14apr2013

Hideho, I've been pretty busy last week, attempting to prep for my guild's meeting. I managed to fail utterly to clear all the sewing crap off the dining room table, not to mention screw up the bead exchange, and the only reason the kitchen floor wasn't filthy (and I do mean filthy, as in not mopped in months) was because the wizard took pity and did it for me.

See, I was figuring no one would show up, like last meeting.

But alas, the sun came out, the day warmed, and we actually had a pretty decent turnout. No-one managed to get hit by popping glass, or kick over the numerous containers of dirty mandrel water, or drop precariously balanced plants on their toes, so I guess it wasn't a total failure of housekeeping skills—though I think that was more luck than anything else. (People still froze, of course, even though I turned up the heat. 980 cubic feet a minute of 45–50 degree air is still pretty chilly.)

Anyway. I demoed leaf (mustard, mosaic & 022) and a basic EDP/gold ruby–periwinkle/ink-blue striped floral cane and how to apply them. My flowers sucked, but fortunately, most people couldn't really see what I was doing, so it didn't matter. (Here is a very useful approach for demoing: even if you drop the glass on the floor, it doesn't really matter, as long as you can talk a good story while you do it—most people won't realize you're screwing up unless you're stupid enough to tell them:)

I've already discussed cane, florals and the like at length, so the post is actually gonna be a cute little trillium drawstring bag. But I promise some beady goodness tomorrow, or at the very least by the end of the week;)

4apr2013

Did you enjoy the day off from ranting?

Yeah, well, that's good, cuz I got a new crop: Crommie attempts to explain that no matter what Adria Richards did or didn't do about that dongle crack (during a presentation about sexism no less!) she was gonna lose; and it didn't take very long in his own comments for someone to pipe up, but she complained the wrong way. Exhibit A, comment No. 3.

(I'm so glad the wizard does perl. They're probably not any better than the python folks wrt sexism, but the fact that a trans woman (Audrey Tang) jump-started the lagging 6 dev with pugs can't have hurt. N.b.: this is a very rough approximation of perl history.)

And then, (via Feministe, I believe) we have yet another ...I hesitate to call it “fake” feminism, but definitely watered-down: for all those people who wonder why I fear and distrust facebook: the ultimate work time waster thrives on unceasing labor of its employees; the most successful woman in the company is attempting, evidently, to defang those nasty socialist/communist feminist critiques by pushing her own feminism-brand, in much the way facebook attempts to compete with apps that might decrease its market share. (Hmm, where have we seen that before...?)

Ironically enough, women are treated better at the Evil Empire (aka Redmond) than they are in the Open Source movement. Le sigh.

Nevertheless, facebook feminism, your (het, married, breeding) woman submerges her entirety in work. Life is work, and work, life. Now, I'm all about living an artistic life, a “present” life, if you will. But it is for my art—not some company's bottom line. And some days, I simply take off. (Yesterday, frex...)

No thank you.

All is not doom and gloom. You want to see some genuinely passionately made work, via Drawn check out this gorgeous old-fashioned lettered-and-advertising-style-arted (ok, not a word, I don't care) album cover. And if you want more sign-painting goodness, another vid of the guy working—made by the same videographer, so once again stellar cinematography. Do love the attention to detail, even if they're a little heavy on the drama (come on people, it's not that hard to slump an unadorned piece of sheet glass, though I admit a kiln malfunction on the round one with all the work on it would be majorly annoying). Otoh, all that dust...! Cold-working—grinding and sandblasting—are not for me. By the way, if you've ever wondered what the gold leaf I use in beads looks like, you can find out; though I use an old power supply (fan) drilled with lots of tiny holes in the top to hold my leaf in place, since the bristles of a brush would scorch while applying leaf to a hot bead!

And speaking of beads, today we have my student/peer's instructions for making bunny beads; along with some of my very own less than stellar examples.

2apr2013

Via Pharyngula's (non) anti-caturday post, this photo series of kitties— big kitties, if not quite full-grown—on a fence.

Or you can have spring giftwrap. Now that it's s'posed to snow.

Enjoy.

1apr2013

Ok, lessee if I can format this page correctly, this time...

While I was angsting over f2tE's furisode project, I stumbled across this howto for constructing one. I think the actual pattern info is covered in my books, but author intriguingly offers suggestions for purchasing used kimono: ichiro plus three others but unfortunately the urls are are an image, so must be typed in, not clicked.

Or, early crocuses.

31mar2013

So, I think for the first time evah, I managed to get the pysanky post up by Easter.

Now, if only I was equally caught up on all my other projects....

So, enjoy.

29mar2013

I promised a friday fugly, and so you shall have one.

“Enjoy.”

(Or not...)