A Prize

Today in the mail the prize we won in a drawing from Lavender Rabbit arrived. A delightful leaping bunny necklace, Spring Hare to be exact, which Amelia volunteered to model as a sort of head piece, such as a rabbit might wear to a royal wedding if a rabbit were invited. I wanted to post a better picture of the charming item but camera batteries gave out (you can see a better photo at Lavender Rabbit blog) Lavender Rabbit kindly included a bag of Simple Rewards Veggie treats for our warren. 4 Buns are grateful (crunch, crunch). You can visit Lavender Rabbit the store here and the blog here. Go to the store, it's an Etsy shop, there's lots of bunny related jewelry items and buy something, no need to be jealous of my Spring Hare. We send a shout out to the talented Dot, the bun who chooses the winner of the drawing, thanks Dot, that bag of carrots will be arriving any day now.

Amelia 04/27/2011

Rabbits At Work

Tyler Stamp

We have been very, very busy in the rabboratory. It had seemed for a long time that getting a custom stamp made was too expensive, too complicated and really not doable at all. And hosting a whole line of stamps was ridiculous and not to be thought of, ever......The advent and maturation of the internet has changed all that.

Sydney Stamp

In this day and age I can send a scan to a small family company and in a few days receive a rubber stamp made from the image I sent. In fact without even meeting these people I can send them an Email with my info and have them bill me for their services. It seems a little like magic.

Amelia Stamp

I love rubber stamps and have to control myself around them, indeed I once had a suitor try to win my favor by giving me a couple of rubber stamps; a hypodermic needle and a skeleton wearing a hat a la Jose Posada. I wish I could make lovely artworks with rubber stamps, I have seen some marvelous and truly magical works, but I can't and I accept that as totally OK.

Harriet Stamp

When I send out a print to it's new home I put many, many armadillos on the package. Some of you have even seem my folksy handiwork. It's fun for me and it's fun for the people who work at the post office that I go to. There are two post offices in town. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I go to the one that is a little farther away and that I have to drive to, but I do make sure I have other things to do in the area or it is on the way to something else. I don't like to go to the one downtown because there are sometimes unwell people with unidentified and contagious diseases. The last time I went there the guy in front of me had a coughing fit all over the counter, I tried so hard not to breathe or touch the counter. I think because of this kind of event and others even less savory, the clerks, though they surely fulfill the requirements of their respective job descriptions, are understandably cranky.

Miss Eve Stamp

At the other post office all the clerks are very, very friendly. One guy is almost absurdly happy to help everybody, he always ends the transactions by saying "That was really fun, let's do it again!". And he seems to mean it and know that he is over top at the same time. It is quite fascinating. At this post office all the clerks are endlessly amused by the armadillos, one asked a co-worker if it cost more to send packages with armadillos, another noticed I'd added word balloons and started reading them aloud.

Bunny Head Stamp

In the back of your mind you may be wondering what it is with armadillos and me, and wouldn't it make more sense if I had a rabbit stamp. You would be right, of course, you so often are. I have looked for rabbit stamps and never found the right one. So I've had a bit of a bee in my bonnet about that. One day, on Facebook, I'd done a rabbit drawing for something and posted it and Friend of Animals wrote something about wanting a stamp of it. This added another bee to the first bee in my bonnet as regards rabbit stamps. Lest I go crazy from the buzzing I just went ahead and did stamps and you can visit my Etsy (I love Etsy BTW) shop by clicking HERE. Be sure to click on each one and read the descriptions, they are a little bit fun, though not as fun as Mr. Fun from the other post office.

Tiger Stamp

The thing that makes my stamps kind of special is that each design started out as a woodblock print so it really looks like a print, not like a photo or a line drawing. I find prints special, they are an interaction between the artist, the carving tool, the wood, the ink, the paper and day itself. It's a group effort. It certainly is not always easy but it seems that it is through limitations that a uniqueness is achieved. I have some more designs in the works and am going to have T Shirts for buying as well......

Items

Item: I have finished some Moku Hanga toads;  the print is named Toad's Eye View.  Instead of doing gold leaf, I just painted in the eye with gold ink, I was too afraid of ruining an otherwise reasonable print. I've put one up for sale on Etsy (see left sidebar).  This action earns: 2 Nose Bumps from the Spots, there would be more but printing takes away from treat time.

Item: A 90 year old Italian woman was trapped for 2 days, when rescued and asked what she did the whole time, she answered that she crocheted. Always keep arts and crafts materials close at hand in case of emergency. This action earns: 5 Nose Bumps from the Spots.

Item: Despite my efforts to spend less at the Farmer's Market I have spent not much less. The reason being the music at the Market has taken a turn upward. Imagine if you will a woman playing a cello, a guy on an acoustic guitar who sings like Tome Waits on amphetamines, and a guy with a washboard. Got that? Now imagine them playing The Ramones "song" "I Wanna be Sedated" and you can actually understand the "lyrics". OK they get a dollar. Then there was this incredible duo; two guys one playing Pan pipes and the other supplying percussion by beating on a box and blowing a whistle. Fabulous, they got a dollar too. This actions earns: 5 Nose Bumps to each group from the Spots for kicking standards up a notch and a thump for me for not buying the favorite salad mix.

Item: I have to do my taxes today, I was going to get them done yesterday but, as you may know, we had no internet because several fiber optic cables got cut....... Taxes get: 5 Thumps from the Spots, they don't like numbers so very much either.

Hoppy Weekends