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.