Current

Brittle Holiday

2011-12-19T20:53:00.017-05:00

Oh, hello! Thought I forgot about you, dear blog? Thought I fell off the earth, out of a kitchen, far far away from pens and paper and crafts and all manner of fun distraction? No no, dear friend, I have been cooking, making, crafting. I've just been... busy? Lazy? Distracted? All of the above. Anyways, welcome me back, will you?

It's that time of the year, and I'm loving every second of it, particularly now that we're finally in New England December - following a tepid, unforgiving, long, long fall. The temperatures are dropping, the air is becoming crisp again, and bus seats are shrinking as puffy Northface's sop up at least two inches between each passenger. It's wonderful.

I've been invited to what will prove to be a lovely Christmas holiday at the Carr/Parkes manse. In return for being hosted Christmas Eve through the day (slumber party!), I wanted to give Robert and David something sweet, something warm, and something fun. I've decided a gift basket of homemade goodies was just the thing, and I'm going to fill it with peanut cashew brittle, dry scone mix, cocoa mix, and a fruit filled chutney. I hope to make a post for each of these projects - so keep an eye out, they have to be done this week!

Yesterday, I made the brittle. After a lot of recipe reading and taste remembering, the Internet taught me that brittle of most any kind can properly be made in the microwave. Yes, the microwave. I know - it's weird, and I feel bad about it. But more on that in a minute. My intention was to make one batch on the stove and one in the microwave, but after making the quick-version first, and seeing how successfully easy it was, I couldn't imagine making it on the stove.

Back to the guilt. I feel it, hard. I feel like I've cheated. Like I've cut a corner that one just doesn't cut. I took the process out of something that seems so dependent upon process, something that surely tastes, in part, as good as it does because it was so belabored for. But let me tell you - making this shit in the microwave was so incredibly simple, pain free, and with equally delicious results, that I just don't see why you wouldn't do it. Especially when you've got to make a lot, and you don't have much (if any!) time. I still feel bad, but I think my guilt is foolish. But then again, (gulp) I've been making almost all of my bread dough in the Cuisinart for the past two years, and I still feel bad about it - so perhaps it's a guilt I'll just have to swallow.

Anyways, here's how you commit the delicious, absolutely fantastic travesty.

Cashew Peanut Brittle, Microwave:

1C sugar

1tsp salt, or so

1/2C light corn syrup

1tsp butter

1tsp vanilla

1C chopped and partially whole nuts

1tsp baking soda

Combine sugar, salt and corn syrup in microwave safe bowl. Mix well.

Microwave for 3min 15sec, stir well. Add vanilla and butter, combining well.

Microwave for 2min.

Mix in nuts. Combine well.

Gently mix in baking soda until sort of foamy.

Pour onto non-stick flat surface.

Try to pour evenly (unlike pictured), avoiding clumps along the way.

The brittle doesn't seem to like being spread, although it doesn't exactly

ruin it either. But I'd say, if you can pour and leave it, that'd be best.

Let set for 30min or so (mine took much less time, but it was a dry day...),

then break away! Try not to eat it all - it's a surefire route to a rumbly tummbly.

Honey Cashew Peanut Brittle, Microwave:

I also tried it with some honey, rather than all corn syrup. It worked, although it didn't set as well as the first batch. It set more than well enough to crack, but when chewed it gets soft instead of retaining its crunch through and through. I have a feeling this may just be a quality of the honey. After attending the Science and Cooking lectures at Harvard the past few months, I wish I knew the science behind how this all works! I bet it has something to do with the water molecules in honey vs those in sugar, but I'd love to get a microscope in my kitchen and watch it unfold in front of my eyes! If only Harold McGee was my bestie/dad/uncle/downstairs neighbor/anything really. Despite the science quandaries and lack of crunch, though, this brittle sure is tasty.

For this batch, I used:

1C sugar

1/2C honey/light corn syrup (about 4:1)

1tsp salt, or so

1tsp butter

1tsp vanilla

1tsp cognac

a dash of bitters

1tsp baking soda

1C chopped and partially whole nuts

Combine sugar, salt, honey and corn syrup well, microwave for 4min. Stir well and add nuts. Microwave for 3min. Add butter, vanilla, cognac, and bitters mixing well. Microwave 1min. Gently stir in baking soda. Pour onto nonstick flat surface and let set. Crack and enjoy!

Truly an awesome and easy candy making experience. Will do, again and again and again. I'll let you know how long it holds its tooth for - I'm suspicious that it mightn't fall soft before it's due to be gifted this weekend. But so far, so good! (Sooo soooo gooooood).

And stay tuned, folks! I'm feeling ambitious after being granted a part-time lecturer position for Tuft's Experimental College next semester, teaching Changing Tastes in Place: Sensory Ethnography in Boston's Foodscapes, alongside the lovely Selena Ahmed . And who knows, maybe this burst of sharing energy will turn into a steady presence... (don't hold your breath, though).

Until next time, may all your days be merry, your nights be bright, your gifts be clever, and your wrapping be tight!

Beets please!

2011-08-24T21:31:00.007-04:00

Made some pickled beets today. Yum.

Thinly sliced red onions in scalded jars

Layering looks nice and evenly distributes flavors!

Boiling beets if you're me is inevitably messy

But also pretty!

Once softish, beets are removed from water and run

under cold water to remove skins. Slice evenly to match

the onions, and then layer into the jar

Ready to be pickled!

A mixture of about (per 1 lb of beets) 1c apple cider vinegar,

1/4c honey (heated to dissolve with a bit of vinegar),

a few full cloves and a little water is poured into the jars.

Ready to eat in a few hours, refrigerate immediately!

Look, ma, I built some shelves!

2011-08-21T12:57:00.005-04:00

As September 1st nears, and Anna packs her belongings to move downstairs, I am faced with all of the projects around the house I hoped to do when we moved in a year ago but never found the time or energy to do. One of the continual problems of my home-life is trying to find space for all the books I inevitably take home almost every day... anyone who knows me knows I have a book habit. After weeding my library a few months ago and getting rid of four bags of books, I found myself with two piles of renegades that couldn't quite fit on the shelves around my house, either because I wanted to keep a subject collected or because they didn't fit into any of the collections hogging the shelves already. Decorative bindings, literature, art books - the sort of stuff that the scholarly and craft books populating my space don't take too kindly to.

Lounging in the living room the other day, I started to think about what I had been telling all perspective roommates I interviewed while looking for someone to move into Anna's room - "I'm open to building shelves anywhere, making the most of our many walls and high ceilings". I looked long and hard at the slanted wall ahead of me and realized it had to be do be done. Enough thinking, plotting, contemplating, wanting - it was time to build. And so last Wednesday I spent a few hours designing the unit, accepted Anna's gracious offer for a ride to Home Depot, and put up these beauties.

I wanted the unit to utilize the high ceiling and the shelves to vary in size as to give me freedom to display books of various size and shape - everything from oversized art books to small 12mo fiction. I wanted it to be sleek and simple but have some design aspect to it - unlike the pine shelves we've hung elsewhere in the house with just white wall brackets. And I wanted it to be cheap and quick - I had a $100 budget for the project and one day off during which to do it. I ended up spending about $120 and about 6 hours (from design, shopping, to hanging). The materials I ended up using are as follows:

- Three 8' solid pine planks, one 12" deep, one 10" deep, one 8" deep (which is to say, 11.25", 9.25", 7.25" in non Home Depot measurements) - each cut in half to make 4' planks

- Two black coated metal vertical tracks, 8' tall, fitted with double slats for double prong brackets

- Twelve double pronged, flat top shelving brackets - the kind that allow the shelf to sit atop the bracket, rather than fit into a predetermined length, and allow screws to secure the shelf

- Sandpaper to round the front facing edges and corners of the shelves

- Various screws, molly screws, and a stud finder (the stud finder put me over my budget by $10, but was worth it)

- Beer (in this case, Sierra Nevada. An out of budget necessity for any sort of home improvement day-off projects)

Some pics of the process:

Blank, empty wall, with track waiting to be hung

Messy room, shelves waiting to be hung

The first molly screw in the wall. Fuck these things.*

The first track up!

(Note my awesome, crucial magnetic level)

Both tracks up! Screwdriver was just as crucial as my small power-screwdriver

Sanding while listening to mamba, salsa, and spanish pop music

Proud chiquita post sanding six gorgeous pine shelves to perfection

HUNG!

Yes, I used a stool instead of a ladder.

Yes, they're all perfectly level.

YES they're GORGEOUS!!! And sort of adjustable!

Shelves increase in depth as they go down, with 12" depth on the bottom.

In progress.

(Note the Harry Callahan monograph, the melodica,

the Cinderella round tunnel book, various amigurumis,

and my Humument collection)

*Why I can never remember to buy metal rather than plastic molly screws will never cease to blow my mind. I tried to get molly's in because I'm terrified of ripping down a wall, but after many failed attempts - this was my only successful molly - I listened to my stud finder, my wall knocks, the effort needed to get a screw into the wall, and my gut, and accepted I was actually screwing into studs in walls I swore were made of dust.

I have so much more to put on these lovely shelves but am still trying to figure out what should go there, what should stay in my room, in my studio, in the kitchen, etc etc. I know I want to leave space on the shelves for knick-knacks and front facing display books, and that I want to keep from filling them up right away.

I love the living room bookshelf conundrum, and totally buy into the notion that the books you choose to display say something about who you are and how you wish to be seen. So, what do I put out here? Scholarly books that are of interesting subject matter - the stuff I collect to study reality TV, fame, and digital realities? Ethnomusicology books? Festival/performance studies stuff? Fiction, and if so, my favorite authors or the stuff I've yet to read? Art books, and if so, which ones - photography, drawing, weird stuff, folk art? Ethnobotany/food culture books? Comic books and graphic novels? Poetry, and if so, just my favorites or all of it? A rotating selection of my favorite books from varying subjects? I like the idea of curating specimens from various subject matters, but I also HATE breaking up groups - I mean, how well are Geertz, Russell, Springsteen, Taylor-Wood and H.S. Thompson going to all get along?

I know I want to keep my craft books there, as I do most of my non-desk craft work in the living room. I know I want to keep the books I'll be using for the class I'll be teaching in the spring. I know I want to keep my special first editions and decorative bindings there. And I know I want to have bric-a-brac all over the place. But other than that, I'm still trying to figure out what goes where. It's a fun process for sure, and I have to be ever cognizant of the books that will continue to come back home with me in the months to come...

Hopefully the first in a series of apartment improvement based posts! So stay tuned.

My First Amigurumi!!

2010-05-21T23:45:00.002-04:00

Finally! I figured out how to crochet and made this little ghost as my first attempt at making these sweet little toys!!

I wish I didn't have to go to bed :( I want to make more!

Mass Market Summer '10

2010-05-12T15:42:00.003-04:00

I'm doing Mass Market again this summer - I'm not sure how many of these I've done so far but it's been a handful. I started when I first moved to Boston participating in the PRFM's and then kept going when it became Mass Market. I did the winter Mass Market last year and financially it was a bust, so I'm hoping that this one will be a little more lucrative (especially since they keep bumping up the table fee...). I'm planning on switching up my table this time around, making it a little more refined. I used to have just a mish-mash of stuff for sale, lots of blank books (all different cover papers, so I'd have to display lots at a time), lots of different greeting cards (again, many different kinds, so I'd have to display many at a time), some jewelry, some junk, some knitted stuff, some kitsch, etc etc etc. Last time around I tried to clear the clutter a bit, and this time I'm going even further.

I'm going to stop making pattern-covered notebooks and start making notebooks with images on the front. Hopefully I'll have about ten or so different images to choose from, so there will only be ten notebooks on display. I'll have a small box for the pattern-notebooks, for people to flip through instead of having them laid out on the table. I'm going to stick with the display set up I rigged for greeting cards - and have about 10 different styles to choose from. I hope to have a few amigurumi creatures/food cuties, as well as a few pairs of baby booties. Beyond that, I may have a few hardbound books, but I'm going to devote a good portion of my table to... FOOD. Oh yeah, food. I'm going to have bagels. I'm going to have cupcakes. I'm going to have loaves of bread. I may even can some spreads and sauces and pickles. I'm going to have samples. And I'm going to make money like all the other bakers do (because I watch, I see, they sell out).

So come one come all, and buy a book with your bagels. Or some bagels with your books. Either way, come out and enjoy. Mass Market is always a good time, regardless of whether or not I make money or you find anything to spend your money on. It's a great time for people watching (the creme de la creme of awful/wonderful/ridiculous hipsters/art students/nogoodnicks plus norms/hip families/grandparents on parade) and if you've got dough to spend there's a lot of really worthy crafters and artists overly eager to relieve you of that caysh.

Bagels, bagels, getchr bagels!

2010-04-18T21:59:00.009-04:00

I love bagels, and so I made some. Thanks cuisinart for making it so easy that I made two batches in one evening! Also, excuse the white balance/color of the photos, my camera sucks and I can't deal with getting a new one right now/editing the photos. Sorry!

Some sesame, plain, salted, onion - some everything. Afterwards I made another batch with the roasted tomato/pepper spread I made tonight in the dough - it was my dad's brilliant idea. The spread itself is delicious, and totally perfect for bagel smearing.

Oh, hey, you're still here?

2010-04-12T19:55:00.009-04:00

Apparently.

I'm bad at this. I've been bad at blogging ever since I stopped being an angsty teen who sorted her life out through her livejournal. Regardless, I want to try to make more of an effort to update this thing. I'm still making work, I'm still cooking, still baking, still creating, and I need to document it all somehow. I'm an absent minded archivist, which, just so you understand - means I'm a forgetful person who needs to archive her life in order to remember it. So, I'll try again. Maybe harder this time.

Recently I was generously gifted a cuisinart. I feel as though I've wanted my own cuisinart my whole life - and now I have one. No more, "oh I wish I could puree this", "oh, this sauce would be so amazing if I could really get it smooth", no more trying to force lumpy messes through tight-knit strainers in hopes of achieving velvet. No, now, I can dice, chop, slice, puree, and mix all I want - and without spending hours doing so.

Since receiving this piece of kitchen consumer magic, I have been stocking my fridge with sunchokes - that big grocery store full of 'whole' foods down the street has had them in constant supply as of late - and I've been using them to make a really wonderful soup that is just as delicious hot as it is cold (or at least I think so, which could very likely be heavily disputed because I think most people don't appreciate thick smooth cold things that aren't, like, milkshakes).

I don't have a real recipe written up, but I'm going to do my best to share with you what I've been doing so that maybe you can make some yourself. You could do this with a blender too (and honestly, I guess you could get serious and do it with a mouli, but that'd be tough and messy) - but it definitely needs to be processed.

Ingredients (only makes about 2 or 3 good sized servings):

- About a pound of sunchokes
- Three to five potatoes of your liking - I've been using yukon golds but I have also done it with a mix of red bliss and yukon. I would use something with a bit more flavor and creamy consistency than plain old idaho's.
- About 4C broth (I haven't had any homemade broth recently, and instead have used store bought - chicken/veggie broth leaves the soup with a less altered taste and color; mushroom broth gives the soup a deeper flavor and color, and is really quite good. A mix of two of the three would also be fantastic - clearly, use veggie/mushroom to make soup vegan)
- 1 medium sized shallot
- 5 or so good sized garlic cloves (because I love garlic)
- spices (i like to use bay leaf, fresh thyme, pepper and kosher salt, curry, paprika)
- butter (i use soy butter, but you use what you want)

For topping:

arugula
garlic
bacon/proscuitto

Preparation:
Peel the sunchokes and potatoes. Submerge the sunchokes in cold water until ready to use.
Dice garlic and shallot.
Cube the sunchokes and potatoes into manageable cubes.

Sweat garlic and shallot in butter over med-low heat, in large deep walled sauce pan, until fragrant. Don't allow the garlic and shallot to color. Add the cubed sunchokes and potatoes, increase heat slightly. Add about a tbsp of fresh thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste, (if desired) one whole bay leaf, as well as paprika and curry to taste - probably about a 1/2tsp of paprika and curry, although you can do more or less as you please. Stir well and pour broth over it all - the broth should just about cover all the business in the pan. Still well again, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan well - there shouldn't be anything stuck to the bottom but you want to make sure all the yum is incorporated well into the broth. Cover and bring to boil. Lower heat and summer until sunchokes and potatoes are soft - sunchokes may get soft before potatoes but as far I can tell it doesn't make too much difference for this recipe if they 'over cook'.

Once everything is soft (not mushy though - soft like for mashed potatoes), and ladle into processor (be sure to remove bay leaf). Process in small quantities as to not overwhelm machine. Pour into bowl. Once everything is pureed, strain soup through fine strainer - a chinois is ideal (wish i had one!). Soup is ready and delicious - eat immediately or store in the fridge for a few days.

The soup is delicious on it's own but I like topping it with well diced pan fried bacon (if I was rich I'd use prosciutto) and lightly sauteed arugula with garlic. Don't over sautee arugula, and if you are using bacon sautee the arugula and garlic in some of the leftover bacon grease for an extra delicious treat. In the picture below I also added some grated monterey jack cheese (cabot, lactose free).

This recipe can be made to be vegan by using soy butter, veggie/mushroom broth, and obviously not topping it with bacon/sauteing the arugula in bacon fat.

When I make this soup, things are good. It satisfies my craving for dense, creamy soups that almost always have cream or milk in them - while being entirely dairy free yet fantastically thick and smooth. Beyond that, it keeps me grounded and steady in moving on, in mending this broken heart.

For me, cooking is a time to stop and think about nothing and everything at the same time - while my mind may wander occasionally (and often some of my most incredible thoughts come while in the kitchen), for the most part my mind is set on the task at hand and I am liberated and relieved through the meticulous processes of preparation, cooking, and cleaning. Since that heavy magic was lost, though, I have found that my kitchen brain has changed in someways - as our love was so heavily tied to our time in the kitchen, I am reminded constantly of everything I had, and subsequently lost, when I cook. But at the same time, certain things I now incorporate into my kitchen time - the way I now dice shallots, understanding the chemistry behind my dough, having the confidence to make that which i once bought - are constant reminders of the gift that came despite the loss along with it.

I learned about sunchokes and turning them into soup in his kitchen, and making this dish is especially emotional for me - while the sadness and nostalgia are there, entirely present, so is the gratitude for all that you taught me. Thank you for that.

Sonic Experience

2010-01-24T15:18:00.003-05:00

Walking around Urban today I had one of those moments where the music on the stereo is playing and the lighting in the store is right, yellow, warm and its almost like you're transported, standing there in this endlessly perfect pair of cotton boots, singing along until you realize what you're listening to. I've been inundating myself with El Perro del Mar lately, unable to get nearly enough of her voice, of the dreamy soundscape, of the way I feel light and spring time as the speakers blow out the ethereal melodies. Let Me In starts playing on the stereo and I am humming along, unaware of why I am feeling so warm and why these boots fit so perfectly, why I like the reflection I see so much. I realize that it's her and I am happy, and as the song ends I start humming along to the next song, once again blissfully unaware of why it is I know that song, why it is I automatically start to hum along. It's Jonathan Richman's Abdul and Cleopatra, a song that I've only heard a handful of times in my life, and an artist that I have had very little contact with. As I start to think to myself - why do I know this song? - I remember: when I younger, 14 maybe, an internet beau of mine sent me a mixtape that had that song on it. I would play the tape over and over again, confused by and not fully in love with the songs he had taped, but strung along regardless, unable to close my ears to any sort of even slightly-well crafted indie pop. I remember fast forwarding over that song sometimes, finding it annoying and not appreciating the message implied by its inclusion on the tape; other times, sitting on the living room floor (at that point I was still too young to have a tape deck in my room), listening to the song and finding something charming about his faltering voice, about the obnoxiously sappy lyrics, imaging what sort of meager four-eyed boy could have been singing.

Sometimes We Draw Comics

2010-01-23T22:13:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time. Sorry. I have pictures from my review board and more to share but im too busy living life to keep a steady blog, I guess.

Sometimes Peter and I draw comics together. On our way to pho the other night, we saw some kid playing a game of exquisite corpse. We had brought note cards and pens with us to draw anyways, and so we ended up playing three rounds. Our food came so quick that night this was all we got to do! Anyways, the pho was delicious and these are awesome:

Final Review

2009-12-16T22:43:00.003-05:00

Well, the games about to be over. Tomorrow is, or so its planned, the last review board. Which means I graduate, sometime in february or something, but the idea is - graduating. I'm not happy with the amount of work i've done this semester, but I am very happy with the quality of the work I have done. I finally bucked down the past few days and did a lot of things that have been running around my head for months, and as a result I was able to pop some things out that I like and am happy to have finally made. We did Mass Market last weekend and it was a bust - a fun time but the room change was weird and there was no one with money, just kids having a look at the tables and taking whatever was free (well, for the most part). It was a great day considering the company, but it would have been nice to have spent the time preparng for Mass Market doing more work for the end of the semester. In some ways I did, but not with the fun stuff.

No pictures with this update right now as I'm lazy and have to bake, get everything in one place, make sure I have all the nails and trinkets I may need. Typing this out makes me feel a liiiiiiittle weird in the tum, but consider me ready - it's been almost 6 years, i'm done.

Mr. Slug

2009-11-30T20:34:00.005-05:00

I met this slug a long time ago, over the summer I guess. As astonished as I was that he had made his way up to my third floor porch, I was even more amazed to see he made it all the way up there with a giant hole in his side - it went all the way to the other side of his body. Don't slugs have guts?

More Food???

2009-11-30T20:17:00.012-05:00

Yup, you got it. Here's some stuff I've baked recently...

sundried tomato & rosemary rolls

the sponge

incorporating the good stuff

the dough

est voila

these were absolutely delicious and i made them thinking that they'd be great for thanksgiving. it turned out they were, and all i could imagine while munching them was how delish they'd be with turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce. unfortunately, i forgot to bring the recipe to my mom's house with me for the holiday, and so instead i made...

sweet potato rolls

i also made a really yummy
apple blueberry pie

i also made a cherry torte, and i used the cherry juice as the base for a blueberry sauce, to be poured over the apples in the pie. i cooked down a package of blueberries into the juice, strained it, put it back on the heat, added some spices, a little corn starch, and was good to go.

straining the cooked blueberries to make the sauce

yum yum, the sauce

a bad picture of the inside

nom nom nom

Apple Crumb...

2009-11-17T14:21:00.006-05:00

I don't know what you'd call this. It's based on a recipe I have for a dessert called 'cherry crumb torte', but I dont think this is really a torte. Anyways, the cherry one is one of my favorite desserts to make - unbelievably easy and looks gorgeous everytime. I had a bag of some getting-old apples and some big hunkin fresh guys from the farmers market the other day all ready to be used for a pie. When I was cooking the apples though I decided it'd be delicious to try the crumb idea with apples instead of cherries. I was right - it was!

I forgot to put an egg in the crumb mix, but I think it worked out perfectly. I was really worried when I realized I had done that cause I thought it was going to fall, but it didn't! It's a little doughy in the center layer but otherwise it's delicious - the apples are AMAZING in texture and taste and the top and bottom crust are crisp and sweet. I shaved some manchego on top but could have done much much more.

Enamel Bunny

2009-11-17T13:20:00.004-05:00

A bunny charm I made for my enamels class - he's jointed!

Illustration Model

2009-11-17T13:03:00.007-05:00

In my illustration class that I go to way more often than I planned to, we're building model rooms to photograph for reference. We were supposed to pick a room that was the scene of an emotionally impressive moment in our lives, so that we're invested in the scene and will therefore be invested in our drawings. I chose something that happened in the living room of the apartment Rachel and I shared on Evergreen St., the night before we moved out - therefore it's pretty empty. I'm not done yet - and these are really (really) shitty photos, but I wanted to get this up here before I forgot.

I've still got to make a boombox, papasan chair and light out of clay - then the figures.

Illuminated Text

2009-11-11T15:44:00.010-05:00

I've been working on the project I started talking about in my last post. I don't really like the text I wrote but I think it works really well as a text to illuminate. So far I've only done work on one spread - I have a feeling the book will be four spreads, 8 pages. I'm really liking where it's going, though. I have been borrowing the general gist of the decorative aspects from manuscript plates I've found in the books I have on illuminated manuscripts. I sort of want to go back and re-do the initial letter with gold leaf - that was my original intention but I don't have tools to do a small guilding job like that. Hopefully a trip to Michaels will solve that problem.

Here are some pictures of the work in progress -

All I want to do is work on it! Wonderfully inconvenient though, it takes a long time to do anything on it, and without a doubt a very certain calm and focused mindset (which is not always easy to come by...)

I'm working with acryla gouache for the color and a higgins calligraphy ink and flexible nib pen for the text

Also, check out my mixtape blog, i just uploaded a new tape chock full of 80's pop bombs and i bet you'd dig it!

New Project

2009-10-20T01:49:00.010-04:00

In Letterform Anatomy today Joe gave us all rolls of tuppence to work on. This was awesome (especially he gave me two extras to take home!). I decided to do some free writing and I ended up with a sweet little story/poem/rhyme - don't ask where it came from, it just did. Here are photos of the scroll, and below that is the edited/completed text that I finished tonight.

_____________________________________________

A nightingale once said to me,

“in time, my dear,
wait and you will see,
your heart will shine,
as once before,
and while I can not promise
nevermore, for a while
at least, your tears shall be cured.”

As time went by, my head hung low, I waited for a sign to show. A little key to prove her right, to bring her prophesy to light. I went about my daily tasks, doing my best to stay unmasked. For the nightingale, she also said,

“I know my dear,
as you do tend, to keep
your life up in your head.
Your face, it shows
contentment yes, while
really what you feel’s a mess.
Restless, darling, as you
may be, I think it’s time for
them to see, what’s in your head,
upon your face, and only then
may you find grace.”

And so I took her words to heart, believing if I did my part, keeping my face (heart) honest and true, that someday, oh, I would find you. And thus I went about my days, relating to people in different ways, taking comfort in honesty, letting myself, well, just be.

Quickly, though, it did not come, a change, a shift, had begun. Where once my days, they had been cold, a bright new warmth I now did hold. No longer did I feel the need, to find myself part of a ‘we’. Content I was, truly this time, on my own, for I did find, the nightingale, her words were true,

“the most important company to find is you.”

It was then, and only then, that I saw you there. You came to me as in a dream, for now I was prepared, to love someone as once before, no longer was I scared. For the nightingale, taught me she, in order to find your care, that I must find, for myself, that which must be bared. And as my eyes, open now, found your pensive gaze, I heard her words, so clearly now, over once again,

“And once he comes,
for you will know,
as if the world did bend,
to bring you two together then,
and draw you hand to hand.
Your love will grow with strength, with hope,
and with honesty, for at this point,
you will have become
what you are meant to be.”

_____________________________________________

I think i'm going to keep working with this because I like the text and I think it'd be fun/good practice to write it out and sort of illuminate it. I'm going to keep working with the scroll because it's awesome, and I want to do really ornate initial letters and illuminated borders. I think it could be pretty awesome when I'm done - although I have very little idea how to do it all. Time to stick my nose back in those books about illuminated manuscripts...

Lately

2009-09-23T14:28:00.014-04:00

in class doodles

taking letterform anatomy, again

there are monsters among us
(unfinished)

Benches, Benches, Benches

2009-09-08T11:19:00.004-04:00

I want to buy a bench for my living room. Yesterday Anna, Jamie, Elliott and I all went to Ikea and I finally bought some stuff for the house I've been wanting, including some DVD racks. When we got back home we rearranged our living room into something not-so-bad and finally moved out our shitty ugly uncomfortable broken 'couch', moved in jamie's plush comfy love seat. Now, I want a bench to double as a seat and a coffee table. I started searching for some this morning, knowing that ideally I'd love a slat-stlye bench, but also knowing I may not be able to afford one. So far I've looked on Etsy and Ebay, and these are what I've found that I like.

Slat bench on Ebay, $99 with $30 shipping

'danish modern' dark stained slat bench on Ebay $25 with $45 shipping, stamped 'made in yugoslovia'

mid-century danish modern slat bench on Ebay $45 with $55 shipping. i love, love, love this bench - it's expandable!

'primitive' bench on etsy, pine, stained red $45 with $15 shipping

hilariously awesome budweiser bench?? $25 on craigslist, pickup in hanson, ma

So what do you think? I think I really want the expandable slat bench. $100 is more than I should spend on this but I really like that a lot and it seems pretty perfect. I need to double measure and make sure it works though.

Got any other suggestions?

In Her Presence

2009-09-03T16:58:00.011-04:00

School starts up again tuesday and while I haven't done much new work recently, I thought i'd post a project or two that I hope to finish up during this coming semester. If all works according to plan, this should be my last semester of my undergraduate career (WHAT?!? WOOP!!!), and after many long, painstaking, difficult (read, easy and willy nilly) years, I will be really glad to finally have my BFA.

Anyways, here's a project I started at least 2 years ago. A long time ago, I was hanging out on the internet and stumbled across this picture.

It's a photo of Bill Callahan and Joanna Newsom, taken while they were dating. This photo struck me for a bunch of reasons, but the two most prominent being: why would someone take a photo of these two? and, the chemistry between them is melting me. Yeah, to someone like me, seeing Bill Callahan and Joanna Newsom would be pretty wild and exciting, and I guess someone with a pap-sort of mind would snap this photo - but the fact that someone like that would stumble upon this couple and have the chance to take the photo just seems so unlikely. But more than anything, this picture made my heart beat fast and made me think of another photo I had seen of Bill Callahan, that was taken by Joanna Newsom. It's this one:

The first time I saw this picture, it also killed me. The look on his face is stunning; he's looking directly at her, enveloped in her shadow, the two of them trying to get some album photo out of the way, most likely not realizing how much emotion is conveyed through the snapshot they made.

So, I started searching for more photos of the two of them together, or that one took of the other. I understand that not everyone will see and feel what I do in these photos, and I know that my love for both of these musicians (especially Bill), and my heart-filled-dream-head that loves intense firey love is what draws me to these images and shows me what I want to see. But I saw it and I wanted more.

So, I started searching and found a bunch of photos - some more that Joanna had taken of Bill, but more than that, photos of the two of them playing together or photos of him playing while she was in the audience on backstage. I was interested in images of him primarily, for a thousand reasons (he's a hunk, i'm in musiclove with him, his music has governed/guided/soundtracked dozens of the most important interactions and experiences of my life, etc etc etc) Each photo I found made me feel the same way, and I realized I wanted to make a book based on them.

I started doing tracings of the photos. So far, I've only done three. These are them:

I want to print the photos full bleed, double sided. Not sure how I want to bind it yet. SMFA has an incredible printer that can do exactly what I want it to do, and will allow me to print on all different types of papers. It'd be fun to print on tracing paper, to almost exactly recreate the originals, but tracing paper is so hard to work with when binding. I don't know how it'll all pan out, but I really want to get this project done before I leave school, so I can take advantage of the facilities there. The title of the book will be In Her Presence.

THE FINK TAPES!

2009-08-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

HEY! So I started a new mixtape blog, and everyone should check it out. I'm hoping to update it at least once a month with a new mix, if not twice. Right now there's one mix up there, and it's full of summer jams that you probably wish you were listening to. GO!!! LOOK AT IT!! LISTEN TO THE TAPE!! YEAH!!!!

THE FINK TAPES

http://thefinktapes.blogspot.com/

http://thefinktapes.blogspot.com/
http://thefinktapes.blogspot.com/
http://thefinktapes.blogspot.com/

http://thefinktapes.blogspot.com/

Purple Calligraphy, Broken Nib

2009-08-12T18:11:00.000-04:00

I have a bunch of pen nibs for doing calligraphy, but there's only one I really use often. It's really broken in and has the perfect amount of give - keeps nice thick strong lines unbroken, and while it's uphill is a little difficult, it's worth the struggle. I sat down today to do some writing, wanted to practice for a bit and then maybe do some free-writing in calligraphy, but my nib broke. So I watched Wife Swap instead, and started knitting a pot holder.

Today - Boxes!

2009-07-31T17:09:00.000-04:00

The other day at work I found a copy of Books, Boxes, and Portfolios, which I've been searching for FOREVER (well, at a discounted price that is...). Anne used to bring this book into class when I TA'd for her and I would constantly be photocopying pages from it - it's got some of the clearest, most concise directions I've ever used.

I haven't done any work in a while but I felt like doing something fun and easy today just to get my hands busy, and so I decided to make the 3d shapes from the book. I scored some great books about bears too, and I cut them up and used some of the full bleed photos for the folding paper.

Apple Pie

2009-07-17T15:31:00.000-04:00

So, I've got pie fever. Ever since I made the pie for our 4th party, all I can think about is making more pies. I haven't had a chance to do so until today, and so that's what I did today! I decided it'd be fun to do a step by step post about it:

Started off with apples (fuji and pink lady, my two favorites) as well as the nectarines, frozen mango and strawberries for the reduction.

I peeled and sliced 6 of the apples and put them in a large sauce pan

i then added cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla and honey to the apples,
and started to cook them over med-low heat

this time i ended up making my own crust because i forgot to buy some
i made it with butter, flour, salt and water, and it may suck, but this is it

next i popped the three nectarines into some boiling water to loosen the skins

then under cold water to peel

then chopped up the nectarines

and put them in a pot with the frozen strawberries and mangoes
(which had been defrosting)

i added a little vanilla to the fruit and covered the pot,
letting it cook down and eventually simmer

because i was having a hard time getting all the fruit mashed,
i poured it through a strainer and finished the sauce that way

meanwhile, the apples have been cooking on low heat

and i've rolled out the top crust and cut it into strips

then i filled the pie with the apples and some of the sauce

and then i covered it with the strips

and then painted some sauce on top and sprinkled a bit of cinnamon

baked it too high at 425 for 20 min, then 325 for 20ish
et, voila

Next up, banana bread!

Good Morning, Spider

2009-07-10T09:01:00.001-04:00

Review Board Review, Months Late

2009-07-08T15:25:00.000-04:00

So, in the spirit of updating this thing until it bursts, here's post #2 of the day. Months ago - May 7th or so - I had my review board. You'll remember, of course, when I posted the pre-review board lineup, and so here I am, months later, showing y'all what it really looked like. I made a cherry torte and fruit salad to munch on (I am a huge fan of food bribery!!!) and brought some lemonade and seltzer to drink. It took me about an hour to hang (all the time I had) and it ended up lasting about 2.5 hours. Because I didn't have the time, I was only able to take pictures after the board was over and had been gone through, so it's a little disheveled in these pics. But here they are!

anne pelikan, my favorite teacher ever, by the about mixtapes installation

i tried to hang all the doodles i'd done that year, and/or
during my time away from smfa

this is an installation i'll detail in another post, but
i had just finished it a few days before my board - i really
loved how it came out

a table with calligraphy, my icon, and some odds and ends

some of these little transparency guys i made a while ago

some photobooth shots from a year+ ago, pinned
to a prototype i made years ago

the cherry torte aftermath - it was sooo delish!

wall of calligraphy

one of my favorite text pieces

sample sheets

It was an amazing board, probably the best one I've ever had. Old loops came full circle, my eyes were opened, and I walked away from it feeling proud, accomplished, encouraged, and excited. I hadn't realized just how much I had made until the whole thing was hung - and I'll tell you that we didn't even get to look at all of it. My mentor and total inspiration, Anne Pelikan, was one of the faculty, and Kurt Ralske was the other. There were three student reviewers and they were all talkative and awesome - two of them really got my work and it was really wonderful to hear how they felt about the work and the inside the had to share. By the end of the board I started thinking about how much I love making work, and how important it is to me - and feeling encouraged enough to sort of maybe a teeny bit entertain the idea that maybe, maybe, maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to put myself out there more, to try and imagine going forward with art making, in a serious way, after graduating from smfa. We'll see what happens, but i'll tell you that it really made me think...

July 4th

2009-07-08T14:40:00.001-04:00

Oh hey, long time, no post. Woops.

So, this past weekend was July 4th and we had a full house all weekend. We threw a party saturday night and had a big cookout to kick it off - tons of cheddarwurst, hot dogs (turkey and beef!), and homemade burgers (mmm, brian's idea to toss in some chopped olives was BRILLIANT), as well as homemade pasta, tuna pasta, and potato egg salads! But the best part of the feast was this beauty.

Sadly, no sexy pictures as we were all much too ravenous for me to even think of getting my camera - but luckily my palm was near by and so that's just what we've got. It was an apple nectarine pie, and it was my first pie ever (at least to my recollection). I cheated and bought the crusts because the reason I never make pie is that dough and I don't get along well, but everything else was made by me and melanie. We peeled and cut up 10 apples and 5 or so nectarines. Put the apples on the stove with some soy butter, lots of cinammon, maybe two tbsps of brown sugar, a tsp or so of vanilla and a pinch of nutmeg and clove. As they cooked I threw the peeled (pop them in a pot of boiling water for 50sec and and run them under cold water, skin comes right off!) necatrines in a small pot with a little brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and clove and covered them, letting them cook down to a sauce. Once the apples were cooked just right, we threw the apples into the pie crust (piled nice and high) and then poured the nectarine sauce all over the top. I cut up the second crust into strips and covered the pie. Baked it at 400 for 15 or so minutes, then down to 350 for 25+. The pie cooked but wasn't browning right, so anna had the brilliant idea to broil it for a few minutes. And that was perfect! It came out golden brown and shiny - although looking back I wish I had painted some sauce on top of the pie for a really beautiful finish.

After stuffing our faces and drinking a thousand beers we all went up to the roof (safe, yes!) and watched the Boston fireworks, which were awesome.

The rest of the weekend was fantastic - mel and den took me to my first red sox game (first baseball game ever!) and we had a BLAST. Sunday night old friends of mine in a trillion gallons of gas came in for a visit on their way to Maine and we had a really wonderful time catching up and just being with each other.

Okay, so there's update #1 after laziness hiatus. Watch out, #2 is coming momentarily!

Mass Market Spring '09

2009-06-17T22:06:00.001-04:00

Mass Market was great. While I didn't feel totally prepared and still sort of wish I had made more hardcover books (especially more with the bike cover!), my table looked great and I had more than enough stuff. I sold a decent amount of stuff although didn't make much money, but got rid of a few really old pieces and that felt great. Gave away a lot of cards, talked to a lot of interesting people, possibly made some good connections and really appreciated all the nice things people had to say. I sold about four or five hardcover books, like fifteen notebooks, only a handful of cards (grrrr), one charm bracelet and a bunch of other stuff. Sold two old cameras to a good home and got rid of almost all of the about mixtapes books (finally!). Here's some pictures of my table:

Mass Market Spring '09

2009-06-13T01:10:00.001-04:00

SO! I am a vendor in the spring Mass Market this year which is.... SUNDAY.

i wanted to share some pictures of my room turned print studio / tornado victim, but it's late and blogger is being slow with uploads. hopefully, will do tmrw, but i think we all know how great i am at keeping this thing well updated...

Massachusetts Festival Alamanac

2009-06-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

So, I've been working this summer with the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Folk Arts & Heritage program, and I wanted to share what I've been doing. The initial idea behind this internship was to compile a listing of annual Massachusetts public celebrations, as comprehensive as possible. This project stemmed from a paper assignment from David Guss' Festival and Politics in Latin America class - we were asked to write an ethnography of a local festival, and as my classmates and I tried finding festivals to attend (in October) we realized how difficult it was to find a non-commerical festival that would be of interest to document. A year or so ago, a project called WorldFest was sponsored by the Mass Govt. to try and do this very thing, but only for the summer months. My professor and I discussed at length the need for a comprehensive festival calendar - not only would it be a service to the public who attend, as well as the communities and organizations that put on these festivals, but it would be of great service to people like me and him who are interested in documenting local custom and practice and sharing it with others for posterity and to gain a better understanding of that which surrounds us.

As of now, the calendar has become a much smaller part of the internship than I initially expected. The gears started turning and we realized we'd be better to expend our energy on documenting festivals that haven't been researched by the MCC yet. While I'm stoked on being able to actually go out and get my feet wet with fieldwork, I'm still determined to get this calendar fully fleshed out and worthwhile. For now, since I don't know how else to share what I find, I've made a google calendar that will detail all the celebrations I discover. It's a lot of work to get all the details up about everything, but I'm determined to do it. We're hoping to find some funding to produce a full-color wall calendar, featuring the full year's listings as well as photographs from festivals my partner Signe and I have attended throughout the summer.

So, I'm going to embed the calendar in this post. I gotta try and figure out some way to keep it up on the front page of this blog - but I'll figure that out later. In the meantime - here it is! Please look around and let me know what I'm missing! I know there are hundreds of festivals I have yet to discover, and while I'm still searching, any leads would be AMAZING!

Test...?

2009-05-16T18:19:00.000-04:00

So, the semester is over, I've started my internship, job starts on wednesday and summer is already proving itself to be worthy of some serious documenting, and so in that spirit I'm going to test out posting non-art related things in this blog. So, here we go.

Lil' Mo is the shit. The other day I pulled exodus off the shelf to put a song on a tape and I couldn't take the damn thing off the table. I ended up putting TWO songs on there! TWO in a ROW! Unheard of but it was so good it was literally irresistible. Anyways, one of those songs was put it on me (as if you hadn't guessed that already) and I was totally taken back, feeling Lil Mo's vocals (she raps AND sings!!!) so hard and so my one track mind is drawing many Lil Mo jams my way (guesting on most of them of course). Here's the playlist I made so far, I wonder if I could make it so other people could add to it. If you remember some shit I forgot tell me! And when I get my tape player all nice and better I'll make it into a tape and you can have one.

satisfaction

Seriously, though - these songs are ridiculous! And she's on them all! Also, I bet half the time people think they hearing Ashanti cause they know it's a murder inc yang and they probably airbrushed A's face over some LM a few times, right? Anyways, can't let you go???? She may not have had many of her own hits (any?), but her jam-hit record is pretty freakin flawless... I mean, unless you bought her albums, who's heard a bad Lil' Mo joint? (edit: Honestly, I bet most jawns on her s/t's are bangers too, gotta look into that...)

I wish that more of Missy's side projects (read: 702) had gone further than they did. That bitch knows how to spot a fly gurl!!!!

(btw, anyone think this b looks like mandy??)

So that wasn't bad right?

Review Board

2009-04-30T19:50:00.001-04:00

The other day I laid out all of the work I'll be presenting at my review board, and I took some pictures. Most of this has been posted already but some of it hasn't. I've actually added a few things since taking these photos, and there are stacks of calligraphy and tracings/drawings that you can't see. I also got really into finding frames and framing some of my stuff this semester too. I try and go to salvation army and goodwill a few times a week to find awesome frames - and I've found some goodies! I got started on my frame kick months ago when I just happened to find the most perfect frame for a drawing my dear friend Matt McKeever (click for his myspace that features some of his work) gave me a long time ago now. Here's the frame and the drawing:

The photo doesn't quite capture how incredibly well the frame suits the charcoal drawing - thick, raw wood frame.

Anyways, here's some of the stuff I laid out.

the whole shebang

probably my favorite frame so far

a little drawing/watercolor i did the other day from a childhood photo,
and the ridiculous sequin frame that i was crazy enough to sit and glue down

i really like this calligraphy piece with wash border

calligraphy set

tracing from some old icon, gold pen on tracing paper - no flash

shiny gold with flash!

you can also see a monster i drew withinspiration
from celtic manuscripts

New Work - Today

2009-04-30T19:41:00.000-04:00

So, I finished classes a week and a half ago and my productivity has dropped. Blame it on the beautiful weather, blame it on the swine flu, blame it on gucci mane. Either way, I've been stuck but that doesn't mean I get to stop creating - such is the life of an 'art student'. My review board is 7 days away and while I'm happy with the amount of work I have to share, there could always be more. So, I took a trip to the art supply store hoping to find some inspiration (and see that wicked cute boy that works behind the reg...) and I did. Bought three of those awesome cradled plywood boards (artist & craftsman supply sells them for so much less than blick!), came home, got out the gouache and got to work. Hours later, this is what I made. I really like them.

A little difficult to photograph since they're quite light... and the setting sun isn't the best illuminator. Gouache on 4x4 cradled plywood boards. All of the colors were mixed from a super limited palette.

<3 Spring <3

Icon Progress

2009-04-12T21:06:00.001-04:00

So, here are some progress shots of the icon I'm painting in my Contemporary Icon class I'm taking this semester. Sadly there is only one class left and I've only begun - I still have to gild and paint the piece. I missed class last week due to a family death and so I missed some crucial work time - I hope to gild the piece this wednesday and gather all the materials I need so I can spend the next few weeks before my review board painting it. The painting shouldn't take too long, as long as I can figure it out without the impeccable guidance of Bob Baart. Not too much detail about the imagery here, more just about the process.

MDF board coated with gesso made in the class. All grounds are made from scratch, except for the bole.

the fresh icon, after 7 coats of gesso but before 5+ hours of sanding

after 5+ hours of sanding, holes drilled, image xerox transferred and gesso relief painted

testing out imagery for the side panels

because so much of the icon is going to be gilded, i had to incise my drawing so
i'd be able to see it while i'm painting - traditional technique

this is a closeup of the gesso relief - these are the spots where
the gold will be burnished (shiny)

the bole (red clay base) that is painted over the ground wherever
gold leaf will be applied. traditional water gilding technique - my
teacher suggests applying 5 or so coats, to enhance the gold's finish.
when you burnish applied gold leaf, you're really burnishing the red clay
below the leaf - that's what shines, and it shows through the incredibly thin leaf.

one coat of bole ontop of gesso relief - you can see the incising

one coat of bole (on top of the bunnies I decided to use)

full view of 1 coat of bole

awesome side view

4 coats of bole

full look at 4 coats of bole - i wish i had realized how much i would have to
gild before i spent so much time preparing and sanding my surface. oh well, next time.

Recent Calligraphy

2009-04-12T20:52:00.000-04:00

Some recent calligraphy work. All done with flexible metal nib pens on Stonehenge 12x12 paper (mmmm).

Mixtape Box

2009-04-12T20:18:00.000-04:00

Here's a book I started years ago and plan to finish for my review board this semester. One of the first books I did along with a mixtape, around the same time Aubrey was doing his awesome mixtape tent project at RISD. Anyways, I had this one mixtape that I was really into - my boyfriend at the time saw the playlist and asked me "do you always listen to such sad music?" - I listened to it often and really felt it to be representative of my emotional state at that time. My uncle had recently given me this great book about sign painting, that featured a whole bunch of fantastic alphabets. I chose something like ten different letter sets, and decided I was going to try and compose text cards for each song, using the restricted set of letters and trying my best to express something about the song through the typography. I spent forever laying these out, and then tracing them, measuring everything - and then colored them in (I think I had restrictions about what colors I could use too? This project was all about making something out of limited resources). Then I took them to staples, had them laminated, and started the box.

I think I had drawn up the box before I started the cards, but I'm not sure. The box is so far unfinished. It needs its lid, I need bookboard. There will be a flip up lid and probably a title on the top of the box. I dig this box a lot and remember it as being a really fun challenge to make - especially figuring out the sexiest way to fit the tape in. I love making boxes. And drawing up plans.

The idea behind this project is lofty and fun - each card is a song from the playlist of the tape, and the idea is that the viewer/owner of the piece would listen to the tape and be able to re-order the tracklisting to what they feel is appropriate. Dreams about having a color printer/copier set up have me thinking that the viewer would then receive some sort of print out of the cards in the order they arranged (maybe from .pdf's that would be printed out into some sort of one page book?), and a copy of the tape. I mentioned Aubrey and his project earlier because our two pieces were riding the same wave and I we hadn't talked at all while developing them. I would describe his but I don't remember it in detail enough to do it justice - but it was great, and you could record things you were playing/hearing. It's been a real pleasure having him as my mixtape friend in art for all these years now <3.

Narcolepsy

2009-04-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

Call me a nerd but I love Ben Folds Five and I find that listening to his music is really awesome for writing of all kinds - calligraphy, term papers, whatever. I was listening to Reinhold Messner during class the other week and I was without something to write and so I decided to write out the lyrics to narcolepsy. So, I did that, and here it is - I folded it in class and drew some crappy stars and a moon with a gold pen that resisted the ink, which was cool. Nice little thing to do during class, better than just doing alphabets over and over - I want to get practiced with writing words, not just solo letters. Written with a flexible metal nib pen and sumi ink.

About Mixtapes // Installed

2009-04-12T19:52:00.000-04:00

Here's some shots from the Culture Combat conference my friend Brian put on at Brandeis a while ago. Here is the original post about this project where I posted the text and playlist. The images are attached to those great but overpriced painting boards they sell at blick, but they're just so simple and easy it was worth it. The table below had a tape player w/headphones, people listened and took a book and if they wanted/if there were any left took a tape as well. all the tapes were grabbed and i have TONS of books left, as I made an edition of 100.

Again, if you're interested in a tape or book let me know and I will mail one to you.

Toy Animals

2009-04-06T19:06:00.000-04:00

I have a little group of plastic animals on my desk, and sometimes I like to draw them. I started doing drawings of them and writing their names with a metal nib pen. I want to do them all - they're on 12x12 stonehege paper (which is the shit).

Aviary

2009-04-06T12:34:00.000-04:00

So, hey, I'm back.

I showed some pictures of the start of this book a while back - and here's the finished project. It turned out alright, it's not aligned properly because I was sort of imprecise when I made it, but that's alright because it looks good when you hold it in your hands.

the first part of the book - photocopies of birds of prey from a guidebook.
i traced these birds and that's what the pages of this book are.

a progress shot - getting ready to adhere the transparency to the frame

after gluing it all together, including the tab for binding

I've never bound something using screw posts, even though I've wanted to forever - and I like it. Looks great, I love the use value even though it doesn't apply to this book, and it's pretty easy to do (although sewing is probably less effort). The cover went through a few stages, and unfortunately the photos I have of the cover aren't so great - but that one will do. I like how I left the cover - initially it had been just flat with AVIARY in gold in the center, but it was boring and I sort of messed it up. So, I made it a happy accident and I like the dimension the layers give the cover. There's tracing paper in between all of the pages, to help separate the clear pages. The pages are sort of meant to be looked at both alone and when held with the pages before/after them. Great shadows, too!

Mixtape Project

2009-03-12T01:14:00.000-04:00

Brian asked me to contribute some art or something to the conference, Cultural Combat, he helped organize that is this coming saturday, at Brandeis. Well, really he initially asked me to submit a paper, but I didn't do that cause I'm lazy, so I did something that combined both. The piece had to have something to do with 'culture', and after sorting through a whole lot of idea bullshit, i decided to do something about mixtapes. I decided I wanted to do a mixtape, a xerox book, and a streaming playlist. I later decided to enlarge and mount on blocks four of the cassette pattern drawings that I did a while ago. I'll post pictures of how they look when they're hung, and how the whole dealie looks set up - but for now here are the pages that comprise the accompanying book (details of that later too). I'll also post the imeem playlist so you can listen! If you're interested in getting a copy of the mixtape and/or book, email me (in contact link) - as far as tapes go, i'm pretty sure i'll be giving out 12 on saturday and will offer up to another 15 by mail - the book is unlimited, and i will try and maintain the playlist as well!

disclaimer: I have to just say that this is one of the first times i've ever printed and released my own writing to a random public audience. it's a little weird but it's not like this is some piece of writing i hold near and dear to my heart, which makes it easier. anyways, it was nice to write something, i haven't done any in a long time. also, i have tried many times to write about making mixtapes but have never had any success, i always get too nervous and stop writing. i'm not really into reading about mixtapes either, so if for some reason you are slightly morally opposed to reading some bullshit about mixtapes and culture i 100% back you decision to not read it and tell your friends to leave it alone too.

Productive Day - Notebooks

2009-03-01T22:04:00.001-05:00

Spent quite a few hours today making some notebooks for the upcoming Holy Craft! Fair (assuming I get a confirmation that I have a reserved table... oh, memories of planning the PRFM's in hartford and having annoying people like me email incessantly to 'make sure they have a table reserved'). Made over 10 books I guess, used up a bunch of paper, and played around with some of the letraset letters I have (oooh so many sheets, loves it). Also finished Aubrey's mixtape box, but must refrain from posting pictures before he sees it in person - can't ruin the surprise!!!

I usually price these between $5 and $10, and I always sell a bunch anytime I do a craft fair.

Rattfink Press

2009-03-01T21:58:00.000-05:00

More Calligraphy

2009-02-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

More calligraphy, sorry if it's boring. Worked with reed pens again today in class (although none of the ones I made, the teacher carved these and although I modified the two I used a bit, there was quite a difference from those that I had carved myself - interesting? Maybe.) working with uncial letters - apparently the half step from capital script to a lower case script that developed through everyday quick, sloppy writing, which was then perfected by scribes to be used in proper texts.

Anyways, it was fun - I really love this class and working with these pens, I can't wait to see how I like working with metal nibs again when it comes up in class. When I get into it, it's so easy for me to understand how scribes and illuminators could spend the time writing these letters to produce the incredible texts they wrote. At points, I'd draw a letter and it would look like it came off a page of parchment in a book of days or something, and it's like - wow, this isn't impossible! But it is a skill, and it requires time, and thus, I love it.

Here's a bunch of details, sorry they're all so gray, I'm too lazy to scan these things.

Animal Blobs?

2009-02-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

I dunno. I have this box of transparencies and my head was stuffy all weekend and last night I tried to sit down and do some work, feeling guilty after literally doing nothing all weekend, and i made these guys. I'll probably make a bunch more and sell them as napkin rings or something ridiculous at this Holy Craft! Fair I'm doing in March.

And I'm Back...Alphabet Book

2009-02-23T20:57:00.001-05:00

I'm back. I got lazy. A little sick, a little tired, a little more lazy.... but i'm back!

Here's the details from my last post.
Started that day off writing practice alphabets with the reed pens from class (and a few more I made that morning) and ended up ten or so hours later with this, a book (but not its' box) start to finish, in one day*:

So, it's just an entire alphabet. You should see the stack of mistakes I've got - they're really not mistakes for the most part, just letters that didn't come out how I want them. I've gotta figure out something fun to do with them, but anyways, I really like this book. It was a total fluff project, just practicing my handwriting, but I like it. Definitely somewhat inspired by Laura Davidson's work, or at least I have to shout her out because she uses a lot of ink writing in her work and it's really beautiful.

The book is SUPER long - the last photo, I think I'm holding the A over my head, and you can see that it hits the floor at only M. Gotta make a box for it, deciding between a slipcase and a box - but i've been playing with transparencies and I think that may come into play with whatever form the box takes...

On crappy strathmore pad medium weight run of the mill watercolor paper, torn down to two and a quarter by three inches. Letters written with handcarved reed pens with dr. Phil Martins peacock blue ink, watered down. Single sheets were bound with strips of decorative paper. The cover is decorated with blown ink.

More posts tonight.

*note: this is the first time i have done that, you know, make an entire book in one day like that, in probably two, maybe three, years.

Exhausted - Alphabet Book

2009-02-11T00:18:00.000-05:00

So, today I went crazy. Here are some sample shots of the results, more description tomorrow.

Reed Pen Calligraphy

2009-02-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

hand carved bamboo reed pens

three nib sizes

The other class I'm taking this semester is Letterform Anatomy with Joe Landry. Throughout the semester we learn the basics of letterform - each week we advance through the history of the letterform (that developed into the english alphabet), working the letters in the traditional way that is attached to the technique of the time. The second week, we did large scale paintings of letters using only downstrokes. The third week, we carved letters out of foam as if we were carving sandstone (SO FUN). This past monday, we spent the day carving bamboo reed pens and then practicing our script with them, again working only with downstrokes.

Without a doubt the most dangerous, and therefore fun and exciting, project I have ever been allowed to execute in a class, we spent as much time as we wanted carving pens out of bamboo reeds the teacher provided for us. This was so much fun and really made writing with the instrument that much more interesting - as I was writing I was able to alter my pen or make a new one to suit the size I was interested in working with.

I decided to take this class for three reasons:

1) I love the instructor (GREAT teacher, incredible sense of humor)

2) I love typography but am not totally interested in your run of the mill graphic design based typography course - i've taken a few of these types of classes and while it's fun playing with letters, I really love working without the computer sometimes.

3) I use handwritten text in a lot of my work, and I struggle with not having control over my form. I have a skilled hand when it comes to craftwork - cutting, folding, gluing, sewing, eyeing things, etc - but I've never felt very skilled when it comes to writing. I am often complimented on my handwriting but I myself find it to be very... unsteady. I hoped that by taking this class, and gaining a stronger understand of how and why the letterforms exist as they do, as well as learning how they were traditionally constructed, that I would be able to have a better grasp on how to form the letters when working them with my own hands. I have actually already noticed a feeling of more control when writing, since starting this class - and working with downstrokes only is something I really enjoy and have implemented often outside of class.

So here is what I worked from class on Monday - just some type sketches, using the three handcarved reed pens, and watered down sumi-e and walnut inks. Obviously I played with what the ink can do - I had a lot of fun filling letters and jumping the ink pools from form to form.

The letter that looks like a backwards P or a large lower case Q with a long J tail is my fictional '27th letter' that we had to invent for the class - we are supposed to work this fictional letter as we do the rest of the alphabet each time we learn a new technique.

Birds

2009-02-08T22:29:00.001-05:00

you can see the book hurr

i really love how the shadows look

Was in the library at school the other day looking at books on icons when I found the greatest pocket audobon guide featuring birds of prey. i made photocopies of my favorite ones and laminated them (with the roll of xyron laminate stuff i've had ever since i found it at that great recycling center amber took me to in pdx), popped some grommits in the corners (with complaint from downstairs neighbors) and put them together on some rings.

thinking i'm going to do a series of these tracings/drawings from the laminates, frame them sort of like slides and make a book of them. we'll see - thinking about applying color but not really sure if i want to or how i would do it.

sharpie on tranpsarency

First Egg Tempera

2009-02-04T18:44:00.000-05:00

I'm taking this FANTASTIC class this semester called The Contemporary Icon with Bob Baart. Throughout the semester we learn all the traditional techniques for making religious icons - we prepare our own sizing and gesso, prepare our own boards, make egg tempera from pigment and egg yolk, and we even get to work with gold leaf and learn various gilding/tooling techniques. I am a HUGE fan of religious icons - early christian art is one of my favorite things, and so I jumped at the opportunity to take the class.

For the past three weeks we've been preparing practice boards and learning how to make all the grounds, as well as stretching and coating paper for silverpoint drawings. This week we got to make our first batches of egg tempera and do a practice painting on a practice panel. We were given two images to chose from - a detail of draped cloth and this ball in a bowl, and limited to building our palette from three (really two) colors - ultramarine blue, umber, and white.

I have never been good at rendering, and I have never taken a formal painting class, and so I'm actually really really proud of this little painting. I know it kind of sucks, and yeah, the bowl is supposed to be white, but I think it's awesome. Probably only the second or third still life i've ever worked from. I can't wait to work on my final piece - this weekend I hope to finish developing the imagery so I can get down to it soon. Stay tuned for more awesome stuff from this class!

What Is It That Keeps You Going?

2009-02-01T23:29:00.000-05:00

Doodle during lunchtime the other day, was trying to get something out. Micron and gold felt-tip pen on sketchbook paper - color added in photoshop. Slightly edited for public viewing.

Pattern Cassettes

2009-02-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

Three scans of the pattern cassette's I posted a while ago. The first tape was tweaked in photoshop, but only by changing the saturation. Really love how these look scanned.

Pattern Attempt 2

2009-02-01T21:49:00.000-05:00

Another pattern from the same sketchbook - same deal as the last post. The colors didn't translate well in this scan but I actually don't mind how it came out - the original is surrounded by a blue border.

Pattern Attempt 1

2009-02-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

Got this awesome little grid notebook and have been playing around with making patterns. This is one panel repeated four times width wise and twice height wise - not lined up perfectly but was just playing to see how it would look as a fuller pattern. Don't really like the colors.

Clouds / Ice Cream / Gold

2009-02-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

2nd lunchtime doodle, micron and gold felt-tip pen on sketchbook paper. Color added after is photoshop.

Fantasy Creatures (old work)

2009-01-26T01:47:00.000-05:00

black bear

fireowl

baby ratt

when we meet

Was looking through my chest of books today and remembered these gouache drawings - done in maybe 2006(?) - ink and gouache on notebook paper (great notebooks from Bob Slate, numbered pages!) I was never sure how I felt about these - but I couldn't stop doing them even though they took forever. I ended up using them for an edition in one of Anne Pelikan's classes that I TA'd for - the title of the 'book' was After Four Hours and Photocopies as I had spent four hours and many photocopies trying to make a xerox book to distribute to the class. With no luck or inspiration I ended up scanning the drawings, throwing them in a square in InDesign, printing them out, pasting them back to back and making some 'books' to hand out to the class the next day.

I'd like to do more work with gouache.

Love Notes You Can Eat

2009-01-26T01:42:00.000-05:00

Found these at Rite Aid today - their candy selection pales in comparison to well-stocked Walgreens but I was impressed by some of their valentines' day selection - Love Notes You Can Eat - what more could you possibly ask for?

Dad - 1987

2009-01-26T01:29:00.001-05:00

I found an envelope of photos my grandmother had lent me to scan months ago - here's a detail drawing of my dad from one of them - the photo is of my mom and dad and i (at like 1?? younger?) at some bbq at tower ridge. To be mentioned: I'm not a skilled drawer but I do it occasionally for fun, so there's your explanation.

I wanted to do something to it, but instead I fucked it up. Played around with stitching a border - I successfully sewed the bottom one, but it was boring. So I got out some colored thread and had a go, but the paper was too thin, the thread and needle too thick - my patience too thin. Anyways, I fucked this one up but I like the idea - I also like the idea of framing drawing inside of sketchbooks.

Children In Heat (old work)

2009-01-25T17:53:00.000-05:00

'06ish - Children In Heat
Xerox image transfers on bookboard (images from disposable cameras @ parties)
Misfits lyrics xerox transferred on Arches text wove accordion
Artists' own binding
Technically unfinished as I never made a box for it

NYC Paper Models

2009-01-25T17:23:00.000-05:00

Black Ink in Harvard Square often has really great paper model kits for sale - I've seen a few awesome kits from Optical Toys (look at that killer website!!!); one of the best kits I ever purchased and put together was the Garden Box:

Sadly, my garden box (made sometime in '06 or '07) did not survive the eight moves in made in recent history, and my sample is gone for good. If I see it again, though, you can be sure I'll buy it, make it, and post it.

I can't figure out who produces the kit these miniatures are from, but the title card says 'make city' and it's the New York set - 'A Smidge of New York'. It comes with 5 cards that double as postcards - each card is printed with printed pieces ready to be cut out, folded and glued to make the 3-d miniatures of what the designer finds to be the most iconic of NYC - The Brooklyn Bridge, A double-decker Bus, A taxi-cab, The Empire State Building (with King Kong!!!), A deli cart (with attendant), A bagel with lox, onions and cream cheese (YES!), and a signature cup of to-go coffee. What you see pictured is what I've finished - great thing to do when there's nothing else to be done.

Not a very difficult kit but the front end of the taxi and the coffee part of the cup were both tricky.

Pattern Tape Book

2009-01-25T17:20:00.001-05:00

A few images from a current project
After drawing a cassette tape template, the cassette is traced and then pattern and color are added
Planning on keeping this as an on-going project, would like to have at least 100 leafs before binding - book may be left unbound and kept in a box, undecided.
This project is an attempt to explore my interest in patterns, and to try and stretch my creativity for creating patterns and colorways.

Aubrey, brilliant stitchmaster behind Spool Spectrum is a total inspiration for this project - he is the master of many things, including patterns and mixtapes - often mixing them, resulting in great music with amazing labels. I will scan one and update this post, soon.

Single Needle Coptic

2009-01-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

single needle coptic bound
index cards used for text block
handmade/colored paper accent on cover
first book bound as part of a library of sample bindings i'm currently working on
approx. 2.5" x 3"