Sep
09

I’ve been preoccupied this summer with a sick cat. As I said in June, our 18 year old tortie Wysi ‘crashed’ due to CRF and needed a lot of care (including 2 hourly feeds for a few weeks). Just as we got her CRF stabilised, she was diagnosed as hyperthyroid. She’s been on medication for that for a month now, and she is having a lot of gut problems which may be due to that medication or may be due to her CRF. She’s had 3 stays at the vet’s on IV, from which she comes home with a pretty bandage on one leg (doesn’t she look impressed with that?), and too many other visits for me to count. I hope we’ll get her re-stabilised soon, for her sake and ours.

So, I’ve not had much craft stuff to blog about recently. I have done a little more of the Icarus, though I need to tink a couple of rows as I lost concentration while knitting at our monthly spinning evening – no pictures of that, though.

We went to a 2-day printmaking workshop with Karen Carter last month. Because we were shown how to use the etching press safely, that ‘qualified’ us to go to the monthly printmaking afternoons at the college, which we did last Saturday. The workshop covered collagraphs, drypoint ‘etching’ and linocuts. DH did some amazing drypoint prints, but I just did a lot of test prints and samples. I decided to use the same drawings I’d used for the monoprints in April so I could compare the difference in line quality more easily (and because I was too brain-dead that week to come up with new images). These are not supposed to be aesthetically interesting – just trying out techniques. I also used the backgrounds to try some different effects.

Drypoint is a technique which produces prints which look like etchings, but instead of using acid, you ‘draw’ your image onto a synthetic plate with a needle tool, or add texture with an abrasive. I started with a ‘frosted’ translucent polypropylene sheet – the kind sometimes used to make filing folders. One side is more textured than the other – the first sample is the smoother side.

Next I tried using a sheet of Rhenalon, which is smooth and transparent. I found it more difficult to use than the polypropylene, as if I used enough pressure to get a clear line the tool slipped too easily. DH preferred it, though, as he likes the clear background.

I also did some collagraph samples at the workshop, and although I didn’t have time to do any linocuts there, I did get one done at the open studio. I’ll try to get scans or photos of those soon and post them here.

Jun
27
Filed Under (Cats, Journalling, Paper crafts/ATCs/"Art") by jennyk on 27-06-2011

Well, the title says it all … and so does the page itself. What inspired me to choose that theme? My own procrastination, of course!

The page had been pre-painted a while ago with FW acrylic inks. I don’t have any stencils, so I cut my own square grid from an OHP sheet and used a stamp pad ‘direct to page’ over the over it. I then used a Marvy Le Plume II (brush end) to write the main word, then the fine end to write the text around the edge. The page looked too dull at that point, and the stencilled squares didn’t stand out enough, so I used a scarlet Le Plume II to do wiggly borders around the squares. OK, not brilliant, but not too bad.

Actually, I do have an excuse for my procrastination, as we’ve been dealing with a very sick kitty (CRF) for the past three weeks, so my mind hasn’t been on art or crafts, but I needed the distraction today. We still don’t know whether she is going to make it, but we are doing everything we can to help her.
What finally inspired me? My own procrastination!

The page had been pre-painted a while ago with FW acrylic inks. I don’t have any stencils, so I cut my own square grid from an OHP sheet and used a stamp pad ‘direct to page’ over the over it. I then used a Marvy Le Plume II (brush end) to write the main word, then the fine end to write the text around the edge. The page looked too dull at that point, and the stencilled squares didn’t stand out enough, so I used a scarlet Le Plume II to do wiggly borders around the squares. OK, not brilliant, but not too bad.

Actually, I do have an excuse for my procrastination, as we’ve been dealing with a very sick kitty (CRF) for the past three weeks, so my mind hasn’t been on art or crafts, but I needed the distraction today. We still don’t know whether she is going to make it, but we are doing everything we can to help her.

Apr
12

Stolen from a friend’s blog

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

My own knitting has been going well, though slowly. I have almost finished a pair of Regia socks, as they have been my mindless knitting while visiting my mother in hospital (mainly on the journeys to and fro). As she isn’t likely to go home for a while yet, I needed to set up my next ‘car knitting’ project, so I’ve started on the yarn from the dyed sock blank. I have finished one toe, but as I’ve not used this yarn before and I didn’t swatch (bad Jenny!), I may have to do a bit of ripping after a couple more inches to adjust the number of stitches. At least I’ll have something to keep my fingers busy, so I won’t mind too much if that happens.

Aug
14
Filed Under (Cats) by jennyk on 14-08-2009

… as far as blogging is concerned.  Part of the problem was that most of what I have been making lately has been for swaps on Swap-bot and I’ve been reluctant to post pictures or details here in case my partners saw them and it spoiled the surprise.  I’ve decided to put a spoiler warning on my Swap-bot profile and leave it up to my partners to decide whether or not to look.  I’m still leaving my Flickr pictures as private until I know the items have been received, though.  So, I’ll try to get some pictures of some of my latest projects uploaded soon.

In the meantime, kitty eye-candy …

sleepy cat

Oct
02
Filed Under (Cats) by jennyk on 02-10-2005

… rather than fibre content …

Since my last entry, we’ve both been illl for a few weeks, and then there was a lot of things we needed to catch up, so I’m only just back to doing fibre stuff. Just to prove I haven’t stopped blogging completely, I decided to put up some cat pictures. Even though they love comfort, cats do like to make themselves uncomfortable at times:

Tigs onTV 1.jpg

Tigs onTV 2.jpg

Tigs on bookcase.jpg

Aug
20
Filed Under (Cats) by jennyk on 20-08-2005

… it is so long since I last did an entry …

I know I said this was to be a fibre blog, and I have been doing fibre stuff (honestly!), but life has been too chaotic lately for me to give this blog any priority (sick cat, then sick husband, now sick mother), so here is a picture of Tigs just to prove he isn’t so sick that he can’t relax and chill out. (Click for a bigger version, as usual.)

Tigs-8-2005_th.jpg

When we left my mother after visiting for the second time today to cook her some supper, we should have hurried home to cook our own meal, but we decided we needed a half hour stroll along the towpath of the River Thames instead – good for the soul. :-) Unfortunately we didn’t have a camera with us to catch the sunset over the river, but if we go there again tomorrow we’ll try to remember it. Now I need to cook that dinner …

Jun
05
Filed Under (Cats, Weaving) by jennyk on 05-06-2004

Sometimes Tigs likes to hang around the table loom …. usually under it, but occasionally he gets higher ambitions.

loom cat.jpg

A few minutes later, he was back in his usual position …

loom cat 2.jpg

The carders are on top of the cloth to stop him lying there, BTW