Printmaking, procrastinating and other awesomeness

This last week I was in a funk. I don't usually let my stress get the better of me, but I had such a hard time shaking it I took a half a day off from school *gasp* (skipping one class, shhh don't tell) to just mellow out at home and try to relax. It's the last month and half of the semester so now the pressure will probably stay at an elevated level and I just need to find my groove. I think I might be getting there though..I hope. I've completely let go of my TM goals this month and likely November too...but I can't even fathom trying to get them done with everything else so I can't say its a bad thing. I know when I have nothing else going on I'll be working like gangbusters on it so I'm not worried. In the meantime though, when I need a crafting break I've done a few projects as xmas presents for friends. It's a nice change of pace to be sure. Of course nothing can be posted til they receive!

My printmaking project was due this past week so I have a few snapshots to share - of course I only had my cell phone to use so they're definitely not detailed but I'll try to get better pictures in the future.







I'm a bit bummed by the bottom 2 just because they didn't turn out as dark as I had hoped and I ran out of time and motivation by the end to get it done. The teacher is allowing us to redo one to submit for a better grade if we want. I haven't even seen my grade but just because it bugs me I might try to redo the bottom one.

Also here's a sneak peak of my next printmaking project



It's a lino cut that we have to do a 3 layer overlay for....my right wrist hates me for it (broke it when I was a kid so it's always been somewhat weak). But I'm pretty excited about my base image so it'll be fun to see how it develops.

And some TM goodness you might not have seen before!







Hope you guys have a great week!

Making it up

I feel bad for being such a slacker on the blog lately. I spent this weekend at school (oh yes, I can't get enough of it on the weekdays I go on the weekends too) working on my dye samples and finally got finished an hour ago. So I snapped some pictures throughout the process to share with you guys!

I have no idea what happened to this picture. Its the samples in the dye pot being washed out...weird.



Anddddd some of my favorite samples



See the vague skull shape on this one?! So cool



Hearts are corny but I kinda like how it turned out



One of my shibori samples that turned out awesome!!! I love the color too





A stitched resist sample - pretty neat



And a steamed sample! The little blob shapes are hallow - the steaming process lets them hold their shape to whatever they're bound to. It's pretty amazing



I am finally working on some personal stuff but of course can't share here yet! Slowly getting into the holiday spirit. I'm thinking of maybe dyeing some stuff for xmas presents. Hmmmm...

Busy =(

I'm not sure if I should be counting this as a worthy weekly post as I really don't have much to share except an extra helping of exhaustion, lack of inspiration, and maybe a spare mt. dew. We're learning resist dyeing techniques in fibers and of course have a bunch of samples due on Monday which is bumming me out as I have to now go into school on Saturday and possibly Sunday just to get it all done. Printmaking project is due on Tuesday and I still have yet to fully complete my third plate but I'll probably finish that on Saturday and hopefully get it printed too.

Sorry to be whiny. I really need a break from all this...must do some stress relief crafting!...as soon as I have some free time. Blah....please do some crafting for me and send the energy and good thoughts my way.

'night all.

Sketchbook peek

I just finished the super huge fiber project of doom so now I'm just relaxing, taking a long pause before diving head first into the next big project to tackle. I was sketching in my notebook for printmaking tonight so I took some quick pictures to share with you guys on some images that may or may not make it to full blown prints.









I wonder sometimes why I like printmaking as much as I do; it would be much simpler to draw an image out and be done with it...but there's something about the process of making the image that makes it more interesting. Perhaps the things you can do to a plate or block that can transcend regular drawing techniques (at least as much as my ability will allow). Who knows. I'll be sure to share the prints as they come out.

Naughty naughty blogger!

Ugh I feel horrible. My goal was to post once a week and I've failed! I swear I thought I had until tonight. Oh well....I'm posting now.

My week has been utterly consumed with school projects. I figured out that so far I've spent a cumulative...20ish hours on my fibers project so far. And I'm going to be working my ass off this weekend to get it finished by the Wednesday deadline...I'm a bit worried that my apparent case of bad time management will leave this project being less than stellar...but I can't win them all I guess. I'll just be happy to start fresh with a new assignment after this is over. I'll try to snap some in progress pics while I'm working this weekend.

Also been working on a 3 plate intaglio assignment in printmaking. I'm pretty happy with the general direction of two of the plates so far, but I haven't even sketched anything for the 3rd and it's due in about 2.5 weeks. Ugh, my time is at 0 now.

I feel like for the first time since I've started my monthly shop goal of making TM stuff that I might just not even do anything this month since I'm already overwhelmed.....well that and I couldn't help myself and started up a new round of the whimsy swap on craftster. In my head I rationalized it as a way to get more whimsies to use in my TM bags, and a fun easy swap....until I partnered myself with MissingWillow who is so awesome and has her own farm! (Here's her incredible blog! I love her regularly updates always with fun pictures.) She's in the middle of an awesome miniature house build and I love mini things and making mini things so I'm soooo distracted with wanting to not do school work and make teeny tiny things! I've made a couple of things for her so far, hopefully the scale isn't too far off. I'll be sure to share pictures here when I can!

So to make this post a little more fun I'm going to share some recent artists I've learned about since we had a contemporary artist presentation to give in printmaking. Maybe it'll inspire some of you lovely readers =)

1. Bart Vargas



2. Ran Hwang



3. Heike Weber



4. Zac Freeman



5. Debbie Smyth