Things to remember when burning transparencies

Have you tried burning the edges of a transparency? Lots of fun for latent pyros (and really, who isn't?).  I'd read about it in Dusty Diablos a while back, but I'm just now trying it.

Lessons learned:

1. The transparency bows up and away from the flame; keep that in mind if you want it to curve out versus in.
2. Running the flame up and down the edge tends to make a smoother burnt edge. Usually.
3. Burning transparencies outside during December not only helps dissipate toxic fumes, it keeps you from noticing how !@#$%^!! cold it is.
4. Number of matches used on the first transparency: six. Number used in total: Eighteen. (I'd start a collection, but where would I put them?) 

The background it'll be against will be dark, so I dry-brushed pale yellow and grey highlights onto the house. Don't forget to spray gloss fixative on the image before painting! (Inkjet-printed images will smear without it.)

Then I sandwiched the transparency between roughed-up mica sheets, and suspended it with wire.

And can I tell you how aggravating threading the wire through the box sides was?! I'm chewing tin foil just to burn off the residual rage. One lesson there: thread the wire first, then tie it to the mica sandwich. Arrrggh.

Tell me what you've been burning, even if it's just midnight oil or fireplace logs. See you in the comments or on Facebook.

Weekend sunshine

Spent a little time surfing the freeways to visit my nieces for their birthdays recently. There was a sulking episode involving The Boy and an excruciatingly loud toy recorder/flute party favor, but we won't dwell on that. TwoBoo napped (!) while we drove, and my mind played "Boys of Summer" as I snapped mountain ridge photos. I never thought I'd miss dried-out chaparrral. Sigh.

I miss LA sometimes.

Five reasons to be grateful

"Shame-free for ten days": I think it's some sort of inside joke a tech guy at work scrawled on his window, but I think it applies to me, too. I've been able to calm my demons more often, including forgiving myself for the work pace of my current project. So on my abbreviated list of things in random order that I'm grateful for, I'd include:

1. Having some time to make art, even if I don't always use it efficiently
2. Knowing that even though I miss them terribly, I'll always have my parents' love with me
3. Having a full-time job with good benefits and decent people
4. Having a family who supports my art
5. Surviving the Great Recession with a husband who's found a great job (whoo-hoo!)

What makes you feel grateful today? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.