Nearly Done

Here is the floor cloth ironed out. With this one, it is hard to see the difference in the picture betweeen wax and no wax. In person, it is easy.

The next thing to do with here is to finish it up, and then it will look pretty much like this.



I was playing around and made this. I don't especially like it, but Dave saw it and asked it I could make one for him, so I gave him this one. He said he wanted to put it in his office and brag. OK.

Denise has a friend visiting for the week. He is 10 years old. He and Joseph and Aaron have played together as much as possible. Between the adults, we ferry them around together when we can, in pairs or as a group. There is a lot of running.

They have also been riding. Derek rides Dodger on the lead, and Aaron rides Joker. Joseph has been riding Bear. He cantered for the first time and thought it was great. I saw him, he was catching six inches of air with every stride. Bear didn't like that so she put her head down and shook it. It wasn't a big move, but it convinced Joseph that trotting was really great.

I wish Janow was OK for kids, but he's not. Even at 18, he has too much go and not enough whoa. He also thinks it's funny to find out what his rider is scared of and then do it a lot. He is a nimrod through and through.

Crack

Here is the last dye application. Before I put it on, I ran cold water over it to make the wax harder, then I bent and crinkled it so the wax would get cracks. Putting this dye on, I rubbed it in with a latex gloved hand to work the dye into the cracks. It's the part of batik that I really like, but I didn't crack it as much as I would like--not everyone likes it as much.




Dave has his first carrot harvest. They are pretty good. The tomatoes are unbelievable!

Wax On

I added another wax.

You can see how the wax makes the dye look darker. You get a better idea of the contrast in light/dark with the previous dye only after you put the wax on, when it is too late.

Once you put wax on, you can't dye that part of the fabirc. The dye just beads up on top of the wax, of course.

With all the wax on top, you can't see real detail or clear color through the waxy film. That is why it is always a surpirse at the end.

I have to find out more about my Juki LZ. I'm sure there is an adjustment or repair that needs to be made.

Fun fun.

I'm not going to the repair guy who told me I needed a new $1400 Consew when all I wanted was a bobbin case. He will tell me my 40 year old machine is worn out!

Further Adventures of Floor Cloth!

I added more dye, so it would look more orangy and rusty. It's hard to guess how the color will look when it's finished, not the same as just the dye on fabric.

It's also hard to tell the contrast with the previous color because it looks darker with wax on it. So you have to guess, but you won't know the contrast because you lay it down next to already waxed areas. Then, the wax obscures it. So you don't really have and idea until you iron it. By then, you're locked in.

I worked a little on the Juki LZ today. It's out in the garage with the home gym. Unfortunely, there was a large dumbell sort of in the way, and I had to sit crooked, so I didn't work long. Why didn't I move it out of the way? It's a DUMBELL!

How much does it weigh? I asked.
"Anywhere from 155 to 195 pounds, and it's called a BARBELL!" So I had to wait 'til BARRY came home so he could move it.

So anyway, I worked on the Juki LZ and haven't been able to overcome the problem of the feed dogs pulling the bottom fabric through much faster than the top. I prepared the next piece with some Show Sheen: silicon spray like you can buy at quilting shops, but you can get a gallon for the same price as a few ounces if you're willing to live with the picture of the horse on the package. I don't use it on Janow. Working with someone who weighs 900 lbs is one hting, but working with someone who weighs 900 lbs and is slippery......

If that doesn't help, I have to do something with the feed dogs themselves.

Another floor cloth in progress

I was able to add a title on this today, July 11.
I Don't know why I can't put a title on this entry. I can't click the cursor to the title box.

Here is the beginning of another floor cloth. It's about 30 inches long. This is after the first wax application.



And then I added some dye.


When that was dry, I added another application of wax.

This morning, I was cutting some pieces of batting and Whiskers came. The sound of scissors cutting through 4 layers was just amazing. Before Dave could get the camera, she was displaced by Mary Shelley whose cat ESP spoke to her of the proximity of something she had not yet shed black hair on.

Stop hitting your sister in the head!

Dave has been growing raspberries this spring. He planted the bushes last year and they are really producing this year. He planted boysenberries too. I like those better, but they finished up first. He froze a lot to make smoothies with later.

I have been on the industrial machine. It has taken a lot of practice time to get control of it, it is very fast! And it is in the garage, Mary Shelley's personal daytime territory. But Whiskers has decided that she is my personal daytime companion, so there is a confict. Both cats think they should be the cat nearest to me. There is staring, then someone hits someone else in the head, then there is hissing. Then I feel like I should get up and do something about it......

I am going to try my first serious sewing on it today. Tomorrow, I am going to Denise's to sew. Since she sold it to me, I can report my success or failure to her.

Janow is doing really well on his new oat hay pellets. He looks great, and they are tasty too!

I figured out the password for Nigel's computer. I think I have an idea for the secret code.

Raffle Success

The Milpitas Relay For Life is over....for this year.
I had coffee with my friend yesterday, and she reported that the raffle alone earned $1500, that's three times more than last year! My flower batik was only one of many prizes, but still, I feel responsible for some of it. I am pleased that I could contribute, not only a monetary value(not truely determined), but to the success of the whole festival in a wide variety of rafle prizes to choose from.

And here are the glads in my garden this year. They look better and better each year. Dave planted them three years ago.

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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