hello

Just stopping by to say hi, in case anyone still visits. Hi!

My latest "distraction" has been my good friend's dental school application. He e-mailed me a copy of his personal statement, and well, let's just say it was not a bestseller. And he knows it and that's why he's enlisting help from his friends. It's never easy to request help or accept it, but in this case I think it was a smart decision. Dental school is not an easy thing to get into and, of course, you'd ideally like to get into a good one with good training. Am I right?

So I've been busy helping my friend draft out an outline, rephrase sentences, and providing a much-needed structure. (I know with my own experiences in writing such darned things as personal statements that, sometimes, it's difficult and frustrating to write when there is no direction.) A research paper is easy because someone is telling you what to write about, what to look out for and what to accomplish. Y'know?

Anyway, I hope this blog picks up again in the fall semester. That is highly unlikely as I will be finishing up my last semester of undergraduate study. And, as is fate, I have a bunch of tiny courses (avg. 2 units per course) in my schedule as opposed to 3 or 4 bigger courses. Oh well. AND - I'll be back here at Glide once a week to volunteer with the case manager. AND - I'll be sharing the responsibility of being workshift (fancy schmancy name for house chores) manager at my cooperative house. So... I've got a plate full on me.

But, do not despair, I will certainly make time to write and blog and post lovely photos again!

Meanwhile, I've been working on getting those dolls all sewed up and getting those prints (wip I've mentioned countless times before) all printed up.

It'll be fun. I'll barrage you with lots and lots of catch-up photos!

So tell me, what art projects have you been doing? And how have you given back to your community?

Lotta Jansdotter + Screen print samples

I am sooooo incredibly late with these photos of Lotta Jansdotter. She was here in SF for a printing workshop of sorts in June. It was nice to finally meet the woman behind the books and the famous designs. I haven't looked through all the photos yet but here's two!



Here is a photo of some simple mushroom cards I created with my not-so-new screen print kit. None of them are perfect but I've found the imperfections unique. They're just screen print samples. They're so cute! I'll be putting them up in the shop as individual cards, along with envelopes. And meanwhile, I've been perfecting my skills on a print I mentioned earlier. Photos to come!

WIP update

i created a sketch a while back that i never got a chance to show anyone. i didn't know what to do with it and i was getting tired of stationery (speaking of which, i printed some cards to try out my screen printing kit and have been meaning to post about those - nothing fancy), so... what else could i do? the easy answer (though it took some time for it to occur to me) was to produce some prints! yay!

so with my paycheck in the bank (i'm going to miss receiving a paycheck btw), i went to the art store and purchased several different kinds of lovely cream/ivory cardstock. got me some canson and two other brands. anyhow, i'm still at work right now so i'll have to wait until later tonight to commence the printing part. i enjoyed cutting the paper though, with my trusty paper cutter (those things they sell for scrapbooking, those watchmacallits).

i'll have photos for you in a day or two. it's taking a while because removing screen filler is difficult! i still dont have all of the screen filler removed but i'll make do. there's enough space to fit my design.

anyway, sorry again for the lack of lovely photos! :(

Updates to come... and yes, I'm still alive!

My summer internship has been intensive. I am really starting to understand why a full time job (regardless of how interesting it may be) can be sooooo sucky. It drains the energy out of you (even if you don't have to do hard labor...).

BUT - and here's the but - I will slowly try and get myself back on the map! I've been doing so much before the internship began and never got a chance to show and tell. And that was very bad of me. I guess I shall have to work on it. Anyhow, to keep things interesting, I'll do mini posts of some of the projects I've been working on and the many WIP (works in progress) that I have. I'll even show you photos of my parents' living room! It's a complete mess!!!! :) I've taken over.

AND - I've also begun cutting out the parts to the dolls I've been meaning to stuff and sew. I'll also get around to that. Maybe make one per night or every other night. Slowly, but surely, they'll be appearing in the shop.

S

50th Post!

It has been a tremendously long time since my last post. I have been incredibly busy at work. I am an intern at Glide Memorial Church. If you've never heard of this church and its foundation, or if you've never heard of Cecil Williams and his wife Janice Mirikitani, then I suggest you go on over to Google and search for them. They are amazing people and this church has done some wonderful things to help the homeless, the working poor, and anyone who's had their luck taken away.

I have the pleasure of working in the social case management office with Harry Williams (no relation to Cecil), the case manager. I work with him during his meetings with clients and my tasks are numerous. I do anything that he would normally do by himself. And my hours are from 9am - 5pm. I usually get home so exhausted that I have been neglecting this little blog of mine. However, I've been keeping up with a few blogs and reading when I can. I haven't completely neglected the blog world.

This weekend will be the 1st annual Renegade Craft fair in San Francisco, which I'll be attending. I can't wait to meet Lynn of Satsuma Press and I hope to snap lots of photos and buy lots of goodies! :) And hopefully this weekend I'll update with photos from the Lotta Jansdotter printing fest last month, as well as updates from my own personal crafting.

What have y'all been up to?

my, my, my

i have been neglecting my little blog here. and my shop as well.

i've many new things to share and many new photos i need to take.

all will come in due time.

just popped in to say, i've been busy with school and internship/work. but my summer class will be done in one week. so i will have more time to devote to this little blog of mine.

trying new things

in case you haven't noticed, i'm always presenting you with something new i've done or made. rarely do you see a repeat of the technique or item. except maybe the bears. and the stationery.

right now i'm still in the stationery phase of my creative endeavors. i'm looking for low cost, low technique way to put my designs onto paper. as a college student (for one more semester!), it doesn't make sense for me to try to take on bigger things that usually require lots of time, money and equipment - none of which are available in large quantities in my case. but this doesn't mean that i shouldn't try to learn new things and experiment within my means. and the fun part, in all of this, is trying to make something look nice, but handmade, when your resources are few.

i'm up for the challenge!

earlier in the spring i started with just scanning an image and printing it with my home printer or using a copy place. which is always easy and handy to do. but it didn't provide me with the texture that i so crave in stationery.

this past weekend i decided to carve out my own rubber stamps (being inspired by lotta jansdotter's new book and all). i discovered soon after that it is hard to hand carve a design with fine lines. that did not deter me. please, shirley is much courageous than to simply give up. i managed a sketchy pussy willow design that i'll put up soon. it came out alright for a first try.

two nights ago i decided to carve out my logo (the bunny with bird on its back). i changed it slightly to make it more carve-able and i must say it came our rather lovely. i'll definitely have to put up pictures of that.

and yesterday i bought some clear embossing powder and heat tool to use those stamps to create embossed stationery. i still need a bit of practice with the heat tool but i love it! i've created texture! and definitely hand made, well, hand carved, at least. and i finally bought myself a paper trimmer (though i had really wanted a paper guillotine trimmer), so i can buy paper in large sheets and in bulk (much more cost effective) and cut it to the desired dimensions.

i'm enjoying the process and while i would love to shoot straight into professional hand made mode, i can only stick to what i can do and what i do have and make it work. so, sometimes my end product looks slightly crooked, just slightly, and sometimes my design looks too hand drawn (which i love actually), but hey, with anything in life, there's a little push and shove, a little give and take. and i'm taking it with me.

meanwhile, with all this learning and trying new things, i'm excited for the arrival of my own screen print kit by speedball (the same company who made the rubber stamp kit i used). i cannot wait! at least with screen printing i have higher hopes of printing with my fine line drawings. carving rubber stamps is fun and all, but i dont think it's so great for fine lines. i nearly ruined my stamp carving when i carved really near the outline. yikes!

i'm currently on campus (i had a morning class) doing some research for a paper and catching up on missed reading assignments (oops... wonder why i "forgot" to do the reading...), so photos will have to come at another day.

so what new things have you tried lately?

oh, and btw, any suggestions for other low cost ways to print stationery (aside from the mentioned rubber stamp and screen printing)? i'll take what i've given. :D

i'm here!

it seems i've been neglecting my little blog here.

finals and then a quick trip to new york occupied much of my time. i am happy to say i had a fun time in new york, got to see a bit of brooklyn and even walked across the brooklyn bridge! (it's a different experience compared to walking to golden gate bridge over here in the bay area). AND i passed a pass/fail class, received one A- and two A's! yay! still waiting on one more class. hopefully an A too.

i started the first day of summer school yesterday and will be starting my internship in two weeks' time. so busy busy busy. however will i find the time to make things for my shop?

finals finals finals

need i say more?

two ten page papers due friday. it's almost midnight on wednesday. have not started much, if at all.

yikes!

what's my problem with school?

sometimes i wonder if i should have gone to an art school. but quite frankly, i wouldn't have known what to major in. fine art? graphic art? digital media? craft?

ugh.

luckily, i have my trip to nyc to look forward to. i just need to get these darn papers out of the way and hope that i get A's for all my classes (which i think may be achievable this semester... yay!).

i'll be back with more art. reading all these blogs, blog-surfing as i call it, has been such an inspiration. i can't take it all in at once. there is so much i want to do and try, but so little time. if only i could be paid to just make stuff all the time. for myself. for my own pleasure. man, that would be a fine day in the usa! :)

Presenting the lovely Lissie Doll and many cool pictures!

As promised, here is the onslaught of photographs of my latest projects from the past month.

But first, let me introduce my new Lissie doll! Isn't she just the sweetest? And her hair might become a trend I say. After all my final exams and papers and projects are completed and after I'm back from a weeklong trip to NYC (so, probably late late May-early June), I'll have a few of these dolls in my shop. (This image was taken at night so it does not do her justice. I'll take better pictures later.)

And this is Lissie's friend Olive, who will make an appearance in the shop too! A one-off though (because, don't tell her, but she was just a practice doll... shh! Olive will be jealous that Lissie is the one I want to replicate). :)

And now... lots and lots of pretty visuals!

I helped a housemate make this gnarly camera case for her friend Beth. It's a picture of her dressed as a man on one side. I will never ever attempt this again! haha.

And more stationery! I really love these colors and I love this simple floral design. They're sort of meant to be pussy willows. What'dya think? Should I attempt to make a few of these for the shop?

a lamp made of lotta jansdotter fabric. love the colors. and really needed to update my lamp from the cheapo mesh it came in.

look! i can do other things too! sorry about the horrible pictures. i can't decide if i want to keep this (when it's finished) or sell it.... hmm... the perennial problem of the artist and his/her artwork... to keep or to sell...

i tried my hand at making a shirt/vest with no patterns. i modeled it after another sleeveless shirt i had but found i needed to add some thick side panels because i grossly underestimated the differences between the stretchy material of the original and the non-stretchy-ness of this material. oops! but it looks nice on me and the darts are form fitting. :)

yee! look at the pleats!

i didn't make this but i had to share a great find. this is a barney's bag that only cost me $12 with some broken handles. i took it to a shoe repair shop and they fixed it right up for $18. not bad for a $400 type bag. :)

anyone who has lived with me for the past two years knows that i'm a bargain hunter and huge fan of designer clothes. and where i live we have this great store called jeremy's department store. it's kind of like a Ross Dress For Less or a Marshall's or a TJ Maxx for designer clothes. They're mainly store returns, things with holes or a missing piece or out of season overstock. I love being able to find things that once retailed for anywhere from $100-$700 but I only paid anywhere from $1 to $50. i generally avoid spending more than $50 for any item and wait for the price to be marked down. but it's tricky because it good be snatched up by someone else the next day. i once got a pair of Sonia Rykiel shoes for $11 when her shoes are $700 and upwards. they're the best shoes ever and all they were missing were some adornments on the toes. it left an icky leather patch of glue behind but i just took a pair of thread rippers (sorry, the correct term left my mind) and took the leather patch off and they're almost as great as new. i'll have pictures of said lovely shoes next week. i could start a separate blog with just the findings and results of my shopping sprees. i really ought to call them my 'spending sprees'. :) :) :)

and who knows? maybe i will start a blog just on my shopping adventures. like the aqua silk halter top by emilio pucci that i got for $1, or the silk blend brown tank top from barneys for the same price.

oh.. if only i were slightly rich....