Dyed? Who Dyed?

Anyone remember I Love Lucy? We used to love watching that show when I was a kid. There was one series of episodes where Lucy and Ethel were driving across country for some crazy Lucy reason. She ended up hitchhiking or picked up a hitchhiker, but there was a woman who was sure Lucy was an escaped killer, and Lucy thought she was the killer. They wound up at a truck stop diner and the woman was trying to raise the suspicions of the waitress. She pointedly asked Lucy if her hair was dyed. Lucy screamed out, "Died? Who died??"

But I digress....

I did it. I cheated. This week for 52 Projects I am holding on to last week's hemp theme and decide to buy more and dye it. I want to make another plant hanger or two and use some color and decided on a two toned black and red look. Very basic, very sophisticated. I am so all that :)

So, off to the store for more hemp and some Rit dye. The instructions are written such that you need a proton microscope to read them so I went to the Rit web site and found nice, easy to read directions. What did we do before the Interwebs?

I decided to do the "sink or bucket" method since we have a nasty dirty stained slop sink the basement. Yup... just like yours. I was glad it was not the sink or swim method though my swim pace is about 1:50 per 100 yds. But, again, I digress.

First, wash the hemp in hot water. I had already cut it in the desired lengths and knotted them together in bundles.



Pre-mix the dye in really hot water


Add the premixed dye to - you guessed it; hot water



Add the material to the dye solution



Swish the material around for 10 - 30 minutes. 10 - 30? Really? That's a pretty wide margin. I went with about 15.



Oh, just before you are ready to drain the tub make sure to remember that you forgot to add some extra lengths of rope for wrapping around the ring and for making the top and bottom Alpine coil knots



Let the dye solution run out of the tub


Rinse the material in, wait, what was that? Oh yeah, hot water that gets progressively cooler until it runs clear. The progressively cooler part was not hard since "somebody" decided to run the dishwasher and take a shower at the same time, while I was working. How can an artist create under these conditions? I was so distraught I have no pictures of the rinsing process

After rinsing, wash the material in, wait for it... hot water, and then rinse with progressively cooler water.



Allow to dry. I hung it on a chair in the driveway.



Hemp is interesting stuff. The water turned a yellowish brown when I washed it and the wet hemp had a strong, musky, almost manure like smell. It also swelled a bit and curled up on itself. Once I got done all the dying and washing and rinsing I untangled it as best I could to let it hang dry. I'll keep you posted on how it progresses with drying. I did find a web site where the author posts several steps about conditioning and dyeing hemp. I may follow some of the post dyeing steps.

Duuuude, it's like, hemp.

This is one of those projects that I've been wanting to do for a long time and 52 Projects finally gave me the impetus to just do it. Once I made the decision I was charged up with excitement and all sorts of ideas. I even chose to work on this rather than run or swim on Saturday, and I very rarely blow of workouts. So, what got me so jacked up? Macrame!

Here's the story. My father always had a lot of house plants when I was growing up. He had them all over the house and took meticulous care of them. He'd haul them out to the kitchen table every so often and water them with a bulb baster, tracking every drop of water in a marble composition book. Can you see where I get some of my anal retentive tendencies? After my father passed, I inherited many of his plants. One in particular was an Asparagus Fern that used to hang in the kitchen window above the sink. I've had it with me in several places I lived and for the past few years it was in my cube at work. I re-potted it a couple of times and it needed it again. Badly. What it also needed was a throw back circa 1974 macrame plant hanger. No problem, right? Just head over to the Home Depot garden section. Nope. Lowes? Nope. Local garden center? Nope. Google? Well, there were a few but nothing that really grabbed me. This needed to be just right. Jane had supposedly found some in a thrift store. She even called me to ask if she should buy them. Hello?? Of course!! But for some reason, she didn't. That was the last straw. Only one thing to do; make one!

Like a good child of the '70s I went straight to Google to figure out what to do. I looked at several instruction pages before settling on this one. It seemed easy enough. I spent my lunch hour Friday at AC Moore, Michael's and Home Depot gathering the supplies (hemp, beads, and rings)



and spent a good part of Friday night reading the instructions and getting started.


First I wrapped the ring for the top


Then I measured out the strands



I attached the strands to the ring


Then I started knotting like mad


I was so excited I spent all my free time on Saturday re-potting plants


and working on the hanger. I tried all sorts of knots and twists and braids. I used some cool aqua and black beads but had to drill out the center hole to accommodate the rope.


I had to check the size against the pot. The instructions were very vague as far as sizing. They were pretty vague on a lot of things.



And then........... it was done!!





The fern looks happier already (maybe not to you but I know it is.) Just wait a few weeks and I'll post again and you see how much it's grown in its new hang out.


I learned quite a bit from this adventure and know that the next one I make will be much better. The instructions were very simple, maybe too simple, and included what I thought was a huge error; she states to start with 16 strands, but you only need 8. You double them over at the ring and that's where you get 16. Try it, you'll see.

Some other things I learned;

Working on the floor is uncomfortable
It's hard to concentrate when the tv is on
It's difficult to picture the hanger in 3D when it's laying flat on the floor
Cut your strands at least 50% longer than you think you'll need. Knots make the ropes shorter :)
Keep the strands tight or the knots will not be tight
Pay attention to which way you tie knots so the others will be symmetrical ( if you want symmetry)
Pay attention to the diameter of the strands compared to the diameter of beads (if you want to use beads)
Pay attention to which way things twist. Once you tie them together they won't untwist. That's the good news and the bad news

I am already planning on at least two more. For one I am going to experiment with dying the hemp. Is it cheating if I use that for 52 Projects? I've never dyed hemp rope before.

A Shopping Trip

I decided to do something a bit different for 52 Projects this week. I'll admit that I didn't have much planned before Friday or so, and that I've not been as excited as I was a few weeks ago. With the warmer weather here, K-Dog playing softbal, and my training picking up I haven't been planning properly and the last couple of weeks were sort of fly by the seat of my pants. I will say, though, that I noted in my very first 52 Projects post that some of my projects would be last minute wing it kind of things. I will do better moving forward because I really do think this is a great idea and I want to be a part of it, and be an active, present, and thoughtful part of it.

Which brings us to this week. As some may know, Jane and I have been church shopping. I have been a member for over 20 years of a Unity church, which is part of the Association of Unity Churches and the Unity School of Christianity. It is a scripture based Christian church that digs deeply into the metaphysics of the Bible. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore founded the Unity movement in the late 1800's and it's been going strong ever since.

The church I belonged to was in Philadelphia, then moved to NJ. My ex wife and I eventually moved to NJ too. We were very involved there and raised our kids there. I've served on the Board of Directors, acted as Ministry Head for various ministries, and had a strong commitment to the Church. To make a long story short, as years went by, I felt less and less fulfilled there. I stopped going as often, especially after my marriage ended. My ex still went (she still does) and it was awkward at times. She and I had been a strong couple there and it was hard for us, and hard for others to see us apart.

Anyway, fast forward to now. I live about 22 miles away and it takes a good 45 minutes to get there. Getting home is even worse, trying to get across the city on a Sunday afternoon. Jane and I have been several times (the Senior Minister married us) but it just doesn't feel like home for either of us. There is much good there, and maybe if it were closer there wouldn't be as much of an issue. But, maybe not. Even when I was single and lived much closer I didn't go regularly. It no longer felt like home.

So... we've been shopping, and today we went to the Main Line Unitarian Church, part of the Universalist Unitarian movement. We went to a different Unitarian chrch a few weeks ago but weren't too crazy about it. This one felt much better and we will be going back.

Here's the 52 Projects part; I actually engaged with other people there. I was open with them and talked about myself. I even introduced myself to the Senior Minister. In our previous shopping experiences I've pretty much kept to myself and didn't reach out or talk with others unless spoken to, and then it was just superficial pleasantries. This time I asked questions, talked about my previous church experiences, even shared with one woman that I have a 12 step background. I never talk about that. If felt really good to put myself out there and be open to a new experience. I'm not sure that this will be my new church home but it's the closest we've come so far. I'll keep you posted :)


Ok, this is freaky; a very good friend of mine from Unity (the old church) just called to check in on me. How weird is that???

There'll be Pie in the Sky By and By

Another week, another team project for 52 Projects. This weekend Jane and I went to a local Church family fun day and entered a pie eating contest. No small coincidence that this is something we've both wanted to do for some time because, of course, we are the same. It wasn't a world class pie eating contest, but it was fun and a good way to start competitive eating. Hey, maybe that's my next gig after Ironman Lake Placid!

Jane has a great write up on the 52 Projects main page so I won't force you to read about it over here too. I will post some different pictures though.


My game face



Flashing the P, for Pie. But it's backwards. So much for intimidating the competition.


WINNER!!!!

Playing with Paint Shop Pro

I've mentioned a few times here that I was planning on posting some digital art for 52 Projects some week. Well, this is some week.


With no further adieu...


















These are all from my tree pruning project last week.

Tree Trimming

Tree trimming usually happens in December when spruce and pine get adorned with the beauty of professional sports teams’ licensed merchandise, but I’ve taken a different route. Ok, I am taking a different definition of trimming. More like pruning. Our backyard neighbor has a beautiful flowering fruit tree, probably a Cherry Blossom, that provides beauty and shade to his yard. And our yard. And our back porch. Right up to the back door. I knew late last summer that this tree would need pruning on our side of the fence. It hangs over a small back deck where our grill is, and was beginning to get in the way. I kept meaning to get around to it but this week the thing seemed to explode in bloom over night and completely take over the deck. It was time. In fact, it was 52 Projects time.

I looked into renting one of those telescoping tree pruning saws. First place I called place didn’t carry them. They guy on the phone kind of laughed at the notion of renting them and said there was too much liability. Hmmm. What could possibly go wrong when working overhead with heavy branches near electrical lines? I called another tool rental place and they did rent them, but were out. I guess there are a lot of trees hanging over back decks around here. Undaunted, I set out to buy my own. Though we are renting a house now we will have our own place soon enough and every good homeowner needs a 14 foot telescoping tree pruning saw.

Never having used one before it took me a little bit to realize that the saw blade and the cutting mechanism are separate parts of the tool. The rope hanging down from the business end is for operating the shears, not for operating the saw. Maybe there was something to the notion of not renting these things out.

After some assembly I figured out the not so very complicated mechanism and set out to free the grill from the attack of the Cherry Blossoms. I asked Max if he wanted to help and he was very excited about the notion of cutting things. I told him there would be some manual labor at first and later we’d use a power saw. That really got him going. That brought me to another first for 52 Projects; teaching Max how to use hand saws and power saws safely and effectively. In light of the lack of blood this seems to have been a success.

Here are some before and after pictures

Do, do do, looking out my back door....

Up the down staircase

A view from a yard



Here are some during pictures

We used my reciprocating saw to cut the branches down to manageable bits

Then we stuffed them in the mandatory recyclable yard waste bags

Now we can grill on the back deck without fear of arbor attacks.

(And yes, I did put the snow shovels, rock salt, and tree stand away. Hey, we may still have another frost coming!)

Weekend Wood

This week, for 52 Projects, I decided that I would play with tools. I did not complete anything, rather I've started something.

I've always been fascinated by wood. I love the smell of fresh cut lumber, I like to the look of broken timber, and, as we found out earlier, I have a thing for driftwood. This spring I have seen different types of wood lying around; downed branches, fallen tress, etc. One day I was out running and I saw a log that was in a pile of yard clean up stuff. As I ran by it I could see a face carved in it. By me. All I needed to do was 1) remember where I saw it and go back later with the car 2) learn to carve. Pretty simple eh? We'll see how it all works out but I've started. I got a cheap set of starter carving tools, cut a slab off the log, and started playing. I didn't get too far since we were so busy over the weekend but it's a start. This will be a work in progress but eventually will make it back to 52 Projects.