Money

Another random/weird thing to add to the list: I'm allergic to money. An allergy to nickel means that handling coins for any length of time causes me to break out in a rash. This aversion to money seems to be manifesting in other more subtle ways as well.... so I'm going to take a bit of a blogging break to focus my energies, finish some deadlines, and come back as a brighter, sharper, cleaner kinda person.

Tagged...

Last month kbd of South of the Sahara tagged me to share 7 random and/or weird things about myself....

1. My home language is Afrikaans, but nowadays I only seem to speak it when I talk to my mom. So I'm losing words.
2. I don't think it's possible to have too many pencils. Or paints. Or art supplies of any sort. You'll always find a use for them.
3. I can't drive. I have a licence, but I don't trust my ability to make decisions quickly.
4. I always read the instructions.
5. I cook rice the same way I cook pasta. Any kind of rice. Whatever the instructions say.
6. I'm not the designated rice-cooker at home.
7. I can pretty much make a meal from condiments, but you wouldn't want to taste it.

...so there you go. Seven not so weird but fairly random things. I'm not going to tag anyone else because I think everyone's done this one recently.

Right off topic - Beet!

I want to make this, I really do. I have no idea why. Beet from Berroco, via You Grow Girl (thanks, Michelle, for sending me the link!)

You make my day!

So there you are, feeling tired and gloomy and all sort of "Why bother?" and then bloggers come to the rescue! Kat of anything goes posted this photo of her bookshelf that had me smiling all day.

And Kaija of Paperiaarre gave me a "You Make My Day" award. Thank you both!

The award rules are:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs.

So I'm passing it on to....
Mamagenerica, because she makes me laugh (and think)
sakurasnow, because her blog is so beautiful
vlijtig, because her blog reminds me why I like making things, and that certainly makes my day
Agence eureka, who posts the most incredible vintage images and paper constructables
anything goes, for the lovely lovely things she posts about... just have a look at that tea party!

I know I still have a tag from South of the Sahara to respond to, from way back in January....

What do you do when it's time to feed babies?

Well, I just grin and ignore them.

Ben Williams of Book SA took lots of photos at the launch, and you can see them here, as well as a write up of the evening. I missed Friday's post at Book SA of another page from my comic; I've been a bad blogger lately.

Thanks to Heather and Trevor, here are a few more photos of the launch:


I bet you'd also be pulling a funny face if someone was crouching under a table trying to take a picture of you....

The Launch

The I Don't Like Chocolate launch is finally over, and everyone survived. And could do with quite a lot of beer, thank you! It was fun, although parts of it felt very much like turning up for an exam and realising you've been studying the wrong books all year....

I'm no good in front of microphones, and had to do a radio interview, a tv interview and a speech all in one day. I didn't imagine for a second I'd be able to do a good job of any of these, so I just clung to the knowledge that the only way out was forward, and it would all be over soon. I gabbled, I giggled, and thankfully didn't actually burst into tears. Afterwards I defaced quite a few books trying to sign my name with a very shaky hand. I'm really so much better on paper than in real life!

It was lovely, though, to see so many people I hadn't seen for ages - when you draw comics you tend to stay indoors by yourself a lot. I met a good few bloggers, too! The food, by Karen Dudley, was amazing, and Oshun, who published the book, were wonderful. They made some great posters for the launch; the frames looked completely different blown up.

Speaking of frames, you'd be right in thinking that there really should be photos of the occasion in this post. I was so dizzy I completely forgot to take pictures - yes, really. I noticed a few other people with cameras (and why that didn't jog my memory I'll never know.... my camera was in my bag all the time...) and when I get hold of them I'll post links to the photos. Instead, a photo of the building next door, obviously a lot older than the building we were in, and once the tallest building on the block. Now you can only see this sign from the window I took the picture from, an alley's width away.

Thank you for all the good wishes - it helped a lot!

I'll be listing limited edition digital prints of pages from the book in my jezzeprints Etsy shop for the next while, starting today. And in addition to Loot and Kalahari, the book is also available here.

Setting Up

Almost ready for the book launch tomorrow evening. I'm completely exhausted, and aiming to be in bed by 9pm tonight. Needing sleep, because tomorrow I'm being interviewed on the radio - eep!

Listen to SAFM just after the 1pm news on Friday to hear me trying to think of intelligent, or at least intelligible, things to say....

Just one tiny chocolate....

Nothing much to show today, as I'm working on illustrations for a children's book, but Heather reminded me that I'd completely forgotten to mention that I Don't Like Chocolate is on sale online here and here!

Test Strips

There's an amazing trim and ribbon shop just down the road from where I live, called the Palms Haberdashery. It's amazing partly because it's within walking distance, but mostly because you never know what you'll find there. Ribbon is sold by the roll, sometimes flawed, sometimes shop-soiled, and seldom in colours you'd expect. It's cheap enough that you can buy ribbon just because it's lovely, and probably find a use for it some day.

My stash of broad satiny ribbon is growing; I can't print on it with fabric ink, as it won't withstand the heat of curing. But oil-based blockprinting ink gives a very sharp print with a nice texture. I couldn't put it up for sale without knowing how it washes, though, so I made some test strips to throw in with my laundry. It's on about 10 washes now, and I've been recklessly washing it with jeans and towels - it's holding up well! Just a few more washes, to be certain...


... and I think I'll make headbands from these.

I just found out that my Rocketmail account is dead, and can't be reactivated because it's no longer supported. I've had that account for about 10 years. I tried to remember to check it every few months, because people do still contact me on it, and I had some juicy emails stored on there too. All gone. It's the end of an era.

Oh, and if you want to go looking for the Palms Haberdashery, it's on Lower Main Road in Salt River, but not where the sign for Palms Haberdashery is. It's on the opposite side of the street. Where the sign says Palms Remnants and Halaal Food. Haphazard, yes.

Looking for home

Prints of this little bird have just been listed in my print and paper Etsy shop!

There's another short story from my comic on the Oshun blog on Book SA, as well.

(I promise there'll be some actual block printing content on the blog tomorrow - if you're not tired of all this comic stuff yet, I am. Everything's pretty much organised for the launch, except of course for the one big thing that I'm bound to have forgotten, but I won't know what that is till Friday, because it's something I've forgotten, and that's how it works....)

Links to love

It's like a snowstorm around here with little bits of paper doily fluttering everywhere. I've been so busy I've barely had time for a systematic read through all the blogs in my bookmarks folder. (I'm old-fashioned like that.... rss? Know nothing about it.)

A few lovely things I've spotted on small expeditions online: the most amazing mural at sakura snow, a yummy selection of lino blocks at elly joel (as well as prints made with them, and stencil prints - have to try that!), and utterly charming stamps at vlijtig. Scroll down a bit for some blockprinted fabric, and have a look at her bag made from vintage embroidery.

Irene from Bloesem has taken lovely photos of some blockprinted tape I sent her, and directed loads of people this way, as have freshly{blended} and from amsterdam, with love. Thank you!