These are the first two successful plates, after too many tries at exposure, of the new Dreamer in Training quilt. Sorry they're a little crooked up there! I'm still learning how to wipe them, but the good news is that I finally have an exposure setting that works, in both Photoshop and the lightbox. Now I should be able to scan, burn and print the rest of the drawings with the same settings.

It was a long road figuring out those exposures. Right when I thought I knew what to do, a tube seemed to have burned out in the lightbox. They aren't exactly easy to find, but I did, and after waiting almost a week to get them, the tube still didn't fire up. It turned out that each tube has a starter and one of mine was burned out. I found one in town for less than a dollar. Sigh. The silver lining is that now I know a lot more about my lightbox. And the two plates I burned after this odyssey are fine!

If this ever happens to you, (a tube stops working in your lightbox built by Dan Welden) there is a printmaking supply house in Oregon, called McClain's:

http://www.imcclains.com/ They sell the tubes you need. You can get the starters at Menards. I wish Daniel Smith would carry the tubes. Except now I have a lifetime supply, and the box will probably fall to pieces before I need one again.

Changed My Mind

Because this image has toys, and because I can make it the same size and format as the first one, I've decided to change the image for the next quilt to this one. It is from a painting called Dreamer in Training, and comes from my asking my son what he dreamed about in the mornings when he was a little boy. (It feels so odd, that he really isn't little anymore; he's a big boy of 12!) He sometimes said he dreamed of Thomas the Tank Engine, and so this came about. After a few conversations with Kendall folks, I've decided to drop the cat and add a train car, but this is basically the drawing for my next quilt. So far, I've drawn 6 of the panels, which I'll post soon.

Finished!

For IF: This quilt has roots in the story Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift. Perhaps it can cause a little Deja Vu about the story.

Here it is: Mrs. Swift Learns to Speak Boy. What a marathon this was! On to the next one!

Tessellation

This is the drawing I will use to make the prints that will be the border for my paper quilt. Looks like I might want to boost the contrast!