Allergic to cats apparently?

I've been looking after my daughter's little cat while she's on holidays with her beautiful man in Bali.  I'm allergic to cats so it's a bit of an 'episode' most days.  My routine for the first couple of days...and this took some planning!...I fill the kitchen sink with hot soapy water ready to wash my hands after each time I touch something, get the tissues out and put them on the bench ready for the inevitable sneezing fit, (and make sure there's a toilet roll handy!) keep the front door open for fresh air and have my Ventolin inhaler stuffed into my bra ready for 'Quick Draw McGraw'.

Funnily enough, my nose has been behaving (honestly it looks more dangerous than it is) and I've only had a couple of sneezing fits.  Most days I get to enjoy an A M A Z I N G coffee from the coffee machine, which I've only just figured out how to operate despite detailed written instructions, (my daughter knows me too well) while I get to have lots of fun with this adorable little cat.

Waiting for me to get dinner..."C'mon slow coach...it's just a tin can for goodness sakes!"

"Like my pretty bow?"

"Where did that little red light go?  Oh...I'm on to it...now I'm invisible...and this is my silent stealth creep" 

"Ok now it's disappeared again...hmmm...I need to keep a vigilant watch."

'GOTCHA!"

"And just for the record Miss Marple...I don't pounce until I'm good and ready...I'm just plain sick and tired of slipping on the tiles!"

I thought cats were just...you know...cats.  But it would appear that they are also silent and conscientious investigators of paranormal sightings.

Can you guess who has been having more fun?

Eco Dyeing

Magic things have been happening in my kitchen this weekend.

A lovely friend lent me a magazine article about Eco Dyeing on paper.  I've tried a similar technique on fabric using plant material bundled in little fabric parcels, as part of a research project last year, but have never tried that same technique with paper.  I really don't know why because I just love plants, flowers and all things nature related in any type of image.  I'm one of those annoying people who photograph flowers and plants wherever I go.  I sniff them too.  Probably why I have been so graciously endowed with a generous 'snorkel'.

I had visitors for most of the day so I couldn't 'get my craft on' until night time.  But when I did...OMG it was so worth the wait.

The first step in the process is to layer leaves and flowers between pieces of printmaking paper.  I used watercolour paper as that's all I had.  The whole bundle is then clamped between two sheets of perspex and plopped into a boiling bath.  I used half dead roses from my vase but even so, I felt sorry for the poor little blossoms.  It looked really hot in there.  I chucked a few more dead roses in for good measure.  You know...safety in numbers.

After a good couple of hours (I was enjoying a nice happy hour with yet another visitor!) the papers came out of the pot, were rinsed and left out to dry overnight.

The article in the magazine said that roses don't generally release any colour although can leave a nice impression. So I wonder where this colour came from?

I think these images are absolutely stunning!

I can't wait to experiment again, although I need to do a few sensible things first like housework, washing and mowing the lawn before I lose track of the whole weekend...happy-houring and dyeing!

Making Soap

 I've been 'soaping' again.

Such a Zen passtime.

Good for the soul.

I love watching the process.  The emulsifying of water, oils and butters.
I don't love wearing gloves to protect myself from burns.  But I do anyway...because I'm a nerd.

Sometimes (well actually most of the time) I worry that I'm going to blow up my poor old overworked stick blender. I imagine that I'll be soaping away, caught up in a world of my own...when 'BANG' the stick blender blows up and our whole half acre is suddenly smothered in creamy bubbles.  Can you imagine? "Honey I've managed to get rid of ALL the aphids off the roses".  

Thankfully that hasn't happened yet.  The bubbles, not the aphids.

The whole process takes a quite long time and you have to 'be' with the soap...not leave and go put the sprinkler on, not hang the washing out, not check the letterbox and get caught up yakking to the neighbour...you need to BE with the soap.  It's a miraculous process...

Roses are also miraculous...don't you think?

(These roses still have aphids).