Black and White

2012-01-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again, well almost. Valentine's Day. and that means the gallery at my University is having its Valentine's Auction and I'm a participating artist :D
So I decided to donate this piece; it was made for a magazine entry but was rejected so I hung onto it, not really knowing what I'd do with it until now. Its made of recycled pieces. The frame is an old game tin without the lid, the center flower piece is made out of a soda can and the text at the bottom is from this wonderful 1940's woman's etiquette book that has outdated and frankly destructive lifestyle advice. Would love to do more pieces like this if I get the time.

2012-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sure some of these products look familiar; everytime I go to my college book store they always have these unique and freaking awesome gifts with fantastic vintage imagery. Bright, bold colors, one-of-a-kind products and CUTE - all things I adore in my shopping experience. Well, if I had a job it would be. As it were I can only look, dreaming of the day I win the lottery. Until then BLUE Q is a store I can only dream of shopping at and I will pass on the awesomeNESS to all who read this blog.

2012-01-18T21:14:00.001-08:00

Oh! Now I remember what Bakemonogatari reminded me of (Asides FLCL) the style is somewhat similar to the opening of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. The SZS opening is pretty interesting to watch by itself; I lost interest in the series after a few episodes.

2012-01-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm, speaking of recent things (well, recent for me) Bakemonogatari AMV. Short, sweet and on crack. I don't know where I was when this came out and HOW I missed it. The anime reminds me a little of FLCL; you have to watch it a few times to get any sense of a plot but its fun.
How I like bright, shiny things.

2012-01-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

What could his name be? He does need a name....Horace? Emerson? oh, I like Emerson. I am in the process of making another Emerson to place on the Etsy site and will be attempting to bring him to various gift stores in town to sell.
He's a big boy; almost two feet (most of which is his feet). He's made out of recycled materials (suits, shirts, pants from a second hand store) and has beautiful vintage brass buttons for eyes. The hat is silk brocade and the monocle and metal are elements from Tim Holtz.

2012-01-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to making use out of one of my Christmas presents; a book full of bird patterns to make. So I give you Raven with Attitude. I have a ton of new ideas for Etsy so be prepared during January as I crank out lots of new and unusual pieces to sell like this guy. I want to bring him around to a couple of stores in town so it won't be for a while though. Looots of work to do :P

2011-12-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

From web surfing trying to find unusual and awesome stores online: Plastic Land : PURE WIN. From the top: Tin box for trinkets, Lock and Key coat hangers, Skull night light and finally Goth Gibson girl perfume. Again; things I wish I had oodles of money to buy.

2011-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas is right around the corner (where did December go!?) so I finally decorated a bit with what I had. Which is, of course, kitch!! You should see the tree lit up at night; its a thing of beauty.

2011-12-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

One small art piece. I got a hold of some gouache paint for my birthday and doodled out this. Still looks like watercolor so I would love to try again and apply it more thickly. I just need more time for drawing!

2011-12-08T19:56:00.000-08:00

Continuing on the Awesome Things to Buy theme; Tokyo Milk. I literally moan everytime I see the website. delicious products, outstanding packaging and quality. It's on Amazon.com as well.

2011-12-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yay for December craft fairs! I am in one tomorrow and this is one of the plushes I would like to sell. I couldn't really decide on a particular theme so I just did a bunch of stuff I like: Steampunk jewelry, plushies, book arts and some Christmasy type ornaments. Will take lots of photos and post em' later. Must prepare now.

2011-11-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

With Christmas rolling around again and Black Friday tomorrow why not start your shopping early? That is, those of us with money. IF I had the money I would shop here.
What amazing talent; I would fill an entire wall with the things she makes if I could.

2011-11-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

Fresh from the printing press; adorable random pop-up card. I left the banner in the middle blank for a short message. I hand carved the cute kokeshi doll in the middle and used wooden blocks to spell out 'cheers' in different languages.

This is one of those projects without a particular reason or rhyme. I just wanted to carve something cute and Japanese inspired and thought a pop-up card would be fun. I do so love paper engineering.

2011-11-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

I attended a book arts workshop last week with a really awesome instructor who showed us how to make a slipcover and mini hand-sewn pamphlets (books?) to slide into the slipcover. I then took it home and Steampunked the heck out of it just because. and here we have the fabulous result. any more decoration and you probably couldn't tell it's a box.

2011-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

I forgot I had these: Mini Steam Guns. I made them for a comic convention in September. I sold a couple but I have plenty left over. Sadly they are display only. NO the lights do not light up and NO please don't pull the trigger as it is painted and will tear the paint off if you pull it. I could wire them to light, I guess but that's a huge hassle and expensive.

2011-10-24T17:42:00.001-07:00

A lino cut I recently did for some projects. What is it with octopus's? way too weird and adorable.

2011-10-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

King of the Sea! He's up for sell on my Etsy site and I plan on making more minature villians. He's adorable; I'm almost sad to sell him. So tiny you can hold him in the palm of your hand AND he has a crown. I made him out of some felt and an old blazer that had fantastic fabric.

2011-10-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the long, long delay. This hasn't been an easy summer, or fall - still adjusting to losing a pretty big part of my life and struggling with being jobless. Well, the good news is I've been doing plenty of things, just need to photograph and post em'
I'll be making more of an effort to keep the blog up and running again.

2011-08-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Collections

Bottles that my grandfather collected over a lifetime (this is the tip of the iceburg, there are BOXES and BOXES of them). Eventually I'm going to sort through all of them, clean them up a bit and find a nice place to display them. Even like this they are pretty cool looking.

2011-08-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

Some new projects

Some ideas for Steampunk costumes; I'm in the middle of trying to sew a dress/jacket for my costume too. What's a Steam/Victorian outfit without accessories?

2011-07-09T21:48:00.001-07:00

Well. Sorry folks, but I'm on a bit of a break from things. We've had a death in the family and things are sad and difficult at the moment. When I get things rolling again I'll update again.

2011-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Thrift Store Hilarity

I think I will have a new addition to my blog - its no surprise that I spend an obscene amount of time in thrift stores/flea markets/strange little off the wall places that sell strange off the wall things. By doing so over the course of my life I now have a housefull of really cool things. So why not spread the joy by posting some of the stranger things I've found? and also I've added a lot of items at the Etsy shop including vintage Strawberry Shortcake things. have fun :D

2011-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Artist Spotlight Julie West

Sigh. Why do I always come late to the party? I adore Julie West's style. I love bright colors and super cute things and this fits the bill pretty well. I actually own one awesome vinyl toy from Julie West and wish I could afford to buy some of her wonderful art. So instead I will have to be happy with staring at photos.

2011-06-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Custom Plush

The doll pictured here is Reaver from Fable 3. There are a handful of characters I would love to make in the future but I need a break! Putting him together took an incredible amount of time- I had to make all of his clothing pieces by hand, measure and remeasure so that it fit then make his hat out of cardboard (which included measuring, glueing and sewing). He does make a fun plush doll though.

2011-06-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Steampunk-ish Photos

Finally (FINALLY) the weather has been good enough to take outdoor photos. There are definite things I want to add (need to add!) to make it more steampunk-ish but it's getting there.

2011-06-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Trip

Guess where I went last Thursday? As if the fantastic back view of my head wasn't clue enough I got to spend the day in San Francisco (between rainy days). All we had time for was a trip to Japan Town but I bought fun things (bentos! bentos for dollars!) and ate wonderful food. Am thinking sometime in the future I will be taking a book arts class down there. All I need now is a lot of money.

2011-06-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Steam Jewelry

I made the mistake of going to Michaels the other day and came across another new brand of steampunk inspired bits n' pieces. So of course I had to buy some. The locket you see here is what I bought and I added bits and pieces of things I had sitting around and have collected for the last few years. I did take a little artistic liberty with the locket; originally it had a blue rhinestone on the propellor but I wanted a tiny gear instead and had the parts to do it. I bought a couple of other pieces and those will be used for the outfit I'm sewing. I should also add that the wonderful bit of watch pieces on the inside of the locket is also something I added - it is NOT included!

2011-05-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Necrophobia

Fear of the dead. Ha! Finally a full illustration (its been a while, busy y'know?) Pen and marker.

2011-05-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Steampunk Gun Post

It started with this. A super soaker I bought for a couple of dollars at a thrift store. I gazed upon it and said, 'THAT would make a sweet Steampunk gun. With a little paint.' So I got some gesso and smacked on a couple of coats (after cleaning it up, of course.)

It looks kinda cool just like this. But then I though, weeelll copper, gold and a dark wood color would work really well.

In progress. And a lot of progress it took. It takes about four layers of acrylic paint to cover everything. If anyone feels like taking on this sort of project I might humbly ask that you start with something a bit smaller than a supersoaker. Many, MANY hours went into painting this thing. But the end result was worth it:

You should see it in the sun, it SHINES and its purty. I can't wait for the comic cons this summer, mwahahaha.

2011-05-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Book Arts

Happy day! After a long, long time I was able to get back to the Black Rock Press to crank out some broadsides. Remind me to do another post with the process someday. I have access to the press for the whole summer so I am planning on massive projects. This was a warmup with a carved linoleum block I did last summer. I'm super excited about being able to use the press!!!

2011-05-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Crafty Elephant

Yet another addition to my hand sewn animal plushie buddies. I think he's cute.

2011-05-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Oh the Fanarts

Generally, I don't do fanart. not often. but as it were there are a couple of comic cons I'm going to this summer in which I will be selling plushie type things AND fanart. haha. fanart. So here's a fanart from Soul Eater; Maka. Gads, she's adorable. and so very able to kick your ass.

2011-05-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Of Immaturity

I can't help it, I love to share all the crazy things I find at Savers; yesterday it was a bagful of He-Man toys dated 1984. I never was interested in them (being pretty young back then) but now as an adult I appreciate the bright colors and design of older action figures. I have a nice little collection going on (and look! its Skeletor!) so they get a nice space on my bookshelf.

2011-05-03T20:15:00.001-07:00

Thrift Steampunk-y Test Shots

I now have a few different Steampunk-ish outfits (including one I'm working on sewing from a really great pattern found on Ebay) but the easiest and fastest way is to find clothing at thrift stores. I actually have an entire ensemble that includes - big black boots with straps, futuristic gun and sweet goggles (as seen in the photo). with horrible weather recently I haven't been able to do any outdoor photographs but hopefully that will change and I will have Steampunk goodness to share.

2011-04-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

The 'other artists that are so good I hate them' post

It's no surprise that recently I've been playing Fable 3 (a lot...) but I have more reasons for playing than it's an extraordinary game. Asides the fact that the story sucks you in (I've always wanted to play a hero), or the characters are absolutely fun (Reaver, Ben Finn) most of all is the artwork. The incredible back drops of this incredible world (i'm running out of adjectives to describe the world of Fable). Not just the third game but all of them. I was super happy to find one of the concept artists blog online. You can too - his name is Mike McCarthy and here are some of his pieces. You will find fantastic people, places and creatures of the Fable world. Damn, I hate him..

2011-04-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

A pop-up (in?) book from the 1851 Crystal Palace from this fantastic website movable book collection. One awesome website full of amazing ephemera (mostly vintage and antique pop-up books).

2011-04-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Apologies

Life as usual - you get super busy and forget you have a blog to update. This here is a possible project for a magazine I like to call 'Time Flies'. The theme is 'things that fit into a jar'. I have a couple more ideas but I have to go through my stamp collection to see what I have. Stamps being part of the theme as well.

2011-03-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

Funny little story. Way back in the days of the dinosaurs when I was in high school I watched MTV. A lot. and there was this one video that was all...Gothic-y and angsty and silly but I enjoyed it (and it had absinthe!)and lo over ten years passed and all I had left were images of ravens and a flappy Gothic dinner jacket and the vague feeling I really enjoyed the video whose name I could not recall for the life of me. That was a over a month ago and hard as I tried to remember rock/alternative bands of the late 90's - soundgarden, stabbingwestward, I could NOT REMEMBER the name. it was driving me crazy understand (my memory is usually pretty damn good). and then I FOUND IT. and feel the need to share for that is the depth of my vexations. Besides, its all Gothic goodness and whathisname of NIN is pretty hot in this video. ha! Enjoy.

2011-03-29T17:40:00.001-07:00

See the problem with playing so much Fable 3? It gets into your doodles until you're giggling like mad in a classroom full of people staring at you like you've lost your mind. I mean, c'mon! Just look at him! How can you not be amused? More silly sketches to come.

2011-03-25T09:05:00.001-07:00

I know this is technically my 'drawing' blog but I am ashamed to admit life has been so crazy that I haven't been able to get a lot of drawing in recently. Though now that things have calmed down a bit I have a few irons in the fire so for now here's a bit of an older pic. I entered this one in one of the student shows but did not win anything for it. Funny how art is; it wasn't the genre they were looking for and in fact the giant eight foot by ten crappy barely-legible crayon scrawling of a human figure on news print paper got into the show while mine did not. I suppose if my school were an animation school it might have had a shot but its not. Even knowing this logically it still makes me think 'I'm not worthy!'

2011-03-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

This post is going to make everybody jealous. Because guess where I went over the weekend? To the Bay Area and more specifically, Berkeley, California where all the fantastic art stores are. I went to Castle in the Air, a store full of fantastic, European style things and beautiful paper. They have a blog. The last photo there are things that I bought (and put into a nice container). The area where Castle in the Air resides also has all sorts of unique and beautiful paper supplies. I picked up some fantastic Japanese paper at Miki's Paper which is right next to Castle in the Air. It was a fun day trip and I like visiting the Bay Area but I don't think I would want to live there.

2011-03-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

I may have posted this before but it deserves to be again. Ravenhearst 2 is fabulous. The visuals, the music, the crazy, crazy puzzles. Just beautiful.

2011-03-08T16:49:00.001-08:00

I remember this one - this was on the back of a restaurant menu from the 1930's and I liked it so much I ...er... recreated it with pen. I do love art deco things though.

2011-03-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

It seems no matter how old I get I can't help loving cute. Such as these Harujuku rings and necklace. I have a couple of things from this line and really love it. Sadly most of it is pretty expensive so I can't go and buy everything I want.

2011-02-22T17:44:00.001-08:00

Girl and Pony in pen. Simple little sketch I've always liked (and I love cowboy culture)

2011-02-21T08:57:00.001-08:00

A little late for Valentine's but here; have a dandy. Or more specifically some sad, sad fanart for Fable 3. This man just demands to be drawn, what with the awesome clothing, cane and lovely hair. Man, I miss my scanner.

2011-02-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

ugh. horrible timing - I've caught a cold. Haven't been able to do much of anything but I found some older photos of super cute plush pins I made a while ago (which are also for sale on Etsy). Once I get my energy back I have some more projects I've been working on. I hate being sick!!

2011-02-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's

Hope everyone has a very loving day. Mini book with coptic binding I did last year. You can't see it in the photos but there are copious amounts of glitter involved. I love glitter.

2011-02-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

Skyline to Skyline

Ah ha. Now this one is mine; I spent the entire day yesterday making it. I found some old Readers Digest condensed books that had lovely covers (and who keeps those things anyway? You can't give them away). Then spent an obscene amount of time glueing the pages together, then cutting away layers. THEN I photocopied some old photos of the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower and made a sort of 3D effect. I suppose this would fall under book art/collage/found object. The last photo is the inside which I slapped on a layer of gesso. There will be text above the skyline but I'm not certain what I want to put in yet.

2011-02-11T22:02:00.001-08:00

Boobage

an older drawing but I still like it. for some reason I have an easier time drawing women...

2011-02-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

Book Art Fun

None of mind but other fabulous artists I found on the web. have one in the works, will photo soon.

2011-02-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Standby

Working on several projects along with work and papers, haha. If I don't
have a mental breakdown I should update pretty soon. Have some pretty shoes.

2011-01-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

In Progress

A collage I've been working on for the last week or so with a Steam theme. Gathered here are materials that I've pocketed over the years, odds n' ends and scrapbook materials (the Steampunk lady is something you can probably find at a scrapbook store). Not done by any means; there are small things I would like to add but mostly done. I can say that for a first attempt it's not too bad but I have this niggling feeling that I could do better so I'll make another one (I have one more Steampunk lady cutout). The alter piece itself was fun; I gessoed and painted it with hooker green acrylic then took a stamp and gold acrylic and made the pattern on the front. THEN I glued rusted (but sealed with mod pod) hardware on the front and completed it with some nice ribbon.

2011-01-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

Fruit People

Small project I did sometime back; felt fruit people. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. I am working on paper type things but I'm also swamped with work/class things so it cuts in on time to draw/create sadly. Will try to finish one project this weekend with pictures later.

2011-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

Eat My Heart

I may or may have not written last year about a local Valentine Auction for the University's art gallery BUT it's that time of year again. I'm really on the fence on this one. I really loved the idea of taking an old Valentine candy box and doing something like this with it. However, I didn't forsee all the problems I was going to have with it. The cardboard is, of course, really cheap and not all that sturdy so when I covered the front with glue/red card stock it had trouble adhering. The plastic cover over the window for whatever reason popped out (it may have had something to do with me dropping it, who knows?) AFTER I had glued everything in place so if you look really closely you can see where I tried to re-hot glue it and it didn't work out too well (but only if you look really closely at it). The damned trim around the window was a PAIN IN MY ASS. No glue was working with the paper!! Possibly because part of the trim is made out of wire so I ended up hot glueing it and made a tiny mess of things on the top part. So all in all I would like to auction it but then I feel like I could make a better one (but not in a heart shape because I only had one box) then I think I don't want to go through all that trouble again so it will probably go into the show. Will take pictures later in Febuary.

2011-01-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Victorian Smoke

Not that I advocate smoking - don't, it's pretty bad for everybody. and smelly. but I saw this crazy double smoker invention somewhere online and wanted to make an illustration for it. I really love Victorian clothing, I love the old illustrations/ads (I think I've mentioned that a few times). Anyway, another pen and ink (micron .005 pen) drawing and a lovely young lady who has a dirty habit.

2011-01-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

Speaking of Birds

I liked how this turned out even if it did take an ungodly amount of time to put together the tail-end. I have peacocks on the brain; I was watching For Your Home on PBS when they were showcasing up and coming interior designers and I saw this pillow, not just any pillow but the most frivolous, decadent, utterly gorgeous pillow that had two sweeping peacocks all done in embroidery and beads and..and...I want it. So I made myself a peacock which, while may not be anywhere near the class of the pillow I saw, satisfies my inner lust for pretty things (for the moment anyway).
Further inspiration can be taken from history; near the turn of the century during the Arts and Crafts (or was it Art Nouveau?) the peacock was a theme used for decoration - wallpaper, furniture, stained glass, there are some beautiful works of art from that period. I believe the peacock symbolized immortality, peacock lore isn't my strong point.
I didn't cut him from a pattern, I actually sketched one after looking at some different photos of fabric birds. I don't know if his body works all that well, it could probably be better but I was mostly focused on the tail. the crown of beads on his head was an afterthought but I really like it. For some reason my camera has a hard time photographing his eyes, which are rhinestones. the rest is recycled fabric (it used to be a jacket!). I may do a larger version.

2011-01-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

On a Wire

I did say it was a small show^^ but there were some cute and neat birds that people entered. The lighting was a little dark and it was located in a small art deco home turned gallery a little ways away from downtown Reno. But this isn't the only show; up and coming is the Valentine auction
which is a great deal more publicized (this one wasn't really, too bad). This one runs until the 31 of January.

2011-01-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

Ad

Victorian Ad number 3. I had (have) an idea to do a whole series of Victorian inspired ads but somehow I keep running out of time, or I just don't feel up to it. It's difficult to sit down and draw something decent when your mind isn't in the right frame. In any case my art instructor said in order to make a good art piece you should have the idea in your head for at least a couple of years (which it has been, along with several other ideas). Someday I'll sit down and get a ton of drawings done but right now my mind is in a fabric mode and it isn't letting go until I get a couple of more things sewed!

2011-01-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

For The Birds (Two)

Here he is! Zombie Bird, complete with his own hanging device (and wire feet, even though you can't see them too well). I made him last fall when I was exploring my own shapes and versions of critters and cute things. He is made out of felt and is small enough to sit in the palm of your hand. Submissions for On a Wire are due today by 5:00pm so I'm just in time. I'm really excited to see what other people brought in and WILL take photos when the show is up (on January 13).

2011-01-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

For the Birds

A little bird (one of two) that will go to a local gallery for a show called 'On a Wire'. It was pretty short notice; I only noticed the call for submissions on Friday so I thought, 'what could I do on short notice AND that doesn't weigh much' (submissions are required to be pretty light as they will go on an actual wire) so I thought, 'embroidery!' everybody likes embroidery. I have a zombie bird also but he'll be the next post. I now remember the reason why I don't do embroidery very often; it is VERY time consuming. This is a very small piece but it took about three hours to do every single stitch!

2011-01-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

On That Note

Here's a handful of unique and inspirational stores online! To start with Tokyo Milk, fine parfum and beautiful gifts. I love LOVE their package designs, in fact I would buy their items just for the packaging but fortunately their products are wonderful too^^

Next is something I just ran across this morning while watching a home decorating show Natural Curiosities, home decoration focusing on the Victorian naturalistic movement. There were too many beautiful prints to choose from but I loved the octopus (and yes, those are real butterflies).

And lastly is something I ran across in a magazine some years ago, a modern dandy who started his own line of unique products DL & Co. Modern Alchemists and Purveyors of Curious Goods. Many beautifully crafted candles and curious objects.

I love collecting strange and beautiful sites like these but seem to have trouble finding them. If anybody has a favorite site that falls into this kind of category - steampunk, victorian, goth, naturalistic type of decor, would you please share?

2011-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Of Collectors and Horders

I suppose I fall somewhere in between. Its rather unfortunate (or, fortunate - for me) that most people pass up second hand stores for home decoration, books and clothes (and a number of other things). The majority of amazing things in my home have been found in thrift stores, flea markets, thrift shops. My blue dog here is a recent item I found at Savers. I didn't find his mate (and I assume he had one, don't these statues usually come in pairs?) but he was so beautiful I couldn't pass him up and look how he gorgeous he makes my bookshelve look! Someday I would love to afford things like Natural Curiosities but until I hit the jackpot I'm completely happy with my thrifting.

2011-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

Top Hats

A bit of an older drawing - from way back from Drawing III but I still like him. The goal of that particular class was to create a theme so I chose silly Victorian ads. This was one of the more simple ones. Its a pretty bare bones, not really special line drawing. But he has a top hat! I think I need to go and buy myself one.

2011-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Art of the Book

As much as I would love to take credit these are not mine! I'm sorry that I lost the site that I found these on but it was under paper art. I love the crazy detail and intricacy of each piece. I've been attempting my own book art made out of old books and it isn't easy.

2011-01-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

Starting the Year Off With Steampunk

Continuing in Steampunky picures this sassy lady has a sweet futuristic gun to go a huntin'
This time around I used watercolor which seems to work better with these line drawings. I have a few more ideas along this line. Next I think I need a dandy steampunk gentleman. I love top hats, need to draw top hats (more top hats, that is). A good start to the year.

2010-12-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years

Have a great night, drive safe and see everyone next year.

2010-12-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

Book Arts: Specimen Box

You know what's really silly? I meant to take some stamps and put 'Fig. 1' ect. ect. on each butterfly but completely forgot. After I got the plastic sheet hot glued in place THEN I remembered and had a D'OH! moment. Still works though - I LOVE the naturalism movement in the 19th century. If I had the money I would buy illustrations and samples from that period of time but as I understand its expensive. I can make my own though - what do you think; shells, anatomy, animals, fossils? I'll have to see what I have in my junk box for another science/specimen/box art project.

2010-12-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Ladie's Hats

Here's my art degree hard at work: a Victorian type illustration inspired from a fashion plate from 1864 but with a little Steampunk influence. Yes those lines took some time - about an hour with a Micron .005 pen. I have some ideas for some more Steampunk ladies and gents and I do love all those illustrations from the 19th century, all that lovely line work. I do love pens and lines. I gave her a little bit of color with pencils then added the Ladie's Hats with some wonderful stamps I bought from Michaels.

2010-12-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

Book Art: Flora & Fauna

It's difficult to label these boxes; what umbrella do they fall under? Book art? Collage? Shadow Boxes? Its one thing I appreciate about art using paper, the vast and unlimited imagination of using literally any object you can find. Anything can be incorporated and I do plan on making one box made completely from found objects (I'm like a weird little magpie like that - I pick up strange random things I find on the ground. Mostly lost earrings, small toys and ephemera). Inspiration in large part was due to this wonderful book I found Altered Art that is full of color photographs of fantastic and strange things. My favorite was the lobster made out of old sports gear. The lovely bird box was made from gorgeous die cuts from a local scrap book store in Reno, Scrapbook Paradise that carries unique items (including Steampunk images!). Everybody else will have to make due with online stores and/or their own local scrapbook spots.

2010-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Search

If its one thing i love is unique crafting supplies. Michaels is well and good for a lot of things but sometimes you need something that no one has really seen before. which is where this website comes in: http://www.alphastamps.com/
These are just some of the stamps i'm putting an order in for.

2010-12-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

Standby

Sorry, this is a busy time of year for everyone. Especially since the majority of my presents for people are handmade. Will have things to add, just a little while later. Will post interesting things soon.

2010-12-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Book Arts: Preparing For Womanhood

In one of my many forays into the underbelly of thrift storeing I was incredibly fortunate enough to find a book that was named A Pictorial Medical Guide but in fact was a strange, strange look into the nuclear family - more specifically the life and role of womankind. The name of my book, 'Preparing for Womanhood' was actually the title of the first chapter. I had a fascinating romp through text that was the size of a telephone book and marveled at Life Back Then. Mostly I just felt pity for any poor fool who actually believed what they read. From 'any menstruating woman should not do sports or any agitated activity' to 'wearing high heels during pregnency is perfectly acceptable' it was a portal into a past in which I'm glad I was not part of.
I made this book with excerpts from that fantastic book along with photographs from a 1954 Good Housekeeping magazine. There is an obvious feminist angle but what I was more interested in was flouting 'good' societies rules. What was written in that book was absolute; this is how 'good' woman lived even if it defined them in such narrow terms it squeezed the life out of them. I used traditionally feminine objects in this book: ribbon, tracing paper from clothing patterns, images from a women's magazine, card stock used to display buttons and rick rack. I am by no means done with this subject, there is so much in that book that could be used I'll probably need to do a whole series. Get ready for more!

2010-12-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

Sketch

More sketches..

2010-11-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Playing With Dolls

Included amongst the things in which I cannot afford are Blythe and Pullip dolls. The dolls shown here are Pullip. Every time I look at these photos it just stuns me with the attention to detail and just beauty of each doll. Its well beyond my price range at about $100 - $300 dollars a doll but I'm happy looking at the photos. These particular dolls I found on Amazon.com

2010-11-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

Craft Fun

I found this super cute mushroom tutorial here at ETSY TUESDAY TUTORIALS . Have fun!

2010-11-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

Box Art

Here's the other box art I did over the weekend. I do love the stamps used here; yay for Michaels. Same as the other - old game board, paper, glue ect. ect.

2010-11-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Art of the Book

Sort of. This is more like a huge mix of all the paper type things I've horded over the last few years. Old game board with vintage copies out of an old medical book I own, stamps, glitter, wooden pawns sawed in half, rick rack (? is that right?),ink and pages from an old dictionary all thrown together. lots of fun. will have more later.

2010-11-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Collections

I'm not sure how this collection came to be - I've always had little bottles of things then all of a sudden I bought a glow-in-the-dark Virgin Mary and it was all downhill from there. I'm not Catholic, I just think the statues of the Virgin Mary are lovely.

2010-11-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

Color Sketch

Just a sketch in Copic markers

2010-11-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

Deer Sketch

I drew a sketch of this earlier (couple of months ago?) so this is a more polished version awaiting color.

2010-11-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

Revisiting old art

Ahhh, good old pen and ink. this was for a class a couple of years ago.

2010-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Fable 3

For some time I've been playing the Fable series (and also been getting very addicted to it) so I was very happy that my favorite love/hate character returned in the 3rd game - Reaver. Quick sketch of the ex-pirate, now scummy Industrial leader who forces small children into working all day.

2010-11-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

Book Arts

I found this idea from a neat magazine: a book ornament. this one is made from a childrens book, not too hard to make and it makes a neat gift.

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Flea Market (again?)

for whatever reason the flea market came around again (usually its only once in the spring and fall) so I found a few more fun things.

2010-11-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

ah ha, its late I know but it was a nice and boring Halloween for me. I like her - pumpkin girl. Done in pen and colored pencil on the back of a grocery bag. I spent part of the night goofing off online; watching retro Halloween cartoons and specials and watching the Ghost Hunters Live. I went to the website but I didn't see anything:(
Then I got woken up three in the morning to the sound of coyotes howling which in turn set off all the neighborhood dogs. Nice ending for the night.

2010-10-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Halloween Weekend Book Sale

Did I write about this before? I'm having a strange sense of having done this before... oh well. Yes! Every end of October is a HUGE book sale and here be some treasures.

These two are my favorite - they were in the 'special' collections part of the sale.

I remember when (AAGGH!!SNOCK!!I don't like saying that phrase...) Cartoon Network used to play Space Ghost Coast to Coast at night and I freaking loved that show. I still have SG Musical Barbecue somewhere...
So here's an amusing picture of Space Ghost.

And I had to buy Aquaman because he's the most hilariously useless superhero in the world. He...talks to fish. and gets caught in nets, apparently.

The main villian(s) of this book; ENCOURAGED ALIENS!!!!

2010-10-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Halloween Things

I didn't realize how many Halloween related images I had on my computer.

2010-10-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Top Hat Tutorial

I've had a few requests on how to make your own top hat so I thought I'd give it a go. So, you're going to need:
- Cardboard
- Two different sized bowls (the quickest and easiest way of measuring)
- Hot Glue
- Elmers Glue
- Tape (I've used masking tape here, it holds very well)
- Some clips to hold fabric in place
- Black thread
- Black felt
- Gauzy material (black tulle would work great. In these photos I've used scrap
material I bought from Savers)
- Black head band
- Decorative items (beads, feathers, flowers, buttons, whatever)

The first step is to trace the bowls onto the cardboard in a donut shape. You will also need the top part of the hat (by tracing the smaller bowl) and finally the band for the hat which can be done by cutting strips from the cardboard to circle the inner part of your donut.

You can see here the parts that will make up your hat. Tape the two long skinny lengths together, measuring that they will fit the inner circle of the donut and cutting away any excess.

And now you are ready to cut out black felt to fit your carboard pieces.

Here are all the parts you will assemble. When you are cutting the felt I found it useful to make sure you cut a little bit extra around the edges and I'll explain why later.

Cover the cardboard pieces in Elmers glue than carefully place your felt pieces over them. With the two flat parts I found it useful to place heavy books on top of them while it dried. For the band of the hat I placed clips around the fabric while it dried. When its all dry you get the hot glue gun out and glue the pieces together. Hopefully it will end up looking something like this. Now this is where that extra edging comes in - you notice that when you sandwiched the two felt pieces you can see the cardboard peeking through? To make it look nicer I blanket stitched the edges together. This is the most time consuming part of the project but the end result is worth it.

So now you have a top hat in need of decorating! This part is optional but if you want a lovely trail on your hat cut a long strip of tulle or whatever fabric you are using. You can hot glue it to the back, or like I did just blanket stitch it into place.

You can leave it just like it is or like I've done here gather a bunch of the fabric then hot glue it in a bundle in the back.

Now your hat is ready to be hot glued onto the head band. Before you glue the top hat put on the head band then place the hat over it at the angle you want then mark the spot with a white colored pencil. I put two strips of hot glue over that spot then placed the hat over the hot glue. I also went back and slathered a lot of hot glue to make sure it stayed in place.

Now comes the last and most fun part, decorating! I had so many ideas for decorating it was hard to limit myself! I've found that Ben Franklins and Michaels has a wide and wonderful variety for decoration - including a new line of Steampunk accessories and beautiful feathers. I hope this has been helpful in creating your own Victorian/Steampunk top hat, enjoy!

2010-10-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Halloween Spirit

One of the more memorable professors from my university had a thing about the occult and every Halloween out would come the Goya's and occult themes in art history. Interesting stuff.

Oh that Goya. He's one of those artists that was ahead of the times and completely off his rocker. His nightmarish visions are fantastic and disturbing. Perfect for Halloween.

The professor who taught art history had an impressive collection concerning the occult including this Goya print in which she would bring to class for us to look at. I had a great time taking art history.

2010-10-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Steampunk It

I got tired of not having enough money for a Victorian hat to buy on Ebay so I went ahead and made my own Steampunky Victorian hat. I think it turned out just fine. You know, it looks complicated but its really not.

I used;
-a cardboard box
-two different sized bowls
-black felt/recycled material
-black thread
-hot glue/elmers glue
-old parts from a clock
-feathers bought from Michaels
-head band from a dollar store

I cut out three different parts from the cardboard - the rim, band and top of hat then covered it with glue and applied black felt to it. I hot glued the parts together, sewed the edges of the felt together then added the decorative elements (I was super lucky to find an old broken clock to scavenge for parts. Those parts make all the difference but you can get gears ect. at Michaels)
Then I just glued it to the head band. The End!

2010-10-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Mechanical

I've never really gotten into drawing mechanical type things before but now there seems to be a reason. My very first attempt at gears and bolts and pipes ect. ect. and a hamster...

2010-10-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Collection 2

Sadly, its getting harder to find retro flower pins and if you do find them they are going up in price. All the ones I have here I didn't pay more than two dollars for.

2010-10-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Collections

I do have an appalling amount of collections. This is but one and not even the whole of it - a ceramic box full of weird vintage pins. This does not include the flower pins I have in another container. I guess I could photograph that one too while I finish inking some more art.

2010-10-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween Vintage

I have some more pen/ink projects I'm working on but for now enjoy the vintage photos.

2010-10-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Vintage Halloween Cards

Its unfortunate they are so hard to collect; seeing how they're harder to find and more expensive then some post cards. There is some truly odd artwork involved in vintage Halloween postcards that make them fascinating to collect.

2010-10-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Guns n Stars

I found similar guns like these in a 1900 sears robuck catalogue and loved the look of them. very wild west. This picture is thanks to the scrupulous use of a ruler and a micron pen.

2010-10-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Penned Rose

I have been looking at a lot of 19th century advertisments for the last couple of years and I have to admit I've always loved the linework. So detailed, so crazy-intricrate and that fascinates me. So every once in a while I'll try my hand at it. I have a few going on at the moment and here's one.

2010-10-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

Standby

I have actual drawings to share but am away from a scanner at the moment. So, have some bats.

2010-10-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

A Steampunk Halloween

After such a long time loving Steampunk style I've finally decided to go ahead and attempt to make my own steampunk costume. I've never really done clothing before so it should be interesting. These are some of the patterns that have inspired me.

I wouldn't use the exact colors (or even the exact shape) but I was thinking a walking suit/blouse/skirt/jacket combo in a nice navy grey. Or blood red. Haven't decided yet.

and the hat. you can't forget the hat. I found this one on ebay and while I can't afford to buy it it has given me inspiration. I think one of the local Halloween stores will probably carry top hats in which then I can dress up with peacock feathers, ect. ect.