Fabric8

Fabric8, a fabric design contest, sponsered by Spoonflower and Kaufmann fabrics is up for voting over the next week.  The contest was to use pen and ink with watercolor.  If you click on the link for voting you will see that they were searching for a particular look.  My fabric, Love in All Seasons, did not make the first cut but I think it was a strong design.

I once read in a sewing book that if you improve your fit by 10% each garmet you will be sewing like a pro in no time at all.  I hope this axiom is true about designing fabrics as well.  My fabric is being test printed and will be available for sale in about 3 weeks. 

Ms Brigitte & Reclaiming Ugly Old Cards

On swap-bot there are always designers you really hope you will receive from.  Brigitte is one of those for me.  Since I signed up for her fashion and mythology themed swaps I have hoped to get paired with her.  Now I am finally getting to swap cards with her through a private swap.  Elements of her style (as seen on her blog) have influenced my Harlequin ATC and also the project below.  The Harlequin is the fabulous model Akoul (more below.)  I used stamps, magazine & commercial paper collage and brads in my design.

There have been a bunch Pomegranate cards sitting around a box in my office (known as the crucible) for a few years.  I ordered packs of 50 cards with blank, birthday and Christmas themes knowing that I would like most of the art featured on them.  The packs had dwindled down to a few cards with designs which aren't exactly ugly, but were not to my taste.  I was considering Freecylcing the cards and purchasing new when it occurred to me, why not collage the covers?  Over the last few weeks I have been going through magazines and cutting out pictures while at doctors offices, appointments and as a passenger in the car.  I have assembled two sets that I am pleased with, Buddhist Gardens and Akoul. In both sets the garden/flower images were all taken from a South African Gardening magazine.

The Akoul cards I assembled simply because I think she is an intriguing model.  I first saw her in Ideas magazine at a doctor's office and it seems she is fairly new to modeling.  She has such a captivating face--she looks just like a doll my sister gave to my daughter.  Her back story is interesting too.  She was born of Sudanese Freedom Fighters who were trained in Cuba and has lived in Kenya much of her life.  I love that she keeps her hair natural--so rarely seen in the beauty industry.  All images of Akoul come from an (SA) Elle photoshoot.

Pillowcase Dress

There is a store with a modest cotton fabric department near my house.  The store mainly sells 'dress' fabrics and does not cater to quilters.  Despite this I have found a few cute cotton prints that have inspired me to sew some items for my little girl.  (I would sew clothes for the boys too, but they wouldn't let me.)  My first attempt is a super easy pattern you can sketch yourself called a pillowcase dress.  While you can make this dress by upcycling your old pillowcases, none of my pillowcases are ready for retirement.  There aren't any thrift stores I can access in South Africa and besides this little elephant print was begging to be used.  The Prudent Baby blog has a terrific tutorial on how to make this dress if you are inspired to follow my example.  I used the general guidelines but measured my little girl for the specifics.  Tip:  give a little extra width in the chest area so it can grow with your child.  Here you can see my little girl with the dress nearly finished.  It is a little tight across the chest and tummy and she refused to wear it for more than a couple of minutes because it did not have any PINK in it.  Where do little girls get their pink obsession?                 OK, I lowered the sleeves and went scrounging for some pink fabric.  I used some of it for an applique of the elephant I enlarged from the fabric's pattern.  The elephant's eye is a little sequin and the ear is black Micron pen traced from the template. I created a ruffle on the bottom to add back some of the length I took out when I lowered the arm holes and and sewed a the tie for the top.  She is satisfied now and has agreed to wear it.  Whew. 

Irises and Zeus

I seem to often be creating ATCs whose themes have strange connections.  In this case, Irises, symbols of the French monarchy aka Fleur de Lis and Zeus known as king or at least the head of the Greek Gods depending on the governing of Greece at the time. 
I created the Iris cards using the tissue paper and gel glue technique described with the poppy cards in my earlier post.  The insects are reprints from E. A. Seguy insect prints. The blue beetle is coated with high gloss varnish for a little contrast.

The Zeus ATC is the only ATC I have drawn entirely in pencil.  I combined the torso of a male Greek model I found online with some traditional images of Zeus and images of Bill Clinton.  Zeus's traditional symbols of lightening and the eagle are in the background.   During the Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal, I once heard a pundit saying that Clinton's cheating on his wife was to be expected since we would want a virile, charismatic president.  Maybe this is what the Greeks thought?

Finally, Life Drawing

Taking a Life Drawing class has been on my list of things to do for a while (read years) and I am finally attending one.  The classes happen a couple of times a month at somewhat random intervals.  As my sketches show, we work with a variety of models.  We have not yet had the same model twice.  We begin with warm up 1 and 5 minutes sketches and generally work up to 15 minute sketches.  Someone usually brings wine and the coordinator plays music on his laptop.  You bring your own drawing materials and cup.  The classes are open to anyone interested in drawing.  Most of us seem to have been trained in art  years ago and are looking for a refresher.

I know I haven't posted an art doll up for a while, and it may be a while yet before I do, but taking this kind of class can only help make them better. 

Cape Town Travelogoue Part 3 (Final)

March 15               We began the day at the Two Oceans Aquarium.  The aquarium was designed much like one you might see in the US and felt a bit like home.  Especially the playland, of which there are few here (although the tea gardens certainly fill that niche, and there is not much like them at home.)  Aside from the play area, the aquarium is divided into three major areas, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Cape Town area watershed.  The exhibits were well done and all enjoyed it including my middle child, even though there none of his favorite amphibian, axolotls. 
The harbor area is very pretty and well developed.  The harbor is surrounded by upscale housing, large crafts warehouses where you can see the crafters at work, a couple of malls, a very modern ferris wheel and an old fashioned two story Venetian carousel.  We enjoyed strolling around the area and seeing the sites.  It is so funny but on this vacation, the boys couldn't pass up American food when they saw it, so they at at Subway.  The boys also rode the ferris wheel to get the view of the city.  An unexpected highlight of the harbor is the street performers outside the V & A Waterfront Mall.  We heard a talented jazz band playing followed by an energetic group singing some traditional South African songs and dancing, (pictured.)  We finished our time there by collecting polished stones at The Scratch Patch.
We awoke from our afternoon nap to cloudy, cool weather.  Despite this we decided to try to go swimming down at the Fish Hoek beach.  It was a little too cool so we occupied ourselves by beach combing and avoiding the Blue Bottle Jellyfish and snails washed up on the shore.  Then an interesting thing happened, a group of men ran quickly past us and into the water toward a small boat rowing in.  The men grabbed a rope and started pulling.  I then noticed there was a second group of men further down the beach.  The men (and one woman) were pulling in the rope with one man curling the rope into a nice coil for at least a half of an hour.  In between the two groups was the man in charge, a fisherman, with his walkie talkie coordinating the work.  Finally we saw the Trek net arrive with what I estimated to be about 200 fish (18in?).  During this time the crowd on the beach grew to watch the excitement and to purchase fish directly from the fisherman.  You could buy a fresh fish for R50 ($7).  I learned from a local that the beaches have been so overfished in the past that the government only allows three fishing licenses for the entire peninsula.
After dinner we had another family over who was also on vacation to share Joe's birthday cake with us.

March 16         The cloudy and cool weather continued today but that did not deter us from our planned trip to visit the seals on Duiker Island.  Duiker Island is a rocky outcrop in the ocean about a 20 minute boat ride from the harbor.  It was well worth the chilly weather to see the seals lounging on the rocks and frolicking in the ocean like puppies with a new toy.  Back at the dock we were serenaded by a raggedy band of the minstrel troupe style. Sadly, not many of the passengers were giving them coins. 
This afternoon we drove to Stellenboch which is in wine country and easily drivable from Cape Town. It is close enough to Cape Town that the traffic slowed us for a good bit of the drive.  Outside the suburbs the vineyards made a bucolic landscape dotted with old buildings.  It seems that all of the vineyards have wine tasting and many have restaurants as well.  The road into Stellenbosch was congested as well and it was frustrating trying to get to the historic section of the city.
My oldest and the baby were napping and Joe wanted to join them so my younger son and I decided to try to find the Stellenbosch Toy and Miniature Museum.  The layout of the roads in the historic section of Stellenbosch is confusing and we found ourselves at the University of Stellenbosch's Art Museum just as someone opened the door.  That seemed like a good enough invitation and we decided to stroll around.  The main exhibit was on traditional Chinese cut paper art.  My boy was particularly interested in the pictures that were symmetrical since there was no obvious fold lines in the paper.  He also liked a series of oil paintings and poetry on the Butterfly Effect.  We also viewed student art from the permanent collection.  We did manage to make it to the miniatures museum where we were greeted by a man that looked very much like my father.  Along with information on the toys, vast room with a reproduction of a train route and miniature trains and miniature rooms he shared interesting information on the mixing of all the various groups in the Cape peninsula.  His own background was considered 'colored' and that included a mix of descendants of West Africans, the San peoples and the Irish.  I shared with him that America is also a place with much mixed ancestry.
By now it was past time for lunch but strolling around the area we found many of the restaurants to be packed to overflowing.  We needed to eat quickly so we ducked into the Jan Cats Cafe in the Stellenbosch Hotel for a bit to eat since it was not crowded.  This place was really a hidden gem.  The food was great and relatively fast.  On our way back to the car we paused at the Lourens GalleryLouren's drawings are so detail the appear photographic.  His son is also talented and creates unique jewelry of wood, silver and semiprecious stones.
March 17         Our last morning in the area proved to be the most frustrating. We all wanted to visit the penguins one more time after we loaded up the car we thought we would get gas and drive through Simon's Town.  The gas station pump was super slow so we decided after 5 minutes and only a few liters (couple gallons) we would bail and get gas later.  The credit card machine was down, luckily we had enough money to pay.  Once we got to Simon's Town it was unexpectedly congested and there was a detour set up.  We had unknowingly run into the Naval Festival.  The detour ruined our plans  to purchase a quick breakfast at one of the fine bakeries in town and we had to do without until after the beach.  At least the penguins were great and the beach nearly deserted.  The boys went swimming and took a stroll up to the visitor center.  The baby and I stayed behind because she was very fussy and wouldn't let me put her down.  Our drive back was worse than the drive in because of the greater amount of traffic on the route but at least the detour was down.  Oh, wait, no, the officer has left and the roads are still closed.  We just have to do a U turn and waste more time.  Now we are getting worried about getting to the airport in time.  We stopped at a working gas station, filled up and had to make to with cookies for breakfast.
Luckily the road to the airport only had normal traffic and the car rental return only took the 5 minutes it took to get all of us out of the car.  We ran into Woolworths, picked up pre-made sandwiches and drinks (no free snacks are served in the plane) and ran to the check-in.  There we were told we must have IDs for the children.  Really, on an in country flight?  We have no IDs with us and they have to call management to see if we will be allowed to board.  Why wasn't this brought up on the way out?  The flight was fine but the baby caught the virus my oldest had been struggling with all week.  Despite this short frustrating time, it was a great vacation.  My boys say they want to live here now.

And finally a picture of one of the many sunrises I saw with my early rising baby during this trip.

Cape Town Travelogue Part 2

March 14th                In the morning we took the picturesque road from Nordhoek along the Atlantic side of the Cape towards Table Mountain.  The views along the narrow road blasted from the rock were dramatic.  We had panoramic vistas of the ocean and various mountain peaks including the Twelve Apostles and Lions Head Mountain.  When we arrived at Table Mountain, we parked along the roadside and walked to the cable car.  It is possible to hike and rock climb to the top but a poor idea if you are taking young children.  The cable car ride up is really smooth and the car slowly rotates so you get a full view of the valley and Cape Town below.  The top of the mountain is covered with rocky paths and small shrubs and plants.  I am uneasy with heights and was wary of the cable ride but the smoothness of the ride really was calming.  The pictures are of me and the baby on Table Mountain with Cape Town as the backdrop, a view of Table Bay and some of the Twelve Apostles and the cable car.
After our mountain visit we took a picnic lunch to The Company's Gardens (the company here being the Dutch East India Trading Company.  The gardens are popular and a nice shady spot for a picnic.  My middle child began throwing breadcrumbs to the friendly pigeons.  They responded with enthusiasm.  When he placed a packet of bread crusts on the ground he was nearly swamped with the "friendly" pigeons.  The baby was so excited to see the feeding frenzy she ran right into the swarm. 
We ended our Cape Town trip on this day by driving the route the Red Tour Bus drives.  By the way, the tour bus brochure has a very good map of the area.  Cape Town proper is a nice smaller city that is clean and has a lot of fun looking shops and restaurants.  Joe and the baby really wanted to take a nap and the boys wanted to watch cable (we don't have it at home and our family rule is they can watch it when we are traveling,) so I suggested he drop me off in Kalk Bay for a little time alone.
I visited a couple of the contemporary art galleries in Kalk Bay, Artvark and Kalk Bay Modern Harbor Gallery.  At the later I purchased some silkscreened canvas with the print based on some Namibian Bush art.  I think I may try to design a backpack with the sturdy material.  There is some really beautiful pottery here.  A lot of the pieces are simple shapes with minimal but decorative glazing.  There is also a ceramic studio in the Cape area that does terrific Raku baked animals, Africa Dreaming.  See the photo of the giraffe.  Again, the animal shapes are simple, almost toy-like, the colors are soft earth tones and pastels.  I saw a lot of beautiful paintings and prints, too numerous to mention but I recommend going to the gallery websites.  Artvark also had some amazing steelwork that I would love to have on my house if I weren't renting and could ship across the ocean.  Kalk Bay Books is independently owned and has so many well chosen selections I wish I could hire the proprietor as my personal book buyer.  Many of the clothing shops have beautiful, feminine, arty clothing for women.  Unfortunately, there are also a lot of cheap (relatively,) imported clothes from Asia.  Why are these shops at a tourist destination?    I really enjoyed my time off and even had a couple of minutes to sketch the dock before Joe came back with the kids.

We walked down to the Kalk Bay tidal pool.  The tidal pool was great for my youngest because of the shallow flat boulders to play on and she could sit and splash around.  She was also incredibly excited by someone's dog hanging out on the low wall surrounding the tidal pool.  I could not drag her away until the dog finally left.  Joe and the oldest boy enjoyed sitting along the tidal pool wall and having the waves splash up against them.  The public bathroom/changing room closes at 5pm and we were caught by surprise when we arrived at the locked door.    We ate dinner at the Tribecca Bakery and Cafe.  The burgers there were gourmet but for that were still the closest thing we have had to a US style cheeseburger, aside from McDonald's since we arrived.  (Cheese on your hamburger seems to mean a cheesy white sauce around here.)