spice rack

Our kitchen is very small. Our spice use is very large. We love beautiful organization. Here is the result!

We made the holder from scrap wood and the canisters were scavenged at the Axman, our local reuse store. With a little epoxy, magnets and some labels, voila! Our spice rack was up and on the cheap.

We have metal cabinets so we recessed rare earth magnets in the spice rack and glued them in place. The spice racks go up and come down with a satisfying thwak. The lids are glued into the wood but the jars twist off.

Faces

I was driving behind a car on the way home and I thought the back of it had a face. So I went home and drew the face. Something like this:

-- Mobile dispatch

Maniwa Wooden Car

This looks like a really fun car.



Via: Inhabit

Hugo's novel

Hugo recently finished writing a novel. 50,000+ words, I understand.

Yesterday I received some mail. It contained Hugo's first draft of the novel, in miniature form. The container is 1.5"x 1.5". The words are completely illegible! But it's here, all of it. Unbelievable.

Congratulations, Hugo.

The Story of my Cats

We got a new kitten, and it has been interesting integrating her with our family. We have 2 other cats. One is about 15 years old, and the other is my little prince. He's about 5 years old. He's so spoiled, so I wasn't sure how he would take having a cute little kitten in the house. Here are some photos that show their budding friendship.

silhouette story

princess

I continue to make things at work. Today, I made my co-worker some princess garb. A crown, a necklace and earrings. I was unable to ask her permission to post this image to the blog, uncertain if I wanted to break the boundary between work and personal life. So I anonymized her. I hope it's enough. Tell me if I'm pushing it. As you can see, she LOVED it. This smile was very rewarding.

Abbe McGray

Abbe McGray paints.

Camper Cart

Link: KickStarter

Via: 20x200

cartoons

I have made many cartoons at work. Here are two. They are usually co-worker inside jokes. But they are really funny. One was so funny today I laughed until I cried, which I have never done before at work. It was an unnerving experience.

lincoln shirt

I have many moments at work when I am bored.

I have begun to create things out of paper, office supplies, brochures. I make them as gifts for my co-workers.

I am creating quite a quirky reputation for myself.

My co-worker London gave me this book: How to Draw a Radish.

I love it.

Today, I made a shirt out of a 5-dollar bill with instructions from the book.

Internet for architects

On Monday I had an opportunity to explain parsed RSS feeds to a group of architecture students. I used this diagram to get my points across.



Blogs make RSS, we can parse RSS to a static web page and Google LOVES uThink blogs.

Ball-Nogues Studio

Delicious installations at MOCA by Ball-Nogues Studio.

The Eyes of a Cat

This amazing video has an up-and-coming international superstar, some well-written music by a reclusive composer, and some hot men on the beach! And that skinny black cat is cute. Check it out.

Plaster cast

I made this tonight for my architecture studio project.

drying rack

Sanguinetti A! found this laundry room drying rack and I made one. Thanks Centsational Girl!

Olafur Eliasson on Beauty

Hot glue tentacles

I made this time lapse photography sequence for studio today.

Deer between the headlights

I found this in Iowa City.

Animated gif

My goodness. This is from the same artist who made the videos below.

Another crazy video!

From the same guy who did the video below.

1956 Animated Short

This is so crazy. It's about a nuclear bomb falling on a sleeping city.

animated kids

This is what it is like to try to wrangle five kids under five years of age for a photo.

(It may take a little while for the animation to load.)

animated gif

I haven't seen an "under construction" image in a while and I just found this one on Flickr.



via: Flickr

The Tinman

This short film is so awesome.

Reflections

I had this grasshopper on my desk and when I saw this picture in a book, I just had to set up this scene. It made sense.

Mark Mawson

Mark Mawson makes photographs by dumping paint into water. They are stunning.

Post-It Note animation

Wolf and Pig

World Naked Bike Ride

The World Naked Bike Ride

The cookie photographer

I was in Ueno Park in Tokyo in May when a woman approached our group of architecture students. We were standing near a museum, chatting and waiting for some people to meet us. She approached very gently, with a kind smile and friendly demeanor. Showed us a few sample photographs on her camera and asked if any of us would be willing to let her make our portraits with one of her cookies. Two of my classmates and I volunteered. You can see MIKITAKAHIRA WEB and her cookie project here.

These are my portraits:

fork and screw

I made these photos to illustrate a bike repair problem, but I like how they turned out.

belt/sash

I bought a dress online a few months ago. The model was probably a size 0 and it looked great on her. But it looked like a mumu on me. I hardly wore it. It needed a belt.

Stores didn't have a belt that would work well. I found one eventually but it was an XL. First I'm not a size 0 and then I'm not an XL. This dress was giving me a run for my money.

So I just made one. Yes, just. I just finished. I see a few ends to tidy up, but here's my attempt at photographing it. I made a sash belt... part sash, and part belt. Asymetrical on purpose and with two purple buttons. I'm crabby because my machine was making it very difficult today to make a buttonhole; they're they ugliest buttonholes I've ever made. 

It'll do, and I like it too! I think it looks a lot better when you can see the whole dress but it's just me in the house these days, so these self shots will have to do.

lobotomy, anyone?

I already knew that Eau Claire, Wisconsin was a strange place, but I was shocked to see the hospital still uses these ancient wheelchairs. Creepy. Paging David Lynch, paging David Lynch...

microstories

The last few weeks I've written several microstories and I've emailed them to Hugo. I'll just put the best of the best here.

1. microstory: the bus.
I was on the bus this afternoon. A woman sat in front of me. She was along the side of the bus, and I faced the front. She sat very still. Her eyes half-mast. Large, thick blue sweater - it seemed too much for today, 65 and partly cloudy, scattered storms. After awhile, she said, "Excuse me, driver." Not a question, a statement. He said yeah. She said, "Where's Burger King?" He paused. Most people ride the bus with a destination, but her question seemed to insinuate that she did not. She wasn't unkempt (read: homeless), so it was a surprise to think she might be riding the bus aimlessly. After a few moments, the bus driver said there's one on west 7th and did she mean that one? She said, "That'll do. You let me know when."

A few moments went by. Nothing changed. She stared into nothing, it seemed. Where my focus was drawn, she did not dart her eyes. I think she was looking beyond where I was looking.

She said, "What about a place called Poppy's." The bus driver said he'd heard of it. She said, "take me there." He told her the 65 would take her there, that he couldn't. She said, "ok, Burger King."

When we got to Arcade and Maryland, he stopped and said there's a Burger King over there. She said, "no thank you."

I got off.

2. microstory: the yard sale
Once a year our neighborhood has a yard sale. Today's the day.

I just walked around some. The yard sale is sparse and a little sad compared to last year. I wonder if other people like it. The American families have tons of crap. The Asian families have a few things out. One Asian family was selling bottles of shampoo, laundry detergent, body wash, etc. I wonder where they got it.

Right before I walked out of the house an old Asian man had just purchased a cowboy hat. he was fitting it to his head and smiling.

3. microstory: spring
Within 3 seconds I saw:

A buff, grown man crouched on the ground making all sorts of squeaking, cooing, schnazmuffleing noises at a puppy. The puppy started jumping. The puppy started bearing its teeth from sheer, intense excitement. The puppy spun in circles. The man squeaked on. The puppy jumped on his face.

A woman suddenly pulled her green convertible over onto the shoulder of the street. She pushed a button. Down went the soft top! Zheeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Now she had air in her hair. She ran her fingers through her curls and pulled away from the curb, coasting down the hill at 25 mph.

It's spring in Minnesota.

4. the white squirrels
I went for a run.

A white squirrel ran so close to me I thought I was going to step on it. I haven't seen a white squirrel for a year. Last year when I saw one, it was the first I'd ever seen and I'm sure I blogged about it. I totally freaked my shit.

5 MINUTES LATER I was running still and I saw a 2nd white squirrel! I freaked my shit again.

found object frog

I went on a hike today at Tamarack Nature Reserve just north of the cities. At the trailhead, I found this huge frog sculpture made out of scrap plastic and metal melted and welded together. 

bread

I've been trying out a bread recipe that requires no kneading. This is the first loaf that turned out edible. Now I have to figure out how to make it beautiful. 

herb + spinach + olive = jam?

When I was least expecting it, this book appearred to me for only $2.99. Its contents looked amazing so I snatched it right up. Ever since I've planned each grocery trip around a recipe.

Tonight I made this. It's a herb, spinach and olive "jam." I'm not sure I would call it a jam. It is one of the best things I have ever eaten or made in my life. And that's saying something.

Here's the recipe for you:

Here's the process of cooking it into a "jam:"

And here's the finished result:

I recommend making this for yourself. Incredibly flavorful and undeniably healthy.

felted boar - too amazing

This is the object that has finally convinced me to learn how to felt.

Old Needle Felted Boar!

new and old

Our Brussels sprouts have sprouted.

And I scored a strange old chair from the sidewalk. Short back!

paper art

Peter Callesen has an impressive gallery of paper art. Don't miss the snow and ice pieces.

Jen Stark's paper art

Jen Stark makes amazing paper art.