Archive for the ‘news’ Category

February

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

I’m going to review goals/accomplishments every month and see where I’m at. I may be a week late on the blog but I did this at the beginning of the month.

I did! Really! I’ve got it written down in my planner and everything…

Anyway, I have to say I achieved my goal of having no goals in February admirably. It was extremely difficult, but somehow I managed to accomplish nothing at all.

Ok, actually I got back into an exercise routine (30 min cardio during lunch 3 days a week, an exercise class during lunch, some light weights and ab exercises, regular stretching…) and that’s really helped. The hip/back alignment issue is still there but getting better. I got a couple books on trigger points which helped as well – they helped me find and release muscle knots all over the place that I didn’t know about and which may have either been contributing to, or an aggravation of the problem.

Either way, I’m starting to feel better. It really sucks when you can’t sit in any position for more than five minutes without nerve nibbling shrews running up and down between your back and your ankle. And it’s hard to get a good nights sleep. I’ve been catching up on that too.

I didn’t do any writing but I did do some clay – my favorite batch of Dragon’s Eyes yet. I’ll try to put up pics at some point. I lost about a pound in February, but my clothes feel looser than that, so I think the exercise is helping on that front (and behind) as well.

So, on to March…

My goal for March is decluttering. I’m not a hoarder or anything (except for arts and crafts supplies – and those are IMPORTANT) but we have too much stuff that doesn’t have a place. It might be Spring fever but I just want all this extraneous stuff GONE. No more piles of papers or things that might come in handy someday, clothes that don’t fit, clothes that fit but I don’t like, etc, etc.

And how did I get three whisks anyway? I use one maybe three times a year to make gravy. Do they multiply in the utensil drawer? I really don’t want to think about that. I am avoiding all thoughts of whisk reproduction and I suggest you do the same.

Back to goals… I also want to declutter myself and get rid of a few more pounds. And do a little writing and sculpting, even if I’m not in a regular habit again yet.

I’m not sure I’m going to tackle organizing the studio yet though… That may be a separate month’s project all in itself. The main problem there is that having a clear workspace inspires me. It’s a very good reason to organize, but it means as soon as I have a square foot clear, I think of all these cool projects I want to do, and end up with more supplies scattered around than I had before. :)

Cephalopods

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Is it octopus, octopuses, or octopi? Whatever the proper plural (the Oxford dictionary suggests octopodes as correct), the intelligence they’ve displayed is fascinating. It makes you wonder whether they would consider that we are intelligent from the evidence they’ve seen.

Isn’t it intelligent to try to escape captivity?

Nakase said that on each of its three escape attempts, the octopus had to climb out of its tank on the second level of a shelving unit and scramble down two shelves to get to the floor. On one occasion the octopus was found next to a drain on the floor, 15 feet from its tank.

Simon said if not detected, the octopus could have successfully escaped from the facility to rejoin its kind in the sea.

“REEF has a flow-through sea water system installed,” Simon said. “If the octopus had found its way into that, it could have easily escaped back into the waters at Campus Point.”

And here’s a recent article on how they can make their own homes out of coconuts. And I can’t help thinking that I really should follow the article’s suggestion and sculpt an octopus purse to start the trend ;)

Next, we’ll find that sea sponges really do live in pineapples. And I’d be fine with that, as long as they don’t have Sponge Bob’s hideously annoying laugh :)

Subtle Biases

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Sexism isn’t normally something I’d post about, but this post really caught me. It seems that James of the popular writing blog Men with Pens, is actually a woman.

Reading her story makes me admire her guts, but the fact that she disguised her gender because she made twice as much freelance writing with a male pen name, well– that really makes you think.

I’ve never suffered any obvious discrimination because I’m a woman. If anything it worked in my favor. I was usually the only girl in my college Computer Engineering classes. I did feel a little awkward in a room full of guys when it came time to pick lab partners, but that wasn’t because of anything anybody else did. I feel awkward in a group of strangers anyway…

I’m not a rabid feminist. I’ll stick up for myself and being treated equally, but I don’t think men are evil. If a man wants to hold a door open for me, I’ll say thanks, and do the same for him the next time I reach the door first. I’ve never seen any reason why chivalry can’t work both ways.

I thought we were getting past this sort of thing. Seeing proof that this sort of subtle, unmeasurable, possibly even unconscious, discrimination still exists–based solely on the difference of a name on the internet… it hurts a little.

But I also can’t help thinking that a slightly fictionalized version of this story would make a great movie :)

Novel Art Collaboration

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

I thought this was interesting… Novelist Holly Lisle is writing the first draft of a story, and emailing it out to her fans. She’s also collaborating with her daughter, Rebecca Galardo, who is creating jewelry and artifacts to go along with the story.

I’ve always heard that art sells better with a story behind it, but this is the first time I’ve seen it taken so literally.

You can see the first limited edition up on Etsy. The cool thing (to me) is that the original was made in polymer clay.

Btw, I’d recommend signing up for the story if you like fantasy with a bit of an edge and tiger shape shifters. It’s caught me so far and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

In the news – Kaleido View Portal

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Article on an interesting idea – a kaleidoscope window created by Patty Peffer.

The invention is an operating kaleidoscope that can be installed as a new or replacement window in homes.
….
Five years and countless designs later, the end result is a round specialty window that uses a 24-inch opening in the wall with an interior clear viewing pane that is 10 inches wide. The Kaleido View Portal is made up of a three-mirror structure that reflects light off shaped images in red, blue, green, yellow. The image resembles half of a 3-D geodesic dome, she said.

They have a website at www.kvpwindows.com

Miniatures for collectors

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

I enjoyed the following excerpt from an article about a miniature show. We all say, “I could do that” when we look at things, even if it’s silently in our heads. You never realize how involved something is until you actually try it.

Donna Henricks, who will teach a wicker furniture workshop, has made miniatures for more than 30 years.

“People can’t believe that you make it,” Henricks said.

During one show, a woman approached Henricks to ask about her flowers created from polymer clay. When Henricks told her the price, she decided it was too steep and instead bought supplies to make them herself.

“She was at the table the next morning and said, ‘I was up all night,’ ” Henricks said. “She couldn’t begin to make anything that looked like a flower. Until someone experiences trying to do it they really don’t realize. They think they’re kid toys, so why are they so expensive? They’re really adult collector pieces.”

Juxtapo-Exhibition

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

I came across this article on an exhibition of two artists who use polymer clay

Check out the exhibit website where you can see a couple images of the work – looks rather interesting if a little off the wall :)


Big meets small in “Not to Scale,” an exhibit featuring the work of Luber and Peebles currently on display at the Saratoga County Arts Council gallery, 320 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. The show runs through March 1.

Peering through microbinocular lenses, sculptor Peter Luber creates complicated works of art within the confining glass walls of vacuum tubes.

Matthew Peebles sculpts 3-dimensional comic figures, including a life-size image of a man with a painfully inflated head.

Studio by Sculpey site

Monday, January 21st, 2008

Studio by Sculpey has its own website if you want to check it out. It looks like most of the information is Coming Soon though.

Kaleidoscopes in New Zealand

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

I came across a nice article featuring kaleidoscopes in New Zealand.

Kerikeri couple Andrew and Robyn Leary have been in the business for 27 years and sold more than 200,000 kaleidoscopes.
…..
Mrs Leary, an industrial chemist and leadlight artist at the time, asked her husband, a joiner, to make her a kaleidoscope. The end result led to commissions from friends followed by the establishment of their own business, Scopes New Zealand.

Article on Sculptor Damon Bard

Monday, December 10th, 2007

I came across this article about Damon Bard and the sculpting work he does for the movies. Polymer clay is one of the materials he uses.

Bard designs characters and also sculpts others’ character designs into models called maquettes. “I design in 3-D primarily. I do design for creatures and characters like what DreamWorks does, or I’ll design a monster or something for visual effects shows. If there is far too much [work], I’ll work with different sculptors. Mostly, of late, I have been doing character sculpture — everybody seems to like what I do with that.”

Materials: “I use different kinds of clay for different maquettes. If we are doing a fast sketch, I may make it out of a polymer clay, which can be baked and painted. It is semi-permanent — it turns rigid. When we get a design we like and we want to evolve it . . . I’ll do it out of a clay that has to be molded because it’s not permanent.”