Shoshiplatypus

Not sure if there is a WOYWW today because it’s Christmas Day but I thought I’d post anyway – I wrote most of this on Christmas Eve in the evening.

What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?

I am crafting again!!! I can hardly believe it myself. I have been putting my new (early Christmas present) Tim Holtz media mat through its paces and starting on the latest Card Factory. My stash of cards is now almost down to nil and things were getting desperate. A friend’s birthday is on New Year’s Day so I thought I should get down to making a card for her. To be more efficient, I decided to make several the same, to replenish my stash somewhat. Please scroll down to the previous post to see further details of this project.

On my desk you can see I’ve got out my boxes of dies and embossing folders. On the pull-out unit I’ve got my mirror card stash, and beside it, the open box of card scraps.

On the desk itself, work is definitely in progress!

This is an interactive/mechanical-type card. I really like these! Pop-ups and mechanicals are Fun! Nice to open the envelope, take out the card and then get a surprise. I saved the YouTube video instructions ages ago and thought I’d give this one a whirl.

First impressions of the Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat

I have discovered that the non-stick white craft mat on the right-hand side tends to curl up at the corners where my arm rubs against it. This is rather irritating, so I’ve taken the mat off and stuck it underneath the media mat – this was a tip I gleaned from someone on YouTube. I can’t see myself using it at the moment anyway, and it will be readily available if I change my mind. Without it, the glass surface extends uninterrupted the whole width of the media mat, and it is a brilliant surface to work on anyway. The white part under where the craft mat was is marked out like a palette and there is plenty of room for mixing paints or inks on a white surface which gives a true indication of the colour.

Already I am using the grid measurement on the main part of the mat constantly – it is brilliant. Along the bottom and one side, it runs from 1 to 14 inches (giving plenty of room for working on a 12 x 12 sheet if you want) and along the top and the other side, the ruler runs from zero in the centre, outwards in both directions, as an aid for centring one’s work. It is very pleasant working on a black surface, and being slightly raised off the desk, it certainly helps keep one’s working area clear of materials and equipment which otherwise do tend to encroach on one’s work area.

The only thing I don’t like so far is working from a Distress Ink pad – when you dab at it with a blending tool and it moves on the glass surface, it makes a truly horrible noise like fingernails on a blackboard! This was one good use for the white craft mat. Now, I am putting the ink pad on a piece of fun foam or some kitchen paper.

Inking on the glass surface is fabulous. Using a blending tool, working from the glass surface inwards onto the card, it is smooth, smooth, smooth, and the blending tool is picking up ALL the ink off the surface. For the first time ever, I am now able to distress the edges of things without making a mess on the back of the card! This has to be awesome, not to mention the complete lack of waste of ink. I am mega impressed with this.

I probably won’t be using the media mat for cutting. I am not a great fan of cutting on a glass surface because I believe it blunts the blade more quickly. On the pull-out unit beside my desk, I have a 12 x 12 self-healing cutting mat and a Stanley knife, and I shall continue to use these. I bought the tools to go with the glass media mat – a scraper for cleaning it with, and a straightedge with a projection which fits over the edge of the mat and keeps a good right-angle to work against – there are no measurements on it (no need, because they are on the mat), but one edge is bevelled for drawing against, and the other has a metal edge for cutting if you do want to cut on the glass surface. I haven’t made enough mess yet to justify the cleaning scraper, but it looks as if it might also be useful for spreading media over stencils etc. It’s got a nice comfy grip on the back.

Being a shiny, reflective surface, the overhead lamps do cause some reflection on the mat – not a problem while I’m working, but for video or photographs this might pose a problem.

More Celtic Zentangle

This week I completed another Celtic Zentangle drawing. When we were with our friends before the Tudor Banquet, and she was showing me all her gorgeous stuff, amongst it was this design of the Celtic Wild Goose, which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Celtic Christian tradition.

I decided to adapt and develop this image in an art piece of my own. When researching online, this picture cropped up quite frequently so it’s obviously a popular one. I found the words of a prayer by Ray Simpson, Guardian of the Community of Aidan and Hilda on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, and incorporated the words into my piece. I also added some other more well-known symbols of the Holy Spirit: water, wind and fire, and on the right-hand side is the triquetra, the symbol of the Holy Trinity.

The piece was worked in a combination of archival black marker pen, Derwent Inktense pencils and miscellaneous coloured pencils, and it took me several days to complete. While searching for a suitable script I discovered a lovely font called Kells Uncial which I downloaded and installed, and used as the basis for the script on the piece.

In the course of my researches, a number of videos on handwriting, lettering and calligraphy came up, and I’ve got really fired up with this, too! Over the years I have done quite a bit of calligraphy, and have learnt so much in the past few days from some real experts online. What a wonderful resource the Internet is. I am keen to try out a dip pen in Indian ink, not just for lettering but for mixed media work too. This may be the answer to the perennial problem of my best Zentangle pens getting clogged with acrylic paint and being ruined… It may also be the answer to the ongoing problem we all have – trying to find the ideal white pen. White acrylic ink and a dip pen would be ideal, I think. Definitely food for thought.

Food

No recipe of the week this week – I may post next week about the rather different Christmas dinner we shall be enjoying later on today – but here’s a photo of one of my favourite recipes, One-Pot Creamy Mushroom Pasta, which I made again the other day.

Very tasty and nutritious! We are enjoying quite a lot of these wholesome winter warmers at the moment.

I also made some very delicious tomato hummus, and some more vegan pâté – I don’t make this very often because it’s a bit of a faff and needs the oven on to roast the veggies. I had the food processor out for something else so decided to make this as well.

Unfortunately my high-speed blender (a Froothie Optimum which I bought before I had my stoma surgery, being unsure as to what I would be able to eat) has developed a fault. Intermittently it won’t work at all, but it comes on again if I bump it on the kitchen counter. There’s obviously some sort of loose contact inside, but I cannot find a way to open it up. I have contacted the company and they have told me to set up a case on their website, but I won’t have time to do anything about it until after Christmas. Nobody locally is prepared to repair anything smaller than a washing machine! In the meantime, I am using the Bullet attachment on my VeggieBullet, and this works OK, but it is much smaller, so I have to make things in batches. Also, it won’t run for long enough without over-heating, so everything is taking much longer. Eating whole-food plant-based, a high-speed blender is pretty much an essential piece of kitchen kit. I hope they will be able to repair it, because to replace it will be expensive… I’ve had it nearly five years so it will be out of guarantee by now.

I hope you are all enjoying Christmas Day. If there isn’t a WOWW today, never mind – I shall try and visit a few people during the week and see how you have all got on!