Murmurs and Musings

Moving on

2011-05-04T10:44:00.001-05:00

This blog is dead. Long live the blog.
Go to the INtangible blog for more.
-Donovan

You know you haven't posted in a while when...

2009-08-27T08:43:00.003-05:00

...your mom leaves a comment about it. I'm contemplating the switch to Typepad. I like it's set up a lot and I like how it encourages pre-posting; the act of setting out a whole bunch of posts to go up on a schedule. I'm able to keep the L.W.A. blog up-to-date that way. So, that's it I think. I'll post the link info here when I get it done.

Friday Comics: Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

2009-06-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Typically, I’m not a manga reader. I dislike digest sizes in general and mostly I find the art style off-putting. The penchant for gratuitous nudity is extremely cliché at this point as well. Still, the cover design on Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service was very, very well done and I had heard it mentioned favorably on Comic Geek Speak; so these powers combined made me give it a chance.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is the story of a group of misanthropes, oddballs and other social under-achievers who find it hard to put to use their university degrees. They all have a certain special power like hacking, speaking to the dead or channeling an alien into a hand puppet. Like I said, “Special”. [I find it to be oh-so-very-manga that amidst the supernatural powers going on, there is a hacker.] Unable to find gainful employment on their own after graduation, they combine their unique skills into the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service; they find dead bodies and then perform that person’s last wish, freeing their soul to reincarnate.

The team has a nice Scooby-Doo dynamic without being too annoying. It’s a fun concept for a book and there is an underlying story being told as well. However, the majority of the book and the series [I’ve read Vol. 2 - 5 at this point] is made up of vignette stories centering around that particular issue’s corpse. I imagine it would be extra enlightening for the newly-morbid person, but I became morbidly fascinated at a young age and, I find a lot of the quirky info about what happens in death or other ooky-spooky cultural tidbits to be a little old hat.

The art is sometimes beautiful and sometimes terrible and sometimes awful in the biblical sense of the word. I was really impressed with the quality of the art in the first page of Vol. 1 and then subsequently let down by the next page. Overall, the art is better than it is bad and there are some panels which can be genuinely horrific. Being a manga, it is read from right to left and I thought that would make me very perturbed, but it turned out to be rather easy. The sound effects, being a part of the art, were un-translated, but I just put in my own. There is a guide in the back, but I couldn’t be bothered to keep cross-referencing.

All-in-all, I like Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service a great deal. It’s a lovely little popcorn read. They keep the short stories engaging and weave in just enough of the longer plot line to keep me going. If you like watching early episodes of the X-Files or Eerie, Indiana, this is definitely for you. I also recommend it for people with over developed senses of vengeance, morbid curiosities or puppet fetishes.

A Return to 1997

2009-06-11T11:16:00.002-05:00

Many of you who read this are my personal friends; so this post should come as no surprise to you. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have perfected time-travel. I can go back 12 years all through a very simple game. That's right. I've started playing Magic: The Gathering again, which I haven't done since around 1997.

It all started when Dillon's friend Eric picked it up again. Strangely, he has 14 co-workers at his new job all who play and they drew him back in. Eric knew I used to play and he brought over cards one Sunday and that was all it took for me to want to play all the time. It was extra easy for me to pick up again as I still had a few old cards and Challengers also sells M:TG.

Nate and Ryan are friends of Dillon's who also used to play, and as luck would have it, they were in town the weekend my mom sent my old cards and I'd picked up the first batch at the store. We played all Memorial Day weekend. Well, we played during the times that Eric and Jenny weren't getting married. I had forgotten how much fun group games can be.

I definitely remember why I quit and the problems I had with the game still remain, but I'm no longer as vested in it and it doesn't bother me quite as much. I'm over my ire at printing rarity on the cards directly. I'm indifferent to the inclusion of new, wacky rules which I think are unnecessary to game play. Perhaps I didn't time-travel; maybe this is what it's like to play Magic as an adult rather than as a child.

Friday Comics: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century 1910

2009-05-22T11:29:00.002-05:00

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is authored by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O’Neill. The series’ concept is telling us what the world would be like if the characters and events in 18th/19th/20th century fiction were all involved in one reality. The books are richly layered with references and hidden gems from popular culture from a time when culture came primarily from print i.e. books [ya heathens!]. If you doubt me, please check out the fantastic annotation website by Jess Nevins. My favorite book in the series so far had the League pitted against the alien tripods from War of the Worlds in Victorian England.

The latest release is Century:1910, the first of a new three-part book. It’s seems a little pricey for a “single” issue, but in actuality, it’s more like a small trade paper back with a substantial cover and binding and 72 wonderful pages. This issue is, obviously, set in 1910 and many strange things are afoot in London. Halley’s Comet is set to pass overhead inciting great speculation among the occultists and magicians of the time. The common folk are more concerned with some violent murders near the docks which seem reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper killings, and the daughter of a previous League member is trying to find her way between society, tradition and her own identity.

A new treatment Mr. Moore uses to tell the story is the use of the songs from The Threepenny Opera. I have never seen an opera performed in a comic book. Only from Alan Moore can we allow such things because only Alan Moore can do it right. He manages to take a tangle of seemingly disparate elements and weave them together to make a brand-new story. A nice bonus is that, while this is the beginning of a series, it’s also a self-contained story which doesn’t require the reader to have read any primers. Still, a League book’s glory is in its references. You will enjoy the book more if you know where it’s coming from. It’s a lot like reading Ulysses; you’ll find it more fulfilling if you are in on all the jokes. Do yourself a favor and pick up the entire series and then begin eagerly awaiting the next installment of Century with the rest of us.

Grandma Club: Infused Liqours

2009-05-06T11:31:00.006-05:00

We had a fabulous liquor tasting party a couple weekends ago to try out our Grandma Club creations. You can read all about the recipe goodness here. My contribution was limoncello and grasshopper brownies. When I made the limoncello, I had a lot of lemons left over and I made a 1-2-3-4 cake with lemon curd filling and some lemon sorbet.

Things have been very busy here lately. Captive, sadly, did not overcome his illness and he died. I dressed up like a pirate for the Jeremy Bastian signing of Cursed Pirate Girl #1. I made headfins ala Savage Dragon for the Erik Larsen signing on Free Comic Book Day. I think that catches everyone up.

Kosher for My Mouth All the Time

2009-04-24T09:52:00.004-05:00

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "That's not nearly enough Coke!" And you're right. It isn't. I bought more after the photo was taken. Now, I don't normally like 2-Liters for my Coca-Cola fix. In order of preference it is: glass bottle, can, then plastic. Fountain cokes are always hit-or-miss depending on the syrup to soda water ratio of the individual machine. I will almost always opt for a packaged Coke rather than a fountain Coke. So, if I don't prefer 2-Liter, why are there 6 of them in the photo?

Take a close look. See the yellow tops on those bottles? That means this Coke is Kosher. That means it's made closer to the original recipe with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. You may claim that means nothing, but I, friend, am a Coke connoisseur and you'll have to believe me when I say that this Coke tastes like childhood, like summer at the beach, like wonder. I truly can taste a difference. You can even see a difference because this Coke is much more initially fizzy that regular Coke. It looses that fizz faster and has a much smaller carbonation bubble than HFCS Coke. It dances in my mouth! You heard me. It dances.

I hope Coca-Cola will take a cue from arch-rival Pepsi and make a sugar-sweetened soda for a longer time frame than just for Passover. Pepsi is putting out "Throwback" editions of regular Pepsi and Mountain Dew for a few months and is also trying out an all-natural version of Pepsi in the UK called "Pepsi Raw". I'd certainly be willing to try an all-natural Coke. How about you?

Piggles

2009-04-21T10:19:00.003-05:00

These are my new little friends. The cream and white one is named Evil Pockets and the all brown guy is Captive. Evil Pockets is properly named "Malbolge", but I've taken to calling him E.P. They are both male adolescent guinea pigs.

I really, really wanted to adopt them, but none of the local shelters had any and the pig-specific rescues in Illinois like The Critter Corral are too suburban for me to get to without transport. I checked on Craigslist for a solid 2 weeks as well, with no luck. I broke down a couple of weeks ago and just went to an Evil Corporate Pet Store. I know it's evil, okay, and I'm sorry.

My favorite thing is watching them eat. It's the absolute cutest. They're favorite foods right now are apple and red bell pepper. My Flickr stream is probably going to be over-run with pig photos. So far, they still run away into their box houses whenever anyone goes to look into the cage, but we are making progress. It is possible to pet them without having to chase them around every time. I take them out for "floor time" for at least an hour each day. We still haven't tried to introduce the cats to them. I'm just not sure how cruel it would be to either party to experience.

Grandma Club: Cocoa and Marshmallows

2009-04-01T14:56:00.003-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Kathy, Noel and I got together for making hot cocoa mixes and flavored marshmallows. You can read all about it on the official Grandma Club blog and see all about it at the Grandma Club flickr page. I had a good time, obviously. I had put the entire spatula full of marshmallow into my mouth in that photo. In it, I'm thinking, "Maybe I shouldn't have eaten all that, but it's soooooooo good." I've tried the mint cocoa and the traditional. Both are tasty and the traditional has a real kick to it with the cayenne. I made the mint with milk, but used water for the traditional and it seemed fine; maybe a touch under-sweetened, but that was nothing a couple of Noel's vanilla marshmallows couldn't fix.

Friday Comics: Mouse Guard

2009-03-20T10:46:00.003-05:00

Explaining my love for David Petersen's Mouse Guard requires a bit of background into why I picked it up in the first place. I had seen Mice Templar on the shelves and it had awakened a need in me for Medieval small creatures. I'd read a lot of Redwall books as a child, and it seemed like Mice Templar could be a good time, but when I got to the store, there were only a handful of issues on the shelf. I very much dislike reading comics out-of-order [they are termed "serial" for a reason]; so I decided to put it off until the trade. Disappointed, I wandered in the store and eventually ended up in the Children's section; not a section I frequent.

There on the shelf was this book called Mouse Guard, and I picked it up, intrigued and amused by the fact that there was another Small Creature Medieval Epic comic available. I was astonished to discover in reading that the book was not only beautifully illustrated [so beautifully that I'm seriously considering an art purchase] but also written with a clear and precise voice which was neither childish or cliche. Instead of comparing this book to the Redwall series, it is more closely akin to the literary classic Watership Down.

Mouse Guard is the tale of a network of mouse towns in a forest. The Guard consists of special cadre of mice who escort mice who must travel the wilds between the safety of their fortified towns. The themes are solemn and at heart, it is a story of survival. The Guard must protect against not only natural foes like predators, but also internal strive such as betrayal, mistrust and politics. The tale begins in Fall, before the mean season of Winter, and there are hard times ahead for all the mice involved.

In reading, I think I respond mostly to their strong will to do what they must to survive. I enjoy survival tales, which is probably why I enjoy zombie movies. Of course, Mouse Guard, while not being light-hearted, at least has the promise of Spring ahead; Nature remains neutral in the mouses' struggle. I enjoy the comic so much that I've even been reading it out-of-order. I'm still missing issue #3 [or #4] of Winter. I even will buy the trade even though I've purchased the issues individually.

{And this has nothing to do with anything, but David Petersen and I use the same Blogger template. We have good taste.}

Indie Fixx Interview

2009-03-19T15:58:00.003-05:00

Kathy and I were interviewed over at Indie Fixx. They used this photo of us which a passer-by took when the sun finally came out at last year's Renegade Craft Fair: Chicago. I really, really like this photo of us.

Twisted Goodness

2009-03-13T10:59:00.007-05:00

My hair has reached a hither-to unheard of length. I can very nearly sit on it. It's mostly remained uncut due to a) laziness b) frugality and c) my love of complicated braids. Unfortunately, Reason C is normally out of my reach. I cannot French braid my own hair. I shun things like hairspray and blow dryers. My mom burned me in the forehead once with a curling iron and I've never gotten over my hatred of them. Most of the time, I just wrap my hair up in a bun and stick it to the back of my head. But Kathy sent me some links to some seemingly easy instructions for just pig-tailing your hair and then pinning it up which produces the complicated hair-weaving effect that I wanted. All I had to do was part my hair in the middle and braid it outwards, Pippi Longstocking style, so that when I go to pin it up on my head, it doesn't bulge out in a funny way. I run into a bit of a snare when I get to the ends. I finally discovered that I can fold the ends underneath the top of the braid and pin it down. A couple of weekends ago, I discovered that I can make an additional full circle with the end of the second braid. The best part about doing my hair like this is that it lasts for four days. That's four days that I don't have to fuss with my hair. Plus, it looks cool.

Since we're speaking of twisty, braided things, I should also mention that I managed to bake my own soft pretzels the other day. I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and was very happy with my result. They tasted like pretzels. Huzzah! Unfortunately, you're supposed to eat them all within 2 days because they get hard rather fast. Now I have four extremely hard pretzels that I'm thinking about things to do with- possible croutons or something.

If I see Papyrus used one more time...

2009-03-09T14:38:00.002-05:00

I needed to share these. There is a whole set available at Design Police. Someone, maybe it was Patrick, recently asked me how I felt about how nearly every other person claims to be a graphic designer nowadays. I think I may have responded that I feel there is a great deal of difference between a desktop publisher and a graphic designer. Unfortunately, I'm sure some of the signs wouldn't make any sense to those desktop publishers. "Kern? What's a kern?"

Friday Comics: Watchmen

2009-03-06T09:43:00.006-06:00

Last night, I attended a wonderful "dinner and a movie" preview through Challengers. A good time was had by all, and Patrick and Dal should be beatified for their selflessness in giving up their seats. They are truly what makes Challengers the store we all want to frequent. The movie, of course, was Watchmen. One viewing, especially one at 12AM when I'm normally in bed by 11PM, feels very insufficient to write a cohesive and insightful review. Nevertheless, I shall make an attempt. I probably cannot do so without some spoilers; so you have been warned.

For me, the glory of Watchmen has always been its construction. It is so intricately fabricated with layers and layers of interwoven reference and meaning that I am forever finding new aspects and hidden items within its pages. Of all things, an obvious analogy is that the book is written the same way that a fine watch is constructed- each small piece hand-crafted and precisely fitted to work with the others to produce a final product that we too often do not appreciate. I recently heard a reviewer describe the book as "Talmudic" with meaning, which is a good description of a lot of Alan Moore's work. This is the deep level that Watchmen works at for me. At first read, I also appreciated the story, a noir-type mystery with an apocalypse backdrop and also a history lesson, but subsequent readings and critical examination has made the formation of the story more important to me than the story itself.

Instead of re-reading Watchmen before the film, I've been listening to the "Footnotes" episodes over at Comic Geek Speak. I highly recommend these as critical reference material if you've already read Watchmen. It's four to six guys who go through the book, issue by issue, panel by panel and discuss everything about it. It's great because there are enough differing opinions to really engage listeners with a variety of views and also a lot of in depth information about the comic itself. I did this to have the comic fresh in my mind while divorcing it from its visuals. I thought this would allow me to see the movie more as a creation of its own, rather than constantly comparing it to the comic.

My efforts were in vain; not through any fault of my own, but this movie does not want to be seen as separate from its source material. There are scenes which were basically story-boarded by the comic. The casting was superb, the set design is amazing [and was probably my favorite thing about the film*], and the sensitivity the movie had towards the interpretation of the comic was outstanding. However, that same sensitivity, I feel, kept the movie from having the same impact with me that the comic does. The movie keeps so close that it never develops as its own entity, despite the convenient changes to the ending. I just don't think that the general public will be able to embrace Watchmen the way that they did The Dark Knight or even V for Vendetta. It's just too long and too true and too much of an homage to stand on its own.

*Another favorite aspect of the film was the use of music to set the time period. Because Watchmen takes place in an alternate 1985, all of the popular music in the movie comes from that time. It really allowed the viewer to identify the when of Watchmen, especially in the absence of other clues which the comic provided through vignettes of people other than superheros. The opening credits were also an extremely clever way to represent the historical aspects of the book in an economical way.

Obviously, I recommend both reading and seeing Watchmen. I'd say read it first and use the movie as a fun appendix. Then go read the rest of Alan Moore's work, especially Promethea and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Also, never see the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. On second thought, do see it. Then you'll have an even greater appreciation for what a true adaption Watchmen is and how it still falls short of its comic counterpart.

Stuff on my fridge

2009-02-24T08:24:00.003-06:00

I live in a nice sized apartment, but not so nice sized that I can have a separate room for a studio. I do most of my art and design work out of my kitchen. There are a great many advantages to this: it gets good light in the daytime, I'm never far from a snack, and I can put things I like or reminders on my fridge. Strangely, this fridge covering kick has only really gotten in to gear recently. I normally don't like refrigerators all decorated, but there's something about all this stuff that is great. What's on your fridge?

Friday Comics: S.C.U.D.

2009-02-13T10:21:00.005-06:00

One of the greatest gifts my friend Gary ever gave me was telling me to read his copies of Scud: The Disposable Assassin by Rob Schrab. It is about the day-to-day trials of a robot assassin who discovered that he will self-destruct upon the termination of his target; so he has to keep the target incapacitated and on life support which takes capital. Our friend Scud then becomes a freelance assassin. He also has significant girl-trouble. Scud is drawn in black and white, and is chock-o-block full of wonderful lines like "I'm Jesus Christ with a laser gun and you're all going to Hell!"

Scud became my litmus test for determining how interested someone was in comics and whether or not I could consider their opinions. The test works like this: Have you read Scud? If yes, did you like it? If yes = I will be cautiously optimistic about your views on other comics. If you say "OHMYGODSCUDWASSOAWESOMEICAN'TBELIEVEYOU'VEREADSCUD!" then you may subscribe to my newsletter. If you say no, you are dead to me. If you just haven't read it, then you have been wasting too much time not reading it and you must read it right away.

Reading Scud has become even easier. Not only did Mr. Schrab wrap up the maddening 10 year cliffhanger from issue #20 with four new issues last year- there is also a great collection of all the issues in Scud: The Whole Shebang which is a steal at it's low low price of $29.99. Plus, if you get your little butts down to Challengers, you can buy it at 25% off until February 14th.

I have a despicably talented boyfriend

2009-02-11T18:27:00.002-06:00

His name is Dillon Yothers, and he, in addition to being my favorite person, is also one of the most talented people I know. After years of my and his brother's success on Etsy, he's decided to give it a whirl. He's also underselling himself by a great deal in my opinion. So if you've got white walls and need some affordable artwork, please check him out.

You don't have anyone, and I don't have anyone...

2009-02-05T12:30:00.001-06:00

Actually, I have a rather nice someone, but the point is that Kathy and I have some brand-new, sarcastilicious cards out for the upcoming heart-a-thon, chocolate-indulgence know by some as the Feast of St. Valentine. I like these a great deal because they really exemplify the creative collaboration of the 16 Sparrows team i.e. me and Kathy. She came up with the sayings and I took one and made it like the text of an old silent movie. To the other, I added the words "Listen, darling," and it became a breathy phone conversation in a pre-code old Hollywood film. I also drew that phone. Go me with the drawing.

Friday Comics: FreakAngels

2009-01-30T09:25:00.003-06:00

This edition of Friday Comics is all about a comic that any of you may try for free. Every issue is currently available online, and each subsequent issue is published six pages at a time every Friday, mostly. It's called FreakAngels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.

FreakAngels is the story of twelve people with certain special psychic abilities in a post-apocalyptic London. Essentially, it's steam-punk meets the kids from Village of the Damned if those kids were basically trying to help humanity instead of being demonspawn. Of course, they could be demonspawn, but also helpful; we don't really know yet. Unlike X-Men [and I do love me some X-men, don't get me wrong], instead of "this is the guy with laser eyes" or "this is the guy with claws", characters are really defined by personality than outward appearance. In fact, the characters are all superficially very similar to one another; each has pale skin and violet eyes.

I've really enjoyed it because it's a great survival tale as well as having bits of the supernatural to spice things up. At first the digital aspects of the coloring were a bit off-putting, but they've really grown on me. I'm certainly adding Paul Duffield to my favorites list.

So if you're looking for something engaging, entertaining, and inexpensive- check out FreakAngels. If you really like, consider purchasing the trade now available at your local comic shop. Free is great, but showing support for something you value is even better.

Other Mother Box

2009-01-28T08:05:00.003-06:00

There are all kinds of strange and wonderful boxes showing up across the Internet to promote the new Coraline movie. I, unfortunately, did not rate high enough on the coolness scale to receive one. Rather than cry myself to sleep, bemoaning my lack of boxness; I decided to get creative and make a box of my own.

This box is based on some boxes that have been sent by the [your, mine, our] Other Mother. I'm not selling them on my Etsy site. I don't think it would be proper. I do think that everyone who wants one should be able to have one; so I've made this Instructable. I hope you like it. Also, if you need a PDF of the template, you may contact me and I'll email it to you.

Friday Comics: I Kill Giants

2009-01-16T09:32:00.004-06:00

In an effort to more regularly update my journal, I've decided to do a little section on comics that I'm reading each Friday. I read a not insignificant amount of comics and/or graphic novels on a steady basis. Just last weekend, I was fed-up with the organizational situation of my single issues. Fortunately, I had some old index tabs lying around and made things a little easier on myself when I go to add new comics to my collection.

This week's installment is about I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and illustrated byJ.M. Ken Nimmura. There's a preview of the full first issue up at Image. This was a recommendation by my local shopkeeper, Pat of Challenger Comics. Much like an old style grocer, I can go in to Challenger and ask, "What's good today?" and Pat or Dal will give me an honest and informative answer. A couple of months ago, the answer was I Kill Giants. It's about an outsider school girl, convinced that she has the power to slay giants which she is also convinced are ready to lay waste to her life at any moment. It's also about kids, mental illness, social work, imagination and wonder. After finishing the first issue, I felt the same way I felt the first time I read The Maxx. It's continued to affect me deeply. I may even consider having the single issues bound, I like it so much. There you have it- I Kill Giants- highly recommended!

January Freebies

2009-01-10T19:01:00.003-06:00

Since opening up the new Vintage Postal Goodies section of the Letter Writers Alliance, I found myself with some empty stamp booklets. Since I am unable to throw away anything that I think I might be able to use, they fluttered around in the studio for a while before finding a new purpose. Saturday morning, they found their purpose. Some scrap paper and a staple transforms the trash into cute little notebooks- clandestine notebooks even. That's not a notebook, the secrets can't be in there! It's just a book of stamps! Haha!

I can really consider selling them, but I am offering them as a freebie with purchase from my Etsy shop. I only have 9 and don't see any other stamp booklets in my future. These are definitely a limited edition.

Coraline is coming

2009-01-10T18:28:00.006-06:00

Recently, my friend Millie posted a fuzzy photograph of a key she found in Miami. Her photo caption only mentioned that it was a piece of marketing for an upcoming animated movie. I knew EXACTLY what movie it was from- a black metal key + button = Coraline. Coraline is based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name and is completely handmade by the man that brought us the glorious Nightmare Before Christmas and his amazing team. Coraline is one of my favorite books and Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies; so I am ridiculously excited. And I wanted that key of Millie's very, very badly.

A couple of days later, I was catching up on things over at Mr. Gaiman's highly informative [and very frequently updated] online journal, {I dislike the word "blog"}and sure enough, he posted about the keys. His information came from one bibliogrrl in Chicago. Now, I sorta/kinda know a bibliogrrl through Etsy. I went out on a limb and sent her a message offering to trade or buy a key from her. She was kind enough to just give me one. I cannot be more grateful. I'm so happy to have this key! I cannot wait for this movie to come out. Please go to the website and watch the behind the scenes featurettes. You'll be mesmerized and amazed and stunned by wonderment. It's a fun time.

Butter Making: Grandma Club Part Deux

2008-11-19T08:49:00.002-06:00

Grandma Club convened last Saturday to try our hands at making butter. The process was surprisingly easy and everything went smoothly, mostly due to the fact that by the end, the entire kitchen was lubricated with butter. We tried two methods of butter making: The Mixer Method and The Jar Method.

To begin making your own butter, you'll need cream. You want to look for cream that has in the list of ingredients on the side nothing else other than cream. Avoid mixtures with carrageenan, a seaweed extract, or any similar additives. Whatever volume of cream you start out with, you will render half that much butter and half that much buttermilk. Noel started with 2 quarts of cream and Kathy and I had one quart each.

The Mixer Method
For mixer-made butter, we used the whisk attachment of a stand mixer. Pour in one pint of cream and mix on high. The cream will go through various stages of hardening up- first to thicker cream, then to whipped cream, then to thick whipped cream and finally, it will separate into butter curds and buttermilk. Stop the mixer intermittently to scrape down the sides with a spatula to ensure even mixing. We found the running the mixer at medium speed in the early stages cut down on the splatter factor.

The Jar Method
We had some quart sized Ball canning jars left over from our Canning Party; so we decided to try to make butter using them as shakers. It worked really well and was just a fast [or slow] as the mixer method. Pour in half a pint of cream to a quart jar and shake until you reach a thick cream stage. Then add in an agitator, like a marble (we used grapes because that's what we had on hand) and continue shaking. The cream will go through the same stages as in the mixer recipe and will eventually separate.

Once you have reached the separation stage, the process becomes the same for both methods. Use a wooden spoon to clump the butter curds together and pour off the buttermilk into a container for later use. Put the butter curds into a bowl or use the mixer bowl. Then, add in cold water and squish the butter around in it. This is known as washing the butter. The water will become cloudy with leftover bits of buttermilk. Pour off this water/milk mixture and repeat the washing process until the water is clear after you've squished the butter around in it. You want to remove all of the buttermilk from the butter because the buttermilk would cause the butter to turn rancid quickly.

When your butter is all washed, form it into a lump with your spoon making sure to squeeze all the water out of it. From here, you may flavor your butter with any number of items (we've got some recipes below) or simply enjoy it as is. There are many types of butter molds available, but you can just wrap it up in wax paper if you like. We lined some small rectangular boxes with wax paper and molded our butter in them. We let them harden in the freezer and then cut sticks out of them and wrapped those up in the wax paper. The butter should keep up to 3 months in the freezer or in the fridge about one week.

We really enjoyed ourselves, although Noel was tuckered out by the end of it with all the shaking and washing. It's a really work-out for the arms. We each ended up with about 2 cups of butter and 2/3 a quart of buttermilk. It cost about $8.60 each- pretty much what you would pay in the store for fancy butter and buttermilk. It took us about 4 hours from start to finish, but that would probably be faster if we did it a second time.

There are more pictures of the process at my Grandma Club photo collection.

The Recipes
Garlic-Lemon Butter
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
Dash pepper

Cinnamon Butter
Pint [3/4 cup] of butter
1 1/2 tbs ground cinnamon

Vanilla-Sugar Butter
12 tbs butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 tbs vanilla

Salted Butter
Pint [3/4 cup] of butter
1/2 tsp salt*

*That was probably still too much salt, but I've been using it on things you would put salt and butter on like pasta, potatoes, and corn-on-the-cob.

Grandma Club: Meeting One

2008-11-05T10:16:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday, Kathy, Noel and I pooled our resources [mostly Noel's resources] and had a canning party. It was a rockin' good time. Noel made roasted red, orange and yellow peppers, Kathy created cranberry orange vinegar, and I cooked up some strawberry lemon marmalade. A good time was had by all. It took us about 7 hours, but honestly, we were just gabbing for about an hour and a half at the end. The only with having 3 separate canning operations was waiting for stove space. Otherwise, everything went smoothly. I haven't tried the peppers or the vinegar yet. I'm letting them meld in their flavors for full effect. I did try the marmalade though and I'm super happy with how it turned out.

Malort is flavoured with a unique botanical

2008-10-29T10:02:00.004-05:00

Last night, Dillon and I attended [for free!] an appearance/reading/performance by the illustrious David Rees and the writer erstwhile cheesemonger, minor television personality, John Hodgman. Despite living in Chicago for almost 4 years now, it was our first experience with the Second City. We had an enormously entertaining time; even now, the mention of the phrase "noodley biscuit" sends me into spasms of laughter.

Plus, we were introduced toMalört, which makes me feel like the world is a richer and more beautiful place than I could have ever imagined. I did not try any Malört at the performance- a wise decision because it turns out that Mr. Hodgman has space herpes. Not to worry though, the disease only activates in space. If you are so lucky to live in a city or town that Mr. Hodgman is visiting on his book tour, I heartily recommend you attend one of his readings.

This is Halloween

2008-10-23T14:22:00.002-05:00

I love Halloween which is no surprise to anyone. Any excuse I can get to make a costume or buy stuff with a gothic bent to it, is completely fine with me. I try to keep an eye on the contests section of Instructables [a website featuring a bunch of DIY tutorials for all kinds of things] because they offer sweet prizes. Plus, I enjoy the instruction writing process. It makes me feel like Martha Stewart should hire me or that I could have my own show on PBS and it would be so much better than that horrible Katie Brown show. [She probably a nice person, but the projects that she and her workshop construct make my gorge rise. I present these as examples: vase covers and a party sign. Oh god.
But I digress...

I've made a couple of Instructables for their Halloween contest. For the more in depth one, I chose to show everyone how to make cute little treat bags. You could use the instructions for making any sort of gift bag, really. Then, as an add on, I explain how to make your own Halloween-style Easter grass.

Art House

2008-10-13T11:43:00.004-05:00

A couple of months ago, I participated in the Collecting Objects project with Art House. The project was a lot of fun for me- it involved collecting things that represented myself and my life and putting them into an accordion folder which I then mailed off to the Art House gallery for exhibition. Being an enormous pack rat, I had no problem collecting and sorting all sorts of things for them.

A couple of weeks ago, the bigwigs of Art House sent me a nice email about a section of my submission. I had used some Evidence tags to identify pieces of my entry and they wanted to know where they could get their own. There was a little emailing back and forth, but it was decided that I should make some for them for the next collecting objects project: The Time Line Project . Now, people who sign up will receive 10 of my specimen tags to use. I'm loving everything that Art House does. Please come play with us!

Winter Craft Season

2008-10-08T14:46:00.003-05:00

I survived Renegade Craft fair and came away from it only mildly water damaged. Fortunately, I wrap everything in plastic; so none of my goods were ruined. I have an application in for the Renegade Holiday Show in December as well. That show is indoors; barring any ceiling mishaps, I think it'll be okay. This is a picture of what my studio/kitchen looked like while I was preparing for Renegade. I didn't get it posted up here because I was.... that's right, preparing for Renegade. I am going to be at the wonderful DIY Trunkshow on the 22nd of November, right before I get on a plane that evening to head home for Thanksgiving. I'm always busy over here!

Newberry Book Fair Treasures

2008-08-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

The Newberry Book Fair is one of the highlights of my year. It's basically Christmas in July for me. There are rooms and rooms filled with books of all kinds. I spend most of my time in the Science Fiction section and the Special Collection room. I also keep an eye out for atlases to scavenge from.

There weren't that many atlases this year, unfortunately, but I did get one enormous one! It's about 3 feet high. Buying it made me a temporary celebrity. I was the Girl Buying the Huge Book. The maps in it are also large and so I'm contemplating what to do with them. Large envelopes perhaps... Among my other finds were some old board games including Trivia Pursuit [for $2.00!] and a type style catalog for the Chicago Sun Times. I also picked up a bunch of Stainless Steel Rat books and some other assorted bits and bobs. I ended up spending less than $40.00 and I feel like a winner. I can't wait for next year!

Southport Market Reminder

2008-08-14T10:18:00.001-05:00

Only two more chances to come see me at the Southport Market: Saturday, August 16th and Saturday September 27th. I'll be there bright and early at 8AM along with other Chicago crafters and many fine food vendors. Last time I was there, I picked up marinated olives, blueberries, parsley, a baguette, and some of the best string cheese I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I also purchased a bowl from Circa Ceramics.

Orange You Punny

2008-08-11T09:32:00.001-05:00

As an entry in the Chicago Style Crafters team challenge, I've created some new postcards. I based the designs off of the illustrations on old fruit crate labels and then drew my own in Illustrator. The theme was orange and I can't resist a pun. I printed them on 100% recycled stock from French Paper, and then rounded the corners. They are printed from my laser printer, but the more work I do like this, the more I think I want to buy a Gocco printer.

From the HandyGirl Files

2008-08-08T09:14:00.004-05:00

So I survived DEPART-ment. I have mixed feeling about the experience. The people are nice and the organization is good, but, much like a street festival, I just don't think people are inclined to buy non-poster papergoods at a music festival. The best part about it was that because of space constraints, I needed to build a display platform for my cards. Kathy had previously created some individual display holders but I needed something that was vertically inclined.

I created it out of foam core, hot glue, straight pins and craft paper. I made sure to put in supports so it doesn't sag in the middle. The resulting structure is 24" tall by 20" deep. It's sturdy and lightweight. It fits through the doors of the bus which was a concern seeing as I had to use public transit to get to the festival. The craft paper did wrinkle in spots, but those places are covered when the cards are on display. I'm exceedingly happy with it, and I'll definitely use it at Renegade. It will really open up table space.

Here is a shot of the display in all of it's glory!

Pitchfork + DEPART-ment

2008-07-17T10:53:00.003-05:00

I will be on hand at the DEPART-ment tent at Pitchfork this weekend. My volunteer times are Friday from 7:30PM-10:15PM, Saturday from 11:45AM-2:30PM, and Sunday from 4:45PM-7:30PM. I'll probably pop back in every so often to check on things. This is different from a regular fair; so I'll be sort of floating throughout the whole of the set up instead of [wo]manning my station. I've built an impressive stand for all the 16 Sparrows cards which will debut here; so here's hoping it works out and I can fit it on the bus.

Southport Market

2008-07-03T11:56:00.002-05:00

Along with select members of my Chicago Style Crafters brethren, I’ve been participating in the Southport Market. We all signed up for various weekends on a rotating schedule. It’s fun and strange to be a crafter at a farmer’s market, although much of my profit gets converted into farm fresh eggs and cheese curds at the end of the day. I’ll be there next on the 26th of July and again 16th of August and the 27th of September. The market is from 8AM to 12PM at the Blaine School lot, just down the street from the Music Box Theater.

In Print

2008-05-26T21:15:00.003-05:00

My first major press piece! My mailing labels [and the 16 Sparrows telegrams] made it into the newest issue of ReadyMade!

Chicago Style Crafters Trunk Show

2008-05-07T18:56:00.001-05:00

I will be vending my sundry wares as part of an open studio on Saturday May 17 and Sunday May 18. The host is Circa Ceramics in their lovely studio located at 3759 N. Ravenswood in Chicago. Showtime is from 12PM to 5PM each day. I will be leaving early on Saturday at 3PM. My presence is required at a wedding.

In addition to selling my goods, I will also be giving envelope making demonstrations at 2PM both days. If you bring in a special paper or item, I will make you an envelope out of it and provide you with the knowledge of making your own sturdy and unique envelopes. There will also be yummy treats from Bake and Destroy and a bunch of the Chicago Style Crafters team.

Do come and say hello! I'll have free goodies for people who say they read this journal!

Eight or Nine Words About Stationery

2008-05-04T20:17:00.000-05:00

I happened across a wonderful essay by Charles Dodgson [AKA Lewis Carroll] entitled Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing. In it, he is very humorous but also very practical. For example, he says you should always put anything you are going to enclose in the letter right away because you will invariably forget to do it and seal and send it before you realize your error. I just made this mistake last weekend; so I understand where he's coming from. He also gives instructions for making a registry of all the letters and parcels you send and receive so that you can keep track of what your were talking about with whom. This was obviously more important in the days when letters took weeks or months to arrive, but it's still useful today.

In the process of trying to create a register for myself, I ended up with a new stationery. I printed it on this amazing Dietzgen drafting paper which is onion skin weight; so it's light and translucent. I put them together with some vellum envelopes so that when you write on the paper and then fold it over and then put it in the envelope, there will be multiple layers of text which I think will look lovely.

Poppies.... poppies

2008-05-02T18:39:00.005-05:00

A while back I got a custom job through 16 Sparrows for a personalized stationery. The client wanted a small graphic of a poppy and their initials. I started with black and white ink sketches of various poppies and asked the client to pick one for me to color. The client wanted both a stationery and a flat card; so they picked two different poppies. The end result I printed on recycled paper and paired with papaya colored envelopes.

Letter Portfolios

2008-03-30T08:57:00.004-05:00

I made these this weekend to celebrate the warmer weather here in Chicago. When it starts to get nice outside, I try to move as many of my activities to the porch or park as possible. This necessitated that I have a roving stationery case. Being a craft engineer helps when you have a problem like that.

My final design ended up with decorative flaps holding the stationery papers secure, a pocket for holding envelopes or postcards or what-have-you and a little envelope for keeping stamps. I also created a paper button and string closure for it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I made a whole bunch [i.e. about 6] and I've put up some on my Etsy shop if anyone else needs some on-the-go stationery fix.

New Studio

2008-03-20T12:38:00.003-05:00

Last Friday, Dillon and I put up another set of Ikea shelves. We had some set up in the studio previously, but they were completely full and I tend to do all of my work in the kitchen because the table there is big and flat. So we set up some more in the kitchen and now I have almost all of my stuff in a central location. Unfortunately, my paper organizer is still in the studio as it was too big for the shelves, but I make lots fewer trips now. Now I just need an economical way to store my flat papers and my space will be complete!

I saw a squirrel. It was making like this "tchtchtchtchtch".

2008-03-03T14:12:00.001-06:00

I always have big plans for my weekends and I generally get about half done, which I am ok with. The half done of this weekend was this doggie.

FDHS again

2008-02-29T09:29:00.003-06:00

Elizabeth commissioned me to do a small watercolor of the house from the Frederick Douglass Historic Site. Oddly, the gift shop there didn't have any for sale, which I think is a first in the "historic homes" business. I think this is the 5th or 6th time I've done a rendition of this house. I should be able to draw it from memory at this point. I was so happy with the ink drawing for this and I'm afraid it lost something in the coloration, but then, I never like things as much when I do them in color. I'm just a line art kinda girl.

Robot Love Dogs

2008-01-25T09:24:00.001-06:00

My first two [mostly] completed projects of 2008! The first is a Valentine for 16 Sparrows intended to appeal to my kind: i.e. people who can quote Star Wars without being ironic a.k.a. geeks. It could also be a friend-to-friend card rather than a crotch-to-crotch card like our other offering. I was inspired to make this card by the wonderful Mr. Wil Wheaton, who keeps an excellent blog perfect for those hours you're supposed to be working. Dillon drew the robot for me because I'm crap at robots. Okay, I'm not crap at robots, but it took him a two days and it would have taken me a week. This gem of a card is available at 16 Sparrows for pre-order!

I've also been doing a bit more custom order stuff. Kathy and I were contacted about a Save the Date featuring this dog. I came up with some ideas which were fun because how can that dog not be fun? This is the finished image. We're working on paper colors now and then that will be that.

Next Entry: Still the Frederick Douglass House?

Real news or not?

2008-01-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

I've added a new element to my evening routine of going home, turning on NPR, and working on orders. Now, I also have to look at io9, a site by Gawker dedicated to Sci-Fi and all its glory. I'd waste time at work on it, but unfortunately Gawker Media won't load on my work computer. Consequently, this eats about an hour or so of my evening, but it's worth it because I find stuff like Dennou Coil.

Dennou Coil is a really insanely awesome anime which is thankfully available in its entirety on youTube. I spent a good portion of last weekend watching all 26 episodes. It has a really good mixture of cyberpunkness with wholesome kid's show, Japanese style. The last couple of episodes totally made me cry too.

In real news, Kathy and I have a new Valentine's card available for pre-order. It will be getting a friend of a more masculine type shortly. Think "bad ass robot" style. Exciting no?

Next post: Robot Love Dogs

And a happy new year

2008-01-09T08:18:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, I am still reading the book I have on the sidebar in my "Currently Reading" section. It's just that I read it little bit by little bit because it's a lot of book to carry around.

I survived the Holiday Season with mostly the greatest of ease. Most of my work came just prior to the actual season which is probably why I don't remember it being too overwhelmingly busy. I did make a resolution to post here once a week, which I've already failed at. Whoo! Go me. So now I'm gonna shoot for twice a month.

Many plans are brewing for 2008: calendars, decoder rings, more cards, papers... I'm contemplating taking some classes at The Center for Book and Paper Arts and maybe finding a yoga class or something a little more physical than hours of LocoRoco on the couch.

I received many lovely and thoughtful gifts over the holidays, but I am most contented with a gift I bought myself. Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting my all-new, completely functional, mint green, Hermes Rocket Cyrillic typewriter! It makes me want to type up encoded messages. It also makes me wish I'd paid more attention in Russian class.

Updates!

2007-11-25T19:10:00.000-06:00

Based upon feedback I received from the lovely and helpful Allison over at the National Postal Museum, I've been making some tweaks and changes to my handmade envelopes and mailing stickers. I've also been mad at work over the long weekend making envelope books and vintage paper books and boy, are my arms tired. No, seriously. I use my arms a lot.

For the mailing stickers, Allison requested more "fragile" type stickers and less "expidite/priority/rush" stickers. I put in a lovely "handle with care" sticker that I quite like, along with a "please don't crush", and a "do not bend."

On the handmade envelopes, they had previously been packaged with an office supply store white label. Complaints were that they were just a) too small and b) there was no label for the return address. I never was able to find anything I could use at the supply store, so I made my own.

I'll be posting the books I made later on it the week. In other news, I'll be at Renegade Holiday. My booth is set near the edge of the stage in the auditorium. Please do stop by.

Craftic Identity

2007-10-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

I firmly believe that a commitment to a strong graphic identity can greatly impact a crafter’s success. From business card to website to packaging, if everything you do is branded in a professional manner, then the public perception of your product will be positively impacted. I saw some really great crafter's with excellent attention to graphic identity at Renegade and I’d like to share my favorites.

{Please click the photo above to link to flickr for notes on how to access the websites for these wonderful design-oriented people.}

My two absolute favorites were from Craftpaca and Erica Weiner. I first saw this card in the hand of a passerby while I was manning my own booth. It was so beautiful that I stopped the browser and asked to see it. I managed to make my way over to Julie's booth later in the fair and I was not dissappointed, but I probably would never have gone in if I hadn't see that card. The letterpress is just devine on it. I love the deep impression. I love it so much that I sent her an email after the fair to inquire where she had them printed. Turns out that it's all in the family and her brother prints them on a letterpress in his garage. He doesn't have a website yet, but when he does, it will be Letter Press Delicacies.

Erica's card is another that drew me to her station at the fair even though I hadn't seen any of her work. Anyone who has a card that cool must have cool things, I figure. Although I could barely squeeze into her booth because of all the people, I managed to snag one of these oh-so-clever cards. I'm already a sucker for the vintage pharmacy look and this is a very innovative way to have both a business card and a custom order slip. Kudoz to both Erin and Julie for excellent sense in design and advertising. They understand that a business card is a mini-billboard and they've put that concept to good use. Now if I can just manage to do the same...

Things What I Bought at Renegade

2007-10-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Everyone should buy at craft fairs/farmers markets/independent retailers. There’s really no reason not to. That couple of dollars more spent means you know where your items are coming from, that you can talk to the source about how it was made, that you can have a point of contact if there is a problem. Plus, it’s a lot of fun and you’re supporting your local economy. So I have no guilt about this long list of stuff I acquired at Renegade. Also, being a crafter at a craft fair, there is the option most times of making a trade, which is good fun and not like spending money at all. It’s more like turning straw into gold…[I make sense to me and that’s what matters.]

--Note: Click the photo and all links are available as notes in flickr!--

Papered Together – Hedgehog coasters: Now, I don’t really have any use for coasters, but she was all out of hedgehog cards and I figured that I could use the coasters as cards. Plus, they came in a sweet little box. Krista had a lovely and clean display and it was great to meet her as I have coveted her items on Etsy for an awful long time.

Fernworks – Winter Tree necklace: I did not get to really roam the fair with any sort of leisure, but in my mad dash through, this necklace caught my eye. There was a huge crush of people around the booth though and I didn’t have the time or patience to wait to make the purchase. Fortunately for me, Faryn Davis, the artistian, came by my table later and we worked out a trade.

We Are Campfire – City of Wind/City of Steel shirts: These guys were my fair buddies, but in addition to being extremely friendly and helpful and funny and generous, they also make really well designed and quality shirts. They have a really large range of shirts from inside typography jokes to City-themes to graphical. I ordered the City of Steel for my Pittsburgh-native boyfriend and they gifted me with the City of Wind shirt.

Pink Loves Brown – PLB and 16Sparrows have been on friendly terms since before I started working for 16S. We each do the stationery thing, but we have our own styles and that makes life fun and interesting. I picked up this extra-sweet stationery and Nicole asked me if I wanted it personalized. I now wonder if she would have done it right then and there. They were on the electricity side…

RaR RaR Press – Unlinke Pink Loves Brown, RaR RaR is a little more of a direct competitor to 16 Sparrows. We’re each riding the sweet/sassy/sarcastic train. I really love their stuff though and they do letterpress and have a different look than we do. I picked out some devilishly fun postcards that I just couldn’t let go by.

Lotions & Potions – I sat in at my table, suffering from highly chapped lips when I suddenly realized that there was a seller cattycorner behind me that sold lip balm. I popped over as quickly as I could and asked her what her favorite was. It turned out to be Coconut Lemongrass and it is super. My lips were better in about 10 minutes and it smells divine. I’m wearing it right now.

11:11 – Passport case/Condom cozy: Jamila was the seller directly behind me and we bonded because, 1) we were both manning our booths on our lonesome’s and 2) we both graduated from SCAD. Whohoo, go expensive art degree! We make crafts! Her table was busy all fair because her items were just too fun. Heck, I don’t need a condom cozy, but boy howdy, did she make me want one!

See, great stuff. And not expensive. And all handmade!!!! I love working in handmade goods and I love supporting others who do the same.

After the Deluge

2007-10-09T08:38:00.000-05:00

Happy October Internet World! In honor of this most glorious of months, I am offering a free Halloween-themed gift with any purchase from my Etsy shop.

Renegade was a blast! Despite it being on of the more wearying tasks of the year, I have already applied for inclusion in their holiday show. The weather was beautiful and the new location worked out nicely. Traffic was moderate to heavy for the majority of the fair, at least, while it was still light out. I made friends with the vendors around me and that’s always the best part of fairs- getting to know other crafty types.

The fair was Saturday and Sunday and I was part of the lucky [or unlucky] section that got to arrive for setup between 8AM and 9AM for a fair that started at 12PM. Despite having to get up in the early, I actually found that having 3 hours to setup was great. It allowed me to move things a millimeter left or right to my liking and I didn’t have to feel rushed about it. Plus, I think all of my meticulous presentation paid off. I had two people go out of their way to tell me that I had the best presented booth of the whole fair.

The posts this week will focus on the Design of Crafters and also, Things What I Bought at Renegade. There will also, hopefully, be a review over at Chicago Style Crafters.

As a big head aside, there's an interview I gave to Jennicakes over at the Sampler here. And if you want to hear my silly little voice, you can listen to me prattle here.

Heads up!

2007-10-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

While I have many, many posts in the works about Renegade and the glory therein, here is a quicky about what is going on right now! I'm participating in the PoppyTalk Handmade Market; a sort of online street fair. Everything I've been oogling thus far has been really nifty. Please do check it out. You don't even have to get up. Just click with the mouse!

She lives....

2007-09-13T11:29:00.001-05:00

I have not expired. I am merely lost in the zone known as pre-Renegade. I have become a veritable factory of packing and printing and cutting and folding and gluing and doing it all again! I did take a minor break last weekend and hung out at Circa Ceramics studio putting together promo packs with the Etsy Illinois Street Team: Chicago. It’s grand fun to be amidst the craftily inclined and talk about horror movies and Hurricane Katrina and religion and whatnot.

Additionally, I thought it would be a swell idea to do The Sampler for next month which means I get to pack 300 additional things for mailing to arrive before the 20th of the month. Here’s a sneak preview of the samples:

As always, people who stop by the fair and mention that they read this blog will receive a highly fabulous free gift!

Boxes, boxes

2007-08-20T14:38:00.000-05:00

Not that you really need proof of how busy I am, but check out my pile of orders! Sheesh. I’ve been working my little crafty fingers to the bone over here. My boyfriend has started a second shift job, meaning that he’s gone when I’m home. Theoretically, this means I have time to do all kinds of work, but it doesn’t seem to be working out that way.

I’ve been getting all sorts of niftiness in the mail! Pendemonium sent over a huge box full of round temperature recording paper sheets that they just didn’t know what to do with. I don’t really know what to do with it either, but I’m working on maybe a calendar or an invitation to incorporate the days of the week that are listed around the circle. Kathy mentioned we could just sell them as stationery, but I’d rather add my own twist to it.

My friend Liz sent a mysterious package which turned out to be full of old envelopes which look like they were part of someone’s Pen Pal collection. There were also two old keys in the package which will definitely find their way into something. And finally, I got my prize package from the Etsy people. I’m especially fond of the postcard and handkerchief.

Pandemonium of stickers

2007-07-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

I’ve found a neat, new place for paper on the internet. Pendemonium caters to the fountain pen lover and hence they carry all kinds of stationery supplies; therefore, I love them. I bought a pack of their vintage drafting paper from the drafting company Dietzgen. It is some really great stuff. Plus, when my first package didn’t arrive, they swiftly sent me out a replacement. As an internet buyer, I appreciate their understanding and as an internet retailer, I know how frustrating it can be to have to rely on the honesty of your customers. They were very kind to me and I think everyone should know it.

The paper really is quite lovely, of all different weights and colors and designs. There are some triangle ones and monthly ones and math-I-don’t-understand ones. My envelope template just barely fits on the pages, but I don’t think I’ll make a lot of envelopes out of it. I think these papers will be better used as inner pages of books and as printed stationery.

On the design front, a couple of weeks ago I came up with some new mailing labels and some mailing stickers. I’m really happy with how the stickers came out. It was nice to do some graphic design work amidst all the sewing and gluing and cutting of my normal routine.

In other news, the envelope book that I wrote the tutorial for managed to snag me an honorable mention in the Sew Useful contest between Etsy and Instructables. Congratulations to all the winners and be sure to check out the other entries. There’s some really cool stuff on there.

1 down and 4,978,907,098,276,408 to go

2007-07-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

I think I’m in love with book tape. It’s so useful and simple and I don’t get spray glue all over my fingers. When I went to Paper Source over the weekend to pick up more, they had a pack of tiny, blank address book blocks, and I just had to get them. I’m always looking for new ways to use my scraps and these small books work great. They are about the same size as a business card and I added a glassine envelope at the back which can actually hold business cards, making this a dual purpose book. It tickles all my fancies; it’s small, it’s convenient and it’s got multiple uses! Poppytalk even gave them a nod as her “Etsy Pick of the Day” which was great.

I feel like a bloggy star recently. Because of my participation in the Sampler, my name showed up over at the Naughty Secretary Club and at Enamor. Plus, a fellow Etsian did a little interview of me for their handmade finds section.

I’ve been a very busy bookmaker lately. I’ve gotten so many requests to purchase the envelope book that I’ve set up to make 3 more. I don’t want to make them out of just an old envelopes mind you; so finding worthy envelopes is part of the process. It makes them more special I think. I’ve also made two books out of an assortment of old papers and then made covers for them out of some old airmail envelopes. I love airmail. I love it. In my eyes, there is no such thing as a bad air mail design.

In other news, if you’re a Chicago-area Etsian, there is a little get-together going to happen on Saturday, July 21st at Letizia’s Natural Bakery. We may all just be meeting there and tromping to the park; it depends on the number who show up. There’s nothing really planned to do so far as I know, it’s just a “put a face to a screen name” sort of deal. There's more info at our flickr street team page.I am looking forward to it despite my misanthropic ways.

Exclusively Boring

2007-06-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

On the acquisition front, I got in a whole lot of old air mail #10 size envelopes which I have plans for. I also received my order from PodPost a couple of days ago and I am in postal sticker heaven. I even got an incredibly awesome Japanese rubber stamp that says “Urgent”. I’ve been using my treasures to help decorate some miniature folders that I make exclusively for sale at The Boring Store. I think it’s working out swimmingly.

For the love of post

2007-06-29T11:49:00.000-05:00

All this month, Kathy and I have been wracking our impressively sized brains to create something new and exciting for 16 Sparrows. I think we’ve succeeded. It brings me great pleasure to introduce to you the Letter Writers Alliance! Our mission statement is:
In this era of instantaneous communication, a handwritten letter is a rare and wondrous item. The Letter Writers Alliance is dedicated to preserving this art form; neither long lines, nor late deliveries, nor increasing postal rates will keep us from our mission. As a member of the Letter Writers Alliance, you will carry on the glorious cultural tradition of letter writing. You will take advantage of every opportunity to send tangible correspondence. Prepare your pen and paper, moisten your tongue, and get ready to write more letters!
We have our own official correspondence stationery, member card, and badge. Membership opens up a whole world of free downloads and secret goodies. No “Drink more Ovaltine” here, no sir! Everything we offer is completely legitimate and totally rad. I’m working on a letter writing handbook, Kathy’s putting together an address book and we’ve got a pen pal service. How’s that for exciting?

Also new are two letter-themed stationery sets for sale at my little shop; one based on air mail and one on an illustration I did. I am having a love/hate relationship with my new printer. It works great when it works. Still, I can’t go back to the inkjet after using the laser. It’s just so sharp and clean looking.

Have I mentioned I like old paper?

2007-06-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

I’m always looking for old papers and things. Once again, the temptations of eBay have been unavoidable for me. Most of my saved searches start with the word “vintage.” My recent acquisitions include: about 15 pages of alphabet plates from an 18th C book, 100 assorted pharmacy labels, a lot of stamps and papers, and a bunch of airmail envelopes.

I have many nebulous plans about what to do with my new horde of ephemeral goodness. Some of it will get framed; some will end up in journals or as the basis of art pieces. The seller I bought the vintage pharmacy labels from sent her package festooned with old stamps for the postage. I can only imagine what sort of a house she must have if she has lots of old labels and stamps just laying about. Ofcourse, it's the sort of house I want!

A couple weekends ago, a group of us went out to the annual Printer’s Row Book Fair. It’s a huge deal and the weather was nice so it was too crowded to be comfortable. I like the Fair, but I always go expecting yard sale prices and they are all book stores doing the selling, so they have book store prices. I still did manage to find a gem for twenty bucks; Wonders of the World Illustrated.

There were other exhibitors as well. At the Columbia College booth, there were a number of letterpress options, but I spent my money on some lovely hand-marbleized paper from Paper Fragments. Both of my purchases are intended to be cannibalized for art, but the book lover in me really loathes destroying books even in the name of art.

Feeding my perversion

2007-06-20T16:08:00.000-05:00

I love this site, Pod Post! I’m just waiting for my paycheck so that I may procure 75% of their shop page. I also sent them a cute little letter. I think I’ve found some new pen pals.

Speaking of, I just joined Postcrossing, a community where people all over the world exchange postcards and the system keeps track of how many have been sent and number of miles logged and other factual information that I just find fascinating.

Keeping with this theme, I’ve added some one inch buttons at my Etsy shop which feature my flying envelope logo and say “Write more letters”. And thanks to Sweet Jessie for another library card project!

Lastly, in my mailbox last week, there was a card from the National Postal Museum. At first, I thought it was yet another renewal notice from the Smithsonian magazine, but then I noticed that the address was handwritten. My heart sped up when I opened it. Turns out that I had sent a 16 Sparrows order to Allison of the National Postal Museum and I had told her how much I enjoyed the museum. In return, she sent me a lovely thank you card. That’s a wonderful thing!

There's a class in that

2007-06-16T17:32:00.001-05:00

Okay, so a download of the new Firefox was all it took to get Instructables up and running. I've created two entries. One is a ribbon dispensing box and the other a handmade book made of envelopes. The actual projects didn't take that much of my time, but, Boy Howdy, did the tutorials take for-e-ver to write. Check them out, let me know what you think!

I hate Times New Roman

2007-06-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

I’m so excited right now. I think it’s probably because I’ve had far, far too much coffee after having none yesterday. My schedule for work is even jam-packed and still I’m in an extremely positive mood. Having an Etsy store has really jump started my creative juices. I don’t think it’s the prospect of having something sell, I think it’s the sense of being a part of a community of making things. I just feel like I want to play with the other kids. Does that make sense?

I’ve got a billion projects on my burners right now. I’m carving linoleum blocks for printing, I’m designing patterns for paper and fabric, I’m thinking about tote bag and change purse designs, I’m finally working on image research for some cards I’ve been wanting to do, I’ve got plans for the Sew Useful contest*, and tons of other things. Plus, I’ve ended up with an issue of Craft magazine which is just FULL of stuff I want to make, namely, thesehouse slippers and this pin cushion. Not to mention that the last half of the Frederick Douglass House project is finally underway.

Kathy has returned to Chicago. I’m excited to have my partner-in-crafting-crime back. She will of course be very busy with custom design work and hanging out with her boyfriend and going off to Italy for a cruise, but I’m sure she’ll find time to come over and hang out on the porch with margaritas. She’s been here about 4 days and already there are some new recipe cards up on the site.

*The Sew Useful contest is really biting me in the butt at the moment because I can not get the Instructables site to work AT ALL. I've been trying it on and off this past week. On both Mac and PC platforms with different browsers [Safari, Explorer, Firefox], it is either: a) slow, b)loads blank, or c)when it loads, crashes the browser within a couple of page clicks. Anybody have any ideas on how to get around this? I really just want to know I might fix it if it is fixable from my end. I’ve cleaned out my cache and opened up some security parameters and still it’s a no go.

Shhhh! This is a library…

2007-06-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

If you know me, you know that I love books and reading and libraries. Kathy is all over me to go back to school for Library Sciences because I enjoy cataloging and archiving and making spreadsheets and filing and alphabetizing and all that. If I had any time, I’d volunteer at the library. In fact, I think I might anyway, because I just don’t feel right having “free” time. I seem to operate the best in “always having something to do” mode.

I think that’s partially why I’m always making things. During my week “off” I played around with library checkout cards, like the ones from school libraries who haven’t made the digital leap. I ended up making a series of small jotter-like notebooks. To make each one original, I’ve typed in some quotes about books or reading. I think my favorite is “Wear the old coat and buy the new book.”

Keeping with the school theme, the inner pages are of primary writing tablet paper that I found in the kids section of Staples. I used my nifty, new long stapler for the binding and then book tape for extra binding and finishing. Book tape is new to me. I was buying envelopes at PaperSource and was looking around for ribbon which they didn’t have a good selection of, but I did find this book tape stuff. Essentially, I think it’s just book cloth with adhesive backing. In the future, I can probably make my own with the all-powerful Xyron. My first versions didn’t have rounded corners, but they just look too nice to forego. So I rounded all the corners. Even though I have a little punch to do it, it’s still a big pain because the punch only gets through about 3-4 pages at a time.

I don’t think that I’ve exhausted the possibilities here at all. I see rolodex dividers and business cards in the future and who knows what else. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to leave a comment. If I make your item, I’ll give you one for free. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Mother's Day a little late

2007-05-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

So, not wanting to spoil any surprises, I'm posting about these now. I have two mothers who get cards, my mom and my grandma. Since I am constantly going back and forth to Paper Doll, the lovely stationer down the way from my apartment I had ample time to pick the perfect cards this year. The first card I picked up was from Hello! Lucky. I picked it for my mom because I just miss and love her. I saw it and was harpooned! Then, when looking for my grandmother, I found a card from Bella Muse that I couldn't not buy! It wasn't exactly Grandma-friendly though; in the end, I sent the whales to my Grandma and the cleaver to my mom. Both of my matriarchs were pleased.

Next post: Shhhh! This is a library!

Springtime!

2007-05-17T11:36:00.000-05:00

I have been busy busy lately! The new Etsy shop is inspiring and addictive. I’ve got a lot of time off this week and I’ve been trying to get as much done as possible which includes prepackaging and labeling 16 Sparrows products, copyrighting, premaking a lot of Etsy stuff, packing up a submission to The Sampler, and talking to Golden Hen Press about printing up some papers.

Plus, it’s Spring! Spring means that I reorganize the closet. Spring means that Dillon and I go to IKEA and by shelves and porch furniture. Spring means that I plant things. My dream is to have a porch vegetable garden. I started seeds in some trays I had left over from a take out restaurant. So far I’ve got spinach, squash, beans, and various herbs all growing out on the porch. I also bought a bird feeders for the House Sparrows and House Finches. That is what they are called, I looked them up.

Clockwatcher

2007-05-02T12:12:00.000-05:00

Isn't it cool? Get your own card here

I've been busy. Busy thinking up new things to do and make and spend money on. I think I'm probably into a mini-manic phase, but I plan to keep it reigned in to reality. I've been bounding about all over the interweb looking a great new journals. My two new favorites are Jotter and Papercrave.

I'm partially all over the place because I just started a new shop over at Etsy. It's such a HUGE place, Etsy. I've been trying to look at everything and my head is exploding. I keep having to take breaks and do other things instead of looking at all the cool handmade stuff I want to buy.

Next Post: SPRINGTIME FUN!

Recently, NASA scientists discovered that most people love to play video games but hate to die in fiery airplane crashes

2007-04-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

I’ve just been to New York City for the first time in my life. The second day was devoted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was raining that day, but despite the crush of people at the entrance, the museum was not so crowded that I felt uncomfortable. The Met was full of wonderful surprises and curiosities.

We started in the Ancient Art sections and wandered our way into exquisite 18th century paste porcelain figurines. We found a whole Venetian bedroom. At one point, the maze took us to a sculpture atrium to see The Burghers of Calais by Rodin. There are all manners of things in this museum. We spend four hours there and maybe saw 60%, only 20% which we actually absorbed I think.

Painting wise, the collection of the Met is really fulfilling. We made sure to dash through American Art only for the John Singer Sargent paintings. Most of our time was spent in European painting. Oh, the Vermeers and Rembrandts! When we were apart and barely acquainted with each other, Dillon used to say I looked like this particular Vermeer; so I was really excited to see it. My favorite came down in the more modern section. The Met has No. 5 in Gold. I love this painting. It’s one of my top 10 favorites and I was really happy to see it in person.

The next day we went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art which is an excellent museum, but just isn’t the Met. However, they were having a great special exhibit on Feminism in art and we got to see The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed.

The following day we went to the Cloisters, a Medieval art museum way up at the top of Manhattan. I really liked it, but it was uncomfortably crowded and I didn’t feel like I could spend the time there I really wanted to. I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t feel like dragging around the camera that day. I’m really camera shy, not only do I hate having my picture taken; I also hate to take pictures. I think I’m always disappointed with the results.

Leroy Jenkins is my hero

2007-03-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

I now have a cursive typewriter. Only two more typwriters to go: a sans-serif and a Cyrillic one, until my collection is complete! That is all for now.

Halfway to Frederick Douglass

2007-02-21T11:41:00.000-06:00

Here she is- the finished walking tour map of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. It was a lot of work, not just for me, but for the employees of the site who were integral in gathering public opinion and the information they wanted on the map. Unfortunately, the big hoopla event for the re-opening of the House after restoration with all the furniture returned was cancelled due to inclement weather. Now, I'm just waiting for what they want out of the historic map, and then I'll be getting to work on that.

Happy Golden Pig to the Girls of Golden Hen

2007-02-19T14:12:00.000-06:00

For the longest time, there was a mystery in my apartment building; the “K. Egbert” mystery. My downstairs neighbor would always get the coolest magazines and deliveries. Her mailing list was so similar to Kathy’s that I jokingly remarked to Dillon that she must be just like her. My suspicions were confirmed when he ran into K. [ for Kim ] in the hall one morning and she was on her way to exhibit at Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park last September.

I still hadn’t met her, but I employed a little detective work. I’d seen mail come to “Golden Hen Press;” so I checked for it online without luck. The trail was cold until the Renegade Holiday Show when I was running around trying to look at everything and there was a sign. It said “Golden Hen Press.” Eureka!

There were two lovely young women behind the table and I suavely asked, “Is one of you Kim Egbert?” Thus the mystery was solved and I finally met my downstairs neighbor. Turns out that she and her business partner Elaine are producing paper products, including gorgeous fine papers. This is a boring story, I know, but I like it because she lives right below me and does things that I do and I love that about Wicker Park. I keep meaning to have a proper business meeting with her and maybe set up some special papers of my own through Golden Hen.

They are still working on the website, but it promises to be a thing of beauty. If I find out before you do that it’s up, I’ll be sure to tag it here.

Sneak a Peek

2007-02-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

There are some new cards up at 16 Sparrows which I've done illustrations for. There's also a new addtion to the Effin' Collection. Our version of a "get well soon" card which reads "Suck it up, Crybaby." I think it's hilarious.

Here's a peek at how the coloring is going on the Frederick Douglass map.I'll post the final here when it's done. I'm so excited to be done with this!

It's not threatening; it's a LiteBrite

2007-02-02T10:10:00.000-06:00

Renegade Craft Fair was a really great show. I'm glad I got DIY in as my first sans-Kathy show. I would not have been prepared for the onslaught of customers or the myriad preparational activities before hand. Kathy really did blaze this 16 Sparrows trail. I'm lucky to have her as my guide even if she does wander around in deserts at nighttime.

Renegade took place, just like DIY, in the Pulaski Park Auditorium. I do like the indoor shows. I don't think they get as much serendipitous traffic as outdoor fairs, but I like not having to set up a tent and not being reliant upon the weather. Kathy and I roasted at the Lot and nearly lost a whole day of sales to rain at the last Renegade we did. I set everything up similar to how it was done for DIY, but with a couple refinements. Again, the best sellers were small journals and To-Do Lists.

I had great block mates- Emily Kirchner, Recycling Artist was on my left and Kevin with SquidFire was to my right. I wrote about Emily's lovely works last post. My cats are still playing with the catnip mouse. SquidFire is a silk-screening company from Baltimore. Right away I feel in love with an adorable thermal that I bought about halfway through the first day. The second day I broke down yet again and got a shirt for my brother for Christmas and another shirt for myself.

Speaking of shirts, also for Christmas I bought each of my best friends a shirt from Dyslexic Press out of Boston. They each got one of the Amorous Octopus shirts. It's weird and random and completely fun. It's also really well designed. There is a white highlight on the glass of the octopus' tank, which is what makes the shirt really great. It also has the added bonus of having a bagpiper making it the perfect shirt for the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games of 07.

Here kitty, kitty,kitty,kitty,kitty

2006-12-21T15:19:00.000-06:00

For anyone who doesn’t know already, I have two cats. Two cats are enough cats for me regardless of dreams I may have about finding kittens in my apartment. If I weren’t living with Dillon, I’d probably have to be considered a cat lady even though I only have two. At least it hasn’t progressed to the point where I try to dress them up or anything. Fortunately, Dillon’s as much a sucker for cat shenanigans as I am; so my constant cries of “Oh, my god, look at the kitty. He’s so cute,” are met with interest instead of exasperation.

My oldest cat is a domestic mediumhair, classic tabby lynx point. I know this because I have a book that told me so. His name is Balthazar, but he comes to Baby. He is one of the most beautiful cats I have ever seen and he’s definitely the most beautiful cat I’ve ever kept. He’s going on nine years old I think. My other kitty is about five and he’s a mottled white, silver spotted tabby domestic shorthair named Sebastian, but more often called Fatty or Fatness or Lump or Get Off Me, You’re Fat. Sebastian weighs about 21 pounds. He’s a really active cat and we play with him, but he just seems to be fat as his permanent state of being. He also fetches and drinks from the toilet. Oh, and Balthazar drools; so it’s like also having a dog between the two of them.

At the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Show [subject of the next post], I was stationed next to Emily Kirchner, Recycling Artist. In addition to making really great stuff out of recovered materials, Emily had some great catnip filled yarn mice, which I had decided to get as presents for my friend Jenny’s kitties because she’s always giving me things for my kitties. I had them in my bag from the fair and Sebastian, being a catnip and a yarn fiend, found them and drug them out into the living room. He had so much fun with it that I had to give it to him. Even Baby played with it a little and Baby doesn’t play with anything. So Emily Kirchner’s cat toys are cat tested and cat approved!

Next post: Renegade Craft Fair

Early Resolution

2006-12-18T21:19:00.000-06:00

I will post more often in my journal as resolution number one. Resolution two, I think, may involve keeping my credit card reciepts, but really, it's depressing how much I spend which is why I think I don't keep track of it now. Resolution three I don't have yet, but three is a good number; so I'll have to think of something.

I have a glut of information to post about, but I've written up a schedule to ensure that I don't talk about Christmas presents too soon or bore you with my cats overly much. Tonight's post is brought to you by the USPS and my love of the postal system. It is a testament to how much I love the post office in that I still love the post office after living in Chicago. The litany of wrongdoings committed by the Wicker Park office is miles long. I've nearly seen people fighting in the post office and their cancelation stamp is misspelled. Mail at my new apartment is much better than the mail at my old one. I don't get a lot of mail for two streets over anymore, and I seem to get all the mail that I'm entitled to.

I'm not sure how many people know this but the post office will ship you postage supplies for free. I use up a lot of priority mail stickers and envelopes with 16 Sparrows and they send me out more without even a shipping charge. When I couldn't find priority mail tape available online, I simply asked for some at the counter and the postal lady handed me a brand new roll. It smells like candy. Free tape candy.

I've gotten lovely mail things, well, through the mail lately. A bag from the French Air Mail service and a lot of assorted mailing papers.
The bag is huge. I had thought that I would turn it into a messenger bag, but I could make 7 bags out of it. It's gunnysack sized.

Lastly, if I had a house, I would love a norwegian post box from Frost Produkt. Unfortunately, they appear to be out of them at the moment, but you can see them in the press section under Wallpaper of November 06. I really want one.

The next post will be all about cats! I know you're excited.

Toothsome

2006-11-23T11:23:00.000-06:00

And now, I rest. Sort of. The show went really well. Crock was kind enough to give Dillon and I a ride, which greatly expedited the whole process. I managed to put everything for the fair into 3 boxes and one shopping bag. Set up was a little slow, but I didn’t feel too rushed, especially considering that the booth next to me didn’t set up until after the show had even started. This is what the display looked like. I'm set to be in the same room, but on the opposite side for Renegade. I'm also going to take my lovely, vintage orange suitcase to add some height and color to the set up. Dillon likes how it's color coordinated, but I think it needs a little something.

Within an hour of opening, Dillon had gone walking around and came back to the table asking me for nine dollars so he could buy me something. I originally asked him to wait until I sold nine dollars worth of product, but then I remembered I had a ten in my wallet. He came back with a sweet little double-sided necklace from Melty. I’ve had many compliments on it.

I bought a lot of Christmas presents, which for obvious reasons, can’t be displayed here, but I did make a trade for these awesome magnets for myself fromSweet Jessie. I love the little tin they come in. She had a great display too, with old suitcases and pink fuzzy trees. Trust me, it was great in execution. The most exciting thing about the fair is that a girl from 826, a writing/tutoring group in Chicago and elsewhere, wants 16 Sparrows and my products for their upcoming Private Eye store. I’ll be making “top secret” and “confidential” mini-folders for them.

To celebrate my completion of the DIY, I went shopping on Sunday, visiting my favorite book stores in walking distance: Myopic, Quimby's and Brainstorm. It's wonderful that I live in the same sphere as an amazing used bookstore, a deviant zine shop, and a comic shop/video rental store. I, again, bought gifts and I picked up a $2 grab bag at Quimby's. It was full of magazines I wanted [ReadyMade, Wallpaper] and magazines I didn't want [Girls of Lowrider], but the jewel in the bunch was that there was a copy of Jill Dorothy Summers Cohabitation. I first heard one of the stories from Cohabitation on public radio and I was thoroughly impressed by this writer/performer/composer, Jill Summers. I'm currently listening to all 5 stories and I'm really entertained. At Myopic, I finally purchased a book that I had habitually checked on to make sure that it hadn't been sold yet. And now it has, and to me! I have added it to my collection of books on lettering.

New products

2006-11-17T18:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, I’ve been busy. I’ve got a bit of a respite from the FDHS project while the client makes decisions on the way they want to move forward. All of my energies are now being focused on the DIY Trunk Show on Saturday and the Renegade Holiday Show on December 9th and 10th. In preparation I have been a factory of production! I have a paper case box full of 16 Sparrows products. Those of you who are long-time lovers of 16 Sparrows should know that at the fairs, I’ll be selling some exclusive products which can’t be purchased online and also selling some out-of-print items. I also have two envelope boxes full of my own products of which I have some new ones to tell you about.

First there are the Fancy Tags! My favorite thing about the tags is the little illustration I did on the label, but I also really love the tags themselves. It’s hard to sell them. I want to keep them all, especially the stamp ones. Each pack has 5 tags and they sell for $2.50 a pack, or 3 packs for $6.00. If I can figure it out, I’ll put them up for sale online, but right now, they are only available at fairs or as a free gift with a $50.00 purchase at 16 Sparrows.

I’ve also made some Mini-File Folders. I love mini-things. These are the perfect size for the bits of paper I’m always cutting out or for filing index cards or recipes. I’ve covered them with maps or with vintage wallpaper scraps. I have these amazing old wallpaper sample books and I’m so excited that I’m finally getting to use them. These also aren’t up online yet.

Some new packaging I’m using involves the new folders. In the new Travelogue Set, you get one small map journal and two of the mini-folders. I really like this concept of packaging the items together as evidenced by the other new package: the Deluxe Paper set which is a set of envelopes, mini-folders, small journals and fancy tags; all in matching, reversible papers that I got at Paper Doll’s grand opening/anniversary party 2 weeks ago. I put them all together in a swanky chocolate brown box with a band of the reversible paper making part of the packaging. I think the effect is rather striking.

So if you’re interested in any of this, please come on out to the fair on Saturday at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, 1419 W. Blackhawk in Chicago. Doors open at 10AM and if you stop buy and say you either got my newsletter or read my journal, I’ll give you a free gift!

The DIY Trunk Show

Ah, perspective, how you mock me

2006-11-11T21:59:00.000-06:00

Work on the Frederick Douglas Historic Site is progressing a little slower than I had hoped. There were funds issues and redo issues, but, as of yesterday, I have submitted the 3 promised design sketches to Elizabeth. From there, she and her colleagues will make some decisions and then I'll really have to get down to work. Here's what I sent out.

They are picking what layout they want for a walking tour map and what layout they want for a "historic" map. The History Map will take the property back to how it was when Frederick Douglass was alive. There will be a croquet court and a grape arbor and fields of corn and beans. There will also be a barn. There will not be a visitors center. That visitors center is hell to draw in perspective. It's built into the hill behind it and contains some funky angles. I really had to wrack my brain regarding trees. There are trees in the way of everything on the site. I also had to resort to plain making up a lot of the roofing. It's not like I could afford a helicopter or crane to take a photoshoot at the site. Thank goodness for satellite veiw on Google maps.

Coming soon: New products for sale at the craft shows!

The DIY Trunk Show

Insert Tab A into Slot B

2006-10-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

I've had this post written since the 17th and then I kept forgetting to upload the files and blahblahblahbusycakes.

I’ve managed to tick off a number of projects on that weekend’s “To-Do” list. Right at the top was building the furniture that we had gotten last week at IKEA. Dillon and I have joined the IKEA SuperAdvanced League where you get to put together your furniture without the benefit of instructions. When we were driving back with our table on the top of the car, we had to pull over at one point because we’d heard something. It turned out that that something was a portion of the box ripping away due to the wind resistance. Apparently, the directions went the way of the missing section of the box. We get a B+ on the table because we accidentally over-screwed some of the top and put some holes in it, which will be easily fixed by wood putty. Dillon also managed to screw the head right off of a screw.

My favorite new thing is the bench/shoe cubby for our landing. It’ll be nice in the winter to keep us from tracking in snow and dirt. We should use it now, but I haven’t gotten up the energy. Plus, walking either barefoot or in my house shoes aka flip-flops aggravates my plantar fasciitis. Jenny confirmed for me that my foot pain is definitely plantar fasciitis because she suffers from the same thing and she has health insurance, which lets her go to a podiatrist. I want a coat rack and umbrella stand to go with it. If only I could get rid of the HIDEOUS PLANT! Don’t blame me; it was there when we moved in.

I did the normal weekend tasks like clean the house, laundry, and grocery shopping. I also fixed my tub drain. Hurray for not showering while ankle deep in water! I finished up the packaging for a new product and got most of the way through a Frederick Douglass sketch on the new table. I’m also working on my stockpile for the trunk show. I did almost everything I wanted to do and that’s a good feeling.

The circle of projects

2006-10-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

From the files of “Things I’ve Been Up To But Haven’t Taken Pictures Of”, come the book made of envelopes and the notebook of vintage paper. I made the envelope book after seeing a similar item for sale at Renegade. That one was held together by taped tabs that you could see on the outsides of the envelope. I thought it was a really great idea, but the execution was very poor. I immediately came home and made a better one. It’s saddle stitched in the binding and I added spacers to compensate for the future expansion of the envelopes. When making it, I discovered I didn’t have any thread; so I used dental floss that I dyed brown on the ends that showed. Kathy gave me a lot of book cloth when she moved so that went into the binding and the paper covering is from some tissue paper I saved from a present I got almost two years ago. I think the only material I actually had to purchase for the book was the ribbon, the needle, and the glue. Everything else is stuff I’ve collected and saved from rubbish bins. I enjoy making beautiful things out of what other people would consider trash.

The notebook I made because I got caught up in the fever of book making. I had purchase a postcard booklet at an antique store in Walterboro and there were a lot of extra papers in the booklet. I wanted to use them for something because they were so wonderfully colored with age; some even had ghosted images of the postcards on them. I decided to cut in some other vintage papers and make a sort of hodgepodge paper notebook. You can see the different papers in the photo. I’m going to take them to the DIY Trunk show and see how they sell. Maybe I’ll eventually sell them on the site depending on how they do.

The DIY Trunk Show

Lord, what fools these mortals be

2006-10-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I was in Washington D.C. mostly for a new illustration job that I'm doing for the Frederick Douglass Historic Site, but as a treat, I also got to see my friend Liz, who also contacted me about the FDHS project in the first place. Since she had already made plans for Saturday, we ended up doing all of the work on Sunday. All-in-all, it was a great way to plan out the weekend.

I flew in Friday and we had a nice Italian dinner over which we discussed our game plan. I got in rather late and we had a lot ahead of us on Saturday; so we went to bed early. Early for Liz at any rate. I'm a "bath and bed by 11" girl. Saturday morning we found our way through the Metro and some light showers to the Folger Shakespeare Library, the largest collection of Shakespeare materials in the world. We decided to visit the Folger because of the current exhibit, Technologies of Writing in the Age of Print.

The exhibit focused on the symbiotic relationship between print and manuscript and how they influenced each other. I was fascinated to learn that books were printed with wider margins to facilitate the taking of notes. Early modern Europe seemed rather obsessed with practicing their writing on any free space or scrap they could find, which probably has to do with the expense of paper. A lot of early print technology incorporated handwritten elements such as page numbers and illustrated capitals. There were some lovely examples of the development of different styles of handwriting [the first "fonts" !!] used by 15th C clerks and so forth. I also remember seeing a line of text reading "This is writ with neither pen nor ink" squished inbetween some inked lines on a page. It was an early sample of graphite writing. Included in the exhibit were technologies like erasable writing and shorthand as well as cipher and invisible ink. As you can tell, I thought it was a spectacular exhibit. If you're in the D.C. area, and you're into old paper and print, definitely check it out.

After that we walked over to one of the places that I've wanted to go to for a long time: The National Postal Museum! We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but that just means that I have to go back. I had a great deal of fun printing out postcards from the postcard machine and mailing them off to the people whose addresses I could remember. There were zillions of stamps. More stamps than I think even I could look at. Although I did buy a bag of 500 "Worldwide Stamps" at the gift shop. I even got to use my Smithsonian membership discount. I can't believe I had the card in my wallet. I was so excited about the stamps that when Liz and I got home, I immediately opened them and sorted through them all. I made sure to neatly put them back in the bag before packing it up. Even still, this is what my suitcase was like while I was unpacking it.

Liz and I ended our free, fun day with renting a car and heading out to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Liz had planned this before I told her I was coming out because last weekend, and last weekend only, the Mediaeval Baebes were performing. I like them a lot as well and it was really great to see them live. They played my two favorite songs and a new favorite song, "Dringo Bell." We had a grand time and I got to eat Macaroni and Cheese on a Stick which is always a treat. This renfest is also memorable for giving me my new favorite "dirty" song lyrics:
There once was a lad I was tamin'
And I asked him why we were gamin'
He asked me "Have you your madienhead?"
I laughed "Don't be silly" I said
"But I still have the box that it came in."

Sunday consisted of the Frederick Douglass Historic Site all day. I got to experience probably the most dangerous part of a city I've ever been in my entire life. There was even an attempted theft of the site projection equipment and laptop while we were there! This is a week after an armed robbery in the parking lot. Still, it's a beautiful site and now I can't use posting this journal entry anymore as an excuse to procrastinate on my starting sketching some map tonight.

Things and Stuff

2006-09-27T10:32:00.000-05:00

At a little less than a month to go until my birthday, I am already buying myself presents. I took an order up to GREER on North Wells in Chicago this weekend, and I made the mistake of looking around. It is a very lovely store. You can tell the owner really loves her products and what she does. I really loved how she used old library card catalogs [think the Dewey decimal system] to store and display ribbon. It was also nice to see not only 16 Sparrows products on display in a retail setting, but also my own handmade envelopes were on sale.

There were a zillion things I wanted, but I restrained myself to a couple of envelopes pre-stamped with vintage postage the equivalent of a first class letter. This means that there are at least 4 stamps per envelope, all artfully arranged. I can’t wait to use them. I’m a sucker for all things postal. Recently, friend told me that he described me to someone as a “postal pervert.”

I’ve also pre-ordered myself a signed, numbered, hard-back, slipcover edition of The Ladies of Grace, Adieu, a new story collection by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess. It cost far too much than I should have paid, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have such a lovely collectable. There are some drawings up from the book here, on Charles Vess’ blog, and they certainly do not disappoint. Since it’s on pre-order and shipping from England, I do not expect I will see it any time soon. In fact, I pessimistically fear it will be lost forever in the mail.

[As an aside, I severely dislike the word “blog,” I much prefer “journal” which is why I always refer to this as a journal and not a blog.]

October Woe

2006-09-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

It is almost the end of September, and I’ve no idea what I’m dressing up as for Halloween. This distresses me, but I haven’t really had the time to contemplate a costume. It’s disappointing that Gary is so far away in CO and I can’t get him to paint me up anymore. I don’t think I’ll ever do any better than my Chiana costume 2 or 3 years ago.

Gary is a big influence on me for my Halloween/Party costumes. He is always in such fervor for Halloween; it’s infectious. Under his watchful eye, I’ve been an Imp of Missing Things, a Throat-Slit Bride, Chiana from FarScape, a Victim, and She-Ra, Princess of Power. My attempt last year at Violet from Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events was less than adequate. The costumes are always super low budget. I use a lot of hot glue, cardboard, thrift store clothing, and, in one instance, a mop. It’s great fun to see how accurate you can be using limited materials.

Gary has had some really awesome costumes too, including Pyramid Head and The Monarch. I really miss working on our costumes together in our basement studio. He hosts a “Helloween” party each year and really decks his place out. I regret I won’t be able to go this year.

Going to Graceland

2006-09-20T08:32:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural, and by a certain amount of nostalgia for my ghosthunting days, I took my day off to visit Graceland Cemetery in north Chicago. This cemetery is often described as one of the most beautiful in Chicago for good reason. Unfortunately, I don’t own a camera*; so the pictures are some that I found on the web. Graceland is a big place. It’s big enough that I saw a fox while I was there, [I’m always happy to see wildlife in the middle of the city], and I got a little lost when trying to find the exit.
*I have one, but I don’t know where. I know I need a digital camera.

The biggest surprises I had, besides the fox, were the grave of Louis Sullivan and a mausoleum shaped like a pyramid with a sphinx out front. Graceland had a lot of mausoleums, something I’m not very familiar with in cemeteries. I took some time to sketch this one because I liked how it was appearing to grow out of the hill behind it. My map carrying case worked really well as a portable sketching station. This was the first time I’d had a chance to use it. Also new to me were head stones that were cylindrical in form, like tubing or firewood. A great degree of bronze is used in conjunction with the stonework as well, creating lovely green verdigris over time.

I chose to go to Graceland out of all the Chicago cemeteries for three reasons. 1. It was easy to get to on the bus. 2. It had its hours posted on the web. 3. It had a “glass box girl.” When little Inez Clarke was hit by lightning on a family picnic**, her parents were so distraught that they commissioned a life-size portrait statue of the six-year-old to stand guard over her grave. The statue has since been encased in plexiglass to preserve it from the environment, hence the term “glass box girl.” It’s a really sweet little statue, with lace carved into the edges of her pinafore and a child-size parasol resting next to her demurely crossed ankles. She wears ankle boots and has a hat slung across her back, held to her by a stone ribbon that flows along her shoulders. You can see her picture in the middle.

When I first read the phrase, “glass box girl,” I was really hoping it was glass coffin style, but no such luck. Still, I think that Graceland was something to see and I plan to go back and do some more sketching. It was so peaceful and quiet. It was a far cry from an abandoned place, but it had the same sort of reverential feel to it that an empty church has.

Speaking of abandoned places, I found this website a couple of days ago all about photography in abandoned places. When I mentioned it to Dillon, he said that he'd already found that site long ago and that, "Pictures of abandoned places are my pornography." Ah, the things you hear when dating the artisticly minded.

Owl of Wisdom

2006-09-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

I've just been up at Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park on this Indian Summer September day. Renegade is a good show and I wish I'd chosen to participate this year, but at sign up time, I wasn't yet involved with 16 Sparrows as heavily and it was too much of a financial burden to cover on my own. Now, as part of 16 Sparrows, I have a tent and everything; so I do plan to attend next year. Hopefully, they'll accept me. I am going to participate in the DIY Trunk Show in November though.

I did make a small purchase of a pack of assorted vintage postcards. It was one of the only items I could justify buying as I cannot make them myself... well, not "actual" vintage ones anyway. One of the items I saw for sale that I plan to recreate was a hardback book of empty envelopes. It'll be a nice way to stash little paper items like ticket stubs and cool postage stamps for posterity. I haven't made a book in a while, but I think the skill is much like riding a bike. [Famous last words perhaps?]

I need to introduce myself to my new downstairs neighbour. She gets nifty magazines in the mail like Domino and Everyday FOOD and I told Dillon jokingly, based on that and the loads of catalogues she recieves, that she's probably a lot like Kathy. He thought that my assumtion was too much of a reach but Dillon ran into her this morning and he tells me that apparently, she is into crafting as she was headed out to participate in Renegade and has much of her same design aesthetic. I can see things before they happen.

Fun with trash

2006-09-15T09:44:00.000-05:00

Huh-ray! The internet gods have smiled upon me and there is now internet access at my apartment. I’m still writing my updates at work because I’m an incredible multi-tasker. It’s been an adjustment, but I really do enjoy my new place.

When we moved in, I had only seen the place once and didn’t really recall much about it. I was tickled to discover that we have crystal doorknobs. The house that I grew up in had similar doorknobs; so not only are they vintage looking, they are also real memory igniter for me about my family’s small white house with shutters that were painted blue, but never worked. One of the doorknobs in the bedroom is missing which I would love to replace with a colored glass doorknob, preferably a red one. Unfortunately, according to an article at This Old House, those are among the most expensive to purchase vintage.

In addition to the doorknobs, most of the doors are also fitted to lock with a skeleton key. We have three keys. Dillon and I don’t have much of a reason to lock the doors, but they are great fun to have around, protruding from keyholes. My childhood home also had a key like those; only I think I lost the only copy in the back garden somewhere. It wasn’t a huge loss as it only went with the hall closet and it wasn’t as if we were keeping the good linen out of the reach of the servants or anything.

So in my new place, I do have space for an office/studio, which is a blessing. Of course, the space isn’t huge so I’ve been rather creative in my approach to organizing my load of stock and whatnot. What used to be plain cardboard boxes are now faux wooden boxes all with the use of some free balsa wood provided by Kathy when she moved and some scotch tape.

All the materials I used are free and/or recycled excepting the tape. The boxes reused from the boxes that either our 16 Sparrows envelopes come in or the boxes that the letterhead envelopes come in at my other job. The tags I made from a sample of Post-it notes that I received for free as part of a Back-to-School package at Staples. They remind me of the wide lined writing paper from first grade.

Construction was really easy. These strips of balsa were thin enough for me to cut with my hobby knife. They were even thin enough for me to round the corners with a scrap booking corner rounder [note exactly the best cutting tool in the world], giving a really nice finished look. Both the tags and the balsa wood pieces are repositionable and easily replaceable in case the content of a box changes.

My other project on the house was lining the drawers of the china cabinet/pantry in the kitchen. I used my rusty math skills and cut out some [mostly] well-fitted pieces from some brown craft paper I keep around. I’m considering rubber stamping them with a nice pattern, but that's a little too time consuming for me at the moment. Maybe I'll do it on a rainy day.

Lastly, I've finally gotten around to lining envelopes with maps for my presentation portfolio. I definitely like how it makes it more than just a grey envelope, but I'm not sure the execution if professional enough. I need to set up a spray booth [AKA a ripped open cardboard box on the porch] for a smoother glue job.

The Golden Ones

2006-08-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

My mind is all wrapped up in moving at the moment, but I did take the time last weekend to go to the Newberry Library Book Fair. Some of what I purchased is "work" oriented—a book to disassemble for postcards, and a directory of art markets, but I also completed my collection of large format picture books about mythical creatures and discovered a book I loved in my childhood titled The Ghost Next Door. Upon rereading it, I noticed just how lovely the illustrations in it are; so I've done some research on the illustrator, Trina Schart Hyman.

She was born in Philadelphia in 1939 and studied at Philadelphia College of Art, the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and the School for Applied Art in Stockholm, Sweden. I read a lot about her personal struggles, being a divorced, single mom and an illustrator are two of the hardest jobs in the world and she did both. She won a Caldecott medal and three Caldecott honors for her work. She also worked as the art director for Cricket magazine, a children's' literature magazine that I read voraciously when I was young. Her name probably isn't one you immediately recognize, but I can almost guarantee that if you review the list of books you loved from childhood, at least one will have been illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

I was really intrigued to find out her working style. She didn't do thumbnails; she worked actual size on illustration board in pencil until her drawing was perfected, and then she would ink the drawing with a brush. My favorite works of hers are done with this technique, but she also did color works using acrylic paints thinned down into watercolor-like glazes and oil paintings. Her personal favorite artists are the great book illustrators of the early 1900s: Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Howard Pyle, and the Pre-Raphaelites.

I would have loved to have gotten really ambitious with this posting and actually interviewed Ms. Hyman, but she unfortunately has passed away. I am grateful for an interview I read by Denise Ortkales which filled in a lot of my blanks and really represented Trina Schart Hyman very well. It was almost as good as talking to her myself. Once I've moved in to my new place, I'd like to start a monthly artist spotlight here if only for my edification.

A little about The Lot

2006-07-21T09:17:00.000-05:00

Come one, come all to the fabulous off-street craft fair, The Lot. Just like the name suggests, the fair is in a lot on North Avenue, just off of the O’Hare Damen stop on the Blue Line. Vendors change every two weeks and the fair runs every weekend through the end of October. There are all kinds of wares for sale and the vendor rotation ensures that there will always be something new and inventive to browse through. The market runs from 11-6 Saturday and Sunday. This weekend, myself and Kathy from 16 Sparrows will be out stationery mongering. We’d love to chat with you and get feedback about our products. Hope to see you there!

Why are you wearing that flag like a cape?

2006-07-18T11:40:00.000-05:00

I spent most of last week at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina. It was a grand old time especially because I got to see my oldest friends there—Liz, Karen and Mary. We all exchanged little gifts for one another. My girls got journals that I made covered with some cut-up “Confidential” folders from 16 Sparrows and I also passed out some note cards that I’d designed as the freebie gift for The Lot. [More on this below.] In return, I got some really neat handmade, recycled papers from Ecuador from Karen and a collector’s stamp commemorating Nat’l Letter Writing Week from the Postal Museum from Liz.

But it can’t all be fun and games and this weekend, Kathy and I will be working at The Lot. The Lot is an edgy craft fair that we’ll be selling our wares at both this weekend and the weekend after next. Free with every purchase is what you see below. I hope to see you there!

Interstellar Bug No.1

2006-06-30T20:59:00.000-05:00

Interstellar Bug came about because my mundane job requires me to spend a lot of time, sometimes hours, on hold with insurance companies. I had a notepad, a red ballpoint pen and oodles of doodling time. My favorite panels are the ones where you can see the sun reflected in Bug’s eyes and the one where he gazes at his newly irradiated buggy apendages.

Bouncy bouncy

2006-06-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

This weekend’s work was mostly preparation for the fair I’m doing with Kathy either the first 2 weekends in July or the last 2 weekends in July. When I have more info, I’ll let everyone know. I made a bunch of Original Journals and a lot of envelopes—this weekend will be devoted to making Deluxe Journals and packaging up Map Scrap freebies. I have so much fun just making things. I don’t think it’ll ever be my sole source of income, but I enjoy it.

What I do hope will become an income source is my illustration. I also worked on the Frederick Douglass project this weekend. I’ve done two sketches of the main house. They are more detailed than I think the finals will be, but this is more of a “Yes, I can draw” offering. Kathy found this great book on eBay called Le Grand Theatre Sacre du Duche de Brabant, Premiere vol. 1, by Antonius Sander in 1729. It is my inspiration for what I want the final image for the historical map to be like.

Kathy was a busy bee this weekend to and transformed the bird image I made for her tote bags into a free mailing label that can be downloaded from my website.

The Unceasing Voice

2006-06-11T20:11:00.000-05:00

I got no work done last weekend, but I did get a healthy amount of inspiration while on my trip down south. Among my weaknesses for old things is a weakness for vintage paper goods. I looked in antique store after antique store for photos or letters or illustrated books. Every photo I found was way too pricey and there were no letters to be had, but I did find a booklet of sepia toned postcards from Milan. The postcards are really fascinating because instead of being one-sided postcards, each one was designed to be booklet with a blank page inside which I suppose would have been taped shut and mailed.

I also found a postage stamp collecting atlas from 1934. It doesn’t have any stamps in it, but it is divided into country sections with extremely dated and politically incorrect information about the country and illustrations of the stamps of that country. Some of them are extraordinarily beautiful. When I was younger, I was an avid philatelist because stamps are just so wonderful. They are miniature works of art.

On the plane ride, I amused myself by reading Decoding the Universe and You Are Here. You Are Here is a great collection of maps, real and imaginary which has helped immensely with my brainstorming about the FDHS map. Also, Kathy asked for an estimate for a map and some icons for a wedding invite she’s designing; so it got the mind working on that too. Decoding the Universe is a concise treaty on quantum physics and information theory and etcetera. When I picked it up at the bookstore, the salesman made a crack about “light reading.” Whatever. I just really enjoy science. I’m mentioning it here though, because, to protect it on the journey I removed its cover and replaced it with one of brown paper. It has inspired me to make a line of snarky book covers. Purchasers would put in the dimensions of their book in the comment field, with some size restrictions, and I’d also have standard sizes available. I’m really excited about it, but I’m a little worried about the printing logistics. I’ll figure it out though.

Thinks it has got something to do with books

2006-05-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

This is Sebastian. This is Sebastian's version of helping...

The sketch for the tote bags for the Market Days project was completed last weekend. It didn't go through too many evolutions. It was inspired by the birds they used for transportation on that old cartoon [and book series] The Littles. The hardest part was getting the bag right. Eventually, a wicker basket popped in to the choices and that's what Kathy liked the best. We'll see how they come out silk-screened. I hope that they weaving lines in the basket aren't a problem.

Friday was a research and developement day which basically means I went to the art store and the paper store and had a grand time spending money. I picked out an excellent paper for my new deluxe line of journals. I also found some really nifty miniature file folders. Saturday was a goof around day because, hey, it was a three day weekend. Sunday though, I worked all day on the deluxe journal. I perfected the elastic band closure and I also augmented the mini-folder I just picked up into an expanding file which is glued into the back of the journal. Pictures should be available soon.

There's new packaging in the works for my envelopes. My roommate Kathy, the beauty and the brains behind 16 Sparrows, has been using Clear Bags for her products since last summer. It's astounding how professional something looks when it's incased in mylar. I'm also really tired of typing out all the websites and copyrights on slips of paper to wrap everything around in.

Making Maps for the GOV

2006-05-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

I made the mistake of putting the words "Russian vintage" into a search on eBay. It has opened up a whole world of new things to covet, but I've been fairly good at not spending my money. However, I saw this bag and knew I had to have it. It's a Russian officer's map carrying case [or a document carrying case; I've seen different descriptions] and I plan to use it as a traveling art kit for all that outdoor and life drawing that I want to be doing with the weather improves. I also plan to take it with me to the Art Institute and do a bit of sketch studying, but I'll have to check on the regulations.

My friend and frequent commisioner, perhaps I should say "patron", Elizabeth, called me this evening about some possible work designing and illustrating a map for the National Historic Site that she works at. I told her I'd have her a proposal by Monday. Still busy working on the site and contemplating an additional freebie item called Map Scraps [et.al.]- a package of bits of map that I haven't any use for but maybe someone might. I wouldn't charge for them; they'd be promotional pieces. If you would like a free Map Scrap Pack let me know!

Ultra Mega Chicken

2006-05-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

I'm still busy tweaking the website into a more cohesive creature. The navigation links are soon to be fitted in a compass form befitting the map theme. I also have plans to have scanned envelopes becoming separation boxes, bringing in that postal element I think I lost with the redesign. I spent my Sunday morning on that part of my projects.

My afternoon consisted of watching Kathy demolish an old bar chair [see the lovely picture above] and finally getting outside. Instead of setting up a spraying area inside the apartment and inhaling spray glue fumes as usually, I enjoyed some fresh air while making some journals. I've also been busy redesigning the back of my postcard mailers. I've got 4 different designs that I'm playing with, but I'm probably going to go with one that also shows some other illustrations on the back.

After dinner I'm going to start playing with my idea for an even larger, deluxe version of the journals that I make. I've been really jealous of the Moleskine elastic band because sometimes the journals have a warping problem. I know how they do it, now I've just got to figure out how I want to do it.

Spring Cleaning

2006-05-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

It's a new season, and it's a time for a change. Time to dust of the cobwebs and get back to work. This is just one of the many new things that I've started with the help and know-how of my marvelous roommate Kathy. My website is updated and I now have a shop all of my own. This is where I'll be posting my inspirations and current projects. Thanks for checking in!