Block printing

I did enjoy that block printing on fabric workshop that I did earlier in the year ... and so I thought I'd give it a go at home. I don't really need any printed fabric, but the idea was intriguing enough for me to corral my supplies and have a bash.

I carved my own blocks - simple is better with fabric printing. It's actually more like fabric stamping the way that I do it. You can do wonderfully intricate prints but I'm starting at the very basic end. Shapes and things. Luckily I still have all the tools from my brief foray into lino printing so I carved some shapes.

I super-glued on cut-up ends of foam mats for little handles. It proved surprisingly effective (it is wonderful to have a husband who knows his way around different glues!)

I used acrylic paint mixed with textile medium. Once it's heat seat it is washable. Apparently screen printing or block printing ink is better, but I didn't want to muck about with anything oil-based and I already have a ton of acrylic paints (and textile medium). I don't mind ironing it to heat-set.

So here are my test prints. Lots of photos but I want to try and record what I did for future reference. These little fishies worked well but the flower needs more carving. Too much noise around the edge. 

You need a smooth surface to roll the ink out on - firstly I used baking paper which didn't work at all. Then I tried a heavier glossy art paper which worked OK but didn't hold up for very long. I've since found a piece of mdf in the shed which is much better but I don't know how long it will last if I wash it every time. 

You use small foam rollers to get the ink onto the stamp - mine were from the dollar shop and they weren't very good but I'm not sure where you get better ones from. They are mostly kids toys. I did try the brayer that I use with proper ink but the paint mixture was way too runny and the brayer wouldn't hold it. I also tried a stamp pad that can apparently work ... mine did not work at all. And it looks like an advanced course in wound management. It all got rather messy.

Anyway you get the idea. I tried all my shapes, then ironed it and washed it and the colours didn't fade or move at all which is amazing. I have a couple of ideas for projects ....

Art exhibition

My art classes put on an exhibition of the things that we've done in class at the local art group. It opened while we were in Melbourne so I missed the champagne and canapes :) but I did my shifts on the door last weekend when we were back. It was open both weekends, and we had a few people through, mostly family and friends. And some tourists. 

It's hard to take a good picture of an art exhibition, especially one with 18 different artists doing wildly different works across all media, all subject matter and all talent levels too. Mostly amazing - I felt very much a beginner. We did put in our bottles though, that we started with, in charcoal. It's hard to see because of the reflection but there was a bottle wall. Intriguing how everyone takes a slightly different tack on exactly the same objects.

I put in six, including these two pastel landscapes on the right. And, yes that is a red dot because I SOLD a picture! Can you believe it, an actual person used their actual money to buy one of mine. I am confused but delighted.

Melbourne

It was the King's Birthday weekend here so, like last year, we headed down to Melbourne for the Australian Scale Model Expo. That is, we both went to Melbourne, but only one of us went to the model show (and indeed entered something and got a Highly Commended! which is good, apparently the standard was very high this year).

Once again we stayed in an apartment close to number two's share house and took the train into the city for a bit of shopping and a cruise around the art gallery. The shopping was mostly for the child (ugg boots, a puffer jacket, new jeans - essential purchases in a Melbourne winter) although I did get some unecessary art supplies and a couple of even less necessary books. Number two is doing an unpaid internship at one of the theatres so we got to see the foyer. It all looked very cool.

We ate out at many good restaurants, including one we discovered last time. My husband went to an exhibition at the museum on Ancient Rome while I perused the nearby fabric stores and general groovy stores of artisanal stuff made for young people. I went to Jimmy Buttons which is an INSANE haberdashery shop behind a roller door in what appears to be a very old shed. I would have bought lots of things but I waited half an hour for someone who works there to cut the ribbons off the roll for me ... the lady kept vanishing so I gave up and left. It was an experience.

Number two had some work and social commitments so Brad and I found a historic house to go and look at. It was interesting but not much architecturally ... although the guide assured us that it was the second most haunted house in Melbourne (after the old gaol) and that has been PROVED by SCIENCE. She was a volunteer guide in dodgy historical costume so we politely agreed ... my husband does tours of the local historic cemetery dressed as a Victorian policeman so we are full of respect for anyone who will spend half their Sunday looking slightly ridiculous for the purpose of public education.

After we did a brief walk along the bay - it was super still and the water was very calm. There was even someone on a paddleboard.

It was our first long trip in the electric car ... it was fine but it definitely takes longer than with a petrol car because of the re-charging stops. In theory you ought to be able to recharge twice - we tried to do that on the way back so scraped into a little town on about 8% ... to find that there were only two chargers, and a queue, so we waited half an hour then another half an hour to charge. The only cafe in the town was closed for renovations and it was raining, so we're not doing that again. I think once we find our rhythm it will be fine but the charging stops don't seem to coincide with meal or toilet stops, and our car does not do anywhere near the 560km advertised range on the highway. More like 360km. But it was super comfortable and even using the most expensive chargers it cost less than half of a petrol trip. 

More air dry clay

This is the other idea I had for the air dry clay, and it worked out a bit better. I embraced the wonkiness and did some leaf impressions - actual leaves and a rolling pin - then with colour more of a stain than a paint. This is a hydrangea leaf.

And an acanthus - very deep ridges and veins, which is good.

The "coaster" is diosma, which worked well. The edges are wobbly as hell but the leaf print is cute. 

So that is it for the air dry clay for now, I think I have got that out of my system. And a household only requires a certain number of little dishes.

Little projects

When we started with the garden I thought it was not much work at all - you do what you feel like, it doesn't matter about the rest - but now I have about a hundred little projects on the go. And several big projects that need tradies / other people to do ... and the maintenance as well of the things I've already done! I am not bothered by any of this because I can just leave it; but it's interesting that the more you get into it the more ideas you have and the more you want to do. 

We are contemplating doing beds towards the creek - the grass doesn't really grow there and we could mark it out more formally and plant. I have started with raking the leaves there and letting them rot down.

I have also made a few leaf towers. I think I'd like to try a hot compost pile but I'll have to read up a bit more, and make sure I have enough bulk. I am going to buy a compost thermometer.

Our friends who are moving to Perth are very generously giving us a ton of their outdoor stuff that they don't want to move. I have put many of my seedlings into this little shadehouse, which is much better than the dodgy frost cloth structure I had built (chicken wire and star pickets). 

We have elegantly put their table and chairs under some autumn-leaf trees. There is a project there to restore and repaint.

The elephants have gone on the sheep ramp but I don't think that is good karma. You can't be sending elephants off to the abbatoir.

And here is the finished bridge! This wasn't at a little project, this was a very big project but it's fabulous to have it done.

This old table came out of the lavender shed (which has the boxing done for the floor and the aggregate down! Progress indeed). It is quite solid so there is a project there to fix the top. According to Elizabeth who did the gardens 25 years ago that was an original from the sheep farm days and smelled of lanolin from the fleece. I did sniff it, in the interests of science. It smelled like old shed. 

Star pickets

Pam asked about star pickets - be careful what you wish for - because the answer is quite simple but also star pickets are the life force that holds the universe together. Like duct tape, or command hooks.

Star pickets are steel fence posts - this is our western fence and a fairly typical agricultural fence anywhere in Australia. They have four points so look like a star from the top, although these might be "Y" ones looking closer. I don't know anyone who has ever bought star pickets, they just appear, and you always have them, but never enough, and they are completely indestructible. We have some that we pulled out of the creek, and many more that were just lurking in the corners of the sheds. They come in short and long versions, and you can get little plastic covers for them with star-shaped insides if you want to use them as supports (or not impale yourself).

A common way of building compost bins is pallets and star pickets. You put the pickets in (we have a star picket driver, very useful) then thread the pallets through them at the corners.

When I made my ad hoc green house out of frost cloth I put in smaller star pickets to tie the chicken wire to so it wouldn't blow away. Here they are holding up the old gate that forms the end of the big wood pile.

And stuck into besser blocks (also known as breeze blocks, concrete blocks and grey bricks) for the smaller wood pile so they won't roll away. 

And for marking out the site of our future vege beds in the vege cage ... in preparation for making a layout decision. Someday, maybe. So there you go, just a small fraction of the wonder that is the star picket. I didn't include any that were holding up sapling trees because that is Bad Gardening (too destructive when you remove them or something).

Air-drying clay

I firmly blame TikTok for an unexpected foray into air-dry clay. For some reason my feed decided to show me artist after artist making cute little things with DAS clay - and it looked so easy! So satisfying! Just slice, mould, dry and paint! Yay! So I watched a few more detailed Youtube tutorials, dug up the various tools and ordered in some supplies.

It went about as well as you would expect. It is indeed a forgiving material, and fun to work with, but it is very difficult to get even a halfway decent result. I tried slab cutting and some just finger-smooshing but you can't use too much water, so minimal handling is best. They call it clay but it's mostly paper, and dries over time without firing, so it's not food safe or particularly water-resistent but you can make it quite robust with sealing, painting and varnishing. 

I am not neat-fingered, and my first try was absolutely the Year 1 ashtray that we all made, back in the day. Just a lumpy mess. This one above didn't even get past first base - when I went to sand it before painting I broke it in half. The same thing happened to two more little plaques I was doing and another dish I made way too thin.

This was a little more successful - it's a funny lumpy little dish - but I got through all the stages and it's pretty and exactly the right size to hold my rings. So that's good.

Here is a foray into decoupage - the brown flecked stuff is a flocked paper that I had for lino printing when I was excited about that for six weeks - which was quite interesting but the rest is an amateurish sham.

This is an oval one that wasn't too bad, although it's not smooth at all. It looks OK from a distance, to hold buttons or something.

And a square one. Painting it is fun but they are quite clearly made by a beginner in a back room. Nothing like the Tiktok videos! I might do a ceramics class at some point and learn how you do it properly, with a kiln. I've got a couple of other ideas to try but then I might put it gently aside.

Resting at the beach

I took my cold - and my husband took his bung knee - and we spent a quiet rainy few days at the beach this week. It was a good idea to have nothing much to do (although I did finally join the local library down there! Access to another library full of ebooks, I'm very excited) except some sewing and making airplane models. I went for a couple of short walks and that was about it. The cat was very excited about my sewing and jumped up to lie on the material and help me cut it out. She still has all four paws but it was a close thing.

Speaking of paws, Fred the failed service dog came to art class again. He is very gorgeous and an absolute snuggle tart. 

The rain didn't last down the coast - just a day really - but there was still a big swell. 

Before we left we cleared out the lavender shed in preparation for concreting the floor ... it is a very old shed that we want to store things like star pickets and chicken wire in. Bulky, random things. 

The uprights are mostly quite solid and the tin isn't bad but the floor was completely broken up. 

Of course to get somewhere to put things we had to clear out the potting shed (which was very satisfying, I have been meaning to do that for ages) and there are still piles of stuff everywhere. If it is OK outside then we are leaving outside for now, until the concreting is done and we get ourselves sorted. It's a slow process.

Another quiet week

I'm feeling much better now but still not much energy - and it's been raining and cold - so all in all a pretty uneventful few days. I did make it to quilters and art class on Tuesday, so that's something. I didn't know what to paint so took this photo as I was driving off.

This is the work in progress - definitely not finished but you get the idea! A nice splotchy landscape.

I have been raking leaves in the garden. This not a high priority task but it's perfect for low-energy low-brain days. I can quietly rake away, then stop for a bit, and it doesn't matter. Friday I was going absolutely stir crazy so went into Canberra, had lunch with a friend and went to the Canberra Quilters annual exhibition. It was very good, lots of lovely quilts, lots of nice vendors although I didn't buy anything. I took some photos of quilts I'd like to try and was inwardly rude about the judging! Perfect.

Still struggling on

I'm still coughing and spluttering and completely fed up with being sick! This has lasted forever, or it seems so. I have terrible cabin fever but don't quite have the energy for going anywhere... Never mind, I'm on the up so it can't be long now. 

I did drag myself to quilters on Saturday because I promised I'd do a fabric dyeing workshop (we had tubs of donated plain calico that no-one was going to use for anything). It was super fun, I made up the dyes in advance and we had a happy couple of hours splashing it all about. I was exhausted by the end but it was worth it to get of the house and have a bit of socialising. I now have fifty bags of dyed cloth to rinse, but that can wait for a day or two longer.

We have put up a bird feeder by the garden shed for the king parrots. They are very young or very dumb or very hungry because you can walk right by them without disturbing them. The oak is slowly losing its leaves and the garden is lovely ... not that I do much but wander about in it at the moment.

Knocked over by a nasty cold

So this week has been very dull as I've had a nasty head cold - not the flu, or covid, just a cold - but it's still been pretty miserable. I've got things to do! Gardens to dig! Wood to chop!!! I made it to quilters on Tuesday but was too sick to do art in the afternoon, and missed the author talk at the local library by a local guy that I really wanted to go to ... I even read the half the book. I will read the other half and then talk to him at garden club.

I have been doing very small toddles around the garden for fresh air, and of course to inspect the finished veggie cage! It is very exciting. The wire curves out into the ground to form a rabbit deterrent apron - we might plant it out or just leave it for the grass to grow through. Lots of options. 

And that is exactly all that's been happening, I have been to the pharmacy and nowhere else. The cat has been keeping me company in bed or on the sofa, and my husband has been looking after me very well but it seems like such a waste of time. At least when you're sick and working there's a slight sense of enforced holiday, but I'm on holiday all the time now and coughing up a lung has no upside. 

Pottering at home

It's been lovely this week to potter gently about at home. A bit of gardening, although the wind chill has knocked the fun out of it a bit. I don't mind cold weather but having a gale rip through you is not very pleasant. I went out for about an hour yesterday before retreating indoors. 

I did manage to take some baja sage cuttings - we have a very pretty and healthy plant and I wanted to get some more, but it's not common and I couldn't buy either seeds or seedlings. So I have ventured into (another) unknown world and I'm propagating by cuttings! No idea if it will work but I followed all the instructions and found nodes and dipped in hormones and the rest ... I've done six that I will coddle through winter and see if they live to be planted in the spring.

In even more exciting gardening events ... our veggie cage is being built!!!! It is too hard to protect edible plants from rabbits, parrots, kangaroos and wombats individually, so we are building a big netted enclosure and putting everything in there. Vege beds, fruit trees, maybe some herbs? 

It is 9 metres by 12 metres which seemed perfectly reasonable when we made a little map out of paper but looks absolutely enormous now it's a steel structure in the western paddock. But given that we keep saying things like 'how about a permanent bed for asparagus? how about espaliered fruit trees? how about thornless blackberries? how about cold frames?' it might not be big enough...