check this out

MODISH HANDMADE --> I LOVE everything!!

I think it would be a great resource to find current trends.

Road signs

As a creative caffeine for myself i'm going to try and take pictures of farms, material ideas, road signs, etc. As i was driving home today i thought i would find a cow crossing sign but i didn't see one. I know i have seen many around home but i just can't think of exactly what road and where.

These pictures are ones i just got off the internet but it's what i'm looking for around home.

(i just had to throw in the Deer Crossing one)

The NEW Chia pet

NYOKKI pet plants are egg shaped ceramic pots with fabric legs in all kinds of characters. [Nyokki = "grow" in japanese] Rye grass is grown out of their heads so you can cut and style. Cute, simple, and very popular with the public.

Grass jewelry

Trying to think of a way of growing grass/ plants out of jewelry was a bit of a problem. I could not wrap my head around the idea. So, i googled grass jewelry. I immediately found La Bague Gazon's website. It even had instructions on how to grow the grass with little men doing the work =)

It all starts with a pad of composte, you wet it until it swells, mix composte with seeds in pot, water, watch grass grow. I think this is how Chia pets work too?

Botanical Paper Works.

I've never heard about seed paper before today's 413 class so i did some research. BOTANICAL PAPER WORKS embedded their handmade paper with wildflower seeds. So once your done reading that greeting card your mom gave you, plant it in a small pot with a layer of soil on top and the flowers will start to grow!They make wedding invitations, stationary, journals, etc. I think a great idea was wrapping paper! It drives me crazy to think how much we waste wrapping paper.
I don't know if this kind of paper will work for my project because it's not as full as i thought but it's still an awesome idea.

Metals Club

Here's 2 designs I came up with for the metals club flyers.

The 1st one was inspired by iron gates and the 2nd one is a flower design. I remember one sale flyer that had a flower in the bottom left corner so I went along with that idea. I kept them just black because I know they will be printed. The title will probably be easier to type so i just kept it simple. The letters are not meant for final use, just there for spacing purpose.

I posted the images onto the Club blog but i'd like anyone's feedback. Any suggestions are wanted!
These are just ideas so please give any opinions.

1st one finished.

1st finished pendant...

copper, liver of sulfur then lightly rubbed off, hammered, with "THIS IS AFRICA" stamped on. [earlier post]

The letters have been a little lost after many attempts to figure out what surface finish/texture i was going to use. I like how it turned out. I want it to have an aged quality to it. I wanted it to be rustic and beaten. I put the pendants on a long steel chain. I think the black chain works with it. I'll take more pictures with the chain later.

If people end up really liking these pendants i'd like to make several and donate part of the earnings to some sort of foundation. Maybe some sort of organization that helps child soldiers, refugees, etc. I already found the group Save the Elephants:

"Our mission is to secure a future for elephants and to sustain the beauty and ecological integrity of the places where they live; to promote man’s delight in their intelligence and the diversity of their world, and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species."

What do you think? I'd like to see how they do at the sale. We priced work Thrusday for the sale and these with the long welded chain will be priced at $50.

Process

These images are after i cut, filed, and sanded. They were originally for my blood diamond project and I might still use them but i made a few more to put in the sale.

From my research, i learned more about the elephants in Sierra Leone [earlier posts]. I like the elephant as an African icon. I like how the elephants are slowly moving back into Sierra Leone after being forced out by the civil war, are now a symbol of peace. It's slow but there is still hope.

The vulture is another powerful symbol. In the Blood Diamond documentary there was a scene where the vultures were picking at human bodies in the street, like roadkill. They were dragging and plucking the flesh from human beings. It was tuff to watch but it was powerful. If more people could see those kinds of graphic images, i think it would help show how brutal the war really was. The vulture is the opposite of the hopeful elephant, it's a sign of death, of blood. It's never good when vultures are circling.

Why...

There's a conversation during the Blood Diamond hollywood movie (2006) between Archer and Solomon that still sticks in my mind:

Archer: So you think because your intentions are good, they’ll spare you, huh?

Kapanay: My heart always told me that people are inherently good. My experience suggests otherwise. But what about you, Mr. Archer? In your long career as a journalist, would you say that people are mostly good?

Archer: No. I’d say they’re just people.

Kapanay: Exactly. It is what they do that makes them good or bad. A moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life. None of us knows whose path will lead us to God.

As we all know by now, the movie introduced the issues of conflict diamonds, mine slavery, the civil war, child soldiers, the brutality of the RUF, smuggling, illegal arms trade, supply and demand by diamond industry, etc. The hollywood movie only touched on these things. The documentary really helped me view the civil in a different light. I know that even that was just a glimpse of what really happened. It was just another example of human greed, lust for power and human nature. In the movie, Kapanay was the man who made a safe house for victims of the war especially children. He believed that there was good in everyone and to not lose hope in the children. Unfortunatly later in the movie, he was shot by two child soldiers.

Solmon was also in disbelief of the whole situation, "How can my own people do this to each other?" I believe that quote can apply to everyone in the world. This is can be a shit world. Just watching the news you hear horror stories of what people have done to one another, to complete strangers and you wonder, "what on earth? How could someone do that? Why did that happen?" Shit is happening in our own neighborhoods as well as other cultures all around the world. "Will God forgive us for what we've done to each other?" -Archer

I read another article about child soldiers where they would bet on the sex of a baby, then cut it out of the dead mother to find out. It makes me wonder is the goodness of humanity decreasing? Sometimes i wonder, what's going to happen in this world with so much hate and greed? My best friend's husband is a marine in Iraq right now so the war is really close to home for me. Their daughter is my Godchild and at three she doesn't understand why her daddy is over there. Last semester i put a quote from Ghandi up on the creative boards in the studio. I first saw it in an ad in the mail but i loved it and put it away for another day. So, in jewelry I i thought it would be perfect for the inspiration wall. It really connects with me now...

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

Also, what is going on with Darfur? war for water? I want to know more. I personally haven't heard anything about it on the news but my dad mentioned something about it. I'm going to continue reading about it.

Everyone needs to do what they can to help! Read the news of the world. I'm trying so hard to become more aware of what's going on. I feel like i've lived in this protected bubble my whole life but now it's my obligation to learn more. Open your eyes and stop worrying over stupid little things. It drives me crazy when friends at home spread rumors or get wrapped up in their drama. What would happen if they had to deal with a tragedy or a death in the family? I don't know how they would handle it. It disgusts when they have a fit when their boyfriends didn't buy them the latest thing or whatever. There are bigger problems out there!... worse than we can ever imagine. The sad thing is that i don't think that they will ever care or even try to learn more (there's a lot of people out there like that). Ignoring is no excuse or thinking that issues in Africa, China, etc doesn't affect us. Let's all be more aware of what's happening in this world... we live here too.

"a diamond lasts forever" continued.

More info incase you'd like to know:

You only need 8ounces of ashes to create a diamond... No more.

They really stress that you don't send it all. There's actually enough carbon in humans to create 50-100 diamonds. They can also store some extra carbon incase your loved one's diamond is lost/stolen.

You can also get diamonds made from a lock of hair. Typically funeral homes or animal hospitals will give you this option but some do not.

I looked into this subject a little more and found this artile from WIRED.

"You can do a lot of neat things with dead people after they've been baked at 1,700 degrees for a couple of hours and reduced to a pile of bone fragments." It touches on the Life Gem company, rocketing ashes out into space or being mixed into a painting.

The more i think about it, the more i like this idea. I mean i always thought it was a crude way to RIP by decomposing in a field with a stone to give people a place to remember you. A diamond is a great idea because a person can where it everyday and always know they have their loved one's memory close. Rather than visiting a stone in a cemetary every once in awhile. Mourning is a completely personal thing. No one has to know your ring is your grandmother unless you want them to know.

"a diamond lasts forever"

"Like the memory of a loved one, a diamond lasts forever"

Did you know that you can take a loved ones ashes from cremation and turn them into a diamond? I had never heard about this before until my diamond research. The synthetic diamonds could cost you anywhere from $4,000- $22,000. Only about 28% of Americans chose the cremation option while in Japan it's closer to 98%.

Here's part of the Life Gem's advertisment:
"Love. Life’s single greatest risk. Life’s single greatest reward. Love captures your heart in a second and holds it for eternity.
You have experienced a love without equal. You have had someone truly special in your life and mere words simply will not do."

Diamond and love are always going to be in connection with each other thanks to Debeers advertising but in this case, it's the way to hold on to memories. People who are mourning tend to not let things go. Burying someone or spreading ashes still forces you to give that person up. Having the ashes made into diamonds lets people keep that bond with their loved one. People have to die for the diamond, in this case it's not forced like blood diamonds. You can even use the ashes of a pet made into a stone.

Miel Margarita

I know Miel Margarita was at the ACC but i didn't personally see her. I did see her post cards with this image. I love the vintage, victorian style to it and i also think the subject matter is really interesting. Her trophy series was based off the animal mountings that hunters display in their homes. [just what i was talking about in an earlier post] She is questioning the "emblematic and psychological roles we assign to animals; the way we regard some animals as noble or ornamental, and others as worthless or disposable." --artist statement

"Decoy" 2003
Materials: copper, ceramic base

Helmet: 25x7x15in.Base Ht.: 25in.

I love all of her work! I don't know how she does it.

Her helmet series is about armor, protection, sacred symbols, and status. Someone tell me who she did this??

"Deliberate" 2004
Materials: copper, enamel, brass

Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 12 in

Also notice her mechanisms. The toy section is neat because most of them move.

"Sheepish Walking Toy" 2006
Materials: pewter, copper, brass, wood

Dimensions: 10 x 6 x 12in.

Deer foot!

On the Klimt02 website I found an artist that works with natural materials like bone, wood, bamboo, coconuts. Bas Bouman is an artist from the Netherlands. His statement: "Most of my works have to do with the value of a material itself: Its iconographical value; its mythological value; its religious value; the value of its life... There are many reasons why a material can be valuable, not only when it is expensive. "

I thought his work really relates to our blood diamonds project as well as my love for natural materials like bones.

This particular piece was the one that caught my eye. After someone shoots a buck they take it to get processed [skinned, legs and head sawed off, and meat butchered]. The image of a bucket full of deer legs has always been stuck in my head.

Bas Bouman. Necklace: mix-up 2007. Walnut, deer-paw, brass. From the collection 'Matter of Belief'

The Heartless Stone

I'm currently reading Tom Zoeillner's THE HEARTLESS STONE. I'm haven't read too much but it's a great source of information. There's some parts that i'd like to share with the class:

[p.25] "... the strongest linkage of atoms known to chemistry... The hellish foundry of the earth's innards, at depths approaching 120 miles, is the only birthing place for a diamond, which takes its name from the Greek adamas -which means 'indomitable'."

[p.31] "Diamonds follow good deeds...There is a song to the dead -a low guttural chant -that is sung as they work the sifting boards:

My ancestors

If you really exist

From the work I do now

Give me five carats

Ten carats

Twenty carats."

[p.32] "Before I left the Central African Republic, I bought a few paper cards decorated with the wings of butterflies. They had been arranged to make familiar shapes: a man, a hut, two birds, a tree. It seemed to be a reflection of the country as a whole, wings torn off a living thing to make an image of something alien. It has a kind of beauty, but it is beauty at the expense of terrible pain...

And what gives diamonds their hard and remorseless beauty, really? Whether they emerge from the death of a star or the life of plankton makes no difference, for these chips from the earth are nothing more than an empty cage for our dreams -blank surfaces upon which the shifting desires of the heart could be written."

"You might be a redneck if...you owe the taxidermist more than your annual income"

-Jeff Foxworthy

I think caribou, elk, and deer are so beautiful. I am obsessed with antlers! Some people think i am so weird. I'm aware that some people think that hunting is cruel and that it's wasteful. I just wanted to note my feelings towards it whether they are right or wrong. I live more in the country surrounded by farms where a huge majority of people around me hunt. The outdoor section of walmart is always busy and almost every friends' house i've been in have had at least one deer head mounted on the wall. I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. My house doesn't but i'd like to have one when i get my own house one day.
Any stuffed animal, or skins are not uncommon around here as proud displays/ decorations. People like this don't think it's right to torture animals or anything like that, like animal organizations would like you to think. They admire the beauty of the animal and respect them. Hunting helps control the population of deer which has gotten to be insane around my area. I always see dead deer on the side of the road that people have hit. Almost everyday i see them eating in the fields, running around, or just starring when they get caught in headlights. Last year I was driving home and one came up the hill and hit me. It crashed into my windshield then went over my car. Some people are against hunting but don't think twice about a deer when they hit it with their car. Hunters will usually mount the head, tan the hide, and eat the meat so nothing is really wasted. I think it's neat how we use everything like hunters did hundreds of years ago.

So, here's the beauty of nature right in your own home. Some people like them and some people don't. I'd like to make some kind of jewelry related to this subject. Nature or our relationship with it? I'm just throwing ideas out there. It's kind of ironic that one would love an animal so much that they would kill, stuff, and mount it on a wall. Where did the whole wall mounting trend start? It's all ironic but i understand it. I think it would be neat to take parts of the hide and incorporate into jewelry. It would just be another way of displaying the hunt. I know in other cultures animal skins were worn not just for function but to show off their status. Back in history a man who wore a lion hide probably wasn't someone to mess with. I don't have a particular project these ideas are for but maybe when i have some spare time? (haha yeah right) This is just where my lastest inspirations were leading me.


Here's another Jeff Foxworthy joke:
"You might be a redneck if, you've ever hit a deer with your car.....on purpose!"

Gone Fishin'

INTO THE WILD and the beginning of Spring really got me thinking about nature and how much we take it's beauty for granted. I try to get out in it as much as I can but I still get caught up in work, homework, etc. Busy life is no excuse not to take 15 minutes to take a walk or sit outside. I think everyone could benefit from it and maybe even get some inspiration. I had to take some kind of break during this weekend. I ended up working till 11-1230am (with breaks) Saturday! I'll admit, I didn't get much homework done this weekend but that's how life is sometimes. I'm fascinated about the animals, plants... everything but who isn't? Even though I try to enjoy some fishing or a walk, i still have a running mind about all the busy life things, projects, work, laundry, etc. I wish I could just forget about it all for a few minutes but taking breaks like this does help. Breath in that fresh air. ahhh. [ps- i'm probably the only asian redneck girl you'll ever meet around here]


As i sat on the pier, I noticed little things like the surface texture on the wood planks, the ripple patterns in the water, the way the wings on the geese moved. It would all be pointless information to someone that wasn't an artist but i love to take it all in.

Random fact: Did you know that geese are monogamous for life? If their mate dies then they usually won't find another but if they do it's after several years. I always think about that when I see goose all alone.
How beautiful is this sky? I thought it was so cool to see the sky and it's reflection in the pond at the same time but i couldn't really get a good picture of it.

Quote:

Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing themselves.
-Leo Tolstoy

another soundtrack?

I just bought the soundtrack to INTO THE WILD, most of the songs are by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. I think it's going to have pretty mellow music. I need to stop this habit of buying soundtracks if I like the movie. I'll post more about it once i've listened to it a good amount.

"Happiness is only real when shared"

1:02am: I am still awake due to the mocha latte i had a few hours ago. I should probably get some rest since i work 11-11 tomorrow but what the heck, i'm addicted to blogging now.

So, I watched INTO THE WILD after I got off work because i hadn't seen a lot of advertising for it but i thought it looked like a good movie. Well it turns out that it was a great movie! I loved it.

Here's the summary from imdb: (that is much better than i could sum it up- ps: spoiler in summary!)

[A young man leaves his middle class existence in pursuit of freedom from relationships and obligation. Giving up his home, family, all possessions but the few he carried on his back and donating all his savings to charity Christopher McCandless embarks on a journey throughout America. His eventual aim is to travel into Alaska, into the wild, to spend time with nature, with 'real' existence, away from the trappings of the modern world. In the 20 months leading up to his Great Alaskan Adventure his travels lead him on a path of self-discovery, to examine and appreciate the world around him and to reflect on and heal from his troubled childhood and parents' sordid and abusive relationship. When he reaches Alaska he finds he has been insufficiently prepared for the hardships to come. Despite making it through the winter his plan is ill-judged and prepares to return home in spring, only to find the stream he crossed in the snow has become an impassable raging torrent and that he is trapped. With no means of sustaining himself adequately he eventually starves to death in his so sought after isolation. Throughout his epic journey the people he meets both influence and are influenced by the person he is and bring him to the eventual and tragic realisation that "Happiness is only real when shared".]

The movie made me think about our relationship with nature and the relationships we have with the people around us. What is wild? There was a scene where he's homeless and wandering around a city at night which in a way seems much more wild than being out in nature.

It also got me thinking about the goodness of people and that even though there's some pretty messed up shit that happens, there will always be good people out there. Little things can mean the world to another person. Small nice gestures make a difference. Like those commercials where the good deeds have a waterfall effect. I think it's a Liberty commercial or something but someone does something so small like hold a door open for someone and it does have an effect.

A few scenes with an elderly man who needed to enjoy life more and get out to see things really hit hard. I thought about my grandfather who passed away over the summer. It brought tears to my eyes. Even thinking about it now brings back memories of my grandfather. He sacrificed a lot to take care of my grandmother when she had alzheimer's disease. After she died, he never got out as much as he used to but he still had that will to live. Everyone who came across his path loved him and he loved them too. The man in the movie was so happy that Chris came into his life for a bit because he had someone to share it with. He had lived in his house alone, with a leather carving hobby. It's true that "Happiness is only real when shared."

That was the main quote in the movie. Chris had wanted a life of isolation in the wilderness of Alaska because he thought that you don't need human relationships to be happy. When the truth was that the experiences he had getting to Alaska were the happiest when with people he met. He learned that truth too late. What I mainly got from it is to not take forgranted the people you have around you. I'm sure there's many more lessons to take from the movie but i haven't quite finished processing it in my mind. I just wanted to put these few comments out there while it's still fresh in my mind. It's a good movie and artfully done, some of the imagry is amazing. Rent it!

Oh and it's based off a true story and the book by Jon Krakauer. So, that's another book i'd like to read but don't have time for... maybe summertime.

[image: the real Chris McCandless]

Quote!

"Just don't give up on trying to do
what you really want to do.
Where there is love and inspiration,
I don't think you can go wrong."
-Ella Fitzgerald