Cycle
Although March in Toronto could bring us another large amount of snow, yesterday we did the sensible thing. We walked through our neighbourhood to see if there are any earth children getting ready to peek outside yet.
In our front-yard, under the sour cherry tree. It has begun.
The dog-park, a long swath of land without houses. Right near our house, in what can be considered the middle-eastern part of the city.
Water flooded ice.
Looks like mother earth is making some nature art pieces inspired by Andy Goldsworthy
Our mission of the moment: collecting sticks for building (I will post a picture of our porch soon (grin)
Beautiful decay
Maybe this is how the sport got started?
On our local little rink in the park just to the south-west of our house.
Back-Tack 4 Goodies from Pam
I wish the box that Pam sent me could tell me about it's wild travels across the ocean. It came the way by land and sea. The old-fashioned way, the way of the original immigrants of this continent. I like that. Slow, a way that many things in life are made better.
Thank you very much Pam for the lovely, thoughtful presents.
I almost stumbled over the package as I was virtually running out the door to get an errand done before 5 pm.
I gave it a big hug and put it aside to wait for my return.
Huxley knew that I had been waiting for it and when I asked him if he wanted to help me unpack it he inquired if it had anything in it for him. I said, I don't think so, but I bet there are things inside we can share.
But I was wrong, Pam very, very thoughtfully did include a package just for Huxley.
Milk chocolate and a fossil magnet (Pam, have you had secret conversations with Huxley?)… these goodies where bang on, as Huxley loves chocolate (being part-swiss, it's in his gens I think) and he has recently shown a great interest in dinosaurs and fossils.
Of course, there where also many wonderful things for me. A sketchbook, arrived just the day that my old one has finished (okay Pam, where's the camera you have smuggled into my house), a little note book that smells wonderful, a gorgeous mug in grey with white polka dots, glittery candles and the most delicate set of drawings on cards. Believe me, I will not use those for anything, except to hang them up. The yellow in them will look wonderful in our living room.
Thank you very much Pam! You have hit the nail right on the head with your chosen goodies.
PS: Huxley did give me a couple of pieces of chocolate….
Lost my Rhythm
At the beginning of the year I had a very nice rhythm going with getting up, putting the pictures from the camera onto the 'puter, writing a blog entry and still leaving the house in time to get to the studio early. These past few weeks, the rhythm has been more like an anti-rhythm. Wishful thinking. Fantasy. Just not happening.
So please forgive my lack in posting. There has been creativity behind the scenes and lots is planned for the next weeks and even more for the warmer months when I can work outside in the back yard (and I'm not only talking about gardening).
When I was looking for a portrait picture for a web piece I need to submit to a website of the Swiss-consulate, I came across images of the first quilt I have ever done. So better than showing nothing is showing something you have not see before.
It was a baby quilt for a little one named Om. She just celebrated her 2nd birthday a few weeks ago, so this was created over a year ago. I had sewn the top from japanese designer whose name I don't remember, that I purchased in New York at Purl Soho as a set of fat quarters. But when I washed the fabric it to partially stained by a bit of red that was in another fabric also in the machine. It was not a very obvious thing, but enough that I had to cut and trim out every single fat quarter. I was left with a lot of different size squares and rectangles. Hence the designing part was simply to try and sew all the good bits together into a semi coherent fabric with a bit of solid orange cotton and some bird fabric from Ikea thrown in. The backing and the binding fabric is also from Ikea and I used the circles of the trees as the quilting pattern. I sewed the circles freehand and with a purposeful roughness to them. Although I admire precision quilting greatly, I'm an interpretive soul.
"Om" about 42" x 42" finished fall 2007
Animal House
Early last summer Huxley had a rough day at school, a day where his teacher suggested that he should have extra exercise to work off some of his energy. As if I had sensed that, I had already on the way to pick him up from school decided to start a large project for him, something involving wood, made by using power tools by me and lots of sanding by him. So, the idea of his animal house was manifesting.
But let's step back a little bit. Last year I used to drop him off at the Waldorf school every morning. He used to be the first child there and I always went into the class room with him. In the initial months he wished to have me sit at the play kitchen table while he would prepare me a cup of pretend tea. During the late spring months he developed a fascination with the "doll house" there. I put that word into quotation marks, because he never played with dolls in it. He loved to play with the little bits of furniture an take everything out and put it back in. I wanted to have one for our home as well. Something beautiful with wood, large so that it can hold a number of rooms, with an attic (because I love the mysteries of attics and Huxley too has a fascination for them).
Online I found my favourite one, the Ostheimer Farmhouse, which was just out of reach for us, especially as it had to be shipped up from the states and across the border. Then I saw Seri's Dollhouse and thought to myself that even though I am not a woodworker, I should be able to create something along those lines. I had watched my own dad make many things in his workshop.
On that early summer day I brought Huxley home to have his nap with daddy watching over him and went to procure some wood. Not an easy task I realized as the regular home improvement store chain only had boards up to 12" wide and I wanted something a bit larger. There is an immense amount of skills involved in building with wood. It is not for naught that men working with wood spend countless hours in their shops (grin).
Eventually I ended up at a lumberyard where I purchased one sheet of 8' x 4' piece of Oak-veneer Playwood in 1/2" thickness, which really measures 1/4". It cost about $60 and I had it cut into two four by four foot pieces to fit it into the back of the mini van.
At home I first made a rough sketch and played around with a measuring tape to visualize the size of the house. Then I made a plan to figure out how to lay out the pieces to waste the least amount of wood. I set up the work bench in the back yard, got out the Jigsaw and after drawing my shapes onto the wood started to cut them out. For the window openings I used a small hole saw attached to our drill and made holes into the rough middle of each window. I wanted to preserve the cut-outs to turn them into shutters.
It was challenging, but not really hard. Huxley watched and it was a great exercise for him to learn to stay back when the tool was in use, far back! I also unplugged the saw at the end of each cut! I think that is the most important part when working with powertools around children. I also ensured that I used goggles and construction gloves.
Sitting on the back porch we sanded all the pieces and chatted together. Of course Mami did most of it, but Huxley was really proud to help. To construct the house I used nails. Not a very elegant solution, but I wanted for him to help me hammer them in. We used way more nails than necessary, but looking at the house I will always remember the summer of 2008 when we worked in each nail.
I did make a calculation error when I cut out the front part of the roof and cut it too narrow. Something I felt made the whole house look very bad and just didn't work with my design. I then re-cut the piece. I guess there is something to the notion to "meassure twice, cut once". Who would have thought… Huxley also told me he wanted for the stairs to be inside the house after we had already assembled most of it. It was a challenge to cut those openings and they are certainly not elegant.
Now, let's have some views of the house as it is right now:
Front view with attic roof closed
Front view with attic roof opened (you can see the wood filler used to cover up some of the uneven cuts made by the jigsaw (not me of course… grin..)
Side view showing some of the windows and the stair holes
One of the features very important to me, was to make a house so that it could be played with from all sides. I made a very large door on the back wall to allow little hands to reach in and play.
Back-view, observing the action in the house. looks like there are some dinosaurs visiting.
A house of course needs furniture. Huxley had wanted a large table for months, before I was possessed while(!) cooking dinner to quickly go and cut some pieces of wood and make a table and six chairs. All I did was cut down a pine board and used some square piece of wood cut into lenghts. Nailed the board to two table legs and voila, a table.
At Christmas time I included a set kitchen furniture in Huxley's advent calendar and now the house has a kitchen and dining area.
We have left to do:
Make stairs (although Huxley is now talking about an elevator… oh-dear)
Install shutters and small doors (hinges got purchased yesterday after the Ostheimer way of tying them with leather straps did not work)
Paint the house (Huxley's dearest wish and my job to source non-toxic paints – I'll keep you posted on my finds)
Build some beds, complete with mattress and bedding
Putting in some carpet on the inside (something I hope to weave with Huxley in the summer time)
This was mainly a Mami and son project, but Daddy did help holding and sanding a little. For us it is very important for Huxley to see that you can make and build anything. It makes going to stores easier too, as when he points something out that I really don't want to buy, he is starting to say that we can just make it at home.
And just to clarify. It is not a doll house! But to just call it a house might not tell you that Huxley wants his animals to live there. His knights go visit there too, but it does belong to the animals. So I have been told.