bee creative

The latest project

I've been working on some fat quarters for a fabric exchange and finally finished up my contribution.  I must say it was a learning experience!

The technique I used I discovered via Wardrobe Refashion.  It was a super way for me to experiment as I was able to work completely from my stash of supplies.  I had to play with a few other techniques too though.

I started by doing some stamping with linoleum blocks I had carved.  I came up with one print that I liked fairly well, but I could tell pretty quickly that this wasn't going to be the best process for me.

I decided to to try a little more stamping with a gum eraser.  I was very uneven with my pressure while stamping fabric however, so I got all kinds of patterns.  I actually liked that a lot.  Then I started blending fabric paint for a variety of custom colors and had a lot of fun.  But then I couldn't waste the extra fabric paint, so I grabbed one of the white fat quarters I had prepped for the project and wiped away....  I looked at my fabric and thought, "Hmm...that's pretty cool.  If I got it wet the paint would disperse."  It turned in to a very messy fun experience. And I really liked how it came out.  But I still wanted to play with the silk screening, so I created this lily and tried silk screening on top of my marbled fabric.  Still messy and still fun. 

For this one, I let the paint dry half way and then rinsed what I could out.  I really liked the way it created a shadowy image. 

The best part of this for me was the realization that I can create prints on fabric that I like.  I'm trying to only buy organic cotton, hemp, or recycled fabrics.  Being able to add images that I like to fabric will give me a lot more options for my projects. 

Inspire Me Thursday-Goddess

While I was looking at some of the suggestions for the Inspire Me Thursday prompt for "Seven"  I explored Scandanavian mythology a bit.  So when "Goddess" came along as a theme I thought I'd look at that a bit more.  I was intrigued by the idea of Freya and her cloak of bird feathers and her necklace made of the twinkling of stars.  After creating the image I did read that her cloak is made of falcon's feathers so my colors are probably a little off. 

I started this by taking a picture of a doll I have.  I've had the doll for about 20 years and am planning on embellishing her at some point as she's looking a little sad.  I thought I'd use the picture to make a little bit of a sample of what I might do.

I printed out the picture and started gluing on netting and paper from my stash.  I also glued on some star glitter.  And I played with my pastels a bit. 

I wasn't really happy with what I was coming up with so I decided to scan it and try a filter on the image.  I loved what the filter did!   I printed the picture out again so that I could glue another layer of paper on and color in a little bit with water color pencils.  I also added a little  more star glitter, but it didn't show up well when scanned.  I had a lot of fun with this process.  I'm not sure this is really very representative of Freya, but I like it. 

90% Emissions Reduction, Reflections on week 6 and 7

What I'm finding more and more, is how much trying to use 90% of the resources that are average to my neighbors, makes those resources seem more precious.  Taking an extra 30 seconds in the shower become such a treat.  Having dry clothes in  60 minutes really becomes a luxury  (had a laundry emergency-got to get rid of that dryer so I don't fall back!)  Considering lemonade becomes as much a treat as a brownie...  It's the little things in life that I notice the most.  I have my brother's car parked in my back yard and I keep forgetting it's there to use.  It may very well sit there the whole time he's gone at the rate I'm going.  Of course, it might be more tempting if it was November! So here's some little things:

I've rounded up most of my potatoes.  The hugelkultur was hard to dig up, but I had some nice potatoes.  The red potatoes here are "Red Thumb."  I grew them in another plot.  I'm not sure that one way of growing worked better than another.  I didn't water either and had about the same results.  But they were different types of potatoes too, so not a fair trial.  I also found a few shelling peas while I was digging.  I'd just stuck them in willy-nilly to use up some seed that I had left. 

The worm bin is doing very well.  I pulled back the cardboard to put some scraps in and there were wiggly little red worms all over.  What fun! 

On the consumption side, I'm pondering the need for new sneakers.  All this walking is hard on shoe longevity.  I've read somewhere that sneakers can't have new soles put on them.  What I need to figure out is a good pair of shoes for walking 4 plus miles a day that can be resoled as they wear out.

I gave myself a pat on the back for going into the co-op the other day and not buying a goodie wrapped in plastic wrap.  Oh that darn sweet tooth.  Gets me in trouble all the time.  I love fresh fruit, but those bready carbs are just addictive.  I've been paying attention to the plastic in my life in general.  Pretty pleased at how little I've brought into the house.  I've been freezing food in glass canning jars.  It's been working out fine (just wouldn't put hot food in glass in the freezer).  I do have a freezer full of raspberries.  When it's cooler I'll make some jam.

I'm going to try drying apples.  I have a tree full to do something with....   I'll also make some applesauce, but not too much.  It's not something I eat a lot of.  If I get my act together, I'd really like to try making apple jack out of these.  The variety is Yellow Transparent I think.  It's definitely a cooking apple and makes great applesauce and pies.  I'm really hoping it will dry well, I think it would be more useful for me. 

Another discovery, and this may have a "why didn't I think of this before" moment again, but I learned this week that washing soda is the same thing as soda ash-which I can buy at the art store!  It's used as a dye fixative.  I've always used baking soda in my laundry detergent as it was the ingredient that was listed in the first "recipe" I found, but I've seen several since then that used washing soda.  So I'll try it out (costs about the same) and see if it works better or not.

It's a rainy windy day so I don't think much gardening is going to happen today, so it's time to finish some sewing projects and a few other little things.  I'm also going to experiment with making tortillas today.  Lots of yummy local things to cook up....

What I'm smiling about Today

1.  From The Hand-Sculpted House (Evans, Smith, and Smiley):  "There are no monocultures in Nature.  Living things exist only in the company of other species.  Complex systems are more diverse and therefore more stable and self-regulating."

2.  Walked about 2 miles today.  There was a slight breeze, it was just the right temperature.

3.  Dinner tonight was a salad with local peaches, lettuce, bread, blueberries, hazelnuts, yogurt for dressing (yogurt I made); blue cheese and olive oil that I fried the bread in (it was stale).

4.  Finding something beautiful in the day:  The ability that some children have to fall asleep where ever they need to, whenever they need to.

5.  Create something:  I created a mess today. No picture available.

6.  Journal:  Want to think more, write more on the belief that at any given moment we can just start over if we need to.  Meaning if we fail at something, we just regroup and start over.  I think it has a lot to say about forgiving ourselves and about the goal being to move forward rather than dwell on the past, but I also think it could become a rationalization to not ever really move forward.  I'm mulling this over. 

7.  Connect with someone:  Create a Connection and Inspire Me Thursday.  The Thursday prompt for Create a Connection was to go take pictures and see if you find something unexpected. Well, I was trying to get a picture of a plant and caught Briar helping herself to Blueberries off the bush.  Does she look guilty?  The journal prompt for "Inspire Me Thursday" this week is to write about at least five things that have brought joy to me today.  Here's ten.                                                                                             

8.  Spend time with the dogs:  I have one of my brother's dogs for the next 4 days, Madi.  Who happens to be Lola's sister.  Two Chihuahuas, craziness!

9.  Find a quiet space:  The closest I got to that today was my walk to work this morning.

10.  Take a picture:  Really liked this one

 

I feel like smiling!

Thinking about my "Ten things to do everyday" list.  Here's today's:

1.Reading:  Gardening When it Counts by Steve Solomon and The Hand-Sculpted House by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith, and Linda Smiley.  Really loving both books.  The book by Solomon is worth buying just for the chart on how far/close to space plants to meet particular water needs.  I'm going to try some of his suggestions as I put in some fall vegetable crops.  The book by Evans, Smith and Smiley is really inspiring.  I long to build a cob house...
2.  Walked in the rain this morning.  It was a warm summer rain.
3.  I ate blueberries and raspberries from the garden, plus a local peach on locally made vanilla ice cream.  Yummmm!
4.  Something beautiful in the day?  Check out those lilies!  They smell divine.
5.  Create something?  These are felted wool balls that I made with roving.  They are going in the mail to someone special.
6.  Journaling in progress!
7.  Connecting with someone?  Called my Mom.  She's the best.
8.  Time with the dogs?  I was generous and shared my raspberries with them.  I now have two sleepy dogs on my feet.
9.  A quiet space?  Didn't turn any music on until 3 hours after I got home.  I'm doing this more and more.  It's working well for me right now.
10.  Take a picture.  Well, actually I took about 50!  I love digital cameras.

Inspire Me Thursday-Bold

What to do with the prompt "Bold?"  Well, since my birthday is coming up and my astrological sign is Leo, it sort of came to mind. 

The brown dry looking things are euphorbia seed heads.  A very bold plant!   I also used some yarn, some grass seed, pastels, and some bold text from a old, old magazine.

90% Emissions Reduction, Accomplishments and reflections on week 5

Last night I did my first major watering of the year-that means watering plants not growing in a container.  I’m at the point now where most of my garden doesn’t need much water except for a few specific things:  my blueberries, fruit trees planted this spring, and my hydrangeas.  Even some of my veggies don’t get much water.  My hugelkultur has died down and I’m ready to start digging to see what I’ve got.  I never watered it.  My pole peas are just about done (getting too hot!) and I’ve never watered them.  They really do the best when the weather is cool so I don’t try to extend their season by watering them in July.  The tomatoes are looking great (the ones the dogs didn’t smash).  I’ll probably water them for the first time this weekend; we’re having some hot weather this week!

But what occurred to me as I watered is how important diversity is.  I think there probably is some scientific theory on this (Darwin???), but as it applies to my garden and I, diversity means survival.  If one crop doesn’t do well, another will make up the difference.  I grow 4 different varieties of raspberries.  I have raspberries exploding everywhere, but the theory holds.  If one variety didn’t do well, another might.

I started thinking about diversity in food storage.  Some things canned, some dried, some frozen.  If something happens with one type of storage, the others can fill in. So then I’m thinking of other ways to diversify.   Diversity in water sources?  Diversity in heating?    Diversity in storing information?  There are great ideas that can be sourced on the web, but if I don’t print them out and the power goes off, there go the ideas! 

I also think this applies to individuals.  I think of my parents who truly are a  “Jack and Jill-of-all-trades” and have done a lot of the reduction goals already at one point in their lives (no running water during the winter, limited electricity and food resources).  Our society has moved away from individuals having a diversity of skills, and yet it strikes me that those are the people who will survive the best in a global crisis.  Someone who can feed him or her own self, create shelter, who are community builders.   I hope I’m following in their footsteps.   

So what have I been up to this week?

o Dried cherries with an electric dehydrator I borrowed from my brother.  Need to remember to ask my parents what they did with the solar drier Dad made at one point or if it was effective enough to consider making another.

o I am freezing raspberries, and more raspberries, and more.  I’ve also made some raspberry vinegar.

o Made sour cherry preserves. 

o Researching making hard cider.  That could come in handy in many ways! 

o Made some rose oil.  Was recently reading that rose oil could be used for inflammation.  I’ll be making calendula oil as I gather blossoms.  Also lavender oil.  I made a super salve with calendula oil last year and want to make more. 

o Reading up on making rose hip tea, a great source of vitamin C.  I’m going to have a great crop of rose hips this fall. 

o Pondered the idea of life without a hot water heater.  The next major appliance to go?  Okay, so I probably wouldn’t get rid of the hot water heater.  But really, how much hot water is necessary? 

o Finally signed up for a water meter program.  There are still a lot of areas in my city that are on a flat meter.  This way I’ll know exactly how much water I’m using.  It will also save me money eventually.

o Hit 82% for local food.   

o Had a “Well of course” moment when I realized that the problem with “to go” food is the plastic part of the “to go.” For most places, if I indulge, it would be better if I had it at the bakery/deli/café.  We have several great places here that use local and organic ingredients, but some of those things come wrapped in plastic….  If I could just lose that sweet tooth! 

o And on that note, started to wonder where could I put a hive of bees? 

Sunday Scribblings- Slippery

“Slippery” made me think of slippery slopes….  I thought about the environment, about erosion, and about Lola, my personal slippery slope. 

I wasn’t thinking, “I’m ready for a puppy,” when I heard one of my coworkers had a dog with puppies (I was thinking kitten).  However, I mentioned it to my brother who had commented to me once that he’d like a Chihuahua.  I’m still not sure why he wanted a Chihuahua; he’s not the kind of guy that you’d think would want one.  Hmm…categorizing people can be a slippery slope too.  Anyway, what I can say without categorizing is that my brother has a very strange sense of humor.

One week after first mentioning it to my brother, we were off to see the puppies.  They were, as most puppies are, adorable.  And of course I had to hold the puppies.  As I’m holding this little one I thought, “I could name her Lola.”  That is a slippery slope.  Now many things I own look like swiss cheese.   And yes, my brother has one of her sisters. 

Lola at 2 weeks (oops the blue streak is oil pastel on my scanner bed!). 

Would you have said no? 

Inspire Me Thursday-Seven

The prompt for this week for Inspire Me Thursday was  “seven.”   I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with that so I decided to follow the links given for background on the IMT site to see what I came up with.

Several things caught my eye, but two in particular stayed with me, the Pleiades star cluster, otherwise known as “The Seven Sisters;” and the idea of the seven seas (thought of Sinbad right away).   The origin of the word Pleiades refers to “the sailing ones” or “the doves.”  It seemed to make sense to connect the idea of sailing the seas and the stars together (as stars have been used as navigation), but this seemed too perfect.  After a little more research (The Starlore Handbook by Geoffrey Cornelius) I found that there is a Greek myth that the Pleiades were sisters pursued by the hunter Orion.  The gods turned them into doves in the sky so that they might escape Orion.  I have an idea for another piece that would work with the mythology of the Pleiades, but this is what I started with. 

From the stash of trash I used: an old sailing chart, a piece of chip board that was used in shipping, and some scrap paper.  My other materials were colored pencils, crayons, pastels, and gel medium.

Accomplishments and Reflections on 90% Reduction, week 4

I'm a little behind on this, as week 5 is almost over too, but here's my report card for week number 4 of the Riot for Austerity. 

I started a worm bin (I already had this container).  The goal here isn’t so much to have a worm bin as a way to cut down on waste (as I can put all those food scraps in my city compost collection), as much as to be creating a batch of my own compost that I don’t have to buy in a plastic bag.  For the same reason, I’m also going to be creating a compost pile again in the yard.  I’ll build it with grass and vegetable trimmings mostly. I want to continue putting weeds (I’m fighting a bindweed invasion-not a weed worth keeping or ignoring!) and my non-vegetable food scraps in my compost that is picked up by the city.  These are things that my compost pile won’t get hot enough to work with or would attract unwanted visitors.  At some point I think I want to add an angora rabbit and/or chickens to the list of household dependents.  An angora rabbit would be great for collecting wool (although I’m not sure how much…) as well as manure for the garden.

I am preserving more of my own foods.   I am freezing all the extra berries I’m harvesting right now to eat through out the year. At some point I’m going to replace my refrigerator.  Running a small refrigerator and a chest freezer uses much less electricity than my current refrigerator and will get me closer to the 90% for electricity.   I will also be able to preserve more food with a larger freezer.  My thoughts about this are that I can get a lot of fruits and vegetables locally during the summer (either growing my own or from the farmer’s market).  Anything that I am able to freeze, can, or dehydrate myself will cut back on packaging and the transportation issues.  Although I have very little that needs to be refrigerated (dairy and leftovers), I’m not quite ready to give up on a refrigerator. 

And that brings me to electricity. My electricity is down 200 KWH from last year, but I still have a ways to go to reach 90%. I’ve done a lot of research on appliances.  The only way I’m going to improve my electricity usage is by replacing or not using larger appliances. This is going to be a long term goal.  As soon as I get more organized, I am going to find a new home for my dryer.  It’s the logical appliance to stop using altogether.  What I have discovered is that I need to have a back up set of blankets (dogs!) so that I don’t have to wash and dry on the same day in order to have bedding.  I’ve also learned that during late spring I need to dry heavier clothing outside so that it doesn’t get that mildew smell.

When I took the garbage out this week, I was very happy with how little there was -and I'm already below the average.  But I was also very sad about the fact that it was mostly plastic packaging.  I’m going to keep looking at ways to minimize this.  I’m hoping to try making paper with some of my scrap paper I’ve been saving this next weekend.   Should be interesting!   

Transportation and heating continue to be easy for me.  I am going to ask my brother to help me figure out how I can insulate my pipes better this next month.

This month I’ve used up some of my allowance for consumer goods.  I had a gift certificate for a local bookstore but wasn’t able to choose just one book.  I bought Gardening when it Counts by Steve Solomon and The Hand-Sculpted House by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith and Linda Smiley.   The book by Solomon has some great gardening without petroleum products advice.  I’m two chapters in and getting great ideas.  The other book is really more to dream about, building with cob.  I don’t think I’ll ever build a house but maybe a shed….   Also I know cob can be used to build an outdoor oven.  That is something I’d really like to try!

Some other things I’m doing:  watering the plants on the porch with grey water, taking cloth bags for all my shopping, not just food; taking my own containers for bulk items at the coop rather than using their plastic or paper bags, making my own butter with local cream, working through my stash of old clothes and material to make new clothing as I lose weight (yea!), and baking with a full oven.  Mostly it’s been little things, but it all adds up.