a wearable art tool

 I like tools. I like bracelets. I like making things. I like things that have layers of personal history.

I’ve always got my eyes peeled for things I can press into the ol’ gelli plate for texture. Eventually, I looked at my bracelet in a considering kind of way. Well? Sure, but let’s make it wood. So I made myself a new bracelet.

A real, working bracelet!

And then I rolled it straight on the plate, which leaves little dot marks behind, and picks up little dots onto the beads. This is a two-for-one action, and the efficiency pleases me.

Painty dots picked up, and un-painty dots left behind!

But that’s just the beginning, right? Everything needs another layer. Or three. 

Layer two

Layer three


…which yielded a pile of turquoise-painted circles of cardstock, that I punched holes into and use as paper hole reinforcers. I may have to dedicate a post to that particular joy.

Next project, please!

So - my bracelet is much more interesting than it used to be, and there’s a small (but growing) chance that I’ll take it apart and use the beads in other bracelets. They look good together, but they might look amazing next to some other beads.

And I have a growing collection of monoprints for sale on ko-fi.com, as chewytulip, of course.

Let’s take it down to a 7 day cycle!

 Here I am, one week later! 

Have I thought much about what to write? Why, no, I’ve been quite irresponsible about that.

 However, I continue to accumulate photos of what I’ve been making, and I think I’d better just try to keep up with that, and the explanations that go with the photos.   (In other words, we’ll be flying by the seats of our collective pants!)

You can find this printable on ko-fi.com at selvage’s shop!

I have been enamored with artiststamps again, or faux postage, or whatever you want to call it. I had a small fling with a roll of washi tape that ripped into postage stamp-shaped stickers, but I fell out of love when I realized that the adhesive wasn’t very good. I mean, it’s washi tape, so it is repositionable, but i really do expect to find it stuck where I left it, not curled up beside it. 

This artiststamp interest, coupled with the most excellent news that I FOUND A GLUE THAT DOESN’T DRIVE ME CRAZY (hooray! 🎉) meant that I could explore printables again. And so - Donovan Beeson (aka Selvage on ko-fi.com) makes some really cool shit. Like this printable sheet of Lunar New Year tiger stamps. 

My printer only uses black ink, but it’s laser, so I can paint over it.

And a few weeks ago I lost my mind about…tags? Tag-shaped items? It’s kind of a thing in the swapping community, and the junk-journaling community, and probably elsewhere. 

So anyway, I made a tag with a fake postage stamp on it. And I like it!

No, I really don’t have much use for tags, but I sure made a LOT of them, while I was digging them.

Then I also stuck one in my journal.

The snowflake postcard is taraDACTYL’s work, which I bound into my journal and used as color inspiration for these two pages. The tiger fit right in!

I might glue some tigers onto my Halloween-themed mail. They’re not exactly on theme, but they are in the right color scheme. And will I force the tigers into a Christmas theme, for Christmas post when the time comes? Yeah, maybe. 

The 7 year cycle

 I don’t know, but maybe a seven year long break from blogging is enough? I miss it. And I will say that while I enjoyed instagram for a while, it’s really not hitting the same spot as blogging. So. Here we are. I suppose I’ll have to come up with actual topics to write about, and all that jazz. 

In the meantime, please enjoy this one singular photo I took of some ATCs that I made for a swap. Are you getting some AnthroMAP vibes from it? Yeah, me too. Nostalgia all around.

I have been collaging pretty hard lately, mostly in a spiral-bound journal that I made, and for a while I was hung up about whether it was a junk journal, or an art journal, and then I suddenly stopped caring what to call it. It just is. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as I’m happily working on it. It is serving its purpose in my life. 

And because maybe you missed Taco, too, here’s a picture of him, breaking all the rules and sitting on the kitchen table. He’s earned it.

wall of green

Ugh, just look at that sick wall of basil and catnip.

Everybody's happy.

multicolor flowers

I guess I'm a sucker for seasonal stuff. I've been enjoying haunting garden centers, taking more photos than are strictly necessary, and taking home a few plants that I suspect I might not kill.

Last year we got this same kind of flower, but in a yellow-orange-pink-fuchsia colorway.

I'll break out the macro lens another day.

Sometimes I just need proof that I took home a flower, put it in a pot, and didn't kill it. 

It's only been in my care for two hours, so far.

new watercolor set

There's nothing quite like a new art supply "high."

They're called "confections" and they do have a candy-like appeal for the rabid art supply collector. Hoarder.

Half un wrapped.

It comes with this cute little perfectly-palette-sized cheat sheet for you to fill in, and all the pans are numbered, but...this is not the order of colors I would choose. So I'll be scrambling them later, and probably trying to cram in some extra half pans in the center section. Eventually I'll flip over that perfect little card and fill in the map for the final resting place of each color.

Are they really artist-grade? I don't know. They were inexpensive, and I bet they'll fade with too much light exposure. But they feel nice while I'm working with them....so...probably I'll get the "pastel" color palette when it goes on sale. Ha.

basket case

I thought it would be fun to try basket making.

But, like, without buying a slew of supplies. 

And I've got tons of paper, sooooooo...

Yeah, I'm definitely taking apart the sides and I'll try something else - smaller - probably yarn.

In cat news, I got to hang out with Peter today.

Like all cats across the globe, he knows when his photo is about to be taken, and prepares to lick his nether regions. Cats!

Meanwhile, upstairs, Taco was watching birds, unaware that I was cheating on him with another cat. 

That's enough cat butt for today. 

😉