I feel so SPOILED

Thought I would start by mentioning that Adam wrote a VERY good blog about knives that he posted on his Hanged Man Designs blog. You can read it HERE.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was better than I could have ever imagined, and left me feeling giddy and a little spoiled. I got to spend Christmas eve with my Dad, husband, step-mom and daughter. We had a lovely meal and my dad got me a new bicycle....



not just any bike... THE BIKE. I didn't really tell him what I wanted, and he got me THE EXACT bike I wanted. It is an adorable pink Townie Electra cruiser. I saw it about 2 years ago before I knew I was pregnant with Autumn and I kind of fell in love. It is the bike that got me interested in biking (that and the fact that I HATE driving) . It is so undeniably ME. I am so excited! Adam and I and a friend of ours went for a 20 mile round trip ride on Saturday, before I hooked Autumns trailer up- Adam Towed her on my old bike, a hand me down with some very noticeable issues, but quite functional. I went for about a 14 mile ride on Monday towing Autumn, and that trip has a huge incline for a large portion of it. And of course I have been riding it to work. I LOVE IT.

On Christmas day I spent the morning with Autumn and Adam and we went to visit extended family in the afternoon. We had another very nice meal and enjoyed the company of relatives.

I received some money in the mail from my mom and so we decided that I could use it to buy screen printing supplies... somehow... even though my husband and I both know I do NOT need another hobby...

We were planning on getting a yudu setup because it looks soooo EASY, but we found photoez and they have a complete starter kit with ink for about $100. The main difference is that there isn't really a light box, but in Albuquerque we have lots of direct sunlight, so that should not be a problem! I will post a product review after I get it. Here is their website... http://ezscreenprint.com/



It looks even EASIER than yudu! The screens are basically reusable paper!

so I have spent a lot of time doodling and trying to come up with ideas for things to print, but I am leaving for Michigan early Thursday, so I probably will not get to try it until I get home. I have a few sketches already and some old sketches, then I also want to do a few roller derby related Screens too, oh, and probably at least one sugar skull. I probably should have ordered extra photoez screen papers with my order... I am sure these will go a little too fast. It means now that my fashion studio is pretty complete! I just need to get my old surger working, or sell it on CL and get a domestic one that is easier to use.

Hope yours was as merry and bright. This may have been the best Christmas I have ever had... and I was starting to think I was getting too old for Christmas.

Friday Update

Hi!

It is Friday again, and I am so EXCITED for the upcoming weekend! My lovely daughter is turning 1 on Saturday! We are having a party, probably a fairly small party because it seems like no one is in town. I spent last night making 4 different types of cupcakes. We will have "funfetti" cupcakes, chocolate fudge cupcakes with chocolate frosting, yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting and marble cupcakes. I also made 2 pans of chicken enchiladas and one pan of cheese enchiladas, a pan of rice and a pan of mac n cheese which are in the freezer until Saturday. We will also have black beans, fried popcorn chicken, brown sugar veggies, salad, guacamole, salsa, chips... and we will pick up some soda and beer tomorrow. Since we are a derby household it will probably be PBR.

Last weekend I ran my first munecas practice as co-captain/captain, and I would say it went really well. People seemed to feel like it was a good practice, and for the first time in a long time I was sore after practice, and I think that is mostly due to the awesome off skates things Muffin showed us.

WFTDA (woman's flat track derby association) nationals are this weekend. They will surely be on at autumns party and we will be watching games after practice on Sunday.

In other news... I have been itching for some AWESOME, unique, beautiful fabric. I have scoured etsy and the web, but I just am not sure what I want, and am still really spoiled from my time in LA. It is hard for me to spend a lot of money on fabric after being able to buy it wholesale in the fashion district.

Also, early next week I will be sharing a product review of some new prismacolor markers that I was lucky enough to get some samples of. I will also be featuring etsy stores next week that I bought autumn birthday gifts from.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

xoxo

-Erica

Old knife made anew...

Hi, Adam here.....

A couple of weeks ago, my 5th cousin 17 times removed (or something like that) asked me if I could fix up an old boyscout knife that he had been given, when it was new, in 1942, when he was a boyscout. He wanted to give it to my 7th cousin 19 times removed (or something like that). So I said, "Sure, I'll see what I can do." Of course I forgot to take pictures first, so you can't really tell how much better it looks now, but take my word for it. There is a bit of an improvement.
The whole blade was rusty, the aluminum pommel was dull and oxidized, and the sheath was falling apart.
I was going to just restitch the sheath, but the leather and stitching really were falling apart, and I found out that there had been fringe along one side, so I made a new one, using the old as a pattern, and layering the tooled front on top. I think it turned out pretty well.

For the knife, i mostly just polished it up, and made it mostly pretty again, although a little bit of the rust was too deep to take out all the way. And of course, I sharpened it up nicely >:)

Finally Forging!

Happy fall!

I don’t write too many of these blogs between work and commuting and trying to spend time with the family, but today is a red-letter day….the new forge is functioning and functional! It’s a new version of the old one a made in ABQ, firebricks, and black iron pipe mostly, this time with the addition of ceramic insulation, and a second tulare line for more even air distribution. I use hardwood charcoal as fuel, and it seems to work pretty well so far. Too bad I don’t have an anvil stand yet. I guess the crouching and standing should be good for my knees.

I now have three anvils also. Two pieces of railroad track, which I haven’t shaped quite to my liking, and my old steel block. I’m planning on making the little railroad piece into a fairly convex shape, to help in drawing out steel. I’ll eventually cut a chunk off my big steel block too, for similar reasons, and a different arc.

So, you’d think that I would start small after a couple of years off. Not me. The first two projects to go into the new fire are a nice long Santuko style kitchen knife (maybe 10-12”) from a heavy duty dodge leaf spring and (ok this one is pretty small) a paring knife from some O1 round stock. After they cool off, maybe I will take some pictures and you can watch them progress….very….very slowly. Obviously there is a little way to go on both of these.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited that the new forge is running, so I thought I would share.

Cheers!

Adam

Unpacking is hard.

We have been in our new house for a little over a month now- and there is still SO MUCH unpacking to do. All of the important things are done so it is really easy to push off what is left for another day... the problem is that the things that are not unpacked yet are all of the good things... art needs to be hung, and my sewing/art/craft room needs to be organized desperately.

This is the current state of my art room. The worst part is that since I have needed to get things from there it is an even bigger disaster!

Adam has started to make some progess in his shop though! this weekend he made and organized this work bench!



Saddly, it is pretty unlikely that I will get my room more organized before the close of august. Fortunately that is because I will be doing something I love-playing roller derby!

I have already been fortunate enough to play in three bouts since I have been here. On monday I returned to Albuquerque from Tucson, where my team- The Munecas Muertas- played the Saddle Tramps. The Tucson Saddle Tramps have long been a personal favorite team, but it still nice to win a game! I felt really good about this game. It was the first time since Autumns birtrh that I have felt like I was playing effectively. It made me sad to see some dramma about strategy conflicts unfold on the bench. Also, I had to walk away from some critisism, because in the middle of a game it was not going to help.

I hope to get some pictures soon.

Next weekend I will be in Taos for a home game, and then we will be in portland to play the Wheels of Justice.

Roller Derby Love Item # 1

Roller Derby Mobile By Salty and Sweet! It is only $30! How much fun is this!? Click on the picture to go directly to the etsy listing!

I did not ask them if I could post this item, so I hope they don't mind.

More awesome roller derby inspired items to come! If you are a roller girl and make stuff, I want to feature your stuff... and if you have roller derby inspired items, I want to feature your stuff! e-mail me and I will get something up. Otherwise I will hunt you down :) Just kidding.

First Post...

So, the first post, I suppose, is an excellent opportunity to tell you a little bit about ourselves. When Broken down to the simplest of terms "We" are a family. My husband and I make cool things, and we sell them on esty. I just had a baby girl in November. Her name is Autumn and she is growing fast! She is only 4 months old and she already weighs 18 lbs 6 oz!

My Husband Adam is a wildlife biologist. He also makes beautiful jewelry and hand forges knives. I have an AA in Fashion design from FIDM in Los Angeles, but am now an artist and stay at home mom. I paint, sew, needle felt... and lots of other miscellaneous crafts. I also play Roller Derby. I started playing in November of 2005 for Duke City Derby. I love talking derby... so I will save that for another post.

Adam and I recently moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Portland, Or- and it has been a little bit of a culture shock for both of us. I grew up in Albuquerque, and while I spent a little time in Los Angeles, Ca and in Savannah, Ga I cant help missing the wide open spaces and vivid sunsets of the desert southwest.