Category
we don't just sew!
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02.01.10Best of ‘09: Blazers Letterpress ProjectI've spent a lot of time dwelling of how awful 2009 was for us--which is probably not all that healthy, but it was bad at an epic level. However, in my continuing effort to be more positive, I thought I'd take the chance to write about my favorite project of the last year. Amazingly, it wasn't sewing or screenprinting, it was one of my first letterpress projects. I realized I'd never really shared this project with "the World," though all my Portland buddies have seen the results in person. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I was never able to print this type, ...
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12.29.09Twisted Caipirinha!I had the most craptastic commute in the history of commutes tonight. Seriously. I left my work in Vancouver, Washington (just across the river from Portland) at 3:15ish, and didn't get home to our place that's less than a mile south of downtown Portland until around 6:00 p.m. That's something like 13 miles in three hours. I have never experienced anything like it, and our local traffic reporter said that in his 20 years of covering traffic in PDX, he's never seen anything like it. Insanity. Now, in fairness, it did randomly start snowing, which doesn't happen much here. But ...
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09.08.09{Field Trip!} Honkin’ Huge FlowersThis Labor Day we piled into the car, along with our friend Bryan (check out his beautiful new photoblog, by the way) and went down to Sarah's hometown of Canby to check out one of the cooler annual events in this area--the Swan Island Dahlia Festival. (Locals: Even though the festival is technically over, you can still visit the flowers for a few more weeks--actually, it's kind of more fun when it's not the official festival. If you go, the Canby Burgerville is one of the best. Just sayin'...) It's simply acres and acres of dahlias of all sizes, shapes ...
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06.21.09Letterpress Workshop – Final DayToday was the last day of our letterpress workshop--and it sure was fun getting to spend four full days together doign letterpress. Josh really enjoyed learning a new skill and I liked getting focused back on something I really am enthusiastic about, but have been too busy to make time for lately. (The big downside of letterpress is that it's not something you can just go do at the drop of a hat. You have to travel to the press, plan out your work, etc... Not like sewing and screenprinting, which you can can anywhere, anytime.) I didn't get to ...
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06.20.09Day Three of Letterpress – Now Our Feet Really HurtLots of fun printing today in day three of four-day letterpress workshop. Josh had a few minor "issues" to deal with--his type wasn't as cooperative as he had hoped. I hopped onto one of the printing presses first thing (nerds that we are, we went an hour early) and printed up the text for half of my postcards. I also worked on some photopolymer and did some lino-cutting. A busy, full day. One of the highlights was just watching all of the folks who'd never letterpress printed print their work for the first time--everyone was just so happy! Tomorrow, I'll ...
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06.19.09Another Day Letterpressing…[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="442" caption="Josh printing for the first time."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Josh's first printing project--some calling cards for his dad."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Letterpress gears--this one's on "Tony"--the larger of the Vandercooks at PNCA."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Josh's type. "][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The type in the corner is six point--so tiny, and so lovely. This is from my project."][/caption] ~Sarah No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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06.18.09Photos from Letterpress WorkshopWe had a lot of fun in the first day of our letterpress workshop today. For me, It was interesting being one of the more experienced students, since I was definitely the least experienced in my letterpress class in the spring. In fact, I'm probably the most experienced student in the workshop. I realized that I actually know a lot about letterpress, even though I don't feel completely confident with the medium. Josh has such a unique creative eye, and because of that, it's such a treat watching him learn something completely new. I think he totally understood why I ...
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06.17.09Celebrating Our Anniversary, Sewer-Sewist StyleToday's our 4th wedding anniversary. Last year, we celebrated by screenprinting weird T-shirts, Josh creating a bizarre--yet appropriate--fake commemorative poster for the Moon Family Band and by making new outdoor lights for our patio. This year, we're taking a four-day letterpress and mail art class together, this Thursday through Sunday. It should be loads of fun--and what a treat to get to spend four full days just making stuff and learning together! Undoubtedly, Josh will make something crazy and Sarah will shoot for something entirely overly ambitious. Should be a great time. Cheer, everyone! Related posts:Letterpress Workshop – Final Day ...
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05.20.09A Year O’ Screenprinted T-ShirtsI'm a bit late in posting these pictures, since I had to go to Pittsburgh for Quilt Market (check out photos of the cool stuff I saw over on Project 95's Facebook page and detailed write-ups about new releases that I'm posting on FabTalk; True Up is also continuing their great coverage of Market--thanks to East Coast Stringer Mary Beth, so make sure to check out that awesomeness as well), I had a bit of a delay in downloading these photos of a special project Josh and I worked on together. Susan's sweet little girl, Pearl, turned one about two weeks ...
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04.19.09Josh per a tres![caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Red, black & white banners flying on the stage outside the Rose Garden Arena before the Trail Blazers' first playoff game in several years. These semi-transparent banners are really beautiful rustling in the breeze with the cityscape in the background."][/caption] I'm hoping that "Josh per a tres!" actually does mean "Josh for three!" in Catalan, because that's what the online translator said, and those things are never wrong--right? I thought I'd share Josh's latest screen printing project--an impromptu one, at that. (Although, let's all agree that normal people don't plan and execute a three-color screen print on an ...
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04.10.09Comeback Covered Button Jewelry Set + Our Favorite Texan Visits PDXI've given up all hope that any of y'all who read this hear blog think that I'm in any way what you'd call, "normal." Just so you know. I figure I'll just keep sharing all my weirdnesses and those of you who enjoy it will stick around, and those of you who don't will head for the hills. Fair enough? So, I've got a couple of random ramblings to share today. We had a great weekend last weekend hanging out with some lovely creative folks who were in town. And we were super-fortunate to have the delightful Rachel staying with us. ...
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03.30.09Garden Dreams[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Some of last year's bounty. Those beans were so, so, so good--an heirloom mix of bush beans that were almost leggy enough to be pole beans. Very sweet and crisp."][/caption] We've still been sick around here. Between the two of us, there hasn't been a single healthy day in all of March. Pretty crummy, huh? We've been keeping thoughts of warmer weather and less sickness alive in our hearts, though, by dreaming about this year's vegetable garden. We plant an organic vegetable garden every year. In fact, we have gardened together since 2001, when we had a plot ...
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03.02.09Letterpress Class, Part 4: The One Where I Admit to My Classmates That I’m a Bit of a NutIt was inevitable... You know, when you've sort of let people believe you're a relatively normal person, but you know that time is coming when you're going to have to say or do something that will give people a glimpse into the fact that you're a bit weird? You've all had that experience, right? Right? I've mentioned in my previous posts about my totally amazing letterpress class through PNCA Continuing Education that part of the class is coming up with a large project, for which we have to write a proposal. I didn't really this about this when I started the ...
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02.22.09Letterpress Class, Part 3: I Printed Something![caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Locked up type. "][/caption] I'm a little late on posting this, but blame this stupid cold that's now making me very hoarse--ugh. Thursday was my third letterpress class through PNCA's Continuing Education program, and the first one in which I was able to do some printing. We use cylinder/drum-style letterpress printers (named "Tony" and "Ruth," in case you were wondering), that are probably a bit different that a lot of the presses that you see around in specialty stores, which seem to been primarily platen presses. Here's an example of this type of press. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="387" ...
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02.21.09Humor me, please…Please tell you that y'all aren't sick of my crazy Trail Blazers-inspired crafty projects. Please? Even if you're lying, just humor me for a moment. Last week Susan and I went to the Trail Blazers vs. Memphis Grizzlies game and, prior to the game, went to their first-ever "TweetUp," which basically involved us getting in to watch the team's shoot-around (you can't normally get into the Rose Garden that early), and some chitchat with some Blazers staff and a group photo. The highlight was, obviously, the shoot-around. It's been well-documented here that there's a horrifying lack of Channing Frye gear in ...
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02.13.09Letterpress Class – Week Deux[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Photos of letterpresses and letterpress tools from around flickr. Click through for links to the original images."][/caption] Why I felt the urge to call this post "Week Deux," I cannot explain... Last night was the second installment of my letterpress class through PNCA's Continuing Education Program (and, no, I'm not pushing PNCA just because I'm teaching a class there this summer--it's an awesome place, I swear). We got to fire up the printing presses and play with inks and actually start printing. Well, by "we" I really mean the collective "we," rather than actually "me." You see, when ...
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02.06.09Letterpress Class – Week 1[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Some of my favorite images of letterpress type from around flickr. The lead and wood type is so beautiful in and of itself. (Click on the photo to get the links to the originals.)"][/caption] I've wanted to try letterpress printing for ages and ages. I remember back when I was a kid we went on a school trip to some historic site or another and someone was printing on a old printing press and thinking it was absolutely amazing. I think it appeals to me much in the same way that sewing and screenprinting does--there's something simultaneously ...
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01.08.09Buffet of Goodness (AKA The Mysterious Case of the Cursed Hoodie)I have a terrible, sinking feeling that my latest screen printing project may be cursed. Which is truly unfortunate. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="337" caption="This cool hoodie can't be cursed... Can it?"][/caption] Before you continue reading this post, I do want to make an important point: I'm not a Fan Girl. And I'm certainly not a Channing Frye Fan Girl. If I were going to be a Fan Girl of any of the Trail Blazers players, it would have to be Martell Webster. Yes, I know Rudy Fernandez is the flavor of the month, but, for me--if I were to become a Fan ...
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12.01.08More Blazers CraftinessObviously, I'm in need of a cell phone with a better camera, because I've spotted some awesome Trail Blazers craftiness at the last three games and my pictures suck, suck, suck. First, on Monday versus the Sacramento Kings, Susan and I were behind this guy on our way to the Fan Shop: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="This dude cut strips of black, red and white felt and then sewed them to a patch to create a wig fit for a true Blazermaniac."][/caption] Next, the lady sits in the row in front of us, and sewed a great blouse out of Trail Blazers ...
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11.25.08Bingo, Bango, Bongo!That post title doesn't really mean anything, but it's a quote from the great Bill Schonely, the best play-by-play announcer of all time. When someone would do something really awesome, The Schonz would randomly shout, "Bingo, Bango, Bongo!" There were other things, too. Like, "Rip City!" or "Ocean to Ocean..." or "Lickety Brindle up the Middle." I listened to him call Portland Trail Blazers games on the radio my whole life, and no on will ever be as awesome as The Schonz. Seriously, Josh and I saw him walking down the street last year and I literally started hyperventilating. He's ...
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11.24.08Pimp My RideErrr... Well, "Pimp my skateboard," at least. Do you remember this skateboard? We've used it as a prop few times in photos here off and on. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="337" caption="This is the best "Before" shot we've got--we're always forgetting the befores."][/caption] As you can see, it's pretty darn boring.The stuff on the back that looks like "wood" is actually a big decal printed to look like wood. So, armed with the contact paper stencil technique from Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand, I created a new look for my crappy skateboard. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cutting out the stencil. (That's our dining room table, ...
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10.30.08Election Pennants at Crafty Wonderland[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A message from an adorable little girl at Crafty Wonderland: "Vote!""][/caption] A couple of weekends ago, I ran the DIY table at Crafty Wonderland here in Portland. If you're not familiar with Crafty Wonderland, it's a monthly crafts fair that's held at the Doug Fir Lounge and is organized by gals from PDX Super Crafty. One of the fun things they do each month is host a free craft activity that anyone can try out, and it's loads of fun. It's sort of funny, because--and I think I've said this before here--I don't think of myself as a ...
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10.24.08Dayton Triangles Redux HoodieWhat do you get when you combine screen printing, applique, sewing, refashioning, vintage sports uniforms and a little bit of crazy? Me. With autumn bringing cool weather, I needed a new hoodie to wear (by the way, sometime we'll have to ask Sarah to write about her hoodie addiction). For inspiration, I wanted it to look like the old Dayton Triangles jerseys from the 1920s, because I am from Dayton and I like stripes and appliqués. And I really like any excuse to screen print just about anything. Why the Dayton Triangles? Well, my dad remembers them playing at the park near his ...
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09.24.08Train-Inspired Screen PrintJosh seems to have finally mastered the art of the two-color screen print (it's much harder than you'd every imagine)... Recognize the logo? That would be Union Pacific. We've already talked about why we're supporting Obama-Biden this year, so we won't get into that any further (although, if you're inclined, check out what's going on over at The Obama Craft Project), but we're also big fans of trains, and Josh's dad is a HUGE train aficionado. Huge. He subscribes to train magazines. So, Josh decided that his dad really needed a custom screen-printed Obama-Biden hoodie that was train-inspired, and this was the ...
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09.10.08Crafts We Can Believe InWe hope you'll humor us for a moment while we diverge ever-so-slightly from our regularly scheduled programming... From the "Crafters for Obama" badge that's been on our site since Julie Ree created "Crafters for Obama" back in January, you've probably noticed that we're supporters of Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the Presidency. We believe that his leadership can help our country move in the right direction. We've been personally affected by many of the tough issues that are facing our nation, and many of our friends and family have also been directing impacted by the poor economy, lack of accessible and ...
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08.08.08Field Trip: A Hood River SurpriseWe really like the Columbia River Gorge town of Hood River. Not only is it beautiful, scenic and home to very cool action sports like kiteboarding and windsurfing, it's also home to both Full Sail Brewing (Session seems to have become our "house beer" lately) and Tofurky (don't knock it 'til you've tried it - the soy Italian sausage is really good!). You can't beat that! We, along with Sarah's mom, went out there for lunch this week and after lunch walked around the town. In a window of a shop called Parts + Labour, we spotted this: That vine of flowers ...
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07.13.08BlockedWe got the book Lotta Prints by Lotta Jansdotter (who also wrote the very-popular Simple Sewing book) when it first came out. As you know, Josh has gotten really interested in printmaking, especially screen printing, so this book had perfect timing as an impulse buy. We're not going to bother to review the book, since both Average Jane Crafter (aka Rachel) and Diane (of CraftyPod fame) wrote great reviews already, but we thought we'd share the first results from a project in the book. This was Sarah's first attempt in, oh, seventeen years or so, at printing using a linoleum block. ...
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07.08.08Feelin’ StitchyIn my last post, I mentioned that I'm planning on making another Burda shirt for Josh---this time with a bit of monkey embroidery... I usually farm out my embroidery needs to my mom, who's amazing, but since this is a shirt for Josh, I'm thinking that I should do it myself. To give myself a bit of practice (Mom taught me, but she's kind of, er, fanatical about stitch evenness and embroidery perfection, so I've never embraced the craft with a lot of zeal as a result), I'm doing some embroidery on an Amy Butler Lotus Dress (this is my ...
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06.28.08Tutorial: Adirondack Chair ReduxAs promised, here's the step-by-step for making over your very own crummy plastic Adirondack chairs into something fun and unique. We had some of the classic "computer monitor beige" chairs that were leftover from our past lives in Santa Fe where you just get used to everything being brown. Somehow, all brown stuff just doesn't fly now that we're back in Portland, so red and blue polka dot chairs seem much more appropriate. We're really enjoying our new and improved chairs. Hope you have fun with this! 1. Locate some old plastic Adirondack chairs, and clean them well (you don't what ...
