3 days of weeds

Trying to do a drawing a day, a drawing that doesn't involve bicycles. I've drawn 36 bicycles in the last 2 weeks. Tiny, tiny bicycles.

Hertzoggies

Like any food left out, these will attract flies, so I suppose I'm still on topic for what's become the Week of Flies...

Hertzoggies are fairly easy to make, if a bit fiddly. But I think any recipe with more than 2 steps (mix, bake) is fiddly. For a more descriptive photo and a recipe, have a look here. And if you don't like coconut, you can always make Jan Smutsies. (Thanks, Jo, for the links!)

More flies

This is where yesterday's flies came from. (Sorry about the shine on the print - it's too big to scan!) It's not the final print, but a proof close to final. The shadows on the knees were softened a bit, I remember. As usual, I pulled one final print, handed it in, and moved on to the next thing. And now I can't find the print.


It's the last big woodblock I did, partly because you need a press to pull prints that big, and partly because it took such a long time to carve. After a month of chipping I was a bit sick of woodblocks. It's called 'Safe Sex' - I'm not really sure why.... I was 23 at the time, so perhaps I was feeling a tad angsty. (I was a teenager until well into my 20's.)

Flies

There's a bit of Goth* in the old girl yet!

These pretty cotton pillowcases lacked a certain something, so I lifted an image of a plastic fly from an old woodcut print of mine, and went a bit buzzy with some black ink. I haven't listed them in the shop yet, but I'll try to do it by tomorrow.

*Define it however you like, but to me it means: lots of black and a bit of sarcasm.

Cut here....

New ribbon in my shop: sewing scissors and paper scissors. (Yes, they are different, and no, you can't just quickly cut a tiny piece of paper with my sewing scissors.... )

New cups

I've listed some new cups and mugs in my shop.

Happy ending

Remember this mug? I sold it last year, just before Christmas. Unfortunately it broke in transit. (Not something that happens often, I promise! I can't imagine what the Post Office did to the parcel.) Luckily the very ingenious buyer, Chakra Pennywhistle*, thought of sending the broken mug to The Broken Plate, who turned it into these pretty pendants. They're for sale in her Etsy shop right now. $5 from each sale goes to the Peninsula School Feeding Association here in South Africa.

I walk past their office every day on my way to the Post Office, so they were the first charity that sprang to mind. I like the idea that proceeds from a drinking vessel will go towards providing something for kids to eat and drink.

*If you haven't already, check out Chakra Pennywhistle's Etsy shop for beautiful hand printed pillows and children's clothes.

Phew!

Four hours' sleep isn't enough for large mammals. It certainly isn't enough for me. All that's keeping me going is double strength coffee in my favourite Skinny laMinx mug....

The deadline's nearly done, and then I'll have some new things to show. Until then, have a look at a great article about tea towels on Etsy. Elizabeth from flying rhymes organised it last year, and put in so much work, coaching me, at least, into taking a good photo and writing a decent few lines. It was fun to do, and a very useful lesson in how to present things. Thanks, Elizabeth!

Tea towels

Some of these tea towels are now in my shop. I've resolved the pricing issue, I think, by offering free shipping within South Africa. Thanks for your help!

Six of six

Alex from the sunday project tagged me with this: "Open the 6th picture folder on your computer, open the 6th photo and blog it. Write something about it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same."

So there it is. I wasn't even aware that I still had this photo stored on my pc; it's a beaded knitted cuff that I made for my sister years ago. I love the feel of bead knitting, and working out patterns with the beads. After a few more cuffs I made some handbags, too. The beads gave them a lovely weight and sturdiness, plus they made a great sound when you put them down on a hard surface.

I'm tagging:

Wren
Skinny laMinx
Paperiaarre
sakurasnow
yes, I MADE that
Mielie Peeps

Question and answer

Second-generation koeksisters, photo just because I really like the tea towel!

A question for international sellers (and buyers): do you price your products in your local currency and then convert to dollars? Or do you try to price in dollars? Are your prices for local buyers different from your Etsy prices?

I've been pricing in SA Rands and then converting to US dollars (and adjusting the prices if there are large fluctuations in the exchange rate). It seemed to be the simplest and most honest way to do things, but it appears that I'm undercutting people who price in dollars... What would be fair to everybody, to customers and to other sellers?

I suppose what I'm really asking is: should I have the same prices for local and international buyers?

An answer to the koeksister queries: last week's koeksister photo was a bit misleading. They looked good, but didn't taste so wonderful. Dry and bready on the inside. We tried again, and got it right! Here's how: it helps to have all or most of the dough rolled, cut and plaited before you start frying. Waiting for the next batch can let the oil get too hot. They should fry quite slowly - you should have to turn them in the oil a few times to get them golden brown all over. Only do a few at a time, so that the cooked ones can sit in the syrup for a good long while. Immerse them in the syrup, and keep them under. "Drown them like a witch" explains it best.

I eat my words...

Silk screened

Stenciled

A run of tea towels I printed last week.

The silk screening thing snuck up on me, as my plan was to stencil everything. I think I saw stenciling as a sort of compromise between block printing and screen printing; I'd still be able to use individual units to compose the pattern while printing, but I'd be able to see where to place them very accurately, and be able to lay more ink down than I can with blocks. I struggled with stenciling both neatly and quickly, though. After spending more time printing than I'd meant to, something snapped - and I taped the stencil to a screen.

Most of these went to fill an order, but I'll try to get some in my shop soon. Photographing and listing on Etsy currently has to take a backseat to illustration; due to some rather bad planning I'm working on three different books this week.

I'll be cutting a big stencil for the star prints, to be able to print the whole towel in one swipe. But I'll still have to use individual stencils to do this:

Only the one so far...

... but I have a large stash of vintage fabric, so more will follow. This one's in my shop.

It's the only one for now, because I got sidetracked by the fascinating craft of screen printing. (Anyone who's had to hear my opinions about screen printing before, prepare to laugh: I like my prints, I liked printing them, I have plans for more. I apologise to the screenprinting world for all the things I've ever said. It's not foolproof, but it certainly is quick. Show you tomorrow.)

Please don't dwell on the scary shiny blue stuff I'm knitting with. It's vintage, it's 93% wool, it's crepe, it was cheap, I'm using a vintage pattern, and I'm sure it will be an amusing cardigan at the very least.

Bit part

A few little reading books I illustrated last year.


Someone called Emile managed to feature quite heavily in them, although sometimes he had to put on a disguise.

Paperiaarre

This little brooch arrived in my postbox today! I've admired it for ages, and I'm so pleased it's finally mine. It's made by Paperiaarre - have a look at her beautiful blog and Etsy shop. (She still has one brooch left, in brown leather.)

The prettiest tea towel

From Leanne Graeff. Available in her Etsy shop, along with other equally great designs. (And it's not just the print that's pretty; the linen itself is almost too lovely for a tea towel, and I think I'll find another use for this one...)

Purses and recipes

I've started stocking my shop with little purses like this one. Zips? Pah! I'm so over them. (Of course I can't put zips into flat openings neatly. But perhaps I won't ever need to.)

As for recipes, I've found a few for koeksisters, some with eggs, some with buttermilk etc etc. I can vouch for the butttermilk one. What they don't all tell you, and what can only be found out from the nastier cooking sites*, is that the oil for frying should not be too hot, else the koeksisters will cook too quickly on the outside, and that they should be drowned in the syrup. Push them under and keep them there till you fear for their safety.

*The kind of sites that make you feel foolish for ever attempting anything more complicated than opening a tin, because cooking is so very difficult, and only for the gifted, and oops! these instructions just slipped out, because they're actually very very secret. Weird.

Hot!

On Saturday we made koeksisters.