Bookmaking and Printmaking

Printmaking stuff:

This summer I took a printmaking class and at the end of the semester we made a book to contain all of our prints. So, I thought I'd take a picture of each print phase and share them with you.

This one is a linoleum block print of Tater called "baked potato" which is what we call her which she lays like this and tucks her paws underneath her. It was the first one I did and I'm not really very proud of it because it's messed up in several areas and is pretty clunky.

This is a chine colle aquatint print from a copper plate. It's titled "Susie Homemaker- Blue Chine Colle". This process is both fun and frustrating! You cut out colored paper to fit a certain shape within the plate, ink the plate, and then press it with glue into dampened paper and roll it through the printing press. It's so upsetting when you go through the trouble and then it comes out with the colored paper in the wrong places...but so exciting when you pull the paper off of the plate on the press and it's all in the right place! :)

Chine colle dry point print of Mama and her dog, Bailey when Mama was my age, titled "Mama and Bailey". Dry point is when you scratch into a plexiglass plate and then rub ink into the grooves, clean it off, and roll it through dampened paper in the printing press. This one is a chine colle because the image space is filled with a little bit of a tan tissue paper.

Another chine colle of "Susie Homemaker"

The original "Susie Homemaker" before the plate was etched to create the aquatint. Etching is a process that takes a long time and seems like it's going to be way more trouble than it's worth along the way but once that first print comes off the press, it's clear that it's all worth it. By the way, the process involves bevelling the edges of a copper plate, painting on a oil based ground all over the plate, scratching through where you want lines, then dipping it in an acid bath, neutralizing the acid, cleaning off the ground, and then inking the plate, cleaning it off, dampening paper, then rolling it through the printing press. Very involved process, but with lovely and controllable results.

Bookmaking stuff:

This is the book I made for the prints. This was a fun thing to learn how to do because now I can make sketchbooks, cookbooks, guestbooks....for example:

This is the guestbook I just finished making for Emily Bailey's (soon to be Dalzell) wedding. It's lined with green and the pages have deckled edges and i drew green lines on the pages so that people could sign in an organized fashion. The leaves are 3d and the veins in the leaves I pressed into a groove on the coffee table so that they would pop out. What do you think?

Still Alive, Still a Design Student

I just realized that I need to update about being a pi chi this past fall recruitment. I have a couple pictures, not many but a precious few and some great stories to share about the experience. Somehow other worries and such seem to take over when coming back to "reality" and I don't quite get to process what all I've just experienced. The above picture is of my AOII "family". I am so excited to have two of these new girls added to our growing family. The girl in the bottom left was in my pi chi group and I LOVED her..had no idea she was going to be in my family until the night of big/lil reveal, but could not be more thrilled!

In other news: I just spent my entire weekend working on a design chaurette with four interior designers and another graphic designer, Matt. We were working to redesign the Lakeside cafe on campus. We were given no budget but just the objective to collaborate and create a new and exciting place, increase seating, make it more appealing and just all around better. Matt and I were in charge of the branding and the signage for the whole building and I could not have picked a better partner to work with...not sure if he would say the same or not. He is a great designer with awesome ideas and the talent to make those ideas come to life. We came up with a concept while talking with our interior designers and then we split off into design groups and ran with it. I also should mention that we had such talented and capable interior designers who were so easy to work with even though we didn't work with them as closely at first. They did an incredible job and I was so so so impressed with what they put together in only a few short days! Here are some pictures of the work we collaborated on and presented to a panel of judges from the school:

Bottom floor when you enter Lakeside and turn left.

I didn't get the picture that Matt worked on to get the logos placed on the chairs so all I have of this floor is the "before" rendering. Don't they look so good?! I mean, we only had a weekend and these women pulled together an impressive floor plan, design scheme, and rendering...not without consequence however. The designer who rendered these drawings was in the studio for 24 hours straight. She's quite the dedicated, talented woman!

You see above the signs that would be suspended in a frosted glass/cut out shiny glass sign hanging from the ceiling above each restaurant. We renamed and re branded all of them with their own iconic logo.
This is a rough image of the counter faces made of brushed aluminum and vinyl cut outs of the separated logo to continue the branding in an interesting, not too repetitive way throughout the building.
More signage curved to go into areas with scalloped edges and they all pop off of the wall from steel pegs.
Again, more signage on brushed aluminum backing with a frosted glass or resin material popped off with steel pegs.

This sign is a 12'x6' wall made of brushed aluminum and the logo in white is cut through to reveal a white, back lit Lucite to highlight the negative spaces within the logo. In print, the logo would be in the colors you see on the green signs.

And....I am very very very pleased to announce that after the presentations on Sunday afternoon, the scores were tallied, and I got a text message from a girl in our group letting me know that our group got the highest score out of 10 groups!!!! So the top four groups will be refining all of this and then presenting again to a different panel (auxillary services of GSU) who will make the final decision and then construction will begin in May 2010. I hope we will be chosen! How incredible it would be to see a logo and signage and everything that I had a heavy hand in creating on the campus being used and enjoyed by students for who knows how many years!?

Bamboozled

I absolutely hate this vase, counter top, etc....so I want to be sure everybody knows this is a picture from the Internet, it is not my stuff.

However, the above photo is the source of inspiration for this post title, which I must admit was something I thought up while laying in bed and I had to chuckle to myself and then find a way to work it in. I love the term bamboozled and my bamboo plant has been slowly sort of dying for the past 6-8 months, so I thought it fitting.

I bought a lucky bamboo plant two years ago and at first, it shot up like a weed and was so beautiful and green and wonderful...but then, the poor bamboo plant's fate became not so lucky. As I threw my belongings into my car and got ready to go home for Christmas break, I let my house plants sit outside to soak in some still rather warm air, breeze, and sunshine. Sadly, I absentmindedly forgot about the poor dears and when a frost set in, they were done-zo! At least the other plant was. The lucky bamboo has been soldiering on in a crispy on top curly-q for at least half of the year and I still don't know whether to get a new one and scrap this one, or just let it keep on going.

The bamboo and the other house plant are still on the back patio, at least until it gets cold because I don't think house plants have the warming, welcoming effect when they are crispy and brown. None of these pictures are my actual bamboo plant, but this is similar to what it looks like since I don't have a picture and don't want to take one right now.

I miss the days that my poor bamboo plant was this lush and lovely.

Similar to what it looked like in its former glory. This is the same vase and rocks that I have mine in.

I'm sure anybody who stumbles across my little blog here has been waiting on the edge of their seats to hear about the outcome of the tomato plant I talked about way back when. Well, I am happy to inform you that my humble little tomato plant has now yielded a total of 10 tomatoes to date! Some large, some not so large, but all very tasty. Daddy told me to pick them right before they are totally ripe so that the birds don't get them before I do. So, I put them in the window sill to ripen the rest of the way like you see above.

There is just something about a homegrown tomato that you can't beat! They taste SO much better than grocery store tomatoes. Even if mine are not the size of my head like the ones in the store, they taste 20 times better.

Speaking of tomatoes, I made a tomato pie a couple of weeks ago and brought it home to share with the fam last time I was home. It's a recipe from "My Mama Made That" the cookbook that I got for Sara Jane for her birthday last year. She made the same recipe here, you should read this post and try it even if you aren't crazy about tomatoes. Sara Jane said one girl who ate it doesn't like tomatoes but LOVED the pie!

Also, this recipe calls for basil, how handy since I also have fresh basil growing in the back yard. Gardens are so lovely to have and the growth of a plant is really pretty amazing. That reminds me of how if God loves even plants who don't have souls enough to keep them going (even my sad little bamboo) and he provides the fruit on the plants to feed the birds who will try to steal my tomatoes, and food for me, how much more will He provide for my needs emotionally, spiritually, etc. Even if I feel like I'm getting crispy and brown and not making a lot of beautiful tomatoes, he hasn't forgotten or forsaken me...he'll just prune and garden until I'm lush and fruitful. Wearing out a metaphor? Well, Jesus used the plant metaphor so I figured I'd just follow suit. Funny how when something hits you what Jesus was saying just suddenly sinks in in a new and fresh way. I love that about the Bible and Jesus. As Sammy quotes all of the time "the bible is deep enough for an elephant to wade in, yet shallow enough for a child to play in", there's always more to know and little by little it is being revealed more to me and I hope to you as well.

Sweet Couch Potato

Well, as you may know my baby, Sweet Potato came to visit for the week. Here she is in the car on the way here. I should probably mention she is TERRIFIED of cars...particularly getting in or out of them and just about killed Sara Jane trying to get out of it on Saturday night.


Here she is sniffing around on one of our daily walks. She LOVES walks and especially stopping to sniff the drainage pipes. She thought they were so interesting and just couldn't quite figure them out....I on the other hand was worried that she would get bitten by something hiding in one of the pipes so I didn't like her sniffing around them.


Here she is playing with her little stuffed (well, formerly stuffed) pig and wagging her tail so fast that it's only a flash! Whenever I would walk in the door she would start wagging a million miles an hour and pick up her pig and starts tossing it around...it's outrageously cute.


She is so very snuggly if I sit on the sofa she crawls over and puts her head and a paw or two in my lap. I'm going to miss her now that she went home! Pardon my navy/black/terrible outfit...I was cleaning.



She sits so hilariously! Just look at that turkey leg! Kills me...



Pretty sure this doesn't need a caption.


We went to get doggie ice cream from Bruster's and also used a buy one get one free coupon for ice cream for me and Sara Jane. Cost for the evening: Sara Jane's bruise while Tater exited the car, and only $2.89 for the ice cream!


Here she is eating her ice cream off of the milk bone garnish they put in the cup. Presh!


I was so sad when she left today! Sara Jane came to get her today and it broke my heart. Now, it's back to the real world...back to life, back to reality. Hope you enjoyed these adorable pictures of our precious baby!

The Potato and Women with Tools

This weekend has been somewhat productive so far...although still I am very unsatisfied with the pictures I've taken. I'm in such haste to get them snapped before the batteries die that I don't patiently wait for a good shot. Anyway, my best friend, Lindsay (at my left in the above picture) came over to help me hang my bamboo shade in my bathroom that I've had laying on my floor waiting to be hung since January! She generously let me borrow her drill (and by borrow I mean she came over and did most of the work while I held the shade up with my freakishly long arms) and we got the shade hung and I think it is just lovely...particularly when you compare it to the former "window treatment" that consisted for a blue towel circa 1991 with embroidered butterflies held up by two clear push pins. Classy.

Very spa like, eh?


Thursday night Lindsay and I watched one of my favorite movies, "When Harry Met Sally". It's such a beautiful love story although it has many bumps along the way and they take forever to figure it all out, I'm a sucker for best friend love stories and I just adore this movie. We also had some Bailey's treats complete with whipped cream on top in the above green 1970s vintage mugs that Mama let me have, LOVE them also. Also pictured is my cake candle that I LOVE! The scent is orange cinnamon cake. TDF (to die for in Sara Jane's abbreviated lingo) and it has helped me get the stink of Tater (below) and her "tots" she keeps leaving on my carpet! I've taken her out many times during the days and she's had at least one or two walks everyday, yet still she leaves me presents over night. She is house trained and has only had one accident in Mama and Daddy's house to my knowledge, but for some reason while she's visiting me she seems to think pooping in front of the TV is a great idea. Meanwhile, I'm getting sick of scooping poop in bags in the house and scrubbing the carpet with OxyClean, and I'm running low on my supply! I guess this is good training for being a Mama someday. But just look at her! About six or so poops in my house and I still can't be mad at her for long...she's just so cute! I hope to have more pictures of her doing cute things from this weekend.



I mean really, this fat doggie rump, too cute! I never get tired of petting her and cuddling with her on the sofa. Sara Jane is coming to visit with us for Saturday and Sunday and much to my dismay, will be taking Tater back home. After receiving worried parental calls from both Mama and Daddy, I'm sure they will be happy to have the Potato back. Daddy even asked to talk to her on the phone! They love her so much and both have admitted to being so sad that she isn't there and missing her terribly! I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see them to and maybe she'll go back to pooping outside.

Wishing for good batteries

Again, poor quality photos due to rechargeable batteries that are new and yet refuse to recharge.
My dear sweet Angel, Sweet Potato came down with me from Augusta for the week. She's been such a darling and since there have been several tragedies among the roommates (including poor Allison losing her grandmother and her dog in only one week!) she's been so helpful in the healing process. I've been wanting to have some friends over for a dinner party for a while and it seemed like the perfect opportunity since the Potato was here to have everybody come and meet her. The picture above shows how she was sitting while i was cooking. She kept peering over the arm of the sofa so she could watch what I was doing from a safe distance and of course from the comfort of the sofa. It's so fun to hear her beating her tail on the sofa every time I walk into the room and to have her snuggle up beside me while I do my homework. I'm feeling very maternal having her around.





Here's set up number one for the 10 people I had over last night.




And set up number two!

Thankfully, others contributed side items like peas, tea, rolls, vanilla ice cream, and peach cobbler! The Cobbler was incredible! It was topped with pecans and I think she said white cake mix, I plan to get the recipe very soon.

So, I know that the number one (or at least it's on the top ten) rule for having people over for a meal is that you should always make a meal you have made before and that you know is delicious and of course, use a recipe.
But, loving food the way that I do, sometimes I dream about recipes I want to create and so I had a dream about what I wanted to make and couldn't bring myself to make anything else until I could eat what I dreamed about!

It turned out great if I do say so myself, so I thought i might share the "recipe" with any readers out there in the blogsphere.

Ingredients
1 box penne noodles
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 slices of American processed cheese cubed or torn
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
1 6-8 oz container of sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic and herb Mrs. Dash seasoning
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Loosely wrap chicken breast in tin foil packets and sprinkle on the garlic and herb seasoning. Bake the chicken for about 30 min (cook time depends on thickness of chicken breasts). Cook penne until al dente in salted boiling water. Drain. Mix together in a large bowl the milk, sour cream, seasonings, eggs, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar along with the rest of the cheeses. Lightly grease a large casserole pan and pour the noodles into the bottom. Then pour the cheese and milk mixture over the top of that. Shred the chicken with a fork and then evenly spread it on top of the noodles and poke it down into the noodles. Cover with the remaining cheddar cheese and back for about 30 min in the 350 degree oven (still heated) cover in aluminum foil for the first 20 min of the baking and then remove the foil for the last 10 minutes to melt the cheese well.

What should I name it?

Tip of the Week...err, Month: Casseroles!

I realize this is probably the most boring and obvious post ever, but I figure, what the hey.
Casseroles are about the single easiest dish to make, serve, save, freeze, tote, and enjoy! Growing up, whenever there was a death in some one's family, a new baby born, any need for a meal to be delivered to friends, Mama would make some delicious casserole that Sara Jane and I would be watering at the mouth for and peeking into the oven jealously wishing we were eating it that evening. She always packed it in her Pyrex container and put these awesome gel packs to keep it warm in there that Sara Jane and I would LOVE to squish around (and then we were promptly told to "scram" when we were getting too munch underfoot and destroying the gel packs), and then head off to deliver it. Mama makes excellent casseroles.
Could it be because she was raised primarily in the casserole era?

On a normal evening, we don't typically eat casseroles, but I do recall nights when we had red hot/mashed potato casserole or a cheesy chicken concoction or even a beanie weenie with biscuits casserole. Those heavenly meals were reserved for busy PTA or choir practice nights when cooking in advance or throwing something quick and easy together was a must.

Mama would likely be embarrassed that I'm writing about those casseroles, but there is just something so comforting about the simple, no fuss, kid-friendly casseroles. And please understand, Mama is an excellent cook and we have never been hurting for delicious food she is more than capable!

The most standby recipe that everybody can enjoy across the board is Chicken and Rice casserole. Most simple and easy and delicious comfort food I can really lift the spirits.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 cooked and cubed chicken breasts
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups cooked white or brown rice
1/2 cup steamed broccoli (optional)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 sleeve crushed Ritz crackers

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Mix soup, sour cream, onion powder, black pepper together. Put the rice in the bottom of the pan, layer with chicken and pour soup mixture over the top and let it drain down into the rice and chicken. Top with crushed crackers and back for 20 or 25 minutes just to heat it through since everything is already cooked. Then top with the cheddar cheese and then put back in the oven to melt it.