Work in Progress

Here is a floor cloth I am working on. This is new for me, and batik on 10oz cotton duck is very different. The duck is a woven canvas and it's pretty heavy, so the wax has to be really hot to penetrate. It takes a lot of wax to go through, and the wax loses a lot of heat to the fabric as it goes on. It takes shorter brush strokes, and even then, it only completely penetrates at the very beginning of the strokes.


The tjanting was not good at all, it dispenses too fine of a line of wax to keep the heat long enough to penetrate the fabric. I gave that up in the first five minutes.

The design you get is really different, and definitely one sided, since the wax doesn't go all the way through. With a lighter fabric, there is still a difference between sides, and in the end you can choose the side you like best. Not so with this canvas.


There is definitely something interesting and cool going on. I am removing the wax on this piece and another one, and it is very exciting! It may take a while before I really get the hang of the partial penetration of the wax, but then again, I may like it this way. I will know when I am further on in these two pieces.

Not being able to make fine lines also influences the design, and in the designs in my book for future cloths, I have incorporated this. It may be an opportunity to really go prim, something that has been difficult for me. Maybe it I can get really prim, I will be able to keep the prim and not-prim separate. Sometimes I worry that I muddle around in middle ground too much.


The Relay For Life gets underway today. It's a pretty big event in Milpitas. Maybe I'll stop by. I can't believe it's Friday already!

I finished Riven. a most amazing feat. Less so because I used walkthroughs a couple of times. Now I have started Darkfall. The graphics are much less intense in this one, and the panning is a little abrupt, but each turn seems to take you 90 degrees. Riven was not always 90 degrees, but the cursor would change to indicate how far you would turn, and you could actually see the scene sliding by. In Myst, it was not always the same and hard to figure out since it cut abruptly from view to view. Darkfall also has the abrupt cut, but you can rely on 90 degree turns.

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I'm sad

I just found out that a member of my quilting guild, someone I know, passed away last night. She had chronic pain. It is believed she accidentally overdosed on her pain medication. She was young.

This is what I am working on now. I am using the Presist I got to try out this month. Not for what I expected to use it for, but it's fun. I should use it more typically too, just to get a feel for it.
I don't know what I am going to pick for May. As you may remember, my '07 New Year's resolution was to try one new material each month. There is a one day workshop with Judi Danes next Saturday, sponsored by the guild. I may take that and count it as May. So far, there were not enough people signed up to hold it. We will see.

I am working on the shirts and hats for the Hip Hop class performance. Joseph's class will be performing at the City of Milpitas Spring Dance Recital, and again for the Family Day.

And finally, straight from Gomilpitas.com:

Cat Haiku

The food in my bowl
Is old, and more to the point
Contains no tuna.