Let it begin!

It has finally started... I'm supposed to get in gear, and plan a wedding. There seem to be new things to think about around every corner, exciting and frustrating. I'd like to do a lot of the little details myself, but I get SO many ideas sometimes, it would be 10 years before I could get married, if I tried to implement them all. Apparently, I don't have 10 years before May.

First thing off my plate is my hair. I have to admit, I'm a $15, hair cuttery kind of girl. If it looks funny... it grows back, and it looks different the next time I cut it anyways. I figured, this might not quite be the appropriate approach for a wedding (at least not mine). But I'm looking to keep things within budget, and as Eco-friendly as possible.

Natural Fusion... enters stage right. I found them on the web... by searching for Eco Friendly hair salons in my area (Frederick MD). They were really cool! The salon didn't smell icky... I got some highlights.. my hair didn't smell icky... actually it smelled wonderful. And no one made fun of me!! Ok that might be bad business for any one, but they were very friendly, and laid back... and extremely professional.

They asked ME what I was & was not willing to do for my hair, and listened to me, and we came up with quite a fun style. My stylist was Susan, very cool! And for the wedding Earl, will be doing my hair. It was really so wonderful to be helped, not up sold, or talked down to (on account of lacking that part of the X chromosomes, that understands hair & makeup). I don't think I've ever been so happy walking out of a hair salon. Thanks guys.

Chocolate bag

Argggg, mmmmmmm. This was my valentine's present to my lover. It umm, killed my diet as well, as he could not eat it ALL by himself :-)

This was based on a 2006 article by Ken Bookman in the Washington Post was called "A Bag That's Good Enough to Eat", featuring how to make a chocolate bag. Mine doesn't look quite as good as the one in the picture... but it sure tasted good!! The bag is made up entirely of semi sweet chocolate... and I filled it with fresh berries, fresh whipped cream, and my own "Bailey's" chocolate mousse. I was amazed how well the bag left an impression on the chocolate.

Happy Valentines Day!

The little one, built a shoe box to take to school yesterday, so he and all of his classmates could exchange valentines and treats. The shoe box HAD to be painted red & gold (for you Harry Potter connoisseurs, the house colors of Gryffindor), and have a slit in the top to accept envelopes. The lid was also important, so that he could also take it off, and get at all the envelopes. The following TV is my adaptation of this age old school tradition.


The TV was gutted, and the insides recycled. Then I made a fused glass panel for the front, and sandblasted the back, so the light would appear soft, and the glass translucent rather than transparent. Artist friends of mine were instrumental in teaching me about the glass, and in making this. (Their own work is extremely impressive: Eileen Martin, and Kathie Lynch)


I added a CFL light in the back of the TV, and a switch outside. (roll over the above image to see it turn on & off)


I then collaged and painted the piece, incorporating old letters & their stamps. This flying woman is in charge of delivering "AirMail". The roses are made of soda cans.


This painting style was a little different for me, but I really enjoyed getting to play, and think about what all those notes and letters ment to me.


The old VCR slot, is of course where the notes go it. The little one, has decided that when the small buttons below get pushed certain things should happen. The lips, you get a kiss, the hand, you get a hug... the arrow, you get to be the ring burrier (that's what he called it once... it stuck), at our up coming wedding.


And of course there is a way to get at your love letters ;-)


Happy Valentine's day all!! I hope you're feeling a little love where every you are. I know we seem to make valentine's all about "romantic" love, but it has always seemed to be really limiting to me. Especially when I had no "romantic" love around, but could appreciate the love of friends and family, or just accepting and appreciating myself. So to all of you out there without someone to dote on you, I highly recommend you give yourself a little love & appreciation today... go play!

Recycled roses for your sweetheart

I got the idea for these, from paper flowers I used to make, from a book called "Bloemen van papier" by Hans van Eck. I though he came up with the most beautiful paper roses. Only problem was, when I tried to adapt the pattern exactly, I couldn't get the aluminum to bend properly. And I didn't want to use epoxy to attach everything, but soldering failed miserably (aluminum is really hard to solder, according to the web... I should have listened). I tried wiring things together, needless to say, non of it worked... Until , I got a little smarter, and modified the pattern. (you can find a pdf of my pattern at the bottom of the page).
What you'll need: aluminum cans, gloves (these suckers can get sharp), box cutter, needle noes pliers, and wire cutters, regular scissors, china marker, short aluminum rivets 1/8 inch or 3mm, #6 washers, wire, hole puncher that can punch a 1/8 in hole, rivet gun... oh and a hammer came in handy.
First I cut out my pattern pieces in sand paper. this is not necessary, but certainly keeps them around longer, and makes them easier to trace around. (A trick I learned from my mom).
Next I took on the aluminum cans. Cleaning them out ahead of time keeps things from getting sticky. Use gloves!! You will need 2 to 3 cans per flower. Take the box cutter and make a slit in the top of the can right below where it starts to bend. I make a slit in the bottom before the bend as well.
Then simply cut off the top & bottom with a pair of scissors. (Not your sewing scissors!), I find it easier, after I cut the top, to cut the length of the can to the bottom side, and then cut the bottom off.
Should end up looking like this. Put the top and bottom aside for recycling... or another project :-)
Using a china marker, outline the pattern pieces, on the aluminum
Now cut out all of your pieces.
You'll need: 1 "flower shape", 2 small "windmills", 1 large "windmill", and 3 large "petals".

Using a hole puncher, punch 1/8 holes in each one, because we're using 1/8 rivets... for the large "petals", punch the hole in center of the small circular part at the bottom of the petal. For the others, punch your hole in the center.

Take a piece of wire, and create a small loop. The wire will allow you to attach your rose to things, or make a bouquet. You don't want wire that is particularly thick, as that will make the whole thing harder to rivet.
You are going to assemble your parts on to a rivet as shown (the flower structure blow up is below). Rivet, 1 washer, loop of wire over rivet, flower pieces, and then the final washer.
* 3 petals off set,
* then large "windmill",
* then 2 small "windmills" off set
* and small "flower"
Should look like this in your hands, with the top of the rivet poking through the center.
Put in rivet gun, squeeze trigger, until the back shaft of the rivet comes off, and the front squishes (technical term ;-) ) . Before I start shaping my flower, I find it is sometimes useful to hammer on the top of the rivet, to flatten it a bit, and keep the top washer firmly on. It has been known to pop off sometimes, but the washer is integral, and without it the really flexible, tear able aluminum comes off the rivet when you start to work with it.
OK, start building your flower... I have all of the shiny sides of the petals facing up, so this will be a silver flower, (easier to photograph). If you want to see more of the color of your can, flip the flower pieces over when loading them on to the rivet.

Using round nose pliers, start sculpting the little flowers petals to pop out towards you. Making a bit of a cone. I find this to be the hardest part, getting these first 5 petals done.
Once you've done your first petal, start sculpting the next from the opposite(ish) side.
And on the the 3rd petal, still creating a bit of a cone. Squishing the aluminum down at the base helps sometimes too.
All 5 first petals done.
The next layers are a bit easier to sculpt, and you can bend back the tops of the petals a bit to make them show.
For the large "windmills" and petals, I like to start using a pencil, or whatever's handy to bend the petals back even more.
A rose!!

More roses!

You can get creative and use other cans for leaves :-) Have fun!!

PDF of pattern HERE

The Sneakrets' are OUT!!!

I think I've been lost in these all week! My sneaky Sneakrets, little pillows, that I have been machine embroidering/collaging. They're a ton of fun to make, as I am hardly sure what exactly will come out each time. Only, they are also an amazing amount of work... but worth it, they turned out to be great cute pillows. And even before I could think to put them on Etsy, they have been snatched up, on commission in a couple of my favorite places. The Muse, in downtown Frederick, totally my favorite store !! And I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction at the VisArts center in Rockville.

That was a bit of a fluke, in that, I got to have a night out alone (sigh, small luxury), and visit a friends studio opening. The opening was wonderful, and good to see a lot of friendly faces, many of whom I had not seen since my lover's accident. Plus it's so nice seeing someone you care about succeed, and enjoy, wow!! Didn't get to chat with her as much as I would have liked, ... but it was so great & wonderful to see her glowing, I just liked enjoying the evening. While I was there, I had agreed to show another friend what I was working on, and brought her a couple of pillows to check out.


The reaction was so positive, and so kind ( I have such a hard time putting myself out there, in the non cycberspace world) it really made me feel good. Especially to have fellow artists, get a kick out of them. They loved the totally hidden, invisible zipper, sneaky pocket, although many loved them without even knowing about the pocket. Then they started brainstorming about all of the goodies you could put inside them. I was sticking to the conservative, notes & rings ... but got a great chuckle out of the hints of "prophylactics" and "vibrators.... you know the little ones". How to have your room look respectable when the in laws showed up, or the little ones come snooping!

What would YOU put in a Sneakret?