Random Animal Shots

Bob has pointed out that the last few blog posts have not had cat pictures, which is against Margo's law. 

But before the cats come the birds.  We came home one day to our white peahen Ashley sitting among the explosion of azelea blossoms.

I've posted before about the owls that I get to handle at the museum.  They are beautiful, noble, and (usually) dignified birds.  I've been working with the barred owl for about three years now.  I usually try to see if she'll let me touch her--and I usually get snapped at.  But I was finally able to cautiously reach over her head without her being able to grab me--and when I finally started scratching her she suddenly blissed out, getting this look of "ohmygod why did I wait so long for this?"

Now for the obligatory cat pictures.  Nazgul has decided to contribute to our Art Installation:

 

 

RiverSong and Noko Marie think it's unfair that they don't get to go outside, and have to make do with a windowsill.

 

 

 

Finally, the big raspberry goes to my brother Michael, who saw the picture of my wee baby opossum and responded with "boy, that is ugly."  It's sort of unfair to judge an unfinished piece of work.  He's still not done--but I've been working on him.

 





Playing Hookey in the Swamp

We played hookey today.  I guess technically it really wasn't playing hookey--I put in a lot of hours last week so I didn't have to go in today, and Bob worked Saturday so he had today off--but it was a Monday, and we didn't go to work, so it felt like playing hookey.

Recently the weather has been pretty in the morning, and then kicks up a bit in the afternoon, so we decided to take the kayaks out early.  I've blogged quite a bit about drifting around in the lake, so what more can I say?  Except that we never tire of it.  There's something about the feel of that smooth glide when you first start paddling.  The kayaks will get us into areas that even small power boats can't go, so we have it to ourselves.

 

 

 

And the sounds!  I wish there were better words for sounds.  The high pitched screams of osprey, the gutteral grunts of herons, the weird pops and squaks from the gallenules (and the mad slapping of their feet on the water as they try to get airborn).  The "braackk!" of bullfrogs, the rusty-gate creaking of blackbirds, the splash of turtles plopping into the water, the louder mad thrashing of a startled alligator (sometimes followed by the fast paddling of the kayaker).  Sometimes you just have to chill out and listen.

Such a primitive beauty.  You feel that it would be natural to see some ancient prehistoric creature.  And then you do.

Big one--about 10 feet.  It was a good day for gator spotting--warm, but not hot, sunny, cool breezes.  Saw lots of little ones (3-6 feet).  And then we spotted GatorZilla.  Low in the water so we couldn't get a good picture, but you see a really big head, and then you see a huge tail about 10 feet after the head.  We're guessing 13-14 feet long--about as long and wide as Bob's kayak.  We didn't try to get too close.

As long as we were playing hookey, we went to a diner down the road for a hambuger.  It's a small enough place that we could place a special order--a hamburger where two grilled cheese sandwiches are substituted for the bun.  That's right--sandwich, hamburger, sandwich.  Crisp cheesy buttery meaty goodness.  And yes, we split one between us.  What the heck--had some fried pickle spears too.

So tomorrow we got to work.

Gowns of Goodwood

Free at last, free at last!  O thank God, I'm free at last!

The Gowns of Goodwood exhibit has opened--and my job is done!

I've mentioned this from time to time.  It's a fundraiser for the Goodwood Museum and Gardens (a lovely place, I have to say).  They wanted to do a display of gowns from the 1840s to the 1930s (corresponding with the different owners of the plantation).  My department chair asked if I could help out.

"Helping out" turned out to be "responsible for the gown portion of the exhibit".  Others did stuff like the fundraising, advertising, putting out displays of accessories, writing up information panels.  I did gowns.  Problem is--it's not much of a display if you just stick a dress on a hanger and dangle it.  So I had to scrounge a dozen or so dress forms.  To keep things interesting, our staging area was upstairs in the house--and no elevator.  I started in February to have time to fit the dresses--or, to be more accurate, fit the forms to the dresses. 

So . . . dress forms out of the storage area, down the hall to the elevator, on and off the elevator, down the hall to the loading dock.  Into the car, out to Goodwood, carry around to the back of the house, up the porch steps, through the kitchen and dining room into the hall and up the 24 steps of the curved staircase and thence to the bedroom.  Repeat.  They weigh about 25 pounds.

The forms are measured, the dresses are measured, and matched up.  For a few it just wasn't going to happen--some of those clothes were *tiny* and I had a limited number of forms.  So we bought three size 2 forms--and they're styrofoam.  I love them.  They weigh about 4 pounds.  Lovely.

But they didn't quite work.  Human bodies can twist and wiggle to get dressed--forms can't.  And the current popular silhouette is square-shouldered.  Many past silhouettes have rounded or sloping shoulders.  So the forms came home with me to have some "shoulderectomies" done.   (Did I mention that I love the fact that they are styrofoam?)

You can see the modification here:

It didn't stop there.  To fit the civil war gown, I had to take the entire form down another 3 inches.  My room is still covered in styrofoam dust.  But the finished result was worth it.

 

 

Sometimes even that wasn't enough.  We had a girl's gown from the 1840's that was impossibly tiny.  So out came the poster board and duct tape.  What's underneath isn't important.  I love all the detailed pleating on this one.  The close-up picture is in my workroom--and shows that even on a form a dress still isn't quite ready for display.  We spent two days with tissue paper and netting to fill out sleeves and skirts, and many hours with steamers to smooth the fabrics (I don't care what the ads selling steamers stay--ironing is *much* faster and easier--but you don't iron 100-year-old fabrics).  The second picture has been fluffed and steamed.

 

 

 



 

A few posts ago I showed some of the repair work I did on the wedding gown.  Here's the result:

 

 

 

The trick to fluffing out the sleeves in lace is to use nylon net (tissue would show).

 

A few more:

 

What with all the gorgeous gowns, the one I was taken with is the rather plain little skirt-and-blouse combination on the right of the group of three.  Perhaps because it was possibly for a working girl--and I have certainly felt like a working girl on this exhibit.  So I used it as inspiration for my opening-night dress (and may my hair forgive me for the teasing and hairspray)

 

 

I've been on the radio, I've been on the television, I've made it into the paper.  I'm proud, I'm tired, and I'm glad it's finished  (well, until June, when it all comes down and those bleepin' forms have to be put away)

 



Photo Booth

If you read this blog (and you must, or you wouldn't be reading this) you know that Bob builds really amazing scale models.  There is a magazine called Fine Scale Modeler that often shows models made by its subscribers.  Logic dictates that Bob's models should be in this magazine.

Of course, to do this you need to send a photograph.  He should be taking pictures of his stuff anyway--if this blog has taught be nothing else, it's that it's kind of nice to document bits of your life.

Awhile back, I did a post showing how to McGyver [old TV show where the star could make anything using a Swiss Army knife and whatever was lying around] a photo booth using a storage container and flashlights.  Not that it's difficult--but most of my storage containers have stuff in them that had to be dumped out and somehow never got put back in.  So taking pictures was usually on the "things to do" list.

Also about the same time--I bought Mike a small photo booth for Christmas a couple of years ago--because he also makes nice things that should be photographed.  It's not Christmas--but I just got one for Bob.

Pretty nifty little kit.  About the size of a briefcase, has a folding photo booth, two lights, and a camera tripod.  Just unfold and plug in. 

Here's a shot of our usual "documentation" (set it on the table and shoot) and one in the photo booth.

I think the second one shows more respect to Bob's skills.  Now to  write that article for the magazine!

Busy Monday

I thought that the purpose of time was to keep everything from happening at once.  It rather failed at that yesterday.

It started off first thing with setting up a dye workshop in the textile lab.  Normally this would have been done by the person teaching the lab, but she got volunteered to talk to a group of boy scouts about textiles from 9 to 10--and her class was at 10:15.  So, being the nice person I generally am, I offered to set up the lab.  Mixing the dyes, mixing the fixing solution, getting everything labled and set out, setting up the steamer.  While I'm doing this the scouts come out of the classroom and into the lab to see some of the equipment--so I end up giving an impromptu lecture about dyeing.

Scouts leave, I finish with the dye setup, and I get called to the scout class to help demonstrate weaving on the table loom.  The scouts all want to give it a try (which is amazing--I can't talk my college students into it at all), but it's time for Trinna's class, so we carry the loom to another room and they all have a go at it.

Finally get to my office, where I have to pack up vintage clothing and dress forms because I'm having an interview on TV about the Gowns of Goodwood exhibit (there was also a radio interview but they didn't need the visuals).  One of the garments I need is out at Goodwood so I drive out there to get it.

Get that, get back, have a quick lunch (see below for details), get changed into a dress, drive to the TV station, drag out the dress forms and box of clothes, get them set up, and have interview the first.  Wait around because the radio guy isn't there.  Finally have the interview with him.

Clothes get repacked, everything stuffed into the Honda, and back to Goodwood.  

Then off to the yarn shop because this is the night I'm helping Rob teach a weaving class (lots of fun--but once again I forgot my camera).

Now, it may seem that this was a busy enough day, but it was complicated by the fact that I have a new little friend.

Got this little guy last Wednesday, tipping the scales at just one ounce.  Possums this size are very tricky to raise--unlike most mammals, marsupial babies live in the pouch and nurse almost constantly, so they can't go long between feeding.  He's on a two-hour schedule (except at night--he has to go four hours because I just can't get up every two.  Even the 2 a.m. feedings are getting to me).

So everything I was doing yesterday included getting back to the office every two hours to feed him.  The schedule for getting stuff from Goodwood to the TV station was tight enough that I would have time to feed him, or feed myself, but not both.  Bob to the rescue on that one--he brought lunch over and dropped bits in my mouth like a baby bird while I fed the possum  (pity we didn't have a third person with a camera for that one).

But dyeshop was a success, and scouts had fun, and the interview went well, and the weaving class went well, and the possum got fed, and I got through the day.

Today I'm staying home.

P.S.  For those of you in Tallahassee, the TV interview will be Wednesday the 27th at 7:30 p.m. on WFSU (Comast Channel 4).  The show is called Dimensions--we'll only be on for about 5 minutes.

Workspace!

I will be the first to admit that I am spoiled when it comes to having a place to work on my craft projects.  In fact, it's sort of an embarassment of riches.  There are better and far more prolific artists than I out there who would give their eyeteeth to have my space.  Not only do I have a storage cabinet and a couple of spinning wheels in the den, and a couple more spinning wheels and a small loom in the living room, and a large loom in the guest room, but, in addition,  I have my own house.

When we bought this place 20+ years ago, it came with a small mother-in-law cottage, which Bob said I could have (I think he was tired of finding my natural dye experiment on the stove, aka "wool and weed stew" when what he wanted was dinner).  It has two rooms and a bathroom, and Bob walled in the back porch to make my dye kitchen (there was already a stove there, and he scrounged a great sink/counter).  The smaller room (about 10 x 11) is my sewing room, and the larger one is for storage, fiber prep, and general crafting.

With all this--of course I had to have a complaint  :-)

My cutting table in the sewing room is 30" wide.  I was trying to cut out a skirt for a 1900's costume--the fabric is 54" wide and the pattern pieces are about 40" wide, which made it tricky to lay it all out.  I could have used the dining room table--but that's the downside of having a studio away from the house--the cutting board, fabric, pins, measuring tape, and marking chalk would all have to be carried up and back.  It's only about 150 yards away--but I always forget something so it's multiple trips.

As I said--spoiled.

I was talking to Bob about it, and trying to figure out how to fit a wider cutting table into the sewing room.  He pointed out the obvious--the sewing room was rather packed full, but the front room was underutilized.  There was a work counter there, but only 20" wide.  Why not extend it?

So that was Saturday's project.  We got three lower cabinet units from Home Depot (which happened to be the same height as the original counter support), a piece of pressboard, and a piece of white masonite.  A few hours later and I have a 6.5 x 4 foot workspace--and storage!

Here's the old counter:

 

 

An here's the new one:

 

 

 

Here's the really clever part.   Notice that there's a pretty big gap (about 15") between the old counter and the new ones.  Bob put casters and a handle on a long board for me--and voila!  Secret storage (the tall wastebaskets are for storing fleece)

 





Which now begs the question--with this much storage space, what's going to be my excuse for having my stuff spread out all over the place??

Projects

Mid-March already.  The weather really can't decide what it's doing.  The first week of March was the coldest weather we'd had all winter.  This weekend was warm and lovely and we got both the vegetable garden and the butterfly garden cleaned up.

I realize that although I'm constantly fiddling with stuff--usually yarn--I haven't posted much on my projects lately.  So here goes.

Sugar Cane scarf.  Last fall when Natasha and I were cutting sugar cane at the museum, she wondered if the big sugar businesses have any way of recycling the pressed cane.  I mentioned that they burn some to run the factories, some can get turned into erosion control fabric, and some becomes biodegradable paper plates and eating utensiles. So when I found some yarn made from recycled, regenerated cane pulp I just had to make her a scarf from it.  It was such a quick project that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Here's a picture of the yarn from the catalog--very pretty silky multicolor.

 

 

 

The Dog is off the loom! A loom "dog" is a project that isn't going the way you want so you don't finish it--but you don't cut it off and throw it away, so it just sits there (and obviously you don't weave anything else).  I started this about a year ago (yes--a year) by putting on a random warp of different yarns that I've spun over the last 20 years.  I thought a gray weft would bring out the colors--but instead it killed them.  I kept weaving for awhile just in case I eventually liked it--and then stopped.  I wasn't about to unweave the yard or so, and I wasn't going to sacrifice it.  I finally said the heck with it, spun up the rest of the weft, and finished it.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but I can start using the loom again.

 



Last October when we went to the alpaca show I bought a small bag of a really beautiful shaded gray suri fleece.  Suri alpacas have curly fleece that feels and acts like silk. I wanted to make something from it before the alpaca show in February.   The finished scarf is quite subtle but I love it.  And the alpaca's owners had never seen anything made of her fleece before.

Some knitters are addicted to making socks; my addiction is fingerless mitts.  I think they're cute, if you use interesting yarn you don't have to do anything fancy, they're instant gratification.  So I've made two more pairs, one for our neice Amanda and one for one of our graduate students who thought mine were really cute.

 

 



I had planned to make Rob and Jeff a new set of dishtowels (at their request) for Christmas--and they got them in March.  I did a complicated structure called shadow weave, just because I like it.  The threads counted out correctly.  When I was weaving them they looked fine (but it's difficult to see shadow weave patterns while they're being woven).  When I finished and washed them, which makes the design pop out--*that's* when I found the errors.  Truly annoying.  But at least it's dishtowels--and they're still functional.

 

 

And the Doctor Who scarf is done.

 



Not bad for a couple of months!   There are a few works-in-progress, but it's past my bedtime.