Last Rainy Day in May

Lately we really haven't been able to plan our days around the nightly weather report.  They kept predicting a high in the 80's every five days out , but with each week that passed, it remained cool and breezy.  In fact, yesterday was like a day in Monterey with fog and chilly temperatures.  Then finally, they hit the nail on the head.  Its not really a fault.  We can only predict, for what happens in the atmosphere is entirely up to the atmosphere.  But, this morning when I turned over in bed, I could hear the plink-plink-plink in the little fireplace set in the wall, and when I lifted my head to see over the lump next to me, the clock read a quarter to eight.  Ahhh...  How very good it felt to sleep in.  And, it was raining. 

So I headed off to my studio once I'd had my tea, and started puttering around.  The idea for a true Etrenne kept niggling at me.  What was I thinking?!  How could I possibly make a doll accessory and have it be incomplete?  So I began making a leather bound sketchbook to fit inside Mary's art sketch box.  I lined the inside with a cotton dimity, cut the pages, made a cotton binding, covered it in a nice green leather, but I wasn't having fun.  It was just something to pass the time.  But, then I started really thinking about her pencil, and asked myself, "What did Victorians actually use for sketching those botanicals?" 

I started looking up "Victorian drawing tools" and was delivered to medical implements.  I suppose the word "tools" was a little too broad a theme.  I knew they weren't using wooden No. 2's, so I gambled on the words "Victorian pencils".  But, of course!  These were some of the first mechanical pencils!  Wow.  Now I was excited. 

Although the history of pencils can be traced back as far as 500 years, the first mechanical pencil patent wasn’t applied for until 1822, when John Hawkins and Sampson Mordan patented an “ever-pointed” pencil in Britain.  Vague details exist of a brass propelling pencil that used a spring as early as 1636, and an actual early mechanical pencil was found on the wreckage of the HMS Pandora, a ship that sank in 1791.  The propelling pencils, or push button lever pencils had refillable graphite leads.  As I was researching how these decorative mechanical pencils were rendered, I found some incredibly beautiful ones, some with fascinating details.  But, of course they were.  They were Victorian.  It leaves me wondering how often these were used for writing as well as drawing, since they were far handier to carry along than pen and ink bottles.

So I got busy and picked up a little basswood stick and started carving a little pencil with my X-acto blade.  I knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to create anything as decorative as a sterling silver mechanical pencil, but that was okay.  I think the shape enthralled me as much as anything else.  Its the shape of a pin vise.  Its the shape of a hypodermic needle.  Its a vial with a very narrow hole going all the way through it.  Engineering wise, this makes me wonder if the latter implements were conceived from the general idea of the mechanical pencil.  Think about it.

Either way, Mary now owns a note book for sketching and a mechanical pencil to tuck into her sketch box!

A couple of days before, I was changing out the costuming for my Ruby Red Galleria Ten Ping Family dolls and decided that yellows and greens would be a fine summer clothing theme for them.  However, poor cousin Ping Li did not have anything to match.  So I got busy and made her a summer set to coordinate with theirs.  I used the same pattern for her wrap top, that I used under the smock for the winter set.  I added a skirt for warmer weather, and made her a new pair of slippers to wear as well.  Now the Pings can go on a picnic with cousin Ping Li.

This is fun.  This is how I enjoy spending my time, besides reading, and being with my dogs. 

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday weekend...rain or shine!

Love,

Melissa