Plastic Litter Collage

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I’m working on some illustrations to help build awareness about litter. This first piece (28 x 30 inches, 71 x 76 cm) — not yet completed — is made from various hard plastic pieces (not including recyclables) picked up primarily on Linda Mar beach by 14 volunteers, in just one half hour.

Thirty minutes.

Tomorrow we have our multi-site post-July 4 cleanup, and I expect to glean more than enough to finish the board. Sadly.

Collages like this are both fun and horrifying to look at, as we tune in to recognizable artifacts, both familiar fragments and unrecognizable bits of objects that once were ours, and that now litter and pollute our waterways and shorelines.

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I’ve no intention of using this space — well, not a lot, anyway — for ecological education :) Just want to show what I’m up to and on about.

And encourage you to care. And make art.

Retro Sofa, Fairy Surprise

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The retro sofa made from one of Kris Compas’s excellent kits, and upholstered in silk cut from a gentleperson’s tie, is finished. The legs are painted a medium gold, a tone somewhere between the multiple shades of butter yellow and tan in the fabric.

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For the piping I corded three strands each of a blue and gold DMC floss. I liked the variegated result more than a single color.

I love the design of the sofa, but I’m disappointed in my fabric choice. I now see that a simpler, far less patterned fabric is called for, one that does not compete with the rhythm of the sofa’s luscious curves. Oh well.

In other news, I walked out in the garden this afternoon to find that the fairies had vacated their backyard terrace location, leaving their outdoor furnishings and accessories behind.

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A short tour found their dwelling relocated to the front southside terrace, an area I have been working on clearing of its irredeemably overgrown lavender, rosemary and other shrubberies.

moved_front_061916This is a street-facing, far more public location, and I’m frankly surprised. What will the neighborhood make of the new inhabitants?

And finally, a wee acknowledgement. Today is 19 June, or 619, which was my house number in a faraway sojourn, an amazing house in a now enchanted place. The *best* water, phenomenal night skies, and the site of epic revelries. To all of you who enjoyed Plain Meeting House Road, salut!

 

Retro Sofa Upholstery

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I did as much as I could last night on the retro sofa kit from Kris Compas, before I needed to decide on the fabric. This is the base, seat and back cushions padded out with batting, and the back (being held in place with rubber bands until the glue cures). The dots mark the tufting positions (with a small correction).

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I surprised myself somewhat by going with the gold and blue fans — originally I thought the Paisley. Thank you all for your input. It was fun and interesting to hear what you would choose. This piece is the covering for the bottom of the sofa.

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Here is the curved back. There is rather a lot of triangular notching to do.

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The back glued on to the seat base. Silk is slippery to cut and glue straight!

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The sofa so far. Next up is tufting and covering the back cushion, making the buttons (with the cute button press supplied with the kit), making the piping or braid, and painting and attaching the legs. Oh, and pillows. More tie silk fabric choices!

 

Retro Sofa

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Kris Compas had two new kits up in her Etsy shop, this sofa and some equally awesome chairs. I chose the sofa kit for the Argo Wool Works showroom porch.

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I want to use tie silk for the upholstery. But which one? Thanks to the generosity of friends, I have a curated collection of about 30 ties from which to choose. I’ve narrowed it down to these six:

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Blue, gray and black Escher flying fish.

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Ivory and black dots, which I used on this bench:

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Leaping trout on a burgundy background

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Blue and white Paisley on black

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Multicolored truncated ovals on burgundy

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Gold and blue fans on pale yellow

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I feel like my granddaughter, Maddie Lou, making decisions with the happy abundance of choices.

Which one would you pick?

 

 

Foundations, Éclairs

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Attempting to integrate the show-through back wall brick arch, I built a few brick foundation ruins.

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After sealing the bricks, I mortared them with DAP CrackShot.

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They have been since grunged, weathered and eroded, and cast into the background.

More importantly, we celebrated my husband’s birthday with the question, What is your spirit animal éclair?

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We received so many heartfelt responses, mostly off the list of the available tiny animal figurines. Sloth, hyena, bunny… nope. Thus far, B has resonated with rhino and lion. I found the tiger encased on its side in delicious dark chocolate this morning; I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

 

 

Nothing Beside Remains

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This month’s very tardy nancyland splash page pays homage to two of my favorite things: Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandius” and beach cleanups.

I recently became site captain for Esplanade Beach volunteer cleanups organized by Pacifica Beach Coalition, and my experience is heartfelt and mind-expanding. The image on the splash page is a fishing buoy, possibly debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, retrieved from the beach some sixty feet below:

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The part of the poem that most resonates with me:

“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed
…
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Glue, Sneak Peak

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This is a reality shot of miniature landscaping.

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And this is a super secret in-process shot of a project unrelated to miniatures… 15 x 20-inch (38.21 x 50.7 cm ) watercolor cold process block pages painted in a matte acrylic wash. Pretty! Also, I’m surprised there are no cats sitting on them, dry or otherwise.

Back Brick Arch

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After tipping the build backside up, and using the same pattern as on the inside wall, I glued on the bricks and sealed them with Mod Podge. I favor these bricks by Andi Mini Brick & Stone because they’re a solid color throughout, well-priced, and easy to cut.

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Mortared with a palette knife and gloved fingers, using DAP Crack Shot. This and the following shot were photographed at night by ambient light of my Luxo lamp, hence the color variations.

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Gruzz brushed on with gray and deep green powdered pastel.

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Finishing out the rest of the farmer style board-and-batten siding. Yay for using up offcuts. Fooling around with preserved reindeer moss, mostly roots and mid-structure  (rather than the rounded top mounds) to give a slightly more lichen-y feel.

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The finished-for-now back wall. I added some floor board remnants and foundation elements to the existing structure. After carving out a lot of mortar and rounding all the exposed brick corners, I sea-sponged on a thin white wash of white acrylic, then re-scrubbed individual bricks clean. The siding nailheads are made with a soft-leaded pencil tip rotated in place, then wiped downwards with a fingertip to create stain trails. Convincing!

Now I have to do a bit of research on street names and sign styles of 1906 San Francisco. I’m tempted to use my old address, but have to see if the area was even developed then. (It was in the outer Richmond, near the backside of Sutro Park.) Alternately I could cut a very fine stencil of the Argo Wool Works logo

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to paint on the bricked-in arch, which might look something like this:

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My final offering is this delightful piece filled with the pure light of truth, by one of my very favorite contemporary writers, Mallory Ortberg of the-toast.net

Everything That’s Wrong Of Raccoons

It’s satisfying to read aloud.

 

 

 

Ceiling, Standing Stone, Brick Arch, Yipes Stripes, Bench

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For the Argo Wool Works showroom ceiling, I glued the two roof sections from the Backyard Bungalow base kit together, and edged with half- by quarter-inch (13 x 6 mm) basswood to extend the overhang. I measured the placement of the beams and walls in dry fit like three or four times, encountering anomalies each time.

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Yet another dry fit, this time with the upper window frames in place, and one section of ceiling planks. I’ve decided a 1/16-inch wiggle room is acceptable, especially since the whole ceiling and under eaves will be semigloss white, and any gaps will blend into the painted bricks… or something. I’m using the ever versatile 3/4-inch rustic clapboard siding from miniatures.com to cover the ceiling.

In the lower right of the photo you can see this standing stone feature I’m working on:

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It’s two gorgeous crystalline mineral shards that I promptly forgot the name of, found at a very eccentric bead and rock shop here in Pacifica.

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The back of the build was to be clad with the yellow and gray siding, but I decided today to have the bricked-in arch from the interior carry through to the outside wall for interest. I might mess with the foundation to suggest remnants of more of the building, too. There’s only just over an inch of space on the base, but I think it’ll be enough :)

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Small progress on the Yipes, Stripes rug, at 2.5 x +2.5 inches, it’s a bit more than half finished. It’ll fit well in the showroom. (Stitched on 48-count silk gauze with ten colors of Gütermann silk; making up the design as I stitch :)

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And here, lit by the westering sun, is my first bit of tie silk upholstery — nothing too challenging. Our dear BW sent a vintage Daisy House bench kit (so sad they’re no longer in business), and the fabric is a lustrous gray, black and ivory woven dot pattern. Thanks again, BW and Suz and Dave!

Fairy Incursion, Part 4

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I sent the fairies a tea set, table and chairs and a candelabra from HBS/miniatures.com. It’s cheerful, but not really their style.

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So I set to making some furniture from beach driftwood. I sanded a thin piece relatively even in thickness and silky smooth on the top. Look at the color of the sawdust! The legs are drift hardwood twigs, about a quarter-inch (7mm) in diameter, with holes drilled for the dowels. I used exterior wood glue and sanded the top smooth again, then applied a few coats of sealer.

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It blends into the site much better, and looks like it might be able to walk on its own :) Pull up a champagne cork stool! Clouds are blowing in, and it’s nearly sparkling hour.