Stuff You Can't Have

Apartment Living: Slapdash Repairs with Flair

2012-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

The advantages of living in a vintage 1920s apartment that is more than a little run down are numerous, including the ability to paint the walls however I want, drive nails at will, and basically treat the whole place like an art studio. However, the lack of maintenance does lead to things like ceiling leaks and peeling plaster. Here is one fix (ala David Ireland) for peeling plaster under the windows.

The problem: peeling plaster under window

The solution: gold acrylic paint and small brush

The result: intriguing gold under-layer

Tin Can Signage

2012-01-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

A walk in the rain and a find of three lovely beads placed atop a news stand by some mysterious stranger led to the following tiny tin signage. There are three beads held together with string. I live in apartment 33. The next steps were inevitable. To learn how to make tin can frames see Tin Can Frames Tutorial.

Three found beads, tin can lid, soda can pop-top tab, old upholstery material, embroidery, typewriter key

Installed on door

Transforming Boring Glass Light Fixtures

2012-01-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Apartment living comes with problems and many, many opportunities. One of them is boring standard light fixtures. In this case the fixture looks to be circa 1960. The "gold" nut at the center allows you to unscrew it from its base on the bathroom wall above the medicine cabinet.

Removed from wall, ready to be transformed

Side view

The solution: a collage using pages from a Chinese astronomy periodical, combined with little squares cut from Chinese paper used in ceremonies honoring the dead. The collage was created directly on the lamp, with portions attached using a glue stick. Once complete, the entire piece was treated to a wash consisting of a mix of metallic gold acrylic paint and water (doesn't show much in these photographs, but adds a subtle, dusty sparkle). Note that the paper bubbles horribly upon application of the wash, but shrinks back to its original tight fit when it dries.

Collaged fixture

Close-up, left side

Close-up, right side

Installed in bathroom

When lit

To restore fixture to its original boring condition, or to switch collages somewhere down the road, simply take the fixture down, let it soak for about half an hour, and then scrub away the paper.

Traveling Bottles - Shelf D

2012-01-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

The final shelf in the Traveling Bottles Project, converting little hotel amenities bottles into nonsense sculptures. To read about the project and view all of the bottles, click here.

Bottle Ten: broken jewelry, wire, and a melded rusted piece found on the railroad tracks

Bottle Ten from above

Bottle Eleven: broken jewelry, beads, broken pieces of a Venetian glass chandelier

Close-up of top

Bottle Twelve: screws, broken jewelry, twig, brass bird's foot found at metal recycling center

Overhead view

And here is the Traveling Bottles Project on display in my bathroom gallery:

Traveling Bottles - Shelf C

2012-01-05T01:08:00.000-08:00

Here are bottles seven through nine in the Traveling Bottles Project, which transforms one dozen hotel amenities bottles of shampoo, conditioner and the like into something else. Follow this link and you will see this current shelf as well as Shelf B and Shelf A, which contains an explanation of the project.

Bottle Seven: broken jewelry, copper chain, copper wire

Close-up of bottle seven

Bottle Eight: twig, broken jewelry, grass seed, and two silver charms from Bali (inside bottle) bought at the yard sale of a woman who dropped dead of a heart attack walking down the sidewalk in Berkeley in her mid-thirties

Close-up of bottle eight

Bottle Nine: rusted metal wheel, copper and silver chain, silver disks found in the sand on a beach in West Africa

Close-up of bottle nine

Traveling Bottles - Shelf B

2012-01-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the second in a series of postings on the Traveling Bottle Project, transforming tiny plastic hotel amenities (bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and the like) into something else altogether.

Bottle Four: broken jewelry, wire, nails, doll parts, silver medallions found on a beach in West Africa

Bottle Four: side view

Bottle Five: religious medallions, milagros, wire, beads, nails, broken tin candle holder, shattered auto window glass

Bottle Five: with candle lit

Bottle Six: broken jewelry, pins, doll parts, broken ceramic pig

Bottle Six: front view

Bottle Six: close-up

Click here to view Shelf A (bottles one through three).

The Traveling Bottles Project - Shelf A

2011-12-31T14:04:00.000-08:00

If you travel at all you have no doubt encountered, collected, and are now encumbered by an assortment of little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. These small containers given away by hotels as complimentary bathroom amenities tend to accumulate in any traveler's home, much like orphan single socks and Number 2 pencils.

While organizations like Clean the World have tried to come up with creative ways of recycling these little plastic ecological no-nos, here at Stuff You Can't Have an assortment of these tiny containers have been transformed into art as part of the Traveling Bottles Project. Below is Shelf A of the project. More containers will be displayed in coming days.

Bottle One: Broken jewelry, including broken coral necklace found in the sand on a beach in West Africa.

Close-up of Bottle One

Bottle Two: broken jewelry, shattered auto window glass, flamingo feathers collected in the Yucatan

Close-up of Bottle Two

Bottle Three: broken jewelry, nails, tiny rubber frog

Bottle Three: side view

Bang, Bang Shoot 'em Up

2011-12-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

I'll be interested to see how airport security reacts to this upcycled clothing concept. The ingredients: a Brynn Walker shirt scored at a thrift store for a few bucks; an appliqué created from a copyright-free image printed onto iron-on printer paper and then ironed onto a fabric remnant.

Seemingly innocent shirt

The slow reveal

Armed (and utterly harmless)

A close-up of the firearm

Idle Moments, Tangerine Stars

2011-12-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a case where the maker persona just keeps going and going and going...

After eating a small tangerine (maybe a satsuma), I started idly cutting the skin up with an X-Acto knife into little stars. Then I shoved them aside and left them on my work table. I am now finding it almost impossible to eat a tangerine without cutting the skin up into little stars.

Tangerine stars. Note the nice patina on my work table.

The stars dry out in a day or so and begin to look like a cross between stars and dried fall leaves. They still smell lovely when you hold them up to your nose.

Lots of stars

Long ago I realized the art principle that multiples are almost always better, and that is true of tangerine stars. You simply cannot have too many.

More and more stars

I started gluing stars to holiday gift wrapping.

Stars as adornment

The gift smells faintly like an orange

I like the way they look when strewn on my work table along with bits of fallen nature I've found on recent walks. I don't think a centerpiece has to be in the center, or for a special occasion. A little visual delight is all I ask.

I tried stringing some together on a piece of gilded thread.

The best idea so far: tucked into a handmade envelope and mailed off to a two-year-old who just happens to love "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The perfect greeting card for someone who cannot read. I included parental instructions on the envelope stating that at least one round of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" must be sung before the envelope is opened.

Greeting card for a two-year-old.

I mailed off freshly cut out stars so that they would still be supple and not brittle when going through the mail. What happens to them at the other end, once the wonder is over, is the two-year-old's problem.

For more entertaining things to do with tangerine (and orange and lemon) peels, see Orange, Lemon and Lime Boxes.

Recycled Envelopes How-To

2011-12-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Here are the how-to instructions for making the envelopes shown in a previous post, DIY Artfully Recycled Envelopes. These copious instructions make this seem complicated; it isn't. This is the quickest, easiest way to crank out a ton of interesting envelopes in a very short time, and the cutting is basically free-hand. Just go through the steps shown below once and you'll have it.

Sample finished product using page from recycled book about weather.

Materials: Used coffee-table books with interesting full-page illustrations, bought at thrift stores for less than $1 each; glue stick; scissors.

Page from book (left), template for envelopes (right)

Start by leafing through your book(s) and ripping out pages you think would create interesting envelopes. Create an envelope template out of a sheet of cardboard, cutting it to the size you would like your envelopes to be. As shown above, this cardboard template (6 inches x 4.5 inches) was created from the cover of one of the thrift store books.

Placing template on page

Place the template on the page, and try to position it over the most interesting portion of the page. This is going to be the front, featured section of your envelope. Make sure to leave at least one inch space on left and right sides of the page (these will be your side flaps), about 1.5 or 2 inches on top (this will be your top flap, sealed after you insert a letter), and enough space on the bottom so that when you fold the page, the edge of the page reaches the top of your template. If you're working with a large page and you end up with the bottom edge of the page overshooting the template, just trim it. You may also trim sides or top as desired. There is no need to measure anything! This is all freehand and eyeball work.

Make sure when page is folded, bottom edge of page reaches top edge of template.

Proceed to fold the page over the template as shown below, as if you were wrapping a package. Again, no need for perfection. The colors and printing on the envelope mean that it's very forgiving visually.

Fold page over template

Now unfold, remove template, and then refold the page the opposite way so that the graphic side is showing. Press seams firmly - you want to be able to see these folds for the next step.

Discard template, refold with graphic side showing

Unfold again and open up sheet with the wrong side facing you. The lines on the page below are drawn only for instructional purposes to show you where and how to cut out the envelope. Again, you don't have to do any measuring or drawing. All of this is done freehand.

Solid lines indicate fold lines; dotted lines indicate cutting lines.

Your fold lines become your eyeball cutting guide (though you probably want to take care not to cut your eyeballs). I find it's quickest and easiest to do each of these four (A through D) as one cut. For example, I start cutting up along the A foldline, and when I reach the horizontal fold line, I just pivot the scissors slightly on the diagonal and complete the cut. I want to stress again that there is no need for perfection, no need for the diagonal cut angles to perfectly match, no need for any measuring or drawing. Just cut.

Showing the cut-aways

Now you're ready to glue your envelope together, which involves simply gluing the two side flaps. When I'm doing a lot of glue stick work, I use an old mail order catalog as the working surface. That allows you to slop glue over the edges of the piece you are gluing. When the work surface becomes fouled with glue, just flip the page of the catalog and use the next page as a fresh work surface.

Gluing the side flaps

Make sure you cover the outer edge of the flap with glue, and glue to within a quarter inch or so of the fold.

Gluing a side flap

Flip your envelope over, fold each of the side flaps inward, and bring the bottom section up and on top of the side flaps. Press and smooth with your hand.

Fold bottom up and press down on top of side flaps

Finished envelope front

Finished envelope back

When you are ready to use your envelope, just glue down the top flap after you've inserted your letter or card. Obviously, you are going to need to also make and glue down a mailing label because writing an address directly onto the graphic envelope would be illegible. I like a torn paper effect for the labels. You can cut your labels into any shape you like. Here, I've printed out my return address on my printer (spacing the copy so that I get 8-up on an 8.5x11 page and then tearing them out). You could just hand write the return address.

Address labels, printed and torn out

Final product with label and stamp

These instructions are necessarily tedious to show you all of the steps. Once you get the system down (which should take about one practice envelope), you can churn these out really, really quickly. While fun for use in your own mailings, they can also make a nice gift when grouped in stacks of five or ten and tied with a ribbon. Adding a label with the recipient's return address would be a thoughtful touch.

DIY Artfully Recyled Envelopes

2011-12-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Great for mailing letters or greetings, great to bundle in packs of five or ten and give as a gift. All of the envelopes below were made from pages recycled from books found at thrift stores for less than $1.00. The weight of paper used for picture or photo books is perfect for envelopes. All of the envelopes below are 6 inches x 4.5 inches.

Envelopes made from a Japanese how-to-draw book

Close-up of envelope made from Japanese how-to-draw book

Back of envelope

Envelopes made from book on games around the world

Close-up of envelope made from book on games around the world

Back of envelope

Envelopes from Japanese book about World War II

Close-up of envelope from Japanese WWII book

These are just a sampling—you can get tons of envelopes from a well-selected book. You can also crank these out really quickly once you get the swing of it. For a how-to tutorial on making recycled envelopes the quick and easy way, see Recycled Envelopes How-To.

Meanwhile, in case you were wondering just how you make an address legible when the envelope is so colorful:

Mailing labels with torn edge

Make mailing labels and glue-stick them onto the envelope. You can use recycled paper for these also by using the blank side of printouts from your computer that you've put in your recycle pile. And of course you do have a printer paper recycle pile don't you? Here, I arranged and printed my address six-up on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of recycled paper, and then tore them out in the shape of labels. I like the torn edge effect, but you could also just cut them out.

Envelope with torn paper mailing label glued on.

And the final question: Do these make it through the mail? Why yes they do, with regular postage, no problem.

Seashell Wreath

2011-12-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

Remember all of those seashells you've collected on vacations around the world? Maybe you've put them in glass jars or in a bowl or, like my sister, stored them in boxes out in the garage. Tis the season to grab a glue gun, get out all of those shells, and get rid of your guilt for taking them off the beach and far from home.

Elaborate seashell wreaths can retail for $200 and up. Or you can assemble one in about two hours (less if you have a good mind for puzzles). For the base, you can use styrofoam wrapped with ribbon or muslin (glue the ribbon or muslin to the styrofoam), a wicker wreath base, or a straw wreath base. Here, I've used a straw wreath base about sixteen inches in diameter that cost less than $2 at a craft store.

Wielding your glue gun, start by gluing down your largest shells at spaced intervals around the wreath. Then glue down medium-size shells about half-way between the large shells. Then fill in with smaller shells. The whole thing rapidly becomes a puzzle project. I've glued down some smaller shells on top of a gap in two other shells. I've glued some really tiny shells and shark's teeth inside some of the larger scallop shells. Just keep rotating the wreath, filling in gaps, and facing more and more tricky challenges until you're done.

Here the wreath is hung on the wall. It could also be placed flat on a table with candles of varying heights arranged inside the wreath and used as a centerpiece. You could glue the wreath down onto a circular mirror of the same size.

Or, if you like found art installations and are an O'Henry fan, you could take a hike down a beach on Christmas day with your wreath and place it on the sand for some lucky wanderer to find. They'll be telling stories about their seashell Christmas wreath for the rest of their lives.

The Spectacular Walnut Advent Calendar

2011-11-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

I had a great-grandmother who lived until I was sixteen years old who was a master at turning holidays into magical extravaganzas. We called her Oma, and in this case I think I have finally managed to out-Oma Oma. This advent calendar requires about three days of work, depending on how fast you work.

Step One: assemble materials - walnuts in the shell; acrylic paint in gold, silver, and copper; old napkins or hankies (or just old fabric scraps of thin white cotton); vintage copyright-free Christmas images collected from the Web (search Google images); and iron-on printer paper.

Step One: assemble materials.

Step Two: Start cracking open walnuts, working carefully to get two perfect halves. You will go through a lot of walnuts in this attempt (at least double the end amount). Your goal is twenty-five perfectly cracked walnuts. (A late breaking tip from blog reader, liniecat: freeze the walnuts first and you'll get perfect halves. See the comments section below for her tips.) Use a tab of scotch tape to keep matched halves together or you will go insane as this project progresses. Paint the inside of shells with acrylic paint. Below we see copper, silver and gold.

Step Two: Crack and paint walnut halves

Intermissions: Save, bag, and refrigerate all of the walnut meat. Take one or more breaks during the course of the project with a favorite winter snack of sliced persimmon and walnuts.

Intermission

Step three: create twenty-five little pennant panels. Using vintage images you have collected from the Web, print the images out onto iron-on paper. Iron individual images onto panels of white cotton. Here, many of the panels are created using corners or borders from old hankies and napkins. Blanket stitch raw edges to prevent fraying, and hem the top to create a channel you will use to string the panels.

Step three: create pennant panels.

As always, embrace mistakes. Here, a little Christmas boy has been inadvertently ironed onto the panel upside-down. Now he looks sort of like the hanging man in the Tarot deck, foretelling bad luck. We will use this panel for day thirteen.

A new tradition: the unlucky Christmas boy

The goal is to create twenty-five individual panels. Ultimately, these panels will be strung together to create one or more Christmas banners to hang over doorways, windows, or whatever. Some of the panels, along with a test run to see what one of the the final banners will look like, are shown below.

Use ribbon or string, and secure a safety pin at one end for ease in running string through the top hems of the panels.

Testing the banner

Step Four: Believe it or not, we are now going to stuff the banner panels into the walnuts. Roll up individual banner panels, fold into thirds, and stuff into a walnut half. Create, print out, and cut slips containing twenty-five numbers in sequence from one to twenty-five. Insert one slip into each walnut with number staying visible outside the walnut.

Stuffing the walnut with a banner panel and number slip

Carefully dab glue onto the edges of each walnut half. I use 100% silicone glue because I find it easy to work with. I also use a toothpick to apply the glue because these edges are very small. Use whatever glue you are comfortable with. If necessary, you can hold the two halves together with masking tape while glue sets. I didn't find that necessary.

Glued-together walnut containing pennant

The final product: Below you will see the completed advent calendar, a bowl of walnuts. Make sure to remove all scraps of scotch tape at this point. The recipient of the advent calendar picks out the walnut of the day according to the numbers (i.e., walnut number ten on December 10) and cracks open the walnut to reveal the pennant panel. After unfolding the panel, it is advised that you flatten the panel beneath a heavy book for an hour or so to smooth it out. The panel is then strung onto a banner, which grows each day as a new walnut is cracked open.

The finished advent calendar

More Talismans

2011-11-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here is an addition to 21st Century Talismans.

Protection Against Urban Crime

Materials: broken auto tail light, tin can lid, pop-top tab, found scrap metal and glass, American sign graphic "enough"

Protection Against Writer's Block

Materials: scrap metal, broken jewelry, typewriter innards and key

21st Century Talismans

2011-11-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

It's a scary world out there, which is why it's a good idea to wear protective talismans. Here are a few I've fashioned over the years. I pin them on a vest and head out the door, metaphysically armed.

Protection from Car Wrecks and Breakdowns

Materials: flattened light bulb housing, found scrap metal, charms

Protection from Plane Crashes and Flight Delays

Materials: charms, old hardware, broken chains

Protection from Stumbles, Blisters and Muggings

Materials: Broken jewelry, Monopoly shoe, old rusted hinge, recycled charms

Eyeglass Curtains

2011-11-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Yet another pair of reading glasses with a snapped stem or a popped-out lens? Here I've turned what has been a periodic annoyance into a new decor concept: eyeglass curtains.

The frames of the broken reading glasses have been paired up with negatives from old photos. In this case, all images are from Oakland's Chinatown. The result is a combination of my Seeing project and a past assemblage on Inuit ghost windows.

Because I suspect that all of my reading glasses will continue to break I plan to continue this project, adding glasses to the curtains as time goes by.

Upcycled Man's Suit and Ties

2011-10-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

When I was trying on this grossly oversize jacket from the dollar rack at the corner thrift store, I notice a woman nearby watching me. "I'm not crazy, I have a concept in mind," I told her. And indeed I did, but it was a lot of work.

Step One: remove arms, cutting in towards neck to make it more vest-like than suit-like.

Step Two, not shown here, involved taking in the jacket about two inches on either side, which in turn involved unpicking and restitching the inside lining.

Part of the appeal: pockets, pockets...

...and more pockets. Pockets are power.

Step Three: select two recycled men's ties

Pick apart stitching on back of ties, starting at narrow end and working about three-quarters down the tie. Remove tie interfacing to that point also.

Use one tie to edge each armhole opening, using one of the inner flaps for the inside of the armhole and the body of the tie for the exterior side of the armhole.


Completed armhole - tie continues up and over shoulder and becomes free hanging in front.

The result? A vest with a gazillion pockets guaranteed to baffle the average man on the street.

Sporescape: Watching the Mold Go By

2011-10-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is the second in a series of "sporescapes," combining assemblage with live mold cultures. My first experiments with mold can be seen in my Living Mold Jewelry.

Little Piggies Baby Lure

2011-10-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

An oldie but goodie, this necklace has been around the world with me a couple of times and consistently demonstrates oddly magical properties. No matter where I wear it, whether Nairobi, Samoa, Sri Lanka or Salt Lake, small children in the vicinity are lured in, climb up onto my lap, and start playing with the necklace. When I first made it, the juxtaposition of pigs and babies made sense to me and apparently it makes perfect sense to the under-four set also. Stay tuned for the "how-to-make."

Baby and piggy charms from little plastic figures collected here and there. Somehow a little elephant snuck into the mix.

As worn

Make: Tips on how to make something like this out of most any plastic figure (try the bins at children's toy stores or go to a party supply store).

Step One: Hold a straight pin with a set of needle-nose pliers and place it over a candle flame until it is really hot. Jam the pin into a likely spot on the plastic figurine, using brute strength as necessary.

Pin jammed into back of baby's head

Step Two: Snip off the pointy end of the needle with a pair of wire cutters, leaving enough of the pin projecting out of the figure to form a loop. Use needle nose pliers to grip the pin and twist it into a loop.

Loop formed from straight pin

Voila! You now have a charm ready to hang from any chain. Piece together chains or sections of chain to form a double-loop necklace.

Charm ready to hang.

Seed Bomb Pin - Morning Glory

2011-10-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Part of the ongoing seedbomb series.

Found rust, broken jewelry, watch face, antique fragment of carved wood Chinese rooster head, morning glory seeds, scrap of Chinese love poem.

For more seedbomb pins and seedbomb bangles, click here.

Art from the Class Wars - Embroidered Toilet Paper

2011-09-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

A remnant from the American Class Wars circa 2011, when the stock market crumbled, unemployment rose, people lost their homes, and the Tea Party held congress and the country hostage in their bid for power.

This hand-embroidered toilet paper, stitched by the very poor, is designed to offer the very rich the ne plus ultra in bathroom decor and creature comforts. Unbelievably fluffy and soft to the touch, the paper is painstakingly embellished with 4-ply, pure cotton floss in an array of colors and designs.

From the "Second home in Napa with four bedrooms, five baths" collection

Detail from the Napa collection

Extended view of the Napa collection

Sneak peek at the new "Condo in Belize that looks just like a condo in LA complete with huge master bath, twin sinks, rainforest shower head, and sunken tub" collection

Upcycled One Buck Man's Shirt

2011-09-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Found: an over-size, button-down collar, standard, boring man's shirt in the dollar rack at the thrift store. The material: a really nice cotton-rayon blend and lots of it, since the shirt was so huge.

The result:

Front: A sewing pattern for a sleeveless shell was adapted by lengthening the shell and lining up the bottom with the bottom of the original shirt.

The front of the new shell blouse was cut from the back of the original, voluminous man's shirt.

Sleeves from the original shirt were cut into strips, sewn into long, thin tubes, and then sewn down to form spirals on the front of the new shell blouse.

The front of the original shirt becomes the back of the new shell.

The buttons still function.

The word "upcycled" has been emboidered vertically on the back.

To see a variety of other takes on men's shirts, see Repurposed Men's Shirts. To branch off into other repurposed clothing and assorted textile creations, see Clothing or Textile.

Eco Barbie - Experiments in Fused Plastic

2011-09-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

The stimulus: a garbage can by Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, overflowing with plastic bags.

Note, as we come in for a close-up, an illuminated message glowing on a discarded coffee cup inside the bin, created by: a) letters cut out of the metal container; b) sunlight; and c) the fact that someone put a paper cup in the can section of the bin, creating a perfect screen for the illuminated letters.

Whatever mishaps contributed to this transmission, it is clearly a message from on-high. In fact, it is so very cool that we move in for an even closer shot.

Message received, we move into action, collecting assorted colorful plastic bags and ironing them together to create 8-ply sheets of fused plastic, suitable for sewing into just about anything (if you can put up with the stiff texture and multiple needle pricks). There are many good instructions for how to fuse plastic bags on the Web. Try this one from Etsy on YouTube.

Now we have any number of beautiful sheets of fused plastic material at our disposal. What to make, what to make?

The decision was easy—a recycled, fused plastic raincoat, hat, and boots for Barbie, who is herself entirely made of plastic and will be here long after we are gone, maybe even longer than the Venus of Willendorf. There is no better spokesperson for the uber-plastic world we have created.

Eco Barbie, decked out in fused plastic rain gear amidst a plastic landscape.

Eco Barbie tries to run from the problem but she can't run away from herself.

Eco Barbie realizes that before she can solve the problem, she must come to terms with the fact that, being plastic herself, she is the problem.

Note that all art pieces I have ever made using a Barbie doll (such as the Wonder Barbies) always recycle the same Barbie doll. Because there is no good way to throw her away, I will keep her until I am dead and will then will her to my oldest grandniece and so on through the generations until the end of time.

Seed Bomb Accessory Pin - The Secret Garden

2011-09-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

For a more elaborate (and somewhat more practical) seedbomb accessory concept, see Seedbomb Bangles. The pin below is a one-off, fashioned from recycled scraps and showcasing a small watchcase featuring stored wildflower seeds.

GIGO - The Book of Garbage

2011-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

The GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) book was made from garbage that cycles through my house over a day or two (including the junk that arrives in the mail). The magazine pages and scraps are from magazines I fished out of the dumpster in my building.

Cover: Portion of fiber bar box, magazine scraps, junk mailer, nicotine gum plastic packets, nicotine gum foil. The scraps inside the plastic packets rattle around when you shake the book.

Pages one and two

Inside of fiber bar box, humming birds from used paper towels, flowers from scraps of pink plastic shopping bag

Scrap from cereal box, seagulls from junk mailer, magazine scraps, assorted plastic and paper refuse

Pages three and four

Inside of cereal box scrap, squares of shiny foil wrapper, "nest" of dryer lint, thread scraps, foil bits and paper refuse

Magazine page and clippings, used notepaper, return envelope that came with a bill despite the fact I pay that bill electronically, Netflix mailer scraps

Pages five and six


Magazine page, birds from foil wrapper containing Trader Joes seaweed, Netflix mailer

Portion of clear plastic lid, magazine pages

Pages seven and eight (the wetlands spread)

Magazine page and scraps, great blue heron from paper grocery bag, grass from green plastic garbage bag, assorted scraps of garbage among the grass

Fiber bar box, magazine scraps, clapper rail and foil water ripples from seaweed package, grass from green plastic grocery bag, assorted garbage among grass from garbage scraps

Back cover: inside of fiber bar box, dodo from old train ticket, lettering from magazine, pile of garbage from assorted scraps of refuse

Sporescape: The Angel of Blessed Bacteria

2011-09-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Based on earlier success experimenting with Living Mold Jewelry, I am currently working on several "sporescapes," combining assemblage with live mold cultures. They are growing, with greater or lesser success, in the dark confines of my storage closet. This is the first, more will eventually follow.

The celestial perspective

Paper Bag Printing: Exhibits III and G

2011-08-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

More experimental printing onto recycled paper bags. See the original post for background info. This time around, torn edges add to the intrigue. The "exhibit" stamps are from a bag of old stamps from a law court.

Close-up of Exhibit III

Close-up of Exhibit G

Paper Bag Printing: The Ball

2011-08-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

A recent work printed onto a recycled Trader Joe's grocery bag.

Cut used paper bag into 8.5 x 11 sheets

Click on image to see larger version

Detail from "Live by the Ball"

Experimenting with Printing and Paper #1

2011-08-23T02:30:00.000-07:00

Just how much can my printer handle? How does the possibility of printing onto different papers/backgrounds/textures affect decisions regarding the foreground composition? Let's see.


"Bird Brain" - Collage printed onto vintage encyclopedia page (click on image to see larger version)

Detail from "Bird Brain"

Antimacancer: Soothing Lavender Whatnots

2011-08-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite words is "antimacassar," the lace doilies used to cover the head and arm areas of chairs, originally invented to prevent gentlemen's hair oil (the Macassar oil) from staining the upholstery. The little whatnots below are a play on that word, and they have been dubbed "antimacancers." If you have friends or loved ones undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, you know how dismal those trips to a drab, chemical-smelling clinic environment can be. The solution? Give them a sniff of a summer garden to bring with them.

These little antimancancers are stuffed with freshly harvested and dried lavender. They can be pinned to a shirt or tucked under a pillow.

Freshly harvested lavender, drying out for a day or two.

This one and the one below can also be strung from a ribbon and hung around the neck

The more elaborate set of antimacancers that follow are made from bits and pieces of old handkerchiefs and broken jewelry.

This one incorporates a collages text/bird image ironed onto a vintage handkerchief scrap

Geek Chic: QR Code Patches

2011-08-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

First they swept Japan, then Europe, and now you see them everywhere in America. QR Codes use two-dimensional image codes to form a link between print media and the Web. It's a point-and-shoot way of obtaining information, phone numbers, text messages, and Web links by pointing your mobile phone at the code image and having the phone software decode the image and take the appropriate action.

What started as a marketing technique has been used here as a sort of anti-marketing technique. In many thrift stores you will spot otherwise attractive and well made shirts that are permanently marred by heavy duty marketing embroidery—usually on or above the pocket and in some cases on the sleeve. They're often priced even more cheaply than other thrift shirts because, after all, who wants to sport the logo of some defunct dot.com company on their clothing?

Two thrift shirts, about $2 each

The problem: heavy embroidery company logos stitched onto the shirts

The solution? Go to the following URL on the Web—http://www.qrstuff.com/—one among many that generates a QR code for free from any text, URL, phone number, or Google map location you enter. Download the codes, open the images in graphic software (e.g., Photoshop) and resize the image to whatever dimensions suit your project. Remember to reverse the image first, and then print it out onto photo transfer paper. Iron the image onto cloth, then use the cloth to create a patch to cover those unsightly logos.

The QR codes read "eat the rich." You might want to make a notation about what the code says right on the transfer paper so you can keep track of your patches.

The attractively mysterious geek chic results

Lost and Found Number Two: Found

2011-08-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

The second in a two-part series of lost-and-found wall charms. See Lost and Found Number One for the back story, or the Tin Can Frames Tutorial for instructions on making your own wall charms.

Materials: Tin can lid; pop-top soda can tabs; broken jewelry; scraps of beautiful hand-penned writing found in a parking lot.

Lost and Found Number One: Lost

2011-08-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is the first of a two-part piece called "Lost and Found." Both pieces are designed to be wall charms (click to see a tutorial on making your own wall charms). Both feature found scraps of a piece of paper beautifully hand-penned with an unfamiliar Asian language that I found in a parking lot.

Materials include: tin can lid; pop-top tabs; rusted painted tin disk found on the railroad tracks; fragment of auto tail light picked up on the street; little heart charm with original 25-cent price tag picked up at a flea market.

Curiosity Cabinet

2011-08-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

The first museums in the European tradition were curiosity cabinets filled with all manner of strange and wonderful things. Here the concept is taken one tweak beyond—the diminutive cabinet itself is a little curious.

Found: Magic Lantern

2011-07-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

This assemblage combines two pieces that have been knocking around my studio for years. The first is a beautifully rusted old candle lantern, the second a photographic glass plate image. The mirror at the back of the lantern, which reflects the light and doubles the illumination, was long gone when I fished the lantern out of a box of rubble at a salvage place, so in hobo tradition I substituted a tin can lid.

Old rusted-out lantern with tin-can-lid reflector

Lantern back, with hook for hanging from a belt

Tin can reflector in action

Lantern combined with glass plate photo image (in the dark, the image really glows)

Close-up of image (can you spot the woman by the fence?)

Whatnot Bag: Create Your Own Antique

2011-07-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

I made this bag at least a decade ago using scraps of fabric from an interior design fabric sample book I scored for under a dollar (and still have), a couple of vintage buttons, and a lot of hand embroidery. Since then, the bag has been tossing about in one handbag after another, carrying an assortment of small, loose objects. In that process it has been battered, bruised, and thoroughly well used. The inscriptions are from one of my favorite I-Ching readings.

Bag back: "You let your magic tortoise go and look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping."

Inside front pocket: "Misfortune"

What does this mean? In ancient China it was believed that the magic tortoise could fly through the sky and was able to live on nothing but air. The idea is that if you are given the ability to live on practically nothing and thrive, and you don't recognize this as a rare gift but instead complain about what you don't have, you will reap misfortune.

Repurposed Shirt #7

2011-07-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

The spiral mania continues with a very, very large man's shirt that required tweaking and retweaking during the process. It's large enough to serve more as a tunic, coming down almost to knee level (and I'm 5' 9"), and works well with black cropped pants.

Shirt front

This began as a classic, long-sleeve, button-down-collar shirt. The green touches were left-over material from Repurposed Shirt #6. I began by cutting off the sleeves and hemming cap sleeves instead. Then I cut away the collar and neck area entirely and used some of the original sleeve material to create a soft cowl collar. The two new front pockets were created from the bottom of the sleeves, and the original plackets and buttons from the lower sleeves make a nice pocket detail.

Close-up of one pocket and a black-on-black spiral

As with Repurposed Shirt #6, I sewed scraps of material into tubes and then sewed them down in a spiral pattern onto the shirt. Most of the spirals are green and use leftover material from Shirt #6. Above you see the sole black-on-black spiral, using a scrap of material from the original sleeves of this shirt.

Full back

Back detail

This shirt was so huge that at one point I realized it was just too big and shapeless. I solved the problem by turning the cap sleeves under yet another fold, and carrying that fold down the shirt on front and back to a distance underneath the sleeve. A square placket holds the folds in place and cuts the width of the shirt down to manageable (and wearable) size.

Placket underneath sleeves holding folds in place.

As with Shirt #6, I've capitalized on the deconstruction and reconstruction theme by using the shirt cuffs on their own. They can be worn as jewelry with another outfit. When paired with this shirt, they create the perfect abstract deconstructed garment, suitable for most any occasion.


Cuff with finished edge and sewn-on spiral.

Had Enough?

2011-07-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

The counterpoint to the "Buy More Stuff" pin, here's a badge for those who feel they have had more than enough of just about everything.

Made from a tin can lid, a pop-top-tab, and a little bronze Buddha charm scored somewhere in Asia at some time in the past.

Repurposed Shirt #6

2011-07-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

The sixth in the series of repurposed men's shirts. This began as a classic, long-sleeve, button-down-collar man's shirt.

Adaptations include cutting off the sleeves and rehemming (which gives you all of that sleeve material to play with) and cutting the neckline into a boat collar and using some of the sleeve material to create a neck border.

The real innovation is the spirals, that add visual interest and texture. Strips of sleeve material were sewn into long tubes, and those tubes were then stitched down in a spiral pattern on the shirt. The inside of the shirt fabric was slightly darker than the outside, and the tubes were all sewn with the darker fabric showing so that in addition to standing out dimensionally, they stand out a bit due to a slight difference in color.

Back of shirt

Close-up of back spiral

A second innovation resulted from contemplating the cuffs. Usually when repurposing a man's shirt end up tossing the cuffs (like throwing away the innards when cleaning a fish). This time they caught my eye and then became part of what is now a truly deconstructed, abstract man's shirt.

Shirt cuffs

Close-up of cuff

The unfinished cuff edge was bound using a blanket stitch. Another spiral made from sleeve fabric is added.

The result—a deconstructed shirt

The cuff idea is so good I'm already using it again, and variations will appear on this blog soon.

Survival Doll

2011-06-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Survival doll sheltering in place

when all else fails
Whether earthquake, tornado, terrorist attack, the rapture, or an alien invasion from outer space, you have only to grab your survival doll and run.
Concealed within this innocent-looking, seemingly worthless doll is everything you will need to survive just about anything that could possibly happen.

Other survivors you encounter may attack and try to steal your food, money and other supplies, but it’s unlikely they will bother with a doll.

arms
One contains a cup of white rice,
the other a cup of brown rice.

legs
Filled with soup makings, one leg contains dried lentils, the other split peas.

head
The core of the head is a plastic bottle filled with nails, fish hooks, and safety pins, wrapped with ten yards of twine and fifteen yards of fishing line. The core is then padded with cotton batting and encased in linen.

Facial features are hand-embroidered to depict a fearful expression as a reminder that fear is a useful survival tool, keeping you adrenaline-pumped and alert.

torso front
Felt heart conceals a cache of silver dimes. Minted prior to 1964, these dimes are comprised of 90% pure silver and can be used for negotiable currency after the global economy collapses.

torso back
The back unzips to create a storage space for a hidden cache of survival gear.

Matches and magnifying glass for starting fires

Whistle, jackknife, two small flashlights

Ace bandages, alcohol wipes, antibiotic cream, alcohol pads, bandaids, dental floss

CD used as reflective surface to signal planes, 8 GB jumpstick for data storage

Gaffer tape and a sewing kit with needles, thread, collapsible scissors

survival gear
All objects shown here fit into the survival doll torso. The doll may be customized for individual needs, and torso contents may be modified. Optional items include a spare pair of glasses, specific medications, a small handgun, or whatever you feel you’ll need to stay alive and thrive when disaster strikes. Specially tailored kits are available for seniors.

petticoat
A two-layer petticoat concealed beneath the dress contains a complete survival manual. Contents range from first aid, constructing a raft, and building shelter, to crafting primitive weapons and purifying water.

First aid and building a raft from a poncho

Underslip: How to make primitive weapons

Back slip layers: how to start a fire, purify water, build shelter

Survival doll setting up camp in the woods

Sleeping Stones

2011-06-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

Decades ago I researched herbal lore to create a series of magic charms. The formulas were based on the wisdom and writings of Pliny, Shakespeare, Ibn Al Awam, Indian sages, ancient Saxons, war-weary crusaders, and countless wise and wonderful old women from Tuscany, Sicily, Greece, and far-flung corners of the globe.

I have combined that herbal lore with my fondness for stones to create these sleeping stones, stuffed with cotton batting and an herbal formula for "general magic and seeing fairies." The stones are made from recycled sweaters, T-shirts and fabric scraps. Keep a stuffed stone by your pillow, give it a squeeze as you go to sleep to release the herbal fragrance, and drift away. Make some stones of your own.

The Secret Herbal Formula for General Magic and Seeing Fairies:

Thyme: The scent gives us strength, courage, bravery. In medieval times it was believed that the herb enables you to see fairies and nymphs that live in fields and meadows. Prevents bad dreams. Brings happiness and well being. Refreshes a tired person.

Rosemary: Brings good luck, prevents witchcraft. An herb of Mercury. Leaves placed under the pillow prevent nightmares. Quickens the mind and prevents forgetfulness. In Hamlet, Ophelia to Laertes, Act IV, Scene V: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray love, remember."

Found Fairy Gardens

2011-06-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

For those without a plot of land to call their own, try a pocket garden to lure sprites to your urban apartment. This project started when I found a piece of mossy redwood bark in the middle of my path during a walk in the rain.

Three tiny gardens.

Pebbles and a small stone create a fairy circle on a bed of moss.


This garden was created using a little recycled plastic box. This is the atrium fairy garden.

Close the box and you have a fairy terrarium.

The redwood bark fairy garden.

Situated in an old Altoid tin, decoupaged with Chinese good luck paper.

Closed, it's the secret Chinese fairy garden.

A garden for seashore fairies.

Stalk of exotic grass with blow-away seeds
that may or may not be fairies in disguise.

Close-up of fairies. One breath and they're gone.
Can you spot the two fairies in
the redwood garden above?

Another fairy close-up. These ones look a little evil.

Buy More Stuff

2011-05-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

In honor of Memorial Day, during which we in the USA honor our war dead by shopping and taking advantage of sales, here is one of a series of "Buy More Stuff" pins.

Materials: old wood ruler; soda pop-top tabs; tin can lid; broken jewelry;
clipping from 1044 tax schedule chart

Pimp Your Sunglasses

2011-05-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

A while back I posted "Pimp Your Reading Glasses" and recently came across this pair of sunglasses I'd pimped out long, long ago. They are so adorned they look downright dangerous. To make your own, simply gather up likely looking junk, broken jewelry and computer parts lying around the house and glue them to your glasses (I use 100% silicone glue, which is non-toxic and easy to work with).

Click on image to see detail.

Window Fantasy Close-Ups

2011-05-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

I posted some photos of these window treatments a while back, but those were taken from afar and didn't show details. To see those shots of the curtains as a whole, click here. While wandering around with my camera the other day I couldn't resist taking a series of close-ups. Again, the curtains are metal mesh and the pockets and other adornments were painfully hand sewn onto the mesh.

sea glass, broken jewelry

sea glass, plastic fish

sea glass

sea glass, plastic fish, button

sea glass, plastic fish

piece from a broken Venetian glass chandelier

sea glass, broken jewelry

laminated Chinese fortune and buttons

pieces from a broken vintage beaded curtain and broken jewelry

auto window glass fragments, broken jewelry, airplane charm

plastic cow, broken jewelry, religious medallion

faucet spigot, piece of old beaded curtain, broken jewelry

broken auto glass and tail lights, broken jewelry

doll arm, broken jewelry

pieces from old beaded curtain, broken jewelry

brass chicken foot from salvage yard, old beaded curtain pieces

Laminated Chinese fortune ("You think it is a secret but it never has been one"), glass buttons

flea market junk bin find

broken auto tail light, broken jewelry

Girl Reporter Hat

2011-05-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

An old felt hat, papier-mâché using discarded print-outs from a book project, and salvaged typewriter keys. Voila! An ephemeral fedora for an intrepid girl reporter.

The Cow Hits the Road

2011-05-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Yet another piece in the ongoing ontological puzzle: What about the cow? For more "what about the cow" pieces, use this link to see cow assemblages, cow dress, and cow end table.

Pin made from scrap of rusted metal, found shoe cleat, and cow milagro.

Basket Bird Houses

2011-05-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

When called upon to conduct an ad hoc workshop on birdhouses built from recycled materials in Greeley, Colorado, I hit a local thrift store, spotted a jumble of used baskets (found at every thrift store and white elephant sale) and came up with the following simple project. Now let's see if the birds move in. There are two photos below of most of the houses, one to show the construction and one showing the birdhouse in situ amidst the trees.

One basket is turned upside-down and placed atop another. A strand of floral wire (wire wrapped with tape) is secured to one side of the base basket, up through the "roof" basket, back down through the "roof" basket, and then secured to the opposite side of the base basket. Each birdhouse requires two baskets and one strand of floral wire. The wire is long enough to also serve as a loop for hanging the birdhouse, and the "roof" basket can slide up the wire to allow access to the inside of the base basket for seasonal cleaning. Cedar chips form a starter bed inside the birdhouse.

Entry holes were cut using scissors and/or a box cutter. While perches made from junk might have looked cute, apparently perches are a no-no according to birding sites—they are used by predators to gain entry to the nest.

One workshop participant, Janean Cox, brought an old hat for possible use in birdhouse construction, which was happily married to a basket to become another type of birdhouse.

The hat concept inspired another, more weather-beaten version fashioned from an old gardening hat.

Workshop organization, location, and trees for housing the final products were provided by Judith Richter.

Keep This Coupon

2011-05-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ever get one of those ticket stubs that says, "Keep this coupon"? Do you keep the coupon? I do. In fact, I see this as a direct order from unknown uber-authorities. To preserve my coupons in perpetuity, I sometimes turn them into jewelry.

Pin made from old tin can lid, paper coupon, pop-top tabs, and a hand-carved tramp art wooden pig.

Rubble Blues

2011-05-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

An abstract pin assembled from bits of rubble and broken jewelry picked up here and there, combined with a penny flattened on the railroad tracks.

La Chair (if you dare)

2011-05-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a high-threat chair that absolutely none of my visitors want to sit in. A flea market score for $20, this was a hospital scale used for weighing patients who can't stand up. I replaced the vomit-beige upholstery (so common in hospital decor) with light green vinyl. The scale still works. Have a seat—I dare you.

Theoretical Cupcakes

2011-04-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Soda can pop tabs

Broken jewelry chains

A month or so of used Sweet-n-Low wrappers

Found rust pieces

Old typewriter keys

Thread ends from a month of sewing

Kimono My House: Recycled Kimono Couture

2011-04-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Every decade or so, I get suckered into buying a kimono. I think it is going to look elegant and flowing and beautiful and I will lounge around looking elegant and flowing and beautiful. It turns out that there is absolutely no activity in my life for which a kimono would be the proper attire, including lounging around. Thus the recycled kimono couture. This one is called "Geisha in Paris."

This was a lovely black kimono with white silk lining. I took fabric off the length and panelled it into a frontpiece, creating a sort of '40s-look kimono blouse.

Close-up of front panelling

Kimono waving

What really makes this blouse is the two buttons up near the neckline. Knowing my passion for buttons, my friend Chris got these for me in an antique shop in Paris. They are little scenes of Paris on paper behind plastic domes, and they're quite fragile, so they are removable when and if I ever wash the kimono.

Button one. Can't get a really good picture because the plastic reflects light causing glare.

Button two. Note the hand-stitched button holes.

Au revoir—I'm off to eat sushi and will try not to dribble wasabi on my blouse.

Wackola Walker

2011-04-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

You may be hitting the skids, but you can always hit them in style. Instead of whining, wield your walker proudly and go raging into the night. When I broke my knee a while back, I endured the humiliation of having to use a walker until I decoupaged the hospital-gray piece of hardware.

In retrospect, I wish I had added a horn.

Rice is Nice: Emergency Survival Earrings

2011-04-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

Ingredients: Old watch casings; the graphics from a chopstick wrapper showing how to use chopsticks; spoon charms; and some dangles salvaged from old jewelry. In an emergency, smash the watch face and eat the rice.

Unlikely Shelves

2011-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Everything has got to go somewhere, which is why I started using unlikely objects as shelves. Two examples are offered below.

A rusted old toy typewriter serves as a wall shelf for a couple of my pimped-out eyeglasses.

A weathered vintage children's chair, hooked over two nails on the wall, serves as a catch-all shelf.

Barbie Hits the Road

2011-04-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

A necklace made from severed Barbie parts, little silver spirit boxes from Thailand (originally made to hold religious charms or relics), paper images, assorted chains, and genuine rubble from the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

From left, clockwise: Barbie on the beach; Barbie hits the road (that's a Barbie foot, severed at the ankle with the raw cut painted gold, viewed from above); and Barbie in the '89 quake, stepping over genuine earthquake rubble.

Recycled Tie Couture

2011-03-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

Step One:
Score a used man's tie at a thrift store. This one, which is 100% silk, cost $2.

Step Two:

Select a pin. This one is part of my "Traveling Shoes" series, made from found scrap metal and an old smashed silver Mexican huarache charm.

Step Three:

Loop the tie once around your neck and bring the two ends together with the narrower end underneath. This will automatically set the tie at a jaunty angle. Secure with your pin. In this shot, the tie has been looped twice around the neck.

Here's another take, using a vintage carved wood bird pin. This turns out to be not only a way of using old ties, but a really good way of featuring pins. In this shot the tie has been looped once around the neck.

Delilah Necklace

2011-03-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Another false artifact from an ersatz culture that never existed, assembled using a rusted piece from an electronic hair clipper found on the railroad tracks in Oakland, a "beard plucker" (like a pair of giant tweezers) from Uganda circa 1969, and some scavenged medallions from somewhere or other. For the woman ready to take on Samson.

Fusion Necklace: Exporting End-stage Capitalism

2011-03-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

The world scene seems almost overripe for this false product, so I'm putting it up on the virtual shelf for window shoppers to enjoy.

Here we have an antique hammered silver box picked up on the African coast over thirty-five years ago, combined with trinkets cranked out by the American advertising community. The silver Arab "prayer box" has a sliding lid on top and would traditionally contain prayers or words from the Koran. Now it contains a couple of vintage McDonald's coupons.

When I originally assembled this piece decades ago I didn't have the nerve to wear it because it seemed so politically/religiously incorrect. At this point, who's kidding whom? We are bombing the Middle East into democracy and we all know what that means: We get the oil and they get the Coca Cola, debit cards, cigarettes, and Big Macs. Welcome to the world of end-stage capitalism where we all go down the drain together. I plan to wear this lovely necklace on the voyage.

Definition of end-stage capitalism: Capitalism, like cancer, depends on unlimited growth for its survival. Unlimited growth of cancer eventually kills the host. How many pairs of shoes can one consumer buy? How much debt can you rack up on your credit cards? How much oil, water and land are required to support continued, unlimited expansion? For capitalism to work, you need a growing number of products and a growing number of consumers in perpetuity. Sounds ridiculous on the face of it doesn't it? And yet, like cancer, we are trying to spread our capitalism to other points in the world.

Moon Illusion Viewing Kit

2011-03-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Because the current super moon on March 19, 2011 offers such unparalleled viewing opportunities, we are launching an early release of the newest item in our false product line: the Moon Illusion Viewing Kit.

Why does the moon appear so huge on the horizon and so small up in the sky? No one, including astrophysicists or scientists, has been able to figure out what causes this illusion and neither will you. What our kit does is enable you to pierce the illusion and perceive reality: the moon is the same size no matter how huge a fat harvest moon may appear to be.

Front of Moon Illusion Viewing Kit depicting nighttime, shooting stars, and a closed eye.

Back of Moon Illusion Viewing Kit depicting eye open, piercing the illusion.

Back view of Moon Illusion Viewing Kit when opened up.

Front view of open Moon Illusion Viewing Kit, revealing super-secret moon viewing implements.

To pierce the mystery of the moon illusion, which has been recorded and puzzled over by observers for thousands of years, use one of the moon viewing implements. Any object about the size of a dime will do. Here, options include buttons, ten centavos coins from Mexico, and a painted rock. Choose one.

Strategic moon illusion viewing position.

Hold your button, coin, or rock as shown, extending your arm until the surface of the coin covers the moon. Try this when you see what appears to be a huge full moon on the horizon. Note the length of extension of your arm as you've reached a point where your coin fully covers the image of the moon. Later, when the moon is high in the sky and appears tiny, do the exact same thing again, extending your arm the same amount, and try covering the face of the moon with your coin. It fits! The moon is the exact same size whether on the horizon or up in the sky. You have pierced the moon illusion!

Postcard Collages

2011-03-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

When all of the old postcards folks have sent you are collecting dust and getting splattered by the radiator...cut them up and collage them together.

Tin Can Frames Tutorial

2011-02-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a little tutorial on how to use tin can lids to frame images and then go from there to making who-knows-what. This how-to project relates to a previous post (Tin Can Door Charm) and involves making simple door charms. In this case, they are Darwinian door charms designed to ward off Creationists.

1. Select an image. For these Darwinian door charms, I'm using a photo I took in Campeche in the Yucatan of a dinosaur exhibit held inside of a desanctified cathedral. Feel free to use this image to make your own Darwinian door charm.

2. Save and wash tin can lids. Keep a bunch handy for future projects. Glue image in the middle of the lid. You may want to glue the image onto another sheet of paper first (see lower left lid) to assure that when the frame is complete you don't have unsightly gaps of tin showing.

3. Image centered and glued to tin can lid.

4. Use needlenose pliers (a toolkit must-have) to bend one edge of the can towards the image.

5. Once you've got the bend started, use the pliers to mash down on the bend, flattening it against the lid. Press firmly with pliers all along the bend.

6. Bend opposite edge of can lid in the same manner, and proceed to flatten the bend firmly in the same manner.

7. Bend lower edge over and press firmly into place with pliers. Pay particular attention to mashing down the corners so that you don't have sharp edges sticking out.

8. Bend and flatten final edge of can with pliers. At this point you've completed your tin can lid frame.

Voila!

9. Now you'll employ a soda can flip-top tab as a hanger. First, flatten the tab with your pliers to mash down any sharp edges.

10. Glue the pop-top tab to the back of your frame, with the nicer, smooth side of the tab facing front. I use silocone glue for everything, but use any glue that will work with metal-to-metal bonding.

11. Here I've taken some broken bits of jewelry and glued them to the bottom back of the frame. I then suspended a charm and a little crystal (from my junk jewelry boxes) from them.

11a. Another assemblage of broken jewelry parts glued onto the back of a frame. Note how messy the glue looks on the back. Happily, it doesn't matter.

Here are the finished Darwinian door charms:

Here, the jewelry has been glued onto the front of the piece.

This one fits nicely into my ongoing "What about the cow?" theme. See the postings under the topic area "god" to see more cow pieces.

Tin Can Door Charm: Warding Off Self-Pity

2011-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the tradition (found in cultures around the world) of posting charms or amulets above or near a doorway to ward off evil, I've crafted my own and encourage you to do the same. This talisman is fashioned from tin can lids, a section of an old ruler, pop-top tabs, broken auto glass, and a graphic image or two.

Tears of broken auto glass

An Utter Waste

2011-02-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the Isabelle de Borchgrave show of paper dresses at the Palace at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, I went to the ladies' room and was still mulling over her work and the medium of paper when I saw the paper toilet protector dispenser in my stall. I grabbed a few sheets, tucked them in my purse, and pursued the project you see below. So I guess you could say this work was previously on display at the Legion of Honor—sort of.

All elements are made from toilet protector paper, including the "beads"

For the purple overlay, I first drew the decorative pattern in gold. I then painted the sheet of paper protector on the reverse side with acrylic paint. The whole thing stuck to the table and tore, so I used scraps from that protector as collage elements in this final piece.

What to do with an object like this when complete? The answer seems obvious.

My favorite stage - gorgeously crumpled.

Skype Puppy

2011-02-17T01:52:00.000-08:00

As noted in an earlier post, Skype Dogs enable cross-continent puppet dialogues using Skype technology and the computer window as a stage. The Skype Dogs in the previous post were made for fun-loving adults. When you make a Skype canine to fit the hand of an almost-two-year-old, it's called a Skype puppy, and here it is.

Ready to Skype

Excited and surprised

Taking the stage to sing one of many dog-related songs: "How Much is That Doggie in the Window," or "You Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog," or Dylan's basement session rendition of "You Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around."

Skype Dogs

2011-02-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

"Skype Dog" is both a noun and a verb. The computer window you see or broadcast from while Skyping is also a perfect sock puppet stage. So far I've made two Skype Dogs—one for me and one for my sister in Colorado—so we can Skype Dog back and forth to each other. Unleash the hounds!

My sister's Skype Dog, as yet unnamed.

Ready to Skype

My Skype Dog, named Beso ("kiss" in Spanish).

Beso goes a little berzerko

Shadow Art

2011-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

This piece is almost impossible to photograph—installed in a dark hallway and normally illuminated by candles. I've skirted the problem by using a flashlight. The complete installation includes six little candle-lit figures and a central piece of framed embroidered metal-on-metal screen. Three of the figures are currently on loan to the Oakland Museum. Here are the remainder.

The little figures are thin copper, fashioned after images from photographs of me dancing on the roof of a three-story Julia Morgan house in Berkeley.

Found: Shadows

2011-01-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

Shadows — the most elusive art form. Here are a few found in situ in the Yucatan. In the next post I'll share a work using shadows if I can figure out how to photograph it.

Felt Buttons

2011-01-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

An experiment in the course of trying to stay warm during the winter in Northern California.

Adapted pattern

The starting point: a blouse pattern converted into a jacket of polar fleece and adapted in a number of ways. Pattern pieces were simply cut out and then blanket-stitched together; no need to hem with polar fleece. The collar has been adapted into an oversized teardrop shape. Pockets have been added.

New teardrop collar

For the buttons, I tried an experiment, cutting abstract shapes out of felt, layering a piece or two, and using the felt as buttons.

Felt button

To use the felt button, you just fold or squish it together, pull it through the button hole, and flatten it out again. To my surprise, it works perfectly, particularly in combo with the polar fleece.

Pull button through button hole

And there you have it — felt buttons.

Found: Floating Ephemera

2011-01-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

Back from the Yucatan. Below we not only have some stuff you can't have, but stuff you can't even make. This art was created by north winds tossing seaweed about in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Celestun. After standing thigh-deep in the water for a while, watching these shifting marine assemblages float by, I grabbed my camera and started to photograph the fleeting show.

How to Create an Ad Hoc Protest Organization

2010-12-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

Remember when folks used to march against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? That was before we elected Obama, he increased the troop count, and somehow the whole anti-war movement seemed to just fade away. Back in the protest days I created my own little anti-war organization on a whim before I went to an anti-war rally in San Francisco. I designed the logo, ironed a printout onto cloth, and sewed it onto the back of a shirt. During the march, various women of a certain age came up to me to ask how they could join CAW. I had to tell them CAW didn't really exist, it was just something I made up.

What does all of this mean? The yuppies were right: it's all about marketing and branding, something the antiwar movement could benefit from right about now. Come to think of it, so could Obama.

The Little Shoes Now

2010-12-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Where are "All My Little Shoes" today? The edible ones were eaten or have long since rotted. The rest are ensconced in a vintage electric rotating watch display in the section of my apartment I call "Party Corner."

To see the little shoes, start with the "All My Little Shoes" introduction (click here), and follow the links from there to see the edible section, ephemera section, and etcetera section.

All My Little Shoes: Etcetera

2010-12-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Astroturf

Copper

Cork


Emery Cloth

Gold Mesh

Nylon Screen

Truck Tire Inner Tube

Sandpaper

Metal Screen

Sponge

For the back story/introduction to the All My Little Shoes project, click here. To see the edible shoes section of the project, click here. To see the ephemeral section of All My Little Shoes click here.

All My Little Shoes: Ephemera

2010-12-02T23:13:00.000-08:00

Carbon Paper

Cigarette Pack Foil

Comedie Française Stamps

Dollar Bill

Aluminum Foil

Lottery Ticket

Newspaper

Sewing Pattern

Toilet Paper

Campbell's Soup Label

Wax Paper

For the back story/introduction to the All My Little Shoes project, click here. To see the edible shoes section of the project, click here. To see the final "etcetera" section click here.