Sorry....I ran away!

I have been MIA for months….FOR SHAME!!!!!!!!!!

I have been working on Christmas gifts for the past few months so I couldn’t really post about those projects until now.  I will post about all those projects in separate posts. 

A lot has happened in the months since my last post.  Jake got hit by a call while riding his bike on campus….you know, cause he’s so small he blends in!  Don’t worry, he is fine, the car wasn’t going very fast, but was still a scary phone call to receive. 

Jake is nearing the end of his PhD life.  He will be defending on January 20^th 2012.  He will finally be done, and he’s not sure what to do with himself!  He flew out to BYU at the beginning of December for a job interview….yes, a job interview….Like an adult job interview….He had to shave his beard for it and boy did he look different!   

We won’t hear back until February so our fingers, toes, legs, arms, and anything else we can cross, is crossed.  We are just praying he gets “A” job.  He has applied to several different universities, but we haven’t heard back from any of them yet.  The beard has grown back in enough that he looks like himself again….although it is rough like sandpaper….

Jennifer came over last night for s’mores, hot chocolate, and White Christmas.  We had lots of fun burning marshmallows and laughing our tails off at Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye singing “Sisters”.  Jake played us Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas.   I had never seen it, and we watched the “out takes”…oh my goodness…I almost pee pee-d myself!  So funny!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We had breakfast with Jennifer and my parents this morning, then headed to church, and then spent the afternoon to evening at my brother’s house with all the family.  It was a very low key, laid back Christmas, and I’m OK with THAT!

Jake and I didn’t really exchanged gifts this year; we just bought ourselves a couple things that we really wanted.  Jake and been playing the new Zelda game and we found an electric skillet on super sale! We also went to the Dollar Tree yesterday and bought a bunch of “junk” for our stocking!  This morning Jake and I opened a few gifts from his family.  We got a gift card to one of our favorite restaurants and some really funny shirts we are excited to wear. 

Jake’s parents really spoil us…I say this in a loving and grateful way!  It is always hard for me to accept gifts that I know weren’t cheap.  That steams from the childhood, and is probably something I will struggle with forever.  With that said, we received a very heavy, large box from his parents this week.  We placed the packaged under the tree and guessed out loud all week what we thought it might be.  We thought maybe an encyclopedia set, an anvil, bags of flour…we had NO idea what it was.  The box was really heavy!  So this morning, we pulled that box out from under the tree and pulled the paper back…then we stared at the box… “Is that really what I think it is?” passed our lips.  We smiled in disbelief.  There before us was a beautiful, sleek, marvelous Kitchen Aid!  I need to pull on my big girl panties and join the ranks of the homemade bread, fresh whipped cream, and made from scratch cakes!  We were so surprised and excited!  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We are debating on what to make first! 

We are going to enjoy the day together tomorrow because I am off of work! YAY! Then back to work for the both of us.  So Merry Christmas everyone! 

Washing out image

I was using a garden hose hooked up to our faucet outside the house and then feeding it through the bathroom window so I could wash out my screens in our bathtub.  I have since found a wonderful little piece (I bought at Home Depot for about $1) that allows me to hook up that same garden hose to my showerhead faucet, so now I don’t even have to go outside! 

The reason I use a garden hose is because I can use the hose attachment so the water will come out at a high pressure making it easier to clean out the screens.  Plus it is so hard to try and clean out a screen with the small space you have between the tub faucet and the side of the tub.  Just makes things easier. 

Once the screen has been exposed I take it to the tub and wash out the un-hardened emulsion of the image. You should be able to hold the screen up the light and see right through the screen where the image is.  If you can’t see through it, keep washing.  If you over exposed your screen the image won’t wash out, if you under exposed your screen the image and the rest of the emulsion will all wash out, so the timing has to be perfect.  This process can take between a minute or two up to 5 minutes, just depends on the image you are using and the size of the area.  

So, after the screen has been washed out, let it dry and then you can start printing! (side note, this is a different screen than the one in the post before this so don't be confused by the different images).  More post to come!

Exposing screen:

So, you take your dried screen and you place the image on your screen, then you expose the screen to your UV light source.  The UV light will then harden the emulsion.  What the paper image does is block the light, preventing the emulsion behind it from hardening.  Once the screen is done you simply wash out the unhardened emulsion.  With this process you are essentially creating a stencil.  Where your image was will allow ink or paint to be pushed through allowing you to print your image on anything. 

When your emulsion is dry on the screen before you expose it, it will be a bright green.  Once it has been exposed to the UV light it will become a darker, duller green.  The area of the image you are burning into the screen will still be that first bright green color.  You don’t want to dilly dally before you wash the image out because that emulsion where your image is can still be exposed. 

For me, once the screen is ready I use my exposure unit to expose the screen.  You can you the good old fashion sun if you not have access to one.  It only takes about 30 seconds for the sun to expose a screen but you have to reverse you image and cover it with glass so it doesn’t move.  This has to potential to not be 100% reliable each time.  So, I stick to my expose unit.

I can use a photo copy of a black and white image and then I saturate the paper in baby oil to make the white part of the paper transparent.  This allows me to get as detailed as I want.  You have to use a laser photo copy and not a print out from an ink jet printer because the baby oil will make the ink run and ruin your image.  With this particular print I am actually using a hand drawn image that I did in sharpie and then baby oiled to rest of the paper, that works too if you are trying to get a hand drawn feel to it.

I take my image and lay it face up on the glass of my exposure unit.  I position my screen onto of the image and then weigh it down with something heavy so the screen lies flush against the image.  I then cover it with a couple blankets to block out all the light from coming in and to keep the UV light contained in.  After it is ready, I turn on my exposure unit and let it do its magic. 

Now, not all screens are made alike.  Each screen can use different mesh material that has a different thread count.  You want a lower thread count for things like tshirts or printing on fabric and you want a higher thread count for fine art printing. The sad thing about having different types of screens and mesh is that not every screen takes the same amount of time to expose.  There is a period of trial and error at the beginning of this.  I have it pretty much figured out with all my existing screens take about 25 minutes to expose an image.  

Spreading Emulsion on screen

For me, once I have my emulsion ready I take my screen into my bathroom, placing a towel at the bottom of the door so is blocks out the sun light, and spread the emulsion on my screen using a little plastic piece that came with my kit.  You can use a credit card, or a fancy emulsion spreader, whatever you want.  I usually go the cheapest route and it seems to work just fine!  You want to get a good amount of emulsion on your spreader, place it at the edge of your screen at the frame, let it run down to met the screen and then holding the spreader at an angle pull it up along the screen.  You want to do this so that the entire screen is covered, then you want to scrape off any excess emulsion.  You want a smooth surface; you want it to be evenly covered no lines of emulsion gooped up anywhere.  You don’t want to see darker spots and thick globes of emulsion. 

Ok, so now you let your screen dry, in the dark, not lights.  Lay it flat on the floor if you have the room, this helps the emulsion dry evenly.  The normal lights won’t expose it, but turn them off anyway.  The screen should be dry within an hour or two, it will “look” dry and be dry to the touch.  After the screen is dry you are now going to expose it. 

Now, how does this emulsion work?  You take and image, hand drawn, computer printout, whatever you want, but the image has to be completely black and white.  Let’s take this image of a star, the image could be cut out of paper or it could be a computer printout (laser printed not Ink jet), as long as the image you are using is dark and thick enough to block out the UV light.  The screen will be exposed to a UV light, and wherever the black image is, will not allow light to penetrate the emulsion.  The rest of the emulsion will harden and where the black image was will wash out, creating a stencil.  The emulsion turns a darker shade of green when it is exposed to light, that's when you know it worked.  

Mixing photo emulsion

You can buy this kit at Michaels, it cost $30, but if you use the 40% sometimes 50% off coupon you can really save some money!!!!  I use Speedball, I have always used it just because it is what was available when I started this, so I have just continued to use it.  I’m sure there are others out there that probably work better, but I have no idea!  This kit comes with 2 large bottles, and a smaller lighter bottle.  You have to fill the smaller bottle halfway with water and shake it up really well.  The contents of this bottle is a dark black liquid and YES it will stain your hands, clothes, and countertops so be careful when mixing.  If you do spill it, quickly wipe it away and wash your hands.  If get some on your hands (which you are bound to do sometime) the stain will only last a few days.  

Now, once you have mixed the little bottle and the water you are going to add the dark black liquid to the photo emulsion larger bottle.  This bottle will be partly filled with a light blue liquid.  This bottle will NEVER be filled to the top because you are adding more liquid to it and need the space to mix so do not feel like you were cheated out of anything, this bottle will always be like that.  Once you add the dark liquid you can simply place the top back on and shake away or you can stir it up with a stick of some sort.  Once you have done this the contents of the bottle will then become a bright green color.  Be careful when you are using the emulsion and be sure to wipe off any drippings that may fall on the rim of the bottle because it will harden and once you have placed the top back on it will be hard to get it back off.  

The screen printing process

A while back my husband helped me build an exposure unit.  I followed the plans from this video I found on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZmwbOgh-pU

It was simple enough to build, but I was confused on the type of light bulbs to use because the video just said to use regular florescent lights, but I knew that photo emulsion would only expose under a UV light.  I ended up getting some Black Light bulbs.  I should have gotten some unfiltered black lights, but Home Depot did not have any, and the black lights work ok.  It takes about 25-30 minutes for a screen to expose.  I will eventually take the time to find some unfiltered black lights and add another set of lights so the exposure time can be cut down, but for now it works wonderfully.  These units can go for thousands of dollars so I was pretty excited to have one at all and it only cost of about $150 dollars to build. 

I don’t have a studio, so I am working out of my house.  I have different stages of the screen printing process spread out all over the house.   The planning area is my dining room table.  The application and drying of the photo emulsion takes place in my bathroom that has no window so it makes for a perfect dark room.  The actual exposing of the screen takes place in the spare bedroom that also serves as my husband’s study and storage for my art supplies.  The cleaning out of the screen takes place in other my bathroom in our tub.  The printing process takes place in the kitchen with my hinge clamps screwed into a collapsible card table.  The prints dry pretty much anywhere they can lay undisturbed. 

Even though I practically run all over the house just to get one print done, I feel really lucky to be able to print at all.  I have been hitting up the Michaels 40% and 50% off coupons to buy Speedball photo emulsion kits for a good price and need to make a trip to Jerry’s Artorama (which my brother decided would be referred to as Jerry’s Taco World, no he is not 5 years old, he is pushing 40 he’s just funny) and get some supplies, but it is a far drive. 

Screen printing can be done a few different ways.  I use the photo emulsion method.  Emulsion is a thick liquid that is spread over the screen.  This liquid is UV light sensitive.  Once your screen is dry to the touch you are going to use some sort of UV light to expose the screen.  You can use the sun and heat lamp or exposure unit.  

Project LDS scrabble prints

I absolutely love to screen print.  It is my favorite activity, even above laying on the couch in my PJ watching episodes of my current favorite show.  It’s hard to believe, I KNOW, but it’s true.  If I could spend most of my days doing it, I would be a happier person.  I learned how to do it at school and have been building up my supplies and portfolio ever since.  Since I do have a full time job my screen printing time is reduced to nights and weekends, which most of the time get filled up with other things. 

I love the classic LDS quotes, wall hangings, what have you, but I have never really liked any of the ones I have seen so far.  I thought this would be a fun way to display the idea in our home and I spread the love.   I printed these for mother’s day gifts this past May and wanted to share them.  I posted them on Esty, but no sales on them just yet.  I have plans to do more and I am trying to do better to actually get some printing done. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/typewriterorange?ref=si_shop

I only have them in blue and pink right now.  I want to do them in a rainbow of colors.  I just don’t want to have a studio full of them, and then no one buy them….then I am stuck with a bunch of prints…maybe I could use them as wall paper if it doesn’t work out….thought for the future!  Also, side note:  the pipe on the mantel is a memento of my Granddaddy.

Anyway, I really like how they turned out.  They are a 4 color print, 8x10 size and look really good in the matt and frame. 

Project LDS scrabble prints…. pass!

Etsy shop

I have been debating over whether or not to give Etsy a try. 

There are so many cute and desirable things on Etsy. What would the harm be in posting a few things and see if anyone wants them?  So I put together a few items and posted them in my typewriterorange shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/typewriterorange?ref=pr_shop

I was able to spend some time at work on Friday fine tuning all the descriptions and photos and finally opened the doors so to speak.  Then I lay awake in my bed and stared at my familiar ceiling…waiting…..

Even though I haven’t done a whole lot of work, I have been working hard getting these things ready to be posted. 

Then the doubt came. 

Who would possible want to PAY for something I made?  Was I asking too much for something I used my own two hands to make?  Was it ridiculous for me to think that anyone would like something enough to click that “Add to Cart” button?

So, I bit my nails and watched my shop sit….and sit….and sit…

The weekend came and went.  I went back to work Monday and didn’t think twice about the shop.

Then, came then.    A magical thing happened.    I had my FIRST sale!

Someone hit that lovely green button!  Someone bought a Totoro onesie I made. 

My first sale, hopefully one of many!  Woohoo! 

Project: Panda Bread

So, I stumbled upon this really cute idea for some “Panda Bread” over here at Perfect Pandas: http://perfectpandas.com/2008/01/08/panda-bread/

I have always had a soft spot for Panda bears and thought I would totally wow the nieces or kids in nursery with a fun treat. 

This is what the bread is supposed to look like….

Mine looked more like this….

I wish I had taken a photo of the bread out of the oven before I chunked the gooey mess.  Sadly, I actually tried this recipe twice, wasting much flour in the process.  Now, I did do all of this by hand, I do not have a stand mixer. 

The first time I did as the recipe called to add all the food coloring and cocoa powder after the dough was already mixed up….um can we say wet mess of dough?  I still shudder to think of that green slim on my hands.  Needless to say that recipe for the bread just sucked.  It was tough and hard, burned on the top…..absolute mess. 

The second time I found a recipe for Amish white bread online and divided it up into 3 batches and added the food coloring to one batch and cocoa to the other before mixing everything together.  Everything seemed to be going so well.  When I had to actually roll the dough up in the right order to form the panda face, it all just sort of mushed together.  I knew it wasn’t going to turn out right even before I put it in the oven, but I didn’t want to throw it away… I had worked so hard!

So, it came out and didn’t resemble a panda bear face at all.  It resembled more of a hot mess than anything.  I have a few problems I need to work out before I try this again. 

The different dough has to be soft enough that they can mesh together in the oven, even though they are separate colors and consistencies.  When this 2^nd loaf came out of the oven all the different layers just peeled away from each other.

But the dough also has to be firm enough so you can roll everything up tightly so you don’t lose the shape of the face….

The bread itself was delicious, but didn’t cook in the middle, and was almost burnt on the top….Let me clarify, it was lightly brown on the top, Jake says that isn’t almost brunt…To me it is. 

So I shamefully wowed no one with my cool panda treat. 

Project Panda Bread:  EPIC FAILURE 

Mourning the loss of my brown hair....

So a while back I had some purple hair.  Not the extreme all over purple, just a little bit at the tip of my hair.  It was fun, something fresh, I liked it.  But, the color faded too quickly and I was applying purple die to my hair almost every other week, and that wasn’t much fun.  Plus there was that period recently where I was trying to find a new job and purple hair doesn’t exactly improve the odds.  So, last month I grabbed a box of Garnier dark brown hair dye.  My hair is really dark brown, so I got the shade “Darkest Brown”.  It worked perfectly to get my hair back to an all over natural looking dark brown.  Plus it didn’t smell absolutely horrible!  It smelled only slightly horrible; there was enough avocado, grape seed, and olive oil to combat the chemical smell.  

So, this weekend I noticed that the tips of my hair were getting too light, (not purple) just a really light brown, almost blond in some areas.  So I grabbed the EXACT same color Garnier hair die “darkest brown”.

I went about my way, did everything as the box instructed.  I washed it out and let my hair air dry.  Then when I was time to get ready for church I went in the bathroom and got the hair dryer out and went to work.

I glanced in the mirror; it took me a minute to realize that my hair was not dark brown.   Doth mine eyes deceive me?  No, they did not!  My hair was in fact not dark brown but BLACK.

That’s what I said. B L A C K, black!  Jake had a good giggle about the sound I made when I discovered this new color. I ran to the trash can to make sure that I hadn’t picked up the wrong box (just to give Garnier the benefit of the doubt- It could have been my fault).  NOPE!  There it was on the box “darkest brown” the EXACT same one I used last time.

So, after I verified that Garnier had indeed failed me, I began to rant!  Why did I have to get a miss-marked box?  I didn’t want BLACK hair, I wanted Dark Brown!  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against black hair!  It can be very beautiful!  I just wasn’t expecting my hair to be BLACK! 

The good thing is that it doesn’t look terrible or unnatural.  At least it wasn’t something like blond or red.  Once again, nothing wrong with those colors, but I would have looked ridiculous as a blond. So, it looks like I will be trying this out for at least a month or so. 

I kind of like it…

Project three

Project three: Pillow cases

The Tall One and I were out and about in Franklin on Saturday.  We had lunch at Peking Palace with my brother and sister where I stuffed myself with Empress Chicken and the best wonton soup there is.  Jake was a really good sport, after lunch I went clothes shopping.

I don’t actually like clothes shopping, but I like clothes, so I must do A to get B.  I don’t spend a lot of money on clothes, I shop at Plato’s Closet and Goodwill but I find some good stuff.  Anyway, after shopping and finding too many things we also stopped at JoAnne’s.  It was a quick stop but I always check the clearance bins for the little rolls of fabric they have already cut and priced.  I found this print for a few dollars and decided I liked it enough to make some pillow cases for the throw pillows for the couches.  I found another roll of the same fabric. 

Jake liked it too, so that was a plus.

When we got home Jake took a nap and I sewed these slip covers.  I like em!

Pillow cases, a success.

Project Two

So a few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a tote…

I wanted a bag that was big enough that I could throw my sketch book, an extra shirt for when I spill something on myself, a pair of flip flops for when my “cute” shoes are killing me, and other random things that just wouldn’t fit in any of my purses. Essentially something as big as a backpack but cute.  

I had a little bit of scrap material left over so I did a bit of Google-ing for some ideas and after work a few weeks ago I sat down and started at it. The tall one (my husband) sat on the couch reading while I sat at our kitchen table cutting and sewing away on the new sewing machine while we watched In Plain Sight on the Wii with Netflix.  (That’s an awesome Friday night if I do say so myself)

                Let me make a side note:

1.       The Wii is awesome, along with Netflix I have no real reason to go outside.

2.       In Plain Sight has really grown on me. Marshall Mann…oh I could just eat him up!  He is just sweetness personified.  

Ok, back to the tote.  So, I spent Friday night measuring and cutting the material and I sewed the straps.  I knew it was time for bed when I had to remove a seam because I wasn’t paying attention and sewed the wrong pieces together.  I got up the next morning and busted it out in no time. 

I am pretty happy with it as far as size and pocket space.  If I could make it again I would have loved to have had some different material, but since it was basically free and I made it in time it took to watch 4 episodes of In Plain Sight I’m not complaining.  (Let’s call it 3.5 hours…I was distracted my Marshall Mann....)

There is even a pocket on the inside.  Fancy, I know.

Overall, tote was a success, also now completely obsessed with In Plain Sight....

These are my confessions

I am sitting at work, cursing UPS because they have not delivered my shipment of new cases.  You see I work in the office for a Dental lab half of my job is entering new cases.  These said cases usually come in morning before 10:30 am, but they didn’t come yesterday until almost 3:00 when the other UPS guys comes and picks up my shipment to go out at 3:50.  Was a crazy day, and now it is almost 2:00 and still no shipment from UPS.  So, with all my other work done, what is there for me to do?  Blog!!!

Let’s see, I have a confession to make….oh wait.  UPS just walked in.  Hold that thought….

Ok, cases entered and now complete with ALL my work for the day…so as I said before, what is there for me to do?  Blog…

Where was I?  Oh, right, confession making.  My mother-in-law gave me a Singer sewing machine when the tall one and I first got married almost 3 years ago.  It was great!  She had gotten herself a snazzy new machine and I inherited the old machine.  I loved this sewing machine.  It was great, yes; I said was….a few months ago, in mid project, my sewing machine decided that it liked reverse.  It decided that it liked reverse SO much that it just stayed that way; all the time.  I don’t know what happened.  The program light went out, I couldn’t change the stitch length or setting.   My sewing machine was dead.  So, the Totoro Back pack that I was showing off in my previous post was all sew in reverse.  It is hard to sew a project when you have to constantly rip out a seam and start over because you forgot to go the ‘other’ direction.

I had my sister-in-law’s father (mouthful) check it out.  He can fix just about anything, but no dice on this.  So, after checking with local sewing machine repair shops (I am not going to spend money sending it to Singer to have it repaired, too much to just ship) and talking with my father-in-law, it was decided that the sewing machine would have to stay dead.  My sewing machine is over 30 years old and they don’t make the parts for it anymore.  So, Target got $140 out of us yesterday for a new Singer sewing machine.  It is my new precious.  It sews forwards and backwards!!!!!!  Fancy, and it comes with a 25 year warranty.

project one

Well, this is the first entry for Typewriter Orange.  I love the way certain words sounds, and I also love the color orange.  It is just a bright and happy color.  “Don’t you just think orange is the friendliest color?”  Anyway, so the name of this blog is Typewriter Orange.  I have attempted to blog in the past which just turned out to be an epic fail.  I am trying again, but this time I am going to blog about art projects and crafty things and see how that goes. 

First Project to blog about: 

The Totoro Backpack

For those of you not familiar with Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro, let me say that if you want to enjoy a great film that the entire family will absolutely LOVE, watch it.  But NOT the one with what’s her face Fanning doing the voice, the first one that was dubbed into English.  For those of you who already know and love Totoro, you can understand the obsession that my nephew has with Totoro, or Totro as he is called by my almost 2 year old niece. 

My nephew Brandon loves Totoro, and he always wants to read/look at my Totoro picture book before bed when he visits.  So, when I found out his family would be visiting close to his birthday this year, the idea popped into my head for a Totoro something.  Now I have done a few Totoro related projects in the past. 

The Totoro Hat:

The Soot Sprite Christmas Ornaments:

The Totoro Computer bag (Just a premade bag I screen the Totoro Log on):

And most recently the Totoro Shoes:

Now my first idea was to do a pair of Totoro shoes for Brandon, but plain kids size canvas shoes aren’t as easy to find as I thought they would be AND he can get a longer use out of a back pack than he can shoes, so I shifted my focus.  I have never even attempted to make a back pack before, so I just sketched a little idea in my little handy dandy notebook and set to cutting up fabric and sewing things together. 

The material choice was mostly for color and texture.  Totoro is a soft and cuddly creature, so a Totoro backpack, to me anyway, should be soft too.  I used the same material as the Totoro hat and used a more durable canvas material for the lining.  Note to self for future projects, this soft material gets caught in sewing machine like mad and will make further adjustments for future endeavors.  With that said, the eyes and belly pocket are made of white felt and the black parts of the eyes are just black buttons.  The nose is just black thread.  He comes with a zipper top, hanging strap, and adjustable padded shoulder straps.  Over-all I think he came out quiet cute. 

Sadly I was VERY sick the day his party came, I actually spent the day of his birthday party in the ER…gastro enteritis you are NOT my friend and I hope we NEVER meet again.  So, I missed the big reveal, but my husband was very sweet and took the present over and recorded the birthday boy opening his present.  Which I am happy to say he loves!  The other nieces and nephews immediately began making requests for their own Totoro bags, so I will be hard at work getting the kinks out of the design flaws.  If things work out well, I will try and post them on Etsy to see if anyone else might like to get one! 

Project one: check!