Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Fish Aren't Manly

oh sigh. Today I decided to use my gen-u-ine Indonesian tjap, which came off E-bay and arrived coated with gen-u-ine Indonesian dirt crusted all over it, to make a batik t-shirt. So I set everything up, got my wax to heating, swept off some of the dirt, and plunked the tjap into the hot wax. Then I plopped it on the t-shirt, and nothing happened. Goodness. So I stuck the tjap back in the wax and waited patiently (big lie) and then tried again. And this time, the wax was hot enough, the stars were aligned, and the wax stuck to the t-shirt. Unfortunately, there was only one shirt. So, well, I did it again. And again. And then I flipped the shirt over and did the back. Too ambitious for a first project? No. But maybe too many fish. I'll let you decide:


I like it. I like it so freaking much. So I took it to its intended recipient, the only size M in our house, and he said, "It's really pretty, Mom. But it's fish. Fish aren't manly."

Big sigh.

I may have wandered down the road to the sad world of rejected art tributes. So the back, I declare, shall be titled "Sad fish."


Not manly. Man. I am one sad fish.

Tomorrow's project: unmanly batik fish on a scarf.

2 comments:

  1. Will you travel down here to the southern tier to teach a private batik class?

    I have a collection of t shirts saved just for learning batik with.

    I'll have Bill wear his fish shirt to your gathering in a few weeks, I think it's manly enough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would be happy to haul out. I thought I had lindo'd all my shirts last weekend at a friend's house (lindoing is when you take stuff to someone else's house and leave it, thus decreasing the quantity of treasures in your own home. tingoing is when people come to your house and surreptitiously borrow your stuff until you have nothing left), but found more in a closet.

    ReplyDelete