Letterpress Flasks are Beautiful!" Seriously. This company is awesome, they care about their customers and the quality of their product, check them out just to bask in their yogurt-y glory.

Spring Bada-Bing wrapup

2010-04-19T21:34:00.005-04:00

As you may have noticed, yesterday was Spring Bada-Bing in Richmond, VA. It was organized by the Richmond Craft Mafia and was a really good time. The people showing work there were absolutely amazing, I'm honored to have been among them. I was in between two really great vendors, Cutesy but Not Cutesy with her adorable hand-sewn monsters and Twist Style, who (please correct me if I'm wrong) heads up the Richmond Craft Mafia and is one of the nicest people ever.

Leave it to me to take a blurry picture of my table. This is a MILLION times better than my last display. Ok lack of display. I was honestly embarrassed after Holiday Heap at how piddly my stuff looked. I vowed to do better and I actually got some complements on it. *phew*.

Oh yeah, and I had a couple extra pendants, an owl and a sparrow. Brian, who was helping Diane (aka Cutesy but Not Cutesy), let me take this photo with his camera of a little girl who bought one of my necklaces.

Overall it was a really great day. I was super beat by the end, waking up and driving for a show will do that to you. I wrapped it up with pizza and beer at Bottoms Up with the Richmond Craft Mafia kids, who have to be some of the sweetest people on the planet. Yeah I know I sound like I'm sprouting complements, and you know what? I am. Everyone was just great. If I ever make it to Richmond, I know I'll be in good company.

Letterpress Pendants

2010-04-15T14:18:00.005-04:00

Ok so jewelry making hasn't been my thing for a long time, mostly because I prefer printing and buying pretty jewelry that other people make. A couple weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a leather tooling kit, and apparently I'm pretty good at it, but come on people, this is me. I'm far too ADD and enjoy being inky far too much to spend a ton of time hammering leather, beautiful as the result may be.

So while brainstorming with Graham about what I should make, I got an idea. Instead of hand tooling watchbands and pendants (both awesome ideas, Graham gets a zillion kudos for the watchbands), maybe I could print on the vegetable tanned leather. After all, the ink I use dries, and cased leather takes pigment well, right? Right. So I carved up a couple little images as proof of concept, and what do you know? It works! It works amazingly well, actually. The ink doesn't rub off, it sticks almost instantly, and I love the way it looks.

So these are the very first. A dogwood, since I'm on a dogwood kick, and a goofy looking fish. What else? These pendants are backed with a black leather, and on 18" leather necklaces, but I might make some longer since I'm doing them by hand. I'm going to take a few to SBB this weekend and see how they go over, then they'll be in my shop.

Dogwood Flask

2010-04-14T19:39:00.005-04:00

This, ladies and gents, is one of my favorite things right now. Dogwoods are my favorite flowering tree. I love everything about them, their shape, their color, the four-petaled flowers they present to us. Honestly I really didn't need to give myself more work by adding extra flasks to my repetiore right now, but I can't really argue with inspiration. Every day I've been printing, I've seen this right outside my garage:

Pretty, right? So the idea got into my head and I'd be damned if I didn't get it done. This flask is the most complicated I've made so far. There are three layers of ink on this puppy instead of the usual one or two: a white wood flat to lighten the leather, a white layer with the blossoms and chatter, and the pink layer of linework. Since the pants I used had smaller panels, I decided it would be better (and less wasteful) to bind this flask similarly to the quail flasks. I used a white leather backing and pink embroidery thread that I waxed myself to create a corset-like effect on the back.

I love this flask. It's so time consuming yet so lovely. I am charging more for these in my shop though, for the extra labor and materials, but not too much more. I hope they go over well, and if not, they'll be nice to have on my table this weekend.

Just thought I'd share

2010-04-12T02:14:00.005-04:00

It's lucky for this little guy I'm not afraid of stinkbugs. I was going for my toothbrush when I noticed a pair of antennae. I never realized before, but they're actually really pretty bugs; I find their colors quite pleasing, and I have another good shot of him here. Also, I'm totally digging on the fact that my camera has image stabilization. This might not be special for all you kids out there used to decent cameras, but my last one was something like seven years old. Back when 3 megapixels was a big deal. This new one was a Christmas present from my stepmom, and it's one of the best presents EVER.

Ok, time to go back to crunch mode. Spring Bada-Bing is this weekend, and on top of finishing everything I've already put on my plate, I'm working on a new flask design and may or may not wind up with some t-shirts for the show. At the very least, I'll print one for me and show it off.

Oh yeah, and for those of you wondering, no, I did not chuck the toothbrush. It's just a bug. If I hadn't seen him, I wouldn't have been the wiser.

Mustache!

2010-04-06T19:02:00.006-04:00

What's better than a handlebar mustache? Nothing, that's what. This is another re-do, and like the moonshine flask the original block got destroyed, and wasn't as cute as this one. I didn't bother photographing the back, it's plain. There's no real crazy backstory on this one either, it printed easily and well, that's about all there is to say.

As far as the rest of my life goes, mayhem is a good description. Spring Bada-Bing is under two weeks away, and I'm printing and binding my butt off. It should be fun though, I can't wait to go to Richmond again! I've also decided to change up a few things with my flasks. The mermaid is now printed on a peachy/orange colored leather, and I've decided to retire the hippocampus. Sad yes, but nobody but me ever knew what it was! There's a few other heraldic critters I want to carve though, I might include him in a set of paper cards.

In the works...

2010-04-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

Time for another "in the works" post. This is one of the first designs I made way back in 2008 when I was still printing with terrible ink. That block got destroyed in the cross-country move, along with "moonshine" and "here be dragons". I just finished re-carving it, look for it in my shop soon and at Spring Bada-Bing!

Fun (and productive) things to do during unemployment!

2010-03-31T13:05:00.000-04:00

It’s been almost a year since I left Savannah, which makes it almost a year since I’ve had a steady job. I’ve had things here and there; temp jobs, some freelance gigs, and some very patient parents to keep me going. The hardest part was figuring out what to do with myself so I didn’t get all bummed out, which is precisely what I did for the first few months back in MD. But lately I’ve been happy and really productive, I’m not flat broke, and I thought I’d share some of the fun things that have kept me going.

1) Get a hobby: This can be a real bank account drainer if you don’t play your cards right. Mine is pretty obvious, and more or less keeps me at an even level. It pays for itself and the occasional beer, so I can’t complain. If you do wind up crafting, Etsy rocks, and so do craft shows, which brings me to

2) Travel: Yet another insta-broke option if you do it wrong. I know for a fact I’d have way more money than I do if I didn’t travel like a maniac. There are ways to make it work though; go visit friends, travel with family, go somewhere and get a short-term low-paying job, or if you’re the crafty type, go to craft shows or conventions related to what you do. Those are always worth the investment, and they get you out of your basement for a while.

3) Make the foods you love from scratch: This is a fun thing to do. I realized sometime during the seven feet of snow we got this winter that a lot of my favorite things weren’t so hard to make. Then, after the initial cost of buying supplies, I realized not only were they easy to make, they saved me a lot of money. I now make “gourmet” sandwiches, flatbread, Chipotle-style burritos, and other random things that I used to go to the store for. Now I only go out to eat things I couldn’t make myself, like sushi or Indian food.

4) Not only can you make the foods you love, if you like iced tea or sweet drinks, you can actually make some of those from scratch too. I was (and ok, still am) addicted to Honest Tea, but at 1.50+ per bottle, it was really starting to add up. There’s always a collection of great teas in my house, so I added a little agave and stuck it in the fridge. Perfect. I also have a recipe for homemade ginger ale I’ll be trying as soon as the weather gets warmer.

5) Get in shape: I’ll be the first to admit I’m horrible at this one. In Savannah I biked everywhere for three years, then last May aka 30 days of solid rainstorms rolled in and I got lazy. I’ve never been one of those gung-ho “Lets go to the gym!” people, but taking my dog for long walks and biking to the grocery store are great excuses to burn some calories. If you are one of those weight lifting, treadmill shredding types though, more power to ya, you’re a better woman than I.

6) Learn new things: This can come in many forms. Be it learning science and math through stumbleupon *cough* or teaching yourself a new skill, improving one’s knowledge base is always productive, especially if said skill is a money saver, like cutting your own hair.

7) Catch up on your reading. I don’t think this one needs explanation.

8) Help out with chores and housework: It’s amazing how unemployment can make you so bored that shoveling snow, cleaning the bathroom, or giving the dog a bath can actually be fun. Running errands for people is another great way to keep yourself occupied.

9) Reconnect with old friends, and make new ones: You can’t use the “I’m too busy” excuse when you’re not doing much, although if you have an intense crafty business, that’s acceptable. That said, sorry I’ve been so busy everyone!

10) Apply for jobs: I’ve been doing this for months. I’ve had a few interviews here and there, but overall, no dice. It’s become a game now though, like “how fast can I write an awesome cover letter” and “Let’s see who won’t bother to reply to me today”. Yes it’s a bit depressing but if you can’t have a good sense of humour about it, you’ll never make it.

Some notes from SGC, and why I need to go to grad school

2010-03-27T22:03:00.000-04:00

It's Saturday night, and I'm exhausted. I should be less exhausted, I participated in far less insanity than I normally do, but I think it was the extra traveling to and from the center of action that did me in. The demos were great, I'm going to do one particular process that involved monotypes and jello with my little sibs, so expect another "Printing with kids" entry in the next month or so. Open portfolio, like always, was my favorite part. This was the first time in really two years I've had people other than close friends see my work and have the opportunity to talk to me about it.

By the end though, I was feeling kinda weird, and it took me a while to figure out why. I was homesick. Not for a place, but for a creative community. I really needed the time away from school to figure out what I wanted to do with myself, and decide the direction I want my work to go in. I finally want to make real art pieces again, not just flasks, and I have so many ideas in my head I'm worried I won't get them all done. Seriously, I don't think that's ever happened. It's time to look at grad school.

Mopey Ned stuff aside, the past few days were really great. I met some people from my old school, notably Emma and Berta, who do nifty work and were fun to hang out with. I saw people I haven't seen in ages that I missed. I also have some links for y'all of some of the awesome artists I saw today, or who saw me:

Ericka Walker
Edward Bateman
Timothy Robert Kenney
Beauvais Lyons
Theresa Haberkorn
Embarrazine

These are certainly not all the people I talked to, but these are the people who gave me business cards with websites on them. The majority of people that I saw were working on sites, so there may be a second wave of links in the future. But seriously, check those people out. Other good things to come from SGC: NEW BRAYER HELL YEAH! I got a big one from McClains so I can do larger work now without fretting over the whole "my brayer is four inches wide" thing. I also got a honing stuff so I can get my tools to where they should be.

Oh, and for the person who stole a flask from me... well ok I guess it's flattering my stuff is cool enough to steal, but still. Oh well. Enjoy it.

Skin and Bones pt. 1

2010-03-23T20:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, this was a busy month. Getting ready for SGC had me making flasks, playing with leather molds, and making new artwork. Here's what's been occupying the majority of my time.

Vulpes vulpes | Linocut and spraypaint on leather | 34" x 40" at widest points

Lemur mongoz | Linocut and spraypaint on leather | 39" x 32" at widest points

Rana catesbeiana | Woodcut and spraypaint on leather | 15" x 14" at widest points

Nowhere else on the internet will I really get to post my artist statement, so here goes.

Bones are the most permanent things about us; they continue our existence after the rest of us is gone. However, the structure that supports our shapes and defines our features is often the least appreciated and least recognizable aspect of the individual. As people, we recognize each other and define animals based on appearance, but this is only skin deep. The outward appearance of animals and humans alike changes as we age and rots as we die, but our bones remain.

The process for this series reflects the ephemeral nature of skin and the permanent nature of bones. The skeletons were carved from linoleum or wood, and their shapes determined the silhouettes. For these I cut stencils and used spray paint for a softer, less defined representation of the animal. The animals I have chosen, in keeping with my previous work, are all animals threatened by our existence through habitat destruction or outright exploitation.

My decision to present these images on sheep skins rather than traditional paper was a difficult one. I liked the idea of printing bones on skin, but unlike the leather I use on my flasks, these skins are not recycled. Yes I do love leather, but I have to be ok with it ethically to use it in my work. I had been playing around with the idea of printing on skins for over a year, and finally decided to go for it when I found a supplier who sold "seconds", or skins that were damaged or low quality. I may wind up using these in the future for flasks when I need particular colors.

Oh, and I've got the molds finished too. Enjoy!

Sick Talent, Sick Mind

2010-03-22T21:24:00.001-04:00

If there's one thing I love about the Baltimore Craigslist, it's the people who call out the jerks looking for free or cheap creative work. About a month ago there was a real winner, a guy who wanted to start his own greeting card line by getting free and cut-rate work from everyone who'd be involved, from printers to designers to distrubters (He posted on several sites looking for cheap work). For the designers and illustrators he was offering a generous 20$ per press ready design. A friend of mine send him an frustrated yet cordial email, WHICH HE RESPONDED TO IN ALL CAPS TRUST ON THAT. It was abusive and distressing, but one of my favorite lines (aside from "trust on that") was "AND AS SICK AS YOUR TALENT IS, YOUR MIND IS SICKER." I had been looking for an excuse to do some prints with hand-carved text, and "Sick Talent Sick Mind" seemed like an appropriate motto. I got carvin'.

Sick Talent Sick Mind - Panthera Tigris | 8" x 8" linocut

Sick Talent Sick Mind - Lepus Arcticus | 8" x 8" linocut

I had been wanting to carve skulls specifically after I went to the Smithsonian to take pictures of the skeletons in the bone room. It's oddly liberating to use your own reference material for obscure things like that. Sure the internet is a great resource but after the dead bird experience I learned my lesson about creating artwork based off of other peoples' photographs. Annnnnyway, since it's the year of the tiger (aka my year) I chose a tiger skull and magenta for myself, and Rabbit skull (her year... and actually an arctic hare) and yellow for my dear friend who so boldly called out the jerk. I decided to go with their specific Latin names, since the Smithsonian labels everything.

These opened up a whole can of worms for me. I'll have some large, unique things to present at SGC, that I'll post on here later. Suffice to say, I love carving skeletons, I love printing on leather, and I love spray paint.

Skull Molds in Progress

2010-03-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

Leather molding is an interesting, fairly easy process that I've been playing with. I had some leather scraps from something else I haven't shared yet, and I've been curious about how to do it for a while now. I'm getting pretty good at it, and I just love the idea of skin providing structure of the bones that define the most identifiable features of an animal.

I have six skulls total, but only two of them work well for the molding, my cat and badger skulls. Sadly, my deer, raccoon, and blue jay are too beat up, and my groundhog skull just looked horrible. If I keep making more of these, I'll probably see if I can get ahold of a fox or coyote, since the predators seem to work well.

As for where I'm going with these, they're fairly fragile right now, but spray painting them gives them a nice rigidity (and spring!), and I'm hoping giving them some color will remove them from the realm of southwesty skull stuff. I'm trying to stay away from that.

So, wanna make a mold of something yourself? It's not super easy but it definitely isn't the most difficult thing I've done. The first few I did didn't turn out that well, and I think the trial and error bit is what keeps it from being a walk in the park. What you'll need is the object you want to mold, a piece of leather cut about 3-4 times larger than the object (I use a 2oz suede. A 3-4 oz would probably be better, but I'm working with what I got), a pot of water, a stove, a towel, and something to dry the mold on. That's it.

1) Leather molding tutorials say to heat the water to 120 degrees, but I've had better luck with hotter water. I test the water as it heats, and when I can't really stand the temperature anymore I turn off the heat. Soak the leather for about 10 minutes or longer, until it's completely soaked and sinking.

2) While the leather is soaking, place your object on the piece of whatever you're going to dry the leather on. Not difficult.

3) Blot the leather on the towel, but don't take off too much water. I like my suede to be a bit wet.

4) Drape the leather over your object, using your fingers to feel out any details. With the skulls, I work from back to front, getting the details right progressively. The first time I did it I just kinda let the folds and wrinkles do what they wanted, but you actually have a lot of control over how they look. I try to get them more or less symmetrical and I manipulate the direction to give the piece the movement I want. If your fingers are sticking to parts that you're trying to push inward, use a tool like the end of the spoon to poke it in.

5) Once you're reasonably happy with the mold, let it dry for about 12-18 hours, or until it's completely dry. If you want more detail, wait about an hour and go back and fiddle with it some more. Don't remove the leather, just push in the areas that you want to look better.

6) When the leather is dry, you can remove your object. If your mold wraps slightly underneath the object you're going to have to stretch it a bit to get it off... but that's the great thing about these. They go back into place!

7) If you don't like the shape of the draped leather, you can cut it down with sharp scissors. And there you go, you're done! Have fun!

Spring Bada-Bing and BEST

2010-03-19T15:25:00.001-04:00

Spring is here, the snow is gone, and a new slew of indie craft shows are right around the corner! I will officially be participating in Spring Bada-Bing in Richmond on April 18th. The new vendor list isn't up yet, but I'm really curious to see what other awesome crafty people I'll be selling my wares with.

In other good news, I'm more or less officially a member of the Baltimore Etsy Street Team! I've paid my dues, and I'm just waiting on an invite to the google group. I think this means I'm far more of a crafter than I am a graphic designer, and I'm completely ok with this.

I'm still getting ready for SGC... I can't believe it's next Wednesday! Sometime after the conference I'll be making new flask designs again. I've definitely got a Darwin flask in the works, and I'm still deciding on layout for a flask dedicated to Tesla. Science FTW!

A couple of thank-yous

2010-03-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

As gratifying as selling on Etsy can be, one thing the site lacks is required feedback. Sure they bug you a little, but I never hear from over 2/3 of my buyers. However, the people who do send me messages or leave me feedback are great and totally make the whole selling online thing worthwhile. Here's a great appreciation photo I got yesterday from Andrea Georgas from languageisalie.com

This photo is adorable. They match.

Also, I want to say a huuuuuuge thank you to Tara aka Tarabu, who sponsored me for the Baltimore Etsy Street Team. I'll be joining these guys shortly, I'm super excited and I'll do a full post when everything is finalized.

Thanks guys!

Pink Kitty and Screaming Squirrel

2010-03-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hey guys. I know, it's been a while since I've made a post but to be honest with you, I don't have anything new to show just yet. SGC is coming up soon, and while there's a possibility I won't make it to the majority of the conference, I do want to show my stuff at the open portfolio session. I haven't done anything non-flasky or non-cardy in about two years! Sad, right? I had given up on being an artist, but I'm trying to make up for that with some fine art thingummies that have taken up most of my brainpower. And to make up for my lack of posting, here's something I'm going to be reprinting very soon:

Cute, right? Not the best photo but hey. I haven't had these for a while. I'd sold a lot of them when I was in Savannah. I've been wanting to reprint them but I left some of my blocks there after I moved in May, and have only just retrieved them. I also found my favorite little fat bird block that I did ages ago, which sold out as well. Also, in some very good news, there's a new boutique opening up in Fells Point, End Times Trading Post. They want some of my work! I'll be creating custom flasks for them and hopefully selling some of my cards. I'm super excited XD

Does anyone want to do artscape with me?

2010-02-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

So basically, Artscape rocks. It's held in Baltimore every year and its absolutely huge... the largest free arts festival in the country, according to their website. This year Artscape falls on July16-18, and I'm thinking about getting a table to sell my flasks and prints. However, the fee is $250, and while that's not bad for a three day event, I still don't think I can afford it on my own. So, does anyone out there want to split a table with me for the festival? The info for the DIY section can be found here.

I PRINTED ON PAPER!

2010-01-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

Yes you heard me. I printed something NOT ON LEATHER. I'm so not used to this. It's so weird to only have to cut paper and print on it then be done, no binding, no waterproofing, no sewing. This was also the largest run I've done on Bertha so far, and it turned out way faster than I expected.

Anyway, these are my 2010 Valentines. I've said for years I was going to do them, and so many of my friends made nice Christmas cards this year so this is my way of repaying them. I freaking love these prints. Would you expect anything else from me?

The Squid of Procrastination

2010-01-16T12:11:00.001-05:00

So back in October, I ran a contest for new ideas, one of which is just not feasible at this moment, and the other that I just kept putting off. The first one was the journal idea, which I still would like to do but I'm very impatient with bookbinding so I'm still looking for a good solution. The second was this guy, the Squid of Procrastination.

It wasn't for lack of trying, I promise you. But squid are one of those things that I can't seem to draw well to save my soul. It's the tentacles... 10 is just too many. I can deal with 8 just fine, but then it seems like i run out of room and I have no idea where to stick the other two. So the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, until one day I sat my butt down and doodled about 50 squids. One of the doodles looked ok, so I drew it larger and the heavens must have smiled on me cause dammit, I did it right. I think this ranks up there as one of the coolest looking things I've done, and I'll probably re-print it in random colors as I get them.

There's also a second version of this guy, in a light blue-ish color on dark purple. I didn't expect that to work at all, but I had a bit of success there. I had to lay on the ink so thick though that the good ones are still drying, so I want to leave them be for now.

And Matt - Expect a squid in your mail hopefully by the end of next week!

Moonshine!

2010-01-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

Wow, can you tell I'm unemployed again? The posting is actually regular again, and I have time to carve new things... well, re-carve old ones anyway. I was trying to put off the squid (WHICH HAS BEEN DRAWN, I'll have you know) and I thought, hey, I miss my moonshine flasks. I got a lot of good press because of them, and they were so cute. Thing is, the original prints were meant for 8oz flasks, which I have since abandoned due to size, and the original blocks got destroyed on the road trip I took this summer. It's all for the best too, because I got to fix some of the things I didn't like about the first prints, and these wound up with so much more attitude and spunk. They're mostly a little mis-printed and full of chatter, and I love it. I'm so happy to have them back.

OH. I forgot to tell you. I'll be vending at Chesapeake Roller Derby's home games this year! They're pirates. The first one is Jan 23. You can check them out here.

In the works...

2010-01-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd show y'all this (that's right, all four of you), not because it's really worth looking at but because of how I printed it. Since the flasks I use are smaller now, and the blocks for the first moonshine prints got destroyed, I decided to carve them again. I had to transfer the key image to the second block so here's that proof inked up with a brush and... wait for it... hand-printed with a flask ><. It worked really well, actually. Go figure.

Printing with Kids: Foam Block Prints

2010-01-07T18:49:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't already know, I am the oldest of eight children. The ages range from 23 (me) to 4 (Katy), and only two of us are old enough to be out of the house. My mom lives up outside of Frederick roughly an hour or so from me, so I don't get up there often, but I made the trek with a car full of art supplies to show them relief printing.

They took to it like elephants to a mud hole, which is to say really well, and about accurately describes the amount of mess you wind up making but hey, it's all good. At first we used my carving tools to make stamp-like designs, which is actually more difficult with foam than you'd expect. But by the end we all figured out that just drawing with a ballpoint pen is a bit easier and just as much fun.

Elizabeth, Hannah, and Joey, and some of our mess.

Since I had a ton of eastern and a little western paper lying around, my original plan was to show them the difference between the two types of paper by having them print on both, but we wound up just using the Thai Kozo. This is a GREAT paper for kids to learn on. Thai Kozo is strong and thin, and it lets you see where you've rubbed when you're printing with a wooden spoon. It's also a gorgeous paper in general and the rough-looking foam prints look pretty nifty on it.

Mary, #4 out of our gang, really got the hang of rolling a slab of ink. I was so proud! One of the problems with water based ink is that it dries SO FAST. I hate the stuff for my own printing. Fortunately, speedball block-printing ink can be revived with a quick spray of water, so keeping a spray bottle around is strongly recommended. By the end of the day we did monotypes by painting the ink directly onto the blocks. This is kinda crazy with a lot of kids, because the ink dries on the blocks so they have to rush everything. It looked pretty cool though, there were rainbow alpacas and multi-colored quails and all sorts of neat stuff.

Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth looking silly and carving blocks.

The great thing about foam block printing is how inexpensive it is, well, compared to normal printmaking anyway. They sell scratch-foam kits online that are pretty similar, but I didn't need that many brayers for my sibs. A couple years ago at SGC I saw a demo where an artist was doing suicide cuts on pink insulation foam with a hot knife (which looked great by the way, he was a master of the rainbow roll) so I said hey, why not try it! The stuff I used was called Foamular, it was 24" by 96" and is really easy to cut. It costs about 8$ for a sheet, and depending on whether you have to split it in half to get it in your car, you can get up to 96 4"x6" blocks out of it. Yeah, that's a ton of material, and it's really easy for the kids to use because they don't have to worry about sharp tools.

A good sampling of how the blocks can turn out.

Wanna do it yourself? Here's a breakdown of everything you'll need.

FOAM BLOCK PRINTING SUPPLY LIST:

Foamular (or similar) Insulation Board. This can be found in the building materials section of Home Depot. It's pink and you only need to make one or two moderately deep cuts, then you can just break it off. It doesn't make a mess like styrofoam when you cut it unless you have a little sister who likes breaking it into bits.

Rubber Brayer - Hard or Soft. I used a hard brayer because its such a soft material, and it did a great job. Hard brayers tend to be cheaper, too, and you can pick one up at JoAnn's for about 7$

Speedball Block Printing Ink - Waterbased. This is the cheapest ink I can think of, and it's easy as pie to clean up. We had ink EVERYWERE and it just vanishes with a wet cloth. The water based is cheaper than the oil based and it comes in clear bottles. You can buy the colors individually from an art supply store (NOT MICHAELS OR JOANN'S, they don't tend to carry it) or you can buy sets offline. The price varies from location, and if you're near a good art supply store you're probably better off buying there.

Paper - What kind is really up to you. You can do this on cheap inkjet paper, or you can go my route and get something nicer. I'm not going to lie, Asian paper really works best. The kids loved the Kozo, and like I said, it let you see where you rubbed, but if you can't get that (or want something with colors) get some origami paper. It's thin and looks pretty and should be perfect for small foam prints.

Carving Tools - honestly, this can be as simple as a ball point pen. The marks they make are deep enough to print well and varied enough to be interesting. If you want to make stamp-type prints where the background is removed, a cheap wood carving set from Michael's should do the trick, or prick up a set of speedball carving tools when you go to get the ink. WARNING: This is messy! Little bits of foam wind up everywhere, so do it in a place where you can sweep.

Wood Spoon- For printing. You can buy a baren if you want (in the same place as the speedball ink and the speedball carving tools... and guess who makes it? Speedball!) but you really don't need to. A flat wood spoon gave us some beautiful results.

Sharpies to draw your images with.

Plastic Paint Scraper or palette knife of some sort for mixing ink

Spray Bottle for keeping the ink moist. Spray from a distance and roll the ink until it looks even and hisses again.

A place to mix ink - I prefer palette paper for the water based ink, you can find this where painting supplies are kept. I like that it's on a pad and you can just tear off sheets to clean up. You can also use wax paper taped down to a flat surface or a piece of glass. Glass is standard for printmaking but not everyone has portable, non-table pieces lying about.

Water and Rags - for clean up. You can use paper towels but old rags hold up better to cleaning the foam blocks.

WHAT TO DO

First thing's first, prepare your materials and working area. Figuring it out when as you go along kinda gets annoying. If you're working on a surface you care about, cover it in paper or a drop cloth. It's really easy for the brayer to slip off the block when you're inking it up, and while the water based ink is easy clean-up, the pigment can still stain light surfaces. Cut down your blocks, get your rolling space ready (be it palette paper, wax paper, glass, or whathaveyou), and cut or tear your paper down to size. This will make it easier for the kids once they get going. You may also want to fool around with carving a block or two so you can figure out how the material handles.

Once everything is ready to go, have them draw their images with sharpie and demonstrate how to carve the block. If you figured out a few good techniques, pass them on to the kids, who will probably figure out something cool and pass it back to you for next time. Make sure you tell them that their image will print backward, and if they want to write their names, that the actual letters will be backward too.

When they've got their blocks carved, squeeze some ink out onto the palette paper and spread it evenly with your knife, then use the brayer to roll out a thin, even slab of ink. There's definitely a technique to this- you don't want to roll the brayer too far out or the slab will dry quickly and the ink will be too thin. About six inches or so is good. Roll quickly and in one direction, not back and forth, picking up the brayer at the end and putting it back down again at the beginning. It seems odd at first but it become second nature after a few goes at it. The ink should have a light hissy sound when you've got it right. Now, the biggest problem with this ink is how fast it dries. Honestly, I hate it. I don't ever use it but it's so much easier to clean up than oil based ink, and that's important when you're working with children. So keep the spray bottle handy.

Once the ink slab is rolled out, start applying ink to the blocks by rolling the brayer firmly over the surface. Use the same sort of motion as when you rolled the slab, picking up the brayer at the end of the block. You may have to re-ink the brayer once or twice to get the entire thing covered. Try to do the inking quickly, because it can dry on the block. This is something the kids can do themselves or you can do for them, my siblings did it themselves after watching me.

After the block is inked, place a piece of paper on top of it, and rub all over the print with the back of the wooden spoon. I find it helps if they keep their hands on the print at all times while rubbing to keep the paper from moving. This is also where the thinner paper is nice, because they can see the color come through where they have rubbed. You will have to help the kids the first time so they don't rub too hard. Once they (and you) are fairly confident that all of the image has been rubbed, slowly lift off the paper. Voila! You have a print. Now they can keep printing that block, and as they get better, each one will look more and more alike.

If you notice that the ink slab is getting kinda dry, you can spray it with the water, lightly and preferably from a distance so you get even coverage, then roll out the slab again until the ink hisses. If the slab gets messy you can also use the palette knife to scrape the ink back into a pile, mix it with a teeny bit of water and roll it out. When all of that gets too annoying, just add more ink. Of course you could just do that, but it winds up making the slab thick and messy, and you waste a lot of ink.

Once you're done printing, clean up is fairly easy. Clean off the blocks, brayer, and palette knife with water and the rags. If you've used palette paper or wax paper, simply throw it away, then clean up any missed spots you may have left on your printing surface. If you carved any areas of your blocks with carving tools, sweep up the messy bits and you're done.

Woo! I think that's everything. If you have any questions or if I missed something feel free to let me know, and good luck!

Too Cold to Print

2010-01-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

Everyone is always telling me how awesome it is that I have my own press, and yes, it totally is. I have everything I need and no one gouges the ink. However, there are some drawbacks to my current set up in the garage: my press is on the floor, the garage has no heat, and there's no one there to point out when I'm being a retard. Don't get me wrong, I normally love the garage. When it's warm I can open the door and get an amazing flood of light, and I can hang out with katydids, bees, butterflies, and once a curious chipmunk.

The winter is another story entirely. It's damn cold in there, and I wouldn't be able to do any work if it weren't for the space heater. It's actually so cold that without the heater, it's literally too cold to print. After years of working in a nice, temperature-controlled print lab at school I didn't know this was possible! Even though I keep my ink inside it's almost impossible to mix or roll out a nice slab of ink on a cold piece of glass.

I decided to take a second shot at those glorious two-colored temperance flasks, and while I mostly failed miserably again, I got some funny results when I was starting out. I wanted to mix my dark green with tint base and guess what? They didn't. You couldn't tell from the slab, but there was a distinct separation on my brayer where the lower viscosity tint base kept away from the thicker colored ink. I wound up having to set my glass slab on the space heater to get anything to work at all, and I kept it on my lap so it wouldn't get too stiff.

So after all this trouble, why is my press on the floor of the unheated garage? Funny story, actually. When I got back from my crazy road trips Mara helped me get the press out of the car, and we just stuck it in the garage. The original plan was to move the press into the unfinished part of the basement, but back in October Mara and I figured out there was mold in the basement, and she had to destroy the walls to fix the problem. The walls have been mostly fixed but the basement is still a disaster. Most of the objects that occupied the finished areas are now in the storage parts, and the table I was going to put my press on is covered in power tools and drywall bits. Go ahead, play the world's tiniest violin for me. I just thought I'd share, cause I found the whole situation pretty funny.

Oh, and by the way, I'd like introduce you to my friend Bertha. She looks pretty rough, but I assure you this is miles better than she looked when I got her. Sure she's missing all but one of her stops and was more or less covered in rust from 50 + years of humid sea air, but I love her. She's a trooper and she's traveled over 4500 miles with me. She's a great press, she'll print pretty much anything, and I'm glad to have her... even if it's on the floor.

You got me, Temperance

2009-12-27T14:01:00.000-05:00

I fully believe in Karma and Luck and praying to St. Anthony and little superstitious nonsense. So when I started putting "temperance" on flasks, I knew it had to bite me in the butt one day, and it finally did when I decided to put Temperance herself in pinup-angel form on a flask. I haven't had a bunch of prints go this wrong since sophomore year!

First of all, the ones that did turn out (all four of them, that is) turned out gorgeous. I love the color and the print and the way it looks both printed and wrapped. So what happened? A few things. First off I think I messed up a bit when I transferred the image to the second block. I figured that out after the first print, no biggie, I just adjust where I place my print on the second block, right? Nope. Leather is a fickle substance to print on. I've registered two blocks before, but it wasn't a full bleed. I've put wood flats behind almost everything and that hasn't been a problem either because nothing is actually registered. But ink is tacky, leather is stretchy, and it warps the printing surface when you pull it off. Oh, and this doesn't happen in any predictable way, since every piece of leather is slightly different. Augh.

After getting thoroughly frustrated with my two-block prints, I did this one with just a wood flat. I like it too, but it's not the same. Helluva lot easier though, that's for sure. I have four of each now, and I think I'm going to do some experiments with the first one to get it to print a little better. But first I need to find more similar colored leather, since I wasted a WHOLE JACKET on those damn prints.

On a positive note, I got some awesome Christmas presents, including an ipod, an ihome speaker thing and a great new camera. I got to listen to music while I printed and taking pictures is way less frustrating now. My family rocks.

Ok, back to the drawing board.

Ohhh I've been a bad blogger

2009-12-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry kids. I know, I've been neglecting you. Let me catch you up. In the past couple months I got a job, my job ended, had a craft fair, and have been selling a ton of stuff on Etsy. All of these are good things, well minus the job ending part but it was seasonal so I expected it. The craft fair went smashingly! It was Charm City Craft Mafia's holiday heap... I made more flasks than I have ever had at one time and I SOLD OUT by 2PM. I hope they let me come back another time, I had a blast. Since then I've been going nuts reprinting things and trying to keep up with my Etsy orders, hence no new stuff.

Want a preview of what's coming next? YES I know I still need to make journals and squids, they just haven't been able to come to fruition. I've also started carving a new pin-up... well sort of. It was supposed to be something classy but you know me, classy turns goofy in .2 seconds. I've made a bunch of temperance-themed flasks, so far all customs, so I'm working on a tribute to the virtue herself. Here's the proof:

Cute huh? There's a bit of chatter that needs clearing up, and I have to carve the second block (Yes! Second block!) but the hard part is over. I can't wait 'til the holidays are done so I can print some of these.

In other news, stay tuned for the Christmas Customs post I'll have once the holiday has passed. There's three I really love, but I don't want to give away any surprises!

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

Stuff Other People Make - Ashley 'Sparky' McAlpine

2009-11-03T22:12:00.000-05:00

I'm proud to present you guys with a new section of my blog - Stuff Other People Make. Some weeks I don't have time to create new things, or I'm just working on stuff I've already made. Other times I'm working on gift commissions, which for obvious reasons can't be posted until after they've been given. So instead of going for ages in between posts, why not show off some of your work?

The first vict...er... volunteer is a good friend of mine, Ashley 'Sparky' McAlpine. She could be my partner in crime. For any of you who’ve ever wondered who in the world gives me information on cleaning bones, it’s this girl. From macabre to whimsical, and sometimes a bit of both, she is a talented painter, illustrator, crafter, and skeleton articulator. Her webcomic Castle of Cards is pretty fantastic too, and includes an absent-minded version of yours truly!

I’ve picked out some of my favorites from your work. Let’s start with the cut paper cards. What inspired you to make those?

I just like the style of cut-paper; I find it very charming and I wanted to try it myself so I found some old wallpaper sample books and got to cutting! I really would like to make more eventually.

They’re so rich. Being the Photoshop dork I am, I personally wouldn’t have been too keen on cutting all this by hand. How long does it take you to make each one?

Depending on how complex the card, roughly 3/4 of a Disney movie or one episode of House for a simple card. I like to thumbnail it out first and after I've worked it out enough to move to the cut paper it goes fairly fast.

That’s a lot of time. I know you sell these in boutiques. What has that experience been like?

Fairly good, although I have run into issues with them not selling because people say "They're so nice, I would never send them!" That got pretty frustrating and that’s when I started making simpler cards that I could sell for cheaper.

Have you thought about selling/making them just as art pieces, or using them as an illustration technique?

Oh yes, I'm really interested in doing something like that. Once I have some more free time, I want to get some pieces like that churned out so I can show them to some places around town.

Awesome! I hope that works out, because I’d love to see more of them. Switching visual gears, I’d like to talk about the ponies. I don’t know about everyone else, but My Little Ponies were some of my favorite toys when I was a kid, and there’s a surprisingly large group of crafters out there who rework their old toys. I know they aren’t a focus of yours, but you seem to have fun making them. What’s your thought process when making these?

My Little Ponies were some of my favorite toys growing up as well! I had hundreds of them when I was little. Usually when I'm making them, I have a general idea of what I want to and I just start in on it! I sketched out the border collie pony before I started in on it, but that’s the only one where I've ever done any preliminary work before starting in on the sculpting.

Any plans to make more?

Oh yes, they're a lot of fun to make so I'll definitely be making more.

Any suggestions for other people who may want to take a brush and some clay to a piece of their childhood?

Don’t rush! Take your time and be proud of what you're doing, although I think that goes with all creative endeavors.

Agreed, it’s pretty sound advice for any crafting project. The last thing I want to talk about was your senior thesis, the forgotten bestiary. I have a similar project going on, because of my interest in heraldic imagery. What piqued your interest in this category, and what resources did you use to do your research?

Just about everything was open for research for the Forgotten Bestiary. Internet, LOTS of books, and lots of time researching various cultures. It was interesting how some cultures would view the same mythical beast differently. Same name, and same culture, but it some sources would cite is looking and acting completely differently than what other sources said! In the end, I just tried to find a happy medium between the two stories to come up with my illustrations for the monsters

I know exactly what you're talking about. Personally, I like the open-ended nature of the animals, because it allows for modern artists to take liberties in terms of anatomy. Do you plan on taking this series further?

Oh my yes, it's another series that I would love to continue.

Again, awesome. Anything else you’d like to add for the readers?

Well, if you want to do anything artistic or creative, have fun with it! If you're not having fun with what you're doing, you must be doing it wrong.

*********************************

Thank you so much, Sparky, for giving me some of your time. More of Ashley’s work can be viewed here and here, and Castle of Cards, which updates twice a week, is located here. I hope you guys enjoyed this, I'm going to be doing these once or twice a month. If you're a nifty crafter and you'd like your work showcased, send me an email, and I'll see about an interview!

Dead Plush Prototypes

2009-11-02T16:11:00.000-05:00

These aren't actually new, but they definitely deserve a spot on my blog. Like all of the crazy skeleton things I do, these were inspired by the Scavenger's line I did back in senior year of college. They're also prototypes... these were actually some of the first things I've ever sewn. My first frog was a mess but still adorable. Since I've made these I've learned how to hand-sew a little better, so at some point I'll make more, and they should look a little more refined.

The dissected frog was the first one I designed. I've made about four of them but they still need some refinement happening. I love how you can pull their hearts out, though.

Bonefish was the second one I made, also the most complicated to figure out. They take a lot of time but look SO FREAKING CUTE. Honestly, I love these, and I think they're my favorites.

I've only made one of him, and he seems to be most people's least favorite... but why? I think he's nifty. Perfectly normal on one side, all dead and squishy on the other.

Right now these guys aren't on etsy, mostly because they're a little rough around the edges. Any thoughts though? Should I keep making more?

Better photos, as promised

2009-10-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

Ohhhh fall. You give me such pretty backdrops for my flasks. Seems like I never think to take photos on the days its nice and sunny, but at least today wasn't raining. Still, I can't seem to take perfect photos of these. The colors wind up oversaturated, so I had to do a bit of editing to make the flasks look the way they do in real life. They're pretty close now though. Both of these are now available on etsy.

News from the craft fair

2009-10-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

So the craft fair turned out ok. It was weird, mostly an event, but I still had fun. My neighbor to the left made tutus and hula hoops, and they were gorgeous! She also introduced me to the world of hooping, which I didn't know existed. I sold four flasks the whole day, but everyone seemed to love my little bird cards and sugar skull patches. I really didn't have too much of a use for them, but other people had some fun ideas: patches, stickers, car-toilet decorations (that was my favorite). To the right of me was populated with performing arts students from MICA dressed in goofy costumes to make the kids laugh. Music was good, beer was good, and overall a good night. I look forward to the Holiday Heap show!

On another note, it's always interesting to see what people buy and why they buy it. 90% of what I've sold in the past year has been for gifts, but all of the flasks I sold Sunday night were for the buyers. Also, 3 of the 4 flasks I sold were peacocks. Didn't expect that one.

And the winner is... (ok, winners are....)

2009-10-24T23:17:00.000-04:00

First let me say that picking ideas for the flasks was a pain in the butt. I had to choose something that I'd want to carve, that would would look good on a flask, and that I thought would sell and there were a few of those. I had to call in backup (aka Graham) to help me with this one. And now, drumroll please....

Flasks: Matt B wins this one! I decided I could do really cool things with a squid and the more I thought about it, the better I liked it. So expect to see some squid in the future!

Other Items: Rita Y! I actually tested this idea with a few notebooks I bought (super cheap-o ones at that) and it looks nifty. I think I may order a few nice recycled notebooks and print directly on those instead of doing the leather for durability sake, but I'm excited to try this out.

Thanks guys! The two of you who won, send me an email with your addys and I'll ship your items when I make them. Rita, you get to choose what design I've done to put on the notebook. This was fun, I love getting feedback from people and its good to know that y'all like what I do. I may do another one in the future ;-) Thanks for voting everyone.

Two for you guys, Hippocampus and Gryphon

2009-10-23T14:21:00.000-04:00

First, sorry for the bad photo, it's raining today so I was a bit limited on dry ground. I'll post some better ones when I get a sunny day. The first one here is a Hippocampus (or Hippocamp, if you prefer, but I prefer the one that sounds like part of my brain) and the second is pretty obviously a Gryphon. Each one has been printed on top a wood flat. It's a great way to lighten up a dark piece of leather, and I adore the texture. Last week I went through one of the boxes I never open, and lo and behold was my favorite piece or ratty, nasty, varnished wood! You can see the grain so much better on these than you can on the Narwhal or Quail prints. The leather for the Hippocampus flask came from an old skirt and the Gryphon was printed on a leather shirt.

I was a little worried when I saw my stock for the craft show for the Great Halloween Lantern Parade, which may wind up being on Sunday now because of the rain. In my head it seemed like I had done a lot of designs, and when you look at everything I've made in the past year (i.e., nothing) it is a lot. But I still freaked out and said OH NO I NEED TWO MORE DESIGNS and these guys popped out. I've had a soft spot for heraldic imagery ever since I was a kid. My nana would take my sister me to the Lithuanian festival, and I was fascinated by the Iron Wolf of Vilnius. I should make one of him.

Anyway, I'm thinking of carving some more legendary critters. I've been tossing the idea around for a while and now that I've started, I don't think I'm going to stop. They won't all be in flask form though, so don't worry. I won't get boring on y'all. ALSO, you guys have ONE MORE DAY to give me your ideas for flasks and products! It's already going to be hard choosing a winner, but hey, I love a challenge.

I made it, and I'm happy, so I'm having a contest!

2009-10-13T19:08:00.000-04:00

Oh man. I'm so excited. I made it into Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap 2009!!! I'm almost in shock. The other people who got in are super amazing, there are a lot of print shops on the list and I'm nowhere near as awesome as they are. I'll put up the full list when they do so you can check them out. This happens December 5 at St. Paul's Church.

Now here's more good news. I've decided to hold a contest! I'm always asking people what they think of my ideas, but for once I'd like to use some of yours. The contest will have two categories, ideas for flasks and ideas for new items.

1) Flask idea: Ever seen my flasks and thought, man, she should so make flasks with such and such on them! Well, give me your ideas. If I pick yours, I'll make a bunch and send you one! The active image area for the flasks I'm using is about 3.5 inches by 3.75. The image can go beyond that, but the main parts should be in the front. Example: A brontosaurus would not work so well on a flask, but a pterodactyl would be ok.

2) New items: I'm a little stumped on other things I can possibly make. I make my little pouches and I'm going to print a few cards, but I need new ideas. If I like your idea, I'll make you one of those! Here's what I'd like the ideas to involve:

I'd like the ideas to be on suede. I really love printing on the stuff.
I don't have, or even know how to use, a sewing machine, so things like purses and wallets are out. Yes I can make them but they won't hold up as well as I'd like them to.
The printable area should take up the majority of the object. The flasks are almost all image. The purse I made is just all suede, and uses a lot of material.
I'm open to printing on fabric, but I don't know how the ink will hold up in the washing machine yet.

Ok, that's it. Enter as many times as you want, I'm only going to choose one winner per category, but the same person could possibly win both. Ideas are due by the 24th, send them to me by email, blog comment, facebook, text message or carrier pigeon.

Narwhal Pouch

2009-10-07T14:04:00.000-04:00

Narwhal are so cuuuuuuute. These are the continuation of the theme, "Cute Animals with Things on Their Heads". Yeah. I've mostly run out of flasks for the moment except for one I'm saving for a commission, so just pouches for these guys. I didn't make that many, only four, I want to see if they sell at all at the craft fair. I've been using the quail pouch as a wallet and I love it, so maybe other people will have a use for them. This was a hideous jacket. I'm not lying. Truly awful, but the color of the leather was nice to work with. You can actually see the woodgrain on this one, with the light blue on the tan. <3

First Baltimore Craft Fair!

2009-10-05T14:03:00.000-04:00

Good news, everyone! I'm going to be a vendor at the Great Halloween Lantern Parade in Patterson Park! I'm going to be there all day on October 24th, the event lasts from 3PM to 930PM. So please drop in and say hi, it looks like its going to be a really cool event. Also, if you've been thinking about getting a flask, this will be a good way to avoid shipping fees through etsy.

In other news, I hit paydirt today. I'd been whittling down my colorful leather collection and was getting worried about all the darks I had... until I found the Value Village thrift store on Eastern Ave. There were actually so many slightly beat up colorful leather garments I had to turn some down. That never happens. And I finally found nice greens and a good sea green! I'm so excited. I can't wait to make things with them! And the best part was, DIRT CHEAP. Oh yeah, and a ton of nice clothes in general, for any of you other broke people out there.

Quail.... bag?

2009-10-01T18:15:00.000-04:00

Ok I'm done with the quail for a bit, I promise. I just had a bunch of extras to work with. And there's this. My purse. I'm mixed on it. It is very cute, the perfect size for me (holds my phone, wallet, keys, Lee Valley carving tools and a 5 x 7 mounted linoleum block) but I really can't see myself making another. It took forever. I don't even want to think about how many holes I punched. I made the pouch and thought hey, I can do this! And I can. Which is good to know. It's just super time consuming. I also shouldn't have lined it with white felt, it sticks out in places and doesn't look as good as I'd like it to. I'll definitely make more small pouches and such, but not another one of these unless someone asks me to.

These three pictures suck. Somehow the light got worse between the first photo and these. The little bird on the back is the same green as the front and the other quail flasks.

Printed Pouch Prototype

2009-09-29T21:05:00.000-04:00

So, this is kinda cool. I can make pouches. I wish life were like an RPG, and every time I taught myself a new skill a little victory song would play. Like, "You learned blanket stitch! Tada!" or "+1 beeswax of making your sewing easier obtained!" That stuff aside, I might make more of these. I printed one of the birds on an odd sized piece of leather and used it as a proof (hence the huge smudge) and I used a random piece of pink for the back. The inside is lined with felt, and gives the pouch a nice poofiness and stiffness.

Oh, and this one is the perfect size for keeping a pack of cigarettes and a lighter together. I need to make one for Dani.

Quail (I HAVE COLOR INK!)

2009-09-29T17:07:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: I made an Etsy listing for these! Find it here.

I visited my mom a couple weekends ago and learned that on top of 16 chickens they now have two quail. Quail are quite possibly the cutest, sweetest little birds ever. They aren't as skittish as finches but have prettier voices. I want one. I've been kicking around the idea of doing something with quail since, and now I have a small series in mind: cute animals with funny things on their heads. Right now I'm thinking of quail, narwhals, and angler fish.

On another note, I have color ink now! Woo! The colors are fairly translucent, which means I'm going to have to do a lot of testing before I finalize my designs to make sure the colors will work, but it still opens up a lot of doors for me. I also bought some beeswax so I can wax my own thread, so I'm no longer tied down to black.

These flasks were printed on a small green child's coat. It's hard to tell even up close, but there's actually a woodgrain pattern printed on top of the original leather color. I doubt I'll be doing this again any time soon because it just didn't show up, but if I find some really ratty wood it could look awesome. Also, since it was a child's jacket (that someone had crayoned on, no less) I had to cut the panels slightly smaller than normal to make the most of it. Normally when this happens I leave the back open, but I decided to try something new with the second color of leather and I LOVE IT. I used two colors of thread and it looks like argyle.

Sugar Skulls!

2009-09-28T02:41:00.001-04:00

My favorite holiday is coming up. Can you guess what it is? No, it isn't Halloween. Give up? It's Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Sugar skulls are some of my favorite things in the whole world, and I attempted to do a line around them. I say attempted because these really wound up being a pain in the butt, and despite printing about 40 skulls in various patterns, I only made four flasks. The skulls have been printed on skirts, leather-cemented to a jacket, and embroidered for extra durability. I like the end result, but the skulls turned out a little salty. The blue leather was especially troublesome to print on, and all of the black work skulls from that color are unusable. Sewing this thing was a bitch too. I punched holes but the embroidery floss did not like getting pulled through two layers of leather and was constantly getting ratty. My fingers still hurt. If these get sold, I'll make more, but only on request.

Patterned Peacock

2009-09-28T02:39:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: Now available on Etsy!

One of my favorite things about the mermaid flask was the patterning in her tail. It was fun to carve and translated well in solid black. I pretty much did the same thing with this flask, which presented a few challenges. First, I've never made a flask that wrapped around completely, which really wasn't all that hard to figure out and I'm glad that I did it. Second was the leather. I bought this MASSIVE ugly grey/green suede skirt from the Salvation Army. There was so much usable leather on this thing it was hard to pass up, but the color was just droll. I wanted to use it for the peacocks I'd carved, but I needed a brighter color. Apparently suede takes fairly well to bleach when you leave it for an hour in water with a full cup of clorox. And no, that really wasn't random, I did some tests before bleaching to determine how concentrated the bleach needed to be to get results. After bleaching I re-dyed the suede using the fabric dye you can find in the crafts section of wal-mart. I love this process, since suede takes dye so well and its gratifying to see the end result. In the end, these printed lovely and they're a nice *pretty* addition to my flask collection.

Mermaid Pinup Flask

2009-09-28T02:34:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: Now on Etsy!

Let it first be said that I love love love this image. Pinup mermaids rock, and sharks are pretty sweet too. I'm super happy with how this turned out, which is mostly thanks to the new Richeson linoleum block I bought to play with. Didn't crumble like the speedball blocks (I'm beginning to dislike anything they make anyway) although I did find it had a little more... squish? on the press. I kept having to adjust my packing for the first four or so prints. Turned out well enough though.

First Flasks of Fall

2009-09-28T02:22:00.000-04:00

I did a lot this month. I fixed my ink problem and got rolling (WARNING: this blog will be filled with printmaking puns). With any luck I'll get into one of the awesome craft shows in Baltimore this winter. These are the first letterpress flasks I've made since the old ones from last year. I printed them on an old pink skirt and bound it to a 2oz flask. I didn't have many of this size flask left, so only seven total were made, four of the corset flask and three of the Erzulie flask. I've only included one back picture here because it's the same on both.

Well here I go

2009-09-27T00:59:00.000-04:00

I've never been great at keeping a journal. I didn't have a diary. I rarely keep a coherent sketchbook even, because I wind up cutting things out re-drawing them on other papers, and lacking that I use napkins. But due to popular demand, I'm blogging now so everyone can keep up with my stuff. Also, as much as I love Etsy, no ideas are safe on that site so I'd like my products documented before they get put up. So here goes.