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Posts Tagged ‘handmade’
Monster Jeff
Monster Jeff is an enigma and constantly full of contradictions – he can’t even decide what shade of brown to be! To sum this monster up I would call him sweet yet bellowing. Not many make such an effort to get their point across that one of their eyes bulges out of their furry monster forehead.
Monster Jeff measures 5.5 x 7.5 inches and was made using 39 cent felt squares, stuffed animal eyes and faux fur fabric wrapped around the back/stand portion of IKEA’s Ribba picture frame. The stand was left over from my original monster portraits, which only used the frame portion.
Monster Jen
Monster Jen is one of my best friends, in part because she enjoys eating just as much (if not more) than I do. That’s why I gave her three mouths for all her food-recycling needs. Now she can eat, drink and talk all at once – a feat that has been sighted only occasionally in the human version.
Monster Jen measures 5.5 x 7.5 inches and was made using 39 cent felt squares, googly eyes and faux fur fabric wrapped around the back/stand portion of IKEA’s Ribba picture frame. The stand was left over from my original monster portraits, which only used the frame portion.
Monster Dan
Monster Dan is my sister Mollie’s boyfriend, and this portrait was part of a set that I gave her as a birthday present. Dan has “always alarmed” eyes that he uses to stare down his students (he’s an English teacher) and of course a Conjunction Junction button that I bought off of eBay.
Monster Dan measures 5.5 x 7.5 inches and was made using 39 cent felt squares, googly eyes and faux fur fabric wrapped around the back/stand portion of IKEA’s Ribba picture frame. The stand was left over from my original monster portraits, which only used the frame portion.
Monster Mollie
Monster Mollie is my sister, and I made her this monster portrait for her birthday. Dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes (with an extra eye added just for good all-seeing measure) sit above her bear trap chompers. Don’t want to get in the way of those while she’s arguing or going for the last slice of pie.
Monster Mollie measures 5.5 x 7.5 inches and was made using 39 cent felt squares, stuffed animal eyes and faux fur fabric wrapped around the back/stand portion of IKEA’s Ribba picture frame. The stand was left over from my original monster portraits, which only used the frame portion.
The Goodie Monster Is Here
Just in time for Halloween! Over the weekend my friend Mark and I put the finishing touches on the Goodie Monster: a vending machine filled with healthy, tasty snacks. Not only does it taste good, it looks good too. Check out the full project process and see more pictures of us sewing and painting nonstop to create a green fur-clad monster complete with a mountainous environment where pears fly south for the winter. Read more >>
The Fullitzer Prize
I like to make things for others, and since NJ had recently received so many trophies, I thought I would make an award for the man who subsidized those trophies: Jelly. But what do you give a man who seemingly has everything? He’s won awards galore and his bookshelf is littered with treasures: a gold watch, a paper hot air balloon replica, gifts from various years of WK12, a dismembered stuffed animal squirrel, some rocks, and an empty juice bottle. It would be a tough act to follow, but I was up for the challenge.
Ladies and Gentlemen, THE FULLITZER.
To give a little background, my inspiration came from three places. One: Jelly’s constant quoting of Buckminster Fuller, a big-picture-thinker, the man who built geodesic domes and wrote Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. Two: Before going to a conference to give a presentation, Jelly claimed he was nervous because previous speakers had won Pulitzer Prizes. HE hadn’t won one, and what was a veteran public speaker with lofty notions of finding your purpose to do…without a Pulitzer? And Three: At a friend’s wedding, decorations included some exquisite paper balls that I instantly wanted to filch. I didn’t take one, but another guest did.
One. Two. Three. That is how I made and presented the ONE and ONLY Fullitzer Prize to Mr. Jelly Helm. It’s a bit small and delicate, but I think its recipient will find infinite possibilities with it in his possession.
Thanks to the internet, I found some patterns to decorate the Fullitzer with.
If you’d like to make a paper ball and name it something special for someone in your life, here are the instructions. My personal tip is to invest in a circular paper punch so you don’t have to cut out 20 circles by hand. I had one already from doing some wedding invites and my sketchbook project. Once you have one, you’ll want to punch circles out of everything.
Awards come in all shapes and sizes.
Monster Portraits
I’ve been thinking about monsters lately, so I decided to get them out of my brain by making some monster portraits of my new compatriots over at Jelly Helm Studio. I admit, I wasn’t sure how these would be received. When a child draws garish representations of their family members a mother can’t do anything but reply “Oh, honey, these are wonderful!” But when a grown woman likens her workmates to monsters, well…
Luckily the response from Jelly, Mark and NJ was delight and guttural exclamations (also of delight, I assume), after which we hung the family of frames outside the studio door. Why yes, we have a security system on premises: four fake monsters.
After debuting the quartet I asked their human counterparts for a first impression interview which are transcribed below, and are 90% accurate to what was recorded on my iPhone during the interviews.
Ten Second Interview with NJ the Intern
Bureau Representative: What were you thinking at the moment this portrait was taken?
NJ the Intern: Erm. Hmmm. Ugghghhh. Tphhht.
Bureau Representative: Unsure?
**NJ reaches out and softly strokes his fuzzy tan fur**
Bureau Representative: How does it feel to touch yourself?
NJ the Intern: Um. Uhhh. Uggg. Feels good.
Bureau Representative: What sound is your little mouth making in this portrait?
NJ the Intern: Glerm.
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Pioneer Rabbit and Danish Dynamite
Last night fifty competitors raced in the Stumptown 40 pinewood derby car competition, and me and my pioneer rabbit were right in the thick of it. It was a night of competition, camaraderie and good old fashioned fun. One of the most fun parts of the evening was seeing all of the different car designs, from the classic racer to gumby-shaped car. My friends Laura and Scott made cars that looked like a pantone swatchbook and a wedge of cheese, respectively.
I gave my car the moniker Danish Dynamite, from the chant “We are red, we are white, we are Danish dynamite!”. Unfortunately, my sister and I were the only two people at Spirit of 77 who knew the chant, so it was a small cheering section indeed. My entry fared well initially, but was finally ousted in the consolation bracket by a car shaped like a bottle of ketchup. Ahh, well, you can’t beat the condiments.
My car Danish Dynamite and driver Pioneer Rabbit make quite the pair!
Pioneer Rabbit Racer
A month or so ago my friend Melissa told me she was entering a pinewood derby car race with AIGA. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I signed up too. Organized by Dave Selden and Ryan Parr, the event is called Stumptown 40 and is the creative person’s chance for glory in the cub scout arena. Selecting my driver for the race was a no brainer: my pioneer rabbit…seen here posing next to his custom rims in his first glossy headshot promo.
I don't know how he signs his pictures without thumbs...
Recycled Raindrops Update
Last month I posted about making some raindrops out of DEX/Yellow Pages for a paper show called Portland Paper City. The show was recently dismantled, so I gave my raindrops a second home hanging above my studio desk. I might be tempting the weather gods, but I wasn’t going to throw 6 gluesticks worth of work into the round file. Here are a few shots of the 7 large raindrops in a cluster.
Recycled Raindrops
In addition to some paper ponies, I also submitted some recycled raindrops to the community contribution show Portland Paper City. What possessed me to spend hours with a gluestick (well, six gluesticks) and a DEX/YellowPages, I do not know. But the result was nine 3D raindrops that float on a wall.
Raindrop strips before they are curved and sealed shut.
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Paper Ponies
Recently I submitted some 3D paper ponies to Portland Paper City, a collaborative art show. All around Portland there are old hitching rings in the sidewalks from days gone by. Tied to some of the hitching rings are toy horses and ponies, thanks to The Horse Project. Whenever I see them they make me smile, so when I was asked to contribute something “Portland” to the show it didn’t take me long to decide on these little curbside ponies. It didn’t hurt that between ages 6 and 16 I spent 98% of my waking hours drawing horses, thinking about horses, and riding horses. Yep, I’m a horse girl.
(click on the images to zoom)
Did you know that there are two classification of Paint horses, or Pintos? Overo and Tobiano. Now you can surely use this information to win at trivia night sometime!
I think this one is on steroids. I hope he didn't get them from Snoopy.
Being a horse girl, you can bet that I researched this thoroughly. There is a great Flickr set called “All The Tiny Horses” from which I picked my charges. I hope to draw some more of the horses later, because frankly, I spent wayyyyy too many hours as a child developing my equine drawing skills to let it go to waste. Yes, and after that I’ll re-read all of Walter Farley’s books!
I had a few of these fuzzy horses as a kid. Apparently this one got stolen from its ring shortly after being put out to pasture.
I thought it was a little too morbid to recreate the decapitation scene.
The process of putting my pony drawings into 3D was a challenge. After some prototypes and a short stint of being sidetracked by origami, I decided to put the ponies on display using an open-air type diorama with a built in stand. Below are the dioramas without the stand.
Here is a shot of Charging Steed mounted to the wall at the show.
Brian Dettmer’s Book Sculptures (alternately titled “Holy Mother of Bibliography”)
Wow, wow, wow. Check out these book sculptures by artist Brian Dettmer.
My Modern Met writes:
Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed. Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms.There is an interview with the artist here, or see more images of his amazing work after the jump.
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Portland Paper City – Stumptown in 3D Papercraft
Portland Paper City is a collaborative paper craft installation organized by Jessie Bazata, Marisa Green, Sean Garrison and Rory Phillips. The show, which will take place at Disjecta, will represent the city of Portland and feature contributions from the community.
I’ve contributed two pieces to the show, which will open this Saturday, March 5th from 6-9PM, and run through March 26th. Disjecta is located at 8371 N Interstate Ave, and the gallery is open Friday through Sunday 12–5pm. Here is a sneak peek of a curbside pony and recycled rain…
Finally, a chance to use all those hours I spent as a child drawing horses!
What do 6 gluesticks and a Yellow Pages amount to? Lots of recycled rain.
All The Future Is New
Today is the final day of Free Wallpaper Week at the Bureau. “All The Future Is New” was created from cut letters folded up from their original sheet of paper to make shadows. I hope you’ve enjoyed the freebies and spread the wallpaper cheer across the screens of the internet and eternity.
Download “All The Future Is New” in the following sizes:
320 x 480 (iphone) • 640 x 960 (iphone4) • 1024 x 1024 (ipad)
1440 x 900 (laptop) • 1600×1200 (full screen) • 2560×1600 (wide screen)Please share these wallpapers following the guidelines of the Creative Commons “Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives” license. Basically, you can share the heck out of these, but always remember to attribute the source and please don’t alter or sell the art. Thanks!
Warm Fuzzies (Cackle, Crackle)
Free Wallpaper Week at the Bureau continues! Today’s wallpaper is anti-cute in response to the previous saccharine submission. It’s kind of like chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but not. Don’t take this one too literally, and I hope you’ll help spread the wallpaper cheer!
Download “Warm Fuzzies” in the following sizes:
320 x 480 (iphone) • 640 x 960 (iphone4) • 1024 x 1024 (ipad)
1440 x 900 (laptop) • 1600×1200 (full screen) • 2560×1600 (wide screen)Please share these wallpapers following the guidelines of the Creative Commons “Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives” license. Basically, you can share the heck out of these, but always remember to attribute the source and please don’t alter or sell the art. Thanks!
Drypoint and Chine Collé Printmaking
I took a class at Em Space recently which was taught by two master printmakers from Japan. Ritsuko Ozeki and Takahiko Hayashi were both visiting from Tokyo because their work is on display at the Froelick Gallery thru November, and they agreed to give a three hour workshop on drypoint and chine collé.
Examples of work by Ritsuko Ozeki and Takahiko Hayashi
Let me tell you, it was one of the funnest printmaking classes I’ve taken! Twelve students were all able to create an etching on plexiglass using a variety of sharp tools, and then make a print of it using fancy japanese paper samples the teachers brought with them.
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Potato Contraption. It’s Art.
I guess I’ll chalk this one up to modern art where the amusement factor overshadowed everything else. Seen in the Hamburg Art Museum.
Device which allows one potato to revolve around another potato, 1969, by Sigmar Polke. The signs were very emphatic that you should not touch this display. So I took a picture from afar.
Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. Attack of the Giant Styrofoam Robot.
I stopped by my old friend Ziba the other day and as I entered the lobby was greeted by their newest “employee”, a giant styrofoam robot. Also known as a styrobot, it was commissioned for the space and created by Michael Salter (check out his work online). Welcome styrobot!
This is a styrobot on display in San Jose. Ziba is under pretty tight wraps so I couldn't get a personal photo of their robot.
I Sew Flat Things, So I Made an iPad Case
When my live-in bought the latest and greatest Apple technology (we’re a few months behind here at the Bureau, so I’m referring to the iPad), it needed a protective case so it didn’t get scratched by the myriad of other Apple products that usually travel with it. Enter iPad case made to match a Jack Spade bag with a brown plaid outer fabric, two layers of quilting and a dotted orange liner.
Stop Time With A Penfelt Watch
On the first real day of summer in Portland you just want to stop time, because before you know it summer will have flown by and you’ll be stuck again with the rain and your bottle of vitamin D chewables. Luckily, Portland maker LeBrie Rich feels the same, and made this felt watch for just such occasions. See more of her stuff on Etsy at Penfelt.
Year of the Tiger
To kick off 2010, my friend Jen Sbragia sent me this super cute card that she made with spraypaint. I tried some spraypainting the other day and it wasn’t that easy. I nearly spraypainted my dog Lucy and definitely got a dry eye out of the ordeal. I think I’ll stick to letterpress.
My Wacom pen can do a triple back flip on beam. Can yours?
Over the years my Wacom has endured some all terrain handling, and recently the rubber grip area fell off in protest. So I bought a pack of those foam pencil sleeves and upgraded my pen to Delux Wacom Pen Gripper Status. Only 1 and 1/3 pencil sleeves were needed to make this baby look like it was sponsored by a gymnastics team.
My landlord said I should blog about this.
