Hopfaldera

Nuts, raisins and ceramics

The last couple of times at my Ceramics class, my class mates have started to bring cake and cookies to go with our coffee break. A good development! This Friday, I felt it was my turn to bring something sweet.
I turned to an old favorite recipe, Nut-raisin-tea bread.

It is a recipe I first used more than 15 years ago, when I organized a big afternoon tea birthday party together with my friend Monique. Back then we spent 2 days of constant baking and I enjoy every minute of it. I remember proclaiming that my life's ambition was to become a 'baking mother' (I think I succeeded in my ambition, although it took me a long time to realize that; just like realizing that all this art work is what I should be doing, but never mind...).
Back to the recipe (it is from Libelle magazine originally):
First brew
* 200 ml of strong Forest Fruit tea (I used Cranberry as you can see)
Then, in a large bowl, combine
* 150 grams of wholemeal flour (volkorenmeel)
* 150 grams of self raising flour (I used plain flour and used two tablespoons of the next ingredient)
* 1 tablespoon of baking powder
* 150 grams of light brown sugar (I used cane sugar, which apparently is more healthy)
* 250 grams of walnuts (broken in pieces with your fingers or roughly chopped)
* 100 grams of raisins
* a pinch of salt

Mix with the tea and
* 1 egg
using a wooden spoon. No dry bits should remain in the bowl.
Spoon the mixture in a greased and lightly floured loaf cake tin and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 70 minutes.

I believe my ceramics buddies enjoyed the bread, even though it somehow inspired us to have a conversation about worms in places you'd rather not think about.
This is what was left of the bread after we were done with our break (photographed at home with some of my ceramics, more in this Flickr set). Frederik was grateful!

Etsy love

I just put this sheep, Pansy, in my Etsy shop!
She is the second version of a little softie I created. Polly was the first one.

There are so many nice, lovely, great things for sale on Etsy! Look at my list of favorites to get an idea (also if you're ever stuck for a gift idea for me... heehee).

update: I have entered Polly and Pansy in the Cutest Face category of the 2nd Annual Softie Awards. Keep your fingers crossed for them!

Fabric printing

Last week I received the new book by Lotta Jansdotter, Lotta prints.
It's a nice book and we were inspired to do some fabric printing. It turned out I actually have a large collection of paint and materials for this craft. Printing is an old love, that's one of the reasons why I was drawn to the book. Also because Lotta's Simple sewing book was the first craft book I found through the craft blogging world.


Emil needed a new schoolbag so he decorated a blank one that I had lying around. Damaris decorated a piece of linen she will use for some still mysterious fashion project.

This time it was mainly Emil and Damaris that did the printing. And it was me that did the setting up and the cleaning up. I hope I can do some more printing for myself next time. Because it is a lot of fun!

I love this work

I'm back! The flu is as good as gone and I've already been up to some new work this week. Here it is:

This sheep and her blue-toned (and yet to be sewn together) friend will be in my Etsy shop somewhere next week.
And it's Friday, so I also worked on my ceramics:

I even had some finished and almost finished objects from the kiln this week:

Looking at these photos I realized: I loved making all those things. It is hard to express how happy it makes me feel that I am able to do what I truly love to do. It may not all seem very useful, or even part of one body of work, but it is to me. I learn something everyday: sometimes it is a skill, sometimes it has to do with inspiration, or work ethic (just to get on with it), or acceptance, or true expression of myself.  I try to value all those learning experiences. And I enjoy myself tremendously!

Work in progress

Lots of work in progress this week! I'll show the results in later posts.
First of all, I was tidying up my work room.

I was looking for the right button to finish a machine embroidered Artsy Clutch (from the Bend-The-Rules Sewing book).

A top secret project for two people who are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today (!) Update: Revelation on Flickr

A Soft Turtle Buddy from Bend-The-Rules. I did this to participate in a little Simul-Sew project with a photo group on Flickr.

Then today I went to my ceramics class, and found a whole new set of works in progress had just come out of the kiln.

More photos of everything (except for that top secret project) can be found on my Flickr.

Doucepoints on Etsy.com

Look, this is the new banner I put above my Etsy shop!
I've had the shop for a little more than a year and I have had some sales, but I would like to boost the activity a bit and thought I would try a more modern look and feel. I like it!
I made the banner with some help of a tool I found through the Etsy series on how-to improve your shop, which has been inspiring to me. Personalizing the banner was fun and I learned a few more computer skills, just like this blog is teaching me. I feel like a little html-wizard when I get something to look the way I want it to!

The latest art and craft news: I'm working on a new bag for myself. The previous one is in desperate need of replacement! I'll post about it soon.

Music to knit to

Knitting is a nice thing to do. But it can feel very outdated and a bit too homey as well. I like to feel hip and cool, also while I'm knitting. The Stitch 'n Bitch movement has done a lot in making knitting hip and the internet is making crafting very modern again. I think that's great and I'm totally going with that, but sometimes you need a little more. At those times I play these songs by Franz Ferdinand (links to YouTube below; copy/paste the http-address if the link doesn't work). Some people might think it is just a lot of noise, but to me it is the perfect antidote to the stay-at-home-mom blues you get when you are really a 'struggling' webshop-owning Artist (met een grote K/with a large A).
Enjoy the noise:

Dark of the matinee  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_uhyeVrkig&feature=related

The Fallen  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPycggBuXA&feature=related

This next one is the first song I heard from Franz Ferdinand. The video is very 'arty'.
Take me out  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM4dxI0mO1k

Oh so arty too:
Do you want to  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Qvu5OUYoQ&feature=related

'Some people' might understand my music choice a bit better now.
Playing air-guitar and hitting some bucket-drums with toddlers, pre-schoolers, first-graders and pre-teens goes very well to these songs too.
Franz Ferdinand will save us!

From diertje to ceramic animal sculpture

diertje, originally uploaded by doucepoints.

I made the little animal in this picture in April last year. This is it still wet and gray.

Today I put the sculpture up for sale in my Etsy shop. Between April 2007 and now this animal went through several stages:

Already fired once and covered in oxides (iron and cobalt) and a little glaze, waiting to go into the kiln again.

After the second firing still in the classroom at K&O, where I go on Fridays to 'do' ceramics.

And now, in the shop. Waiting, wagging it's little rabbit's tail (or is it a dog?), ears neatly combed back, for a new owner to come along.

Epiphany

Yesterday, when my kids were a little bored I asked them: ‘It’s the 6^th of January, right?’. ‘Yeah’, they said. ‘Then it is Driekoningen (Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day) today’, I told them.

This inspired a lot of activity: Damaris made a cake by crushing Lange Vinger cookies, mixing the crumbs with melted butter and shaping a cake out of the mixture on a gold paper plate. Before we ate the cake (I only did some digging to be honest), she put on whipped cream. Before thinking up the recipe for this desert Damaris said she wanted to make something that grown-ups would think was ridiculous but that children would love. I think she succeeded very well and the effect was great!

Of course she hid some beans for us to find in the cake to determine who would be the Kings, except we didn’t have any beans. Emil came up with the solution: 3 Lego blocks in the same colors as the paper crowns he was making for the lucky Kings. I made a drawing of the three kings in the traditional colors as well. At school Damaris and Emil learned that the first king (Melchior) is red, the second one (Balthazar) is blue and the last one (Caspar) is green (and also black). When they see the three kings portrayed somewhere with different colors, they say it is completely wrong and crazy. They are funny that way!

O yeah, who got the beans? Frederik found the red one, Emil blue, and Damaris got the green Lego block. I got a yellow king that Emil made to comfort the one person that wouldn’t find anything. And I didn’t have to finish my plate said Damaris. They are sweet that way too!