The Most Beautiful Mouse in the World

Quite a while ago, I had a grand master scheme in which I would solve my clutter and pack-rat problems by gluing everything I own together and pretending that made me a folk artist all of a sudden.

I keep revisiting that theme when I realize there are things I want to keep, but unless they are somehow clustered together in some mass object, I really can't justify all the little pieces.

So, I don't think my scheme will take on much momentum because it's really not all that practical... but I did finish one project. It's a vase topped with little animals and others of the glass menagerie variety. I had them glued on here for a while now, but it was just recently that I decided to white wash the vase and make it more of a winter wonderland.

As for these animals... I don't know how to describe it other than that they were such childhood treasures, it would be hard to part with them so I couldn't resist but to affix them somehow on an object less likely to fall through the cracks.



This mouse, for instance. Honestly, I not only thought this was the most beautiful mouse in the world... but maybe the most beautiful person in the world, if a mouse was competing in a beauty pageant with a person, she would surely win. I always thought all the other little animals were in love with this mouse.



I guess my big plan to pare down and clean up is partially dependent on my being able to somehow morph the thousands of tiny things into something manageable. This is one example where it actually worked. I'm not sure the glue bottle is safe yet, but there's only so much I can keep.

I have some other techniques in mind. But it's slow going.

I'm currently working on some projects, one of which involves a polar bear tapestry from 1975... the other is potentially going to be based on a sardine can... and there's more. So maybe there will be an update sooner than later this time.

* * *

On a side note, how about Dubai's the World? I read about it recently... I forget where, but at the time actually thought it was made up. But it's real. (Where have I been while this was going on?) It's kind of the opposite of what I'm trying to do in terms of clutter, if we're talking on a planetary scale. It's like some giants decided to make sand castles one day and then things went horribly awry. I still don't understand who the people must be who live in your typical rich-person suburban subdivisions, let alone who these people can be who want to live on a man made luxury chunk of sand scrap masquerading as a piece of Australia.

Alchemy Success Part 2: Jackalope Taxidermy

Yesterday I reported on alchemy success from the consumer's perspective. It was about my new favorite raccoon shirt.

Today's episode deals with alchemy success from the maker's perspective. And that maker is me.


I couldn't resist bidding on the challenge to make a mounted jackalope "taxidermy" made of non-animal materials. I won the bid but didn't really have a plan other than ideas floating in my head.

Lucky for me the ideas in my head floated out pretty much exactly how I hoped they would. That's always nice. (Because believe me, most of the time it doesn't work out that way).





The process:
First I went to the hardware store and experienced the usual awkward situation of looking for unknown materials and not wanting to explain what I'm looking for... since I'm rarely quite sure. I bought chicken wire and screening. That was the base for the jackalope embryo:


This was built up with wire and screen and then covered with this foam carpet padding stuff. Then I made brown corduroy antlers. A lot of the sewing of padding and "skin/fur" was done using a curved needle. Actually, without the curved needle, it might have been impossible to get the "pelt" on the innards.


I like the profile.

The eyes were made using these glass globules I had for a long time. I had no idea what I was ever going to use these for, but now I know I can use them for jackalope eyes.



* * * *

Meanwhile, in unrelated news I must report, Patches is bemused by a camel cricket.

Karee Raisu and a Crochet Tongue

Karee raisu is the Japanese "katakana English" word for curry rice. And that's Japanese curry rice (quite different than an Indian or other Southeast Asian curry). It's kind of like a thick curry gravy stew served with sticky white rice. It's one of my favorites!




So, I had been planning this for some while, since I bought some tiny little china "bowls" at the thrift store. This is a curry rice pincushion. I was scared the curry rice pincushion in my head wasn't going to come out... but I'm very pleased that it worked out pretty much as I imagined it.

I need to get to the post office before it closes in the late morning. I have a postmark deadline to meet, and if anything is a form of motivation, it's a postmark deadline.

If I make the deadline, I'm planning on entering the curry rice pincushion and a re-worked toothy pincushion into the Interweave Press Pincushion Contest. Thanks to my friend Catherine for telling me about it quite a while ago - of course I waited until a week before the deadline to get these going.

I had to "learn" to crochet as a technique which would fulfill the requirements. So I crocheted a tongue for a toothy pincushion.



Previous incarnations of the toothy pincushion have been sewn velvety fabric. It's much much more difficult to crochet a pincushion tongue than it is to sew one.



It's been a hectic week, craft-wise. Let alone organization/cleaning/yardwork-wise. There's just too much I need to do. As crazed as they make me, deadlines really are helpful.

Presidents & Pill Boxes

The other week I spent quite a while sorting through a shoebox and basket full of stamps.  I bought 70 stamps for 5 cents each.  Despite my moratorium on shopping, I allowed this purchase because they don't take up a lot of space... and also I had specific plans for them.



In the piles were some stamps from Helvetia, and while watching Helvetica, the movie I found out that is Switzerland.

So, I used 4 of these stamps and decorated two sets of "pill boxes" (these are the kind I make from empty tape roll "cylinders").  Set one is Abraham Lincoln & Lady Liberty:


Set two is George Washington and Thomas Jefferson:
. 

Both are in my Shoppe for President's day. 

Stay tuned for upcoming news from the flip book factory...

lack o' progress

Week 3?

Well, I decided I need more containers in which to "sort" my belongings. Until I get that going my cleaning/organization project has been temporarily stalled.

However, I have been relatively good about not buying stuff.  So there.

Becoming vagabondish is more and more appealing. 

I've been using stumble apon and finding some interesting stuff.
For example, I like messing with sketchswap
and want to live here and now I know how to make a steam engine. 

dust, scraps, bad habits

organization test week part one


This is all about being organized. One big hurdle is avoiding procrastination. I say that now as I procrastinate further by coming online to talk about getting organized and cleaning up instead of actually doing it.

In a last ditch effort to motivate myself, I've got out that little tray, into which I will place various items as I attempt to clean up some of the mess which is suffocating me. It may be filled to overflowing very soon. I will wait until that time or until the week is up (whichever comes first) and then report on my findings.

As a side project, I absolutely must stop buying things. In particular, things that I don't need or things that I probably already have but can't find (i.e. various art supplies). This is very difficult, because I like buying stuff. The tentative guidelines are as follows:

No-nos:

* Absolutely no craft/art supplies unless they are absolutely necessary for something I am doing THAT day.

* No clothing except things I'd wear to work/shoes, and of course any pants that fit and I don't have to hem (something I actually really need). Avoid thrift stores, as painful as that may be.

* Food purchases are permitted, but focus should be on quickly consumable items. No long term "rainy day" snacks.

* No "beauty products" or toiletries unless I will use the item THAT day and have nothing else to use in its stead.

* NO books, unless I swap out some I already have. (Exception is gift certificate from Christmas).

Things which are allowed: anything which is not a physical permament object.

* Food, movie theatre, barbershop quartet/whatever is ok.

* Gifts for other people, though preferably not something which is a physical object.

* A hair cut, self improvement of some sort.

* Cleaning supplies/household items and such which are not duplicates of something I already have. Better idea is to follow recipes to make some "non toxic" cleaning supplies out of materials I can buy (i.e. Baking soda, vinegar, borax, etc).

* A car if the one I have doesn't survive this weekend.

Other tasks:

* Collect old batteries, light bulbs and other stuff to recycle.

* Find out where/how to recycle number 5 plastic containers.

* Take bag of stuff (more discard clothing/etc) to thrift store (but don't go in).

* Throw away coupons or circulars offering discounts on prohibited items (i.e. JoAnn fabric monthly coupons).

Duration of this torture: a month if I can stand it.

Rewards: peace of mind, some free space, save money for car and household repairs and necessaries. If I don't break the rules for a month, I can have some form of edible or experiential celebration at the end.

real bee, fake bee

I was going to entitle this "Drawing from Death" because the topic is a dead bee I found a while ago and had been saving (for this?).  But that seemed a little too morbid.  However, I have realized in the past that drawing from "life" is usually the only way I can buckle down and try to do something realistically.  Otherwise things turn out all made up, goofy looking or accidentally cutesy.  I need to spend more time drawing from life and/or death.  I'm usually too impatient.

Back to dead bee: it's so incredibly lightweight, and so delicate.  I'm surprised it doesn't float.  The intricacies are almost shocking: unfortunately the photo doesn't do this bee justice. 

And I'm embarrassed to admit that I've dropped this bee quite a few times.  There even had to be some glue-based surgery.



So, I drew the dead bee and ended up using gouache, mica, etc. on top of the drawing. It has some texture because I tend towards chunky application of materials.  I'm going to incorporate this bee into a slightly bigger project I'm working on... to be cont.

image hosting by flickr.

cats who have pouches

No, this is not a rude comment about Patches' weight. Nor is it about the discovery of the amazing marsupial feline (that would be great).

It's about the newest gear in flip cat product line.

It's a zippy pouch made of "meow" cat fabric.



Which also can be used as a boat.




I found my directions for making lined zippy pouches. But it's still very time consuming. Plus, I don't have a zipper foot for the sewing machine. And if I did I don't know how to use one anyway. I keep planning to make a lot of zippy pouches of various sorts, but I can't seem to find the time. I need to operate in assembly line mode if I want to get more than one done in one sitting.

The background fabric is a bedspread I got at Urban Outfitters. I really love that fabric. It has turtles, snails, birds, leopards, deer and other stuff on it. Animal fabric is great, but I'd probably feel silly if I try to wear something made out of it.

photo hosting by flickr

Grasshoppers and their ilk

I used to really love grasshoppers.  Not that I don't like them now.  But I rarely see them anymore.  And they used to be my friends.  This was when I was in elementary school and lived in Egremont, Massachusetts, and played outside a lot.  I had lists I would keep, with the names of my favorite grasshoppers.  They had silly names, like "Brownie Jr." and so on.  I was convinced I was playing with the same grasshoppers, every day.  Maybe I was.

One of my favorite kinds of grasshoppers are the tiny little almost translucent green grasshoppers that have little gold dots on their legs.  And the gold looks like real gold.  Maybe it is. 

One of my least favorite grasshopper things is being bitten by a grasshopper.  And getting grasshopper "tobacco spit" staining your fingers.

I hated when I moved to Virginia and was introduced to "camel crickets."  Camel crickets look like demons compared to grasshoppers and normal cute chubby black crickets.  I also like katydids, although for some reason I assume they are less intelligent than grasshoppers.  Katydids are the slow witted, but kindly grasshopper cousins.  Please, no backlash.

Anyway, I made a little grasshopper out of fimo to inhabit the violin scenery.  That's what brought up this whole topic.



Still experimenting with the camera - having trouble with lighting as usual. 

Image hosting by f

from the past

Last night I watched Portrait of Jennie.

Next time I'm unable to work on projects, have writer's block, or something of that nature, I hope that a strange person from the past will come be my muse and inspiration.

It's odd that I saw that movie, because just previously I had watched part of Somewhere in Time which for some reason I can't stop watching even though I've seen it a million times and we joke about the agonizingly slow scenes of Christopher Reeves staring into space. As far as time travel goes, I think the self hypnosis sort of technique used in Somewhere in Time is intriguing because you'd actually be able to do it without having a lot of scientific gadgets, flux capacitors or mail order catalogs. Well, if it worked, that is.