Catching up with this weeks doings…

WIP – my art supplies page for the BCN trip – only a few more sleeps away (oh! and a journey of approx 38 hours door to door… don’t have the most direct flights this year!?!) Will post the full spread when I get it finished!

For those that are interested in my final selection….

Still working out my art supplies… this time my water colour pencils…. well this is what I did yesterday. I think I have it sorted now… as few as possible… and I know some of the inktense are not light fast but love that fushcia one!

BTW my trip prep book this year is an old DR ebony book with discoloured paper.

My belts and braces approach to travelling with ink.

I always fill my lamy pen fully before travelling on the place and of course use it during the flight. Only once ever had a slight leakage problem. Try to keep pens in upright position. I did have a problem with a Noodlers Flex pen which spilt black ink all over a sketch when I carelessly opened the lid after arrival.

I put my ink in my main luggage. I have a fancy travelling ink pot by Visconti which I absolutely love(but not needed) but also have additional supply of black ink and one or two other colours- this year only 1- Polar Blue. The dropper is to re-fill my ink pot. I tape the lids, wrap with a tissue (so I can easily see if there has been a leakage, then put them inside a plastic container and then in another zip lock bag. The Visconti ink pot has never leaked (vacuum sealed) and I used to carry it in my liquids bag… now I just put it in my bathroom bag. I don’t need to do so much packaging but that is my ink work flow.

It is important to have an ink container that is sturdy and that you can fill up without too much trouble or danger of tipping over. I have lost a bit of ink when I knocked over my inkpot (over a sink thankfully) the plastic container is very useful for holding the ink containers in vertical position during a fill up!

Finally finished my sewing.. a new very cool dress of blue and white seersucker with a little white trim (I am getting fancy aren’t I?) and gathers instead of box pleats (same old pattern though!) It looks very uninspiring on the hanger…but you will see it in action soon!

And my working proto-type of my pen holder with wonky top stitching and last minute middle row for my fountain pens. It needs to be so narrow to fit into the front pocket of my red hedgren bag! Side flap turns over around the back for an open use (such as on a cafe table!)

I was mistaken about having finished my sewing… as I am on holidays and my niece was out for a walk I did another bit of sewing the afternoon after the photo above… something that I have wanted to do for ages. This is a small bag for keeping my ‘things’ by my side (or at my feet) during the long long flights (I think I have 40 hours door to door this time) I have no idea why I had 2 x 30cm yellow zippers in my supply but they make this fun. And yes it will co-ordinate with my skirts (since made of left over fabric)
It is just a small tote bag with zips… (not big enough for my A4 size moleskine but not intended to be).  Something to hold my liquids, emergency pain killers, glasses case eye mask, etc etc. anything that I will need on a 8-15 hour flight (or two!) …not my best sewing but it works a treat!!!!