Whats On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 647

I’ve had a long weekend away with the Coven which has been marvellous. We rented a barn conversion on a farm near Devizes, a lovely market town in Wiltshire. I made a good start on an album for my great neice, and did a handful of LOs for my own albums. I talked a lot, and stayed up ridiculously late. All this is a totally understandable reason, don’t you think, for this:

I haven’t quite unpacked. Well, actually, I unloaded the car and shut the door on the workroom, haven’t been back in at all since…even the photo was taken from the threshold! It’ll come good, and then you’ll have to put up with looking at pictures of what I did. Still, it’s been so long since I made any scrapbook LOs that I’m not sure they’re fit for showing! So while I unpack and put away and feel a it smug about the new arrangement in this room, please show and tell. As we approach full on autumn, it’s important that you all keep me going, please!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 646

Well now, gentle desker. You join me in a week of doing. Oh my word, you do. For a start, look at my desk….

Horrible afternoon light yesterday. I was in my workroom looking at stuff. Stuff I need to pack. Hang out the trumpets, ring out the flags…I am going away with The Coven for a weekend of scrapbooking. Any pages that I make this weekend will be the first pages of the year, I think. So anywayyyyy…I’m meant to be using free time to pack stuff and try to pack economically by really thinking it through. Yeah well, that doesn’t seem to be as much fun as stamping and colouring in! Back to Janet Klein images. I got a new border stamp set and I felt the need to use it, and one thing always leads to another, doesn’t it. I may not have done any sorting or packing for the weekend, but I had a nice half hour! 

Thank you Helen…liquid appliqué is absolutely what I was trying to remember for the previous post…it just wouldn’t squeeze out of my memory! Brilliant you. Have a great day full of lovely half hours won’t you; start by blogging and showing us what you’re currently creating..it will be a marvellous interlude.

How to give a gnome a puffy beard….

Last WOYWW I caused some questions by posting a picture of a gnome that had a dimensional white beard.  I used Fluffy Stuff, a product from those Cosmic Shimmer people. The ‘stuff’ isn’t new, but the availability is. It behaves just like the stuff I used to use way back in the mists of time. It’s been so long that I cannot, for the life of me, remember what it was called. No doubt I will, at an inappropriate time and place where no-one will be even vaguely interested in my sudden knowledge!

It has the consistency of thick glue and needs to be applied in a whole thin layer rather than blobs. Like glitter glue, it’s better applied straight from the bottle, using the spout to distribute. Then, heat it up. Takes a bit of heating, but keep the heat gun moving…that lovely white soon turns charred brown if you don’t! The product dries out and puffs up…

Fun. Putting it inside a key line (like a stamped beard) makes a thrilling adventure of the hit and miss variety because you can’t control the finished ‘mass’ of the er, puffiness. Well, you can, a bit. Heating it straight after application is satisfactory and puffy. But if you can apply it and then leave it overnight, the results are twice as good.

It takes a little longer with the heat gun but it puffs up much more and is very satisfying indeed! Now, the trick is to wait until it’s completely cold before leaning on it. I know that sounds bizarre. But, when you’ve done something like this, you may want to stick it onto a card, and putting it face down and using your tape runner on it may well squash it and it won’t bounce back if it’s still warm. It might be one of those things though, that you have to do before you really get. Once it’s good and cold, it’ll bounce back pretty well. 

There is also the possibility of colouring it. Scribble your felt tip onto a non porous surface (my glass mat or a handy bit of waste plastic usually works on this desk) and then squeeze an amount of the Fluffy Stuff onto the colour. Mix well. I use my pointy tool. Saves me getting up. It takes work and patience to get a deep colour but worth it if you absolutely need it. 

That’s it. The depth of my Fluffy Stuff knowledge. And how I made my gnome a puffy beard. You’re welcome.

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 645

This is the connected edition. I’m typing this post in a sunny kitchen at Jan’s house. I can hear her tapping away at a keyboard in their study. We had to separate to get the posts done - or we’d just have kept talking, see. No companionable silences here I can tell you! Happy to report that Wales is looking good in the autumnal sunshine. The sea was flat calm this morning, as you can see.

And that’s as much work as I’ve done…a walk around the harbour and a stop for coffee and a little more chat. Home tomorrow, jiggerty jig - time to square up to the week and get my domestic on! I’ve been a good cardmaker and finally forced five of the six required marathon cards out of my head. Here’s a badly taken sneak peek of the one featuring a gnome….or two….

Ha. Remember the fluffy white stuff…! Retro gnomes! Anyway, whilst I drive home, please reveal your workspace and the reasons for it, no judgement over degrees of tidiness..we just want to see what you’re doing with what. Thanks, as always!

Surprise colour.

On Wednesday’s post I was talking about helping in Mr Dunnit’s workshop and having a gentle pop about the amount of extra work that is created when a client (or an architect or designer) specify the supply of timber windows painted in two colours. They need a lot of careful masking, which is tedious. Largely, the inside of the windows are white, it’s a good neutral really isn’t it. Occasionally they are something from the off white palette. Indeed, these are actually ‘slaked grey’ although you can’t really tell because the light is a bit iffy.

Now, when the order was received, the colours were shown as RAL numbers (which is like a universal reference for paint colours, like we use Pantone numbers for ink, amongst other systems). Next to the RAL number it said ‘ Grey’ and ‘Green’. Most of the greens that we use to paint windows these days are ‘heritage’ type colours, sage, moss and the like. So this was a real surprise. Indeed, is it really even green? He double checked, such was our surprise at the point of lifting the paint tin lid. It’s a nice colour, but I have to reserve full judgement because I need to see the windows in situ. And I won’t, because they are for a builder who has ordered them for a client so we have no idea where they will be going. Keep a look out will ya? 

I know that if you rent or live within the boundaries of an Estate, sometimes you have to use the Estate’s colours on your buildings, Beaulieu village in Hampshire for example, is clearly dotted about with the estate colours, and there’s a village called Cocking in Surrey that has a lot of houses with yellow painted external woodwork. I understand the history and ‘marking’ and indeed just the aesthetic cohesion of that. 

I’m interested now to know if you have coloured external timber, and if so, what colour? I’m even more interested in how, out of all the colours available, you chose the one you’ve got. And if you could explain the same for this particular set of windows that are more blue green than green that would be great. You may even recognise it as an Estate colour?  Also, explain why the French doors are not painted, just stained and lacquered hardwood that will sit between these sets of windows. It’s all very subjective, colour use, isn’t it. I’m a bit glad that my choices appear on paper and card and can be changed, hidden or even recycled without major trauma. Because I have to admit, change would be in the offing if these windows were being delivered to me! 

What’s on your Workdesk? Wednesday 644

Well look at me, going straight in with the picture! That’s because I’m smug! I’ve made two cards for the marathon day. And I’ve kitted them. And I’ve tidied my desk in anticipation of the next make. And I spent some time on Tuesday afternoon in the workshop. I’m scheduling this because I need to spend another hour or so in the workshop tomorrow before I go and visit my Mama. I don’t do a lot of hands on helping at work now, too wonky; the job I’m helping with is time consuming but easy, and because we’re doing it together, there’s no dust being created. And that’s a biggie for me, I have to use a gel in my wonky eye and it attracts dust like a magnet, a joinery workshop in full production is not a good place for dust avoidance! Anyway, we’re masking windows. Some apparently clever designer or architect has specified windows in two colours..white on the inside and a very light grey for the outside. Which means literally hours (3 pairs of windows and frames, 2 doors and frames) of taping and masking and checking for straight lines of tape so they don’t look ridiculous on the edges when they’re opened. So I’m feeling quite accomplished this week already. You can’t see it from the picture, but the numbered list for the card countdown has numbers six and five crossed through with a big black self congratulatory slash of pen. Four to go, and with some priority I must say. So, gentle desker, that’s my week so far, domestic and crafty. Would be great to hear about yours too, and of course, have a sight of what you’re currently doing as a distraction from real life!