Langston Hughes' 113th Birthday Google Doodle

Origami Street Artists

Origami Street Artists!
How cool is that. This is a group called TheUpsideUp, and instead of "tagging" with paint, they use origami art to transform a public place without leaving any damage to the surface it's mounted on.
Like this:


And they also do installations, like this:



via Mohawk Connects:

Medieval helpdesk

Shadow Weave Chenille Scarf

Art Outpost: Shadow Weave Chenille Scarf

Finally finished this shadow weave scarf! It's not that I've been working on it steadily ... there have been a few other projects in between ... but it had been going at rather close to Snail's Pace. 

There was plenty I didn't understand about how best to work with chenille yarn. The first mostly successful attempt at weaving with chenille was evidently a lucky break, and everything that could go wrong went wrong this time, beginning with winding the warp and ending with ... oh ... completely starting over again ... the second time with the indispensable help of Su Butler's CD version of her book Understanding Rayon Chenille.

What makes the shadow in shadow weave are the alternating "dark" and "light" threads in warp and weft ... in "the Atwater method of threading shadow weave, the basic pattern is drawn on alternate threads and then the "shadow" threads are filled in on the "opposite" shaft." That explanation is straight from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, and the pattern used for this scarf is an "undulating twill" (#303 on page 77).

 

I still have trouble getting the fringes right, though I seem to be getting closer. Here's my old Riverside Shakespeare put to good use weighting down the scarf so I can evenly tie the knots. The gadget on top of the book is a novelty instrument made for twisting hair, and it works a treat for twisting fringe (actually a lot easier than trying to twist my hair). I'll need more practice to figure out exactly how much to twist and then retwist the opposite direction ... it's supposed to be exactly the same number, but I haven't figured out yet how to accurately count while using this device. I'm guessing this is why some of the yarns in some of the fringe doubled up and tangled with each other at the fell line after taking the scarf out of the dryer.

It's quite remarkable the difference in the hand and softness of the chenille after it's been wet-finished. It comes off the loom as stiff as a board, and after it's been washed and dried it's soft, supple, and very luxurious. (The scarf on the left is post-finishing ... impossible to convey the difference in a picture, but it definitely looks velvety.)

Just by changing the treadling of the same draft you can get a completely different look. The sample on the right will be the pattern for another scarf (same threading and tie-up, different treadling order) in a brighter red and black yarn instead of gray. With any luck, this one will go a lot faster and will not involve too much in the way of cursing and wringing hands. 

Easter Egg "Baskets"

We are well past the Easter basket stage in our family, but we are still into candy in a big way. The last few years I've been experimenting with "eggs" as a much smaller but still pretty version of a "basket". Last year was a dollar store plastic egg, about 6 inches long, the bottom half covered with Tim Holtz tissue tape. (This is easy enough to find in a craft or scrapbook store; collect a bunch using coupons and it's not so spendy.) Any washi tape that would look fine overlapped would do nicely.

Here's the egg in all its undecorated plastic glory.

Start with  applying short strips along the outside with a 

straight horizontal edge following the rim. 

Leave the  rim untaped so that the clear plastic top will fit back on it.

Then start placing random strips over the whole half, overlapping and two to four layers thick. Be sure to overlap the tape at the rim, without quite going all the way to the top, to help disguise the straight line around the egg. It helps to burnish down the edges of the tape with a bone folder. I lay the tape down and then tear it off so the ends don't have sharply defined edges.

 I chose to color the tape (by applying rubber-stamping dye ink with a foam applicator). Let that dry for awhile and gently buff off excess ink. Whether you color it or not, the next step is to seal the surface by brushing on a thin coat of a PVA adhesive. If there are tape edges or ends that are insisting on lifting up, brush a little adhesive underneath and press it down with the brush.

 The adhesive will keep the tape from lifting off, seal the ink, 

and will give the egg a soft matte sheen.  

Art Outpost: Washi Tape Easter Egg

The completed set, filled with Easter candy and tied with a wide wire-edged ribbon. 

My favorite of the lot were the ones covered in butterfly tape.

Word as Image

Illustrations from Ji Lee's video Word As Image. 

The whole alphabet, complete with sound effects, is here.

Sara Burgess Paper Cuts

When I feel like I am fresh out of patience at some kinda close work, the kind that I have to take off my glasses and bend down about one inch from my fingers, I should remember to look at this: x-acto cut paper art by Sara Burgess.



This is the card she designed for Tiffany and Co. for their 2012 holiday card
(via notcot.org) - first hand cut by the artist, and then laser cut for reproduction.
And she did it after having just given birth to her baby boy.
This is what I'll think about when I think I don't have enough time in the day.

The ABC of Architects

The ABC of Architects from fedelpeye on Vimeo.

"The ABC of Architects, an alphabetical list of the most important architects with their best know building directed by Federico Gonzalez and animated with Andrea Stinga."
Well, this is cool. I even recognize a few of the buildings.

via notcot.org

The Book Club of California Centennial

The design for the centennial celebration of The Book Club of California via Felt & Wire.

I am completely charmed by the idea of a book club devoted to the love of the printed book, whose members include artists, collectors, and printers. If you're one of the 1000 members you receive a letterpress printed "Quarterly News-Letter" ("QN-L" for short) and other exclusive printed perks. Sweet.
The claim is that the newsletter is the only letterpress printed newsletter in the U.S. There are pictures of various covers of previous newsletters on the site, and a notice that some issues can soon be read via a PDF.
This logo was designed by designer Michael Osborne, and I took particular note because I just designed, in my own bumbling Illustrator way, a similar rectangle as a return address for myself.

Lazy Jane's, Lazy Day ...

Went to lunch with a friend today at one of my favorite spots, Lazy Jane's. (I don't think this particular piece is there any more - it's a vintage metal kinetic toy). Afterwards we took a stroll down the street and popped in at Hatch Art House, where among lots of other cool things we were amused by the paper mache work of Steve Wirtz. They were mostly dogs, with a few cows thrown in, very ... personable. Usually with a sassy sentence or words collaged on their sides. It seems that one can sign up for classes to make your own sassy dogs ... that might be quite fun.

The Caketrope of Burton's Team - Chocolate Bites Back

The Caketrope of BURTON's Team - Alexandre DUBOSC from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.

A film by Alexandre DuBosc.
My favorite part is the running rabbit, and then seeing the face from the bird's eye view. Though the morphing walnuts are a close second. They do rather look like brains, don't they?

In search of the perfect lemon bar . . .

This one by Ina Garten comes within striking distance, but I'm not all that fond of the thick crusty top. Overall, though . . . pretty divine. I think I'm looking for a recipe that doesn't have that crusted top, but also doesn't have that odd foamy effect at the top that requires the dusting of confectioner's sugar to disguise. I believe this recipe avoids that foamy top by using a larger amount of flour in the recipe, which seems to kind of float to the top in the way that Bisquick Impossible Pies works.
smitten kitchen suggests a few changes, including a variation for making a thinner lemon layer. I like the thicker lemon layer, but I wanted  a thicker shortbread also, which proved to be harder than just doubling the recipe. I don't like the lemon layer to seep underneath the shortbread at the edges, so I doubled the shortbread recipe and built up the sides, but alas, as in the original, the sides tended to s-l-i-d-e down while baking. What to do? I think . . . though I haven't tried it yet . . . the solution lies in the recipe for pie crust I followed the other day, which was to bake the shortbread with an aluminum foil liner and plenty of pie weights (or dried beans). I'll just have to try it again. Too bad for me.
My tips, besides the pie weights for the shortbread (which can't really be a tip since I haven't tried it yet  . . .)
1) Line the pan with non-stick aluminum foil (both ends) to simplify getting them out of the pan and cutting.
2) Allow to completely cool and refrigerate, preferably several hours, before attempting to cut them. It might even help to put them in the freezer for a bit if you're in a hurry.
3) Dust confectioner's sugar on them after they are completely cooled. If not having them
right away, you might wait until just before serving to dust as the bars will absorb the sugar over time.
In the meantime . . . still looking for the most perfect recipe.