Back in the Saddle – Hopefully for a while

“Now I try to take it a bit more slowly, but it’s not easy. Being in the studio to get work done is actually the most relaxing I can do at the moment. But I have been sick too many times in a row now, I really should find a way to wind down a little. It is surprisingly hard to do, …”

That is a quote from myself from the last blogpost almost four weeks ago.

Well, it looks like my body was not quite satisfied with my attempts. I had a lot of plans for the time between our holidays and half term in October (when the children won’t be in school for 2 weeks): Of course I would like to finally finish 346. While tidying up my desk I found a quote from a printing service for an instructional book that I thought almost finished in Febuary, and wanted to pick up these loose threads (but I can’t find the draft, will have to look once more, could it really be it existed only in my head – oh, please no!). I also thought I’d go into journal making mode again, for old time’s sake, to use up a lot of torn jeans of all sizes (should be fun, families of books…), and to revive my Studio & Press Etsy Shop, and of course for some financial gain for and from the Christmas season. And of course there are prints to be made, stories to be told…

But, just when I wanted to get started, about three weeks ago, a back ache set in. At first I hardly paid attention to it. – It was just a slight back ache like you get it sometimes. But it grew worse every day. I started to find it hard to bend down or lift things. I found it harder and harder to sleep at night. Next I found myself unable to bend down, or lift things. Next day I could hardly walk. I started to have cramps in my back muscles, and apart from that hurting a lot, they pulled me into uncomfortable positions which resulted in more back ache in different muscles. The cramps often start when I am trying to relax. The best way to keep them at bay is to keep moving. – Slowly of course, because my back ache is so bad, I can hardly lift my feet off the ground. And so, for the last week or so, I have been pacing the house restlessly. I often woke up at night, so much in pain, that all I could do is try to get up and start walking again, trying to cry and moan as silently as possible to not wake up my children and sleeping husband. M. essentially had to look after the children all the time anyway, bringing them to school, picking them up, getting up for them at night time (which we still have to do surprisingly often, usually several times per night), and so I didn’t want to disturb his sleep more than necessary. Being up on your feet all day and most of your nights is rather exhausting – and gave me yet another type of back ache (and foot ache and overall ache).

So yesterday I decided this was enough and went to see a doctor. I now am taking a couple of different pills with long lists of unpleasant side effects – but I can finally move again! The last night was the first in a while I stayed in bed. I am not pain free, but it seems managable again. [insert big sigh of relief here]

So, time to get working again, eh?

I am of course still – and again – working on 346. The text is almost done, at least I hope so, I keep working over my draft. I have a first drafted layout without graphics, just with empty boxes where they are supposed to end up. Hopefully it won’t take too long to add the pictures. It looks like a 3 hour job to me, so probably I will need about three weeks (I just hope they won’t end up as three months!)

Being almost ready for a first printout, I started looking again at material to use for the scroll itself again. My choice fell on Tyvek for now.

It turns out, Tyvek is not Tyvek. It comes in a lot of different weights and textures but not all of them seem to be available on rolls. I was only able to find really thick and heavy Tyvek (apparently used a lot for outdoor banners), or rather thin Tyvek “fabric” which has a texture I am not completely happy with. If you know of a source for Tyvek on rolls with a weight of less than 100g per square meters, please do let me know.

The one I am currently working with (and which can be seen in the pictures) has 105g and is a little too thick, I think. But it feels and looks wonderful and I want to try and see how much I need of it, and how thick the rolls will turn out. I also ordered some of the Tyvek fabric and will have a trial run with that once it reaches me.

The problem of how exactly and from what material to construct the box to hold the scroll is still unsolved and troubles me in sleepless nights. But I am trying to take one step at a time, and decided to not think about this too much at this time. I’ll find a way when the scroll is finished, I hope.

Some things worked out in the last weeks: I made a couple of “miniature world” bottles, with miniatures in them which I hugely enjoyed. (And I still have a couple in my sketchbook which I would like to make.) You can see them on my other blog along with some nice finder stories from the summer dispatches. If you just want to see the bottles, you can also have a look at this album on ipernity.
I am rather proud of them and happy with how they turned out. I would like to do something special for them for their dispatch, but have not come up with something concrete yet.Well, as outlined above, I have some more projects on the line and three and a half weeks to go until half term. – But I don’t want to jinx it by putting anything on a timeline now. I just hope I’ll manage to finish some things before the next disabling illness catches up with me!