farming, suburban style

Here's part of what sucked up my day yesterday, although my only part was getting the plants into the ground. Within minutes of finishing, the skies opened up. This weather has been a farmer's dream. Now we'll see if a few rows of marigolds will repel invaders at I've heard they will. We also finished filling the pool and just now, getting the pump up and running. I can't believe I deleted the process photos that preceded this one! The foam templates worked just fine with the hot soy wax. No issues from the heat but after two applications I have to take a minute to flex off the wax buildup so the lines will remain crisp. I had to use the positive of this design because I neglected to connect the cut out hearts and ovals this time. Painting around the shape with a fat brush and hot wax took about an hour for a yard. Now it's stretched out on the worktable outside sprayed with dye + soda ash. I wish it were warmer and sunnier outside but this wonderful farmer's weather is supposed to stick around until the weekend.

Starting out

I canned these last night. The yellows are some find Kona (thanks Linda C.) and some 99 cent muslin from OHCO. The pink is a piece of that vintage feed sack cloth. Errands to attend to now while they are in the dryer. Wax when I get back. Maybe before midnight. Consumerizing ate up the day and when I got back, Farmer Jim was ready to start planting. We have a veggie plot now, ringed by marigolds which were all gotten into the freshly tilled and vastly improved, miserable Georgia clay between thunderstorms. Pictures tomorrow, maybe. Meanwhile the pool is nearly filled, the tree frogs are disapproving of the clean cold water and with any luck, tonight they will relocate back down to the creek.

taking time

Thinking things through is an art that I have gotten out of touch with, if I ever had a grasp on it at all. Instead of more whining about needing a new, better digital camera, I am taking the time to sit with my A95 and, one by one, go through all it's functions, features and adjustments to find out what I've been missing. Lots, it seems. Of course the first thing I did when I got the camera was pitch the instruction manual in the "read someday" pile. Every gadget comes with a Quick Start one sheet that was enough to get me going. All these years later, it's like having a new camera! I started making templates for my batik experiment using sheets of craft foam. It's flexible, waterproof, cuts like butter but I wonder how it's going to like hot soy wax? Maybe I should test a piece before I waste any more time cutting out paper weirdies.

gen-U-wine batik

Thinking about what it's going to take to bring digital imaginings to the cloth, wax and dye. How many yards can I stand...and will I be satisfied when the vagaries and imperfections of the process manifest? Can I cultivate some discipline for a day and be glad with the results? Only one way to find out.

progress

I've been spending about an hour each morning stitching on the latest of the big flags. I'm still not happy that for all the trouble stitching like this takes, the overall effect not what I hoped for. What that is remains to be seen. Tomorrow I'll start working this one over with the transparent Setacolor. Now that the lines are all in place, it will be like coloring in a big coloring book. All I have to do is get the crayons right. ...all.