Time to Eat Words...

...your own or someone else's! Yes, tomorrow is International Edible Book Day. I am not making this up. IEBD is the creation of Judith A. Hoffberg and Béatrice Coron (a favorite paper and book artist of mine). Look here or here if you want to know more.

Rubber Fun

We had three people at Third Friday carving rubber stamps; Laurie, Lena and moi. First time for both if the other "L"s. Lena made a pretty little flower pot and left it behind at the studio. (If you don't come next time I'll bring it to you.) Laurie carved an image of birds...very cool. Reminds me of the Bremen Town Musicians. She has already posted a link to Michelle Ward's blog; rubber stamps is the theme project for the month of March. (I'll be going over there in a minute.)













I carved something I've been wanting/needing for a while: a fancy corner stamp. It turned out to be best to do it in two parts, that way I could cut the first side freehand and then stamp it on the rubber to get the other half. Does that make sense? The two halves can be stamped next to each other too, to get an interesting decorative element. Does that make sense? Well, the picture may help. Then I did a simple border that looks like little smiling Shmoos. My favorite thing to carve is heads/faces so I had to do another (shown here with some colored pencil embellishment), and then I carved up a few of the scraps that were left. Those turned out to be almost the best...they go together in all sorts of surprising ways. Typical. All in all a good evening, although the less said about the little bird, the better.

The rubber we used is called Safety-Kut ( yeah, I know, dumb name) and it's available online from the manufacturer. It's heavy stuff and the shipping really drives the price up, so if you can find it retail in your area you're better off getting it that way. In Seattle it's cheapest at the University Bookstore, but Daniel Smith has a better selection of sizes that I like, so I usually go there.

Home again.

We arrived late last night, and spent today (Thursday) getting back into the swing of things, and napping, and calling people. It's been quite a month and a half. We thank for your emails and words of encouragement during this stressful and sad time.

It feels good, if a little strange, to be back, and I am looking forward to Third Friday tomorrow - I need a project. I've missed my studio and my friends. Laurie mentioned rubber stamp carving, inspired by Art Crusade #18. Yes, yes...I love carving stamps, and what a great idea for a Friday evening! I went down to Dan Smith today and picked up a big slab of rubber and some extra Speedball #1 blades, so anyone who comes tomorrow and wants to can carve stamps. It really is easy - well, you can make it as difficult as you want to but it isn't necessary. Simple is wonderful - and easy. Even if you aren't interested in carving go visit Laurie's blog. It's full of beautiful things to look at and read. (That IS a very cool red purse!) And if you are interested in carving stamps, then check out Art Crusade #18. You may want to participate.

That's all for now... see you soon. I need to tall you about The Wedding and about Reading Frenzy and about the Best Coffee I've Ever Tasted. And I have a few words of advice for everyone who wants to listen. Now, if that isn't enough to get you to come back, I don't know what is!

Recent events

We've had an unexpected illness and death in our family and I've been, and will continue to be, out of the loop for a while. First Tuesday (the 4th) and Third Friday (the 21st) are on for March. It'll be good to see some folks. Take care.

Is it really February?

Well, yes. It is.

So - packing tape shoes led to packing tape other stuff...most recently brassieres formed on an old mannequin torso that lives in the studio and gets dressed up for holidays. So maybe this year she'll just have holiday lingerie. And now I'm thinking of Myra Breckinridge. Damn!

This is going to be a short post; last night I encountered the seamy side of my lovely Christmas present from Gordon. Suffice to say that the cabbage wasn't the only thing effortlessly sliced in pursuit of dinner. It's not that bad, no professional attention needed, but my queasy side just knows that if I move my left hand too much my whole arm will fall off and then I won't be able to drive myself to the studio tomorrow. And tomorrow is First Tuesday, the Valentine Edition. Can't miss that. Unfortunately I have a million things I wanted to do today. Oh well.

My mom renewed my zoo membership for my birthday again! The price of admission has gotten pretty high; now I have to go only three times in a year to make it worthwhile. I love feeling free to go there for just a few minutes, say hi to the grizzlies and then walk home again. And maybe I'll do that right now.

The Shoes!

Well, there were a bunch of very cool packing tape shoes made last Friday. And there were three new people which made it just about the biggest group we've had on a Friday. I got a few pictures before my camera batteries croaked...of all things to forget to check!

That's about half the group in the first picture. Berkeley, with her back to you, made a cowboy boot. Next is Paula and her Shimmering Sneaker. I met Paula through a Yahoo group--it was a while before I realized she lived right up the street! Then there's Lily's legs and her Dear Sweetie Pie shoes. Yes, she plans to wear them, if she can come up with some way to fill the (hollow) heels.













There's a picture of one more shoe that I didn't photograph here. Maybe those others of you who didn't get photographed would be kind enough to send me pictures?? Or post'em on your own blogs and I'll put up a link.

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

OK. As promised, and just in time for this Friday's Art Party, packing tape shoes. I've been playing around--that is to say experimenting--and it's hard to stop once you get going. I'm wrapping all sorts of things in packing tape. These are a few of the shoes in progress. The two clear ones are going to get more "stiff" on them. The green one...I think that bow on the heel has to go

Some things I've been using in the shoes: copies of old photos, newspaper clippings, clip art, magazine clippings, wrapping paper, ephemera, paper lace, flat ribbon, pressed flowers...well you get the idea. And there's no end to what you can attach to the outside once they're all built.
For those of you who are coming Friday--bring a shoe or shoes. Bring your "Stuff" or you can rummage through mine. (But mine won't be as personal as yours.) I have scissors to share but if you want your very own, bring them. I will provide tape--I've found one I think works best.

See you!

Vegetables! Music!

This is something else.

Happy New Year

Well, here it is 2008. Already the 2nd, by about an hour. I spent most of the day and all evening in the studio. If what you do on New Year's Day is what you'll do all year, then I'm going to have a wonderful year of artifying. I avoided any cleaning, arranging, sorting or tidying...I just made stuff. So I think I'm safe.

I'm not a resolution-maker by any means, but I dearly want this to be a year of Doing Things Differently. And I want it to be a year of Using My Cool Stuff. I have so much cool stuff in the studio that I don't even know what I have. I keep chanting "You haven't saved it until you've used it. You haven't saved it until you've used it." I think I finally, truly BELIEVE that. Now I want to use it.

Here are some new and old Artistamps I've made. I made some more this evening but didn't bring them home to scan. All of these were issued by the Ephemeroptera Post or the Royal Ipomoeian Postal Authority...more on those another time.

What's up, Blogger?

I'm annoyed. I've been trying to upload pictures there (over to the right) and they are appearing in all sorts of weird shapes and sizes. Le's try one here, in post, and see what happens.

I got ahead of myself yesterday, talking about the Story Shoes project in Room 206. That isn't for three weeks yet! First Tuesday is coming up soon sooner soonest; bring your own work or make simple Artistamps. ..postage stamps only better. There's one good gallery here. They're fun to make and fun to put on your mail--not to fool the Post Office--just as Art.