15 September 2007

Good start to a Saturday

How long does it take to make a recipe? A week to get around to buying the beans, another week to find a window of opportunity - and then you discover a vital ingredient is missing. So at 7am it was off across the road to Tesco to get olive oil ... and to discover that some of their school supplies are now on sale - including packs of erasers - needed for Visual Exercise 2, 30 Days of Cutting Stamps (in "Finding Your Own Visual Language by Dunnewold, Benn & Morgan). The book suggests cutting a stamp every day for a month - or six stamps during a sitting. At the bottom are some I prepared earlier -

The new erasers looked a bit small so I bought just one pack (at 36p). They're a bit fiddlier than those from Superstore in Pitt Meadows, which cost 99 cents for a pack of 5, but not impossible to use.

This morning I grabbed an old sketchbook, opened it at random, and used a few lines from an image on the page. Dabbed black Liquitex onto the stamp with a small sponge brush, then went to town on a bit of recycled sheeting, trying out variations from the rigid lines on the left to the helter-skelter on the right, thinking about patterning and negative space. The blobby bits where the stamp hadn't been cut away enough were initally annoying, but they have potential as adding some life to the patterning. Dyed, this could become usable fabric.
"Fagioli nel fiasco" is traditionally made in a chianti bottle (blown, not moulded) with toscanelli beans, garlic, sage, olive oil, and salt and pepper - slow simmered, and served with sausages or roast pork, or as a simple first course with bread. I reckon it will reheat beautifully.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I too find uk erasers too small - tried internet no luck, any ideas? - your stamps look good