But I like shopping!

Oh, McClains. How your siren song pulls me under with your tempting offers of delightful tools and beautiful woods. I'm currently staring at the an open website with several items in my shopping cart. I know I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to order anything to be sure I'm making the right decision but I cant help agonizing over my choices. Wood carving tools don't come cheap. There are lots of things to consider when making a purchase: quality of the blades, affordability, size. What will I use it for? How often will I use it? If I break it, is the blade replaceable or at least easy to repurchase?

I've been on a real woodblock kick for some time now. Hopefully this new project I'm embarking on will greatly benefit from the addition of a few new tools (tiny chisel, here I come) I guess once I hit a certain point, I just missed printmaking too much NOT to do it. However it is late and I have a final to get to tomorrow. Hopefully this shopping experience can be my finals victory celebration.

Completely unrelated to art.

Alright, I know I'm supposed to keep a tight grasp on my purse strings for a while but recently I've done a little bit of splurging. Its hardly a secret that I have a large appetite for books. As a matter of fact, my current bookstore job only helps to facilitate the spending of my paycheck on books. Once again my bookshelves have become overloaded and books are forming small stacks all over my floor, tables and counters. Sometimes I think they start to breed and multiply on their own.

I usually carry one or two books in my purse at any given time. I'll be the first to say that The multiple book approach can burn up a lot of space in my purse.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the idea of an e-reader fills me both with interest and a horror at the idea that books might become outdated.

However my need for space and my curiosity eventually won out and I caved to purchasing the Nook from Barnes and Noble. I love the fact that the power lasts for days without a charge and that I can carry a virtual library in my purse at any given time. While the nook is good for casual reading, and has a huge advantage when it comes to portability, it is certainly no replacement for books overall. So far I find reading on it to go rather quickly. I like that the nook will remember what page of the book you left off on since bookmarks and purses dont exactly mix. My book choices are divided into two categories: fictional fluffy reading and big beautiful art books as well as other reference books and magazines with plenty of color images. and I am slowly starting to customize my nook. I went with a pink back cover and I will hopefully be getting my pink leather case delivered some time this week (I made sure it matched my wii remote).

Hopefully updates and pictures coming later as some of the books I look forward to are being released!

Chops

Today I was wondering around downtown San Juan Capistrano. One of my favorite places to browse is a large antique mall nearby. While looking through some of the old antique cases, I found something incredibly interesting; stone artist chops!

While I don't have a picture of the beautiful chops I found in the antique shop, I did manage to dig up this picture of the chops that are used at Crown Point Press.

Anyone out there use a chop? If so, did you make it or have it made and what material did you use?