What I'm up to.

Etsy Shop

I'm going to be doing a relaunch of my etsy shop sometime here soon. I'm going to rephotograph my work so it will better show in the little thumbnails. I'm also going to create packaging for each of my items and have those photos with the listing. I have though about the easiest and cheapest way to package my items that consists more then placing them wrapped up in bubble wrap and in a box. I though of maybe making my own boxes and maybe ordering some online. But what I think I am going to do is find boxes at the goodwill and convert them to hold my pieces. I did this for my first item I sold over the weekend. I found a small box that I think originally held a wallet from Nautica. The box had a nice lining and a logo on the top but I covered the logo on the outside with a small piece of planished copper. Then on the inside i bought some cork board that I used to cover up the other logo and then to form a place where the piece could sit.

What say you? Do you like the idea of finding old boxes and reusing them? I did this in sort of a rush, but I think I am going to focus on coming up with a more permanent solution. Over all this box cost me about $1.50. The box was 99cents at the goodwill and the cork board was $4 but I only used about 50cents worth of that. The piece of copper was a scrap piece I have had for years. I would like to find some nice dense black foam that I could cut and form it to hold the pieces although I do like the natural look of the cork. I think I might try some leather as well. I have a few yards of really good boot leather that I bought for a project that I never ended up making. I think when I finish a piece I will also make the box for it. I don't really want to rush and make a box every time I sell something. I would like to have it boxed and ready to ship. Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions or a better idea of how to package my items.

Sharing Some Stuff

Amazing Pictures

There is this foreign website I visit fairly often that always has some amazing picture sets. There is not an American website that I have found that comes close to matching the wide variety of content they have. Albeit some of what they have would be considered "porn" in some circles but it is mostly art photography with a nipple here and there. I kind of consider this website my own little place to discover amazing things and often share them with friends. This site always seems to have it first or is the only one to have it at all. If there was an American version to this site I think it would do very well. What site is it you ask? Not gunna tell, its my own little secret gem. But I do want to share some of the stuff they have. They never seem to reference their sources and its is in another language so I may not always be able to give you the context behind the content but the content sort of speaks for itself. I will though post the sources when available.

Here are some pictues they had today of a drought in the Hubei Provence in China. They show the extent of the sever drought in the region and its effect on the Dongting lake. Sources unknown. 

Want To See

Lbs.

Uwajimystery #6

Fish Sausage

(oh god)

This weeks Uwijimystery is an odd item. An item I was a little reluctant to even buy, let alone try. Fish Sausage, yes, fish in sausage form. Now I like my fish, and I like my sausage, but this unholy union is unacceptable. Its combining two good things to create one completely nasty thing. You might as well make some Fish Ice Cream while your at it, but please don't.

Now it says it's "Delicious Hot Or Cold" I beg to differ. What it really should say is "Best If Not Eaten At All" or "Ha Ha Dumbass, You Just Bought Some Fish Sausage"

It should be a clear sign not to eat an item if that item warns you its safe to eat that item even if there is something in that item that may seem odd but reassures you its normal. So, don't worry about those black spots, its "just" fish skin. Whew, I was worried there for a moment because I though that those little black spots might be something I don't want to eat, but its just fish skin. What the hell else is in this sausage? What exact part of the fish is used.

Rape oil you say?

Looks quite similar to a hot dog. Don't fall for it, its a trap.

Without the wrapper it's a pink rubber eraser like round mystery meat piece of fish turd.

Little black dots, don't worry, its just fish skin.

Cut in half it looks even more like a pink eraser. I would compare the consistency to rubber, plain and simple rubber. Its not like any food I have come across. Its nothing like any sausage or hot dog I have eaten. It has a generic fish taste to it and not much else. Does it taste good, hell no. Did I swallow, oh god no. I tried both preparing methods. Cold, cold fish like rubber. Hot, warm fish like rubber. Heating up the fish sausage did relax the rubber like binder of the sausage and it was much more flaccid like. I'm sure a lot of people eat and probably enjoy fish sausage, I'm not one of them. To me it's one of those things I wish I could go back in time and un-invent. God, the taste is still in my mouth.

Something I heard today

I Need A Dollar

John played this song on kexp this morning and I really like it. I think it might be my new theme song for the moment.



This song is actually the theme song for the HBO show How to make it in America. That's where John found it. I have never seen the show, mostly because I don't have HBO or even a TV. HBO does have some great programs and I think if I could afford it I would watch HBO a lot. If HBO was smart they would start offering their programs online. I would consider subscribing to it so I could watch some of their new programs like the new band of brothers show Pacific. Now, I could download the bootleg torrents online but I am more then willing to pay to watch them online if HBO got their act together. Anyway, I just like that song.

Revamp

Change Is A Commin'

I'm going to be doing some redesigning of this blog. I like how it is layed out now but there is so much wasted space. Just look to the left and to the right, see all that blank space? It really limits the size of pictures and videos that i post. I wish I could change the width of the post column in this template. There are other templates with wider post fields but I'm not too thrilled about them. I think I am going to try the new Template Designer just put out by blogger. So in the next week or so you may notice some changes, it will still be the same dribbled rants in the posts but the stuff around it may look a little different.

I am also going to redesign and relaunch my etsy shop sometime in the next month. I need to better present my items and better represent my shop. I sold my first item this weekend and actually received payment from the person this time. So that has given me a little incentive to be motivated about my shop.

More Fungus

More Funky Fungus Among Us

Here are some more pictures of the Dr. Seuss fungus or moss lichen or what ever it is. More pictures still on my flickr page. In case you are wondering about scale, these are no taller then 1 inch.

Here is a quick video I took of them as well. 

Something I Saw Today

Fungus Among Us

Today Greg found some Dr. Seuss like fungus growing in the yard at Lead Pencil Studio. That part of the yard never gets sun and is always mossy but then this stuff has just started sprouting up. Its some kind of moss lichen, of what kind I'm not sure. Really interesting though, I will have to check back each day to see what they progress to. I think tomorrow I will take my dedicated macro lens to work to try and get some more interesting shots. Today I only had the kit lens with me but I was still able to get some pretty amazing shots. Here are a few below but you can see the rest here.

Thrifty #7

 Books

This weeks thrifty post  is about all the various books I find. If you can't find anything else good at the goodwill or value village its a pretty good bet you can at least find one good book. The great thing is that they are fairly cheap. I usually go to the art book section first where I sometimes find some great old metalworking or woodworking books. Second to the art book section is the reference or history section where I can usually find a great book with a lot of interesting pictures in it. I then usually brows the classical and poetry section for anything interesting then on to the fiction. I have a hard time picking out a great novel to read. I am really bad at not judging a book by its cover. I usually just try and find books that I have heard about.

Its great that these books get a second life in my home, some of them I wonder why anyone would want to get rid of. I am thinking of posting a list of all the books I have. I think I might create a tab up there in the header that you can click on for my library list. I think I might create a few different tabs that will bring you to various sorted lists of things such as my themed blog posts or other things.

 Anyway, I am always looking for new books to add to my library, I just need to add more shelf space for my library. For some reason I just don't feel comfortable placing books in storage, I like to have them accessible and to keep all that collective knowledge next to each other. If you see anything you want to borrow just let me know, I can get you signed up for a Ian Gill Library card.

Redecorating

The Fortress Of Solitude

The past few months I have been redecorating my apartment. I have slowly been working on each section at a time but I'm thinking its almost to the point where I'm happy with it. My bedroom still has a lot of work but its mostly just cleaning and organizing. I should have taken a before and after picture to compare but I never did and its been a fairly slow process.  I do have some pictures of when I first moved in a few years ago. It actually looked like this for quite a while when I was still a student because I spent most of my time in the art center and not a whole lot of time at home so I didn't really care what it looked like. It's actually really strange to look back at these pictures now, I hardly remember it being like this. 

For this post the pictures will be fairly small because there are so many, but just click on it and it should asplode up. 

So here is the before.

And here is the after.

Pretty much all the furniture in the old picture is gone except for the speakers and stereo. The couch is at the dump, the shelf went to the neighbors, the small table is gone, tv went to the goodwill, carpet gone, ugly shades gone, but interesting I still have the same blankets and pillows.

So I have a new couch thanks to my sister, a new rug from Ikea, new wall shelves to hold some books and some of my metal work, and my camera collection, new paintings and bells on the wall thanks to my grandma and the good will, and some old hand drills up there as well that were my dad's. Still some empty space that I need to fill with something, maybe some of my prints or drawings.

I also got some new blinds that are much better then the old fabric ones from the 70's. It seems that even with all this shelf space I still need more, but I don't really have any more wall space. So that is pretty much it for the living room section of my apartment now lets move to the den, all you really have to do is turn around and your there. I had put up this wall shelf about a year ago and it was really when I started to transform my apartment to a more suitable living space. There was pretty much nothing here before it was usually where I threw my bag when I came in the door and also where I put items that needed to go to the trash or the recycling. Now it holds a lot of random crap in all those boxes and in the drawers below. Its nice having those storage places where I can just throw a bunch of crap in and its out of the way and still looks clean. The shelf holds a lot of old items that I have collected or others have collected and I was given, mostly from my dad and my grandma.

Ok, now lets move into the office space, just turn around again. This desk use to hold my computer but has been my work station for a few years, about a year ago I started to really organize it and arrange things so it would be easier to work. I have a lot of hand tools and now they all have their own place in the desk, I know where everything is and I can easily get to it. It had made working so much easier when I don't have to stop and look for a tool, I can just reach and grab it. The desk does get fairly cluttered at times but mostly it looks like it does in the pictures. I am usually working on ten pieces at a time though so I always have various tools sitting out at the ready. Above the desk is more storage space that molds some materials and other random crap. There is also an air filter so the rest of my apartment doesn't get all dusty. There are also some of my plaster pieces and a place where I keep all my spray paints and stains. I have a bunch of lights on this desk which makes working a lot easier. As well as my desk there is also my file cabinet which holds some files but mostly it holds various materials I use to make my stuff. I rescued this file cabinet from the dump while I was working at spu. On top of it sits another book shelf which holds mostly art books of various sort, so it is kind of my studio library.

So that's pretty much it, I guess the rest of the apartment will have to wait for another time.

Want To See

MicMacs

Jean-Pierre Jeunet has a new film coming out called MicMacs. I think it has some potential, I always love Jeunet's styling and cinematography and dark comedy.

Here is the trailer for MicMacs.



It has a lot of the same styling and actors that he has in all his films that started off with Delicatessen, which was made nearly 20 years ago. Which is pretty amazing, if you were to have someone to watch that film and then ask them what year it was made they would probably say 2001 instead of 1991. I would love to be on some of Jeunet's sets, I would love to see that imaginative world come to life.

Here is a short clip from Delicatessen, but their are better clips on youtube that wont let me embed them here.



As with Delicatessen Jeunet teamed up again with Marc Caro to make the amazing film City of Lost Children. Very odd, very amazing film. If Terry Gilliam has great things to say about a film you know it will blow your mind.



 Then of course is Jeunet's masterpiece Amelie. One of my favorite movies of all time, and one of my favorite sound tracks of all time, overall one of the greatest things since sliced bread.



So far Jeunet has been averaging a movie about every five years. It would be great if he came out with a move more often but I'm sure what he does is not easy and he would rather take his time then rush projects into production. Hopefully we get one or two more great films out of him.

Uwajimystery #5

Super Titi

I found this Uwajimystery sitting on the edge of the chip isle not quite sure of its self. They are chips or crackers but they're not ready to eat, you have to cook them yourself, but don't worry like the package says "no need to sun dried before frying". The back of the package gives fairly clear laid out instructions on how to prepair them.

The ingredients are fairly simple, Tapioca flour, garlic, sugar, salt, and titanium dioxide. It also lets you know what Super Titi 33 is good for.

-Suitable for souvenir, snack, etc.
-As a companion to any dishes.
-Crispy, piquant and delicious.
-Can be cooked in a microwave oven.

Uncooked Super Titi doesn't really have any taste or smell to it, they are basically hard little plastic like chips.

So I decided to follow the cooking directions closely, I wanted my first taste of Super Titi to be as good as it could possibly be. It was a bit suspenseful at first, I was not sure how Super Titi would react to the hot oil. At first there was not much of a reaction, but then all of a sudden Super Titi explodes with energy and comes to life. I decided to take a video of it cooking. Just look at that Super Titi go!



They cook fairly quickly and surprisingly they don't hold a lot of oil. Tasting Super Titi for the first time was actually quite enjoyable, they are surprisingly delicious. They have a small hint of garlic taste but are mostly filled with air. They have the same sort of texture as Pop chips or vegetable chips, they are light and airy and sort of melt in your mouth. Now if Super Titi's were available in a bag ready cooked I might consider buying them ever so often, but because you have to cook them yourself I probably will not buy them again. Good and tasty but not really worth going through all the hassle of making them. Sorry Super Titi, I like you but you're just to much of a burden to enjoy.