Finishing some UFO's

Crow detail.

Temporary bead storage, an old pickle jar lid.

On my sewing table.

I've come to an impass in my studio where I either need to finish up some WIP's, pitch them, or pack them away for long term storage.  I'm starting with this crow piece that has been haunting me and for some time now, I started by additing more green and pink tsukineko inks to the background/timtex.

The before image; now to finish the beading.

WIP- Bins

Charcoal on gesso on baltic birch plywood.

This is the second time I've tried painting over charcoal, ok I'm using a brush to paint with, and I have to admit I absolutely loathe it!  First off I find myself wanting to paint 'inside' the lines like a coloring book, mistake number one, and secondly I keep expecting my brush to respond like my palette knife and well we all know that's not going to happen, mistake number two.  So when the first coat of paint is done drying I'm planning to go at it again with my palette knife and this time ignore those line!

Acrylic on baltic birch plywood.

WIP - Granary 040212

My goal is to finish this piece this week!

WIP - Granary

Granary - digitally printed fabric, machine and hand stitching, aurfil threads.

I sure hope I spelled that correctly, this is part of my "ode to corn" series.  I will be stitching more of these in the coming days.

Studio Redux 012012

the top portion needs to be finished, the edge of the top shelf needs to be painted black, and then we are ready to put the shelves back into the unit.

Studio Update 010512

Emptied and ready for the shelves to be removed so that I can paint the bead board back a very lovely shade of fern green.  John has some repair work to do to the shelves, I'm hoping  to be able to load it up come Monday or Tuesday.  Until then...

I have a ton of stuff on both my work table and my drafting/drawing tables!  Working on some storage solutions, for all of the ink I seem to own, for the hutch.

Studio Redux - 062511

Cubbies!  John and Keith moved these down from the second story into the new space.  Floor has been washed and now the cubbies are almost full with fabrics, etc.

Now to start moving my threads etc., into the space.  Eventually, maybe by this time tomorrow, all of the boxes, etc., to the left will be gone.  I'm pacing myself so as to not re-injure my rotar cuff.

Almost There - Studio Redux

Let me start this post by saying how much I hate humidity!  I really really really hate humidity!

The cubbies are almost empty and ready to move to the new studio space, so much to do and so little time to get it all done in :-(  I'm a day behind but otherwise am very happy with the progress being made :-)

The green wall is where the cubbies will be going, soon the boxes, filing cabinet, and the loom will be going bye bye along with all of the bags of wool in the wire cubbies to the left.  On the red case to the right I will hang my thread racks, and underneath those will go my thread/bead bins.  My studio table will live in the large open area, it all looks small in the photos but is actually quite spacious.  The cubbies are approximately 5 feet by 8 feet by 14 inches deep.

The contents of the cubbies have been moved to the new studio and are hogging my cutting table space.  It doesn't look like much but BON it does fill the cubbies to capacity.  The cutting table will soon leave and my drawing table will take it's place.

Bead Storage

A drawer filled with little boxes filled with 11/0 and 12/0 beads

Size is about 3.5 x 2.5 x 1.0 inches

Sizes in metric.

I picked these little storage tubs up at a local gun shop, they run about 57 cents a piece. I like these alot because the lid is hinged to the container reducing the risk of my misplacing it.

Studio Organization!

I'm hoping to have all of my fabric moved out of my closet, where I can no longer get to it, and into the cubbies by next weekend. 

In reality I don't have much in the way of commercial fabrics anymore, since I took up dyeing my own with natural dyes, rust, and compost.  But it would be nice to be able to see, and access maybe, what I do have somewhere in this mess I have the fabric for a quilt for our bed. 

John helping me to set this up today was the best Valentine's gift ever ;-)

Got Wool?

My living room has turned into a wool room! Not for long though I have to clean the east bedroom and once it's cleaned I can move John's office out of the library and put my wool into the library with the rest of the left over inventory from the store - which isn't much these days. I'm hoping to sell the remaining fixtures etc., and soon. For now it's a good use of the space I just need to find room for my poor loom!

Canning Coleslaw

Shred the cabbage using a kraut cutter or mandolin, be sure to keep your fingers out of the way!

Mix carrots and onion in with the shredded cabbage and then sprinkle salt over the mixture and allow to sit for an hour.

Slaw after sitting for one hour with salt.

Slaw in jars ready for the syrup to be added.

Syrup for the slaw is ready, make sure you completely melt the sugar and the syrup is clear.

Syrup added to slaw. The slaw starts to wilt as the heat from the syrup settles in the jars.

Remove bubbles using a canning stick or spatula.

Slaw after 20 minutes of processing in BWB.

Dh decided to experiment with this batch and added the slaw to the jars and then added the syrup - the end result was floating slaw! Next time we'll add the slaw to the syrup and then to the jars!

Potato Bins

I have twelve pototao bin shelves now, these sit on top of a palett that sits over a gravel filled dirt area in our basement floor. That's Angel our sheltie in front of the bins.

Holes were drilled in the end boards of each bin shelf to aid in air flow, we used 1 x 2 inch fencing for the bin bottoms.

Dh stapled lathe to the bottom of the bins to make them easier to pull out and push back into place much like a dresser drawer.

He used 1 8 foot 2 x 4 to make each bin.

New Cabinet

My birthday cabinet! Normally I'd ask for a cabinet etc., for my studio this time it's for my canned goods. It is in a weird location butted up against the side of another cabinet. We had just enough space for a bit more canning storage.

This cabinet if for my jams and jellies, all of those half and quarter pint jars that take up valuable shelf space that a quart jar needs and when left in boxes go uneaten.

Gamma Seals

What is a Gamma Seal? It is a screw on lid that one puts onto a plastic food grade bucket for long term food storage. NOTE: Make sure you really want the lid on your bucket because once you hammer the ring onto the bucket, use a rubber mallet, it's there for good! You'll have to destroy the bucket to get the ring off.

WalMart has these in stock in various stores around the US for $4.38 each. If your WalMart isn't carrying them tell them you want them and here is the sku #076939714027