Thursday, March 28, 2013

Heat Transfer Patches

I had some heat transfer paper squirrelled away, and I decided on a whim to try to make some heat transfer things.

I took a bunch of images I had created lately and printed them on the inkjet transfer sheets. I had a few Dark T-shirt sheets, and a few Light T-shirt ones. I generally like the Dark T-shirt ones better because I use a lot of dark fabric, and I like pressing it onto black cotton. But the Light T-shirt ones work well for certain images. It was also way easier to press with the iron and peel the backing paper off.

Tip: Make sure you use a de-fuzzing sticky roller or something to remove fluff from the fabric before ironing. Even the most microscopic bit of fuzz will be super visible on the white parts of the image after you iron it. Go crazy on the fabric and brush off the transfer with a dry paintbrush.



I thought I would include some pics of my horrible failures. You know, so you can feel better about yourself. I mixed up The Dark and Light T-shirt transfers when pressing them, and since they have different processes, this happened. That black and white teapot is part of the disaster sheet.

The full page tea set was going to be a zipper pouch, but I neglected to remember that after sewing a zipper pouch, you press it flat, and you cannot iron a transfer once its set on paper. So...I am going to make something else with the tea set. Appliques probably.

So once the transfer was on fabric, I backed it in black cotton and zig zag stitched around the outside. My early 2000's Singer did not like to do this at all. But my early 1970's Singer just breezes through.

I made a few, photographed them and listed a couple of them in my Etsy Shop. I am keeping the "1st Place in Disinterest" for my own jacket, because I try not to care about things that are stupid. Its a lifestyle.
So I guess the experiment was a partial success. The images look crisp and they are nice and flexible. I still think this counts as a "test batch" though as none of them are quite perfect. 

Heat transfers are fussy, and its easy to mess up, and every time I make a project with them there are some failures. So if you try it, and royally screw up some images, just remember this post and then immediately go and eat a cookie.



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Farm!

After my bro's mini-wedding, I got to stop by my friends farm!

I just have two words to say: Goat baby.

Argh! So cute, I can't handle this shit. She was so light and small. Her name is Fiona, she is a Nubian (I say like I actually know anything about goats...) Go here to see a post about her birth and more pics of her.
Her interests include: Wearing a little coat and making people baby talk like fools.
She's only a day or so old, and so sleepy and pliable, it was hard to not be a bit grossed out by her sweet little face. She was shivering from the horrible Canadian cold, so right after this she was taken out of the barn and brought to cuddle on a warm lap inside the house.

I also got a sneak peek at the goat's milk soap curing on the rack.
Smelled so good in there. This is all spoken for. There is a waiting list. This small business is growing fast.
But the soap maker/farm boss is my best friend so I always skip the line. Aw yiss.

This has been a "good feelings" post by Tara.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Unexpected Wedding

My younger brother got married, pretty much as a surprise.

I don't care about weddings. They aren't my thing. The idea of getting married is a nightmare, not a dream to me. But this might be the the closest I have ever came to understanding the appeal.

This couple has a decade of good times, two cute kids, so they are already a family. This is just a little symbol that puts a bow on top of that. It was so uncomplicated and so them. Just show up, say nice things, kiss then go out for dinner. Fifteen people and no accessories.

Just putting this post out there into the universe, hoping more people will just do this in the future. It is ok to just get married, you don't have to have a wedding.


Monday, March 11, 2013

I Quit Quitting.

Wait...What?

I stopped posting in this blog a year ago. I was sort of over blogging I think. Blogging burnout is something I see a lot of people get. It is supposed to be fun to write about things you enjoy,  and after a while always being positive or creative can get to be a drag. (Plus I was totally sucking at it.)

Things change.

Real life things happen, good and bad, they change you a bit at a time. Your interests shift, your style (art and personal) shifts with it. I just can't understand how people eat the same breakfast every morning!

I still get hits and comments on old posts on this blog. I still get nice messages and not-so-nice messages. I just thought "Why not use it again? Why not tell the internet useless stuff." Admittedly, I have no real plan for what will end up here, but I can guess that it will still be a place to dump photos of things I make, studio shots and painting progress pics.

If you read my blog before, I warn you I think I might be a bit less sweet, and a bit more ok with not being sweet. There are 10,000 "positive crafty girl with retro glasses and pink hair"blogs,  and that just isn't quite me. Yeah I went to art school and I have pink hair, but UGH, enough with that shit.

I still draw batcat. Some things don't change.