What a year, gang. We’ve seen political upheavals mingled with newly energized activism. Lazy intellects, desperate anger, slick marketing, and pathological distrust of expertise resulted in everything from Trump’s election, Brexit, serious Flat Earth conspiracies, anti-vaccination movements, pseudoscience, and the disastrous return of Lysenkoism to Russia. We’ve seen brave, fierce scientists, journalists, and ordinary people…
Read More 2017 in reviewAfter seeing this made when I was a kid, I’m trying out the recipe for ‘Mamie Eisenhower’s Fudge’. It’s a really friendly recipe if you’re scared of candymaking. Just remember: no touching the fudge until it sets overnight. Cover the pans with foil and keep in an *undisturbed* room temperature location. Chill after cutting into…
Read More Mamie’s FudgeThese are coming along nicely. The teeny rocketships are all embroidered, and now both sides of the text blocks are sewn together.  I debated hand-sewn seams to anchor the folds, but my hands and schedule said ‘nope’. So my trusty old Elna sewing machine did the work, in about a quarter of the time…
Read More ‘Rocketship’ Fiber Art BooksAs I write this at 6am on a Wednesday morning, several major news organizations have called the Alabama Senate special election for Democrat Doug Jones. The Republican candidate, the odious Roy Moore, has yet to concede. This is a big deal for American politics. Early exit polls and anecdotal evidence suggests this is more a…
Read More Doug Jones and the Republican SoulThis will eventually have its own spot on Filigree’s Rule, but I thought the problem merited its own longer post. Literary agents are human: they have likes, dislikes, foibles, and triggers like anyone else. Sometimes an author is lucky and their quirks will mesh with the agent’s. This is one of the major reasons to…
Read More Abusive agents and how to spot themAs per this Facebook post, the erotic romance publisher Loose Id is closing. https://www.facebook.com/LoosenYourId/posts/10156261079630101 The four owners (The Quad, in LI nicknames) have decided not to squander the market’s good will, and are winding down the business by May of 2018. This was my first romance publisher: they took on the first edition of my…
Read More End of an Era: Loose IdHint: if your publisher pops up and declares they will no longer consider submissions from agents, and requires their authors to sever existing ties with agents…your publisher is either predatory, clueless, or both. This post prompted by the hilarious meltdown from Tyrant Books, an independent literary press based in Rome & NYC. Tyrant *has* published…
Read More On agents and publishersFor a couple of years recently, I worked at a strenuous but fun job painting faux finishes on fiberglass architectural forms. A mostly outside job winter or summer, it involved schlepping big cast brickwork arches onto sawhorses, fixing the (numerous) flaws from the manufacturer, and painting a three tone finish to mimic a particular type…
Read More Myself from SpaceThe latest award ribbons are done and delivered! As I mentioned here, they are based on the collage/printmaking work of Erin Curry. Here’s the Festival poster image, a commissioned piece. And here are the award ribbons I made in fiber applique, machine stitching, and hand-sewn beaded embroidery. Materials include polyester felt, commercial printed cotton, digital…
Read More Tempe Festival of the Arts Awards, Fall 2017I’m partway through the next set of award ribbons for the Tempe Festival of the Arts. These are based on the work of Erin Curry, so for the applique backgrounds I used a mix of bright and subdued cotton prints glued on white felt pre-edged with dark green/blue rose print fabric. The prints have some…
Read More Gel transfers on fabricBecause they make me smile: Sugar Skull ceramic planters from a nearby Trader Joe’s. I’m wondering if I could coax a Datura seedling into growing in one, instead of the succulent shown. Probably shouldn’t, though. Responsibility in gardening, and all that. But honestly: wouldn’t it be gorgeous?
Read More Happy Halloween, 2017!Note: ‘Natural’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘safe’. A surprising number of herbal products can harm or kill you, used improperly. This stuff is no exception. So if you are mad enough to make your own horehound candy, be careful and don’t overdo it, either in the making or the eating. These are horehound candy ‘sanded’ lozenges…
Read More Horehound candy from scratchGuilty as charged: I love Halloween more than I love Christmas. I used to be dazzled equally by both. I adored the lights, the glitter, the rich mythology. Both are consumer frenzies, but I hold that less against Halloween than I do Christmas. Not so much the fault of Christmas. It’s been hijacked by both ultra-conservative…
Read More Orange Orchids & a Halloween shirtI’m shamelessly neglecting my #Inktober duties. With so many disasters both natural and manmade in the news right now, I wanted to pull away briefly, and post two old-but-fun pieces inspired by Autumn. ‘Baltic Blue 1 and 2’ are large acrylic paintings on canvas, approx 22″x36″, done around 2009-2010. While pure fantasy, they were inspired…
Read More Autumn landscapes: Baltic Blue 1, 2Okay, we’ll try another version of this. In other words: writing is work. Often very hard work, that might pay little or nothing for an insane amount of time and labor. There is no set ‘destination’, since your career can skyrocket to best-seller and movie status, or crash into obscurity with equal speed. If you…
Read More Crane’s Guide to Writing and BakingA few years ago I posted this excerpt of a rewritten fantasy short story, ‘Red Amber’, a M/M erotic romance about creativity, grief, pride, and lost love. Here’s the current mood board for it. While I’m waiting on edit letters for THE PURIST, I’m settling back into this story. I have 12K of it written, so…
Read More ‘Red Amber’ updateI’m contracting THE PURIST to NineStar Press for a release date sometime in 2018. It almost certainly *won’t* have this cover, and possibly not this title, but I look forward to seeing what NineStar does with it. Way back in 1996 or 1997 I wrote a 6K short story set in my Lonhra Sequence fantasy…
Read More ‘The Purist’ has a home with NineStar PressProof that the universe has a questionable sense of humor, or GOP marketers are harvesting emails without researching them, or Weebly sold me out (or all three): Trump’s campaign folks have been sending me begging emails *on the email account I use only for things related to fanfiction*. Often very dark and or seriously raunchy…
Read More Trump Asks Me For MoneyThis book (two books, actually) holds a wistful joy for me. The two stories woven within are pure McKillip at her best: lyrical, mystical, with down-to-earth protagonists and a way of bringing the eldritch in for tea. I encountered the first book in 1992 at a World Fantasy Convention, and the second in the summer…
Read More Cygnet, by Patricia McKillipMany of my book art sculptures are represented in the US and internationally by the wonderful folks at Vamp & Tramp Booksellers. http://www.vampandtramp.com/finepress/c/cranedesigns.html A large catalog of works can be seen by scrolling down the pages on the right side of this blog. Look for Book Arts & Text Based Art, for pieces from…
Read More Crane Designs Book Art