The Joys of Marbling Paper

You may remember way back when I mentioned that my department at work would be having a special fun day in December, just before the holidays. And, that said "fun day" would be coordinated by yours truly and would consist of marbling paper. Well, the "fun day" came and went. It was a complete success and a whole lot of fun! I, myself, marbled over 80 sheets of paper (because I'm crazy and came in on Sunday to do some off-the-clock marbling). I apologize for not posting this sooner, but what with the holidays and all that nonsense these pictures kind of got lost in the shuffle. But here you are, without further ado...Preservation Services does paper marbling:

Marbled papers hanging to dry in one of our storage rooms. Once the pages are printed they are then rinsed off with water, to remove excess bath/size, and therefore must dry for some time.

One of our students, Katie, applying color to her bath using a whisk. The watercolor pigments (that have been mixed with oxgall, allowing them to not blend together) are applied to the bath (containing a thick mixture of water and carragheenan [Irish moss]) using a whisk or eye dropper. They sit on the surface of the bath, where you can leave them as is or manipulate them using a stylus or various rakes or combs.

Another student, Laura, manipulating the pigment in her bath into little Christmas trees using a knitting needle (aka a stylus).

Another student, Molly, pulling her paper out of the bath. Once you've created your desired pattern, you carefully place a piece of paper (previously treated with aluminum sulfate) onto the bath. The pigments sticks to the paper and VOILA, you have marbled paper!

Our department head, Holly, using a stylus to manipulate the pigments.

Another student, Samantha, forms her pattern using an awl.

Holly, again, picking up her printed page from her bath.

Lucy, one of our fabulous volunteers, carefully applying pigment to the bath. Notice how she's holding her whisk higher in the air as she applies her pigment, this creates smaller drops of pigment, aka stones.

Pat, a fellow staff member, uses an awl to make little heart patterns.

Our part-time conservator, Gabrielle, made some very bold, holiday-inspired patterns.

Here's a picture of Laura using a rake to create a very uniform pattern.

Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of the the finished products!

I'm A Weirdo Who's Found Her Ideal Weirdo!

This is a post about love and about finding someone who accepts you for all your weird eccentricities. About finding that person who actually thinks all those weird annoyances that are just part of your personality are really quite adorable. And about then rubbing all your strange quirks off onto said person (and I apologize if that sounded dirty). When I met Antoine some 2 years and 7 months ago I had no idea that this person was going to be the person that I could be myself around, 24/7. Let me explain.

See, I'm kind of a bit weird. One of the strange aspects of my personality is my affinity to find the "perfect bite". When I'm eating something delicious (or just food in general) I like to save the best bite for last. No matter what I'm eating. I subconsciously save the absolute best bite for last. It's weird, I know. For example, the other day Antoine and I were feasting on some delicious cheese fries from Pleasant Ridge Chili. The "perfect bite" in this case has just the right ratio of cheese to french fry, approximately 75% cheese and 25% fry. I ate my cheese fries, one by one. First I devoured any fries that had little to no cheese on them, then I worked on those that were only half covered with cheese.

[Try not to be afraid of my craziness! I will not harm you, unless you're a cheese fry. Or a cookie!]

Then I got to my last bite with the perfect balance of gooey cheese and delectable fry...*CHOMP*! After I ate said "perfect bite" of cheese fry goodness I obviously made a "Mmmm" noise; it's only natural! And to this Antoine smiled and turned to me and said, "You are MY last cheese fry"! And immediately, my heart melted! I think that might have been the sweetest thing I have ever heard! This statement not only reaffirmed that Antoine considered me to be the perfect person for him (aka his "last cheese fry"), but also, and most importantly, that he embraced my strangeness and had even become a weirdo himself (through my influence)! And I love it! I might be the weird girl who plans out the consumption of her meal based on which morsel is the cheesiest (or the equivalent adjective for that particular dish), but I've got me a guy who accepts and embraces that strangeness!

We're just two weirdos in love

*Please note that I am NOT trying to eat his boogers.  Boogers are not my idea of a "perfect bite"!

Oh the Excitement...

Hello Party People! It's me!! I know the blog might look a bit different, but it's still me! I did some last minute editing to the Clusterf#@k, made it a little more accessible and, I feel, a little easier to read. I've been thinking for a while now that the greenish colored background made the text a little bit difficult to read and felt a little too busy, so I went with my gut and switched it up! I'm pretty pleased with the results, and I hope you are too!

Anyway, onto why I am so excited today! Seriously, I'm like a little kid on sugar-crack in a toy store on their birthday and they can get anything they want! I know, right! Today I get to see my HLP!! Aka, my heterosexual life partner! Aka, my best friend! Aka, my ex-roommate of many many years. Aka, Amanda. You may remember that in early August my HLP moved to Indianapolis with her boyfriend and I was just a tad heartbroken! Well, today's the first day since then that I get to actually go to Indy and see her! And I'm so motherflippin' stoked! I not only get to see her, her bf, and her cat, I get to see her new digs in Indy! I'll be leaving today after work, driving straight to Indy (about 2 hours) and then spending the night and heading back home Saturday evening. I wish I could stay longer, but as usual, I have to open at Sbux on Sunday! Oh well, I'm still ridiculously excited! I've got all my clothes packed up in my car and ready to go! I've also got my camera, a bag full of chocolate chip cookies and a giant bottle of wine!! Tonight we're getting pizza, drinking wine, eating cookies and having quality HLP time!! And then tomorrow we have plans for Amanda to show me a little bit of Indy! It's going to be good times for sure!

The Benefits of Procrastination

It's that time of year. I'm not talking about New Year's resolutions or winter storms. No, I'm talking about the time of the year when your Xmas decorations begin to define you as a person. If you are a proactive-go-get-'er then you had your Xmas tree down before that big, sparkly ball of nonsense dropped in Times Square. That is, if you even had a tree up to begin with (read: you are either a hardcore atheist or a cranky Scrooge!) Now, the rest of us, you know, the ones who wait as long as humanly possible and even contemplate the idea of keeping it up all year...we're procrastinators! Now, the level of your commitment to procrastion is directly equivalent to how long you continue to keep your tree/Xmas decorations up! Another factor in this is if you continue to light your tree in the evenings!

I have embraced my procrastinator status! Actually I came to terms with my ability to wait-until-the-last-possible-moment while I was in college! But I have good news...I have found benefits to procrastination and keeping your Xmas tree up well past the New Years. Yesterday Antoine recieved a Xmas present from one of his work buddies, an ornament! But not just any ornament...a Basset Hound ornament that looks like the Cheese-man dressed in a fancy tuxedo (with sparkles...now, that's classy!)!

The resemblence is pretty spot on, right!?

And, since our tree is still up (and not in a box) we were able to place it front and center! Now we might just have to leave the tree up until my birthday (in February) at the very least!! We shall see just how hardcore of procrastinators we can be! The challenge is on!

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