evidence and impact
August 12, 2007
Beautiful Buds
I planted some jimson weed in my yard this year, this week the plants sprouted lots of flower buds. The buds are every bit as beautiful as the spectacular flowers they become:
¶ 9:28 AM
¶ 9:28 AM
June 28, 2007
Blogging Privacy Dilemmas
I've struggled with this blog since I started it a couple of years ago. My life is, for the most part, reclusive, so it probably isn't surprising that I am constantly wrestling with reluctance to exposing myself to the world at large. At the same time, I know I am an interesting person with a wide variety of experiences and pursuits, many of which are of interest to others. So I blog as an avenue for sharing "that which may be of interest" with whomever is reading...but I always blog under an oppressive "cloud of caution." Nothing quite like starting a post with a disclaimer, is there?
I just finished reading an excellent book on the subject of privacy (or lack of it) in the USA today.
ISBN-10: 1-932857-57-5
Chilling it certainly is. What you don't know about this topic could prove devistating; even awareness offers little protection from much of the surveillance and data collection that loom large over the lives of Americans in '07. Highly recommended.
I also recently read this post on blogging, which I found to be a compelling and completely contrary way of looking at the dilemmas which inhibit my blogging. I am still convinced it is best to always err on the side of caution if possible, the reality for me is that the positive aspects of sharing are offset by the vulnerabilities blogging can create.
¶ 5:11 AM
I just finished reading an excellent book on the subject of privacy (or lack of it) in the USA today.
ISBN-10: 1-932857-57-5
Chilling it certainly is. What you don't know about this topic could prove devistating; even awareness offers little protection from much of the surveillance and data collection that loom large over the lives of Americans in '07. Highly recommended.
I also recently read this post on blogging, which I found to be a compelling and completely contrary way of looking at the dilemmas which inhibit my blogging. I am still convinced it is best to always err on the side of caution if possible, the reality for me is that the positive aspects of sharing are offset by the vulnerabilities blogging can create.
¶ 5:11 AM
June 27, 2007
Steam Pressing Fulled Wool
A lot of my fiber work uses fulled wool, which is essentially wool felt created with the process of fulling rather than felting. All that is rather confusing, more simply put, I wash wool fabrics (knitted and woven) in hot soapy water several times until the scales on the wool mesh, and the fabric turns into felt. This felt is wonderful to work with, it is dense and doesn't ravel, and the fulling softens even the scratchiest wool considerably.
Most of the felt I make is from recycled garments, and I start by removing labels, fasteners, etc, then I turn the garment inside out and put it into a pillowcase which is then tied closed. If I am working with "fast fulling" wools (angora and very fine merino, among others), I remove any pockets (unless I want double thickness felt in that spot) and cut along all the seams except the shoulders. This keeps those garments from fulling into themselves because they felt almost instantly. With most wools I wait to cut the seams open until the garment is about half way fulled because it the edges will distort if cut too early, resulting in less useable felt. Once the felt is finished and dry, I trim off the seams and (usually) any ribbed collars, cuffs, etc. At that point, the felt is quite wrinkled and creased, and needs to be steam pressed.
unpressed wool felt
The tool I use for the job is a Rowenta steam press. Steam irons just aren't up to the task, even when used with a very wet pressing cloth. There are still some pieces I cannot press as flat as I would like with this steam press, but it does a fine job with the majority of my felt.
Rowenta steam press
wool felt after pressing
After pressing, the felt is quite damp and needs to be air dried. I left the ribbing on the white pieces pictured above (Shetland wool) because it fulled into a beautiful textured section of felt. I've found that most ribbing doesn't full at all, in which case I trim it off.
Most of the felt I make is from recycled garments, and I start by removing labels, fasteners, etc, then I turn the garment inside out and put it into a pillowcase which is then tied closed. If I am working with "fast fulling" wools (angora and very fine merino, among others), I remove any pockets (unless I want double thickness felt in that spot) and cut along all the seams except the shoulders. This keeps those garments from fulling into themselves because they felt almost instantly. With most wools I wait to cut the seams open until the garment is about half way fulled because it the edges will distort if cut too early, resulting in less useable felt. Once the felt is finished and dry, I trim off the seams and (usually) any ribbed collars, cuffs, etc. At that point, the felt is quite wrinkled and creased, and needs to be steam pressed.
unpressed wool felt
The tool I use for the job is a Rowenta steam press. Steam irons just aren't up to the task, even when used with a very wet pressing cloth. There are still some pieces I cannot press as flat as I would like with this steam press, but it does a fine job with the majority of my felt.
Rowenta steam press
wool felt after pressingAfter pressing, the felt is quite damp and needs to be air dried. I left the ribbing on the white pieces pictured above (Shetland wool) because it fulled into a beautiful textured section of felt. I've found that most ribbing doesn't full at all, in which case I trim it off.
Labels: tools
¶ 3:40 PM
June 03, 2007
Pressure Cooking Cereal
I have several sizes of pressure cookers, ranging from 4-22 quarts, but the 4 quart is the one I use almost all the time. I cook for 1 or 2 people and don't do any canning, so the others are just too big in most cases.
One web resource devoted to pressure cooking knowledge has made a big change in the way I use my cooker:
http://missvickie.com/recipes/recipe-pipinfo.html
The site has a wealth of information on pressure cooking. Several years ago I stumbled into it and found myself wondering why the simple idea I found there, using a "pan in a pot" (PNP) method, hadn't occurred to me in all the years I'd been pressure cooking. So obvious once I tried it...and such an improvement!
I use the PNP method to cook a whole grain cereal blend which is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. I usually cook one and a half cups of the cereal blend at a time, which works out to 4 or 5 servings, which can be reheated in the microwave. I add pieces of dried apricots or prunes to the cereal before reheating for a little sweetness, and I usually eat it with soy milk.
raw cereal blend
The cereal is a blend of whole grains and flakes which have been lightly toasted. Every few months I mix up a batch and then pack it into 1.5 cup portions, an amount that is a perfect fit for the 4 quart cooker.
I start by putting the cereal into a stainless steel bowl and adding 3 cups water (1:2) and about a Tablespoon of butter, which helps to keep the cereal from foaming as it cooks.
Foam can cause the pressure vent to clog so it is undesirable. If the vent clogs (and it does occasionally happen) it causes an immediate and obvious change in the sound of the cooker, at which point the cooker needs to be removed from the heat, cooled under cold running water until the pressure is relieved, and the lid removed so the vent can be cleaned out. At that point the cooker can be returned to the stove to rebuild pressure and finish cooking the food. Adding a little fat to grains or beans eliminates foam problems most of the time.
I then put 2-3 inches of water into the pressure cooker and drop in a rack that keeps the bowl of food sitting about a quarter inch off the bottom of the pot.
ready for cooking
Once the cooker reaches pressure, the weight starts rocking as small amounts of steam escape. At that point I reduce the heat to low (2 on my stove) and remove the cooker from the burner for a minute or two to let the burner and the cooker cool down slightly. Then I return the cooker to the burner and cook the cereal for about 25 minutes, which results in a soft but still slightly chewy textured cereal. After 25 minutes I turn off the heat and allow the cooker to air cool until the pressure has equalized, that takes about 45 minutes or so. Then I take the precautionary measure of running cold water over the cooker to make sure that the pressure really is down, then I remove the weight and carefully slide the lid to the open position and remove it.
after cooking
I use several kinds of flakes in my cereal blend (wheat, triticale, oats and barley) and they cook up into a thick paste which gives the cereal texture a "body" which I like. This paste rises to the top during cooking so it needs to be stirred before storing.
finished cereal, just heat, add a little dried fruit and milk...
I have several sizes of pressure cookers, ranging from 4-22 quarts, but the 4 quart is the one I use almost all the time. I cook for 1 or 2 people and don't do any canning, so the others are just too big in most cases.
4 quart pressure cooker
One web resource devoted to pressure cooking knowledge has made a big change in the way I use my cooker:
http://missvickie.com/recipes/recipe-pipinfo.html
The site has a wealth of information on pressure cooking. Several years ago I stumbled into it and found myself wondering why the simple idea I found there, using a "pan in a pot" (PNP) method, hadn't occurred to me in all the years I'd been pressure cooking. So obvious once I tried it...and such an improvement!
I use the PNP method to cook a whole grain cereal blend which is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. I usually cook one and a half cups of the cereal blend at a time, which works out to 4 or 5 servings, which can be reheated in the microwave. I add pieces of dried apricots or prunes to the cereal before reheating for a little sweetness, and I usually eat it with soy milk.
raw cereal blend
The cereal is a blend of whole grains and flakes which have been lightly toasted. Every few months I mix up a batch and then pack it into 1.5 cup portions, an amount that is a perfect fit for the 4 quart cooker.
I start by putting the cereal into a stainless steel bowl and adding 3 cups water (1:2) and about a Tablespoon of butter, which helps to keep the cereal from foaming as it cooks.
Foam can cause the pressure vent to clog so it is undesirable. If the vent clogs (and it does occasionally happen) it causes an immediate and obvious change in the sound of the cooker, at which point the cooker needs to be removed from the heat, cooled under cold running water until the pressure is relieved, and the lid removed so the vent can be cleaned out. At that point the cooker can be returned to the stove to rebuild pressure and finish cooking the food. Adding a little fat to grains or beans eliminates foam problems most of the time.
I then put 2-3 inches of water into the pressure cooker and drop in a rack that keeps the bowl of food sitting about a quarter inch off the bottom of the pot.
ready for cooking
Once the cooker reaches pressure, the weight starts rocking as small amounts of steam escape. At that point I reduce the heat to low (2 on my stove) and remove the cooker from the burner for a minute or two to let the burner and the cooker cool down slightly. Then I return the cooker to the burner and cook the cereal for about 25 minutes, which results in a soft but still slightly chewy textured cereal. After 25 minutes I turn off the heat and allow the cooker to air cool until the pressure has equalized, that takes about 45 minutes or so. Then I take the precautionary measure of running cold water over the cooker to make sure that the pressure really is down, then I remove the weight and carefully slide the lid to the open position and remove it.
after cooking
I use several kinds of flakes in my cereal blend (wheat, triticale, oats and barley) and they cook up into a thick paste which gives the cereal texture a "body" which I like. This paste rises to the top during cooking so it needs to be stirred before storing.
finished cereal, just heat, add a little dried fruit and milk...
Labels: tools
¶ 2:15 PM
February 14, 2007
Button Samplers
These pictures are experiments with some 3D effects in Painter 5.
These pictures are experiments with some 3D effects in Painter 5.
Labels: digital art, Painter5
¶ 11:31 PM
January 16, 2007
Here, There, and now, Home
Back home after a month away.
Spent a week with family for the holidays in Orange Beach, AL, two weeks working in Palm Harbor, FL, and a week in a car.
Returned to much snow and winter, but glad to be home in spite of it. ¶ 1:14 PM
Spent a week with family for the holidays in Orange Beach, AL, two weeks working in Palm Harbor, FL, and a week in a car.
Returned to much snow and winter, but glad to be home in spite of it. ¶ 1:14 PM
December 14, 2006
Anonymity
Read an obituary this week, of a very successful African-American quilter who lived in Richmond, CA and died at age 70. Her life story is an interesting one, worth a click on the link. Her name was Effie Mae Howard, but she exhibited and sold her quilts under a pseudonym, Rosie Lee Tompkins. Her work was highly regarded, exhibited, and her quilts reportedly sold for thousands of dollars, so she was certainly a successful artist in that sense. But what really intrigued me about this woman was the idea that she was also successful in keeping her private life completely hidden and separate from her professional life/artist personae. Apparently she was so successful that for 26 years only a very few people outside of her immediate family knew that Ms Howard was also Ms Tompkins.
Successfully maintaining anonymity as a successful artist while exhibiting and selling to the public in 2006 strikes me as nothing short of amazing.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about anonymity and its implications and feasibility. It strikes me that the overwhelming trends and forces in our lives today run in the other direction, from the lure of the cult of celebrity to the vast databases, both publicly available and private, that track so many aspects of our lives. Technological innovations which we've embraced such as credit cards, cell phones, TiVo, the internet and email, onstar and loyalty cards leave trails about who we are, who we know, what we like, where we go, and what we do with our lives. Whether we want to or not, whether we realize it or not, we leave our digital footprints, embedded with all kinds of information about us, along paths that are easily traced by anyone motivated enough to learn a few tricks and then follow them.
So it seems incredible to me that Ms Howard could successfully achieve and maintain anonymity as a commercially successful artist in today's world. I understand that her success was due in large part to a good friend who was both trustworthy and well-connected in the art quilt world, a man who worked hard from what I've read, to make her successes possible on her terms. My hat is off to both of them for their fete. And the quilts are beautiful, you can see 5 of them here. ¶ 9:23 AM
Successfully maintaining anonymity as a successful artist while exhibiting and selling to the public in 2006 strikes me as nothing short of amazing.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about anonymity and its implications and feasibility. It strikes me that the overwhelming trends and forces in our lives today run in the other direction, from the lure of the cult of celebrity to the vast databases, both publicly available and private, that track so many aspects of our lives. Technological innovations which we've embraced such as credit cards, cell phones, TiVo, the internet and email, onstar and loyalty cards leave trails about who we are, who we know, what we like, where we go, and what we do with our lives. Whether we want to or not, whether we realize it or not, we leave our digital footprints, embedded with all kinds of information about us, along paths that are easily traced by anyone motivated enough to learn a few tricks and then follow them.
So it seems incredible to me that Ms Howard could successfully achieve and maintain anonymity as a commercially successful artist in today's world. I understand that her success was due in large part to a good friend who was both trustworthy and well-connected in the art quilt world, a man who worked hard from what I've read, to make her successes possible on her terms. My hat is off to both of them for their fete. And the quilts are beautiful, you can see 5 of them here. ¶ 9:23 AM
November 24, 2006
Trashcan, Transformed
It's a manipulation of a photo taken by a friend, Mick Webster:
¶ 3:05 PM
It's a manipulation of a photo taken by a friend, Mick Webster:
