The Devil in the Detail

I have punished myself for over 20 years...how and why you ask?

Well, the how is simple. I keep my house in an ungodly state of ....disarray? mess? chaos? shittiness?  which keeps me not only mentally unable to do the things I REALLY want to do, but physically keeps me from doing them, too.

Why?

Good fucking question, y'all.

I had this table nearly cleared off...and it is again, and in my defense, I was shifting things around trying to clear the BIGGER mess on my cutting table. *sighs* But this photo captures my world, my mind, the clutter that has become my life. I am not truly a horder...really... No...really! lol   But...I am a clutterbug. I can use all kinds of excuses, my ADHD, depression (erm...we know the clutter actually contributes to the depression, kind of a catch 22 sort of....fing...), because I work and have no patience/energy to deal with it when I get home...or maybe I'm just lazy...

But the root of it is my child mind doesn't think I'm worthy...yeah, it's the ol' lack of self worth rearing its ugly, pathetic, moronic head again.  I wish to kill it...yes...kill it.

I actually have cleared about 18" off the cutting table...woot.  Back for more...

Used art supply haul

I always do this to myself, decide to paint a wall or some such DIY thing that delays what I really need to do. But...in my defense, I want to get the walls painted before I start moving furniture around...so I don't have to move it around again. Logic, right?  Right??

So, I'm moving along, getting things done and for some unknown reason I decide to browse Craigslist...you know, scan the free stuff...meh, nothing catches my eye, then...oooh...art supplies!

So I end up with this total haul of used art supplies for 20 bucks: Pastels ( a LOT of pastels), couple dozen pastel pencils, brushes, close to 60 tubes of oil paints (many still good), pencils, blending stumps, small stack of paper, a stack of nice-sized pieces of canvas, a small tin of watercolours, a painter's box, several cans of fixative & retouch varnish, a bottle of Liquitex gesso, a jar of Golden gesso, a jar of Liquitex gel medium (never opened), two unopened quarts of odorless turpenoid, a half-full pint of Grumbacher turpentine, two jars of picture-hanging hardware, 4 palette knives (3 really nice Holbein ones), an ink brayer, an unused bar of castile soap, two large-ish baskets, a stack of art books, and an antique knife...oh, and a small plastic funnel (??).

The young woman I bought the stuff from said she got it from a friend and it had been his grandmother's.  This lady. The girl said she had taken a few things out, because "she didn't know what she was doing." I'm assuming she might have taken the better brushes, as the ones left were not the best...but other than that, I don't know.  Any one of the groups of things by themselves, the pastels, the stack of canvas, any 6 tubes of paint, the gessos and gel medium, or the painter's box, are each worth over $20. There are three tubes of Grumbacher in the original plastic cases, never opened, that list for $23.50, $29.45, and $29.45!

So, even If I were to give the brushes to Creative Reuse (I have a boat load of brushes) and the books, too, and throw half the tubes of paint out (I've already binned three of them)...I still came out like a bandit.

Many of the paints are no longer available, like the "Permanent Pigments" which became Liquitex. Liquitex no longer make oil paints, they have concentrated on acrylics. I remember way back in art class in high school, we dabbled a bit in acrylics and that was the only brand there was back then.

I can tell things have been stored: the oil paints have leaked out their oil in some cases, due to heat, and the brushes have been nibbled by bugs. I had that happen to some of mine....the little buggies love the boar bristles!!

So, even If I were to give the brushes to Creative Reuse (I have a boat load of brushes) and the books, too, and throw half the tubes of paint out (I've already binned three of them)...I still came out like a bandit.

It feels a bit weird, going thru all this stuff, sorting it, etc, as the lady's name is written on a lot of it, along with her address, but I think she'd be happy someone has her supplies and is using them. I took all the pastels out of the three original boxes Grumbacher portrait and landscape and NuPastel)  they were in and the other, random box the Rembrandt and Webers were in. I know some people like to curate supplies and keep the boxes and all, but I put mine in my pastel drawers--I hate having to go through various boxes to find the ones I need.

Several years ago--after not having worked in pastels for literally decades, I gave my collection to one of my best friends as she was into them at the time. I've slowly been building my collection up again and this increased it like, 3-fold.

I've also been thinking about working in oils again, but didn't want to spend the money if i decided I didn't want to keep up with it--good GODS paint has become expensive!!! I notice even Jerry's is slowly edging their prices up, and soon, like Bed, Bath, and Beyond, they won't be a discount place any longer. Tricksy.

Anyway, I bought a Gamblin medium starter kit (I just realised the little red box was not in mine 😡) and am really looking forward to trying my hand again.  This video explains the different medium types.

So...that is what has derailed the progress of house and studio this week. Tomorrow I have to make some embroidered streamers for work... So that will derail things for part of Sunday as well.

Please pardon the fuzzy pics...erg...

Basket O'Paints

Paint box w/palette and slots for boards. I'm probably going
to paint the outside of this, it's raw wood, but Ruth wrote all over it.

Brushes and palette knives. I really had to work to resurrect the
two larger brushes you see.

Stack O'Canvasses 

Grumbacher landscape pastels

12" Antique knife. Rather sharp!  Stamped "WILLIAM SANDERSON & SONS
BEST CAST STEEL SHEFFIELD" Dated to most likely mid-to-late 1800s. Crucible steel, and
very early type of plastic for the handle.

Gesso and gel medium

The long sticks are the NuPastels. The other are oil pastels my brother gave
me for my birthday in the 60s!!!

Pastel pencils

Top three sections are Rembrandt & Weber soft pastels, the bottom is
Grumbacher portrait pastels

Solvents and fixatives--those two quarts of turpenoid are worth over $20
by themselves. Just call me Zorro....

Handmade Art Journal

A journal I made, using a cereal box, brown packing paper, tissue paper, acrylic paint, Dylusions sprays, stencils, matte medium, washi tape, scrapbook papers, old drawing paper, and waxed linen thread.

Moving on.

Sunday AM..more rain. I love the rain, but not the mud in the back yard. The dog brings most of it in the house with her. Ugh.

I finally got fed up with the bullshit on FB. I knew it was only a matter of time. Too many people posting political stuff that just gets me angry...and yeah, I posted some, too.  I know where my loyalties lie and that's all I need know. So, yeah, I haven't been on FB other than to check to see who's replied to something (like..no one..) in about two weeks. I don't miss it and not one single person has even noticed I'm not there. Heh.  This isn't a pity party, but just to show it's par for the course.

So, moving on from there, I might be here more. I need to write, no matter what it is. I have a project and article in the works and massive research to do for that. I also need to make my silly third post about Hobbit Trivia.

Speaking of The Hobbit, in the course of looking up stuff about each of the actors, I've been trying to watch other projects they've appeared in . If you've been paying attention, you'll know that Mr Hotness...er...Aidan Turner is starring in a new BBC production of Poldark.  First thing I saw him in other than The Hobbit and it convinced me he is actually a rather good actor indeed.

Screen Cap of Poldark starring Aidan Turner

I went on from there to watch him in Being Human. Both shows are done with the BBC's penchant for quality. The costumes in Poldark are perfection. Period fabrics, hand sewing (or at least 95% looks hand-sewn), proper fabrics for different classes, etc. The production values are superb and the Cornish scenery is just lovely. Well done, BBC, well done.

I stopped watching Being Human once Aidan was written out of the show (won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it), but the three series (seasons) are very good, heart-wrenching, and dramatic; there is a fair bit of humor, too. Russell Tovey and one of Aidan's exes, Lenora Crichlow, costar.

I've been trying to get hold of series 6 & 7 of The Clnic, well, actually I'd like to watch the whole lot of them. He was written out after series 7. I've seen a YouTube compilation of just the scenes he's in, but the show looks like it would be very good. There's a boxed set sort of available on Amazon. However, even though it's coded "0" --any region-- apparently it won't play in the US. Drat it all. He's a bit younger and plays a character who's a DJ in a club by night and a receptionist in a clinic by day. Wowsa, puts a whole new curve on being a receptionist.

The house is, as always, a huge mess, my studio is a wreck and all I feel like doing is playing Mahjong and writing. Go figure. I'm supposed to be washing dishes and making a grocery list (how utterly mundane), but "supposed to" and I have never really been friends.

The novel moves along a bit, seven chapters done and let's see, it's only taken me...7..8... years. *faceplant*

WOYWW #159

Hi, Madame B here. I forgot to mention last week that it was my first WOYWW post! (I was #178...posted on Thursday. Hee.)

We had a marvelous thunderboomer in our neck of the woods today--not all of Austin got rain--lowered the temp and watered the garden a bit. DEEE-lish!

Okay, I never had to go to confession, but I imagine today's post would be a harrowing experience in the confessional: Forgive me, for I have sinned. What is your sin, child? I have allowed a large, wonderful place to work and craft get so totally cluttered with schtuff, I've had to work in the kitchen. Ooooh...I'm not sure there are enough Hail Marys or Our Fathers to cover that, but your penance is banishment from all craft stores until it's tidied up!!

So, before you click the thumbnails of DHOOOM below, a bit of an explanation is due, I think. My house is one constant reno project and things get moved about all the time.  Pic #1 is my kitchen table, because of Pics # 2-3. My studio. *sighs* I had to move things in there and then they didn't get organized at all. Today I was home, giving Valentino meds for his nastily infected eye, so I attacked the studio and started organizing fabric and project bins. Actually made some headway, too. :)

When I came in the kitchen to sit a bit, I was gessoing odd bits of things to use as tags and journals...and playing Bubbletown on the computer. Any wonder I don't get more done?

These are thumbnails, click on them for larger pics!

It appears...

...I'm five days behind on my schedule. Well, hey, you got two posts one day!

If I had a regular reader base...oh, heck, a reader base at all...I'd be more fussed about it, but as it is the one whole person who reads my site understands. *evil grin*

I have a whole raft of things going on. I made a couple of dos-à-dos  journals out of a box that canning rings and lids came in. They're small, but came out quite nice. Even my 15 YO son thought they were cool. Going to do a very small video on them, just to kind of get started on the video blogging. Now I'm making a smash journal for him to take with him to New Orleans; he's spending the summer there with my brother. I have to make sure it's not in the least girly, or he won' t use it. There are a kabillion and one video tutorials and flips and flops of art journals, smash journals, "junque" journals, junky journals, journal journals, and-how-to-desecrate-a-book journals, ruin Moleskine journals (and create very nice art journals from them, too)....you name it journals out there on Youtube, but you know...what we need is just one more lady sharing her art, right?

On the "desecrate a book" thing: at one point in time the idea of "altered books" was just....blasphemy to me. But to be realistic, there are crap-ton of old, falling apart books that will either end up in the landfill or --if someone is doing the right thing-- in the recycle, so why the heck not make something nifty out of them? There are all kinds of artists making sculptures out of old books, but this guy really blows me away. I'd go insane trying to do all that. Particularly, I think old, out of date textbooks are a prime candidate for upcycling into art.

One of the projects I want to do is creating a memory journal out of a really, really old book I had as a little girl (©1950!).  In fact, there are several I'd like to do that with. This particular one was a favorite of mine, about an old guy who has a clock shop. Anyway, none of the original pages would be taken out or destroyed. I'll vid it when I do it.

Took the dogs to the pet clinic today. Turns out they only do vaccines at 1:20 PM...so I had to haul them back home, and then I left the old man at home and just got Abby taken care of. Tested for heartworms (negative, woot!!), annual boosters, they micro-chipped her for free (it'll cost $18 to register the chip), claws clipped, a tube of Advantage for each dog and HW preventative for Abby all for $87.50. Not too shabby. Serg is is 13, so they might not even give him shots. I will have him tested for HW. He might need sedating for the claws, though, since they're so long and it would HURT. So...might not do that either.

Abby was a scaredy-cat, but behaved very well. She's a very sweet dog, but just not used to other humans. So...after a few days, I'm going to start walking her again and taking her to dog parks and stuff; she really needs to get out and be social.

Meanwhile...I discovered bugs in my ceiling. The good news is that I don't think they are termites. The bad news is, they're probably ants. Bleah.

 

Art, Depth, and Self-Doubt.

I have a very, very, very good friend, who also happens to be an author. She writes new-agey books on spirituality (that's how we met, in a round-about sort of way), and the Shadow World vampire series. Her blog, Crazy Beautiful, is down there on the right under RSS feeds, if you care to check her out--she's one of the most awesome people I know (and that's saying something, because I know some fairly awesome peeps).

Anyway....on Tuesdays she posts "Tuesday Currents" in which she writes about what she's eating, drinking, doing, watching, listening to, working on, thinking about, etc. Last Tuesday, she wrote about watching videos by Jennibellie, who is a drop-dead gorgeous young lady in Nottingham, England. She's an artist and makes these fabulous journals. I spent night before last, staying up waaaaaay too late, watching all of her tutorials. Why is this important, you ask? Well, it's a long story, and I'm not going into all of it here.

Cat Condo-IKEA hack (photo-heavy)

Lord have mercy...I actually uploaded these pictures almost two years ago, and according to the stats on the original pictures, I took them in May of 2009. *le sigh* But now I know (aside from my terminal procrastination) why I didn't want to do this post. With the really time-consuming and awkward photo insertion tool in WordPress, this post is taking far longer than it should have!

Anyway.....check it all out....

You're going to get tired of this before I do.

Next SCA list: Feastbox

The feastbox is a wooden box about the size of a smallish cooler. My husband made it.  It's virtually indestructible and a pain in butt to carry.

Standard:

• 4 plates


• 4 maple bowls spare wooden bowls


• drinking vessels


• period utensils - spoons, knives (forks not period, optional)


• cutting knives


• matches, butane lighter


• salt & pepper


• paper towels


• napkins


• table cover


• carrier bags, trash bags


• foil & glad-tainers

For court events:

• Table runner


• Chargers


• Candles & holders

 

Only two pages wasted

After all that angsting about which notebook to use for my lists...I've decided to keep the original. I mean, everything's already written out, why go to all the hassle? There's still plenty of room in the spiral, too. I can save the other one for a different project.

So. To keep up with putting the lists here, I give you the staples list:

• Salt, pepper, spices and herbs*:
  
  
  
  • Marjoram
  
  
  • Basil
  
  
  • Oregano
  
  
  • Parsley
  
  
  • Garlic powder
  
  
  • Onion powder
  
  
  • Cinnamon
  
  
  • Nutmeg
  
  
  • Ginger
  
  
  • Curry powder
  
  
  • Coriander
  
  
  
  


• Sugar, creamer


• Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate mix


• Oatmeal, cream of rice


• Bisquick, flour


• Syrup, honey


• Emergency can-goods:
  
  
  
  • Tuna
  
  
  • Beans
  
  
  • Chunky soups
  
  
  • Ravioli
  
  
  • ETA beef stew
  
  
  • kippers
  
  
  • mac'n'cheese
  
  
  
  

*Need small spice containers

The List Mania goes on....and on...and.......

I've decided on the Stuart Hall Executive Project Planner.

Okay, so, this shows how long I’ve had this notebook…a) there’s no web address on the back and b) apparently after having been purchased by Pen-Tab in 1998, Stuart Hall Co., Inc., was closed down in 2001.

O.O

And…I think Pen Tab Industries might have gone defunct, too. So, I guess this is a collector’s item now. ROFL. Best make good use of it.

This is the closest I can find on Amazon.

Or this

This is very close

Oooh..this one’s nice

Anyway…harrumph. On to organizing the lists. I need sections.

• SCA


• House


• Non-SCA sewing


• Non-SCA projects

These might end up being transferred to a loose-leaf binder, but for now, I’ll keep them in the spiral…or maybe an individual notebook for each. It’s not like I don’t have any spare notebooks. *kitty giggles*

Gah! You see, this is why I never get my act together, so many decisions!

Okay, so first list, subject to change, of course:

• 1. Kitchen Box (Rubbermaid ® Roughneck™) - Permanent items:
  
  
  
  • Make cover
  
  
  • ETA: Frying pan
  
  
  • 2 pans/pots-get kind without the long handles, like this set right here
  
  
  • Basin
  
  
  • Drainer
  
  
  • Bowls
  
  
  • Spatula, spoons, knives, cutting board (wood), fork
  
  
  • Colander
  
  
  • Measuring cup
  
  
  • Stove
  
  
  • Grill for fire
  
  
  • Dishcloth & brush
  
  
  • Can opener
  
  
  • Hotpads
  
  
  • Hand towels, dish towels
  
  
  • Lantern and/or flashlight
  
  
  • Fly control (bonus: everything you never wanted to know about flies )
  
  
  • Scent traps
  
  
  • Tents for food
  
  
  
  


• 2. Kitchen Box – consumables
  
  
  
  • Make cover
  
  
  • Dish soap
  
  
  • Bleach
  
  
  • Matches/butane lighter
  
  
  • Foil
  
  
  • Trash bags
  
  
  • Wipes
  
  
  • Scrubbies
  
  
  • Zip bags
  
  
  • Glad-tainers
  
  
  • Propane
  
  
  • Paper towels/rags
  
  
  • Sharpie
  
  
  • Cadles
  
  
  • Carrier bags
  
  
  • Small laundry soap, baggie of dryer sheets, roll of quarters
  
  
  • Lysol
  
  
  • Fly strips
  
  
  • Bug repellant
  
  
  • Vinegar
  
  
  
  

 

 

Zen and the Art of List-Making

Pursuant to the post about getting back in the SCA, I want to start a project book. I have one, a cheapie spiral that I made all sorts of lists in good gods...9 years ago??  *sighs* Has is really been that long ago? Where in Hades’ Funhouse does it go?  I don't really think it's been that long ago for some of it...I hope.

Okay, so, let’s see, here are the list titles, I’ll get to the individual lists later:

• Kitchen box (make cover) [the kitchen box is a Rubbermaid® Roughneck™, as are a lot of our camping boxes, so they need covers to hide the “mundanity”]
  
  
  
  • Permanent Items
  
  
  • Consumable Items
  
  
  
  


• Food box – staples


• Feastbox – regular event items


• Feastbox – court event items


• General Equipment


• Banners


• Coolers


• Tent


• Tool Kit


• Light Box


• Stake Box


• Pavilion


• Bedding


• X3 Minimum Costumes – summer


• X3 Minimum Costumes – not summer [it IS Texas, after all]


• X2? Armor


• X3 Costume Projects to Finish [well, they WERE to finish, but now to start]


• X3 Mundane Clothing/Equipment/Sundries


• Other Projects to Finish


• War List! [for Gulf War during Spring Break]

And that’s just what I have in the spiral.

Now..before I go any farther, I want to replace the spiral with a different kind of notebook. Still a spiral but different. I could supply a small office supply store with the stash of paper, pens, spirals, binders, clips, hi-liters, etc that I have. No. Really.  So, here’s the list of new SCA project notebook candidates:

• Pen-tab Project Planner – 7.25 w x 9.5 h, Lined, numbered, with a blank notes section on the right hand side.


• Cambridge, top-bound, ¼” graph paper


• 2, count them! 2 Bienfang Note Sketch Book – standard size, a little less than half of the page is lined, on the left, and the right is all blank. I already have a couple projects in one of these.


• Cambridge Executive planner pages – standard size, top spiral, roughly the top two-thirds is ¼” graph paper, the bottom is yellow and lined “Quick Notes”


• Off-brand Notes/Sketch Book – 11x9” drawing weight paper, one-sided, top less than half blank for sketching, bottom lined.


• Stuart Hall Executive Project Planner – standard size, narrow blank notes section on the left, lined on the right. So far, this one is my front-runner.

 

I shall sleep on it. Night.

 

Return of the modern middle ages

OT for a sec..I could have sworn I made another post after the one about automatic updates.  Weird.  Anyway.

 

Some of my vast readership (bwahahahah) might know that I belong to a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA. It’s been an on-again, off-again relationship for a long time (1988 to be exact). I’ve made tons of friends, a few enemies, and a lot of memories. I met my husband in the SCA.

There were times I was totally involved and on a fast-track for big things (awards, etc.), then we had our son and played a bit, then not..then some more, then was out, then came back, blah-de-boop as my daughter says.

Recently, I introduced a pair of friends of mine, Ms Pushing Furniture and her hot boyfriend, to the SCA and damned if they didn’t take to it like ducks to water. Really active; she’s being her OCD self and turning out costumes and doing all sorts of things, including helping another relative newbie learn to sew.

And I’ve managed to get myself appointed as Chronicler (I do the baronial newsletter), which is the first ever office I held in the SCA nearly 23 years ago. *arched eyebrow of confusion*  But back then we did it the hard way, cut and paste on blue-line boards, now I just use Adobe InDesign the same as I do for the newsletter I do at work. Easy peasy, as they say. That is if I could get people to submit articles and things.  I think people just don’t care anymore. It kind of went to pot over the last couple of years because the woman doing it didn’t have time..or something, not sure what, so I think people just kind of gave up. The newsletter is a requirement of being a barony, so we have to turn one out, but I think unless we start getting submissions, it’s really a redundancy: everything you need to know is on the website.

So, anyway...we’re “active” again...sort of. I’ve gained so much weight that none of my costumes fit anymore. And I had made some pretty nice ones, too. And my husband’s stuff doesn’t really fit, and my son has none...and the whole barony seems to be on this EVERYTHING MUST BE LINEN kick. Yes, linen was period, cotton wasn’t, at least not how we use it. But not everything was linen, either, and I see a lot of clothing being made out of linen that should really be wool or even silk. BUT. It’s Texas, so I’m totally willing to give them that one.

Linen is much more available than it was 20 years ago, but most of what you can get locally in Austin is all in trendy colors or is a linen/cotton blend. The blend is sorta-kinda okay for certain things. It is cooler and doesn’t wrinkle as much...but then that signature wrinkling is part of the linen “mystique,” if you will. The other nice thing is that if you order online, you can get a number of different weights of linen in white and then dye it if needed.

The point of this post originally was to lay out all that I need to do to even go to an event. List making ftw! We shall move apace in the next post.