Rock 'n' Roll

Mello greetings everyone!

I have a new toy to talk about.  I have a rock tumbler.  I know some of you may be thinking, "big whoop."  Well, you're entitled to that.  As a matter of fact, I might have said the same thing even just a few months ago.  But all of that has changed.

So, Joe and I were shopping at our local Walmart just before the holidays, browsing around like we usually do.  In one of their main aisles, they had a large display of "educational" toys like model rockets, artist sets, and...wait for it...a rock tumbler.  As we weren't in a hurry, I was looking at all of the goodies on display and took a closer look at the tumbler.  The more I looked, the more interesting it seemed.  I could take nasty looking rocks and make shiny, pretty, colorful rocks out of them (who doesn't like shiny, pretty, colorful things?! :-) ).  The whole process intrigued me.  I could use the polished rocks in the cement stepping stones I like to make, for jewelry/key chains, and various other fun gift-y things.  Before I knew it, I wanted the rock tumbler.

Well, I didn't get that one because, as I mentioned, it was just before the holidays, so I wanted to save my money for gifts I would buy for my friends and family.  Fortunately, Joe noted my excitement and, being the awesome person he is, he got me a rock tumbler for Christmas.  Awesome!

So, I started on my tumbling journey Christmas evening.  I set up my tumbler, read the instructions (and was blown away that it would take two to four weeks to get my shiny rocks!  :-) ), and started the tumbler tumbling.  Again...awesome!

Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of stumbling blocks...the packet of polishing grit to get my shiny stones ended up being mislabeled, so while I got super-smooth rocks in the first attempt at making pretty rocks, they aren't shiny:

By the way, here is what the rocks looked like before I started tumbling them:

The second stumbling block was that when I started a second batch of rocks, the drum that holds the rocks, grit, and water leaked, effectively destroying my tumbler.  I had to stop the process after only one day.  Major bummer not only because I wanted another batch of rocks, but also because I was going to take my first batch and put them in with the second batch when it was time to polish them so they could all be shiny.  I was so disappointed.  :-(

Enter my knight in shining armor, AKA Joe.  Upon finding a damsel in distress (me) with nary another tumbler in site, he suggested we search hither and yon (AKA Amazon.com) for a new, better tumbler.  And lo, our search met-eth with success-eth!

So, I have a new batch of rocks tumbling as I write this.  I am three days into the first of four tumbling processes.  Most of the processes take about 7 days each, so in about three to four weeks, I should have a beautiful batch of bouncing baby rocks.  I'll be so proud!

Here's my lovely new toy:

So, my new toy will not only give me a bounty of really cool, shiny, pretty rocks, but will teach me a little patience as well.  You can't rush the tumbling or else you won't get the desired results.  As I am really into instant gratification, this will be very good for me.  Good things come to those who wait.  :-)

I'll let you know how the process goes and what I will use the rocks for.  I already have some ideas (I ALWAYS have ideas! :-) ), so it should be fun to see what I can do.

Until next time, exercise patience and remember a tumbling rock gathers no moss!  Happy days!

It's a brave day!

When I'm in my studio, sometimes I feel like I am so creative, so full of great ideas, and ready to tackle anything I set my mind to.  Sometimes, I don't.  

Last night when I was thinking about what I might write about today, I thought I'd be writing about how I chickened out and didn't stamp my new ampersand on the start to finish piece.  I thought I'd be writing about how some days you just don't have what you need to move on to the next step.  Well, I must have woken up on the confident side of the bed today because that is NOT what I am going to write about!  I'm going to show you what I was brave enough to do today.

Here's the ampersand stamped on the start to finish piece:

I am so happy how this turned out!  Now I need to think about what to do next.  I have some ideas, but they haven't fully cooked yet.  

One of the reasons this turned out so well is that my sweetie made my stamp easier to use.  He took what was one:

And made it into two:

Having all of the extra stuff cut off of the stamp made it much easier to use.  Thank you sweetheart!

And since I was so brave today, I thought I'd do something with my Scattered Time piece.  So, here's what I did:

I put the force field into place!  Okay...I know you're probably wondering what the "force field" is...all you see is a bunch of words written around the lighthouse.  Well, the words are the force field.  They are positive affirmations all of us need to remember from time to time.  See, the lighthouse represents you (or me or whomever is looking at the piece)...the golden glow is your own light shining through and the words are the force field to keep the bad stuff away.  This shows that you can be your own light, your own beacon in the dark to get through anything.  Here's what the force field is made up of:

Focus on what's real, not the fears you imagined.

Listen to your inner voice.

Be a human being, not a human doing.

Allow yourself time to breathe.

Treat yourself with kindness.

Go your own way in your own time.

Bloom, even if it's between a rock and a hard place, because you can. (I used a version of this one on another piece I did...I liked it so much, I decided to use it again.)

Be alive and enjoy the journey.

I think these make up a great force field.  

I was quite scared to write this stuff directly on my canvas...thoughts such as what if this looks stupid, what if I can't write the words right so it looks off, what if I goof something up, etc., ran through my head.  At least they had up until today.  Today was different.  All I thought was this...if I screw it up, I know I can fix it.  And that was enough.  I didn't screw it up and now the force field is in place.  I'm so excited!

I have one last thing to share.  You know I love the moon and that I love to take pictures of it, right?  Well, it was looking pretty awesome this week that I had to take pictures:

Cool...I particularly like how the moon doesn't show any definition to it like it might ordinarily.  It looks like someone is shining a flashlight from the sky.  Hmm...I like that thought.

So here's to hoping someone is shining a big flashlight on you so you can find your way...if not, I hope you can let your own light shine so you can make it through anything.  I know you can do it!

Happy, dance-y, joyful thoughts to you today and for the upcoming week...I hope it's a great one!

The good and the ugly (no bad here!)

Hi everyone!

Well, I did it.  I carved the ampersand I wanted out of the linoleum block!  It was a lot tougher to do than the rubber block, but using the linoleum enabled me to get a finer, crisper stamp that showed the detail I wanted.

Here's the drawn symbol (I did several, but picked the first one I did [bottom left])...I like how the top looks like a heart:

Here's the ampersand colored in with pencil:

Then I burnished it onto the linoleum block (basically putting the pencil-colored-in side down on the block and rubbing on the back of the paper with a bone folder [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_folder]):

Then I started to carve (you can see I used different ends on my carving tool depending on which part I was carving):

Final carved stamp:

Now for the final product test...stamping the stamp in ink and pressing it onto the paper.  Here is my paper plate with the ink.  I used the little spatula to spread the ink out fairly evenly on the paper plate before stamping:

Finally...success!

While the first stamp all the way to the right didn't look good (and I smeared the ink), the second stamp turned out pretty well.  I will have to be careful when stamping this on the canvas...I need to make sure I keep the pressure even on the stamp as I stamp it (all without moving the stamp and smearing the result).  I'm a little nervous to try it on the canvas, so I am waiting a couple of days before I do it (yes, yes...I AM a big chicken!! :-) ). 

So that's the good.  Now for the ugly.  I ended up stabbing my finger twice with the small carving tool (I was holding the block with my left hand as I carved and I lost control of the tool) and cut my knuckle once (also losing control of the tool and whacking my knuckle into the side of the block).

I have never been known for my gracefulness!  :-)

So, would I do this again?  Maybe, maybe not.  Depends on what I need for a stamp.  The linoleum, while allowing for more detail, was quite difficult to carve.  I needed a lot more consistent pressure with the carving tool and that was difficult to maintain (obviously, as shown in the above two pictures! :-) ).  I'm sure with practice it would be a lot easier, but for my needs, I just don't know if it is worth it.  We'll see when the next time comes.

So, I'm off to bandage up my knuckle and settle down with a good book for the evening.  It's time to celebrate (yes, I celebrate by reading!)!

Until next time, take care, stay cozy, and keep your dreams alive!

First try...epic fail

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year...I hope your new year's celebrations were fun and safe and that you're ready to have your best year yet!

My first challenge this year was to carve an ampersand stamp to use on my start to finish project.  So, I found a cool ampersand symbol and adjusted it slightly to fit what I wanted for my project (the one I found was too big and long, so I made it squatty-er and smaller) and carved away.  I was so excited!!  Too bad the end result wasn't what I was hoping for.  Here is my process:

The symbol I found is on the far left and the far right is what I ended up wanting:

Here's the carving process:

And here is the final result when I stamped with what I made:

It ended up being too "goop-y" looking and didn't have enough detail to it.  In other words, epic fail.  Okay, maybe "epic" is a bit dramatic, but considering how excited I was to start, it felt pretty epic at the time.

So, I'm going to have to take a different spin on the hand-carved stamp.  I'm still going to use one, but I'm going to make it bigger and instead of carving it on a rubber block (easy to carve, but difficult to get a lot of detail when you need super-fine lines), I'm going to use a linoleum block instead.  It is harder to carve, but I think it will give me the detail I am looking for.  Expect an update next time...I'm excited again!

In other news, Joe and I went yesterday to a local indoor flea market to look around and search for goodies.  I love a good indoor flea market...you never know what treasures you might find (and usually at great prices, too!)!  :-)  I found several fun things (some great fabric, a few glass dishes to put things in [love these for my studio!], and various other little things I can incorporate into my artwork), but my "best in show" were the vintage postcards I found.  Here are a few of them:

Aren't these great?!  They just don't make sweet stuff like this any longer....I mean, who sends a postcard to someone that says "many happy returns" anymore?  It's sad, really.  It was fun to read the backs of the cards and see what what people were saying to each other.  One I picked up was even a love letter!

I plan to use these in my artwork...a few ideas are already spinning in my head.  I may even make it possible to read the backs of the cards as I incorporate them into my art.  How, you say?  Well, I'll keep that a secret until I start working on them!

Until next time, happy days...stay warm out there!