icky tandoori buns

costuming and portraiture

2010-12-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

here is some costuming work that i did recently:

for more work, see my costuming set.

and a portraiture series:

i was interested in documenting people who sew or alter their own clothes. i photographed them wearing something they had sewn in the setting that they sew in. for more portraiture work (not part of the series), click here.

'die feen' fairy costumes

2010-06-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

i have been working as an assistant costume designer for an opera production of wagner's die feen (the fairies). the lead costumer hand-dyed a bunch of dresses, and i designed and sewed overlays for them. pictured below are the dresses in progress, and then the results on opening night:

i also helped to make the flower wreaths for their hair. for more pics of the production, see my flickr set.

tad 2010 highlights

2010-02-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

here are my tad highlights from this year in the form of a collage, as well as a photo triptypch with 3 of my favorite photos from the month:

i concentrated mainly on felt plushes and sculpey figurines, along with some photography and other sewing projects. i didn't make as many clothing/clothing reconstructions as i normally do, nor did i do any knitting, crochet, or drawing, but it's ok---hopefully, i'll have a chance to do some of those things in the coming year. for more details/photos, see my tad, blog or flickr.

Le Sorbier sous la neige

2010-02-18T07:43:00.001-08:00

Le Sorbier
Originally uploaded by whitecoquelicot

Les Sorbiers, also known as the rowan trees in English, were abundantly decorating our alpine neighborhood with their unusually bright red berries this season. Here, I tried to paint the tree covered with a veil of snow, from a low vantage point. I find the snow a difficult subject in general, and it turned out to be tricky to convey its form especially against the pale background. It definitely needs more experimenting with the palette.

Geneva, CH
February 2010

Cloth Simulation

2010-01-02T05:08:00.000-08:00

Since I have no knack for sewing or knitting, I decided to give something similar a try on my computer screen:) As a quick and fun programming exercise, I wrote this simple cloth simulator based on the mass-spring model. The cloth is a simple grid of 13x13 nodes, each node connected to its neighbors by three different types of springs (structural, shear, and flexion). The cloth is initially suspended in air, and each end gets detached by a programmed keystroke. The node position is determined by the influence of the internal spring forces, the gravity and the wind. And lastly, the simulation is based on the leap-frog numerical integration method, slightly a higher order of accuracy than the Euler.
There're many features that could be added to improve the system, like adding a few more user-interaction GUI controls for the spring constants and the integration timestep size, as well as improving the lighting and rendering aspects, not to mention prettying up the scene a bit:)
Over all, it was a fun and rewarding exercise which kept me occupied for a few days.

button down shirt to mini dress

2009-11-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

i took one of j's large, oversized shirts and made it into a mini dress. now that i look at it in the photos, it looks more like i'm wearing a large shirt than a dress. oh well. anyway, to make it, i cut a lot out of the body of the shirt on either side and reattached the sleeves, making them into puff sleeves (gathered before i resewed them on). the final product looks really simple, but i did try variations that i didn't like (elastic at the waist---made it look puffy and unflattering; a back panel to run a belt through along the back---didn't gather smoothly enough) to try to get it more fitted looking (but not too fitted). in the end, i just took in the sides even more and added 2 darts in the back. i plan to wear it with leggings and boots (as pictured) or over jeans, and i like it b/c it's cozy and comfy. i'm always on the lookout for mini dresses, long tops/tunics that i can wear over yoga clothes or just to wear out.

small blue quilt

2009-11-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

I finally finished one of many partially completed sewing projects. It is a small quilted wall-hanging made using the method shown in this great tutorial. It was easy and quick to make the small strip log-cabin-style blocks with this method. The challenge was trying to get them to fit together in rows that were aesthetically pleasing, and then the rather laborious job of quilting each block. This was a fun way to use up a few colorful scraps, and I tried to challenge myself by using only scraps and not cutting into any large pieces. If I make another one of these quilts, I'd like to try a simpler, more freeform type of quilting (all-over wavy lines or stipple quilting) instead of the straight line quilting that I used. By the way, the size of the finished mini-quilt is about 15 x 20 inches.

Spoonflower fabric designs

2009-08-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a website called Spoonflower.com, which enables people to upload and print their own fabric designs. Instead of working on my numerous sewing projects, I've been obsessively experimenting with fabric ideas in Photoshop, trying to figure out how to make things tile. I ordered a few of my designs on small test swatches on the Free Swatch Day last week, and am looking forward to seeing the fabric.

Here is one design based on a drawing I made of ginkgo leaves:

For Timo

2009-08-16T08:38:00.001-07:00

For Timo
Originally uploaded by adelie

Bastien and I worked on this together during our stay in Japan. However, I must say that he did most of the work, especially all the conceptual sketch and the details in the landscape. I only dabbed at the sky and the borders. We are happy with the way it turned out and gladly share it with you.

August 2009

Dragonfly Diaper Changing Pad

2009-08-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

I have been wanted to try sewing baby stuff as gifts and decided that a changing pad would be a simple easy first project. The changing pad is a layer of patterned cotton (to make it pretty), PUL (for waterproofing), and minky (something soft for the baby to lay on). There is a strap to keep the pad folded in the bag.

Japanese doll

2009-07-16T23:54:00.001-07:00

Japanese doll
Originally uploaded by adelie

Konichiwa, minnasan!

Here's a bit of dabbing to commemorate my summer in Japan. It turns out that with all the traveling and Japanese studying I've been doing, I haven't had much chance for more.

We saw this doll in a glass display case of a hotel lobby while waiting for our bus in Sakunami mountain village where we enjoyed some great Japanese outdoor onsen. There was the picturesque setting of a quiet brook spotted with playful fishes, flowing next to the bath which was well kept hidden by a crowd of tall pine trees. The doll was about the size of Barbie, carrying a blue cocktail umbrella, and dressed in a lovely silk kimono.

We don't have access to a proper scanner here, so I don't think the color is true to the painting 100%, but you get the idea.

Joanna

photowhispers: 12.08-05.09

2009-05-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

here are the results of the photowhisper chain that we did. each person had a week to complete a photo and pass theirs along to the next person. due to unforeseen circumstances, the project took much longer than we anticipated, but better late than never, right? mouse over each photo for photographer and caption.

figure drawing class, week 3

2009-03-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

some drawings from this week's class (full set):

3 min pose

3 min warmup

3 min poses

15 min pose

we did a series of 1 min drawings where we observed the figure for 3 seconds and then drew from memory for 57 seconds (not pictured above, but included in the full set). that was a challenging but interesting exercise.

we also had our longest pose so far for 15 minutes. i feel like the longer i draw, the worse my drawing gets. but that was good for me to try too, the idea is that you spend more time on tone---trying to model the figure with light and shadow.

figure drawing classes

2009-03-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

i started to take a figure drawing class and have been going for a couple of weeks now. here are some drawings:

week 1: 1-min gesture drawings

week 2: 5-min pose

for more details, please click on the drawings/links for my blog posts for weeks 1 and 2.

lavender & cherry

2009-03-23T08:36:00.001-07:00

lavender & cherry
Originally uploaded by adelie

The spring is finally here in the south of France! We have cherry, peach, and apricot blossoms everywhere now. It's a bit early for the lavender, but soon they say. I celebrated the arrival of spring with a few dabs of painting.

Joanna

self-caricature (again)

2009-03-09T16:13:00.001-07:00

i tried another version of a self-caricature based on this photo, taken by jrmyst.

i like the pencil version better than the color one---something seems kind of unnatural around the mouth/lip area for some reason---maybe it is overly-pronounced? anyway, i feel like it resembles me less than the pencil version. in the pencil one, i scanned in the original drawing and made a few tweaks/adjustments in photoshop, including adding eye/hair color and playing with proportions/angles a bit.

cross-posted on my blog.

tad 2009 highlights

2009-02-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

tad 2009 is over now, here are some of my highlights:

self/rose
drawings
felt

yarn
photos

for more images/details, please see my tad posts, my blog, or my flickr. i hope to keep making things and will try to post to itb semi-regularly too...

thing a day 2009

2009-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

i don't have anything creative to post but wanted to mention that registration for thing a day 2009 is now open. i'm planning to do it again this year and hope that others will join. yay! you have until the 31st to register... do it do it do it!

crochet hook case

2009-01-04T17:14:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to make a roll for my knitting needles for some time. So I dug through fabric scraps and pulled out a piece of grass green twill with embroidered flowers I got from a co-worker's de-stashing. It wasn't big enough for knitting needles but just right for crochet hooks. I was surprised how hard it was figuring how to put everything together in the right order. A lot of the design was driven by the fabric choice. I used basically all of the green twill. I had plenty of the lining fabric, so instead of sewing the two pieces together (and therefore losing some of the twill to the seam allowance), I used the lining fabric to create a border. My thread also didn't match that great, and I liked the solid green on the outside, so I had to figure out how to construct it so that the dividers between compartments were sewn only into the lining. The little tab is actually not very functional. I need to get some elastic or ribbon to tie it together... but it was a little leftover piece of the twill that happened to have a flower on it and I didn't want it to go to waste. I thought I might put a snap under it but then I'd always have to roll it up the same way which is sort of silly. There are some seams that could've been done better but overall I'm pleased with the result of my first non-flat, non-hemming sewing project :).

original hem

2009-01-03T23:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this isn't very creative or anything but it was a revelation for me so I thought I'd share... I scored some jeans on sale but as usual the short lengths are too short and the regular lengths are too long so my only option is to ignore lengths and count on hemming. The first pair I did like a regular hem - snip it off and fold under twice and sew. It worked okay since the jeans didn't have a lot of built-in wear - the wash was a fairly even dark blue. The other two pairs had pre-worn hems, so I looked up original hems on google and followed these instructions. It actually seemed to work, and was shockingly a lot less hassle than regular hems. You don't notice too much from farther than 2 feet away, and since they're at my ankles I'm assuming most people won't notice. I just hope they don't hang weird or flip up...

sculpture for a show

2009-01-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

This was the last sculpture I worked on in 2008. I put this one in the employee art show at our holiday party, so it's more "finished" than most of my sculptures. I think I overworked parts of it more than necessary, which often happens when I try to "finish" a sculpture.

amigumuri octopus

2009-01-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

I made this little dude for a friend's birthday last month. I found the pattern online... it's a great beginner crochet pattern.

christmas cthulhu

2008-12-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

christmas cthulhu
Originally uploaded by cignoh

i knit a cthulhu doll for j for christmas this year. it's from creepy cute crochet, which lanaconqueso showed me, and i ended up buying, despite the fact that i'm trying not to buy anymore craft books until i make at least one thing from each of the books that i own. i'm not that good at crocheting, so he is a little misshapen in parts, and his wings aren't really wing-shaped, but that's ok, it makes him one of a kind, i guess.

to photograph him, i experimented with a makeshift light tent with some success, but i'd like to work with it more. i was getting double shadows on the ground, plus, i couldn't get good shaping, which i guess is part of what happens if your subject is evenly lit from all sides. also, the top of my setup is open and exposed, which i think isn't supposed to be.

also, i mentioned this in a comment on sukogirl's flower washcloth post, but am saying it again in case not everyone saw---amy noticed that we have hit our 100th post---yay! happy holidays to everyone, and may the new year bring more creating, posting, and happiness for all!

Orange flower washcloth

2008-12-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

Flower Cloth
Originally uploaded by sukogirl

I decided to knit a lot of my x-mas presents this year. Here is a flower washcloth from Weekend Knitting. I think it would be neat to learn how to make soap. Has anyone done this before?

First Baby Quilt

2008-12-19T10:17:00.001-08:00

first baby quilt Originally uploaded by sukogirl

yeah, I've finally tried quilting and found that I really enjoy it. I took a Quilting 101 class at the Creativ Festival in Toronto. This was a machine quilting class that showed us the basics of cutting out the pieces and sewing them up. I had to refer to online tutorials on finishing the quilt. I found that fabric (color/pattern) choice is very tricky. I really liked these two pieces of fabric, and I thought it would be okay together, but the completed piece is a little drab looking.

photo backlog

2008-12-01T09:02:00.001-08:00

it's been FOREVER since i posted, i'll try to be better about it. i don't really have anything crafty to document, but i had been trying to keep up with my photo.a.day project for the last 5 months. i hadn't been posting those either, but last night, i caught up from sept. 7. here are some samples:

july: photography workshop continued, shooting 'red' things

august: alligator clip and korean melon

september: art gallery patron and parking lot light

october: international rose garden in portland, OR

november: pomegranate seeds, toddler eating pomegranate seeds

i missed a few days here and there and am trying to come up with a way to make up the photos, does anyone have an ideas? i thought about trying to think of something significant that happened that day (although i may not remember)---either to myself or something that happened in the world, and trying to recreate or take a photo that is reminiscent of it. or maybe picking a theme like letters of the alphabet or numbers or colors (either a single color or different ones), etc.

knitting backlog

2008-11-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

I worked on several knitting projects this summer/fall that I finally photographed. zigzag & linked rib were some good stash-busting projects from the book "knitting new scarves" that I got for my birthday. brioche cable was just because I wanted a blue scarf :). And lastly, a co-worker of mine had a baby so I had to make a hat. They subsequently took photos of him posed next to a bunch of real pumpkins :).

Recyclebin Art

2008-11-15T03:03:00.001-08:00

recyclebin Originally uploaded by adelie

Hi Everyone!

My name is Joanna and this is my first post, after a long period of observation and procrastination. I love what you all have been posting, and I hope you will find this one interesting.

We bought these IKEA plastic bins to organize our obsessive recycling lifestyle here in Switzerland. Since all three were exactly the same and plain, we needed a way to distinguish one from the other, so I decided to give each bin a characteristic look. I could have just painted 'PAPER', 'BOTTLES & CANS', and 'PLASTIC BAGS', but in case we use the bins for other purposes in the future, I wanted to keep the theme generic. Hence the three different paintings.

Cherry blossoms

I painted the sky background and the branch, then glued on the flowers which are actually the Japanese textile cutouts. We use this one for storing all our plastic bags.

Poppies

This was a spontaneous inspiration from a trip to Provence. This one is for all types of paper.

Cats

This one is special because the painting shows all six cats that we had at one point in our house attic. One cold winter, the mother cat took a refuge in our attic, and soon after we discovered that she gave birth to five kittens! Now the mother and the three others (Pumpkin, Mustard, Dusty) have either passed away or gone missing in action. We currently have two friendly cats (Green eyes and Halloween), and an extra stray cat whom we call Totoro. This bin is used for all the bottles, cans, and aluminums.

my first quilt finished

2008-08-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

First, apologies for the long absense from itb!! I don't normally post so many pictures, but I'm proud of this one. I finished my first quilt yesterday. I learned heaps on this project. I learned about using a walking foot, how to make a quilt sandwich and that hand sewing bias takes ages but the result is worth it!

The quilt sandwich:

Details:

The overall result:

And the Winner Is...

2008-08-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to ITB's own Sukogirl! You are the winner of the long anticipated Toy Box Giveaway!

I am happy to send a finally finished Toy Box out into the world. This project really got the best of me over and over again. The objects I was working with do not match my general aesthetic and the greatest challenge was to incorporate all of the items in a way that looked like I had created this piece.

This morning I finished Toy Box by completing the back. The back of the box had so many reincarnations - but I am so happy with this final choice. As a former librarian, I love to catalog EVERYTHING. I started cataloging the items I include in my boxes, when I created my very first box Small Objects of Importance during Thing-A-Day 2.

As I noted in the accompanying post: I am fascinated with the act of cataloging items and with the look of specimens and exhibits. There is something interesting about objects being defined without emotion but being held as important enough to preserve them and sometimes to display them. I decided to include a list of factual titles for each one of the objects, but I added no more information. I leave it to the viewer to make their own story, or to research an item’s significance Well, sukogirl, I hope you or someone you know enjoys Toy Box - just email me with your mailing address and I will figure out how to package up this fragile item so it has a safe journey from the craftarium to you!

Progress Report

2008-07-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

After a couple hours of tedious work, the toy box finally looks like something I would make and be happy to send out into the world.

The words are selections cut from a copy of Alice in Wonderland. I knew I wanted to add text from a classic children's story along the edges of my toy box, and Alice's fantastic story seemed like a perfect choice for my box about toys and play.

I spiced up the dull base of the box with some of my favorite instructions from childhood, "cut along the dotted line." Unsurprisingly, I loved to cut stuff up as a kid. I also did some coloring in on the bingo card (I still doodle by coloring in words and numbers on anything). I added some stars glitter glue too. Toy box still needs cleaning and touch-ups and probably some more work on the outside. Don't forget to visit my blog and post a comment for the 101st post if you want to be entered in my toy box giveaway.

isak 2

2008-07-13T14:54:00.001-07:00

The same model as the last sculpture, but a different pose. I think his head's too big :P

scarves

2008-07-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've been on a scarf kick lately. It started with these two birthday scarves, one for my neighbor and one for Greg's grandfather. The cool thing about the second photo is the spinning wheel in the background. That belonged Greg's aunt's great-grandmother, who brought it over from Norway.

Turn Off the TV

2008-07-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I did not watch much television. I had my few programs, but I never had to be encouraged to "go play outside" or "turn off the tv." This is sort of amazing. As a thirty year old, I constantly have to be reminded to "go play outside" or "turn off the tv." I watch sooooo much television - not all crappy television, but lots of it is pure candy. (That is why I have made no appearances here on ITB.) So what better way to break the tv cycle then work on a tribute to some of my favorite childhood toys. I got the idea a few weeks ago, when I unearthed from my grandmother's beach house dresser, my jacks. I loved to play jacks, something you cannot play growing up in an apartment that is not on the first floor. I could play them at the beach house though. And play jacks, I did. But the idea, like drilling sea shells, and making books for wee-one, fell to the wayside as I handled summer plan logistics and watched Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Yesterday, I resolved to spend a good chunk of today working on my toy tribute, and I followed through. I am stepping away from it for the afternoon - it is still very much a work in progress. I have many more toys to fill the box AND unlike past cigar box projects, leaving any cigar box details seems wholly inappropriate, so I will be doing a lot of work to the outside of the box. That said, I thought that this project should find it's way in the world, so I am going to give it away. I just posted my 96th post on my blog, Lady Lulu's Braindump Hut and Craftarium. Comment on my 101st post and I will enter your name in a drawing and I will send this little box your way if I pull your name from my hat. I think this box will be charming for an adult or kid's room, don't you?

Needle holder

2008-07-07T12:54:00.001-07:00

Needle holder
Originally uploaded by sukogirl

With a little hand holding, I finally managed to get my sewing machine up and running. It wasn't as difficult and intimidating as it looked. After practicing on some dish rags, I decided that my first project would be to make a hanging needle holder to organize my knitting and crochet needles. I didn't follow any particular pattern, just winged it. I backed the top fabric with canvas to give it a little support. I even played around with some of the "fancy" stitches.

drip drop

2008-06-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

today i tried to photograph water drops. i googled and read a little about doing it and loosely followed some of the techniques. i shot outside in bright sunlight holding a water bottle over the water and shooting in continuous mode. i didn't use a tripod. the water bottle didn't offer enough control, a dropper, as one of the articles suggests, would be a lot better. i don't know if i set my focus point carefully enough, so some of my drops were out of focus. i must have taken between 50-100 photos, of which only a few were useable/actually captured drops.

http://www.photosig.com/articles/1489/article
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-photography-water-drops/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2440342279/

i would try it again maybe using colored lights, a tripod, or other things etc. for a different and possibly more precise effect.

here are more of my results.

word to the wordle

2008-06-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

One blog that I've been reading a lot of recently is LifeHacker Australia. Here, I find lots of tips and tricks about the latest technology and ways to make life just a little easier. The topics are widespread - one minute you are learning how to tweak Firefox, the next your creating a bedside pocket to hold your stuff. It's all good. Today LifeHacker directed me to Wordle, an interactive text parser and generator that creates an image based on your text. The fun part is tweaking its font, colour and layout. I tried it with two text samples. the first was my resume. The second was the text and vows from my wedding ceremony.I had heaps of fun with and wanted to pass it along for my fellow bloggers to try.

photography workshop, crafty things, and more

2008-06-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

haven't posted in a while, this is what i've been up to:

photography workshop

grafitti/piggie

crafty

from top to bottom, left to right:

i started taking a photography workshop at lunch once a week. last week (first week) we explored f-stops, and this week, we're working on shutter speed.

shutter speed: i captured the fountain image using a fast shutter speed---i'll try to put up an example of the same fountain using a slow shutter speed so that the water looks soft and filmy.
f-stops: for dof, i shot a series of varying f-stops. then i photographed a mcdonald's happy meal kung fu panda toy with bokeh. i'm collecting all of them and want to do portraits of each. here are the ones i have so far (along with other pics related to kung fu pandas and/or just to pandas).

next are miscellaneous photos i took as part of my photo a day project.

la river graffiti: the first is part of a group that i took along the la river during lunch one day. more can be found here. i had a 50 mm lens which wasn't ideal, it was hard to convey a sense of the space and capture enough of the scene, i might try to go back sometime and shoot with a wider lens.
microwave piggie: the second is a microwave splatter screen that robinde gave me. i liked that the entire image is white.

finally, here are a couple of crafty projects.

constantine tshirt recon: one is an older tshirt reconstruction that i did, and the photo is part of my effort to document the things i've made. i took the portrait outside using the reflectors that i bought recently.
baby mobile: the second is a baby mobile that a few of us made for our friend. we constructed the animals on our own (i made a piggie that i blogged before), then a few of us got together and constructed the mobile from hangers and yarn---we didn't want it to look tacky (handmade, not homemade, as my friend put it)---and were pretty happy with the results.

rhubarb pie

2008-06-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

I saw some gorgeous rhubarb at the market a couple of weeks ago and bought up the good looking ones. I only needed a pint or so of strawberries to have enough fruit for a pie. For this crust I used the Cook's Illustrated foolproof pie crust for the first time, which is pretty much your standard recipe except it replaces half of the water with chilled vodka. The idea is that water makes the dough gluteny, which you don't want, but more workable, which you do want. Vodka gives you the workability without the gluten, and the alcohol cooks off during baking, of course. It worked really well... rolled out like a dream and didn't stick or rip.

owls apron

2008-06-18T01:09:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the same town as my Aunt Joyce. It was a very small town - Divernon, Illinois. My aunt had a very big house and it was full of owls. For as long as I remember, she collected them. When I was a teenager, I went to visit and their new carpet had arrived. It was teal. A very big house with very teal carpet and she loved it. When I saw the owls on a whim fabric from Robert Kaufman, I knew it was perfect for her! I've been sitting on it, trying to decide what to make. I realized that my favorite pattern so far was the Emmeline Apron from Montessori by Hand. I didn't have enough for a full apron of owls, so I mixed and matched with some cocoa fabric that I had. I decided to make a little "patch" on the bottom with a couple of owls. This was a new technique for me.

The apron is reversible. I made the reverse side in red because I really liked the contrast with the teal straps. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out and I have heaps of fun with this pattern. I highly recommend it! I've already made more straps and bias in preparation of making more!

Pretty in Pink

2008-06-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

I never imagined that I would find one the largest and most thorough botanical gardens in the world as far north as Montreal, Quebec. I spent 6 hrs at the Montreal Botanical Garden and wasn't able to cover it all. I took A LOT photos, but decided to dedicate this post to pink flowers. Why pink?

Originally uploaded by sukogirl

halter top

2008-06-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

I got a pattern a couple of weeks ago for a halter top from Amy Butler. I've been searching for very cheap fabric to practice with because it involves some skills that I hadn't tried before. This week, I found some $2/m silver and black cotton voile. It turned out ok but I've learned a huge secret of the sewing world! Hidden zippers aren't really hidden, so always make sure you match your fabric, although it's very possible that I installed it wrong. That seems more likely! Also I'd like to alter the pattern next time as its a bit too broad across the chest and high on my back. I'm 34 but still want dress like a skank. ha!

you spin me

2008-06-01T00:49:00.001-07:00

These are prototypes for a gift that I would like to make for some friends of mine. They are DJ's and are due in roughly 9 weeks or so. I'm hoping to make them "my first records" for their little tike. I'd like to use batting instead of stuffing so I can get the grooves more even. I'd also like to find a better way to do the hole in the center. They are a bit lopsided, but I figure the baby won't mind. I'd love any suggestions for improving on the idea!

lazy may

2008-05-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

i had a lazy may in that i didn't go very far out of my way to take photos for my photo.a.day project. i mostly documented my daily life---crafts and food that i made; restaurants that i went to and the food and people that i saw in them; people, places, and things i saw during my commute and around town. here are some of the results, the rest can be found here:

piggies & fish
nature
hwood
food

balls and owls

2008-05-27T04:04:00.000-07:00

Today I made a ball. I realize this seems insanely simple, but it's my second go. I finally managed to figure out how to make the end look sealed up nice and neat!! This is using random scraps that I had left over from other projects, so the colours don't match as well as I would like. I'd like to make more of them and pay special attention to colour. I'd also like to try cubes. I saw similar ones on etsy today which searching for some fabric that I ordered. I was jealous of how neat theirs looked, so I gave it a second try tonight.

This is Whippet. He was born out of this tutorial. He's another one of my "make it quickly" experiments. I have little patience for long projects. I prefer to finish something on the day I started it. Whippet is my new sewing helper. Craig said it was wrong to stick pins in him. He makes a crappy owl, but a great pincushion!

I've been doing lots of tutorials lately, but it helps inspire me to come up with ideas of my own while learning new techniques and stitches.

A Crown For You From Me!

2008-05-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! You know what is more exhausting than throwing one first birthday party? Throwing two.

My daughter did have a lovely time at both and we have thoroughly documented her smearing her first icing all over her face and hair. Unfortunately, I did not get a decent photograph of my much blogged about crown. But here it is, and it was quite the hit! As promised, the crown is now available for free download. I love to share my creations and this one is just too much fun to keep to myself. Once you print it out and cut it out and customize it to suit Your Majesty's desires, fancies, and whims, be sure to let me know how it turned out! Post comments and links on my blog, Lady Lulu's Braindump Hut and Craftarium or here so we can admire your handiwork!

Download me here! lady-lulus-crown.pdf (5.8 MB)

If It Will Please Your Royal Highness

2008-05-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

I finished the image for my crown for the wee-one's birthday party. (Sorry the image is so small - I was having formatting issues.) After days of fiddling with it , I returned it to its simpler state. Next week, the file will be available for free at Lady Lulu's Braindump Hut and Craftarium, so anyone who wants a crown to call their very own, can have one! I was originally going to embellish my crown, but I printed it out on Legion Somerset Photo Enhanced, White Matte Velvet Inkjet Paper and it looked so lovely without additions. This paper is AMAZING! You could see so much texture and detail in all the elements of the crown and the colors are rich, rich, rich! So the crown is staying "as-is." I will post photos later.

opinions requested!

2008-05-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I need some help. This is the last assignment of the photography workshop. I can only submit one photo, and this time we get to do post-processing (cropping, color adjustment, sharpening, etc). I unfortunately didn't get out to shoot much over the weekend, due to crippling amounts of knitting (see previous post), so the only decent photos I got were of the tricklers towards the end of bay to breakers. The assignment is sort of open ended. One photo of a "decisive moment," which I think can be broadly interpreted as "something interesting is happening", with considerations for composition and use of color. I'd mostly just like to hear your reactions to these four photos. Gut feelings when you look at them, maybe which one (if any) makes you linger longer. Also, any suggestions on alternate crops are welcome.

mountain peaks shawl

2008-05-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

FINALLY. I've been working on this shawl a long time - the mountain peaks shawl from mimknits.com. It's a belated gift for mother's day. The first chart took forever... there was lace patterning on both right and wrong side. I'm pretty happy with everything except the border... it was attached perpendicularly to the edge and at that point there were HUNDREDS of stitches, no stitch markers, and I was in such a hurry that I didn't notice that i had done the 90-degree turn (at the very bottom tip) incorrectly so the lines don't meet symmetrically at the point. Notice how it's conveniently obscured in this photo... I also tried to hide the mistake with forceful blocking. There's so much going on that hopefully no one will notice, but I will admit, somewhat shamefully, that I was completely, inconsolably hysterical when I first saw it after almost 2 straight days of knitting. Fortunately for my sanity, I simply did not have time to frog and redo, so it's done, shipped, and I never have to knit that border repeat again.

isak day 2

2008-05-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

I missed the second session w/ isak so this is actually the third session, but day 2 for this sculpture. I tried to get as much coverage as I could to bring everything up to the same level. I really like the pose but tonight we picked a new one. (I didn't get any pics of the new sculpture).

photography workshop week 3

2008-05-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

I wasn't happy with any of the week 2 photos. Here are some photos from week 3 of the photo workshop. We were shooting color for the first time, playing with color dominance as well as foreground and background dominance.

lucy and the cookies

2008-05-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

This is Lucy. She's a bouncy crazy little puppy. Because she's a brand new doggie, she's exploring everything. After being freshly hatched from my own design (borrowing the idea of the legs from Lumpy), she wandered all over the house and found these homemade felt fortune cookies. What a great Sunday!

another tshirt dress and outdoor self-portrait experiments

2008-05-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

i decided to make another tshirt dress by combining three tshirts. the first was one that a friend gave me but that i haven't worn in a long time---i left it intact since it fit well, and i modified the other two into a an asymmetrical drapey skirt, similar to the one i made last week but longer. the dress was inspired by the same book that i used last week, t-shirt makeovers by sistahs of harlem. i originally attached the skirt to another shirt but wasn't paying attention to the measurements and found the skirt wasn't wide enough---also, the shirt was a little too short-waisted, i thought it looked better with the longer top. after a lot of seam ripping, i came up with this...

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i haven't been that happy with the results that i'm getting photographing myself inside, so i decided to try shooting outside. i have a bunch of clothing projects that i made but didn't document since 2006 so i plan to experiment with taking photographs of myself wearing them. i even bought some reflectors today and was using them in the above photo, but i'm not sure if it's obvious since i'm so frontally lit (or maybe i put the reflector in the wrong place)...

below is a photo that i took earlier this week without using reflectors. it's a ruffled tshirt that i made, again from the same book. like i said, i really like the book... i thought the sunlight was too bright on the left side, and the shadow side a little too dark, so that's why i got the diffusor/reflectors, but when i went to take a photo in the same spot today, there was a car in the way, so i'll try again another day...

Originally uploaded by cignoh

seam tutorial

2008-05-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

In couple of the comments on a skirt post, I was asked how to do a french seam. I actually tried to make a tutorial on it but it didn't turn out how I liked. Today, I was reading Sew,Mama,Sew and found this awesome tutorial for all types of seams and when to use each. To make this post a little more exciting. I've uploaded a picture of today's project. This is my first stuffed animal. I made it from a pattern from Melly & Me. This was a practice version with cheap fabric to learn about how things would work. I didn't like the felt eyes that were recommended so I've left her blind until I get some animal eye buttons. I've named her lumpy and she's wonderful, despite all of her faults.

sewing weapons 101

2008-05-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

I like to sew. I also like hammers. I feel manly swinging them around. So when I realized that I could combine sewing and hammers by adding snaps, I was completely sold. I was convinced that snaps were so much easier than buttons. No more ruined fabric from failed buttonholes!! Today, I did not ruin my fabric. I sewed perfectly and didn't even have to rip out any threads. Today though, I did manage to ruin my sewing table!!! A few good taps is all it takes to put in a snap. Coincidentally, a few good taps is also all it takes to push the snap, snap setting tool and hammer through the top of an Ikea Corras rolling cart. Sewing can be dangerous. I'm not really equipped to face the dangers that come with it - burns from irons, cuts from fabric tools and the dreaded needle smacking your fingers when you hold the fiddly fabric. Scary stuff. I've included photos of the weapons ...errrrr.... tools that I use when I sew. =)

tshirt dress

2008-05-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i went shopping yesterday and was looking for spring/summery dresses, but didn't buy anything. instead, today i decided to make a tshirt dress out of an old braveland tshirt from my husband, some brown jersey material that i had for the skirt, and a strip of wool plaid from a skirt that i made before. the dress has a tie-neck collar that is kind of hard to see in the photo, and the skirt has extra fabric on the side for draping. i got the idea from a book called 't-shirt makeovers' by sistahs of harlem, carmia marshall and carmen webber (i love this book, btw) and followed the basic form but made some modifications---the instructions called for a mesh material for the belt, which i didn't have, so i substituted the wool plaid. also, the right hip was a little bumpy (also can't see in the photo, but on purpose) so i reshaped the lines around that part, and the arms/bust area didn't fit that well so i sewed a darts on either side. as a result, the shirt no longer says 'braveland' but 'd' 'upside down U' 'raveland'. i like it.

Fortune Telling Display

2008-05-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! The last two weeks have been totally crazy and I am happy to return to my totally nutso routine, because frankly I could use a routine (nutso or not). I was just itching to finish up my tribute to some of my favorite toys as a kid, teen, and adult - fortune telling novelties! I never did find my mini-Magic-8 ball, but when I do, I will just glue it to it's rightful place on top. I was sure to include just a little bit of everything (minus the Magic-8 and Ouija). I included the "gemstone" from a mood ring, one of those fortune tellers kids fold out of square paper, a palm reading chart, the super cool packaging from a Fortune Teller Miracle Fish (lining floor of inside), mini tarot, and horoscopes. I love creating little interactive pieces like this one (which invites you to help yourself to a fortune). I like encouraging people to look and touch objects on display in my home. In February I created a display of small objects of (personal) importance. Some people look at it, moving their head to peek around objects, other people remove objects and then return them, and some people close the display lid, hiding the objects. I certainly don't watch my guests to see what they do, but I always appreciate the different reactions when I do notice. The fortune telling piece is hung in my guest bathroom. I thought people were more likely to appreciate it and help themselves to a fortune if they were in private. As I don't have a medicine chest or cabinets in my guest bathroom, this will give my guests an alternative place to snoop!

travel wallet 2

2008-05-11T03:38:00.001-07:00

I couldn't make just one today! This one proved to go much more smoothly until I got the final topstitching. I used completely different types of material on this one to see how it worked with heavier fabric and more interfacing.

travel wallet

2008-05-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

I tried to make this travel wallet for my mother-in-law for mum's day. Here is how this project went. I cut all of the pieces out. In the process of cutting some pieces, I accidentally knicked others. Cut again... Sew for a bit, realize I haven't cut enough for the pockets... Cut again, knick base fabric while cutting... Start over. This went on for two days until I finally surrendered to the fabric store. I bought an Olfa fabric cutter, a straight edge and a cutting mat. I'm totally a cutting queen now! I only use scissors on curves and twists. In this project, I learned quite a few things: 1. Having a template without directions does not necessarily make things easier 2. I can't sew as well the original creator of this pattern 3. Scissors are great, rolling cutters are better. 4. It's a snap to add snaps. I do wish I added more padding or interfacing to make the cover thicker, but not bad for my first go!

shabu shabu

2008-05-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

last night, i had a korean-style shabu shabu meal. i haven't had shabu shabu in a long time, and usually when i do, it's either japanese- or chinese-style, but it was cool to try it it korean-style... there are some differences from what i'm used to. you cook the meats and veggies in broth (water?) like normal, but instead of eating them in a soup bowl, you eat them in lettuce wraps that have rice and shredded egg on top (not cheese!). there were a bunch of dipping sauces that i liked---a bean-like sauce that you add for the lettuce wraps, as well as a peanut and spicy sauce for meats and seafood and a dumpling sauce for dumplings and also some kim chee. after the meal, they prepared a kim chee rice porridge that was also yummy. finally, they serve a mochi dessert, along with a cinnamon drink that i've never had before---i liked it a lot and want to know where i can get more... it reminded me of goldschlager but without the gold sparkly bits, a lot less intensely cinnamon, and non-alcoholic. i think there were a couple of pine nuts in it too which i thought was a nice touch.

here are some pics, although they are very grainy because of the low light...

	dipping sauces
	boiling broth
	meat and veggies starting to cook
	lettuce wraps
	meats and seafood
	ingredients for kimchee rice porridge
	kimchee rice porridge
	mochi dessert and cinammon drink

Originally uploaded by cignoh

Party Invitation Finished!

2008-05-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished my invitations to the wee-one's first birthday party. The colors are not quite right in the photos. The cardstock is a slightly shimmery gold and the colors are all bright, bright, bright! I printed the back using my gocco this evening. I need to make myself a shirt pronouncing my gocco love. The paper on the back was not applied as precisely as I would have liked, but I am sleepy and still pleased with the results. The envelopes are a slightly shimmery blue called "stardust." The whole package is quite nice.

failed attempt to crochet a bullion circle

2008-05-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i followed this tutorial that robinde sent me, but something went wrong... there are loops outside of my circle, but i don't think there are supposed to be... also, when i went back to close my circle, i couldn't find the 3rd chain stitch that i made from step 3 of the tutorial. help/suggestions?

* addendum: thanks for the suggestions, robinde! i tried again, and like the results better, it definitely helped to pull on the loose yarn to tighten the bullions as i made them. also, i read the instructions more carefully and realized some stuff i did incorrectly the first time around:

first dress

2008-05-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day! I'm sewing like a madwoman. This doesn't even include my handbag project. Today was a public holiday, and I expected to fritter it away shopping and spending copious amounts of money. Unfortunately the stores were closed. I found this pattern from tiny happy and thought to myself, "how hard can this be." I grabbed some fabric, ignored the measurements and went to work. After heaps of cutting and sewing, I realized that my bra size is just slightly larger than your average 3 year old. What that meant is that I had no hope of that wrap dress working unless I went through a serious breast reduction. That seemed a bit extreme for my little B cup. I had a think and I went nuts. I turned it backwards ala the ever trendy hospital gown and whipped out this number. The back has a really sassy low cut. I need to get a better photo of it. Not too bad for my first dress. It looks nothing like what I planned for when I started, but I'm happy with it. I've got a few ideas for next time including having it right way around.

happy pants

2008-05-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Today, I decided to surprise Craig by making him a pair of fisherman pants. As you can see, I decided to keep them for myself. We call them happy pants in our family, and Craig often wears them as pajamas. We found a pattern on the net last month. He tried to make himself a pair, but the pattern turned out to be a bit rubbish. I tried again today with some left over cotton voile from my skirt project. I got it in the clearance bin of the fabric store. I cannibalized the black belt from his project which I think is the best part. I made a few mistakes but they are definitely passible for bedtime wear!! Another easy, quick project! Total time: 2 hrs

yet another hyperbolic crochet plane

2008-05-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

This is my first circular crocheted hyperbolic plane, made from a skein of inexpensive purple acrylic yarn (256 yards, Red Heart Soft brand). The crocheting was very repetitive, but it was neat to see the ruffles start to emerge as the shape got larger and larger. I increased one stitch for every 4 stitches. As you would expect, it does not seem to be as tightly ruffled as cignoh's plane which increased one stitch every 3 stitches. This piece is about 12 inches across and can be arranged in a variety of different ways to resemble coral or lettuce. It also makes an interesting hat.

finally! a crochet hyperbolic plane

2008-05-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

last fall, i discovered crochet hyperbolic planes and other work at The Institute for Figuring and decided that i really wanted to make them. i had taught myself how to crochet briefly but it had been a couple of years since i had made anything. in february, during thing a day, i attempted to crochet a hyperbolic plane, only to discover that i couldn't really remember how to crochet anymore. i got about halfway through my first row of single crochet (it's hard to make single crochet stitches into the chain!) but was making mistakes---i think i was getting confused with the stitches and crocheting multiple stitches into the same stitch or skipping stitches, etc. when i realized that i wouldn't be making a hyperbolic plane for my thing.a.day, i gave up and did something else that day, and then didn't touch it again since then.

a couple of days ago, on a plane ride, i decided to tackle it again and am proud to report that i was finally successful and have completed my first hyperbolic plane. in this one, i started out with about a 5 in chain and then after the first row, i increased once every three stitches. i used a rowan cork yarn (95% merino wool, 5% nylon) and was thinking of trying to felt it but i'm not sure---i don't have that much experience with felting. i actually made another plane before i made this one that was made of a bright blue cotton yarn where i increased one in every six stitches, but i think my needle was too big, and the overall result too floppy. plus, i started with too long of a chain and ran out of yarn, so it just turned out to be long, relatively flat and floppy. i might try that one again since i like the color of the yarn.

like robinde, i hope to end up with an aquarium/shelf full of hyperbolic planes and other sea creations. i'd like to expand and try making tubes and other forms like she has.

Birthday Invitation

2008-05-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished the image for the invitation to my daughter's first birthday. I am very happy with how it turned out. When I set out to tackle this project I initially felt disheartened. I was struggling to get the ethereal-spring quality I love so much. However, on day two, I broke through my creative block!

wallet

2008-04-30T05:53:00.001-07:00

I wanted to make a wallet, but wasn't sure if I could do it. I found a very easy pattern on craftster.com with pictures on craftbits.com. I tried their pattern, but didn't like the way the seams looked, so I modified it a fair bit. Here is the result, my first wallet! It has several problems, but it's not bad. It took me three tries to get to this one!

icky catnip bun

2008-04-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I knitted the catnip steamed bun from this pattern. My yarn was thicker so it came out rather big. Jake instantly went bonkers and became very possessive of it and started to destroy it so these are the only decent photos I got. The loose stitch in the third photo... well, that's Jake's fault.

isak day 1

2008-04-29T23:48:00.001-07:00

Sadly, Judith's second pose never made it past the first day. Work and houseguests conspired to occupy the last two sculpting nights. We started a new model tonight, so I scrapped the 1/4 scale Judith to reuse the armature for Isak. I had a hard time with his right shoulder but the pose is interesting.

photo workshop week 1

2008-04-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

I started taking a photography class at work. We shoot digital, but so far only in black and white with no cropping or post-processing. It's definitely a challenge. Here are my photos from the first week (last week, actually). Some friends were visiting with their 2 year old Lars, who made a very photogenic subject.

after: spring cleaning

2008-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

as promised, here is an 'after' spring cleaning picture (before). there is still a lot of stuff, i know, but at least almost everything is in a logical place and semi-easily locatable. there are also still individual areas that need to be addressed (kitchen cabinets, a few more boxes of paper/photos/stuff to sort through) but i'll tackle these a little at a time, not necessarily immediately.

spring cleaning and more

2008-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i haven't been crafting as much as i wanted to, but am still taking a photo.a.day and spent much of the week doing some spring cleaning. i'm very much a pack rat, it's so hard for me to throw things away and/or stay organized and be able to find stuff when i need to, but i think i'm getting a little better (probably hard to tell from the photographs!). it actually looks much better now than what you see in the photo, and i hope to post an after picture soon. i think the process of taking photos of my stuff before i throw them out or put them away helps me.

also, here are some miscellaneous photos from the past week:

psychics	thai new year
rice cooker cartoon	bus stop
salton sea	mint lemonade

they include pics from a thai new year festival and a day trip to the salton sea (links to sets).

Salmon Patties!

2008-04-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today I made salmon patties by combining two recipes (one from simplyrecipes.com and another from my mother-in-law) along with a couple of my own personal touches. I was so pleased with the outcome that I wanted to share.

Ingredients:

1 salmon filet
1/4 c white onion, minced
1 scallion, minced
2 tbsp each of green, yellow and red peppers, minced
1 egg
1/2 c panko bread crumbs
1 -2 tbsp horseradish
1/3 c Vegenaise
1 tbsp fresh dill or 1/2 tsp dried dill
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp butter
lemon

Cook filet at 350F for approx. 20 min. ( I use my toaster oven for this). While the salmon is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients (except butter and lemon) and place in bowl. Remove the salmon skin (a treat for Nora!) and break salmon meat into small pieces and add to the bowl. Mix well with a fork and form 5 palm-sized patties. Melt 1-2 tbsp of butter in a frying pan at med-high temp. Place the patties in the frying pan, cook until one side is browned and then flip to brown the other side. Abt. 3 - 5 min. each side. I found that using a non-stick pan works best. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and I like to eat them with Maille A l'Ancienne (old style musturd).

I served today's patties with wilted arugula. YUM!

dyed yarns and more crochet

2008-04-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

For the past week, I've been experimenting with dying yarn in the microwave. It is very simple to dye wool yarn or wool roving using food dyes. You can use cake/icing dyes or food coloring or even Kool-aid packets. I like to use Wilton gel dyes (meant for cake decorating), because a small amount of gel goes a long way.

First I soaked the yarn in a mixture of vinegar and water. The vinegar acts as a mordant and helps the dye bind to the wool. I used a microwave-safe ceramic dish with a cover to hold the yarn and vinegar-water bath. Next, I prepared the gel dyes by mixing them with water in small pyrex cups. For these examples, I mixed up 2 or 3 different shades for each skein. The yellow-orange yarn was made with lemon yellow, golden-yellow, and orange. The bluish yarn was made with royal blue and violet. The lime yarn was made with lemon yellow and leaf green. The darker green yarn was made with teal and leaf green.

I sprinkled the dye on the yarn somewhat haphazardly to give the yarns a variegated look. I covered the dish and microwaved the yarn for around 5-7 minutes until the water bath was clear (meaning that the dye had absorbed into the wool). Then I rinsed the yarn in cool water to get rid of the vinegar smell and hung it to dry. You can also dye larger amounts of yarn on the stove with this basic method, but you have to be careful not to agitate the yarn too much or it can start to felt together. The pink thing in the photo is a hyperbolic crocheted plane made from non-dyed store-bought wool.

wrap skirt

2008-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm Amy. I went to college with cignoh and worked with her in San Francisco. I watched her "thing a day" in February and decided I should be more creative. I tried beading, but my husband was far better than me at it. I bought a sewing machine instead. He's also better at that, but I don't care. For me, it's more about the fabric than the final product. This photo is one of my wrap skirts. I just started my own blog last week http://badskirt.blogspot.com/ before I knew about this one. No need to visit though, I'll try to post of the better things here.

Thank you all for sharing your work!

Amy

youngme / nowme

2008-04-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

youngme / nowme
Originally uploaded by cignoh

for my photo.a.day today, i decided to participate in the youngme/nowme photo contest. the idea is to start with a photo of yourself as a young child and try to recreate the same photo, but of yourself now. the most important factors should be your pose and facial expression, but other things to consider are clothing, colors, lighting, environment, props, composition, etc.

i was unable to mimic my surroundings exactly since my patio looks nothing like the one from the original photograph and also couldn't recreate the composition of the original photo because my patio was too small to place the camera anywhere else and still fit myself in the photo. i also didn't have clothes that looked similar, so i just wore my current day choice of lounge/sleepwear. the colors were pretty different/distracting, so made both photos black and white, adjusted the levels a little, and added some grain to the new one to try to match the original better.

something fun to try before april 20

2008-04-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

jrmyst sent me this link:

http://colorwar2008.com/submissions/youngnow

the idea is to take a photo of yourself when you were a child and then try your best to recreate it---the pose, facial expression, clothing, environment, etc. check out the results in the gallery, they are pretty fun/funny... in fact, take a minute to browse the rest of the site, there are some other interesting challenges and games like photoshopping a merit badge...

i think i might give it a try... anyone else want to?

My First Post on ITB!

2008-04-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

On January 31, 2008 I was not a blogger. Then, February 1 rolled around and I was a part of Thing-A-Day 2. Everyday of February I worked on something creative and blogged about it. By the end I was hooked and started my own blog. Even though I had struck out on my own, I had established creative relationships with a few folks, cignoh included. Cignoh has invited me to join in the fun here at icky tandoori buns, and how could I refuse. I am very excited to share some of my projects with you. I made my second ATC today; this time I used digital collage. I was inspired by a page I stumbled across in Why Birds Sing: a Journey Through the Mystery of Birdsong. The Yellow Rail's bird call sounds like a typewriter. I found an audio clip of it's call and you have got to listen to it - it is really incredible. The information I included on the ATC about the Yellow Rail is from Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds. The image of the Yellow Rail itself is by artist nineteenth century artist James DeKay.

veggie and rice soup

2008-04-16T11:37:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i made some soup for dinner last night. i sauteed chopped onions, carrots, and celery until the onions were clear, then added chicken broth and rice and boiled everything for about 20 minutes. then i added some frozen (fresh would be fine too, probably better) baby spinach at the end with a little salt and pepper to taste. it was very simple, but tasted yummy and healthy too...

crochet sea creatures

2008-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, I've been learning to crochet with the help of my neighbor and YouTube crochet videos and various websites. I started out trying to make a hyperbolic plane, but didn't get very far. It took me awhile to figure out that I was doing a slip stitch instead of a single crochet, and I kept undoing my work because it didn't look quite right.

Meanwhile I started obsessing over the crochet undersea creations featured at The Institute for Figuring and at Helle Jorgensen's Gooseflesh blog. So I started making crochet barnacles (not in picture). This weekend I made lots of crochet tubes and sewed them together to make a crochet tube sponge. The tubes are each about 2-3 inches long and there are 17 of them so far. The sponge measures about 6 inches across. Ian made the green kelpy thing on the right (he wants to add wires to make it stand up). The pink thing on the left is the start of one of my hyperbolic planes. The clownfish were borrowed from a tiny toy aquarium.

infrared (mis)focus

2008-04-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

I found out that my camera does not filter out infrared light, so all I have to do is put on an infrared filter and I can take infrared photography. So I took it out for a spin yesterday, and it was too bright out to check the preview on the LCD. When I got home I discovered that all of my subjects were out of focus. That's the first one of the kid, at Baker Beach. Turns out I needed to compensate for a focus shift with infrared. Today I tried to account for it by focusing at 2/3 to 3/4 of the distance to the subject, with moderate success. That's the second one of the tree, in Japantown. It's still very iffy, so bracketing a few for good measure will probably be the best way to go. As if I weren't slow enough with the manual focus....

portraits, piggie, palm trees, and bottles

2008-04-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i'm continuing to try to take a photo a day. it's hard to keep up---some days i feel like doing it more than other days. i ordered a camera bag to replace my purse and plan to carry my camera with me most of the time... i hope that will make it easier...

Spring is here!!

2008-04-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago when the snow still covered much of our yard, a bright red something caught my eye. It was a cardinal perched on the lowest branch of our evergreen tree. My heart jumped with joy as it was a definite sign that the weather was warming and spring was near. Since then I have spotted blue jays as well and most of the snow has melted away exposing our long lost lawn. It's interesting b/c everything looks so flat now. While I thought I was just seeing everything turn white, the snow had added much to the topography of the landscape. Yes, that is how much snow we had this year. Anyway, joy, joy, joy!! I went to a composting workshop held by our local landfill and brought home an Earth Machine compost bin which I might add was distributed by the landfill for free. I've never composted before, so we shall see how that goes. It seems there is an art to composting. I also learned about vermicomposting and for those who live in apartments and want to compost should definitely look into it. I might start one in the late fall so I can compost during the cold winter months.

We also want to have a vegetable garden this summer and I have started growing some herbs and veggies from seed. To be honest, I know nothing about growing plants from seed nor much about gardening, but I shall learn something for sure this year. Would appreciate any advices or suggestion or even pointing to excellent resources/websites.

judith day 4

2008-04-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

New pose this week. This one I decided to do at 1/4 scale. I like the back view best. Also, her left hand is actually on her left knee but I need it out of the way right now for torso access. Needs a lot of work.

this odd little piggie

2008-04-07T17:32:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by cignoh

today i made a stuffed pig. it's the 2nd stuffed animal/object that i've made, the first being a football. i think that i have a hard time picturing what something will look like in 3d as the piggie turned out to be very oddly-shaped and not at all like i pictured---supposed to be a round ball w/ 4 feet sticking on the bottom, and a tail behind him. instead, he is a little angular, lopsided, and oddly proportioned, but that's ok, i like him anyway. he will eventually be attached to a baby mobile (other people will be making other animals/shapes) and will be given as a gift to a friend who is expecting in june. he is about 4"Wx3"Lx4"D.

cooking by internet

2008-04-07T12:03:00.001-07:00

mini quiches
Originally uploaded by cignoh

yesterday, i had afternoon tea with some friends. we each made one or two dishes, the menu was:

* scones (orange pecan and date)
* clotted cream and jam/jelly
* banana chiffon cake
* matcha cupcakes
* chicken salad sandwiches
* cucumber dill cream cheese sandwiches
* egg salad sandwiches
* sesame squares
* strawberries, plain and chocolate dipped
* meat buns
* mini quiches (mushroom and spinach)

yummy!

i made mini quiches and egg salad sandwiches by combining recipes that i found online:

****** mini quiches ******

from this recipe, i found advice on making mini quiches in the comments section:
Reviewed on Oct. 12, 2004 by hope03
These might be okay appetizers, but these are not quiches. To make PERFECT mini quiches, use the Cream Cheese Tart Shells recipe on this site and also the Basic Quiche by Shelley. Use a mini muffin tin. I placed a tiny cube of pepper jack cheese, a tiny piece of canned mushroom and a tiny tear of frozen spinach (defrosted) in each cup, then filled with the egg mixture. Baked at 350 for 15-20 minutes until edges were beginning to get golden. Ah, they looked and tasted very professional!

here are the recipes that she refers to:
recipe: cream cheese tart shells
recipe: basic quiche filling

i pretty much followed hope's instructions, but i added tiny cubes of pepper jack, havarti, and mozzarella cheese instead of just pepper jack. i also used baby chopped spinach. i think i added the specified amount of salt to the quiche mix, but it maybe could've used a tiny bit more... i baked them for longer than 20 min, more like 25-30 min.

****** egg salad sandwiches ******

i combined these 2 recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Salad-I/Detail.aspx?prop31=3
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Salad-III/Detail.aspx?prop31=5

and added the following:

8 eggs
2 T country dijon mustard (a little bit sweet)
4 T mayonnaise
1 t dill weed
1 t paprika
1 T minced red onion
1 celery stalk chopped
1 T pimento stuffed green olives chopped
salt/pepper to taste

i think i added a little too much salt but was otherwise happy with the egg salad. also, i followed these instructions to boil the eggs---a couple of them cracked a little, but it seemed ok otherwise. does anyone have better/different advice?

how to: blog directly to itb from flickr

2008-04-07T00:40:00.000-07:00

from your flickr account, click on 'your account' under the 'you' menu. then click on the 'extending flickr' tab, and look for the 'your blogs' section---click on the 'edit' link to see a list, then add a blogger blog; sign into gmail, and add icky tandoori buns. from there, you can choose the type of 'layout' you want for your posts. then, to blog a photo, click on the 'blog this' button above the photo and fill in your title and post fields appropriately.

week of photos with focus on bcam

2008-04-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

here's a week's worth of photos:

	subway
	mandarin fetus
	ganesh
	jars
	bike rack
	bcam
	date scones

and a focus on the broad contemporary art museum (bcam) at the lacma (more photos here):

judith day 3

2008-04-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

I spent tonight wrapping up this pose with Judith. Next week we're going to a new one! I had some trouble with the wires getting in the way on her right hand so it looks too big, but I'm happy with the progress on the face and with the decision to move her right arm to the back.

Earth Hour 2008

2008-04-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

I participated in this year's Earth Hour last Saturday. It was interesting b/c when I looked down my street, pretty much all of the houses had their lights on. I still enjoyed my quiet candle lit hour. I was hoping to knit, but five candles proved too dim. I would need many more. Instead I decided to take some pics of the candles. The second photo is a reflection of the candles on a picture frame.

more hollywood, imperial newt, and nasty pear

2008-03-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

all of these photos were taken in natural light. except for the pear, which was taken inside on a tabletop, they were taken on the top floor of my apartment parking garage. the top left shows a general view. the lower left one is a tag that someone etched onto a glass window in my apartment building. i liked the way the warm light contrasted with the deep blue sky behind, and the way the tag is illuminated by the light behind it. the pear was one that i forgot to eat, i snapped a photo before throwing it away. and the newt in the upper right is part of a series by jim woodring called imperial newts. he also has a crazy newts series, i really like both sets and will continue to photograph our collection.

Haiku News

2008-03-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Dateline: March 25, 2008 - Raleigh, NC

A Krispy Kreme Truck
Was stolen from parking lot
Hot Donut truck now

Here's a few links to the story:

There's lots of stories out there about people stealing Krispy Kreme trucks - a common crime!
Photo from Krispy Kreme website: http://www.krispykreme.com/history.html

tagged! and some more photos

2008-03-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

i was tagged by lulu on my personal blog and challenged to describe my live in 6 words. this is what i came up with:

insufficient time and energy for everything

i'm supposed to then tag 6 other ppl, but i don't know that many ppl who blog so i'll have to think about that part a little more and finish that part of the challenge later...

meanwhile, here are some photos:

what's new: 03.26.08

2008-03-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

the 'view all labels' link was broken for a while, but has been fixed. in order to fix it, i had to change the way our posts our formatted so that when you press 'return' as you are writing a post, they will no longer be converted to new lines when your post is displayed in the blog. to insert a new line, you should insert the following tags as you are writing:

for a single hard-return: <br />
for 2 hard-returns: <br /><br />

sorry for the inconvennience...

judith day 2

2008-03-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the second day with Judith. I was late so I didn't make as much progress as I'd wanted. I'll have to focus on the head next week since we'll probably switch to a new pose on day 4.

egg with squares and lines

2008-03-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is a smallish duck egg with yellow/orange squares and dotted turquoise lines interwoven between the squares. After I waxed over the squares and lines, I soaked the egg in vinegar for 20+ minutes. Vinegar reacts with the calcium carbonate in the eggshell and slowly dissolves the uncovered parts of the shell. Vinegar etching can be used to create a shadowing effect around the design, unless you accidentally walk away and leave the egg soaking for too long... After etching the egg with vinegar, I scrubbed the egg ever so gently with a baby toothbrush to help remove the dissolved bits of eggshell. I recently switched to a baby toothbrush because my old scrub brush was a little too effective and removed some of the wax on previous eggs. After the scrubbing, the background was a bright white. I decided to dye the egg darker to better camouflage some of my wobbly wax lines (as small mistakes seem to really pop out on a white background). I then dyed the background black, which came out as gray. It's not always possible to get a deep rich color after vinegar etching, particularly with duck eggs. For some reason, this egg made me think of peacock feathers. I'd like to try making a feather design in a future pysanky egg.

jake in the hallway

2008-03-23T20:25:00.001-07:00

Greg was brushing his teeth and the hallway was dark except for the light spilling out from the bathroom. Jake plopped himself down in the doorway and I snapped a shot.

uf(o)untain . cubees . jrmyst . tomatoes

2008-03-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

some more photos a day:

the first was taken at night where i work, my friend suggested that it looked a little like a ufo, and i agreed... in my continued effort to document all of the toys/knickknacks in our apartment (and there are many!) i took a photo of my cubee collection. i saw these on flickr and only had 3 had the time but had to have them all after i saw them... the last two were taken with my new 50mm lens that i got on friday and am excited about. it's going to be my primary lens. this morning, i went to the farmer's market and shot some photos, many of them were blurry/not focused on the right thing. i think it will take some practice, but i like it so far. one of these days, i'll try to actually make something but that is maybe not going to happen for another week or two...

what's new: 03.23.08

2008-03-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

changes to the blog format/template:

header: added 'about, what's new, and how to' links: feel free to add posts to these links by tagging with 'about' 'what's new' or 'how to'
side bar: about: simplified blurb
side bar: categories: made a list that can expand/collapse (any item preceded by a * will expand/collapse when clicked); can modify as much as we want, based on the content of the blog. these links are based on searches of a single label; currently, it's not possible to search for multiple labels
labels: added some labels to everyone's posts to test the 'categories' list---if you don't like any of the new labels that were added, please feel free free to remove them by clicking on the pencil icon below your post to edit it. there will be a 'Labels for this post:' text box, and you can add/delete/modify as needed...
side bar: added 'recent comments'
side bar: labels: drop-down menu of labels along with link to full list on a separate page (currently not working)---will try to add label count next to each label on this page; maybe add a labels/tags cloud to the side bar
bottom bar: moved contributors' profile page links from the side to the bottom bar