Comfortable Shoes Studio

PeteScully on Flickr

charleroi
Originally uploaded by petescully

LOve this little montage of drawings, simple and sweet.

Art Slam

Art Slam is a cool site listing different art journal blogs. It's filled with hints and ideas for art journaling.

Collage: Crow About

Check out this blog about collage. The art is quite nice. It is a group of artists pooling their work together.  Its  a good read but some of the formatting was off in firefox.

Bread and knife

Bread and knife
Originally uploaded by free[k]hand

I love hte knife in this image. The light and shadow on it is fantastic. Well represented.

Read the artist's blog here.

Creative Art Journal

Check out the Creative Art Journal on blogspot. It's a good blog on art journaling.

Virtual Sketch Date

This website is an interesting idea, the blogger posts a picture and then people are asked to sketch it, send in images and links of their finished work by a particular date then the original blogger posts links. Fantastic idea.Great way to get into the habit of drawing again. I wish it were done more than once a month though.

Single Signature Books, 1 month of Journaling

The first book most binders are ever shown is the simple pamphlet binding. Its fast easy and can be made pretty. There are 2 variations that I'm fond of, the 3 hole and the figure 8. Each is exactly what it sounds like, the name does not deceive.

Here are some links to good references on these bindings:

The stuffy Stanford treatise:

http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v06/bp06-13.html

Hey Lucy's version of the traditional 3 hole Pamphlet stitch:

http://heylucy.typepad.com/heylucy/2007/06/tools-for-bookb.html

This a link to a hand out using the hole stitch and a single sheet of paper folded.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/10497493/Pamphlet-Binding-Stitch

TJBookArts has a great list of tutorials, many are single signature, perfect for a months journaling:

http://www.tjbookarts.com/otherlinks.html

Hey Lucy's instructions are the easiest and could be adapted to anything you want, but I like the Stanford, though stuffy,  it's shear amount of information and 2 signature options a the best for the art journaler.

Winter Sky

Winter Sky
Originally uploaded by dailyartmasomenos

I love how stark and wonderful this page is, yet with plenty of texture and interest. Fantastic. Simple materials too. See the artist's blog here.

Say What?

I like to buy new bone folders. I like to shape and grind mine to perfect shapes for me... Well I went to Michael's and bought a Martha Stewart bone folder, Great shape, crisp white color. Looks good.

I get home and greedily open my art purchases. They looks good. I pull the folder out. It comes with a frosted little pouch to keeps it clean and safe. I pull it out, it feels oddly light, but stiff and good. I tap it and it sounds.... Wrong.

So I looked at the back and find it's made of melamine...

That substance that the kids in China are dying from ingesting, yup that's the stuff. Great. Luckily I don't chew on my tools.

I do believe that it is false advertising to call it a bone folder when its not made of bone. Other companies that make items like this call them paper folders or folders, not bone folders to call it that is misleading.

Habagat Garden: title page

Habagat Garden: title page
Originally uploaded by Smallest Forest

I"m drawn to this page on flickr. It's a great use of collage and other elements to create a great fist page in a garden journal. I'm always thinking about starting one, it could only help my half assed gardening attempts.

Buyer Beware

I have been going through quite an ordeal with my sewing machine. The original sewing machine was a hand-me-down from my mother because she upgraded to a newer machine for her quilting. It was and is a Singer workhorse; a fantastic strong machine. Well it decided it had enough of sewing paper. It needs a tune up in the worst way and just can't handle, well, how I like to abuse it. So I looked on Craigslist for a sewing machine, something used and industrial. I found someone advertising just that, after looking at 100 different pictures and descriptions I thought I'd found the ONE and I emailed the seller. We worked out a date and time. I drove out after work to a town far away.

I took one look at the machine and instantly thought to myself I don't think this is the one in the picture. I tested it and it seemed okay, with a strong motor, didn't skip a stitch and looked good. I told myself that I was being paranoid and that the machine I was thinking of was from a different ad.

I get home and attempt to wind a bobbin only to find that the winder works but not well. I can't figure it out. I left the light on and got a cup of tea. Came back later to find oil all over the case. The case was oozing oil from every seam.

After that it started to skip stitches and has issues. I got conned by the “sawdust in the transmission case” trick; the oldest resale trick in the book and I got caught in it. The sewing machine itself is great, a real workhorse, a 70's singer all metal case, metal gears, strong motor and a great machine. But when it had been serviced it looked as though an entire bottle of light machine oil had been dumped into it. I took it apart and there wasn't a single area that the machine wasn't dripping in oil. They had drenched it in so much oil that the timing belt on the bottom was skipping, hence the skipped stitched. Oil and belts don't mix. Sewing machines aren't like cars, they use light oil for a reason. If one part is off it affects everything. So I figured lesson learned.

The machine is fixed and does what I need it to but it wasn't what I expected. So I decided to sell it and start fresh, I looked again on clist. I found a different ad different location similar offering. I responded. We worked out details. I was set to pick up when she gave me the address.

It was the same address I had bought the over oiled machine from. I queried her, asking her questions, are you the same person? I went through my emails and found the emails from the first purchase, email address was different, name was different but the physical address was the same. I questioned her again mentioning the specific machine, wrote we'd talked for a long time, mentioned specifics from the conversations we'd had. She denied.

I couldn't do it. I wrote her back said I was skeeved out by several things #1. Different email addresses. #2. Different names. #3 Her refusal to acknowledge I'd bought a machine from her in the past. As well as the misrepresentation of the item I originally bought from her. I never heard back from her. But if Kayla had emailed me back and said, “oh you must have bought one from my sister Kim,” and explained the situation better I'd have felt better. I'm someone who can write the machine off as a business expense I wanted a good machine, yes for as little as I could spend, but I can't do it with someone who has cheated me once. For instance if they had told me the original machine would need work, it had been oiled and would need work I wouldn't have been cheated, I would have gotten into it knowing that I'd have to buy new belts and have the machine serviced.

Anyway, I have the sewing machine I bought tuned and working specifically for making jotters. It does okay. Because of the original snafu I'll probably be listing several bulk seconds sets.

(If you are in the North Shore of Mass, feel free to email me for the 2 email address and the physical address of the persons running the scam. I'll write publicly that the persons are in Methuen, MA and claim to have inhereted a closed sewing machine repair shop from their father.)

Give a Gift

I want to take a minute on my blog to write a little bit about something that is very important to me. I'm not a religious person but I was raised to believe in community, family and putting out a hand to help others in need. Growing up I did a lot of volunteer work and it was very influential in how I lived my life and looked out on the world. That is, I learned to look at the world not through a lens of pity for those who are less fortunate than I but through a view of how can I help and what can I do to make it better.

I was listening to NPR a few months ago and the commentator was talking about budgets. I have a very limited budget so I was listening closely. She started to discuss her own personal budget and how important charity is to her and her family and that they, in good and bad times tithe. While that's not my cup of tea I recognized that I'd been missing something in my life in terms of how I used to volunteer. I haven't done it in ages. So I figured I would do something about it.

I waited and procrastinated then in happenstance overheard a conversation about how a charity that was to pick up groceries was no longer able to follow through on the commitment. A light bulb went on in my head. The grocery store was on my way home from work and there was a homeless shelter on a slight detour from my house. I could do this as my part in volunteering.

I contacted the shelter, River St Shelter in Beverly, MA, made sure they would accept donations if I were to pick up and drop them off. I then contacted the store's marketing person and scheduled a day for pick up of bread, produce, canned goods and other assorted items. I scheduled for Mondays.

Some Mondays I have to bag the bread myself, or box up the grocery items but many times it is ready and waiting for me. Even when I do have to bag the items myself a bagger is willing to help me to do it, or someone is willing to help me to my car. It takes about 15 minutes out of my day and costs me nothing, the store and the shelter are on my way home from work.

It gives me a great sense of accomplishment. In one sense I'm helping take things out of the landfill and put them into hands that can use them; but I'm also helping to feed people who on some occasions go without. The reaction of the residents is fantastic, the majority are veterans with substance abuse or other mental health issues. People who have served the country in one form or another and the VA system has failed them.

All you need to do is call a shelter, ask them for permission and call a grocery store, caterer or restaurant and ask if you can pick up on a particular day. Call before you arrive to find out if the product is ready or if they have product that day and it's as simple as that. Of course not everyone is going to have a shelter on their way home, but you could ask if they have a charitable organization that gets food for them where you could drop off. It only takes 15 minutes to help someone in need. In this time of charitable organizations losing funding it is more important than ever that everyone get out there and help others.

Anyway. I often work 50 to 60 hours a week, if I can do it anyone can do it. I urge anyone who reads this post to pass this information on to other, feel free to copy and paste this and link to this post.

Back on track

The weather here is miserable and has been on and off since the middle of December. As a non-essential member of staff I am often able to work my schedule around the weather and today is one of those days. Thank god, the idea of driving anywhere in this garbage is pretty bad.

My father has been hard at work on the sewing cradles on the farm in Maine. He has a bunch finished and you can find them in the supply section of my shop. Each fits perfectly into a USPS Priority Mail Shoes box. They now fit a 12inch high sheet of paper and he has rounded the bottom edge for a smoother look. He's kept the basic design and simplicity of the item. They still come in a simple linseed oil finish, rubbed on. The linseed oil finish is used instead of a slick hard finish so that paper will not slide around on the wood but he natural grain and texture of the wood will hold signatures in place while they are being punched.

I've also made a ton of matchbook notebooks. They are 99% recycled, all the paper and covers are recycled but the staples are a virgin material. (Many staples are made of recycled steel but I am not sure about the heavy duty staples I'm using.) I've switched to a 6 pack for $5.99 and will give discounts for bulk purchases. You can find them in the recycled section of my shop. Say I love you AND the environment by getting someone special some recycled journal for valentines day!

Hiatus

Those of you who know me either in real life or through the wonders of the internet know that I have a few diverse and seemingly divergent interests and that occasionally I can be somewhat single minded in the pursuit of those interests, to the detriment of the other interests.

I've had a few interests that have lasted most of my life; art, sports, engines (the sports associated with them, and bikes. I've also had a few interests that were passing; such as electronics, various art supply based arts, and other assorted things. Typically one or two of my various interests overtake my free time and I pass the others not quite by but they get pushed aside. As a result I owe a bunch of people some apologetic email. I'll get those out at some point in the near future.

Anyway, my recent obsession has been about as opposite from art and journaling as it can get. I've been working on bikes; a pretty much lifelong obsession for me, at least until 10 years ago when I was riding and hit by a car. While I was not hurt badly it did turn me off from riding a bike until this pat summer, when I started to ride my bike, bought a cruiser bike and it all went downhill from there. I started to ride for health and it went from there. Now I'm helping my friends buy bikes craigslist, repair, update and modify them into something that they won't be embarrassed to ride.

It's an addiction. It's pretty cool to buy a bike with a nice frame, fix it and then ride it.

So anyway, I've made a few books, mainly recycled, over the last few months. I've also been exploring some of where I want to go with my bookbinding. Now that it is brutally cold here in the NorthEast I'll be making books more.