Big Lino Blocks

I've been using the little 2x3" wooden lino blocks for decades. I figured "improvements" have probably been made during this time, so I decided to check out some other types of blocks.

This first one is like if you peeled the lino top off the wooden blocks. Super hard surface, but without the one inch thick wooden piece bracing the back. I found it a little bit harder to hang onto, and also it's a bit curved, but the hardness of the surface allows for lots of small details.

This block is 5x7" and the design requires some explanation: At Factory Job, these machines have been my burden for 2 1/2 years. Once a machine operator, always a machine operator, thus they will be my burden until I am dead. There are six of them, and they are pissy bitches. I decided to capture their bitchy glory in lino block form.

This series is called "Assholes."

Next I tried out some of the floppy, buttery 5x7" blocks. They are very very easy to carve, which means you have to be very careful. Every slip can potentially remove huge chunks of rubber. I tried out this design:

I was going for a finely detailed art deco look, but ended up with what looks like someone drunkenly decorated a cake with tube icing. I plan to redo this with one of the harder lino blocks. But I made use of the prints:

Due to my AMAZING skill level, I decided those soft blocks would be better for a design with bold sloppy lines.

"Grrrrr -- what are you taking a picture of?" "Nothing, Frankenstein. Hold still."

Then I made the alien girl.

I put her on everything. Fabric, some weird tyvek type stuff, leather:

And I made cards:

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I watercolored that one with only partial success. That "Believe" stamp came out of a religious stamp set I found for half off. Hahaha.

So I ended up with an assload of prints just lying around the bunker and I didn't know what to do with them. I grabbed my pile of scrap leather and made these:

The closures are made out of bones. Shout-out to all the weirdos selling complete animal skeletons on ebay. You're the best!

To My Sisterwife: And Other Random Cards

Y'all, these pics have been piling up. Let's keep powering through them.

My Sisterwife is now dating Ex-Husband, so we are closer than ever to literally being Sisterwives. And I live in Utah now so we could make it really official. Anyway I love her dearly, and I am very happy for them. So I made this for her birthday. If I remember correctly I used some thin cardboard sheets cut into squares, duct taped them together, and covered them in acrylic paint:

And the squiggly lines are probably my Jelly Roll pen because I love that thing so much.

Thanks again to whomever it was that gave me the book of hair metal. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Judging by the spacing job on that last page, I may have been a bit drunk. At least I hope I was.

I'll just fill in the rest of this post with some other random cards, and say again that I love my die cutter and I love embossing powder.

I made this one for my surrogate mom. I really like that die even though it's a bitch to clean up after.

This is a tag I made that I'm particularly proud of:

Embossing powder just makes everything look pro. It's the best.

Hooray, all the cards are cleared out of the backlog!! Plenty of other nonsense in there though, don't worry. I stay busy. Peace out.

Cards With The F Word On Them

You've been warned. First let me introduce my die cutting machine. Behold the Spellbinder's Platinum 6:

But if you want those decapitated cat stickers, you have to go visit Hillzart when her shop reopens. She's giving you some time to browse. This is hers too:

Guess what happens to that cat later?

I'm going to tell you what dies I used, but I'm not going to link to them because people are weak and I don't want anyone to cry.

For this I used a tear-away tab die:

Spoiler alert: Jane likes the D.

This is a combination of a flyer for an animal shelter, and a set of alphabet dies:

I love love love the fortune cookie die:

After that I started skipping the cookie and just putting pulltabs in everything:

I used this gorgeous skull die on the Cowboy's valentine, and I try to use it whenever I can:

And then I bought the reveal wheel die. Man oh man do I love this thing. This was for Beccula:

This next one is a wedding card filled with helpful hints. The wheel turns to say, "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID":

No die cutting on the Cowboy's anniversary card, but it's worth a mention...

...because I'm counting the minutes until we break in my new tent this weekend. It is ready.

Maybe the Cowboy can tell me what this hole is for:

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.

2017 Xmas Gifts: Part Two

Continuing on, these are the cards KC/DC got:

I got obsessed with that pig man on American Horror Story and couldn't stop watercoloring him. So I just kept going:

Then I decided he needed some clown makeup.

I was fairly pleased with how these came out. And I decided I wanted to make a case for them. I dug out my Wonderflex, which is a thermal plastic that can be shaped when heated with a heat gun. It can also be painted with acrylic paint:

I glued some metal studs on the side and adhered this picture on the inside:

Here's the gift ready to go:

As proud as I am to finally have these up and out of the backlog, I'm sure that's not the end of 2017. And I'm counting the minutes until camping this weekend, so I'll keep digging...