This was from the 4th of July. It really didn’t taste bad, but the presentation…
This instantly reminds me of James Lileks great books on “Regrettable Food” such as this one. (Amazon link )
But you can tool around for a long time on his website, looking at his goofy collection of… things…Â in the “Institue of Official Cheer”: http://lileks.com/institute/index.html
I am sorry I haven’t been updating this blog!
Here is a picture of something I didn’t finish yet, just to prove I am not sitting here playing Plants vs. Zombies 24×7. The “artfully arranged desk clutter” probably reveals more of my personality than I want it to.
Yesterday I had a piece of foil on my dinner. I like to recycle the used (clean) foil to use as armature for clay creatures, so I went upstairs to stick the foil in the attic where I keep it. And as I went into the attic, in the dark, and stubbed my toe hard on the cedar chest. I could tell pretty quick that something was wrong, so I went to the emergency room. X-rays easily confirmed that it was broken.
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So I’m home from work now, with an appointment to see a doctor later. We’ll know more then, but the ER doctor said I’d need to wear an ugly cast-type-shoe-thing for about four weeks.
The necklace I started in the last post is “mostly done” – I say “mostly” because I didn’t actually figure out the best clasp yet. But I could take a photo of the front anyway!
I know a few of you people who read this are artist/crafters, and a few of you people like to see how artists/crafters do things. So I will show you a couple of status shots of a work-in-progress.
First, I found something weird that was on sale, and bought it. It turned out to be grungeboard (which is by Tim Holtz, available at fine scrapbooking stores everywhere). It comes cut up into shapes, or not – and covered with texture, or not.
Here is a random photo I pulled off of the web, because I was too lazy to go upstairs and take a photo of my actual package.
Anyway it turns out this stuff is fascinating and versatile, and smells like basement mold. Or, at least, the package I bought does. But anyway, you can paint it, you can bend it, you can cut it – it’s fun!
So I made up ten little tiles, using layers of paint, brads, gears, etc.
And they look like this:
 But what am I going to do with ten tiles? I thought about putting magnets on the back, or pin backs on them, or make them into thumbtacks. Or something. But instead I have put rivets through them all (actually 9 of 10), and am going to make them into a necklace. It isn’t done, but here is the beginning of my idea:
And if you want to see another wip, click here.
I have been busy, with graduation receptions, Father’s day, a wedding, some GARBC conferences – all sorts of good stuff. But I have also tried posting a few things to my ETSY store, like this little wired pendant.
After the storm, comes the beautiful rainbow, promise of God’s love.
(Too bad all those power lines are in this photo. Photo taken looking out my front door.)
Saturday I went downtown to a local arts and crafts show, which was severely hampered by 40mph gusts of wind. I ended up buying a few little things: a uranium glass bottle, and two copper bowls.
As you can see, the control marble that is authentic glows wildly under blacklight. And the new bottle… does nothing. EPIC FAIL.
So there you go. Even a fake Sonic Screwdriver can be a useful tool!
I was itching to do some bead stringing, instead of clay, but my stockpile of beads just makes me dizzy, so I took only a limited number of beads with me. This turns out to be a good plan, for me, and it forced me to find ways to use the things I took with me.
So the moral to this story is: Sometimes you have to make a box, in order to think outside of it!
I didn’t finish clasps on all of these necklaces yet. They will all be up for sale on etsy or artfire once I do, but if you really want to own one, feel free to drop a note to glimmer at glimmerville right now.
This one I had to make, because this week I bought these fluorite and silver-plated beads intentionally to make a necklace out of them. And in order to justify buying “yet more beads” I figured I had better use them immediately. The necklace turned out well (meaning, like it looked in my head).
This next one is “Spring” colored, and I’m pleased because it uses up some paired-but-random spring bead mixes I had set aside for I’m not sure exactly what.
This third necklace is a departure for me, since it’s asymmetrical. I’m pleased with the way it turned out.
Finally I’ve been working on this little whimsy, by covering it with flowers.
