Every few weeks, I like to hit a thriftshop or two. Partly for entertainment and partly to look for things that I might actually use. So the last time, I saw the World's Largest Rolling Pin and thought, what in the world would you use that for?
Well, after a few attempts at mounting paper on panels, I figured out what one would use the World's Largest Rolling Pin for. So after I photographed the horses and picked up more supplies for this weekend at Art Media, I went around to my usual thriftshops hoping to spot the World's Largest Rolling Pin.
Naturally, it was gone. I did find a normal sized rolling pin, so I bought that. It will still be handy, even if it's not the one that got away, which by virtue of having gotten away, must now be the World's Best Rolling Pin.
But on the horses—this is the senior whose family I've been working with. We're hoping that he and I can do a book together this summer. The plan is to make a fundraising print to raise enough money to pay for my spending a week out at The Dalles where he lives. The family has horses, so I went out to photograph them, looking for reference materials for a print.
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A little bit of downtime
End of project stuff
This is always a good time to go visit other artists, it's something that I don't do often when I'm busy working on my own stuff. So I visited with Carole Zoom yesterday. I hope to catch up with a couple of other artists soon, before I get busy again.
I'm still working on updating pr and marketing stuff...like my resume.
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention—the December 9 The Asian Reporter (scroll to the last page) has a story on the Relay/Replay show at the library. It's a very nice write-up. The electronic version has color photos (the paper copy has b&w photos).
In the It Never Hurts to Ask Department
I noticed on my (very cluttered) table this morning that there was this coupon from Art Media sitting there. And it said "10% off any item, including already discounted items." Or something similar.
That's a good deal. Only it expired on Dec 7, this last Sunday. Wah!
After much consideration (during which I briefly considered lying..."you know, this didn't arrive in the mail until today"), I finally called the customer service department and told them the truth—that I discovered the coupon on my table today and could I POSSIBLY still use it? And they said yes. (They did give me the evil laugh first, though.) Turns out, they didn't send out the coupon until the end of the week last week.
So I went in and bought the Iwata Complete Airbrush Kit, normally $577, on sale for $359. and another 10% off that made it even better. So anyhow, now really I'm committed.
This is always a good time to go visit other artists, it's something that I don't do often when I'm busy working on my own stuff. So I visited with Carole Zoom yesterday. I hope to catch up with a couple of other artists soon, before I get busy again.
I'm still working on updating pr and marketing stuff...like my resume.
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention—the December 9 The Asian Reporter (scroll to the last page) has a story on the Relay/Replay show at the library. It's a very nice write-up. The electronic version has color photos (the paper copy has b&w photos).
In the It Never Hurts to Ask Department
I noticed on my (very cluttered) table this morning that there was this coupon from Art Media sitting there. And it said "10% off any item, including already discounted items." Or something similar.
That's a good deal. Only it expired on Dec 7, this last Sunday. Wah!
After much consideration (during which I briefly considered lying..."you know, this didn't arrive in the mail until today"), I finally called the customer service department and told them the truth—that I discovered the coupon on my table today and could I POSSIBLY still use it? And they said yes. (They did give me the evil laugh first, though.) Turns out, they didn't send out the coupon until the end of the week last week.
So I went in and bought the Iwata Complete Airbrush Kit, normally $577, on sale for $359. and another 10% off that made it even better. So anyhow, now really I'm committed.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
MiT book, corner rounder!
OK, so my senior's prints have all been attached to my prints. Here's the side of the senior's prints:
My side (I'll be adding text to my side still, but wanted to trim them up to their final size before I print the text). The top left blank page will have the title and the bottom right blank page will have the colophon:
Ta dah! The corner rounder!
My side (I'll be adding text to my side still, but wanted to trim them up to their final size before I print the text). The top left blank page will have the title and the bottom right blank page will have the colophon:
Ta dah! The corner rounder!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Yet another new toy!
My new-to-me Canon Rebel XTi showed up today. Didn't have much of a chance to play with it, just made sure that all my Canon accessories do indeed work with it, and took a few shots. Just found one issue -- things do not come into focus through the viewfinder, although the focus indicator does come on.
But, turns out, I'm quite the dinosaur and it's quite fancy-pants -- there's this dioptric adjustment you make to the viewfinder, and voila, things now come into focus! So far so good!
Worked on the silk road flowers site some more, and more credit card research. And that was the day.
But, turns out, I'm quite the dinosaur and it's quite fancy-pants -- there's this dioptric adjustment you make to the viewfinder, and voila, things now come into focus! So far so good!
Worked on the silk road flowers site some more, and more credit card research. And that was the day.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
String 'em up by their toenails
Go see No End In Sight and I'm sure you'll feel the same about a certain "president" (who was not elected in the first place) and his incompetent cronies.
Well, the rest of the day -- didn't get much accomplished. Mr. Fingers and I went to Marion Forks to meet my mom and Marion (!) for lunch. 4 hour trip and a couple of hours for lunch. Mr. Fingers also helped with trying to figure out the printer, and immediately found that there's a newer version of the printer/scanner driver software available than what came with the package. That fixed one of the problems. The other problem, no printing screened output, he thinks he can come up with some solution, for a mere $2000. I offered him a smooch instead. (Hey, I didn't get even a smooch for the nifty little coil bound book I made him!)
Well, the rest of the day -- didn't get much accomplished. Mr. Fingers and I went to Marion Forks to meet my mom and Marion (!) for lunch. 4 hour trip and a couple of hours for lunch. Mr. Fingers also helped with trying to figure out the printer, and immediately found that there's a newer version of the printer/scanner driver software available than what came with the package. That fixed one of the problems. The other problem, no printing screened output, he thinks he can come up with some solution, for a mere $2000. I offered him a smooch instead. (Hey, I didn't get even a smooch for the nifty little coil bound book I made him!)
Thursday, September 06, 2007
More fun with the coil binder
Wow, seems like the coil binder is really hitting a chord with everyone! Even Mike -- who's typically not impressed with anything too cutesy, or anything gocco'ed (yes, that's right!) -- thought the notebooks were pretty good. I tried to sell him one for $10, but I guess he didn't think they were $10-good; I gave it to him instead. What a tough customer. Carolyn came by and saw the binder, and exclaimed, "I want one!"
Instant gratification in bookmaking, or maybe just in office supplies, seems to be deeply satisfying for many people. I wonder if it's just from school days, or if it goes further back? Did our cavemen and cavewomen ancestors like office supplies? Are there evolutionary advantages to liking office supplies, and thus leaving many of us with that trait?
I finished my gocco sampler books today. There are 11 copies, and they're all slightly different, but each has 15 pages (plus gocco printed cover). Coil bound, of course:
Spent the rest of the day -- no, not wrestling with the printer -- researching merchant accounts (for taking credit cards). They make things pretty complicated alright.
Just realized this morning that I better start working on whatever it is that I'll be exhibiting in Tennessee next January with my critique group. Since I've been thinking about the memory loss project for next year, my mind is still on that track, and I remembered those rolls of undeveloped film my dad gave me. They were from the late 60's and early 70's. I did have 4 rolls processed already last year, and there's definitely something there, although I can't tell how much. I took the rest of them (10 more rolls) in to Citizens today. We'll see what's all on there. But I'm thinking of using whatever ghostly images that might remain for something. Either gocco printed onto gray organza or tulle, and making a 3D piece. Something like a large quilt, but with lots of folds, like the brain. OK, just my first thoughts. I'm sure whatever I do, it will be a lot different than what I just said.
(My spell checker just complained about 'cavewomen', but not 'cavemen'. In fact, it's "correction" for 'cavewomen' was 'cavemen'. Huh?)
Instant gratification in bookmaking, or maybe just in office supplies, seems to be deeply satisfying for many people. I wonder if it's just from school days, or if it goes further back? Did our cavemen and cavewomen ancestors like office supplies? Are there evolutionary advantages to liking office supplies, and thus leaving many of us with that trait?
I finished my gocco sampler books today. There are 11 copies, and they're all slightly different, but each has 15 pages (plus gocco printed cover). Coil bound, of course:
Spent the rest of the day -- no, not wrestling with the printer -- researching merchant accounts (for taking credit cards). They make things pretty complicated alright.
Just realized this morning that I better start working on whatever it is that I'll be exhibiting in Tennessee next January with my critique group. Since I've been thinking about the memory loss project for next year, my mind is still on that track, and I remembered those rolls of undeveloped film my dad gave me. They were from the late 60's and early 70's. I did have 4 rolls processed already last year, and there's definitely something there, although I can't tell how much. I took the rest of them (10 more rolls) in to Citizens today. We'll see what's all on there. But I'm thinking of using whatever ghostly images that might remain for something. Either gocco printed onto gray organza or tulle, and making a 3D piece. Something like a large quilt, but with lots of folds, like the brain. OK, just my first thoughts. I'm sure whatever I do, it will be a lot different than what I just said.
(My spell checker just complained about 'cavewomen', but not 'cavemen'. In fact, it's "correction" for 'cavewomen' was 'cavemen'. Huh?)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Fun & Not Fun
Fun first --
Made a bunch of little sketch books with Rives Lightweight trimmings and some reject gocco cards. Here they are, along with the big black sketch book I first made the other day, and the coil binder.
I also printed a cover for the gocco sample booklets that I'm making. I used a printout from the new laser printer (HP 3050) to flash the screen...which leads us to the Not Fun part. I struggled with setting up the printer most of the afternoon. Problems --
1) Seems like half of the features are available only on Windows and not on the Mac. Grrrrh.
2) And I think that it's postscript emulation and not native is causing me some grief. Texts seem to get rasterized; there maybe other problems too.
3) There's a bit of smudging on the bottom sides of everything; probably because it doesn't heat up quite as hot (as compared to our older printer). This doesn't seem to have caused any trouble for making the gocco screen through.
4) I can't seem to scan to file (which it's supposed to be able to); it just automatically creates an email attachement instead. I bet this is part of complaint #1 above. And I don't seem to have any control over the file type, it just creates a pdf file.
5) I can't seem to control the dot screen setting in photoshop anymore. Regardless of what I set the lines per inch to, everything comes out the same! Now this is big trouble, and maybe related to complaint #2 above. Not sure yet.
6) Various dumb mistakes in the manual -- like saying the document needs to face up when it really needs to face down. Even the icon on the control panel is incorrect. Yes, I tried it both ways, and it needs to be face down to scan and to copy. And like buttons listed in the manual are not always called the same things in the actual software. Very sloppy product management.
On the positive side, it's way faster than our 12 years old HP Laserjet 4M Plus. And the copy feature works just fine.
We have 2 weeks to return the printer, according the Office Depot, as long as we have all original packaging. This seems kind of surprising, given that we'd be using the toner cartridge and they really have no control over how much anyone would use it. Not sure if I'll keep it or not, that will probably depend on whether we figure out complaint #5 or not. But then again, our options might be pretty limited, unless I want to spend a ton of money, which I don't really want to do.
Made a bunch of little sketch books with Rives Lightweight trimmings and some reject gocco cards. Here they are, along with the big black sketch book I first made the other day, and the coil binder.
I also printed a cover for the gocco sample booklets that I'm making. I used a printout from the new laser printer (HP 3050) to flash the screen...which leads us to the Not Fun part. I struggled with setting up the printer most of the afternoon. Problems --
1) Seems like half of the features are available only on Windows and not on the Mac. Grrrrh.
2) And I think that it's postscript emulation and not native is causing me some grief. Texts seem to get rasterized; there maybe other problems too.
3) There's a bit of smudging on the bottom sides of everything; probably because it doesn't heat up quite as hot (as compared to our older printer). This doesn't seem to have caused any trouble for making the gocco screen through.
4) I can't seem to scan to file (which it's supposed to be able to); it just automatically creates an email attachement instead. I bet this is part of complaint #1 above. And I don't seem to have any control over the file type, it just creates a pdf file.
5) I can't seem to control the dot screen setting in photoshop anymore. Regardless of what I set the lines per inch to, everything comes out the same! Now this is big trouble, and maybe related to complaint #2 above. Not sure yet.
6) Various dumb mistakes in the manual -- like saying the document needs to face up when it really needs to face down. Even the icon on the control panel is incorrect. Yes, I tried it both ways, and it needs to be face down to scan and to copy. And like buttons listed in the manual are not always called the same things in the actual software. Very sloppy product management.
On the positive side, it's way faster than our 12 years old HP Laserjet 4M Plus. And the copy feature works just fine.
We have 2 weeks to return the printer, according the Office Depot, as long as we have all original packaging. This seems kind of surprising, given that we'd be using the toner cartridge and they really have no control over how much anyone would use it. Not sure if I'll keep it or not, that will probably depend on whether we figure out complaint #5 or not. But then again, our options might be pretty limited, unless I want to spend a ton of money, which I don't really want to do.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Hike, swim, shop (the new triathlon!)
Went on the long walk with a neighbor today and we decided to go exploring in the greenbelt in the neighborhood too. It's pretty neat -- very wild -- you'd never know that you're in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There's a ravine with a creek, but we couldn't quite get there because of the thick blackberries.
Cleaned up the clutter a bit (I get so behind with mail and stuff), and then went shopping for the printer and the memory card that I was so studiously researching yesterday. Then we went swimming! Something that I haven't done all year. I'm not really a swimmer at all, but we took swimming lessons last year and at least now I'm comfortable floating in the water. Mike's really gotten into it, swims almost everyday, even has fins!
Hardly even stepped into the studio today, I'm afraid.
Cleaned up the clutter a bit (I get so behind with mail and stuff), and then went shopping for the printer and the memory card that I was so studiously researching yesterday. Then we went swimming! Something that I haven't done all year. I'm not really a swimmer at all, but we took swimming lessons last year and at least now I'm comfortable floating in the water. Mike's really gotten into it, swims almost everyday, even has fins!
Hardly even stepped into the studio today, I'm afraid.
Tools of the trade, aka toys
Spent most of the day shopping. I have been needing a digital camera to photograph art work since the previous digital camera went kaput; and our laser printer is on its last legs; plus my scanner (as much as I love this wonderful Powerlook III scanner) is so old that it will not run with the new macs, and I have to keep booting up the old PowerMac 7600 in order to run it, and now the PowerMac is having lots of problems and is probably not going to last too much longer.
This being holiday weekend, there are lots of sales going on, so I've been looking at ads and researching what to get.
The camera -- I had thought I'd get a nice compact one, but after looking around, looks like I can get the Canon Rebel body for not much more than a good compact. Since the Rebel XT uses all my EOS accessories, even the remote, I decided that was the thing to do. I found an used XTi on Amazon, in "like new" condition. I googled the seller and found his photo gallery on aol. Looks like his other camera is a $5000(!) EOS, so he probably took good care of the Rebel, I hope. So I'm getting a digital SLR after all.
The printer/copier/scanner/fax all in one -- I actually started looking because I wanted a laser copier. I'd like to have small gocco classes here at the house and needed a copier for that to work. As it turns out, the output from the Brother Inkjet that we have will make gocco screens as well, but the text is just not as crisp coming out of the inkjet as the laser. And also because the current laser printer is really old and on its last legs, AND the scanner may not be accessible easily for much longer, so it would seem that all things point to a new laser all in one. We'll probably end up buying this HP all in one.
Put together a small sketch book with a big stack of Rives Lightweight trimmings (leftover from cutting paper for the new prints) and the coil binder. I had covered 2 boards with some scrap prints, thinking that I'd use the boards to cover the sketch book. Well, the coil binder is smarter than I am! There's a inner slot that prevents anything too thick from entering. You can insert the boards, but not far enough to where the punches are. So I'll have to use the boards on some other project. In the mean time, I used some scrap black Arches Cover for the sketch book. So it looks rather plain, but I'll gussy it up eventually.
I've always saved coils from coil bound books that I no longer need, and always wondered what the heck I'd do with them. Well, I was able to use one of those coils for the sketch book today!
This being holiday weekend, there are lots of sales going on, so I've been looking at ads and researching what to get.
The camera -- I had thought I'd get a nice compact one, but after looking around, looks like I can get the Canon Rebel body for not much more than a good compact. Since the Rebel XT uses all my EOS accessories, even the remote, I decided that was the thing to do. I found an used XTi on Amazon, in "like new" condition. I googled the seller and found his photo gallery on aol. Looks like his other camera is a $5000(!) EOS, so he probably took good care of the Rebel, I hope. So I'm getting a digital SLR after all.
The printer/copier/scanner/fax all in one -- I actually started looking because I wanted a laser copier. I'd like to have small gocco classes here at the house and needed a copier for that to work. As it turns out, the output from the Brother Inkjet that we have will make gocco screens as well, but the text is just not as crisp coming out of the inkjet as the laser. And also because the current laser printer is really old and on its last legs, AND the scanner may not be accessible easily for much longer, so it would seem that all things point to a new laser all in one. We'll probably end up buying this HP all in one.
Put together a small sketch book with a big stack of Rives Lightweight trimmings (leftover from cutting paper for the new prints) and the coil binder. I had covered 2 boards with some scrap prints, thinking that I'd use the boards to cover the sketch book. Well, the coil binder is smarter than I am! There's a inner slot that prevents anything too thick from entering. You can insert the boards, but not far enough to where the punches are. So I'll have to use the boards on some other project. In the mean time, I used some scrap black Arches Cover for the sketch book. So it looks rather plain, but I'll gussy it up eventually.
I've always saved coils from coil bound books that I no longer need, and always wondered what the heck I'd do with them. Well, I was able to use one of those coils for the sketch book today!
Friday, August 31, 2007
A new toy!
My coil binding machine arrived today. Actually, it's really a coil-binding hole punch machine -- it just punches the holes and then you manually twist the coils on, which is easy and pretty fun to do. It's just like this one on ebay, the DFG iCoilBinder Coil Punch & Binding Machine. So I've been looking for things to bind. Bound the instructions that came with it. I should make myself some small notebooks. I should also order some larger coils (the coils that came were the smallest possible, 6mm, pretty tiny).
Was back on the flowers web site today. Got caught up with the changes/updates that she has sent so far. And until she gets back to me with further instructions, I'm back to work on the print tomorrow. I'm definitely printing another layer on top.
Was back on the flowers web site today. Got caught up with the changes/updates that she has sent so far. And until she gets back to me with further instructions, I'm back to work on the print tomorrow. I'm definitely printing another layer on top.
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