Today felt like a little taste of summer break to me. M had to go in to work so I had the day to myself. Just like summer break, I tried cramming in all the things I've been wanting to do into a short period of time.
I started the day finishing off some pysanky eggs by varnishing them. I'm not accidentally breaking many eggs anymore, but I still have things happening to them that I don't expect nor understand. Some eggs I had sprayed once last week, I gave a second coat of spray varnish, and they changed to a chalky white. ..........sigh..........
I pysankied up another egg.
I'm giving some consideration to making simple pysanky for my Christmas "cards" this year. It might be too much of a hassle to mail them though. We'll see.
Then there's the freezer paper printing I've been wanting to play with.
It's a little tricky for me as I have to think in reverse of how I cut my regular snips. As usual, I want to make too many tiny details and I think this works best with large open spaces. This is a book bag that someone was giving away in the freeby pile in the teachers' lounge, so I felt that if I messed up, it was no great loss.
I spent a couple of hours out in the yard with my push reel mower, which I find wholly enjoyable, believe it or not. That is, til the gnats showed up. Yuck.
My summer break starts in 2 1/2 weeks. I have no firm plans for the summer yet, other than lots of time spent down in "Snippyville."
5 comments:
Wow, would you look at all of those beautiful eggs! Everyone so different and all so beautiful. I really do admire your tenacity to continue with so many mishaps. But well worth the end results. I especially like the one with the bikes ~ so unique!
Looking forward to seeing what your creative energies come up with during your summer break!
I really like how your bug bag turned out. Was it difficult -- or something you could do with your students?
I saw the best bumpersticker:
"Those who can -- Do
Those who can do more-- TEACH."
I too look forward to seeing what you accomplish with more free time :)
The bug bag is great, so different from the common stencil look. It has great character!
You're welcome for the origami paper. I have a rather extensive collection and I really need to start using it. Couldn't think of someone better to share a bit with. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do with it. I'm afraid that being Japanese, it's so ingrained in me to just fold it that I have a hard time doing anything else with it.
Jan, the problem with the varnish might be to do with humidity? I've had the same problem with varnishing paintings but the good news is, the varnish often turns clear again so I hope you haven't thrown the eggs away!
So tell me, how long a break do you get in summer? In the UK schools don't finish until July, then go back early September. Here they finish just before Christmas but don't go back until early February! It feels like a long time away... [sigh]
Holy Cow! Look at your egg collection, amazing! I always admire your productivity. I can only hope that maybe that will be one of the benefits when the three boys are grown - having time to do more creative stuff. I've been wanting to do the stencil thing myself. It seems like such a natural tie in to papercutting. I think your first attempt went very well.
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