What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?
A failed experiment
The “wet” table in my studio, next to the sink, has been taken up with teabags this week.
I have been experimenting, so far with complete lack of success, with using bleach on these teabags. I have got literally thousands of teabags so fortunately have plenty to use for experimental purposes. My plan was to stamp on them with bleach. The bleach certainly removes the colour beautifully, but the trouble is, the teabag material is so porous that the bleach tends to spread and the design loses definition.
This is what I am hoping to use to stamp the teabags – a set of Indian printing wood blocks.
I tried “drawing” with the bleach, putting it in a bottle with a fine nozzle, but again it spread much too much.
This is what they looked like after they had dried. The colour is certainly what I am after, but the only one that really came anywhere close to working was the single one just above the drawing ones – the end curl of the largest wood block. All the others were much too blurred.
I then did some online research and found a recipe for making a bleach gel. You boil up some cornflour (cornstarch) with some water and stir it till it thickens, then cool it and add the bleach. This is the result of that little exercise.
I certainly got better definition, but it didn’t bleach at all – it just left a darker mark.
I went back online and found another gel recipe using more bleach, but the result was the same.
I thought the problem was that mixing the bleach with the gel was diluting it too much so it didn’t work, and I wondered if it was possible to thicken the bleach in another way. I ground up some chia seeds and added them to some neat bleach. This made a frothy liquid in the jar but eventually there was some brownish sludge from the chia seeds. I tried painting this onto the wood blocks and so far the result is the same as the other gel – just a darker brown mark, and no bleaching.
Other people seem to be successful with this so I’m not sure what is going wrong. If all else fails, I can always buy some ready-made bleach gel but that is going to be more expensive than the DIY version, and I would like to be able to crack this problem and be able to make my own.
I am not going to attempt to bleach any of my sheets of teabags sewn together until I have got this sorted. Phase 3 of my eco project is therefore still a work in progress!
Slippers
I have done a bit more embroidery on one of the slippers but not really enough to justify another photo. Progress is being made, though, and I hope that by the time the cold weather arrives, they will be ready to wear!
Food
A busy meal prep day yesterday. I put my new food processor to good use, making some vegan pate, which is the…
Recipe of the week
A delicious pate made from a variety of ingredients, the main ones being aubergine and chick peas. I substituted tomato puree for the sundried tomatoes because I didn’t have any.
On the plate at the front is a roasted head of garlic. I did quite a lot all together a few weeks ago, wrapping each one in foil and roasting them. This softens the cloves and you can squeeze out the darkened gooey garlic which is soft and has a much milder flavour than raw garlic. It’s a really sticky operation though and messy in the extreme!! The chickpeas are from the freezer – I always cook more than I need, and freeze the extra in batches ready for use. The carrot, pepper and aubergine were all roasted for this recipe as well.
This is the third time I have made this pate. The first time it wasn’t very successful, because you really need a food processor for this recipe. My new Morphy Richards PrepStar machine is absolutely great and I’m so pleased I got it! It works a treat. Here it is in action.
When it is processed it looks quite disgusting! It tastes amazing, though.
Hummus
Here is the pate, with a tub of hummus that I also made yesterday. This is made from the nut pulp left over from making almond milk.
Soup
I also made a big bowl of thick vegetable soup for the freezer. This was made from the pressure-cooked veg trimmings, and I added some sweet potato which thickens and sweetens it. Very tasty.
Veg chilli
A couple of days ago I got a dish out of the freezer for our evening meal. This was a vegetable chilli with courgette (zucchini). I thought it looked so nice, surrounded by the brown rice and some colourful salad, and decided to photograph it.
I might do this as a recipe of the week if anyone is interested. It’s good hearty nosh!
A new drawing tool
I’ve just got hold of a nifty little drawing tool which I haven’t yet had time to try. It’s the MagCon All-in-One Multi-Purpose Drawing tool. This picture shows all the tools it is supposed to replace:
Here are some of the things you can do with it.
It is magnetic, and the two arms click onto the central spindle which is marked off in degrees. You can work on a magnetic board which keeps the central spindle in place as you use the device. I think it’s going to be very handy. Watch this space for updates on how I use it!
A special day
Yesterday, 17th September, was the 35th anniversary of the day I met my hubby. We were both attending the same lecture. At that time I had very long hair that I could sit on, and it was loose, all down my back. My hubby was sitting at the back, and during the interval he came forward, pretending to want to speak to the person who had given me a lift to the event, whom he knew, but in reality he just wanted to see if the front was as good as the back. He decided it was, so over coffee after the lecture, he came over and chatted me up. Before he had got my name or phone number, he was called away because he had to get someone to the train (he was cursing the poor man!!). The next day, he phoned the man who’d given me a lift, to find out who I was, much to his amusement – this gave him endless opportunities to tease my hubby in the days following! Anyway, he eventually divulged the information, and the rest is history!
We started going out, and thus began a funny tradition. My hubby can be extremely vague at times because he doesn’t concentrate – his mind is always on the next thing he thinks he should be doing, etc. etc. Anyway, he bought me a bunch of flowers in those early days, and grabbed a card in the florist’s to write the message on. When I got the flowers, I said to him, “What’s this? It says on the card, ‘Glad it’s a girl'”!!! He hadn’t bothered to look at the text and just thought the picture was pretty! He tried to cover his tracks by saying, “I thought it said, ‘Glad YOU’RE a girl,'” but he didn’t fool me!! Any time after that, when he bought me flowers, he made sure that he got the card that said “Glad it’s a girl.”
At the end of November of that year he took me over to meet his parents. (Always an ominous sign…). When he dropped me off at home, he came in and as we were talking, he started saying “When we get together…” I said, “What’s this about ‘When?’ When did ‘if’ become ‘when’? You haven’t asked me yet!” So he asked me to marry him! We’d only known each other 2 1/2 months. I took a deep breath and said “Yes,” and the next day. after we’d been over to tell my parents, we called on his friend who’d given me a lift to the lecture and told him and his wife, and of course they were thrilled to bits. It was the evening of my church Bible study and of course I was massively late for this – we turned up half way through, and shared the news with them and they were thrilled too! They all came to the wedding. We were married the following spring, on 24th May. When I wrote to a school friend at Christmas and told her I was engaged, she said “Who is this person?” It was all so quick that she didn’t even know he existed and here was me announcing I was going to marry him!
Later on, he told me that he had decided I was the one he was going to marry, the moment he set eyes on me. I’m glad he didn’t tell me that at the time or I’d probably have run away to China.
Hi Shoshi, lovely story! Really enjoyed reading it. So, congrats on your meeting Anniversary. Good job with the pate, too. No idea how to bleach the t bags,Have a lovely week, Hugs, Shaz #5 X
Awww, what a romantic story of how you two met! It’s sweet that he still gets you the “It’s a girl” card – that’s something that would happen in a romantic comedy and you would think it’s a nice addition to the script. Lovely wedding photo too – both of you look so young and happy! Great idea with the tea bags – you’ve got some interesting effects, even if the design didn’t transfer the way you wanted. Those printing blocks are fantastic! I’ve always wanted to buy some but they’re so expensive! Interesting about the bleach gel – you go to such great lengths to make things work. You’re right, of course, it’s because of the nature of the tea bags that bleach technique didn’t work. You can always stamp with acrylics, but of course it wouldn’t have the same effect. The pate and the veg chilli looks tempting, even though I’ve just eaten! Happy WOYWW! xx
Oh my, look at those wood blocks – I’m in love, be still my beating heart! The patterns are just gorgeous, I’d just sit and admire the detail all day. The most gorgeousest (yes, it is a word!) bit of kit I’ve seen on the desks today.
Hugs LLJ 4 xxxx
What a lovely blog post, the story of you and your hubby getting together is so romantic, and I love the fact ‘it’s a girl’ has become a tradition! The photo is beautiful too – you both look so happy.
I am fascinated with your quest to bleach the teabags – I have had success with bleaching tissue paper but never tried tea bags but I do like the effects you’ve achieved even if they aren’t what you were hoping for. I always back mine with iron-on Vilene before I work on them, and I’m wondering if that might somehow soak up the excess bleach, making the bags less absorbent and give more clarity to the image – I can’t really think of any other way unless you used Gutta to outline a pattern and then bleach inside the lines as you would on a painted silk scarf – I’m just thinking out loud really but I’ll be interested to see if you overcome this obstacle.
Hope you have a great week,
Diana x #14
I know it isn’t what you want but have you tried stamping and embossing and then bleaching inside the lines? Just another thought.
Love the story of how you two met. I still have a smile on my face from the story of how he leaned forward to see if the front was as good as the back. It’s romantic all the way through. Congrats on the anniversary. Lovely wedding photo.
The Magcon looks a cool tool, do you find it very handy?
Your weekly show of food looks as good as ever it does and I spy that we both have the same pepper mill. Ok but I have dropped mine in a pan of food on more than one occasion recently. LOL
Dn’t tease me with the slippers, just surprise me one day please.
Hugs, Neet 1 xx
what a lovely story… I started to read your post at work (on the phone) but decided I needed to see the pictures in full size on the computer screen – so glad I waited! Congrats on your meeting anniversary. I love those big block stamps but have always resisted buying any. I hope you get your teabag idea working!! Helen #2
Hi Shoshi, I have seen the tool earlier and it reminds me a bit of something I’ve seen before but looks like fun. I think you’re very brave using Bleach, I imagine I would get it all over the place and end up with spotty clothes. Very sweet story Shoshi and a lovely photo. Wishing you a very happy creative week and a lovely woyww, Angela x10x
What a lovely post, delightful to hear how you and your hubby ‘got together’ lol (the card bit made me smile). You have been very busy in the kitchen – my hob has died and I haven’t decided what to do about it yet so I have been experimenting with my microwave, steamer and electric wok. Haven’t figured out a way to cook pasta yet though!! Your search for the perfect bleach blend goes above and beyond – hope you find the perfect ‘recipe’ soon!! Happy WOYWW Cindy #16
How romantic Shoshi. Even quicker than my husband and I (we met in October, I asked him out in May, engaged in July and married the following June). I do like seeing all your food adventures too. Hope you get to grips with the tea bag bleaching, sorry but I’m no help there. Meow to Ruby and Lily. Happy belated WOYWW. Sarah #3
Ahhh so that’s what those things are Shoshi, I was given one but had no idea as it to me was just a strange sort of stamp and didn’t with that well, I’ve thought since then it might get better with paints.
When time permits I may research somewhat!!
Hope you crack the bleach thing..
Loved all your stories too about anniversary plus etc. happy anniversary of meeting too.
Happy WOYWW. Thanks for sharing, Shaz in Oz.x #20
{Wonderful Words of Life – Shaz in Oz}
{Calligraphy Cards – Shaz in Oz}
I cant help either , with the bleach. Except to say that UK bleach is weaker than USA sold bleach..this might be why thickening it removes any bleaching property. Back in the day when my sister (who lives in the US) was a stamper, she used to use dishwasher gel as a thickened bleach ink! The wooden stamps are gorgeous, what a nice collection.
Shoshi, I hate finding YouTube videos and thinking “I could try that” and finding that no matter how hard I try it doesn’t work out like the demonstration! I have stamped using just neat bleach onto dark paper with variable success, but not tea bags.
Love your foodie section and the history of meeting your hubby, thanks for sharing
Chris #11