Many of my friends will not even know about this thing.

So, let's say that there exists a device that can make even the least inspired yet most eager crafter a screen printing artist. If you can put together some clever clip art and fancy fonts you can make really cool cards, art prints, and other ephemeral goods.

Think about it--your kid can take a black pen, draw something, and it can be immortalized forever in color, sent to family members to hang on refrigerators across our nation.

You have a great idea for a Christmas card. You can design it on your computer in Paint, print it off, and then send it to all of your loved ones. They will, inevitably, comment on how clever you are.

Yeah, well, it exists, and it's the Print Gocco. It comes from Japan and for the last few years the machines and accoutrements have been available at a premium price from importers as the machines haven't been sold in the US for years. But not anymore!

I heard the news of the demise from Samantha. I used to keep up with the Print Gocco mailing lists but they got unwieldy and annoying (honestly, half the emails asked where one could be bought when a simple google search would answer that!). So the news that Riso is no longer even making the accoutrements is very sad.

I made my annual Denny calendar (although it's only been two years so far, and I didn't do one for 2008 due to time constraints) and the joy returns. I have designed a print commemmorating Obama's election but I'm going to hold off. I have a ton of ideas but I have to budget them. Not only do I just have enough screens and bulbs for four more projects but I've had experiences with bad bulbs and bad screens.

I kind of want to stock up on bulbs and screens but my budget is very tight this month thanks to a sudden tax bill I didn't expect. One set of bulbs/screens would cost $35. I'm tempted to put it on the credit card, but that's not where I'm at these days.

I mean, really. The price is a little hight but imagine the fun you'd have!

Samantha, if your next fark trip involves an overnight stay in Nashville I'm totally bringing the Gocco over to your hotel. TOTALLY.

Labels: crafts, gocco, printing

You may not be able to see this very well. for some reason blogger likes to make the images smaller than my camera makes them. It is today's entry on my stitch n bitch page a day calendar. Mondays are "Fave Fiber" days, today's entry is Lion Brand Fun Fur Stripes.

Excuse me? No. I won't have it.

Lion Brand Fun fur is DISGUSTING. It looks ok but is absolutely awful to knit with and just feels creepy. In addition any person who picks up a couple of skeins and needles makes one up and fancies him/herself an entrepreneur. Therefore you can't hit your run of the mill craft fair without tons of fun fur scarves. Fun fur scarves which are overpriced considering you can buy one of those "Magic Scarves" for half the price, only the Magic Scarf is a bit more sturdy and knitted in the round allowing you to do all kinds of crazy stuff with it.

Oh, and the flip flops! i have three pair currently: two made with some kind of eyelash (this is what some people call Fun Fur) I got at the yarn store, one made with Lion Brand Fun Fur. The two with the other eyelash look rather nice--the fur isn't outrageous, the colors have held. The Lion Brand Fun Fur--well, no. not so much. Faded color, too fuzzy. Ech. Again, a craft fair staple. I've made them for friends, shown the process to the crafty group, and that's it. They take barely any time to make and require very little skill, so you can probably make them for half or less than half what you'd pay for them.

I've got some copper Lion Brand Fun Fur that my mom bought from a fellow choir singer who had surplus, it's still sitting there with the needles still in it. I won't finish it, it's just such a pain. I should state for the record that I love novelty yarns. In fact, I very rarely buy normal yarns because I just love the result you can get from them (plus they cover a multitude of mistakes). But Lion Brand Fun Fur is just different. It takes all the fun out of knitting with eyelash yarn.

Labels: crafts, pictures

I will take this moment to point out that I'm so happy that crafting is cool again. Thanks to Kate's reminder I made it to the Nashville Craft Mafia's craft fair over at the Cannery Ballroom. I have issues with craft fairs--a lot of the time it's stuff I could easily make myself or items I absolutely don't need. So I figured hey, it's saturday, might as well, right? And oh, what a craft fair it was. I walked in unsure, I left completely broke. Here are some of the items I purchased. Please click on the pictures for a larger view. and I do encourage looking at the larger images, I also encourage clicking on the links.
From Maryink. This is the first item I purchased. Mary's items are exactly the sort of prints I would love to do. The shirt is supersoft and the images are adorable.
From Jimiyo. I originally saw his work at the Plowhaus artisan fair but was short on cash at the time. Luckily he had the very shirt (which you can see above) that I wanted.
This is my very favorite purchase, from Nieves Uhl, a killer Luchador felted sweater bag. I. Love. This. She also had some amazing cigar box shrines. I strongly encourage you to click on the link and look at the items in her store. Check back often, she really has some great items and she's a lovely gal. She took a picture of me with the bag, she said it was her favorite.

Labels: crafts, nashville

Design done for Michelle, who has a birthday next weds...

Labels: crafts, pictures, printing

Right now in my fridge I'm chilling a blender full of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. In about a half hour I'll put it in the ice cream maker. No matter how good it is it is so not worth it. I may have burnt out the motor on my blender. It simply won't mix. YEs, I susupected it wouldn't, but I kind of thought the instructions wouldn't encourage using a blender to create the mix. The bastards.

In addition, the family and I went to see Night at the Museum. Did you know that two "THe STate" alumni were involved? Well, yes, and you can just look at imdb your own self to see who it was. I liked it just fine.

I had a second sewing lesson today. It actually involved sewing! Not a garment, just a scrap. Still, good times, right? Yesterday's lesson just involved reading a pattern, pinning, and cutting.

Labels: crafts, food, movies