Day 7 wasn't a very blog-worthy day. I practiced my letter making, again. This time to see if I could get it small enough to be able to have a longer poem in one of the books. I was happy enough with the result to move forward. I used my Micron .005 pen which has an almost microscopically thin tip, and with some practice, got the result I liked ok.

Day 8 was a lot more fun. I started out by a trip to the St. Petersburg Farmer's Market. I've been searching for something even close to the Rochester market, and so far I haven't been able to find one. Yes, if I want to buy cloying soaps or strangely sweet salsas.  (People of Tampa Bay: Salsa is spicy. It should be considered an ice cream topping. That is all.) But huge amounts of fresh, in season fruits and veggies have been harder to find. But yesterday I located a wonderful market. I bought sunflowers and some absolutely wonderful strawberries. The berries are so sweet that I don't have any need to add sugar. Luscious!

And then on a pilgrimage to the two good art supply stores in the area. First the one in St. Petersburg. The Art Supply Store (easy to find, thanks to the name! Namers of business please take note!) This store was located in what I think is the artsy part of St. Pete. And by the way, St. Pete is where it's at, IMHO. On the same street were bars, coffee shops,  and funky home furnishing places. The Art Supply Store is (according to the chatty owner) the only locally owned art store in Pinellas County. I think probably for Hillsborough County as well. It was chock full of wonderfulness, interesting handmade paper, three different bone folders. Three! Paints, papers, all sorts of pens and inks. It was wonderful. I think I spent at least an hour there, wantering and rewandering the aisles. I bought a handful of Stabilo .4 fine point pens in purple and blues for the Mermaid Shadows book. I also picked up some Golden brand "Digital Ground for Non-Porous Surfaces" which apparently makes it possible for me to print pictures on non-porous surfaces. Like Aluminium foil!!!!! I'm totally thrilled to try that out. And I got some Liquitex gel medium to try to do a transfer with. I keep being very infatuated with the idea of transfers, although I've had zero luck with any of the methods on Pinterest or Youtube. When I told Simone about these, she expressed doubt. And <laughing> she is probably right -- I just am not ready to give up the fight yet!

Second stop in the hunt for art supplies was Blick. Blick is a chain, yes, but I really like their selection. They have a book binding SECTION! And I specifically wanted to get a book with smooth paper to use to practice my lettering. And I had had a print made by my photography Guru Doug Beasley framed and I wanted to pick that up. You can learn more about Doug here. The retreat I attended last summer was life changing. Please don't let the amazingly poorly composed photos of the stores dissuade you!

So Day 9 will be actually making something -- I'm so excited to get at it. Stand by for progress reports!