I tried laying the panels out on the studio floor but got so exhausted running around them trying to pull and smooth them flat, so I asked Werner's help. He was busy with his work but stopped long enough for me to find out he does not understand "pull that corner" in either language.
Desperate I called Jody and she came over on Tuesday and we worked on the living room floor. Carpeting is better than cement on the knees. In two hours we got the letters positioned on all three panels and marked. We looked like old women when we finished; we were so exhausted. Both of us had rug burn on knee bones. Sorry no photos!
Wednesday I laid the "fog" panel on my desk and began to put barge cement on the letters. When I turned the letter over the glue dripped and the letters were too large for me to hold all of it above the fabric while placing it. One letter I dropped on the cloth and got huge yellow glue marks. Then the glue, which I did not think had a bad odor (when I used a couple drops on cabochons) stank to high heaven as I use over two tubes on the letters. Plus, the cat insisted he had the right to walk over every thing investigating it. Thank goodness the day was warm and sunny so I could have all the windows open and I had enough shoji screens to cordon off the area. Again I was a nervous wreck by evening and sick from glue fumes in the house.
Wednesday I laid the "fog" panel on my desk and began to put barge cement on the letters. When I turned the letter over the glue dripped and the letters were too large for me to hold all of it above the fabric while placing it. One letter I dropped on the cloth and got huge yellow glue marks. Then the glue, which I did not think had a bad odor (when I used a couple drops on cabochons) stank to high heaven as I use over two tubes on the letters. Plus, the cat insisted he had the right to walk over every thing investigating it. Thank goodness the day was warm and sunny so I could have all the windows open and I had enough shoji screens to cordon off the area. Again I was a nervous wreck by evening and sick from glue fumes in the house.
Thursday I sewed the letters down was able to move "fog" to the studio and had (Werner went to town just to buy) glue thinner to try to repair the glue-goof. It only partially worked and I felt very discouraged.
By Friday I had, thanks to Werner's advice, a new plan to put the glue on the cloth and lay the letters on top. This worked a bit better. Today I just checked the "river" panel and because of the coolness of the studio the glue is still sticky. .
I hung "fog" and got a feeling for how it would look. In the evenings I had been tying beads to strings that will be tied to the "fog" page and hoped I could do them on Saturday.
Today I realized that I had better paint the backsides of the letters where the glue shows an ugly yellow. So I used acrylic white paint. Thank goodness I decided to make the panels double - this way the painted backsides will not be so noticeable. So I did that and found out the glue and acrylic are not friendly. The "river" panel is too sticky to lift from the wax paper so I have nothing out there I can do.
In the evenings, as an attempt to maintain sanity with some beading I can do, I have been working on the teddy bear. Here he is with his new head and arms (the first set was too small). He is just one inch tall. Those are white 15s and 11 brown accent beads
Again this week I have discovered that I love beading but I hate engineering projects that stand up, hang straight, don't wobble or fall into a heap - like beads in a jar.
