Wordy Wednesday

T Stands For It Grew

 

Himself took the root end of a stalk of celery and placed it in a plastic cup with a bit of water. And waited to see what would happen.

It grew like some 5th grade science experiment into a new, little, stalk of celery. I think it needs to be transplanted into a pot with soil.

Have you ever rooted vegetables like this?

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

The Wedding Gift - The Process, Part 2

 

Last week, I couldn't find the color and gold test strip, and while cleaning I found it in a pile. Ta Da!

Second time was a charm with the lettering. I managed to keep my paw out of the ink. The piece was lettered with Moon Palace Sumi ink using a 2mm. or maybe a 2.5 mm Brause nib. The lettering is Uncial commonly called Celtic.

Outlines for the Versal letters and the vine were done using a .01 Micron Pigma Pen. 

After the ink was thoroughly dry and all pencil guidelines erased, it was time to gild. I had a bottle of Roberson's Gold Size. When I opened the jar, it had a faint whiff of vinegar so I wasn't sure if the bottle had gone off. It was suggested to me to try a test, if the gold stuck then it was probably okay to use. As a fall back, I would use Jerry's Pink Stuff as the base. (Jerry's Pink Stuff is no fail and has a shelf life of 10 years). Jerry's Pink Stuff is thin and flat where other bases like the Roberson's or Instacoll give the illusion of dimension. The square in the test sample worked.

My friend and colleague, Langley (BC, Canada) had gifted me with these small brushes used to paint designs for fingernail art. The bristles are stiff and give a nice, crisp line with the gilding goop.

So I was able to apply the gold size. It's a mustard yellow so you can see where to gild. I worked from right to left so I wouldn't put my hand in the goop. I also used some scrap paper to mask off the area to be gilded so the gold size wouldn't drip on areas where I didn't want it.

When the goop was thoroughly dry, which took forever because it was so humid, I was able to lay the gold. I had cut small squares of 23K gold leaf to minimize wastage

After the gold was applied, I used a soft, fluffy brush (a Crayola kid brush!) to remove the excess gold.

A second layer of gold was applied. No goop involved with this step as the gold will adhere to itself. Then the gold was burnished through a sheet of glassine using an agate burnisher.

After the gold leaf was applied, little dots in the vine design were painted with shell gold. The acrylic bridge allows me to rest my hand/wrist while I paint without,  you in the cheap seats know the answer: putting my paw on the paper and wet paint.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 

Progress on the greenhouse

Brilliant poison ivy across the street where the mailboxes used to be.

Fiery maple

X marks the bug

Fragrant goldenrod buzzing with honeybees

Hopefully, Heavenly Blue Morning Glory buds

Reggie's morning glory seeds not quite ready to harvest

Some bunny loves the petunia seeds.

Autumnal equinox and the tree on the weather station turned yellow.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:

Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order my favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

The Natural (1984) Robert (Be Still My 💙) Redford

If you haven't seen this movie, you might be able to find a free version on YouTube.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Got a phone call from The Brother. Lots of laughs.

2. Celebrated the Autumnal Equinox and 271 days until the Summer Solstice

3. In a pile, I found a scrap of paper I was looking for

4. Watched Part 1 of "The Story of the Alphabet" on Nova

5. After running errands, we stopped for take-out at The 99.

How was your week?

For The Hitchhikers

 I haven't posted the 42s in a while. I don't seem to find the number when I'm out and about. I only see it while sitting at my computer. Are you able to spot the number 42 when you're away from your computer?

Wordy Wednesday

T Stands for Carrot Cake Breakfast Shake

 

Once again, I'm trying to drop a few pounds. Baking during Massachusetts' Stay at Home Advisory during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic was too tasty. 

This recipe for a Carrot Cake Breakfast Shake comes from a 12 Week Metabolic Meal Plan.

Ingredients for One Serving:

1 serving protein powder or vanilla powdered shake mix

1 carrot, chopped (I used a handful of baby carrots)

1/4 skin on apple (I can't stand recipes that use only a small portion of a fruit or veg. What do you do with the other 3/4 because apples aren't low carb? So I used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)

1/2 cup of unsweetened, non-dairy milk. (I used unsweetened coconut milk)

4 ice cubes

1 T. chia seeds

1 T. orange zest (I used Orange Peel from the spice cabinet)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Optional: 1 T. chopped walnuts

                1 T. unsweetened coconut flakes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend. Use a little water to adjust the thickness if necessary.

Enjoy!

The Wedding Gift - The Process, Part 1

 The daughter of a friend was getting married. The family is Christian so I wanted to do a Bible quote. H and her Fiancé had also bought their first home. 

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (KJV) Perfect

I imagine the piece having a large, versal "A" with a vine and birds. Similar to the commission piece I did last year. The "A" would be shaped or hold a bird house with the two birds on the vine underneath the quote. The birds' wings as they sat side by each would form a heart. Part of the vine at the end of the quote would have a small dedication from me to the couple. Under the bird house would be the chapter and verse for the bible quote like a street address.

Chatting with my friend, I casually found out the color theme for the wedding, navy blue and yellow. The start of a color palette. Perfect for the little birds because the bride has very light, blonde hair.

The traditional color palette used during Medieval times was red, green, and blue. While working at Ender's Island on "House Blessing" with Valerie Weilmuenster last year, she introduced a variation using Prussian Blue, Sap Green, (gouache) and Magenta.(watercolor)

I also wanted to use 23K gold in the piece. I decided the word "Lord" would be a fitting place to use the gold.

So imagine a scrap of paper with the colors and gold as test. You have to imagine this little strip of paper because I must have tossed the paper out. 

I used the colors on the left as they are deeper and more dramatic. I think the brand used was Winsor Newton.

I thought I would like to try my hand at tooling the gold gilding. So imagine a little square of gleaming gold gilding with the diamond pattern from my mechanical pencil rolled into it. Just like you use a roller to emboss designs in cookie dough.

I hope you can see the design.

The entire quote and design was laid out on graph paper and then colored with colored pencil so I could better see how the piece (8" x 10") would look.

Using a light box, the design was lightly penciled onto a piece of Arches 90 lb. watercolor paper. This paper takes both ink, paint, and gold quite well.

Before the design is gilded or painted, it is lettered.

And like a bonehead, as I was lettering, I put my paw in the wet ink. It was very hot and humid this Summer, and I thought I had given the first line plenty of time to dry. Since I'm lefthanded, the process of lettering is a lot slower than my righthanded colleagues. I need to letter a few words and then have to stop and let the ink completely dry or risk smearing the lettering as I did in the word "For" above. 

As it turned out, a blessing in disguise as I wasn't happy with the "F". I hadn't intended the "J" looking serif at the bottom of the letter as I was using that stroke for the letter, "R". I didn't want the letter to look to similar.

Back to the drawing board.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 

Petunia still going strong

Pot o' mums

Perfect maple leaf

Maple tree in Fall color

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories hasn't bloomed yet. Between the drought and now a frost warning, not sure if I'll see them this season.

Mums at the mailbox

Harvest decoration. I made the doll and Ma sewed all his clothes and found the straw hat

Petunias still growing

Some bunny loved the sunflower

A herd of young mourning doves. There were 6, but I was only able to capture 3 in the photo.

Welcome sign for September (and November)

Help me, Lord! Now what is he up to? He's got the tools out!

He bought a greenhouse kit.

I see you

sneaking over to the petunias. I might not be able to collect the seeds.

Some bunny, or chipmunk planted one of Reggie's morning glory seeds.

The goldenrod smells so beautiful

And is loved by the bees.

How does your garden grow?