1800's Album Pages Braided Mourning Hair Scherenschnitte Filigree Paper

Sold! for $182.50.

WHATS UP YO

...And we're out, until 12-2013.

ebay shapes

1964 vintage LARGE 14" FOLK ART BIRDS~scherenschnitte PAPER CUT made in poland

Table Stories 13" Deco Plate RED by Tord Boontje NEW

VTG Russian Soviet pin badge Buttons brooch - SAMOVAR FLY METAL Kettle old rare

MISSION MAHOGANY TILE TABLE ARTS & CRAFTS CALIFORNIA @@

Vintage 1919 PIT World's Liveliest Party Card Game 100% Complete Parker Brothers

Some shapes I am drawn to this week. Ebay titles are getting so long!

return of the brain

For a while it disappeared and I missed the brains. Now it's back! But alas no longer blue.

assemblage

Organizing around here and some items become unearthed. These materials clearly date to the time when we had to put up a garden to fence to keep baby Anna from tumbling down the slope and stairs. A time when Sam was really into assembling scraps. Brown paper, a piece of fencing, red thread and plastic packing ties. And a very careful needle. That fence came down a year ago, and it has been a long while since Sam made objects like this. The artifact so precisely and elegantly dates itself and I love it so.

happy halloween 2012

oct 30, 10:15 a.m

oct 30, 2:30 p.m.

oct. 31, 6:00 p.m.

the night we saw the trading tortoise

The Trading Tortoise, project by artists Monica and Souther Salazar, came to town. We went of course! But what to trade, what to trade? Turned out our 100 year old, well travelled, well loved Dutch-Chinese rice scooper. It's been around the world and was a fitting time for departure from our (too) small home. And... an origami finger puppet born on the street corner in that very moment by the name of Han Foldo, who left Sam's possession the mere evening after creating it. An object from an old life departs, with one from the new.

(ps/ Sorry guys that the scoop is a tad big for a travelling, single sedan Trading Tortoise. I thought of that. But, it's a beautifully tough item. Chuck it around, stuff it full of treasures, strap it to the top of the car until it reaches it's next destination... the scoop will not mind.

...But ok, next time I will follow Han Foldo's lead and stick with paper.)

We waited in line for enough time to make new friends, evolve a new chapter to our objects' stories, and in the end came home with a trade of a lovely handmade paper flower, and a doll called Martin Sheen. Hey, and books!....

waaaay past bedtime

Thanks Monica, Souther, and Mark too. You guys are awesome. We will always remember the night we gathered under the stars on a University Heights front lawn to meet the traders in the Tortoise. 

When our trades are logged I will post it here, but in the meantime, click here to know more about this delightful project.

great expectations

mottainai and the crayon box

I hate waste. Or rather, I feel really happy and super satisfied for myself (and the object!) when something is used up completely. Just this week I learned there is a word for this : mottainai. 

From Wikipedia: Mottainai (もったいない, 勿体無い^?) is a Japanese term meaning "a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized". 

OMG! There is a *word* for this strong desire to save that basically fine but too small and even a little bit ugly shirt with the raspberry stains, because you know it could be used for something. And which also encompasses that odd sense of defeat, when the basically fine but too small, a little bit ugly shirt goes into the Goodwill box. (Which the Goodwill will hopefully recycle to a rags dealer, and not trash, which I can never bear to do.) There is a word for taking the time to cut up failed paintings and printing over the little rectangles to make business cards, because the paper is just too nice. There is word for enjoying seeing Anna wear holes in the play-shoes Sam once wore. I have been a bit of a mottainai nerd my whole life it seems, without really knowing it.

So that brings us to the anti-mottainai: birthday party goody bags. For Anna's birthday goody bags this year I was determined to come up with something (anything) that wasn't plastic and ends up in the trash by the end of the afternoon. So the kids and I made recycled crayons from the overflowing supply we had, as well as harvesting the ones at the bottom of my purse, the book bag, the car seats, etc. etc. etc. The kids loved spending time hunting wayward crayons, sorting the colors, and tearing the paper off. It was a trip down memory lane of every kids' meal ordered out over the last eight years. All put back to good use!

The trick is to not heat them for too long or too high. Wax separates from pigment and floats to the top very quickly, which is what makes most recycled crayons look a little vomit-y, instead of cute. I pulled them from the oven one second before they looked melted and flat. Twelve minutes in the toaster oven, 170 degrees max for these ones.

Star shape is great for gripping, and if you carefully separate a different hue in each arm, it's five-crayons-in-one. Add a little pad of paper, some candy and stickers, and the goody bag done!

Mottainai VICTORY! So satisfying.

finn and pb 4T

I notice the seasonal costumes shops are open around town, and Halloween time is coming...! As promised, here are links/ tips/ pointers on the Finn and Princess Bubblegum costumes I made this year for Comicon. This is not quite a tutorial. I didn't make actual patterns or explanatory photos along the course of this process. It was pretty impromptu. But if you're an adequate sewer and comfortable at being craftily impromptu yourself, these items can be created pretty easily.

Finn Costume:

First thing's first, sewing the hat. There are a few tutorials out there, but I think this one from Frederator is the most clear, cute, and simple by far. Sometimes you can buy the hat, but if you can't find one, or need one child-sized, this simple pattern is good place to start. I think ill-fitting head gear kind of blows the whole look, so I shaved a few centimeters off the standard dimensions, which is adult size, and it fit my 8 year-old much better. You could also try sizing down on the copier or computer, say 85%? Use the paper pattern to measure. Once the hat is done, it's super easy from there because the rest of the costume can be pretty much store bought. (Aqua tee, thank you H&M!) I went to the trouble to make my own royal blue shorts, just because I could make them super-plain and thusly more cartoon-like, but if you are more practical, any plain dark blue shorts will do. I also had the idea to buy a pair of women's black ankle socks and slip them over the sneakers to get the effect of Finn's black shoe. I thought they would shred to ribbons in half an hour, but they held up all day at Comicon with enough life left over for this Halloween. Finn's white socks are my husband's long crew socks rolled over thick to get that donut-y look.

If you are game for the backpack, there are a few tutorials out there. I wasn't a fan of most of the shapes, so I designed my own in the moments during summer swim lessons.

First I puzzled out the general pattern in these sketches. Basically, it is just an oval-shaped color blocked pillow with flat straps attached, and a painted button from our Aunt Roberta's vintage stash. (ps, bonus: post-Halloween, it makes awesome throw pillow!)

I used the model sheet drawing for Finn that I found on Art Team Go and adapted it to a template to get the right proportion:

And I printed this shape out so it measured 14.5" inches square. (I did this by changing "image size" in Photoshop before printing.) This is the extent of my pattern making abilities, so there you have it. The straps were just rectangles and measured about 14" long and 1.75" wide when finished. In this picture you can see how it wore:

I chose to stuff the backpack with polyfill, but not the straps. They wear better flat. Don't forget to leave a hole to stuff the filling, by the way!

pssst, hello!

Sam also requested at the last minute to have the snail, so the night before Comicon, I felted one out of wool roving, doing that thing where you poke the wool with a needle about a thousand times to make felt. I took a shortcut on the eyes by painting the heads of some pins I had and snipping off the sharp ends with a wire cutter. For doll eyes it's possible to embroider a french knot but I'm horrible at that; you can buy doll eyes too, but there was no time. This way I could paint the pins the right shade of brown, they stayed in fine, and looked nice and crisp. I basted the completed snail on the backpack, so he is sturdy but removable.

And viola! That's Finn.

*****
Princess Bubblegum (4T version):

With PB, there are a few key ingredients, which are usually not to be found in stores. She's a little more work than Finn, but nothing too crazy, and I took a lot shortcuts. For PB 4T, I adapted an internet pattern that we have used for other non-Adventure Time themed clothing. It is the Sweet Dress from Leila and Ben. With a few tweaks, it's the perfect blank canvas for a PB transformation and it is quick and easy to sew. Basically follow instructions but add desired longer length to hemline. And to add PB's purple sash, I sewed on some Wright's Satin Blanket Binding across front and back dress panels before stitching sides together.

smoke, mirrors, and velcro.

I also wanted a little PB collar, so to get that without a pattern, I simply cut a collar shape out of the binding, edge stitched to help head off fraying, and affixed in place with sticky back Velcro tabs (with the bias tape fold opened and sandwiched over the neck line. Does that make sense?? See photo! It kind of floats, but the velcro holds it in place.)

For the crown, I started with this pattern from San Smith. In addition to adjusting the head width measurement, I also moved the circle with the jewel down a bit, for better child-proportion.  If you don't want to sew, use paper and staples like San's, or you could make one out of felt for a more sturdy look. For our crown I stacked a sheet of heavy weight Pellon between two sheets of sticky-back yellow felt from the craft store. Then I traced the pattern on top and cut the whole thing out using scissors, but a utility knife or exacto would probably work even better. The felt usually comes only in small sheets, so you will have areas where the felt sheets tile up against each other. That's ok when it's flat, but when it curves around the head, the edges will want to pull away from the Pellon. A zigzag stitch along the seams will hold it in place. I used sticky back velcro again as the closure for the crown. If you are feeling confident in your head measurement and desire a more permanent fastening, I say go ahead and zigzag it.

For the crown's jewel, I found another button from Aunt Roberta's stash, painted it PB-jewel blue, and glued it to the crown. (I used a shank button- no holes.)

At last, the hair! The hat is to FInn as the pink hair is to PB, so we had to do it. I was recommended to try hair-chalking, and there are a lot of tutorials out there on how to do it, but usually they focus on strands of color, instead of the whole head. And we need the whole head to be glorious pink. Even in the last few months, I have noticed the products for temporary pink hair have really exploded, but back in July, we improvised.... In design school my husband had a little car rendering trick where they used to make pastel washes out of ground NuPastel and baby power. Then they used Webril pads to sweep the pastel on to the paper. So since that was what was readily available in our garage, and looks so lovely on paper after all, that is what we tried on hair.

And it works! So, to do this, get a stick of good quality quality chalk pastel (not oil!!), crush finely (I did mine with a mortar and pestle), and mix with some baby power. Then sweep some chalk grounds on the Webril pad, and "wipe" it on flat panels of hair from scalp to ends. It takes a little while, but you can get a whole head of vibrant yet temporary pink hair this way. Webrils are nice because they are large and ultra smooth. If Webrils are hard to find though, I don't see why you couldn't try other kinds of dry cotton wipes, like for makeup removal, etc. By the way, it's not a bad idea to drape a towel over shoulders to catch any rogue chalk dust. ...I should mention it helps to have a natural towhead to start with. The pink shows up great on light hair. I didn't know if it would fade or smudge during the day, but it stayed put, and after 2 or 3 washings was completely gone.

The best part of this experience was twofold: the costumes survived Comicon and now we are ready for Halloween four weeks ahead of schedule, and, when another kid asks yours, "Hey, where'd you get that costume?" you will hear your child say, "My mom made it!" So if someone has not already released a store-bought version of these costumes by now, give it a try, and good luck!

sad

vibes