…these burning barn cards from the design of the barn swallow papercut I made last week. I envision them being used as thank you cards, but I declined to put a message on the inside, the way I did with the bacon cards. They’re way too versatile. I’m thinking of including a small printout of suggested messages with each one, though, like “You’re a life saver” or “Thanks for always being there when I need you. Happy Mother’s/Father’s/Valentine’s Day.” I also think it would be funny to include some inappropriate ones, like “Wish you were here!” or “Congratulations on your new home!”
I printed them using my Gocco PG-5 (awesome tutorial by felt cafe here), and learned some very valuable lessons in the process. Firstly, the Gocco does not do well with very fine lines (something I already knew) and doesn’t do well with large blocks of color (something I didn’t know). Secondly, the Gocco is very specific about the photocopies it likes. Copies that are too dark/dense leave burnt toner stuck to the screen, so the ink can’t get through. I tried scraping it off carefully with an Xacto knife but it stretched the screen mesh, making the holes uneven. Copies that are too light don’t burn all the way through and again, the ink can’t get through. I used five screens and five sets of flash bulbs before I got a usable screen, and the barn and bucket still didn’t print very cleanly or evenly. In the end what I had to do was draw over my entire design with the Gocco carbon pen and then burn that. As a result my design wasn’t as sharp as the original. Still, I got about 50 decent, saleable prints out of my 60 cards, so while it was an expensive series of lessons, at least I’ll recoup my costs. The not-so-perfect ones will go in the sale bin, which is always very popular at craft fairs. Most people are just not as picky as I am, I guess.
Tomorrow we are going to an outdoor barbecue/crafting party to make giant muppet heads for Bay to Breakers. I’m going as Beaker and A. is going as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. We’ve also got people for the entire Electric Mayhem band. I’ve lived in San Francisco for seven years but have never gotten dressed up and walked in Bay to Breakers (though some of my meats have). I’m literally packing a suitcase full of craft supplies and today I bought a ton of fake fur at Discount Fabrics. I’m REALLY excited for tomorrow. Soft sculpture engineering is my JAM.
Biz Miss 
Have you heard of this band (http://deadhensons.com/) by any chance?
I love the Dead Hensons and have seen them live in Oakland. I believe they are almost exclusively Sesame Street songs though, and we were strictly Muppet Show Muppets.
My bf is one of the guitar players so I’ve seen them many a time. It is a primarily sesame street repertoire but they play plenty of muppet songs. You must not have caught them on the best night for muppets!