bryophyte pittston counterattack

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (Isaac Newton)

I finished the shirt I was making with the lobsters, clams and mussels appliquéd on-  hope I have enough cojones to wear it, if not I have a plain white shirt that will work.  The theme of the party os 'Coastal' and I have no more idea what would be coastal than what would be postal.  Mind you, this is not a costume party-  its just that I am making it one!  I also took the time to work on the 12 ATCs I'm supposed to be making.  They are now 4x6 but I am thinking of trimming several down because the edges aren't working-  and I am too lazy to bind them all.  I cut new backings for all of them, some silk and some burlap so I'm ready for the next round tomorrow.  I have to get to the studio by 10 *with the dogs* because we are having a showing of the house soon after that.  And once there, why not stay, eh?

Every day in the studio I try to work on one shelf or one bin, just something manageable trying to clean out and organize.  In my 5 years there I have managed to accumulate a whole lot of stuff and it's all just tucked wherever there's a spare cubby to stash it.  For instance, I found 3 whole bins of printing equipment-  carve-able rubber, gel plates, stamps and styrofoam.  There's another whole stash of wooden backed rubber stamps, most are too dried out to use.  As are the stamp pads.  I also have 10 rollers, brewers, and other various things.  

And three sets of inks, none ever experimented with, at least not that I remember.  I think some are heat set, others are water based. and I don't have a clue what the third set is---or was.  I just can't toss it until I at least try it, right?

People are arriving daily down here, so much fun to see old friends again- today I had lunch with two different groups of women (one lunch I carried over to the second table half way through!)   So, that's it for me, let's look at something interesting!

Leila Cohoon is a former hair stylist who just can’t get enough of hair. So passionate about hair is Leila that she began collecting hair art way back in 1949. She buys and restores them – wreaths, jewelry, and portraits with real hair glued on.
And in 1990, she opened the only hair museum in the world at Independence, Missouri, with 600 hair wreaths and more than 2,000 pieces of human hair jewelry dating back to the 18th century, like a pair of wreaths crafted from the hair of two sisters whose heads were shaved upon entering a convent.

There’s even a little of Hollywood in residence, with strands from Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and Phyllis Diller on display. Queen Victoria and four presidents have also made contributions. Hair raising indeed.

When we were very young, we recited ‘She sells seashells by the seashore’ in its entirety to see who would get their tongue twisted. Well, Xiao Yongsheng from Lingshan Island of China’s Shandong province has put those seashells to better use instead. He spent two years building a shell house by decorating the outer walls and the roof with more than one million colorful shells he collected on his own private beach. 

The largest shell weighs as much as four kilos, while the smallest one is only three millimeters long.‘I’d always liked shells but it never struck me to use them until I was walking on a beach one morning and came across a very unusually colored clam shell and then it hit me,’ said the 58-year-old. ‘I realized I was sitting next to a huge, free supply of beautiful building material, so why not use it?’ Xiao is now using this shell house as a museum, displaying the history of the island and the daily life of local fishermen.

Chipmunks are enough like squirrels, aren't they?