Marsbarn Designs...

Gift making workshop: silk scarf painting

For the scarf making workshop, I had two different 
techniques to demonstrate.  The first technique
involves using a water soluble resist.  Small squeeze
bottles are filled with the resist and are piped onto
the scarf.  Designs can be drawn freehand, or they
can be traced by from a template laid underneath the
scarf.   

The dye is either applied using a squeeze bottle or with
a sponge brush.  

The dye we use is an instant setting dye called Colorhue.
Three words: Easy, peasey, lemon squeezie.  Once the
scarves have dried and the dye has set, they are just
washed out with color water.  Instant gratification.

Isn't that lovely?  So fun!

The second method we used was a Shibori inspired
tie dye method.  Small and large pinches of fabric were
tied off with string (okay, dental floss).  I found that
slip knots were wonderful for this.  For children who
struggle with making the knot, I whipped a pile of
little knots that were ready to go. 

With a bit of dexterity and lots of knots, the scarf 
becomes a little, lovely sea cucumber.  I found this
process to be very meditative and relaxing. With the 
scarf prepped the play begins.

Colors are dropped onto the scarf.  This is play, pure
and simple.  No over thinking and just the barest bit
of a plan.  

 Once you're done adding color, it just rests and you
wonder what it will look like when you undo all of
those knots.

And then, you open your scarf like a Chirstmas gift.  
Everyone is different, everyone is beautiful.

This method is infectious, like pistachios.  You can't
just make one.

 

Gift Making Workshops: Thermoset vinyl and messenger bags

Both the thermoset vinyl class and the messenger bag classes were workshops I'd never done before.

Thermoset vinyl is a product I use all the time.  It's my
good friend and we make all kinds of things together.

This guy is made with thermoset (except for the tongue).

Like many good friends, it can be hard to explain 
to someone new.  "Oh, my friend is awesome, but she
doesn't like it too hot, and sometimes she gets fussy,
and, oh, did I mention that she plays favorites?"

It can be hard to remember what's common knowledge,
and what needs explaining. Little things that I've known
for years (like that joke about being from Bulgaria), 
I forget to explain. 

Still, I think the class went well. In the end, I think
everyone loved my friend.  She's pretty awesome,
that thermoset. 

This R2D2 was made by someone in the class.  Pretty
darn awesome, huh?  There were also several great
Perry the Platypus designs, but I (um) forgot to
photograph them.  (So lame, I know.) 

A week after the thermoset class, we gathered again
to make bags featuring our designs.  I offered two
bag designs, the deck carrier or the oblong messenger.

Timing, I've decided, is really, really difficult
to predict with a project like this.  Everyone finished,
but we did run very long.  (Very long.)The bags,
however,  were all AMAZING.  Honestly, fabulous.

See? AMAZING.
(Okay, I really, really thought I took more photos, but
if I did the gremlins on my camera ate them.  That's my
story and I'm sticking with it.) 

The power of doing

For December Ladies Art, I set out my felt and some
other supplies for making a number of projects out of
the holiday Stitch magazine.  
 

It was a good morning with good women who were 
feeling a bit tired and in need of some inspiration.  

All of us had been working on projects in our own lives,
but there is something so energizing in choosing a new
project, a small something, a little treat for ourselves.
Better yet, a project that can be created in an hour or
two.

There is something about just Doing. Just diving in and
getting it done.  Not over thinking or over working, 
just inspiration, color, and play and suddenly we stand
straighter and stronger.

This garland Ms T made?  That's one of those projects.
A simple journey from "I want" to "Doing" to "Done"
with a detour into color and play along the way.

To call it a working trip be would be a misnomer

My friend Jade hosted me for an away from home class.
The trip was a combination mini vacation for me, 
visiting time for us, and scarf painting class.  Triple
win, really.  

This was my first time taking my show on the road.
The only stressful part of the equation was packing.
At home, forgetting something is usually solved by
a quick trip into the backroom. Making oneself mobile
means a lot more forethought and precision. 

I must admit to feeling a bit run down before this
trip. The To Dos were out weighing the Have Dones 
in a way that was slowing down the doing.  As the
trip approached, I was really, really, really looking
forward to the train ride.  3 1/2 hours sitting down,
with nothing that must be done or should be done?
Yes, please.

I did have a flashing moment of "what have I done"
last week as looked at how quickly Christmas was
approaching, but thankfully it was too late to second
guess myself.  Plus, I really needed a break.

I knew Jade and I would have fun.  I knew we would
shop the crafty goodness stores with gusto. (We hit
Impress, Paper Source, and Ben Franklins.) I knew the 
class would be good.  (I'll cover the class in a
separate post.)  What I didn't expect was the food.  
Oh my.  First Jade made a wonderful porkloin roast
with crisp, yummy mini potatoes, and then Jade's
husband cooked for us.  (Let me pause here for effect.)  
He Cooked for us.  Not with a little "c", with a big "C".
Pancetta was involved.  'Nuf said?

Yes, those are meatballs to the left.  Lovely meatballs
Oh, and the goodness kept coming...

 The arugula?  Oh, so perfect.

And that tomato salad?  Yum.  I haven't been so sad
to be full in a long time.  If I could have had seconds,
I would have.   (Okay, I did have seconds on the salad
and the toasted bready goodness..)

It was such a lovely experience.  Easy, relaxing, and
there was coffee, freshly brewed every morning to 
have with the good (and healthy!) muffins.  (Jade's
daughter accused me of stealing a muffin.  I said,
"I'm not stealing it. I'm eating it, and it's my second
one!")

And then, just as I could feel myself going soft at the
edges from taking it easy, it was time to go home.
I feel good.  Really good.  I have things to do, and I'm
ready to do them. (But it's going to come as a shock 
when I don't have a carafe of hot coffee waiting for 
me tomorrow morning.)

Thank you Jade!  Thank you Kitchen God D.
Thank you Miss G (not, not my Miss G).

counting down and tallying up

It's that counting down time of year.

There's been a whole lot of counting down going on
as dates come and go and projects wrap up.  I've been
trying to take photos as I went, but now that I've
downloaded them I find how few I took.  I used to
be better at documenting as I went, and I'm not
sure if I'm busier or lazier now.  

The last of the gift making workshops are done, and 
I have a set of posts to put up about them ("have" may
be misleading, "need to write" is probably more correct.) 

The Etsy shop is winding down.  I still have a couple of
packages to get in the mail and one or two things left
to make.  I have a wee pile (also, perhaps misleading)
of projects to finish for friends, and then my own gift
giving To Make list to tackle.  

Math group is done, school volunteering is done, my 
Parent Led Art commitments have been put to bed
for this year.  Ladies art has wrapped up (also another
post to be written), but I think I still have one or two
more ornament making events for friends and family
in my system.

There are still cookies and treats to be made, and
none of my Christmas packages have been mailed.
Isn't it funny how marking off what has been done,
only highlights what still needs doing?  Happily,
the vast majority of doing to be done is what I love
to do.  A satisfying thought indeed.   

The brownie pan method

This visual method of multiplying fractions
was something that was shown to me last week
by the girls I tutor.  Like most people I learned
to multiply fractions by multiplying numerator
by numerator, and denominator by denominator.
That's pretty much the gold standard of fraction
multiplication. 

This method gives a visual sense of what it means
to multiply fractions.  For our example we'll use:
 2/5 x 1/3=

Draw a square.  Divide in into three vertical portions
and color in one of the thirds. This represents 1/3.  
For a real world styled word problem, think of this as
a brownie pan with only one third of the brownies
left in it.

Next, we represent the 2/5.  Divide the square
horizontally into five portions.  Using a different color,
fill in two of the fifths.  The two colors will overlap,
this is a good thing.

For the word problem, think some comes and eats
2/5ths of the remaining brownies.  How much of
the pan of brownies did they eat?

For our answer, count the total number of rectangles.
This number is our denominator.  So for our problem,
this number is 15.  The numerator is the number
of rectangles where our colors overlap. Here that 
would be 2.  So our answer is 2/15, or 2/15 of the
entire pan of brownies.

So, 2/5 x 1/3 = 2/15 

 

Math Group: the toothpick problem

We had our last Math Group meeting of the year 
on Sunday.  It's been a fun couple of months.

This week's problem used four toothpicks and had
two parts.  The first was to find out how many
different shapes that could be made with the four
toothpicks.  The rules were that in all of the shapes
had to be continuous, the joins between picks
had to be either 90 degrees or 180 degrees, and that
only two picks to touch at any join.  Also, the shapes
couldn't repeat.  To test their uniqueness, each new
shape was drawn on a piece of paper and rotated to
make sure that it didn't repeat.

The second part of the problem, was to see if the 
shapes could be arrainged in a continuous loop,
moving from shape to shape, by only moving one pick
at a time. 

It was a very playful, low stress problem, and was a
nice way to round up the year. 

Mr Fuzzypants: Slouch Master

 And a thousands kitty grandmas cry out:
"Don't Slouch!  Sit up straight! You're so handsome when you don't slouch." 

And Mr Fuzzypants is all, 
"Huh?"

Thanksgiving is past, Christmas is to come

Thanksgiving week was a nice repreive from the
everyday.  The girls had no school, but we did have
conferences, so I had to go to school instead them. 

It was so blissful to not wake up with the alarm. I 
thought perhaps that as I aged I might become less of
a night owl, but no.  When there is nothing forcing me
to wake up in the dark early, I want to stay up until
midnight and then sleep until 8 or 8:30.  It is just so
darned hard to stop the doing and go to bed. 

But here we are, back to the everyday alarm, waiting
for Christmas break to rescue us.  There are three weeks
of school between Thanksgiving break and the holidays,
and here we're almost done with the first of those 
weeks.  Time moves fast, it does, it does.

Mr Fuzzypants: has paper, will travel

Mr Fuzzypants has always worshiped paper.
Sometimes that worship comes in the form
of destruction and sometimes it comes as love. 

Most of the time, I keep a wad of packing
paper on the floor next to my sewing chair,
Mr Fuzzypants will come up, rough up the
paper (you know, to make it comfy) and
then sleep there.  (I *know* paper is so lush
and soft.  But really, it's what he likes.)

Well, his last bit of paper got too tattered,
so I recycled it last week (heathen, much?).  
So today I gave him a new sheet of paper from
a box I was unpacking.  He played with it on 
and off all morning.

When Big E got up this morning, I was sewing
up the last of my Etsy orders.  He came into
the sewing room and started checking emails,
and then we heard the sound of paper being
mauled.  I wondered what Mr F was getting into,
and turned to find that he's carried his new sheet
of paper into the sewing room so he could hang with us.

 Mmmm.. soft and cozy packing paper...  Notice the toy
collection he brought with him?