Titus's Gilded Gourds

Titus says:

This is the first gourd, done in a birdhouse style. I found a small, good-looking gourd, but the only problem was the round bottom. It could not sit on its bottom, so thought it would be fun to add bamboo legs. I cut holes into the gourd in the shape of a heart with wings. The interior is spray painted black and the exterior is gilded with 23K gold leaf. You can see the bird perch/stick under the heart. This one gourd started me on a Gilded Gourd series. Here are some more.

These Gilded Gourds are made with various kinds of metal leaf. I used gold, silver, copper, and different colors of variegated leaf.

Thank you to Asha for growing these fun gourds and for letting me have a few of them.

Cartoon Blog

I've moved the cartoons to:

http://khaalicartoons.blogspot.com/

Another cartoon

Cartoon

I'm trying to start doing WoW cartoons again. Here is one effort. You probably have to click the picture to see the text.

Laura's Lamp

Here is a shot of Laura's wonderful gourd lamp.

Tile Options

Hey guys, take a look at these links for tiles. This site says it takes about 218 of the 3/4 inch tiles to cover a square foot, assuming 1/16-inch grout.

Basic mosaic tiles in lots of colors.

More glass tiles, sold loose.

And I'm particularly fond of these although they're considerably more expensive and would have to be used sparingly for accent.

I think these will work, and it won't be prohibitively expensive. Suggestions?

Tile Table Day

The new project for this Art Day was tiled tables. We're just starting on those, and we're also finishing up our gourd projects. There are a lot of gourds left if anyone is still inspired!

Catherine's gourd is lovely.



Rick C. models his, indicating a certain ambiguity toward it.



And Laura made hers into a fantastic lamp. She's gonna mail me a pic, right?

Titus actually gilded his; I need to get a pic of that also.

We have a table base that we rescued from the farm. I ran to the hardware store for spray paint, and Rick C. got the base painted.



Renny and Cindy brought a base also, and got it painted.



Lori and Cindy got to work on Lori's gourd, which is going to be a percussion instrument. We're copying the design of one I had.



Liz looks on.



Here you can see the network of cords being formed over the gourd. Of course they are a bright chartreuse, to suit the Lime Green Queen.



Laura made me a lovely weaving.



And she worked on another of her pine needle baskets.



Lori takes a look at my tiny gourd purse. I lined it with leopard print cloth, and did some yarn basketry around the top.



We fooled around on Bill and Laura's new laptop, loading on some fun software and getting a few things set up.



For next Art Day, on July 13, we hope to be ready to start tiling. However, Rick and I will be out of town, so stay tuned to see where it will be held. And I'm supposed to get some sample mosaic tiles before then... hmm I better get on that!

Art Day June 9

This Tuesday, June 9, is our next Art Day. We're going to start working on tiled tables. If you've always wanted to tile a table or other small object, now is the time to give it a try.

Renny and Cindy are bringing a table base, and we have a table base as well. This first session, we'll work on getting the bases cleaned and painted. We'll also discuss materials and design ideas. By the next meeting, we should be ready to actually lay the tiles.

Art Day Going Monthly

Art Day will be a monthly meeting from now on. I'm thinking the second Tuesday of each month would be easy to remember. As I posted before, I think once a month will give us a better experience when we meet. We'll have more time to have moved ahead on our projects, and we can plan more exciting events on a monthly basis. Besides, now that we're all farmers, we need time to till the land.

So, that would make the next meeting June 9th. We can show off our gourd projects, and plan the next project.

Silver Dollar Fair Results

Susy, Bill, and I entered some of our projects in the fair. Susy and I got best of show awards, and Bill got ribbons too.



Susy's jacket got a blue ribbon:



And her cookies and scones got best of show:



Bill showed his abstracts.



The competition was fierce in the fine arts division, as shown by this magnificent basket.



And I had fun taking pics of the Midway at dusk.

More Gourds!

Last week, we worked on gourds some more. Lori came, and cut a nice star in the bottom of her gourd. She plans to make a musical instrument out of it.



Titus came over with Lori and Gracie, but when Jane finished work and arrived, Gracie only had eyes for her! In the background, you can see RickC's gourd being worked on.



And of course, Titus's piece is wonderful. He's such a good artist.



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Art Day Changes

I think it might be better to make Art Day a once-a-month meeting. I've been watching the ebb and flow, and about every fourth Art Day seems more inspired and interesting. So I think if we limit the meetings, then try to really get something done when we DO meet, we'll be better off. Also, with summer coming on, and the farm to work, we need that time.

My idea is that once a month, we meet, show off our old projects, and either start a new project, hold a class, or take a field trip, such as to the clay studio again. In between meetings, folks can work on their projects.

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Gorgeous Gourds!

Last art day, we met at my house and started working on gourds. I didn't count my harvest, but I've had two pallets of them drying over the winter. By now, the outer skins are almost all rotted off.



With some water and scrubbing, plus a dip in some bleach solution to kill the mold, they look much better, and are ready to begin working on.



After cleaning them, I used the dremel tool to cut a shape in this one. On the other two, I cut the top completely off. One of those was beautifully mottled, like fine old parchment, so I simply sprayed it with urethane and called it done. With the little one, I'm making a yarn basket component that's anchored to holes I drilled around the edge. But the one with the side cut was destined to be the yardafact reliquary.



On art day, we all picked our gourds. Catherine's friends Linda and Dwight were in town, so they came too.



I had already cut and primered the gourd for the reliquary, and Katinka was in town, so she painted .



And it came out great!

Next Art Day at the Farm

Let's have the next art day at the Farm again, unless anyone has other ideas?

The gourds are about ready to start playing with also.

Tile Day a Success!

It turns out we were lucky to get a spot. The tile project was very popular. We all gathered at our house to get in the mood, then we walked over to the studio. Lori and Saville drove, so they could haul all the booze.

Jan taught us the process.



And we all listened attentively.



Then we worked on our tiles.



Here's how they turned out.

Art Day is WED. Apr. 18

Don't forget that this week's Art Day is on WEDNESDAY APRIL 18.

We will be making art tiles to go in the pedestrian underpass between Annie's Glen and Bidwell Park.

We will meet as usual at my house to get ready and in the mood. Promtly at 5:30, we will walk (or drive if you prefer) over to All Fired Up, which is on Broadway, in that odd little triangle between 8th and 9th. It's the same block as that deli and behind the old Cabos. We may bring beer, and I have the wine for the "tip" for the women doing it.

This is a free event and great chance to have our art publically displayed. I hope to see everyone there.

Asha

Farm

We went to the farm and had a good look around. It needs some cleanup, but it will be a nice space when we get it ready. The orchard has gotten huge and overgrown, but with some serious pruning, it will make a nice shady spot to sit and drink beer.

Yesterday I transplanted all the tomatoes, mostly to 4-inch pots but some of the smaller ones got put back in paper pots, but one to a pot. The tomatoes and tomatillos are now in the cold frame, which is plenty large for anything I'll be doing. I need to transplant more of the peppers to one to a pot.

I still need to get the onions and garlics in the ground. My supplies came from Gardeners Supply and I really like the recycled tire mats. Plus Rick is having fun with the fake bamboo tinker toys. And of course, the cold frame is already in use.

We harvested peas and chard from the garden, along with lots of fresh oregano and thyme, and mustard greens from Rick C's garden. I sauteed that all up, poured scrambled eggs over it, topped it with cheese, and put it under the broiler. Absolutely delicious.

The lettuce I put in the ground is getting much bigger. I expect to see it forming heads soon.

late March

By now spring is in full swing. The Moon of Flowering Trees is giving way to the Moon of New Leaves. Lilac is in full bloom, as is freesia. Blue-eyed grass, wild onions, and oxalis are rampant in yards.

I transplanted the lettuce into the first of the beds, and planted some of the onion sets. The peas are huge; blooming profusely and just beginning to produce peas. The tomatillos, tomatoes, and peppers were planted on Feb. 18 and the tomatillos have all been tranplanted to one per paper pot. They have excellent root structure. I am about to start transplanting tomatoes into 4-inch pots to go in the cold frame. I transplanted some of the anaheims, which sprouted very prolifically. The anchos were not as prolific, but I have a few at least, as well as a variety of specialty ones.

We planted asparagus crowns at Rick C.'s house on Tues. It will take 2-3 years to get much harvest but we're hopeful.

We decided to try to farm the land behind Buddy's house (henceforth to be called "the farm"). It needs some clean up but there is lots of room. I picked a huge bunch of lilacs.

Mugs ordered

We ordered the custom mugs from Cafepress. Batch did a Gilhooley and Rick did the oakhead design.

More sprouts

The first of the peppers have begun to sprout. I was worried that I would not have enough tomatillos but I have about 45 or so, and ... that should do! Rick C has an interesting plan for how to train them up poles then back down over a cone of wire. This should keep them up and dry and well ventilated, plus it will make them easy to harvest.

Peas are starting to set up. Lettuces are ready to eat. Romaines are recovering from transplant and growing.

It's raining again, which is great, but I hope it stops for Titus and Jane's wedding in two weeks.

In bloom around Chico now:
Almost finished: quince, daffodils
Full bloom: almonds, cherry, purple plum, magnolia, tulips, crocus, daphne

Seed update

As of today, the first of the tomatoes are popping up. The tomatillo sprouts are all solidly up now. No sign just yet of sprouts in the peppers but I'm hoping to see sprouts in a day or so.

sprouts!

I got the seeds planted on 2-18 and already the tomatillos are sprouted!

I planted tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers, all varieties of each. I'm not sure I started enough, but I filled the space. I used the newspaper pots set on metal trays, and it's working really well. I labeled them with sharpy, and that seems to be holding on. I have one big tray of tomatoes, one big tray of peppers, and a half tray ancho/anaheim pappers, and a half tray of tomatillos.

Also, I thinned the romaine lettuce and moved most to 4-inch pots. I gave some to RickC and he got them in the ground. Mine are up on trays to keep them safe from the chickens.

At art day we made pomanders from my lemons. Catherine brought the cloves. Lori and Titus and Jane showed up too.

rain rain!

After a dry winter so far, we've had days of hard rain. This is good but it's limiting my ability to start my seeds. I may have to give up and work on it indoors.

Here's what I got:
Carrot: Little Finger
Carrot: Touchon

Cowpea: Calif Blackeye no.5

Pepper: Ancho (poblano)
Pepper: Anaheim
Pepper: Biker Billy hybrid (jalapeno)
Pepper: Caribbean red hot (habanero)
Pepper: Habanero
Pepper: Hot Lemon
Pepper: Serrano

Radish: Daikon
Radish: Perfecto

Tomato: Better Boy vfn hybrid
Tomato: Big Mama (roma style, det)
Tomato: Bucks County hybrid (det)
Tomato: Fresh Salsa (small, det)
Tomato: Red Mortgage Lifter
Tomato: Sweet Tangerine hybrid (orange, det)

And I ordered onion sets, but they haven't sent them yet.

I also got a pot maker for making pots out of newspaper. It works very well. I'll be using that for all my plantings this year. To maximize space in the box, I'll start more than one seed in each pot. When they need to be transplanted, I can simply open up the pot, which should be less stressful to the roots.

Art update

In art news, quilting continues. I bought a new sewing machine and that helps enormously.

I taught myself Hawaiian applique and made a custom pattern.

I'm currently working on curtains (based on the pattern I bought, but embellished with flying geese) for the front room.

Weather note

After a month of unseasonably warm and dry weather, we've had some rain. Yesterday was wild with a huge hailstorm that blew through (trapping us on the porch at Batch's for an hour. We were forced to drink beer and bullshit!). After the storm passed, there was a fantastic double rainbow. And as we walked home, we saw an amazing sunset that included colors like turquoise and teal as well as lavender, slate, and glowing burnished gold.

Quilt

I got excited about quilting, or more specifically so far, patchwork. I made this patchwork piece that I then stitched onto a duvet cover. I haven't actually done any quilting yet, and I don't think either of my sewing machines are up for it.

Winter projects

I just wanted to post pics of a few of the projects I've worked on.

I finished the medallions on the towels. I actually did most of the tatting when we were in Ashland during the summer fires. I got the hand-dyed thread through Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/).