My Morning Tea

There's been little time this week for the studio or the computer as my little urchins were home most of the week with strep. They're recovering now and are up and raring to go play.

In the quiet times, I will admit to visiting the internet and favorite blogs. One that I've gone back to many times is Alice Fox's posts Gifts from the Pavement 1 & 2. If you haven't stopped by yet, just click on the links to meander over and be amazed at what Alice has done with rust, thread and a tad of paint for her sketchbook for the 2013 Sketchbook Project.

Midst salivating over Alice's sketchbook, I realized that I'd yet to post final photos of my sketchbook, My Morning Tea, which is a tribute of sorts to my grandmother who introduced me to the joys of making and drinking tea.

The spreads alternate between pages rusted using that morning's tea bag and layered tea bags which tell the story:

 

One of my fondest memories from childhood 

is of my grandmother making tea. 

She’d put a pot of water on to boil,

get out a large metal mixing bowl,

throw in freshly picked mint leaves,

add slices of orange, sugar and Lipton tea bags. 

When the water was ready, she’d pour it into the bowl

and let everything steep for a bit.

The scent of mint and orange 

would waft through the house, 

filling every corner and crack 

with the most delicious aroma. 

To me, it is the memory of a grandmother’s love.

Pondering the new year

It's that time when thoughts turn to the coming year and what it will hold. For me, it's time to organize the studio, unearth my worktable, mull over a few old ideas and ponder a few new ones.

 The indigos are calling

 as are the story tiles.

  My Morning Tea

for the Sketchbook Project needs a short note and to be mailed.

 I'd like to experiment with rust and paper more.

Do a bit more stitching as well.

 Continue to search for Roy G Biv.

And set a few challenges for myself. 

More on those later.

What would you like to do in 2013?

What a week

It's been a week of what if's in the studio. Major what if's. Breakthrough what if's, in fact. Yep. It's been that kind of week.

My Morning Tea, my sketchbook for the 2013 Sketchbook Project, is nearly finished. Just need to think about the cover design and what blurb about myself to put in back.

The pages...spreads really...alternate between marks and text. The marks are made of tea and rust using the tea bag my morning tea was brewed with on any given morning. The text is a memory from childhood regarding tea. More about the sketchbook once it is complete.

Pam's tip about ironing the tea bags on freezer paper to run through the copier worked so well with the tea bags that it was impossible not to try on...hmmm...

 a piece of rusted cotton or

 rusted silk organza.

[this is the breakthrough part, in case you're wondering]

Given organza's translucent qualities, it just begged for further exploration, don't you think?

 I did. A second printing was called for.

  And a third.

 It needed turning this way

 and that.

And then the tea bags were calling too. 

 They wanted to play with a canvas.  

 It became a bit of balancing act, needed turning this way and that, 

needed a bit added here and a tad added there.

In the end, all was right. A good balance of tea bags and rusted mono printed cotton.

 

And then...yes there's more...

A friend emailed to ask if I'd like her stash of DMC threads on a spool. She's moving and lightening her load in the process. I said I'd be happy to have them and promised to put them to good use. I'll admit my mind latched onto DMC threads and so was picturing DMC floss. 

What arrived yesterday from Joan was far more delicious than cross stitch floss! As I unpacked the box - oohing and aahing all the while - the patterns of the wrapping caught my eye. I'd never noticed how beautiful spools of threads are. 

Thank you Joan for the wonderful threads! One spool has already taken a good long soak in green tea with a rusty bit or two for company. It's now resting, airing itself in the studio.

At the end of partial week 2 of kindergarten, I can safely say that my brain cells are beginning to work again. And holy smoke Batman! does it feel good. 

In the studio

Still texting

and what if-ing 

with tea bags, rusted and monoprinted cotton on canvas.

2013 Sketchbook Project - texting

After laying out the text pages and playing with their arrangment, 

I began adhering them to my morning tea.

What do you think of page 1?

2013 Sketchbook Project - tea bags

Thought I'd give you a peak at the what has been happening with My Morning Tea aka my sketchbook for the current Sketchbook Project.

Thanks are owed to Fiona for mentioning once upon a time that it is possible to print on tea bags and to Pam for sharing the tip about ironing the bags to freezer paper. Both tips worked wonderfully this morning...and, of course, have left me with a stack of what ifs.

2013 Sketchbook Project - August 5 tea bag

Helen over at This Crafting Life was curious what the tea bag from yesterday would look like when dried. Thankfully, I wasn't all thumbs when opening and emptying it this morning so the bag is nicely in one piece.

Not bad, huh?

Sketchbook Project 2013 - August 5

Just had to share the second spread with you.

This morning's tea was Lipton decaf with fresh mint.

The tea bag was moved after 30 minutes or so, hence the wider coverage. 

Sketchbook Project 2013

Art House Co-op sponsors some wonderfully imaginative projects. The best known is probably The Sketchbook Project. I participated in the 2011 version and even signed up for 2012. Sadly, that sketchbook is languishing away somewhere in the studio. I really should unearth it one of these days, don't you think?

Last week, while putting the finishing touches on my book of tea, the proverbial light bulb came on over my head. An idea for the 2013 Sketchbook Project had flashed into being. Listening to my muse, I quickly signed up.

 When I opened the mailbox yesterday, there it was.

  Memoir is my chosen theme.

My Morning Tea will be the title.

Thank you to all who have left a comment about my book of tea! I'm honored beyond words that you would want to own it. 

*If you just read those two lines and have no idea what I'm talking about, wander over to yesterday's offering celebrating my 300th blog post.

Visitors

Hurrican Irene is battering the east coast of the US this weekend. She's currently hanging out around the Carolina's, but is on her way in our direction. She's predicted to arrive tonight, stay all day tomorrow and move out tomorrow night sometime. Personally, I'm hoping Irene gets tired well before she reaches us.

Wanting to enjoy a bit of fresh air this morning, I opened a studio window and heard a now familiar sound coming from below it.

The neighborhood wild turkey family was out for its morning stroll. The proud mom and dad have 9 little ones...which actually aren't so little anymore. They venture through the yard a couple times a day searching for food and leaving me gifts of feathers in return for birdseed.

Speaking of feathers, Jude Hill, cloth whisperer and author of the Spirit Cloth blog, has a wonderful project called The Magic Feather Project. In her own words, 

The magic feather Project. What is it?

The Magic Feather Project is a collective stitching project focused on creative sharing and giving. The magic feather has been my personal symbol for almost forever.  With the idea of making it a symbol of something bigger than just myself, I thought I would share it with you and you in turn might stitch one (at least) and send it to me so I might, in turn, sew a bunch together and put the larger cloth to some charitable use.

Like with the Sketchbook Project last year, I've been following Jude's blog, oohing and aahing over the feathers others have sent in, viewing blog posts about creating them and all the while thinking what a great project to be part of. Sometime soon...maybe after Irene rolls through...my own feather will be stitched and sent off to Jude.

Wherever you find yourself this weekend, be safe. Enjoy.