Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Rob Cart - Inspired by Byzantine Tile Design

Monet and Me

are playing with a new toy. From Black Oak Games a set of Celtic Knot Dice. Last year close to Christmas I saw them advertised, but they were sold out of the blue dies. A few weeks ago, they crossed my path again and this time I jumped. I purchased the basic set with 18 cubes. in Just My Shade of Blue

The set came with a booklet with multi-player games to play, puzzles to solve, or you can make your own patterns or traditional patterns like the 4 cube, 2 x 2 thread knot called King Solomon's Knot.

Scrolling through the store there was also a nine die set with Cats and Salmon. Like a crazy cat lady could resist it. This is a stand alone set or it can be combined with the other sets.

So, procrastination desk toy, study aid, or party game, Knot Dice fills the bill.

T Stands For The First Cemetery Hop of the Season

Spring her in Massachusetts has been mostly wet and chilly. Last week, we had the first of Summer like weather so Teague and I decided to do something on our weekly visit.

The weather was my kind of weather. Temperatures pushing 90 oF (32 oC) and an increase in humidity. Just look at that incredible, blue sky Before it got too hot, we headed to St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watertown, just outside of Boston. Teague was looking for a great aunt. 

As is my habit while I help look for the relatives, I visit some of the neighbors and take photos of interesting headstones like the beautiful Celtic cross above.

This little stone belongs to Baby Angelo. The stone is weathered with age and hard to read. Little Angelo didn't make it past his first birthday. I loved the cherub carved in the stone.

As many times as we have visited the cemeteries, I'm always surprised how few visitors have stopped by. I started noticing a few graves with flowers so I took pictures of them. This one had a mix of artificial flowers and someone left a pot of fresh flowers. I wonder if the visitor was there for Mother's Day on May 12.

We searched the area of the cemetery where Teague's relatives were supposed to be buried. We couldn't find a grave. Teague had a map and asked a groundskeeper if we were searching in the right area. He said we were and he couldn't locate the graves.

Teague said it wasn't unusual for her family not to have a stone marker. 

She thought this empty plot was where he relatives were buried.

In between Sullivan and 

Morrison.

This cemetery allows planting and these iris were just about ready to bloom

Another Celtic cross along with a mix of fake flowers and real flowers

Some pretty purple petunias in front of this stone featuring St. Joseph and the Christ child. I also liked the carved lilies on this stone.

I really liked this stone with it's carvings coming out of the rough hewn stone.

Almost like the stonecutter was still working on it.

After the hot work of roaming the cemetery and just past the noon hour, it was time to find some place to have lunch. Since the weather was perfect, my request was some place where we could get ice cream. To me, ice cream is a Summer treat not eaten year round.

Teague consulted Mr. Google and found Cabot's Ice Cream and Restaurant in Newton. Perfect

It was cool inside the small establishment and incredibly noisy. Lots of families with school age children. A surprise mid-week why these kidlets weren't in school.

We started off with some beverages. A Raspberry Lime Rickey for me and Root Beer for Teague. I loved the Pilsner glasses.

I wanted something simple and not something huge. I opted for an egg salad sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and sweet potato fries. I ate half and took the rest home so I could get

an old-fashioned, hot fudge sundae with coconut pineapple ice cream. Teague had a sundae with mint chocolate chip ice cream, caramel or butterscotch topping, and Reese's pieces. The ice cream was a perfect ending to the day.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Color Swatch Test

A color swatch test for a commission I'm working on.

I wanted to gild a part of this illuminated initial. The patron wants colors to be purples, pinks, blues, or greens.

I have used a palette of purple, blue, and green which I like as an alternate to the traditional red, green, and blue.

The purple used isn't as dark as it shows on the scan.

A vine will be meandering down the left side of the paper from the green diamond.

I used shell gold on the vertical infinity symbol in the first test on the left. Meh.

In the middle design, the infinity symbol was gilded with 23 karat gold. I like the bit of bling.

I briefly thought of gilding the infinity symbol with 23 karat gold and painting the letter with the shell gold. But the green and gold looks too St. Patrick.

What are you working on?

The Friday Five

This week, I had the opportunity to teach a children's class at the museum. I had a group of six 11 to 13 year old girls. The class was the Art, Culture, and Language of Ireland. We learned to write an Uncial script (used in the 6th c.) with dip pen and ink, learned to draw knotwork, animals, decorated initials and a few words and phrases in the Irish. Five reasons why I had a good time:

1. After a brief shy period, the girls warmed up and there was chatter in the class while we worked. (The evening adult classes are very, very quiet as most of the adults are coming from a long day of work. They just want a chance to chillax.)

2. Each day we visited something in the gallery, talked about it, and then went back to the studio to work what we had seen into our artwork. We were in one of the Medieval Galleries looking at a Frankish belt buckle that had knotwork etched in the metal. Before we left, I told the girls to look up at the ceiling which was a highly decorated beamed ceiling. I've seen the ceiling a million times and for the first time, I noticed a design that looked like a King Solomon's knot, which was one of the knots we were learning how to draw!

3. I love the willingness of the kids to try. Sometimes when you ask adult students to try something, there's a lot of negative feedback. I can't. I'm not good enough. The girls just jumped right in. Didn't second guess what they were doing. They were very pleased and happy with their efforts. I wonder as adults when we lose that spontaneity?

4. We had a couple of accidents with a little spilled ink on the table. We had fun trying to see what picture we could find in the blot. Rorschach would have been pleased.

5. The best part was introducing these girls to a dip pen and ink. Most had never seen or used a broad-edge pen. They all picked up the alphabet quite quickly and did a wonderful job in such a short time frame. Maybe instead of doing their report covers on the computer, they'll decorate their covers by hand.

Did you have a fun week?

Knot Working

I'm knot working. That is, I'm trying to weave Celtic knots. This is a 4 x 4 King Solomon's knot made up of 4 strands. This one actually turned out. Usually I get lost in the weave and have problems with left/right. Looks a little like a quilt square. I can barely sew on buttons so this will be as close to quilting as I can get.

Have you worked at something that isn't your strength?