Craft-hard this week please

Be productive...be productive...be productive....

Taste of Incense

So weird, I was just about mentally set for my first vacation in three months...finishing up homework. Then suddenly with each exhaled breath, an aromatic cloud came from my lungs, and I could taste the smell of burning incense, the ones that my grandfather would use every morning and evening to give blessings to the Daoist deities... 

Either something really spooky just happened, or I just swallowed some soap 

while I was drinking from my cup....

This calls for a montage of beautifully strange things and places,

 it's nice to reminisce when you're always cooped up at college.

Elizabethan Gardens and apparently the site of the Lost Roanoke Colony, NC

Mountain village overlooking the ocean- Jiufen, Taiwan

Old man cactus (Cephalocereus senilis)- Longwood Gardens, PA

??? I forgot what this was- Longwood Gardens, PA

Kenting Youth Center overlooking the ocean- Kenting, Taiwan

Alishan Cypress Forest- Chiayi, Taiwan

Zuoying Lotus Lake- Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Broken down Japanese railroad bridge- Maoli, Taiwan

Jin gua shi old gold and silver mine and some random Japanese prince's vacation spot- Taiwan

One of the microscopic Penghu Islands, Taiwan

A small contribution for our stay on the island- Penghu, Taiwan

Coral walls and houses- Penghu, Taiwan

Bald cypress poking out in a mangrove forest, FL 

jelly invasion on Brighton beach- Brooklyn, NY

lonesome car, AZ

sweaty, tired, and....worth iiiiit- Arches Nat'l Park, UT

veil of rain- UT

light shaft- Antelope Canyon, AZ

Antelope Canyon, AZ

...photos taken over the last two years by me...

Decomposed

Okay, so I may not be the most articulate, helpful, or exciting person; but I forgive you. 

Here's a WIP, currently in black and gold ink. Some gouache is sure to come.

Flat

A little Summer experiment with flat felting. It never comes out perfect, but I suppose I like that quality anyhow. It takes a whole lot of wool to make, so I may have to rethink plans for felt wallets and the like. After losing the only place I knew of with wool roving (in Williamsburg), I was so excited to find a shop in  Moab, Utah of all places and stocked up (black, red, brown).

(Leaf added between two thin layers of wool; and wool thread)

(Front of unfinished wallet and front of thick "canvas" felt for embroidering on later)

(Back view with wool thread)

Starry

This ol' thing is finally done... good riddance. 

Now I want to make a sculptural shadowbox version of it!

Collecting Dust

I was given the chance to grab some 150+ year old books from the central Brooklyn library and picked up some fantastic looking volumes of The Naturalist's Library, edited by Jardin. The pages were crumbling and dustmites were swarming for sure, but the original hand-colored plates of moths and butterflies were too good to pass up.

Reading about Victorian Natural History can really get you lost in the hype that made early sciences into merely a fashionable ghost of the past (less so a major discipline for the general public). It's one of those brief phases of obsession for me again. Additionally, The Heyday of Natural History (1984) is very thorough in depicting Victorian era life and a great read for the curious or bored.

I was hoping I could also find an old illustrated book on mineralogy too

...like these by James Sowerby ( 1817), but so far no luck...

(Exotic Mineralogy)

Rolling

K-k-k-katamari!! I wouldn't let myself get away with not felting something unoriginal, so here it is (lovely little Prince). Was a byotch to get the arms and legs on, but overall I'm surprised by how it turned out. My friend crocheted the little pink scarf that made everything ten times better. I was planning on making an assortment of cousins from the game only to be told that it wasn't a good idea to sell copyrighted characters... whateva!

First in a While

I never finish anything... I need to work on that. This is an exception to the rule of my life.

In semi-automated progress

Some random bits and pieces of what I've been working on this month...

Missing Out

It was the first time I've been to Hipsterville (Williamsburg) since it was worth anything at all to even be considered a neighborhood. Surprised isn't enough to sum it up, sure it's gentrified, filled with snazzy bikes and bars, but as much as I'm concerned, they have frickin craft shops that sell wool roving and buttons! Worth the trip over, filled with guilty pleasures and PUMPKIN PIE ICECREAM..... *gurgle* 

Also checked out Chelsea galleries wif Giraffe, saw the most nauseatingly awesome shows and feasted on spaz-inducing ROSE BLUEBERRY ICEPOPS some bearded gentleman was selling at the end of the High Line Park on the west side. Yet another surprise, we always see the walkway but have never actually gone on it until now.  

How the hell have I've been missing out! 

Being away from the city makes me wanna do some intense explorin. 

Sweet & Savory Group Show- 

Creative ways so show off desserts, including tasty wax, enamel, felt and fabric

Other random crap

Stux Gallery Show

More random crap

 Mysterious High Line Park and Garden... wtf... this is amazing

 

Blue Berry bush.... meet.....

ROSE-BLUBERRY ICEPOP!!!!

Beardie also sold strawberry-basil, ginger and shaved iced variants of other flavors. 

The rose-blueberry pop felt like a whole meal, had a shit-ton of whole berries and fo realz rose petals. 

Let the mouth implosion commence... best days back in the city... ever!