Cordage, up cycling and pop tarts

Remember a while back,  I cut down a couple of rarely worn t-shirt dresses to use as summer tops with added attractions? I've been wearing them in the heatwave. Cool, loose fitting but not clumsy .

The pink one I decided to leave plain, but here's the blue one with a vintage applique.

I painted this directly on a white tee years ago, the tee wore out, I cut off the painted section, making dusters of the rest of it, added it to a bag, handles eventually wore out, cut it off, into scrap bag.  Now it's resurrected here.

And yesterday I made yet another accordion book, from Inuit artworks.

This collection is easy to rotate so there's always something new and interesting to see from the sofa.

And I was in the mood for junk food, after a struggle to play tenor recorder yesterday,  Just trying to recall the fingering of the C instrument, gah. Tenor and soprano are C, alto, bass and sopranino are F. 

The F seems more natural, and I easily find myself playing tenor with wrong fingering. In a group, this would be disastrous, because it would be all wrong notes. so it's important to keep it straight even solo with no listeners, and yesterday this seemed harder than usual. Rusty!

 

So, after doing my poor best,  I made pop tarts. Jack Monroe's, to be exact, if you want to find the recipe.online..

It's buttery pastry pockets, jam inserted, iced with confectioners sugar.  I used some of the plum sauce as jam.

You don't toast these like the shop bought ones, because they're tender and buttery. Just a few seconds in the microwave if you like. But they're lovely cold too. 

Heroically , I promised to save some for Handsome Son. They kept up my spirits to come back and fight, I mean play,  again another day..

Then by evening I was going mad, mad, I tell you, with withdrawal from making with my hands.. So I checked out a wonderful Sally Pointer video on the Venus of Brassempouy.

And I just had to make at least a bit of cordage, out of gender and history solidarity. Note the improved skill level. I'm being careful not to overdo, so I,  heroically again,  refrained from making yards of it.

This ancient artwork deserves the homage, as does Sally's recreation of it for a major museum commission. She has such respect for the skills of paleolithic makers and their ingenuity in using and adapting natural materials. Including using your own body for measurements. She decided on the gauge by using the first joint of her finger. And her handspan to measure the fit of the piece.  

This particular  artwork, carved from mammoth (!) ivory is tiny, just over an inch long, probably broken off a bigger work,  and the carving skill is world class.  Look at that beautiful nose.

So this was an education in itself. An unexpected adventure on an otherwise dull old day. Or as G and S would say, an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative!

Happy day everyone, keep making and getting nourishing art into every day. It's the good fight, I mean play,  against the darkness.

Photo AC