So, in the news… Erica is due at the end of July with (odds are) baby girl number 2.

This is exciting, as it will:

1. Give Autumn a moving toy to play with for the foreseeable future.

2. Fulfill replacement value reproduction

3. Reward the parents with a tax break

4. Be another cute child

5. Give the grandparents something new to talk about

This is less exciting because it will require:

1. The purchase of Diapers for a few more years

2. Another baby seat, filling the car completely

3. Tolerance of house being a disaster for additional years

4. More of Mommies time, leaving less for Daddy

5. And will reduce the number of hours that Daddy can sleep

Generally, blacksmith shops are not considered very baby friendly environments. Carpentry shops are almost as bad. And Blade smith shops the worst of both worlds, plus some sharp edges.

I don’t know why, but people seem concerned about mixing a child (or children) with limited hand to eye coordination with a scattered and disorganized pile of blades you could shave with. Go figure.

I don’t think that I have ever seen Autumn hold a knife the wrong way, and she knew what they were and what they were called before she was 2.

I keep her out of the shop mostly because I don’t have protective gear small enough and she doesn’t like to wear it when it falls off like that. Also because she makes it more likely that I will hurt myself due to the distraction.

At least she can’t really open the door to the shop while I am working yet. But I can’t imagine that day is too far away. Sigh.

And here are some recent pictures of Autumn, since I was talking about her...

With her brand new big girl skates!

And again...

and just waking up from a nap...

Family Walks

Family walks don't happen quite as often as they should, but we do try.

Not far from the house there is a "lateral". Laterals are turn-outs from the main irrigation channels of the Rio Grande. They are opened in the spring to feed water to the little ranchitos that are abundant in our area. They also make very nice little walking paths.

Autumn enjoys the walks, and was fond of this graffiti until it was covered up.

Erica and I enjoy them also, but the pace is definitely a little slower with Autumn.

We'll probably be taking fewer walks for a while since Erica will be expanding for the next few months, and then we will have an additional non-walking family member.

Sometimes Autumn needs to take a break from walking.

Daddy getting older.

Autumn being cute.

I got up a little earlier than usual this morning to get some packages ready for Adam to take to the post office since I dont have any cash on me right now, and we didn't want to run out and get some last night. Oh, they are going to Canada, or I would have just shipped them through paypal.

After all my packages were either with Adam, or in out mailbox with a shipping label I seriously considered going back to sleep. Not only am I tired, but it finally started getting cold here in albuquerque after an unseasonably warm October thus far. When it is cold a few things happen, first, I take longer warmer showers, second, I stay inside more, and third but doubtably final, I have quite an urge to stay in bed much longer. It is like I have hibernation instincts that kick in or something. Anyway, I stayed up to write a blog post instead.

Above is the newest screen I have printed, this image is straight off the scanner, I had to clean it up a lot before burning the screen. I think it is pretty cute, but we will see how it does. I will post a picture of it on a shirt in my Wednesday post, along with the results from my little experiment last week and some other on going projects.

Not at all related to any surrounding pictures, I have also decided to skate in Duke City Derby's championship bout on Saturday... and I am REALLY excited :) I thought I was over roller derby, that I could retire just like that... but even if I dont have time for it anymore, I really love it. In addition to asking me to play Adam was asked to ref, but he stayed strong and said no. I expect the reffing to be questionable since they will be short staffed, but I am sure I have seen worse.

Since I am playing this upcoming weekend I decided to go to the rink formerly known as Roller King this past Sunday, and I had a blast. A few skaters came up and told me I was a great skater with really good endurance, which I suppose is true for the general public. Unfortunately, not true for me, or in relation to roller derby. My actual skating skill was fine, although some of the things I was just starting to get before my surprisingly brief hiatus (specifically crossing over while skating backwards) felt a little shaky. I don't have the endurance I would like to to play a championship bout, but I cant change that in a week, and I did do better than expected after pushing through the muscle aches. I decided I need to make sure to go skating, and JUST skate at least once a week, for myself. I miss it.

Other than that we really didn't do much this weekend. I remember doing some cleaning, but that is really boring. We also went to rocketpants' house Sunday evening, Adam dropped me off at the rink and went over and then picked me up and since he lives so close we went back there for a little while longer. It is always nice to see Jon, but I cant say it was eventful.

I have had a pretty insatiable craving for green chili lately, not chopped, it is very important that it is green chili SAUCE. Right now I would eat it with three meals a day until I couldn't stand the sight of it if it were up to me... fortunately I have other people to feed who get tired of eating the same thing every day, so I have NOT been eating it with three meals a day. It is also fortunate that I live in New Mexico, as it would be very hard to find green chili in abundance if I lived anywhere else. My only guesses are that I am pregnant again (with autumn I was craving spicy V8- which I usually hate, and for my recent failed pregnancy I wanted salsa) or that since I have cut back on fruit (and other sugars, but a lot of my sugar intake came from sweets) per a suggestion from my OBGYN, that I am craving the nutrients that I am missing from all the fruit I had been eating. Green chili has Lots of vitamin C, and some other nutrients.

Oh, the outfit autumn is wearing in these pictures is a silly little thing I whipped up for her on my surger in about 20 min. Cute.

Welp, Adam calls my posts schizophrenic , and this post is no exception. See you all tomorrow for my workbench post.

♥ Erica

Bearing Necklaces galore.

This weekend Adam and I purchased a table at the Duke City Derby bout since I decided it was not really safe to play knowing that I am pregnant.

We made 16 or so new bearing necklaces for it, and since we were displaying all of the necklaces we needed a way to display them all.

This is what we came up with:

We made a stand out of my FIRST pair of derby skates!

When I say "we" I mean I said " I have an old pair of skates we can use" and Adam did the rest.

It is probably the best imaginable way to display skate bearing pendants.

I have never done a table or anything like this, so I don't really know what is good for sales, but we made over $300 in the four hours we were there, so I am pretty pleased. I ran a special on shirts and that went over VERY well and we sold several bearing necklaces as well. After the booth fee and supplies I would say I made about $240.

In other exciting news, we just got a wholesale order- our first- for 20.00 bearing pendants... so that is a lot of work, but the order is for other derby folks, so that is awesome.

And what kind of post would this be without a random picture of Autumn?

;)

Xoxo

Erica

Daydreaming and... Coming soon to caustic threads...

So, I have been doing more sewing and designing the past few weeks and as much as I REALLY LOVE screen printing, it is very revitalizing for me, as designing has been a long time passion. Soooo I have been daydreaming about making some investments that I think would really help me make more of a business out of my designing.

I want to buy two adjustable dress forms in addition to the designers dress form that I already have. I CAN grade (or size) Patterns, but I do not trust this method fully and would like to have SOMETHING to fit my clothing on. Since my business is an Internet business I usually don't get to fit the item directly on the customer (which is ALWAYS Preferred). So I think an adjustable dress form is the next best thing. I need two because they come in sizes sm/m and m/l.

The other thing I want is to either get my industrial overlock machine going OR try to resell it and buy a household one. I am hoping to find all of these things used, but I have a few ideas for coming up with funds if I cant.


I finally got back to this dress, it has been sitting in muslin, really just waiting to get ruined, so I finally made the pattern for it. This is what it looked like in muslin : http://acrylicandsteel.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-workbench.html

I was able to cut and sew most of the pattern this weekend, and I think it is SOOO cute. The problem is that I don't know if I can get this fabric again, so it may be one of a kind.

It has some really interesting details at the top that I just love...


And this Too Cute print in the pocket for a little interest. It helps that I love this shade of green I am sure, and I just swoon over Japanese prints. There are several variations of this dress that I have swirling around my brain, so I hope to get a chance to sketch them out and make the patter pieces soon. On this one I just need to do a little finishing on the inside on the neck and then install the zipper and do the hem for the outer skirt. It is fully lined.

I also want to offer this dress in several basic colors and fabric choices that I know I can always find, and do a version where the halter part of the dress is in a sheer fabric.



I burned two new screens this morning, this is a sample of one of them, of course the real thing will not say caustic threads across it :) the other one is a fox. I am trying to think up some cleaver text to print along with the fox but I haven't come up with anything yet. I am going to print this screen tonight to see how it turned out! I cant wait!


I also made two shirts like this. I whipped one up for autumn pretty quickly and had just enough fabric to make one to sell, so I decided to make another.



and... a bonus picture of Adam and autumn for family, fans of Autumn (fans of Adam???) and anyone else who likes cute kiddo's.

I'll be back late tonight to do my treasury of the day!

Take care!

Xoxo

Erica

Summer Fun With my Family

I love summer in New Mexico... but then I suppose I love most seasons in new mexico.

There is something about the dry heat and the way the hot hot sun penetrates your skin that just makes me happy.

We got autumn a cheap 3 ring pool that she REALLY enjoys...

Though I guess her expression does not indicate that.

Every day she asks to go out and play in the water. She splashes and plays with a little cup, dumping water on to the ground, and like anything she loves these days, she WAILS when we take her out, even if she is shivering and blue.

This weekend we have a roller derby game in taos, and that should be fun, though lately I have been more interested in spending time with my beautiful daughter and wonderful husband.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

♥Erica

Roll, Bounce, Rock, Skate

Adam, Rocketpants, Autumn and I went to the roller rink on Friday night. It was not our first trip to the roller rink with Autumn, but it WAS her first time on skates.

Rocketpants and Autumn playing with Pants' fancy schmancy phone.

Autumn in her rink skates, they were a little too big, But we figured since she would spend most of the time on her butt it didn't really matter.

Before we went to the rink Autumn tried on Adams skates. She is holding two toy horses from her grandmother Mary. She has really been enjoying those horses.

Before the fall...

Mommy and Autumn skating together.... Very slowly.

Autumn did very well on the carped, but kept wiping out on the rink floor. If we held both of her hands she would usually pick up both feet so that didn't really help her. It was also unusually busy, so it seemed a little dangerous to have her on the skating floor. We used to go skating at a rink in Portland, but we were allowed to skate with her in her stroller there so it worked out pretty well.

On Saturday before Duke City Derby's big bout at the convention center we picked up some little plastic adjustable skates for her. She'll be a pro in no time.

Xoxo

Erica

We are Happy Campers.

We were going to go camping a few weeks ago, but no one was really prepared so we postponed our trip to this weekend that just past. I for one had a BLAST. Adam Autumn and I took one car and our friend Jon, (Better Known as Rocketpants) and his wonderful



We arrived late on Friday and instead of choosing a campground BEFORE we left we decided to wait until we got to the 3 sites we were interested in.







It seemed like a good enough idea, but no one considered that there would be no cell service when we got out there. Rocketpants was a little over an hour behind us, but we didn't really know if he was still in range so we went down to the little country store and called his cell from a really cool old payphone.


Since we didn't know if Rocketpants got the message we went down to the entrance to the campsite to flag him down. I am not sure if it would have worked, but fortunately he had already gotten our message so he knew which campsite to go to. That night we didn't have any fire wood and we thought about it after the country store was closed. It didn't matter much, we had fun drinking PBR in the dark wearing jackets.


That first night was freezing. It is hard to believe it can go from being so warm to being uncomfortably chilly. I grew up in the dessert so I SHOULD know this, but we didn't have enough blankets that first night. Autumn woke us all up pretty early, we had a yummy breakfast of bacon and eggs and made sure to pick up firewood and extra blankets. That day was spent climbing and hiking, and the evening was spent hanging out by the fire and drinking beer, but not TOO much beer. The people at the campsite next to ours were REALLY loud, but I slept fine anyway, and autumn didn't wake us up at such an early hour on Sunday morning.






On Sunday we packed up and wandered over to Jemez falls, where there is a great swimming hole that we couldnt find, but that was really OK since it was a little cool for swimming. I really wished we were not confined by Autumn and Melvin ( the awesome American bulldog pictured here) because it would have been a really wonderful place to explore.



From there we went to bandalier national monument, which I was super stoked about. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that they do not allow pets so Melvin and rocketpants headed on to Las Alamos and Adam, Autumn and I went into the park.





Bandalier is REALLY awesome. It is a historic sight where you can see some incredible adobe ruins and some native American cliff dwellings. It is in a canyon that still runs along a narrow creek, so while most of it is still typical desert landscape there is a lush green aria as well.



We ended up doing a little more hiking, and in Bandalier you are actually allowed to go in some of the caves, so that was fun.



There is also a very large cave at the top of a 4 ladder pitch. I think it is 140 feet or something. Adam and I took turns going up there because I didn't want to drop Autumn off a cliff. It was pretty cool , and it was not nearly as hard for me to climb up it as it was for me to climb down, but I am starting to feel like I am getting closer to mastering this fear of heights business.





So... How was your weekend?



XOXO

-Erica

Oh yeah, That's my baby!

WE have two cats, who have been generally uncomfortable with the presence of an new, little, person-like creature running around tormenting them and depriving them of a large percentage of the attention they once got. We were very excited when this photo-op arose and Twilight sat nicely while Autumn pet him.

Autumn never hesitates to put herself in someone elses shoes.


And she and Adam both have EXCELLENT table manners!

Xoxo

♥Erica

Autumn is 18 months old!

This week was clearly on fast forward, it seems like I barely even got enough sleep. I never got around to my color feature, so I will post that next week. I used to have Mondays off and since I started working on Mondays again, and opened a new store I can barely keep up with anything.

I guess maybe this whole year has been on fast forward. Autumn is 18 months old today! It seems like just yesterday I was planning Autumns first birthday, and just Sunday was already my second mothers day!

Autumn amazes me and breaks my heart every day. Being a parent is an amazing journey and now I really understand what people mean when they say things like that. She can cry and scream and make huge messes, and all it takes is a hug, a smile, or a kiss to melt my heart.

Autumn is a strange girl. She is not really very affectionate, but she likes attention. As far as I can tell she is also very stubborn. She likes dried cranberries, and shoes.

My mothers day was wonderful, we went to the botanical gardens and Aquarium in Albuquerque, which is where these pictures were taken. Adam made me an awesome cleaver, which I may never use, but I REALLY think is awesome. It is hanging over our oven right now. He also gave me a wonderful book on mixed media folk art with some wonderful stories in it.

I have so much more to write about and not enough time! It seems like between Autumn, my job, roller derby and etsy I am working from the moment I get up until I go to bed!

Duke City Derby is having our first bout at the New Mexico Convention Center on Saturday, and I am sure it will be great but I am already nervous!

Have a Great Weekend!

Xoxo,
Erica

Creepy Cool...

My wife is the coolest! Who else would say…you should make me a creepy knife?! I’m itching to get started. I have just the chunk of steel… and that was 3 months ago.

If you know Erica, you know she likes creepy things. Creepy dolls, creepy paintings, zombies, skulls, etc.. I think that is fantastic, so obviously this was a project that I wanted to do, and to put a little thought into...

So…what is a creepy knife? I guess its one that you can imagine seeing in a horror movie, rusty or bloody or sinister. Is it creepier to have an odd bone saw or a bloody butcher knife, or a rusty machete, or… what about a cleaver?

I’ve seen butcher knives with blood stains enameled on. But that just isn’t going to…cut it.

Something super rusty would be cool, but unusable. Lightly rusted is ok. So nothing stainless.

Mostly I just kinda like the idea of a rusty cleaver.

So I started it…

It all started with the chunk of steel, in this case 1095 high carbon steel, which is what I started forging knives with a few years ago. This particular chunk is the heaviest I've worked with, at 1 5/8ths wide and 3/8ths of an inch thick. That’s a lot of metal to move with a little hammer. Makes me wish I had a power hammer, although I do like hand forging. Sometimes I wish for a hotter forge too, but charcoal is pretty good and it feels like being back in time (except for the Dustdevil blower that I use).

Here's the chunk, with Autumn's hand for scale:

And an intermediate stage:

I thought I had a couple more intermediate stages, but I can't find the pictures anywhere, its a pretty big jump to go from the above stage, to the below stage.

Before Quenching:

After a few forging sessions, and a little grinding, I got the shape about where I wanted, quenched it, and ground an edge to it, leaving the forging and quenching patina on the back edge, while polishing the actual edge.

After Quenching:

I decided to go with oak as the handle, because it looks kinda basic, and was torn between rough twine and leather for the keeper cord that it will hang from. In the creepy theme I probably should have tied it off in a noose, but didn't. Oh yeah, and I used framing nails for the pins. Nice!

Anyway, I think it is pretty awesome, its heavy like a cleaver should be, sharp enough that you could probably shave with it, and creepy enough to meet the desired goal. We both kinda think that it should have a block to store it in, ya know, a head or skull or ribcage or something, but for now its going to hang on the wall.

I know its not rusty, but it did cut me a couple of times - I have all kinds of nicks on my hands - so its a little blood thirsty.

And I finished it on Mothers day :) Happy Mothers Day Honey!

What do you think?