Finishing the alphabet

with y for yak and z for zebra. I considered making y for yeti, to go with the mermaid and unicorn, but frankly, the sketch was too scary for a baby quilt (my ulterior motive for printing these monograms).

I've now completed the back and affixed the front, batting and back of the quilt. I still have to quilt it together, but the baby quilt should be finished soon too!

D is for dragonfly

I made another monogram yesterday: d is for dragonfly. I had been thinking maybe I should do a dragon - after all, I already have a mermaid and a unicorn, so this collection isn't strictly natural history, but then again, I could make a kimodo dragon. Then, it hit me that a dragonfly would be just the thing. Since my ulterior motive is the baby quilt, I like to include things which quietly allude to the parents, and RJH has long used one of his macro shots of a dragonfly as his laptop background image. Plus, I'm gathering insect prints at the moment, so it works for that project too.



I also made a wee baby kimono, cause now I have an excuse to buy the cutest fabric (though, I seemed to have other excuses previously and have a bit of a fabric hoarding habit). I used this somewhat too succinct tutorial, which I thought would be easier, but it was deceptive. The kimono was more challenging than the coat, which seems backwards. I think I'll make some easier things next. I gather from seeing what is truly useful for my nephew, that what parents really need is a whole bunch of fabric rectangles (receiving blankets, burp cloths, changing mats, play mats and so forth) and rectangles are about as easy as sewing gets. I bought terry cloth and I have the aforementioned cute fabrics, and figure that one cannot have too many burp cloths, so rectangles it is.

Q for Quail

I'm working on a baby quilt (of course). I've actually finished the quilt top, but I decided for the back, it would be great to include my block printed, illustrated letters on fabric. I've now made 14 letters, so I still have 12 to carve, but I should still have plenty of time to finish, I hope. Here's my latest: Q for Quail. I love how the top feather on a California quail sort of mimics the tail of a q. I used to see bustling little quail families regularly when I lived on Vancouver Island. They always struct me as having funny personalities; they managed to seem a wee bit pompous yet bumbling.









These are open edition, printed on various Japanese papers, 14.8 cm or 5⅞ inches square.

New Monograms

I've been making more monograms with the aim of producing a set of soft blocks with every letter of the alphabet included. In the meanwhile, I'm printing on a variety of papers of different colours, textures and patterns.

L is for Lynx

This 'L' monogram linocut features a lynx. This is an open edition print on Japanese kozo washi (or mulberry paper), Thai and other interesting papers. It is available in a variety of colours and some prints! Each sheet is 5.5 inches by 8 inches, or 14 cm by 21.6 cm.

The lynx can be one of four types of wildcat. This one is a Eurasian lynx native to European and Siberian forests. I've been a fan of the lynx since childhood. I recall writing a report on the subject in grade 4. In fact, I might have found said project in my mother's storage locker earlier this month (not to say I'm a complete pack-rat... but, this might have happened).



Also, a little aside. Some of you, like me, are fans of printmaking and appreciate the work involved in making a hand pulled print. Etsy recently reorganized its front page in an effort to facilitate browsing. The trouble is that Printmaking, formerly an obvious category, is now stuck in a subsection of Art labelled 'Prints and Posters'. Unfortunately, many people use the word 'print' to signify a reproduction. There's nothing wrong with reproductions - I have some giclée and archival prints which I enjoy. But they are entirely different from original artworks made labouriously by hand by printmakers, like relief prints, etchings, sérigraphs, lithographs, collographs, woodcuts, engravings and more. If you are an Etsy user, please add your two cents worth here. It's important that they hear that this is not a move which serves artists or art buyers. It might be particularly meaningful for them to receive feedback from buyers.