Finished!

Here is the finished bag and the stitching for the seems. Yes I really wanted those colors for the edges. Sadly you can only see them at the knot at the top.

This style of bag is made via furoshiki that Japanese knot wrap way of using a single piece of cloth to do so much.

Washed and dried

The magenta for the barcode looking one did come out some, but not by much. Gotta wait a little longer to see about cleaning up the edges.

Waiting to dry

Here are the finished colors for my bleach project. It's in the dryer now and then the raggedy edges need to be hemmed. Hopefully my mother will be able to help me with that.

Not quite derailed detachment

So, for those who weren't around when I was sketching on the train, derailed detachment was what I called all the sketches I did while on the train going to and from the art institute.

I have no sketch book with me today and only photos on my phone from my stamps, but it's sort of close enough.

I'm on the train home from the city and Utrecht, an art supply store. Got more stuff for stamps, and some proper ink for the block/linoleum printing I want to do. Got a roller and plexiglass slice for it too. Got a book specifically to stamp and print in and some "ice white" card stock. Will eventually invest the 70$ for the mini printing press too after I see if I can find demo videos for it on YouTube.

Also got something small for a friend. She's had a truly rough week and there's a 50/50 chance this might make her smile. Next time I go I'm getting her something that her cats will certainly be ogling at and will 100% make her smile. I didn't have room for it today in the bag I brought to haul everything home though, so next time.

I need to make a new playlist for walking too, but that's neither here nor there.

Hatchlings and other stamps

SO, another stamp. this one of the moon kin hatchling from world of warcraft. Doesn't quite look like the sketch i originally did, but for something that is 1" by 1.5" i think it turned out fairly well.

And here are 2 other new stamps along with the original kitty stamp.

I have a dragon too, but no decent pic yet. Soon though, I'll try for it soon.

Stamped...again

Here is a new stamp I did tonight less than 30 min ago.

I meant for it to be a gryphon, but everyone has been telling me it's a nice owl.

Ah well, 11 new erasers left to make stamps out of!

Painted

And the end of clay kitty, now with spots and a face!

Successful

I got crazy glue and got my clay kitty's head attached and it hasn't come off again.

I also got my black cloth clipped back down so I'll put a stencil over the dirt size to get it cleaned up some.

I also want put some more on the 2nd image too to get some lighter areas on it too.

Partial recovery

I, sort of, managed to salvage the 2nd image I'm bleaching. It doesn't have the lighter spots the first one had but I'm going to mix a new bleach/alginate batch up tomorrow and try one more time for this one.

I'm also going to make a stencil for the first side and see if I can't clean that up any.

I'll keep you all posted~

...not that there is anyone really watching, but I can pretend, can't I? ^_^;

failed attempt

So, leaving a bleach and sodium alginate mix sit all week is not a bad idea. it all breaks down and the bleach won't bleach anything. -.-x I'm annoyed with myself because I should have known when the alginate i was adding back into it to thicken it back up wasn't turning white.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST CLUE!!!!!!

*face palms*

So, NOT washing the mess out before I painted the mix with active bleach back onto the cloth was…not stupid, but a waist of time. It did bleach out a little bit, but the tension in the cloth was gone and it only turned the cloth a VERY dark rusty red color. -.-

It's in the washing machine now on a quick was cycle and then it'll be in the dryer and I'll be trying it again. I know I won't get the new stencil on to perfectly match, but I'm going to try. The upside to it not matching perfectly is that the first try might be too dark to be seen OR when I dye it the colors I'll be painting over it you really won't be able to see then.

no photo of my failure. =/

Tragedy in 2 acts

And clay kitty's neck gave out while baking. Going to crazy glue the head back on and paint it anyway to see how it looks.

...after I get crazy glue that is. We are apparently out.

In other news I have soda ash now for when I die the first of the 2 bleached areas. I'll be bleaching the 2nd one tomorrow & I'll be using a slightly different method.

Wish me luck!

Baking prep

Clay kitty is waiting for the over to be free after dinner. He is made out of an entire pack of sculpti minus the little bit that is acting as part of the crutch holding his head up.

If I read the directions right then he'll be in the hot box for 45 to 60 min because the body is roughly an inch and a half. The neck, tail, head and ears are so much thinner than I don't want to go longer than the hour.

It's crazy how crafty I've been feeling lately. Haven't wanted to do anything like this clay kitty in years. I'm feeling good. =)

Creepy kitty

I found the funniest vday cards this year. So I bought them and mailed them out for a holiday I hate.

Each card got the creepy kitty stamp on it. I made it by cutting up an old eraser I'd bought in college for a stamping project. Go figure. I'm amused by the stamp. I might get more and make other stamps for shits and giggles or to amused my nieces. That might actually be a good distraction for them. Hm...

Crafting project

Using a tutorial I found at capecodartsrudio.com for bleaching fabric I started on the 2 images I want to put on a square of fabric so I can make a furoshiki bag. I'll be using the bag for when I go to anime central in Chicago in April.

The tutorial said to use 1 tbs of bleach and sodium alginate but my mix has 1 tbs of the alginate and 16 tbs of bleach. I didn't want to use more but I think I should have because it was supposed to become a cream but mine was more paste like. I think when I do the 2nd part of it I'll add in some more bleach, but I'm still hesitant to do it because it feels like a lot of bleach.

On the up side the alginate cut the fumes of the bleach out almost entirely. A big plus.

My first try turned out a bit blotchy, but since it was my first try ever I can live with that. I'm going to try a slightly different method for when I do more next weekend.

I have been taking photos as I go, though I didn't get a photo of when I rinsed the bleach off because u didn't want to accidentally drop my phone into the bath tub with the water running. ^_^;

More to come on this project later~!!

Geek pride

I regret nothing. =D

All I've seen today...

...are things from the captain America movie in the things that I've had to do @ work. I'm sure the new trailer that came out yesterday during that foot ball game hasn't helped at all, but really. I had to mail a book to queens and utopia parkway and I giggled because that is where dr erskine lives in the movie.
My manager and I were talking and I was telling her that my nieces had just seen a live action version of Peter pan for the first time and I'd gotten up to the "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do!" part and it morphed into "I still believe in heroes" which is a line from the new trailer.

Really, brain, what are you doing to me??

The Avengers

"I still believe in Heroes."

The Captain and the Niece

So, this is my niece and the paper bag puppet of Captain America that I made for her and her twin sister.

Her sister knew before I'd even gotten the blue started that it was Cap. I might be watching the movie too often.

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I wrote in a blog and not over at LiveJournal. Might not write much here in the end, but a friend off mine started up a blog tonight and I figured it might be fun to try one again.

Not sure what the theme of this blog will be, might just be a slice of life, might post my art or etchings. Could even post about the first anime con I'm going to at the end of April. Who knows for sure Until or unless I really use this for something.

Ah well, until then I supose.