Friday cat blogging

One of the things to remember to do when working with resin is to cover the pieces up until they're cured. They stay sticky for a long time, and the last thing you want is bits of dust or small flies or who knows what getting stuck on them. So I cover the tray I the pieces are on with an extra one of my display frames (a picture frame with screening on the back that I can hang things from), and cover the whole thing with a towel. It's been working pretty well, until the last three days when it seems that SOMEONE has decided that that little towel-draped platform in the back of the dark garage is just the perfect place to hang out, watch for bugs to eat, and get away from the pressures of everyday life.

So far two of my frames have had the screens pulled away from the edges form the weight, and I've had to sand the heck out of a few pieces to remove the grid impressions.

I think I know who did it. The only question is, could she have thought of this herself? Or are both cats in on it?

(Actually, the real question is, where can I move the trays to now that this behavior is becoming a habit...?)

The IN Crowd's July drive to donate a portion of our online sales to flood relief in Columbus has ended and was a great success! I don't think we have a final tally yet for the whole group, but I'm happy to say I was able to donate $35. A drop in the bucket given the extent of the flood damage, but haba na haba hujaza kibaba*, as they** say. A big thank you to everyone who purchased from me in July!







* 'little by little fills the pot'
** The Swahili

Kisi

First a correction-- when I wrote about the 'biaaa' ACEO the other day, I incorrectly said that Kisi was spoken in Tanzania. Well, there is a Kisi spoken there-- but not the one I'm using. Apparently there's more than one. This Kisi is spoken on the other side of the continent, around the three-way border between Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

So here are three Kisi pieces:
[Look! Blogger did it again. Picked my favorite piece and turned it sideways. AAAUUUGGHHH!
I'll fix it later if I can.]

tuei 'listen'

dimul ya 'tell me'

bakala-bakala, an ideophone meaning the sound of big, fat raindrops.

More fun from my homemade pen. Just a doodle.

I want to make a new necklace but am stymied by color. Tried for midnight and rust; we'll see how it comes out. May have to have another go of it tomorrow.

Tonight I am drinking some new Darjeeling I got recently. Thurbo Estate FTGFOP1 Second Flush, to be precise. It's absolutely delicious. I'm a huge fan of the long, sweet finish, and this one has it in spades. Unfortunately, I only ordered the sample size, so I only have a few cups' worth.

Also, reading the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters. I hadn't heard of him before stumbling across him in Project Gutenberg, but I think I'm a fan.

I recently stumbled across these instructions for making a calligraphy pen from a soda can, and had a go at it. It's very easy to do and fun to use! Here are mine (they ain't pretty, but they do the job):

They're best for doing BIG letters, I've found, and produce beautiful results when you have room to make a grand gesture with your lettering arm. Unfortunately, not so good for using on jewelry! I made the smaller pen in the hopes that I could get the same freedom and beauty the large pen allows, but on the tiny scale I use in my work. It hasn't worked out yet; even the smaller pen makes only relatively large letters. It makes me want to do enormous wall art!

My compromise was this artist card (ACEO), lettered with the smaller soda can pen. The language is Kisi, spoken by around 10,00 people in the Lake Malawi region of Tanzania. It's an ideophone (kinda like an onomatopoeia) that means 'the sound of rain falling softly'. The marks above the vowels are tone markers, again. The effect is an accent on the i and a gradual falling tone for the a's. Thought it was very evocative.

Some jewelry in Kisi coming soon.

Friday Cat Blogging

Our Vinda Lou, she is so elegant.