Making things for the little one

So, we're also busily making things for the expected addition to our family. Here's a sneak peek at our progress. RJH is under the weather, so these less than impressive photos are my responsibility. I'll get him to take some proper ones when we're finished. I've taken a suitably terrible "before" photo. The room was RJH's office. He had a desk with computers (yes plural), an old single bed, an ironing board and in the photo, it would appear that laundry was in progress. I confess, it didn't generally look this bad. There were white walls, and forest green curtains. His office has been moved to the basement, which now has a proper floor, rather than carpet on cement. This house is about 85 years old, and was built before people decided that precision might be important in construction, or that people really like closets. So, there are no truly right angles and the rooms were not designed with closet space in mind. Luckily, it's been owned by people who really like closets, since it was built, so all the bedrooms have a closet and there is a linen closet, but these are closets built for very small people. So, I confess, I have claimed the entire closet of the master bedroom, and RJH has been using the linen closet and the office closet. For now, we've cleverly installed a new lengthwise rod in the master bedroom closet (previously, the presumably tiny people who wanted a closet but had little to hang, had a rod which was short and widthwise, blocking access to half the space). Also the closet is under the sloping part of the roof, so much of it would actually be too low to allow RJH to stand which bolsters the imperial closet claims of his less-than-tall wife doesn't bother me much. He also built me a stand for my shoes. He thinks I have too many shoes, but clearly has never lived with a real shoe lover, because I really don't have that many by the standards of most women I know (who also do not need to use valuable closet space for steel-toed boots, but, I digress). Our immediate solution is that for now, RJH will continue to use the closet and ironing board in the soon-to-be completed nursery room.

First we painted it yellow. By "we" I mean I gathered dozens and dozens of paint samples, we negotiated and then he painted the room with (allegedly) zero VOC paint, which is safest for expectant mothers and babies. I actually don't mind painting and am pretty efficient, but generally, the received wisdom seems to be if you can avoid exposure to any chemicals you probably should. Also, to be honest, I've never been accused of gracefulness, and was a bit accident-prone before my centre-of-mass changed, so I am humouring my husband and have agreed not to climb chairs or ladders until after the baby is born. So, he got painting duty. For "zero VOC" paint, it certainly smelled. I wondered what I was smelling if it wasn't volatiles - volatile inorganic chemicals? I don't know. I'm not a chemist. Perhaps it was for the best I didn't spend hours painting the room.

I actually drew up several different mural plans. The room has one south-facing window, but it faces our neighbour's house, so it's not actually very bright. We both agreed we wanted something cheerful and colourful. So while my sky mural was the winner, we avoided sky blue because it would be too dim and shadowy. So, after RJH had painted the yellow, I started planning and thinking about how clouds would look. I actually tapped mock-up paper clouds to the wall, before I painted the clouds in white (much less smelly) zero VOC paint. Then, I added my block printed stork in turquoise.

We went to Ikea, and much to our surprise, bought a crib. Their higher end crib was greatly reduced in price, so we just bought it. It feels very solid, gets good reviews and safety ratings and can convert into a toddler bed. We also got some cheerful fabric and a new light fixture (decorated with clouds). We're not entirely convinced we've succeeded with the light as it casts a harsh and surprisingly focused beam, which was not our goal. If we lower it, so that adults are too tall to see the light directly, RJH will hit his head. We're still considering options. I bought some blackout fabric and made curtains. I decided not to be too insistent on a theme and try to have everything match; that just seemed a little too controlled. What was I going to do? Tell people who might want to give gifts to the baby they had to be yellow or turquoise and relate to a cloud-filled sky? But, I did choose fabrics which contained yellow, white and turquoise, as well as other colours.

I'm also working on a baby quilt, of course. Its main colours are yellow, turquoise and grey, but it has different patterns and my block printed animals. RJH meanwhile, is working on a wooden rocking horse and building a change table!  When I was a toddler, my Uncle Bob made me a rocking horse, and I love that our baby will also have a handmade rocking horse. (Uncle Bob is in his eighties now, and no longer putting his woodworking skills to use supplying furniture to the youngest members of his extended family. He took up woodworking after having a massive heart attack, days before I was born. He was actually sent hundreds of kilometers to Toronto General for surgery, so coincidentally, he was one of the first people to meet me and pretty well the only member of my extended family who could reliably remember the day, since I guess my birth was tied in his mind to a life-changing near-death experience. I gather now it would be unlikely he would remember me at all, let alone my birthday. My own rocking horse was inherited by my uncle's first grandson, so I no longer have it. So, for me, this handmade rocking horse seems particularly special).

I am also gathering a box of things for the baby, including the bibs, block printed camera and soft alphabet blocks I've made. Yesterday, I added a small woolen coat, lined with a map print cotton, fit for a wee explorer (based on this tutorial). I have more projects in mind. If you happen to be interested you can follow my thoughts on decorating rooms for wee people or my growing collection of tutorials for DIYs for babies and small children.



I guess this baby will be growing up in a family where it seems normal that if you want something, you can make it with your own two hands. That seems to me to be a good place to be.

bedroom wall continues to gain ornament

bedroom wall continues to gain ornament
Originally uploaded by the.minouette

Me: minimalism, not so much.

I love etsy seller poodle breath's beautiful ceramic work. I bought myself this pendant, wore it once and broke the ring at the top by which it was suspended - through my own clumsiness. I think I shall epoxy some fitting on the back so I can wear it still. It sucks being clumsy. :(

I made a two-colour proof of the fly agaric block and framed it in a small wooden vintage frame. I leaned it up against the cd's on the bookshelf rather than putting it on the wall. I had intended for the print to be two-colour, but pulling the prints proved problematic. It is important to choose your battles; brown ink consistency was not the battle for me. The print, after all, is more about texture and line. I have gotten a great response to the print in solely red. With printmaking, knowing when to quit is half the battle and usually for me that battle is about line; this time it was about colour.

Yesterday, I asked my father how he could possibly hate Jane Austen. He said that if he googles his name, what he finds are references to one of her novels, wherein his namesake's character is none-too-flattering. This made me laugh.

I am considering doing a series of prints of poisonous things. Perhaps I want to say that all that is natural is not necessarily good for you.

Well, back to the multiplexer data sheets for me.

home is where the art is

I actually collect prints of soft sea creatures (encephalopods and jellyfish and such)- really specific, but surprisingly easy. This is my woodblook moku hanga "Little Boat, Big Ocean", a 4-colour screenprint by animalsleep, and my jellyfish lino block print in my hallway. The hallway is a bit dark and narrow, so the photograph does not really do these prints justice; I think they look better in person.

The art in the bedroom is supposed to suggest sleep, including the starry kite constellation screenprint of labpartners, Emma Kidd's origami bear, Di's painting of the animals on the duvet and the birch trees at night etching.



I love the particular brand of magic of etsy printmaker animalsleep and so I bought this screenprint of a boy and giant hawk against the night sky. One can imagine the fairy story to go with the image.
I framed it using some printed Chinese paper as a matt. Not a propos but I have been enjoying using patterned patters in framing and the colours are exactly right.

This night time image is also on the bedroom wall.



This was a bonus with the animalsleep prints so I framed it somewhat idiosyncratically in a vintage oval frame with some Japanese washi papers as matts, and added the night scene with crescent moon to the bedroom wall.



By the table, I have the kozyndan photo of bunnyfish and koi, the found giant Indonesian shadow puppet, a plate, a half horse on a plaque, a tiny water colour, a horse paper doll from the PinPals, a Dutch silhouette, a painting by Di and the Yeehaw Industries psychic owl calendar.

Jellyfish and Seahorse Pillow

Here two of my most intricately carved sea creatures meet up, face to face (do jellyfish have faces, I wonder?) in this graphic hand-printed pillow. The jellyfish linoleum block is printed in pale mauve on navvy cotton. The seahorse linoleum block is printed in gold on irridescent green raw silk. The reverse is a modern print canvas in orange and red on white (complete with handprinted minouette label with tentacles in turquoise on vintage floral cotton). The pillow has a bold, luxurious and modern, yet handmade look. It is indeed one of a kind.

The pillow is 35 cm wide by 30 cm tall (or 13.5 inches by 12 inches).