These are the tiles I decoupaged for my father for father’s day. We have just bought a cape house on Cape Cod. I started going there when I was six months old so Cape Cod has been a big part of my life even though we only go there for a week every summer. We’ve been going to the same house for every summer since I was six months old. But since my parents are looking to retire soon (after I graduate) they decided to buy a house in Eastham. It is close to the town we used to go to every summer and about 30 an hour away from Provincetown. I thought it would be a nice present to use some of the digital family photos we have kept in archive on the main computer and decoupaged them on to white tiles using scrapbook paper. My town’s recycling center has a take it or leave it place for things you want to get rid of. You can find a lot of decent items there. I’ve gotten frames, and other craft supplies. I found a couple dozen plain white tiles and thought I could probably do something with them. I took them and here is what I used them for… The idea arose when my mom told me the kitchen counter top couldn’t hold heat and needed a heat coaster, so I decoupaged six costers for whatever use.

Today I finished them. I used grey felt for the back and furniture feet for the coasters. I still need to put another coat of varnish on them and will do that soon.

Source: Water Ballow Luminaries

11 FEBRUARY 2009
by heather
Candletech has instructions for the coolest candle-making project I have EVER seen! Using balloons filled with lukewarm water, you can make these amazing candle luminaries by dipping balloons in wax. I love the organic shape of the luminaries, and this project looks so fun! They are so elegant, and nobody would ever guess you used dollar store materials for this project! These would be great table decorations for a wedding or other formal occasion, or just pretty to scatter around your home.
The comments section of the tutorial also provides a lot of valuable insight for making this project. Commenters had better luck with 7″ or 9″ balloons (instead of the water balloons used in the tutorial). Use battery-operated tea lights to avoid melting through the luminaries (the metal-cupped tea lights can possibly get warm enough to melt through), or add sand in the bottom of the luminary to keep the tea light from melting through.
Other commenters suggested adhering something to the outside of the wax to add additional interest (although I just LOVE them as they are!), or using multiple colors of wax in several dips and then carving away to allow different colors to show through.
The project recommends high-melt paraffin wax to avoid the melting

issue when used with tea lights. If you use battery-operated tea

lights, you will avoid this issue and can use other kinds of wax to

make your luminaries. Melt down candles from the dollar store, perhaps? Get beeswax from your local beekeeper or farmer’s market?
Project Estimate:

• • Paraffin Wax*, $1 (find at the grocery store in the canning section)

• • Balloons, $1

• • Double boiler, on hand

• • Cookie sheet, on hand

• • Battery operated tea lights, 2 for $1

Total cost: $3

*one commenter said s/he made 15 luminaries out of about 8 lbs of paraffin, so figure about half a pound of wax per luminary. You will likely need multiple blocks of wax from the grocery store to get started.

Instead of using wax, I want to use cold porcelain.

My Kaolin Clay came today. I hope to get Rabbit Skin Glue soon and then seeing if I can replicate that Smart Mud recipe.

I am debating about getting 1lb of rabbit skin glue or try and find a smaller version online. I have a gift card to dick blicks and buying the rabbit skin glue would use up most of what is left.

I love plant texture. I went to take advantage of some of the sun that came out today, but ended my walk because it started to thunder again.

I think I want to become a micro photographer. I just love the microverse and seeing things you wouldn’t normally see. I think when I get a camera upgrade I will ask for one that will take micro pictures.

Some photos I took at my grandma’s house today. Extremely happy with the turn out.

So I’m sharing what I’ve been slaving my way through these past two weeks trying to get work done for this class.

I *do* have a working pinhole camera, but my b/w photo skills are absolute crap because I’ve only had one photo class and it was in senior year of high school, and even then, i didn’t learn much. I need to practice, I love photography, but I just don’t have the equipment…

So here is what I did instead of pinhole negatives. I used digital negatives, basically printed out an inverted b/w photo on regular paper w/ a regular inkjet printer and waxed the back. I used some of my best digital photography, some personal shots, and family photos. You know how when you spill oil on paper and it becomes transparent? Well beeswax does that and it allows you to make the back of paper transparent so you can make a negative.

I really enjoy doing this, I need to find some emulsion that is easy to reproduce and do more…

But really with this class you need to get your coating skills set and I think that’s what he’s looking for more than anything..

Cyanotype Print 01

Cyanotype Print 02

Cyanotype Print 03

Cyanotype Print 04

Cyanotype Print 05

Salt Print 01

Salt Print 02

Salt Print 03

Salt Print 04

Salt Print 05

Van Dyke Brown 01

Van Dyke Brown 02

Van Dyke Brown 03 – I really like this one.

Van Dyke Brown 04

Van Dyke Brown 05

Van Dyke Brown 06

Now off to get something to eat, and go to sleep cause I’m making myself wake up at 7:30 am in the morning to be right at the lab at 9 am so I can stay on top of shit. If I don’t the earliest would be Saturday, and that’s actually kinda late.

So while in this class today, there was a tour group that came in and observed the class and a random man looked over my work and said, “I like what I’m seeing.” He doesn’t know it, and maybe he knows something about photography, but just hearing those words come out of a complete stranger made my freaking day. My professor hasn’t seen a lot of my work so I have no idea what he thinks…!

http://kglyphics.com/music/piano1edited.mp3

The recording kind of sucks, so I apologize but I’ve been working on this composition for awhile now. I think I came up with the melody at the beginning of this year. I don’t have any skill in music composition and just like making up songs for fun. My Piano skills are advanced beginner so I don’t know a whole lot about that either. But I do and use what I can. 🙂 Let me know what you think!!

Also I think I need to come up with a title for this.

Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Another-World/863938

Made this tonight for relaxation… haha

Had a busy week.
Wednesday my family and I went off to the MFA to see the new wing, which featured Art of the Americas (ancient to modern times). Visual overload we decided. In the modern section I saw a cool exhibit on history of photo processes. Wednesday evening my family and I went to the Noodle house and I had Wonton Soup, so good. I ate it all.

Today my mom and I went to the ICA to see their newest exhibit. Wasn’t terribly exciting, unfortunately. Its stuff I’ve seen. They still had Shepard Fairey’s stuff up. As much as everyone hates the scandal with Fairey I really enjoy his work, because he uses a really unique process to make his graphics. Afterwards we got our addiction, which is Dunkin Donut’s Ice Caramel lattes <3 love ’em. At 3 pm I had my first business meeting with my first real client. 🙂 And by real I mean, like no mutal or family friends kinda thing. He wants a website comp by Sunday, so that means I’m working Friday and Saturday!! Besides getting a hair cut on Friday and packing on Saturday, I’ll probably be working on and off. I also want to try that cold porcelain recipe.

As an artist, I’m a big advocate for biodegradable and environmentally friendly processes and materials. May be unexpected, but I’m seriously thinking about getting my masters in Materials Science. The subject has been fascinating me since, I started my research. It would be really cool to learn how to make polymers, fabrics, metals and alloys stuff our stuff is made of… 😉

So I found this material on OpenMaterials (new favorite site) and it’s sheets of material made of green tea. SO COOL.

Treehugger recently reported on BioCouture, a fashion research project based at Central Saint Martin’s College in London and led by Suzanna Lee, which seeks to grow textiles from a vat of liquid:

The process uses a sugary green tea recipe, to which, a bacterial culture is added. It takes about 2-4 weeks to grow a sheet that is thick enough to use. Sheets are then dried down; either shaped over a wooden dress form–like the ghost dress and ruff jacket –or sewn together conventionally. Depending on the recipe the material can either feel like paper or–more desirably–like a vegetable leather.

In testing with dyes we found no need for mordant [a substance used for dyeing fabrics] and an incredibly small amount of dye goes a long way so it’s eco-credentials go through the entire process. We also recycle a percentage of the fermentation liquid.

So I found new work music, sleep, meditation, whatever music. Its Aquaristica, by Adult Only. Its lounge, chillout, relaxing, background and ambient kind of music. Very futuristic, at least in my mind.

I know I already wrote a post, but I need to get some more stuff off.

I am so tired of school.. SO tired of it.
I was deemed capable of being a graphic designer in sophomore year.
Junior year has taught me that I am even more capable.

Second semester of junior year, I’m sitting here thinking…

Otayyyy can I haz job nao?

I saw a job available at the MFA for a Research Associate in Egyptian art, I know enough about Egyptology to be majoring in it. I wish Moravian had Egyptology. I want to apply, bad.

I am so bored. Of everything.
I do the research I do because I’m bored.

I need to be entertained and not the mindless entertaining by playing video games, watching movies, having house parties, that kinda normal stuff bored college students do.

Pfft.

But I feel so restricted.

The way I see it, I don’t think my parents understand what it means to be a creative person.

To have ideas flowing through your head ALL THE TIME.

ALL THE TIME.

I want to make stuff all the time.

I want to push my ideas forward, but I’m too damn laid back to do anything about it.

I can’t just sit here and not do anything. I have potential, just don’t know where to release it.

And of course battling the never ending inner battles of being an extrovert/introvert.

#suchislife

Hooray for spring break! I can finally make a post.

hectic week..

Finishing up honors poster project, getting payment info together and stuff, was busy with that for most the week, making sure everything is O.K.

Saw Mirko Ilic on Wednesday. He was interesting, though I already saw the pepsi logo lecture over christmas break. Was gonna send it Anne actually, but totally slipped my mind.

The esoteric influence of the golden spiral, gravity, etc on the logo was interesting I thought, since it’s kind related to what I see in design. As a ‘mystic’ I enjoy the mystical and esoteric side of things.

The thing he left out though was that Pepsi was trying to portray the Pepsi franchise, the Pepsi Universe, and therefore that’s why they used the golden spiral, gravity, etc.

I was really happy to hear that people need to just sit and think creatively. Really, that’s what I do, I sit and think. I research what comes to mind. I research my wonderings and I wonder a lot.

A lot.
How can you be an artist and not wonder.
Wondering how nature builds herself through chemistry, particle physics, quantum physics, electrodynamics physics, etc. hyper-dimensional physics…
Wondering how we can dissect this splendidly detailed hologram we swim in.
Wondering how we can penetrate this splendidly detailed hologram we swim in.

Bruce Nauman, a 3d artist of Neon signs stated, “The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths.”

I agree.