How to do just about anything

I've been gocco printing again - I love it! This time I finally got around to using all those crazy books I collect as inspiration. I seem to be going through a bit of a "when I was a little girl..." phase, but once you start down that road it is so much fun! So here I go again. When I was a little girl I was ALWAYS making something. I had a stash of 'How to' craft books (Santa knew what I loved) and I would pour over them for hours deciding what to make next. It was frequently a disappointment when the job was done. I mean clogs to keep your feet dry in wet weather - made out of cotton reels and fruit crate sides???
A fashionable modern flatlet for my paper dolls - well, I just might have been tempted to try this one. I loved my paper dolls and played with them for hours on end. I never actually made them a flatlet like this one. I used the markings on the persian rugs to delineate the rooms and houses in my games. I would have loved this if I had it!
Now, a 'yarn dog'? Yes, I would definitely have made this one. She is so cute! It seems Perry thinks so too. He is hoping his wool doggy might just be the thing to finally seal the approval of Gigi, my glamour girl I drew from yet another weird book, this time on 1950's movie stars. Will he? Won't he? Will she? Won't she?
And about Gocco printing - I'm learning a lot. This last print (Perry and Gigi) I actually used 3 B5 screens for. I also used Photoshop first to both make the dot screen colour areas, and to register the images BEFORE I flashed the screens. It made it a lot easier when the time came for actual printing.

But back to those 'How to' books, I can't leave them alone! So you will be seeing more weird (and probably NOT wonderful!) images inspired by them here from time to time. Anyone else obsessed with these old gems of craft wisdom?

p.s. These prints are all available in my Etsy shop The Little Shop of Horus.