Checking in! Got back to town and I'm finishing up another swap. This one is still on hold, but as before, I just need to fasten a couple more parts and I'm done.

I did some test stamping today with my new stamping inks... I was less than impressed with how faint they transferred to the fabric. I have some inks I can roll onto my stamps that I will try tonight, but has anyone had success with any kind of ink pads and stamps on fabric?

Oh man, those hinges are so microscopic!

I'm sooo close to being done with carving my designs. I'm going out of town for about five days, but I am taking some supplies with me in case I get a chance to break them out on the road or at some friends' places. I picked up some fun fabric to print on when I am ready depending on what medium I wind up using. I've seemed to misplace some things that I will have to do some heavy searching for next week...

I'm so close to being done with my first shrine still, but I kinda put this swap on hold so I can catch up with my other one. We have so much time left that I am not too worried....

I made a ton of progress this weekend on my carving, but I still have a lot to go. I went to Michael's to get more supplies and completely forgot the most important material... I'm going out of town for about half a week, so I have to wait til middle of next week to get the last bit of supplies and finish up making the designs. I also need to get the fabric I will actually be sending my partners

Oh, and I have a question... what's the best ink to use for stamping on fabric? Something I can get at a "big box" store, hopefully. I have some Staz-on ink... will that last on fabric?

ETA: I found an answer! I got it from here:
http://www.crafttestdummies.com/craft-product-reviews/comparison-of-stamp-pad-inks-on-fabric/

She tested a bunch of different inks, and while I have one of them, it didn't do as well as I had hoped. So, I may have to see what I can find at the store... or Amazon

Thanks so much for sharing this!! I was waiting to see the answer to your question since I decided to go the stamp carving way... I just have all the tools and I really get in the zone with stamp carving. I thought I would have to buy some fancy paints I could roll on. I do have all the rolling tools for linocuts, but I never thought to just use stamp pads for fabric!

I just realized I have two meetups schedule this weekend. I'm really excited because that will be twice the inspiration from all my local craft buddies for getting this swap started since I will be done with my other swap by the end of the week. I have been playing around with a few designs in my head, but I need to stalk my partners a little more to make sure the styles will be suitable for them

I also wanted to do two or three, but the "thing" I got is definitely "large", and I have put so much time into it already without being close to being done. I think I will be okay with this just being a very time-consuming large instead of doing multiple....

Annigirl has received my mug rug on Thursday, so I am going to go ahead and post photos now

I left the edges unfinished, and put extra fabric layers between the top and bottom so that as it frays a little, you will see extra colors and patterns. I also mimicked the stitching that suereal did on my prayer flag recently and went all crazy on the stitching over the applique. For the front piece, I went with my partner's "hippie" theme... "peace, love, coffee/tea"



I went outside the traditional mediums for the back piece and decided to do a little needle-felting on the wool sweater that I cut to go in the middle of the mug rug. The back went with my partner's "nature" theme.