This weblog is no longer being maintained. All information here has been ported to EclecticEchoes.com. This site (heupel.com/eclectic) remains only for archival purposes.
March 28, 2004
Blood Orange Bliss
There is something exceptionally relaxing about fixing myself a nice cup of tea (blood orange tonight!) then sharpening the knives and spending a couple of hours on a stencil. Pausing every 20–30 minutes to re-sharpen the blade and rest my eyes. I get the same satisfaction doing shibori as well. Hours of preparation and work, followed by the dyeing—which for all the recipes and synthesized formulations is still very unpredictable. Those who know me are probably amazed that this is something I have chosen to do.
So a small update for that two hours spent this evening on the stencil. In blue is the work done earlier, in purple/pink is tonights work. I have noticed that sharpening my blade every 20–30 minutes makes a huge difference in the ability to easily cut details like the chrysanthemum flower that has tight curves. I will be trying out some surgical blades soon, loaned to me from a jewelry designer along with a catalog of some other tools used in his industry. That one will probably require far less frequent re-sharpening. I’m not entirely sure if that is good or bad, but it’s worth checking out.
Tomorrow I thik I will add another web interpretation of a traditional pattern to the site.