Tea & Bees

2010-08-26T10:54:00.000-04:00

2009-05-14T22:54:00.002-04:00

It took a flu and some rainy, cool weather to bring me back. With spring [and soon summer] on the rise, I've wanted to do anything but sit in my apartment in front of my computer screen. So with the warm weather on the bound, I am going to have to remember extra hard to take time to share my whereabouts and craftabouts with you.

This is a little thing I've been working on when my hands are bored. A few months ago I bought some origami paper at the art store and got to work on some of the cute little animals they had in their instruction paper. For me, the crane was the hardest to understand. So I tried again and again until finally I got it. But what to do with all my little practice cranes with bended heads or deformed wings? No way could I throw them out. Not with all we've been through. So after them setting on my desk for a few weeks, flopped over and tangled with all my pens and computer cords, I found them a home. I strung them up on some twine and hung it across my kitchen door frame. This seems, however, to be a temporary solution to me. I would like to get a wooden hoop so I can hang it like a mobile and keep adding colorful little cranes to sway in the wind. Now, to find a craft store near by.....

And here is card I made for my mum for Mother's Day -

2009-03-29T17:42:00.002-04:00

Well spring is beginning. Today is wet and grey, not a feeling you want with the anticipation of summer. But the grass is greening and trees are budding and have a fury look to them.

After a great lull at work, things are picking up again. And fast. Good for the bank account but a drag for mind and soul.

I made this birthday card in haste last week for a friend. It's nothing terribly special in terms of design but it's a fun and easy way to make a home-made card. Something I really haven't done in years but have found myself doing more recently. I made a slew of these for my family for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately I had to mail them off before I could scan them but picture something like this but with lots of red and pink hearts. You get the idea.

Before these cards, I've never really picked up a needle and thread so it's a bit interesting to me that I even decided to make something like this. I think it's a way for me to make a simple little something for some one but with a bit of a twist - a little extra something. But I would like to work up to stitching more intricate designs and maybe using a better quality of paper than Staple's recycled computer paper. But all in good time. For now they are simple and sweet.

*just a little disclaimer - I still haven't gotten the format of this website down so in order to view my images in complete, full and beautiful size, you may have to double click the image so it will open full in a new window. But I will leave that up to you.

2009-03-21T00:31:00.002-04:00

I went camping last weekend. I'm going camping again tomorrow. Days are 50, nights are 30. We huddle close and sip booze to keep warm around the fire.

Staten Island

2009-03-02T19:57:00.002-05:00

2009-02-25T21:58:00.012-05:00

So this is a woodcut I've been working on. It's gone through a couple of different forms already - printed in black, a solid block of wood with just the image of the bird, as well as figuring out if I wanted to use the whole size of the wood to print or not. These first few tests don't bode too well with me. The black did nothing for the image, nor did the empty spaces above and below the bird. It was just blah. Nothing special. Move on.

I was excited with the print though because, well, this was the first time I've printed in at least 2 years. And at home, none the less, where I had to be clever to figure out the space and tools I needed on a really, really cheap to nonexistent budget.

But with the excitement of an actual, real life print aside, I was unsatisfied with my print. It needed something else, something different. So I go on the wonderful world wide web and started to search woodcut images. Just to remember again, to get inspired, to help me figure out what else or more it needed. And here it is.

I am much more pleased with it. Though I'm wondering if people are having a hard time identifying the image as a bird. It's a pretty nondescript line drawing so,.....any opinions?

I'm not done with this though. I've only made 4 prints and would like to do an edition of 10. I would also like to print it in a reddish or orange color. There is much more work to be done. But it's got my blood pumping. Although I like the end result, the most rewarding part of printmaking to me is the process. Everything. Cutting the paper, stretching the ink, designing the image, hell, even cleaning up. And then after all that, you have this - a little piece of paper with a thing you made on it. All yours to show and hug and keep and give away. It's wonderful.

* So as a liner note, I'm still not entirely sure how these posts will be formated, if I will follow a format, if there will be a beginning or an end or text at all. So hold tight and just read what you read and see what you see.

2009-02-22T23:15:00.002-05:00

Hello. Well if you are reading this, this is my new blog. I've blogged for years now, not really knowing what I was doing. But I think now I've got the idea and am able to blog with a purpose.

With that I've decided that I need a place, an intra-webbing place, to show and talk over my ideas and creative juices. A place to motivate myself and keep myself accountable for the crafts, art and silly things I make. My hands and brain have been antsy for far too long and I think this could be a good place for them to stretch their legs and get some much needed air.

So if you want to stick around and follow, that would be great. I would love friends, comments and feedback because, well hey, who doesn't?

So thanks. And I hope I see you later.