Fox Stitch-a-Long, part 3

I should have known ... after the whirlwind of the foreground flowers and the fox, the leaves would be a big challenge.

I am a huge fan of the acanthus, which always seems to me to be the ultimate William Morris plant. Years ago when I walked the Thames Path I stopped in at Kelmscott Manor and was thrilled to see acanthus growing in Morris's garden. Every time I see them growing I always think I should plant some in our garden, too. Clearly they grow well in Ballard!

Ballard acanthus on a sunny day

Acanthus was first produced as a repeating tile, and then as wallpaper. The Victoria & Albert  Museum describes acanthus as "luxuriantly naturalistic", noting that:

Morris's designs were always subtle, stylised evocations of natural forms rather than literal transcriptions. He warned in his essay 'The Lesser Arts' (1877) against the likes of "sham-real boughs and flowers", and advised those designing wallpapers "to avoid falling into the trap of trying to make your paper look as if it were painted by hand". With a natural eye for pattern, Morris produced papers that not only balanced figuration and order, but which were (unusually for the time) distinctive.

Acanthus repeating tile image from William Morris Tile

Acanthus wallpaper from the Victoria & Albert Museum

Morris loved a patterned wallpaper; if they were too plain he felt your house would always look shoddy:

Whatever you have in your rooms, think first of the walls; for they are that which makes your house and home; and if you don't make some sacrifice in their favour, you will find that your chambers have a kind of makeshift lodging appearance about them, however rich and handsome your movables may be. ~William Morris

I think stitching the pattern really makes me look at the way the leaves are shaped, how they curl back against each other. They're so beautiful... though it has taken me a lot longer than I expected to get through them!

I started with the veins, and then stitched the pale green edging, and then the pale blue edging. I originally thought I would get the green leaves done, but instead did the dark shading on the blue leaves. I finished that this week, and just started the dark shading on the green leaves.

To keep me motivated I've joined a stitch-a-long, where my fellow stitchers are making great progress on some spectacular projects. You can see what they're working on on their blogs:

Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  LucyAnn,  Kate,  Jess,  Sue,  Constanze,  Debbierose,  Christina,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy,  Helen,  Steph,  Linda,  Mary Margaret,  Heidi,  Connie,  Jackie

We're also welcoming two new members -- somehow I missed them, so apologies for the late addition! Welcome Hayley and Tony!

My fellow stitchers are in a lot of different time zones, so if there isn’t a post when you first look, check later in the day. Fancy joining us for the SAL? Send a message to Avis.

Our next stitch-a-long check-in is in three weeks; I really to have the green leaves fully stitched by then.

Behind the Wheel: Tales of a Pottery Newbie, part 3

I quit.

There, I said it.

Tuesday night should have been our last pottery class ... but my heart hadn't been in it for a while. I went in on Monday night and collected our last few pieces, wrapped them in our clay-stained aprons, and slunk out of the community center.

I'm pleased that we took the course -- it was something I wanted to do. But as you know I didn't enjoy it much. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that. And I did make some things I like.

I was able to find most of the pinch pots I made during the off week, including the one I put colored slip on and carved... before wondering if that was "allowed". I love the way the pigeon-grey clay fires to a bright white. Still, no idea what to do with these, other than perhaps paint them as they are not glazed.

I also found my little trio of tea light holders, and was happy to note that they didn't shrink so much that a tea light wouldn't fit inside. I'll use these, for sure. 

I found Wil's last two bowls, which turned out amazing. He dipped them in red and then chameleon green, and I love the shifting colors. 

Funny that inside is more red, outside is more green.

Also odd that they turned out with more of a satin finish .... almost matte, even, rather than the high gloss of some earlier bowls. The one on the right is the same glaze, a dip of red, let dry, then a dip of chameleon green. But glossy!

And much greener on the inside.

Seriously, isn't this beautiful? I am in envy of Wil's lovely rice bowls.

"Take a Pottery Class" was one of my #101in1001 projects -- and I hope I don't sound too defeatist or disappointed, because we did make some nice things and had some fun doing it. Honest. But I'm also glad we're done. 

What to do with the leftover clay? I've read up, a bit, on firing clay in a backyard barbecue, so maybe I'll make some small little pinch pots to hold candles and see what happens with that. 

In an amusing aside with a happy ending ... on Sunday we went for a hike around Discovery Park ... and on Sunday night I discovered that my driver's license and a credit card I had foolishly stashed in a pocket had been lost. So we cancelled the Visa (which, annoyingly, we had just set up as our main bill payment method for house bills!) and I tried to figure out when I could take the time to request a replacement license. 

Then on Tuesday night I got an email from the Parks Department, hoping that I might be able to find a person with the same last name and address as was in my account, as someone had turned in a lost driver's license! How did they happen to have my email address? Because I had set up an online account with the Parks Department... so I could register online for pottery class. See? It's just clean living!

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100 days of Ulysses

When I started my 100-Day Challenge last year, I was chatting to my friend Rebecca online and she started thinking about a reading project:

Rebecca: I could devote 10 days to reading Don Quixote.
O r Ulysses.
Me: We should back out 100 days from Bloomsday next year and read Ulysses then.
Rebecca: That's fun! I've never read it.
Me: Neither have I. Oh, but you'll be cycling through France and should be reading Frenchy French things.
Rebecca: I could read Montaigne for 100 days. That's on my list, too.
Me: We would have to start Ulysses on March 8, 2018
Rebecca: I like that
Me: to hit 100 days on June 16
Rebecca: Even if I read some in France
Me: Just read it with a French accent. Or with French wine.
Rebecca: Or read ahead for 14 days
Me: Frank Delaney's re:joyce podcast says: If you can trick a friend into reading it with you, so much the better.
Rebecca: Ok, that's sorted.
March 8.
I already have a copy somewhere
Me: It *might* be March 9... that would mean June 16 is day 100
I think
I have sent you an invitation for March 9 on google calendar
Rebecca: Ok then!
Eric thinks we are silly
Me: Then he's not invited.
Rebecca: He just does stuff
Me: But we love A PROJECT
Rebecca: We do!

So here it is, March 9 … and it's time to kick this project off. We've been joined by our friend Simon -- who is reading a handsome Modern Library edition, while Rebecca and I are reading the Gabler edition.

I know I won't read every day -- that some days I'll binge, while other days I'll just try to avoid eye contact with the reproachful, neglected book. But I'll get through it! And I can foresee some days spent reading at the pub...

I'll check in again on April 7, May 7, and June 6, and post a wrap-up on June 16... Bloomsday!

Fox Stitch-a-Long, part 2

I'm really thrilled with my progress so far on the Fox needlepoint -- finishing the foreground leaves and flowers last week, and somehow powering through the fox in just over a week ... which I thought would take a month. (Which, by the way, completes another #101in1001 project!)

I love how detailed this pattern is, and how many shades of yarn I have already used. Just in the fox there are 9 different colors. I love his face:

And along the way spotted a bit of stem I didn't stitch, which I'll pick up when I am working on the background leaves.

yep, missed a bit of stem there!

I love the 3-D affect with this flower and the shadow on the fox's tail.

Next I'll be starting the acanthus leaves -- which makes up the majority of the project.

I'll do all the veins first, then all the pale outlines. And then I'll focus on the green leaves first. I seem to recall that the leaves tend to drag on a bit... To keep me motivated, I've joined a stitch-a-long. I've been inspired by seeing all the amazing projects my fellow stitchers are working on!

Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  LucyAnn,  Kate,  Jess,  Sue,  Constanze,  Debbierose,  Christina,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy,  Helen,  Steph,  Linda,  Mary Margaret,  Heidi,  Connie,  Jackie

My fellow stitchers are in a lot of different time zones, so if there isn’t a post when you first look, check later in the day. Fancy joining us for the SAL? Send a message to Avis.

Our next stitch-a-long check-in is in three weeks; I hope to have the green leaves stitched by then. 

Craftacular finish: a gnome for Wil

I saw a cute pattern in a "Christmas Crafts" magazine last year and thought it would be a perfect little gift for Wil. He often gets a gnome for Christmas, but I didn't get a chance to make him one in time. But I gathered the material -- an old sweater, some fake fur, some Sculpey -- and waited till I had a little time.

Assembling the gnome was super easy -- I just felted the sweater, cut out the pieces, stuffed him with some beans and polyfill, then put him together. Shaping and baking the nose was even easier than expected, too. Rather than buy ultrasuede for the body, I just used more of the sweater.  And I think he looks pretty great -- and not much different from the sample!

I finished the gnome a few days ago, but couldn't blog about it because, well, it was a surprise, I'm tempted to make more... but I'm not sure we need a lot of semi-identical gnomes...

Reading Darwin: On the Origin of Species

It's World Book Day, so it's only right that this morning I finished Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

As with "Voyage of the Beagle", I listened to the work as an audiobook. I had read "Origin" (or, more completely, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) in college, but of course that was years ago. I love the cadence of his writing, his repeated turns of phrase. But I also love hearing his tentative thoughts on just why the finches of the different Galapagos islands were different become scientifically sound.

Okay, with over a century of additional study we've learned that Darwin's sketched tree of life isn't accurate:

 

Not, I hasten to add, because evolution isn't real (sheesh!), but because there is even more crossbreeding between species than is commonly thought -- so discrete evolutionary branches aren't accurate.

... modern genetics has revealed that representing evolutionary history as a tree is misleading, with scientists saying a more realistic way to represent the origins and inter-relatedness of species would be an impenetrable thicket. Darwin himself also wrote about evolution and ecosystems as a "tangled bank". - The Guardian

But I don't care. I still can't wait to get stuck in to reading The Descent of Man later this year. Of course, before then I've got a big, meaty new project: reading Ulysses over 100 days!

While looking for a nice picture of Darwin for this blog post I came across this gorgeous artwork by Gremz, available for download. So good!

Happy to have another item from my #101in1001 project completed! And we're only 59 days in!

Behind the Wheel: Tales of a Pottery Newbie, part 2

wheel-thrown ... shapes ... glazed and ready to fire

We've had two more … not really classes, because classes imply instruction … but sessions with a teacher. In the meantime, we threw a bit more, trimmed a bit more, and I hand-built some things. I mean, we've gotta use up this clay somehow!!!

So last week I took a bunch of things home -- Wil's cute bowls and cups, my floppy saucer-bowls, and my one shining cup. Wil was super pleased -- but I still feel like we didn't get much out of our investment... either of time or of energy.

finished product

My pieces all seem to have spots where the glaze "crawled" -- but I don't really know how or why (especially on a flat surface). I suppose one might consult the instructor...

I also glazed my collection of misfit pieces -- my ugly ducky pitcher, my first slab bowl, my weird slab vase, and my tiny campfire:

Again, when I picked them up this week, I had spots where the glaze had crawled. I was also really surprised that the tall vase, which I brushed with one layer of watered-down blue glaze, and then dipped in white, turned out quite so blue. Still, they're all just experiments. And I don't care -- I love my little ugly duckling pitcher.

Last week I also built a few pieces -- a simple slab bowl -- I like the geometry of it. And the little tea light holders with the snowflake cut out are pretty satisfying. I hope they turn out okay.

This was an off-week; we didn't have class but the studio was open, so I just went at our regular time. I glazed the snowflake candleholders and another slab bowl, and I spent a little while making a bunch of simple pinch pots.

I had this idea -- from a hazy memory the teacher mentioned in week 2 -- that you can decorate your pots with colored slip. So I wanted to try decorating pinch pots with colored slip, and then carving a pattern into the outside. But as I sat in class, with students from lots of different classes bustling around, none of whom are "beginners", I started to feel weird so I just did one and then left. I've discovered how easy it is to make pinch pots, so I can try again next week. And did I mention I have A LOT OF CLAY LEFT. Hell, even if I just make pinch pots and paint them later, I'll be fine with that.

We have three "classes" left ... though I think she said we only have one more week when we can use wet clay? If so, there are a LOT of pinch pots coming soon.

I do, however, want to highlight my favorite project: a tiny white campfire tea light holder, which pretty much turned out EXACTLY as I wanted it to. WINNER!

Hmm... I wonder if I could make a couple more of those, too? I bet I could.... WILL THERE BE TIME?

Fox needlepoint - flowers DONE

I can only attribute this to the fact that we've become a little obsessed with the Winter Olympics. We've watched a lot of curling. More skeleton, luge, and bobsled than is healthy. A lot of "freestyle" snowboarding and skiing. Big air. Half pipe. Some downhill racing. We've gasped at the snowboard cross and ski cross events. We've held our breath during the shooting segments of the biathlon. I've cheered -- OUT LOUD -- watching cross country skiing. We whooped at some ski jumping. Hell, we even watched some ice dancing and figure skating.

But it did mean watching more television in two weeks than we usually do in several months... which means MORE TIME FOR STITCHING. So the part of the needlepoint that I thought would take me a month of diligent work has actually taken me two weeks.

Given how vivid the printing of the canvas is, it's a little hard to see what is stitched and what isn't.  But all the foreground leaves and flowers are now complete!

Next up: the fox himself!

This is another item from my #101in1001 project complete!

Fox Stitch-a-Long, part 1

This #101in1001 project -- at least the crafty part -- has been going along really well so far. So now I'm going to start one of the bigger projects on my craft list: the Beth Russell / William Morris "Fox" needlepoint kit.

I've had this kit for several years now -- though, at least, I didn't allow myself to buy it until after I finished the "Hare" kit. It's been languishing in my basement along with more kits than I care to admit (including The Kit That Dare Not Speak Its Name, about which more later... in theory...).

But having found an old yet serviceable needlepoint frame on a visit to our favorite thrift shop in the world, and really wanting to complete the set, well, it was time to get cracking.

I separated my yarn -- a task much easier on this kit than with either Hare or Raven, since the small threads were bunched up on their own. I stretched the fabric on the frame, and then had my usual trepidation about making the first stitch. (Why is that? It's like the first line / page in a notebook, I suppose.)

I've been stitching the foreground flowers first, followed by foreground leaves. Once all of those is done I'll stitch the fox himself, and then the acanthus leaves in the background. Those acanthus leaves in blue and green are stitched in a precise manner; first the veins, then the edging, then the darker shade around the veins, and then the remaining color. Then, finally, the navy background.

Here's where I stand, 4 possibly over-eager, Winter Olympics days into this project:

I've got all the petals of the flowers stitched, and am starting the palest green of the leaves. While it's satisfying to have done "all the stitching" for 6 of the 26 colors -- but I know they're all the easy, little bits.

I expect this project to take me three or four months -- it's a big one -- but in order to have some extra motivation, I'm thrilled to be joining my first ever stitch-a-long. How I discovered this SAL is a story in itself, which I'll tell in a future post, but for now, check out the amazing projects my fellow stitchers are working on!

Avis,  Claire,  Gun,  Carole,  LucyAnn,  Kate,  Jess,  Sue,  Constanze,  Debbierose,  Christina,  Kathy,  Margaret,  Cindy,  Helen,  Steph,  Linda,  Mary Margaret,  Heidi,  Connie,  Jackie

My fellow stitchers are in a lot of different time zones, so if there isn’t a post when you first look, check later in the day. Fancy joining us for the SAL? Send a message to Avis.

Behind the Wheel - Tales from a Pottery Newbie, part 1

I have long wanted to learn how to throw pottery on a wheel. So as part of my #101in1001 project I signed us up for a beginning pottery class. We had our first session a few weeks ago and, well, it wasn't quite what I expected.

Which begs the question, what was I expecting? Well, I expected a bit more order, and not to spend the first half hour trying to find room for us all to store our clay. And I expected to, well, be instructed on how to do things. And of course I expected that a "Beginner" class would be full of beginners. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

We arrived, nervous and jangly, at the community center where the class was located. A nice man at the front desk showed us where the studio was, and we went in. Shelves of pottery in various states. Six pottery wheels at one end, a massive sink, a jars full of tools. Big tables, low stools. Clay-stained aprons. Displays of glazes and unknown things in jars.

After several minutes, another person came in, then a few more. Finally, right at 6:30, the instructor arrived.

We gathered around the table … it was clear she knew some of the students already. She asked us to tell her what our experience with pottery was, and what we hoped to achieve. As she went around the room, my sense of … dread? Ire? Panic? … rose. Everyone else had been making pottery for at least a couple of months, if not years.

She got to me and I said, "Well, I'm a beginner … I don't have any experience … which is why I thought I signed up for a beginner class." She said, "You're in the right place." I even thought, for a while, that maybe it would be great -- if everyone else already knew what they were doing, we'd get more instruction.

Then it was time to get our clay. There were choices to be made -- the other students are working with different clay than we are. We're using a clay described as the simplest clay. Whatever that means.

Then we went back to the pottery room and spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out whether there was room on the storage shelves, and what clay could be removed because the student wasn't continuing, and so on. In the end Wil and I just said we'd share a space at the end of one of the shelves, wrote our names on the sheet, and moved out of the way.

Then, finally, clay. We learned to "wedge" it -- though I was doing it wrong, at first. I was kneading it -- which, with dough, is designed in part to *add* air. But with clay, what you need to do is remove any air -- because air bubbles will explode when the clay is fired. Kaboom.
While we "wedged", the experienced students got on pottery wheels… and the real problem became apparent. Seven students in attendance. Six wheels.

The instructor took a wheel and did a little demo with speed and grace, centering her clay, making first a cone then a cylinder, then a delicate bowl. She repeated the demonstration and made a perfect little pitcher.

I mean, how hard could it be?

Luckily for me, one of the experienced potters decided she wanted to do some hand building rather than throw on a wheel, so I gathered my supplies and got set up. To "center" clay you find the approximate center of your wheel, and then use the pressure of your wet hands to gather and center and start shaping the clay. When watching a master potter do this, it's like magic -- they splat, they squeeze, they make a cone, the push it down, then the open it up and start a cylinder.

I, on the other hand, spent a frustrating 45 minutes just trying to center my clay. I used enough water to completely saturate the clay, rendering it too useless to throw. And I used up each of my three prepared lumps. By the end I was so upset and so frustrated I was convinced we should drop the class.

via GIPHY

Except I looked over at Wil and he was actually raising cylinders. Thick-walled cylinders, sure. But still just making things work.

This made me almost more upset -- so I decided to clean up my wheel and try not to cry. I made eye contact with the woman who was hand building. She said, "If you ask her, she'll show you how to do it… I mean, look at what I made last term" -- holding up a small bowl. "Throwing is really hard."

So the next time the teacher came into the room I went over and said, "Well, actually, I need instruction. I need to be shown how to do something -- I can't just learn it from watching. I've just spent 45 minutes trying to center clay. Can you help?"

And to her credit, she came over to my wheel, helped me center the clay, showed me where on my hand I should be placing pressure, where I should hold my arms, how to open up the clay to start a cylinder. And after a few minutes, I had made -- with STRONG DIRECTION -- a passable cup.

So I didn't feel like crying anymore … but I was still frustrated. Shouldn't the teacher have actively been TEACHING? With only two newbies … sitting next to each other … shouldn't she have come by to check on us and offer … INSTRUCTION?

Week 2 we went into the studio early so that we could wedge a LOT of clay, and make sure we got on wheels. Which was good, because we had 9 students in class that night. But again we made a bit of a fatal error -- largely because we didn't know what we were supposed to do next. We got on wheels, threw our clay, made some cups and bowls and plates … but hadn't been taught about "trimming" so we gave our wheels up… so couldn't trim our stuff from week 1. Which meant that at 7:30 we were just twiddling our thumbs… so we guiltily left. Guilty because we didn't help clean up, but we clearly weren't going to accomplish anything else!

Week 3 we actually went into the studio on the Monday night, too -- to do some prep work, and trim our bowls in peace. I did enough work on the wheel that I decided that on Tuesday I would just throw 2 lumps of clay, and then spend the evening working on hand-built projects. Not that we had any instruction on it, but I just decided to stop stressing about the limited wheels. And at the end of class I'd made a nice little "campfire" candle holder and a vase. Oh, and an ugly duckling pitcher I threw before class even started.

However, we also learned that we should have been putting our "finished" projects on the "fire me" shelves … how would we have known that? Really not sure. So we did that at the end of week 3; in theory we should have some bisque-ware that we can glaze tonight.

So tonight I plan on getting there a little early, trimming the ugly duckling pitcher, throwing 2 wedges on the wheel, and then making some hand-built candleholders using my snowflake cookie cutters. Perhaps a couple of pinch pots. Oh, and decorating my campfire.