Turpentine paper, not

Question:  what do you do when it’s over 100 degrees outside?

Answer:  sit on your boiling hot driveway and sploosh turpentine on a 200 page magazine, hoping to make some really cool paper.

Result:  pfffft!

Here’s the deal:  Gather together a magazine, a plastic tub, a bottle of turpentine.

Put the magazine in the tub.

Starting from the back of the magazine, open to the appropriate page, tip out some turpentine and wiggle it around the page.  Continue flipping through the magazine, back to front, coating each page with turpentine.  Eventually, there will be enough liquid in the tub, and you won’t need to pour fresh turpentine from the bottle.  Once each page has been saturated, lean the magazine upright and let it dry for a few hours.

What I’ve learned since trying this twice– unsuccessfully–is that you must use a National Geographic magazine.  I tried a high end  travel magazine and a  quilting catalogue.  Both had pages and pages of beautiful color; one had heavy paper and glossy ink, one had cheapo paper, and presumably cheapo ink.  Neither worked!  After researching some sites, I found one that said that the National Geographic pages are coated with something that makes the ink smear and do gorgeous stuff.

So– yes, I will try this again.  With a National Geographic.  Why?  This is the very question Judy asked me as I moaned about how nasty the turpentine fumes are in this heat.  Then I sent her to look at Sally Turlington’s site,  and Judy understood my stubborn refusal to let this project go!

Hopefully, the next time I blog about turpentine (altho I notice that you can use Citrasolve instead, which is a less toxic alternative to turpentine) I will be able to show you some beautiful papers!

For now, I leave you with this morning’s creative project– DS2 and his camp ‘do:

Uncle Tomma’s Kick A$$ Ribs

While visiting DH’s family branch down in Atlanta, my BIL demonstrated his rockin’ good way with ribs.  As one who loves to eat, but has never been able to make, good ribs, I immediately started whining for the recipe.

In his own words, my beloved BIL’s recipe for his entirely delicious ribs:
Use pork baby back ribs. Beef ribs work, too, but pork is leaner. (note by Susan: this recipe is for dry ribs. If you like sauce-y ribs, you can follow the recipe, and add your favorite sauce to the finished ribs.)
The Slow Boil
Fill a large pot with water. Add a whole sliced onion, a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, and 3 bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cut rib racks in half, and drop in pot. Cover and slow boil for an hour. Go watch football (note by Susan: I have inquired and you may watch a quilt show, reality tv, or Mythbusters)

The Baste
Mix equal parts of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and worcestershire sauce. Baste those boiled gray bastards (note by Susan: I’m telling! Tomma said a swear word!)

The Dry Rub
Mix together:

• 6 Tbl brown sugar
• 3 Tbl chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp black pepper

(note by Susan:  this is a bit sweeter than I like.  I think I’ll also add some salt.)

Shake it up. Sprinkle dry rub onto basted ribs. Save a little dry rub to sprinkle on when serving. (note by Susan: this is yummy. I poured an embarrassing amount onto my plate and dipped the ribs into it on the way to my mouth)
The Smoke

• You’ll want a ton of Hickory smoke! If you already know how to do it, great. If not, here’s what I do: my grill has left and right burners covered by a long metal radiant (note by Susan:  he means the corrugated metal thingy right on top of the gas outlets, not the grill that holds the meat). I place baseball size chunks of hickory on one side of the grill directly on the radiant, then I fire up the gas. I let the wood burn for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle water onto the burning wood. (note by Susan:  while this is fresh in my mind, I’m going to add that you need to place a good sized pile of chunks directly onto the corrugated metal thing which is UNDER the grill that holds the meat.  Leave the grill lid up, turn the gas on, and let the wood catch fire!  Turn off the gas, then sprinkle water on the wood chunks to douse the flame.  Close the lid.  Voila!  Smoke!  Now back to Tom!)
• Add ribs to the OTHER SIDE of the grill as the hot wood is likely to flame up. This is the perfect time to crack open a cold brew and stand around feeling manly (note by Susan: or womanly, Tom, you caveman!)
• 
• Just be sure the smoke keeps coming. If there’s no smoke, there’s fire.
• If your grill has large vent holes in the bottom, you might want to put some aluminum foil on the ground as ashes sometimes fall, and you certainly don’t want to incinerate Ojai (note by Susan: you got that right!)
• Oh yeah, remember to clean out the ashes sometime in the near future.

The Pig Out
A serrated knife works best to cleanly slice the ribs from the rack. Sprinkle leftover rub on the ribs or just pour some on your plate and dip (note by Susan: figure on 3-4 ribs per adult, plus extra for lunch the next day!)

An early art quilt… or how to use a fabric panel

I am definitely finding refuge from the dustbowl boys’ room clean-out by updating my blog. Thank you all for giving me a reason to procrastinate!!

Their room has proved to be quite the archaeological pigsty dig. In addition to an entire childhood’s worth of toys found jammed behind a dresser, I found one of my earliest art quilts:

I made this for my oldest son when he was 2– almost 9 years ago! Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking had just entered my personal library, as had a pre-printed fabric panel of trucks and cars. I remember buying the fabric; I was feeling so proud of the fact that I was purchasing boy fabric, even as I was scratching my head, wondering how to put together a boy quilt.

Even after 9 years as an art quilter turned fiber artist, I think this is a pretty successful quilt. The truck/car blocks were all wonky sizes, so I added skewed coping strips, log cabin style, to bring the blocks to a workable size. A few coping “strips” of half square triangles and flying geese helped to break up the black background borders. The inner borders are all different: some are flying geese in scrappy fabrics, some are liberated half square triangles, and one side (the viewer’s left) is split between half square triangles and an enlarged, bordered block.  At the time, I found this quilt very daring, very arty, very liberating!

If you are new to the art quilt world, or if you are still in the flirting phase of art quilting, I highly recommend reading Gwen’s book. She breaks down different traditional quilt components in such a friendly, breezy style that it is hard to resist trying her techniques. The book remains one of my favorites; I fully credit Liberated Quiltmaking for pointing me on the path towards the artist I am today.

Thanks, Gwen!

Day two: clearing out the boys’ room

Day two:  cleaned out boys’ toys from under bed stop.  Found lots of missing pieces stop.  Found 23 dirty socks stop.  Send wine stop.

Back from vacation

…and what a fun time we had!

Usually, we use our vacation time to go to New York to visit with DH’s family (my mother has always enjoyed visiting us in Southern CA– I can’t imagine why, unless it has to do with the difference between 20 degrees below zero weather versus orange trees in bloom?)  This June, my MIL planned a trip to Atlanta, visiting my 2 BIL’s and their families. Perfect!  My family would go to Atlanta, too, and we would get to see all the nieces and a nephew in the bargain.

A fun time was had by all– the cousins get along like BFF’s, and I adore my SIL’s (my BIL’s are pretty special too– one is a terrific cook, and I’ll share his ribs recipe later on!)

DS1 and Niece2 do some fancy hair stuff– trying to stave off boredom….

….while we all wait for DH to begin his running season:

Ever the dutiful wife, I am very supportive of DH’s running schedule, even when it eats into family time.  After all, his running took us to Italy last fall, and the World Master’s Championship will be held in Finland in 2009.  I really really want to go to Finland.  Can you say Marimekko fabric?!!

Everybody go surfin’ (or to the pool, since Atlanta is not on an ocean!):

When it was time to take our leave, we detoured to my toddlin’ hometown.  I haven’t been back to Chicago (except for the 2 weeks my mom was in the hospital) since we moved to CA– 9 years!

Much has changed:  new and many more shops, Cabrini Green was officially declared a disastrous attempt at public housing and torn down,  lots of flowers planted everywhere.  It is a glorious, if somewhat yuppified, city, and I realized how homesick I’ve been.

Some things don’t change, however.  The Original House of Pancakes (the one in Wilmette was featured in the movie Ordinary People) still rules the world with the glorious and caloric Dutch Baby.  We went twice!

Unfortunately, we were only able to stay in Chicago for a very few days.  Although I was in full tour guide mode (Look!! That’s where you were born!!  Look!!  That’s where Dad and I got married!!  Look!!), the boys were more impressed with the Museum of Science and Industry.  This was my favorite museum when I was growing up, and as an adult, I can see why.  They have a terrific exhibit dedicated to cow poop (the exhibit was really dedicated to how farmers are using methane gas to power their farms; however when you are 8 and 10 and male, it’s all about the poo).  There were piles of (plastic) poop in every corner.  Ya gotta love a town with poo on display!

His Eminence Mayor Daley the Second should be proud!

Close up photos of fiber “roof tiles”

I did take some close up photos of the Tyvek/fabric fiber roof tiles. I don’t have a lot more to say about them, so I’ll just get on with the show! I do want to add that the color from my photo is not the same as the rich color in real life– nor is it the rich color from Judy’s photo. So I apologize both to you and to Judy– somehow I managed to dull down the colors when I shrunk the file to post here. Please use your visual imagination to enrich the photos!

**ps–if you look closely, you can see some of the zapped Tyvek “knots”– I didn’t have a closeup of that technique to post on the previous entry.

More tyvek experiments

Here are some more examples of my Tyvek experiments. First up is a pin-tuck square.

I started with painted Tyvek, then layered on some dyed cheese cloth. I took this combo to my sewing machine and proceeded to sew in small, parallel pin tucks:

I took it back to my cutting board, and cut it up at random angles. If you’ve ever made a slice and dice type quilt block, you are familiar with this technique. If you aren’t following what I’m talking about, study the photo where the pin tucked pieces are re-assembled, and you will hopefully understand what I did.

Don’t forget to start with a much larger square to accomodate the amount of “yardage” you’ll lose not only to the pin tucks, but also to the seam allowances for the random angles.

Here’s what the resulting square looks like:

It’s interesting, but needs some more work before I’ll use it.

Another experiment that I plan to use in a fiber piece was accomplished by weaving in a grid. First, I created a frame using a cut apart wire hanger (see, Mommy Dearest, wire hangers are good!) I created a warp and weft by wrapping the wire frame with ribbon:

Into this, I wove yarn, fabric strips, and painted Tyvek strips in a random pattern:

Out came my trusty hot air gun, and ZAP! I like the resulting texture, even though it didn’t belong in my roof tile piece. Below is the zapped grid:

Below is a close up of the above zapped grid:

One final Tyvek experiment was working with knots! I cut strips of painted Tyvek, and made simple knots. Some strips were long enough for one knot, some got two knots. One strip had some ribbon knotted into it.

Again, the strips got zapped, and the results got added to some of the roof “tiles”.

Umbria roof (fiber)tiles, a tyvek tutorial

The Brady Bunch cottage cheese texture (the only texture I hate!!) has been scraped off of DS1’s new room-to-be. I’ve been up since 6:30 to start painting said ceiling and it’s time to get to the walls. But first, a blog post! I am so totally procrastinating! And that was so totally a So. CA sentence from this Midwest girl!

I promised to share some step-by-step photos of my fiber tiles made with fabrics and Tyvek. Without further ado, but with some procrastination of the painting kind, here goes.

The roof “tiles” from my fiber piece, Umbria: Roof I were fascinating for me to make. I drew heavily from the book, Surfaces for Stitch by Gwen Hedley. After reading it cover to cover, and then going back and reading it again, I closed it, grabbed a journal, and began scribbling ideas from memory. This way, I was able to merge Gwen’s instructions with my own experiences and ideas. This was a new way of organizing my experimentation, and I must say that I like it. Not only does it arrange my ideas, but it keeps me going when I get interrupted. I don’t make a firm step-by-step list, but rather a loose gathering of ideas, with notations on “what if’s” and “try this’es”. In addition to helping me through the tedious and numerous interruptions to my day, it also helped me get over the initial resistance I always feel when trying new ideas. What is that about, anyway?

On to my roof tiles. I first gathered together most of the fabrics I thought I might use. I hand-dyed and painted several segments of cotton, silk, dry baby wipes and paper towels (great texture!), used dryer sheets, cheesecloth, and lace. Some fabric was rusted. The inspiration photo of the actual roof tiles in Italy was indispensable for color. Here is a photo of the gathered fabric, with some painted Tyvek in the center:

To paint the Tyvek, front and back, I grabbed some craft acrylic paint in the tile colors, and swiped it on randomly. I did experiment with different patterning, but in the end, it didn’t make any difference to the finished product.

Next up: play time! I cut random chunks of different fabric, laying them down on a square of painted Tyvek. Sometimes the fabric hung over the edge.

Then, I took the square to my sewing machine, and sewed my beloved interlocking circles. Around and around and around I sewed. Wheee!

The above photo shows an experiment on unpainted Tyvek. What was the point? I ended up zapping the Tyvek enough to have it shrink back and hide behind the fabric.

Once the squares were sewn, I took them outside, along with my heat gun and a chopstick to hold the square in place. The chopstick complained less about the heat from the air gun than did my fingers. Ouch! I have a cheapie heat gun from Michael’s, so I let it run for a few minutes to heat up.

I experimented with zapping the square with hot air from the back and from the front. The back side won, hands down. The Tyvek curls and bubbles and generally has a party, all the while being constrained by the sewn lines. Here is a specific square, shown before and after zapping:

Below (shown before being zapped) is an experiment that, to my eyes, is a failure:

I had a square of Tyvek/fabric and couched on some yarn. I didn’t realize that the yarn made such a pronounced “S” shape (really, I was just going for some curves, but the small size of the initial square didn’t allow for much patterning with the yarn….) I had hoped that the shrinking Tyvek would obscure the “S” in some freeform way. Didn’t happen.

I share these yucky photos because I always find much to learn from failure, and I will definitely try adding yarns to the Tyvek square again.

Well, I have to go paint the walls of DS1’s room now. I do have some more close up’s of the squares to share, plus some other experiments. You won’t have to wait too long to see those– I have a whole ‘nother bedroom to paint, so I’ll need to have some more procrastinating excuses!

Finally, some fiber content that you don’t have to eat!

It’s been forever since I’ve posted something fiber related– that didn’t begin with “wash a bunch of kale leaves”! I’ve been meaning to share this new art piece, and just never got around to it.

The piece is part of a series I’ve begun, based upon my fall trip to Italy. While there, I was inspired by all the rusty, decomposing doors, tiles, and gates (texture-laaaaaa!). Not long after my return home, I participated in Fibervision’s art show at a gallery in Santa Barbara. The show featured fiber art based upon the artist’s interpretation of a photograph. (aside: It was a spectacular show, and I was very excited to be a part of it! Our next show will be at the Cabrillo Art Pavillion, again in Santa Barbara, in October.)

Here is the photo I took at a castle in San Marino– roof tiles.

Here is my full piece (photo courtesy of the amazing Judy Rys– thanks again, Judy!) The title is Umbria: Roof I:

The piece measures only 17″ x 20″, pretty small for me. It also has (gasp!!) HAND QUILTING stitches! Admittedly, they are randomly placed scatter stitches (I think this type of stitching has a name, but I have no idea what it is!) It was refreshing to work by hand, for the first time in a loooong time.

Here’s the breakdown of the parts:

• The background is a commercial batik, stitched with a muted hued, variegated thread from Valdani.
• The “tiles” are individually created fiber pieces, made of hand dyed cotton, silk, cheesecloth, baby wipes, dryer sheets, and painted tyvek.
• beads, both commercial and hand-made from painted tyvek knots. Oh– and a wrapped washer. Said washer was discovered on the floor of my studio under a bit of fallen fabric, and I wrapped it up in some ribbon and called it art!
• rusted, overdyed lace as a frame.
• rusted, overdyed silk wrapped lollipop sticks with wire/beads.

In coming days, I’ll share some close up photos of the work, plus some how-to photos I took. I was inspired by the process, and have begun to add more ideas to my journal for future projects!

This and that and a recipe (chocolate!)

Wow. I get no brownie points for the title of this post, do I?

Thanks again for the kind words regarding the “Tee Bags”! DS1 was tickled to hear from you all. He and his BFF worked for hours the other day, and got about 70 more bags sewn, in preparation for outfitting the world with reusable shopping bags. The boys kept up their enthusiasm; sadly to admit, mine flagged and I got cranky.

In other news, I made a new smoothie recipe (oh stop, stop!! I can hear the cheers all the way out here on the West Coast!) I decided to try a salad smoothie. There’s no fruit involved (unless you’re Kate, and then you count the tomato as a fruit!!) I froze some low sodium V8 in an ice cube tray, dumped 6 into the blender, added a peeled avocado and the greens and a healthy dollop of Italian salad dressing. It was extremely yummy, but I gained a pound. I was frustrated, until I realized that, duh, the salad dressing was pretty fattening. Not to mention the avocado. I will experiment with this using just a packet of dressing mix– spices, no oil.

And now, just so you don’t think I’m all about healthy food (shudder!!), I leave you with a recipe for chocolate bread pudding.

Before you begin cooking, put a cardiologist on speed dial. Note that you start the bread pudding the day before you serve it.

Next, gather your ingredients:

• 9 slices stale bread
• 1 cup chocolate chips plus 3 heaping spoonfuls cocoa
• 1 pint half and half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 stick butter
• 3 large eggs

How to:

• Cut each slice of bread into triangles.
• Put the choc. chips, half and half, sugar, and butter into a microwavable bowl, and melt. Take it out of the microwave every 30 seconds or so and give it a good stir. You want to dissolve the sugar, but not burn the chocolate.
• Add the cocoa and stir it up.
• Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture. Whisk very thoroughly to blend the ingredients all together.
• Spoon 1/2 inch layer of chocolate mixture into base of 7×9-ish buttered ovenproof dish. Arrange half of the bread triangles in overlapping rows. Pour half the remaining chocolate mixture over the bread. Repeat with the remaining bread and chocolate mixture. Use a fork to gently press the bread to cover it with liquid.
• Cover the dish with plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, then transfer to the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the plastic wrap. Bake the bread pudding for 30 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving with whipping cream poured over.

Yup. This is quite the opposite end of the cooking spectrum from green smoothies!