I'm trying to teach myself to draw.

my long term goals are to be able to sketch the birds and squirrels i see out my window, to paint my adorable pets, and to make line drawings for my embroidery.
the other perks of being able to draw well are nice too.
but I'm a beginner, and learning mostly from library books and drawsketch.about.com and it's slow going.

drawing is the first art/craft I've come to that i have not been at least acceptable if not good at right away, and frankly I'm not used to it, and it's frustrating.

everything I've read says "practice, practice, practice!" and while I'm not used to have to really work at this kind of thing, I'm going to make a go at it.
as part of this I've decided to buy a sketchbook and starting on the first, draw something, anything, every single day. it's probably not going to be much at first, but we'll see. I'd ideally like to try something new at least once a month, (preferably week) and eventually work my way through pencil, charcoal, colored pencils/crayons, pen and ink, and watercolors. and i really would like my drawings to be more spontaneous, quick, and confident and less slow and labored (yet still good!)

the other part is you, deviant art and Flickr.
no matter how horrible or small my daily drawing journal entry may be, I am going to post it for the whole world to see, and hopefully offer up some encouragement and constructive criticism (and maybe a little obligational pressure to actually keep to my resolution.)

so wish me luck, and please be gentile!

(if yyou are on either deviant art or flickr, feel free to friend me or whatever.)

Tags: art, artsycraftsy, links
Current Mood: determined

Braided cast on:


I love this cast on; it creates a lovely braided effect that is stunning on mittens or hats. It's perfect for two colour knitting, no need to fumble to add the second colour, it's already there! And it sets up your stitches perfectly for corrugated ribbing!

The site where I originally learned this technique did a terrible job at explaining it, and it took me forever to figure it out. I decided to make a better set of instructions after several people asked me how I did it.

( the instructions )

Tags: artsycraftsy, knitting
Current Mood: productive

The cake might not be working right after all.

I mean the cake, cake part came out great, super yummy. But the special decoration just isn't working. :: whimper ::

It's in the freezer right now. Hopefully that will help.

Momo, will you still love me if your cake sucks?

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: worried

Besides being covered in black and all sorts of other coloured butter cream I think the first half of Monica's birthday cake is going nicely.

I'm trying out a new technique, and it was quite fun. I only hope the second part goes as smoothly as the first.


Hey Momo, where are you going to be on Sunday afternoon, I'll have a nice surprise for you!

Tags: artsycraftsy, birthdays, cakes, food, friends
Current Mood: bouncy

Just finished decorating my second cake. Bill took tons of pictures for me!!

As I said in my earlier post Martha Stewart is evil, and make my cake too short. But I'm still rather pleased with how it turned out.

( pretty flowers )

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: chipper

like I said I made and decorated a cake the other day.

Here are pictures:

( it was delish )

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: sick

I baked a cake today.
Then I decorated it.

It was quite fun.

And although I am displease with the quality of my decorating, Bill seemed impressed, which gives me home that others will be too.

Bill took about a hundred pictures of it before I put it in the cake carrier, I'll be taking it to my parent's tomorrow. (Good thing he took so many pictures. The cake carrier is slightly too small for the cake, and the frosting around the edges got a bit smooshed)

Pictures of the cake will be posted tomorrow sometime after we return from Watertown. (as well as pictures of the rolled buttercream platypus I promised earlier)

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: content

I've been practicing ButterCream roses.

I find that I like the rose on a stick method much better than the Wilton rose.

Both in ease of perfection, and in the way the finished product looks.

I find the Wilton rose comes out looking very stiff and almost cylindrical (even when done by a professional), while the rose on a stick rose looks more open and organic. (Admittedly, I fudged them a little bit, adding an extra three petal layer in the middle.)

I've also been fiddling with rolled fondant roses. I don't have a cutter, but have been shaping the petals by hand. I find I am very pleased with the results. (If I can somehow manage to not constantly crack the final petals. I am such a klutz) but it is much more time consuming that using buttercream.

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: hungry

I made and played with some rolled buttercream today (my first time). It was interesting. I even made a little platypus. (pictures to come)

The buttercream was a bitch to roll out though, it kept cracking and breaking. No matter how thick I left it. Sometimes it started developing little cracks in its surface after I'd gone over it only a few times with the rolling pin. I think part of the problem may be that it is too dry. I plan on fiddling with my recipe a little later

We're vegetarian so we don't have any gelatin around to make sugar paste, which I hear is easier to work with. And we wouldn't be able to eat it anyways. I haven't heard anything about the successfulness of using agar-agar as a replacement. But if I keep having trouble with the buttercream I may have to try it.

I really want to make and play with some marzipan. But we have no almonds at the moment.

Tags: artsycraftsy, food
Current Mood: chipper

So today Bill and I went into town for provisions. While we were there I stopped by Michaels to sign up for their cake decorating class.

I had stopped in earlier in the week, and saw the advertisement when I was looking at stuff for wedding cakes. And thought it would be a neat idea. When I asked at the counter they said I could buy my kit and sign up on Wednesday morning for the Thursday class, and that as long as there was one person, the class would go on.

Nope.

We got there this morning and the class was already canceled.
The girl who was signing me up was confuses, so had be call back later to talk with the person who was doing the class. I bought the kit anyways because I wanted to play around with the stuff. And frankly I can get instructions for most of the stuff online at the Wilton web site.

I called her, and apparently there was a change in policy somewhere during the week. No there has to be at least three people signed up, three days before the class. *sigh.
She took down my name, and if the promotion for next month involves buying the kit, they will give me a deal since I already bought one. Even with that, I don't know if I'll take it next month or not

I really wish I could have taken the class I've been practicing already, but some of the concepts I just cannot grok in writing, and would really like to see them done. Ah well.

Tags: artsycraftsy, cakes, food
Current Mood: annoyed

A web site that im sure at least chaosdancer will like.

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/index.html

Downloadable books and magazines,
Oh bliss!

Tags: artsycraftsy, bookworm, crochet, heads up, knitting, tatting
Current Mood: chipper

I want popcorn.

I just hand dyed a hank of wool yarn, came out looking cool.
The kitchen now smells of wet sheep and kool aid
When it dries I'm gonna take pics.

I'm running out of things to knit
(Actually I have a bunch of things to still knit, I'm just getting lazy and don't want to actually START a project, so I'm 'stuck' with what is just on my needles right now.)

My scar looks really small, hardly noticeable at parts if it weren't for the stitches. Dr. Litznerski is a genius. I can't wait until the three months are p and I can exercise and stuff. Actually I can't wait until the damned Drains are out so I can wear PANTS! I'm getting sick of skirts.

Ok, enough of that, I'm gonna go make some popcorn now,
Toodlies!

Tags: artsycraftsy, bodywork, knitting
Current Mood: blah

:: poing poing poing poing ::

:: jumps up and down with an armful of yarn ::

I have LYS!! (local yarn shop)
And it ahs all sorts of nifty things!!
And she ordered fancy yarn for me!! And I can get everything I need RIGHT THERE!

:: goes into ferret shock, scattering yarn all over the place ::

yayayayayayayayyayay!

Tags: artsycraftsy, knitting
Current Mood: chipper

I finished my 'paws' tonight

Nix introduced me to this really nice girl named Sarah, who had made arm warmers before, and she explained it to me in nice simple terms, cus I'm stupid and couldn't figure out how to do it.

So yeah there done, and I think they look pretty cute w/ the ears and tail :D

Although they do look a little weird with the tan flowy sleeved shirt I'm wearing.
Hehe.

Yay! I'm so happy my kitty outfit is done!
I'm going to wear it when I go to Oswego this weekend!
:D:D:D

p.s.
Dave, they are VERY pet-able ;)

Tags: artsycraftsy, friends
Current Mood: accomplished

Woo!

Oh yeah, look at me being industrious!

I finished my ears and tail! It was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
I'm happiest about the ears standing up, I had a few problems at first, but I finally got them to behave. :D
Although I am having some logistical problems with my 'paws'
I was thinking of just making half sleeves and sticking my thumb through a hole to leave my fingers open. But I'm not sure how good that will look, and elastic hates me.
Ah well, I'll probably work on those tomorrow.

Look!
( meow! )

Tags: artsycraftsy, peektures
Current Mood: creative
What's Playing?: Lords of Acid - She and Mrs. Jones

So I walk into the cafeteria today and who do I see? BEN! (a.k.a. Batman) I was stunned; apparently he had just stopped by to visit on his day off. So I sat down and talked with him for a while.

Apparently his wife totally turned bitch and took a bunch of his stuff and left him. So he's divorced now and dating somebody new. (Dave you will never believe this... he's dating Heather Cooksy! (sp?))

I had to get to school wicked early to get a parking spot, so I got pretty antsy after a while so I walked around, ran into Sadaf and chatted for a bit about school and weird stuff. Have to remember to ask her about the crying whales next time I talk to her...

Man am I boring if I'm talking about this stuff. Ah well.

I brought my lunch (yummy red bean hummus sammiches) 'cus I was planning on sticking around and reading my homework, but I just couldn't stand the HS atmosphere so I cut outta there quick.

I stopped over at Jo-Anne fabric and grabbed some back 'fur' material, pink felt and elastic.
I'm going to make myself some kitty ears, tail and 'paws' (well actually there going to be more like half sleeves that cover the back of my hands and partway up my lower arms, because you know, I wanna be able to use my fingers.)

Now all I need is a black headband to affix the ears to (if the pattern I made works, I'm not sure if they will stand up properly yet) and maybe a kitty collar and I'll be all set.
:D

ok, I'm rambling.
Toodlies!

Tags: artsycraftsy, food, friends, skool
Current Mood: bouncy
What's Playing?: Audra McDonald - Stars and the Moon

Around Super Bowl time, I made a bet with my dad about who would win (I knew absolutely nothing of either team) the stake

would be that the looser would buy the winner a book.

Well I won, so dad owed me a book.
We went to borders yesterday and I was looking around, and lo and behold, there on the bargain table were stacks and stacks of books about artists, Monet, Picasso, Da Vinci, Dali, Escher, and tons more. I was in heaven; I stood there for ½ hr looking through the books. All too soon it was time to leave, and my dad, the loving and always enthusiastic (when It comes to stuff like this) offered to buy me more than one (after all they were on sale, and it's ART.) I always was interested in Dali's work so I picked up two books on him, not just pictures of his art, but biography and technological studies, and a book (containing 4 individual 'books') on Escher.
I'm in love, I'm enthralled, I can't keep myself from flipping through and reading about their inspiration and methodologies and how much work went into those beautiful and impossible worlds.

Tags: artsycraftsy, bookworm, glamour
Current Mood: artistic