fortune cookies grafitti edition

Spray paint, summer colors, and a fresh baked batch of fortune cookies. These started clear...

Before folding, they each got a cost of paint, but not a solid color. Using the low pressure control of Montana gold allowed for a gradient to be created across the plastic. Then a base color was applied to complete the effect.

pink splatter

Shock sunset

 Blue sky

 Pinkish

DIY ombre jeans (or jeggings)

Spring and summer are a great time to wear white jeans. They flatter very few people's bodies, are impossible to keep clean, and often become semi-transparent in the sunlight. In real life, I'd never wear white jeans.

When my sister gave me these unworn (she didn't like them for above reasons) uniqlo jeggings, I really wanted to keep them so some changes had to be made. By dip dying the top part of white jeans, you can avoid visible underwear, grass stains, and a color that makes your hips and butt look bigger - at least a little. There are tons of dye tutorials around for cotton jeans, but I couldn't find anything to help with these semi synthetic pants. I've tutorialized this slightly more complex process for others that want to dye their polyester pants as well.

Spinning Color Dash Yarn

One of my first realizations about spinning was that it gives you total control to make any type of yarn you can think of.

For a really long time, one of my goals has been to find a kind of variegated yarn that only has a few dashes of bright color and will never pool. I also do not like hand painted yarns as much as those with fibers spun after dying.

Who else is doing the TDF?

If i've been absent lately, its because I've been spinning.

The Tour de Fleece is a yearly spin along event that coincides with the Tour de France bike race. This is my first year following along on Ravelry and spinning every day of the race.

It is a whole lot of fun to see all of the interesting techniques, fibers, and anecdotes that the spinners post in the forum, but mostly it has been a great opportunity to gather knowledge in one place and gain inspiration and wisdom.

Today is day 15, and though I have spun nearly 3/4 of a pound of fiber, I just finished plying my first skein of the event.


One of my personal goals was to spin a thick(ish) yarn instead of my default lace weight. Starting with some corriedale wool from Paradise Fibers and fluorescent dyes, I created a 4 oz strip of gradient dyed combed top.

The fiber was then split in half lengthwise and spun into separate singles that were the same color.

I'm starting to suspect that I'm one of those people that has a color palate to my life and there are neons involved. The yarn dyed up to match my  neon rope baskets.

Then the singles were reunited to create one smooth gradient with just a bit of depth from slightly different coloring between the plies.

 
Unfortunately, the nerf football looking cop of plied yarn (yes all 4 oz) did a bunch of damage to the hook of my spindle, causing me to stop a few days for repairs before finishing the yarn.

The end result is surprisingly satisfying for my first go at a full skein of worsted weight 2 ply yarn. I cannot wait to knit it up!!

Guest Post: photographing sparklers

July 4th is coming soon and so is the season of picnics, barbeques, swimming and fireworks. Our stores here in CT have all kinds of summer items from picnic supplies to pool toys and a good variety of legal fireworks and sparklers. Last year, I asked my mother, a professional photographer, if she could photograph light drawing with sparklers. We got some really great shots of the glittery light as I scribbled words and shapes in the night air. It was so much fun that we bought more sparklers this year. I asked her if she would share her camera settings and give a few tips on how to take these awesome pictures and she agreed.

How to photograph sparklers at night

One of the first things that I experimented with when I was learning about photography as a kid was lights at night. It’s fun and is a good way to learn about your camera. Sparklers are another way of doing this. When you open the lens for long enough you can capture movement with a camera. That long exposure allows you to draw pictures with the sparklers and to create unique photos of your festivities.

You will need:

Sparklers - here are the two different kinds of sparklers that we bought. The little boxes are fun but the sparkler light does not last very long. The big box marked "neon" is very bright and easier to photograph due to the long burn time, but does not burn neon.
Pay attention to your state and national laws.

You need to have a camera with a Manual setting so that you can follow these instructions. This is marked as M on your camera and can be found on most SLR cameras; many point and shoot cameras, and some camera phones. This will be explained in more depth below.
You can't photograph and light the sparkler, so it is helpful to have a few people working on this and no kids on this one.

You will also need:

Tripod
Masking Tape - optional
Lighter
Piece of tin foil or a non-flammable tin for used sparklers
Flashlight

Setup

Find a safe place to photograph while it is still light out, a driveway or a sidewalk is a good place. Make sure that the background will be dark with as few distracting lights as possible. These lights will show up in your photographs and are hard to remove in Photoshop. Choose where your camera will be set up. Look thru the camera and have another person use masking tape to mark the center and edges of what's visible. This will be helpful if you want to set up more complex shots with writing or broad gestures. When it is dark, you will be able to go to your designated spots and things will run smoother than if you were running around aimlessly.

This picture illustrates with the red arrows how I marked out the frame of the photograph with white tape.
Set the camera to M (manual mode) which will allow you to better control your exposure. Set the camera on ISO 200 to insure that you will have no noise. The ISO tells the camera what kind of light situation you are in. The brighter the object you want to capture the lower the ISO. ISO 200 is normally a daylight setting but because the sparklers are bright you need this setting to capture the detail of the sparkler. This exposure should also insure that the background will be black.

Ready to go

Wait until the sky is completely dark before you start. Set your lens aperture at f/11 because of the brightness of the subject. Set the shutter speed at 8 seconds. Some cameras only go to 4 seconds and in that case set the aperture at f/8. These settings are a starting point. You may need to make adjustments depending on equipment.

Hint - If your exposure is too dark, increase your exposure time or set your aperture from f/11 to f/8. If your exposure is to bright, decrease your exposure time or change the aperture to f/16.

Put your camera on a tripod.

Some cameras will be able to auto focus on the sparkler and some won’t. I have explained both scenarios below.

Type 1 – autofocus method
When your partner lights the sparkler, aim the lens at the light while they hold it still. Your camera will be able to focus. If your pictures look blurry try Type 2 –manual focus.

Type 2 - manual focus
Turn off the auto focus setting and set on manual. This will vary from camera to camera. On my camera, this setting is located on the camera body near the lens on the left side. Illuminate the sparkler holder with the flashlight and make sure your partner is standing in the same place that they will be when you actually light the sparkler. Now focus the camera on something easier to see, such as their hand. Keep in mind that the sparkler will be extended an arm’s length from where they stand. With the focus set, when the sparkler is lit you’ll be ready to go.

You are now set to take the first picture. We got two or three photographs on each small sparkler, and ten 8 second shots with the large ones.

Now you can assess your images for exposure and sharpness on the viewing screen and tweak your settings as needed.

Troubleshooting:

Below are some examples of some photographs that did not work and may help you troubleshoot if you have some exposure problems. I have listed the technical data to help explain why they did not work.

Image A - ISO 1250, f 4.8, 1/30 of a second. ISO was too high image was overexposed.
Make ISO a smaller number, make the f/stop a larger number or make the shutter speed faster to improve the exposure of the photograph.

Image B - ISO 800, f 5.6, 1/100 of a second. ISO too high shutter speed too fast to show any action. The solution is similar as in A but in order to see action the shutter speed has to be longer.

Image C - ISO 800, f 5.6, 1/100 of a second. ISO too high - overexposed. This is a more extreme example of Image A.

Image D – ISO 200, f5.6, 2 seconds. Poor planning in camera frame. This is where the tape and pre-shoot setup are helpful.

Image E - ISO 200, f5.6, 2 seconds. Out of focus. My camera had trouble with auto focus which is why I used the flashlight on my sparkler holder’s hand to focus to produce better results.

Here are some of our favorites that we took because we could – I can never have too many photographs – and that’s the truth!

About our guest blogger:

Photography has been my lifetime career and passion. You can find some of my work on my website or purchase prints on Etsy.  I also have a blog where I am retelling the love story between my grandparents in real time using my grandfather’s love letters. Each one is posted exactly 100 years after it was originally sent. It is a wonderful look into the world they shared. Check it out!
-Beth Shepherd Peters