Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to give a shout out here to two of my favorite African American Artists...Radcliffe Bailey and Kara Walker. I learned about both of these fascinating artists in college.

I actually got the spectacular experience of meeting Mr. Radcliffe Bailey at one of his gallery openings in Atlanta, GA (where I timidly asked him about his opinions on the "black aesthetic" and excidetedly inquired about his personal ties to his artwork and his genius layering system). He said that he often gets attached to his work (as I am sure any artist could relate) and so he had to come up with a way to "know when to stop." He decided that after 7 layers, his paintings would be finished. Bailey often combines imagery and text from African and African American culture with paintings and sculptural assemblages.

Kara walker uses the simple contrast of black on white sillhouettes to make often controversial yet undeniably beautiful scenes that depict real and imaged happenings of the old slave days and plantation times. Awe inspriring I would say!

Shoes!

My mom got me some stiletto, break your neck, up to your ankles style boots for Christmas this year. Not only would I probably kill myself in them, they were nowhere close to my style. Lucky me, however, because she kept the receipt and I was able to get two more than awesome shoes in return! And, if you have to ask, yes the plaid Converse knock-offs (they are actually FUBU) do fold up to be high-tops...woot!

Happy Winter

I wrote a little love message in the snow piled flower pot!

Snow Day Memories

So, I was off four days this week because of "poor road conditions" due to our little winter storm! Unfortunately, we didn't get much snow, mostly ice. However, the blanket of white in the back yard reminded me of the snow we got last year and the adorable snowman that my boyfriend and I made. Isn't he cute? The snowman and John!

Felted Soap Scrubs

I had heard of these super cool "felted" soap scrubs a couple of years ago and sure enough saw them popping up in such stores such as Anthropologie and various hippie-esque stores last year. So, during my crafting extravaganza this winter, I decided to try my hand at making some!

I picked up some square soaps from World Market in two scents (Ginger Lime and Lavender Vanilla). I purchased some beautiful hand dyed wool from JunePryceFiberArt's etsy shop. Then I sifted through tutorials of how to felt the wool around the soap to create a soap and washcloth in one ex foliating thing-a-ma-bob! There are also a plethora of video tutorials on YouTube if you are a more visual learner. But, if you want my basic instructions...here they are:

1) Wrap strips of wool around soap, making sure all sides of soap are covered with wool.

2) Fill large bowl or sink basin with hot water.

3) Scoop a generous amount of hot water into your hands and slowly pour over wool covered soap.

4) Continue adding water until you feel soap is fully saturated.

5) Use the palms of your hands to rub all sides of soap (this helps the wool grad onto each other's fibers and shrink down).

6) Continue for longer than you think you need to (take my word for it).

7) When wool has "felted" enough and shrunk down around the soap enough, run under cold water for a few seconds.

8) Pat dry on clean, dry towel and let dry.

9) Scrub a dub in the tub to test it out! :)

LL's Necklace

I made my best friend (known as LL) a unique necklace for Christmas. I found the super-cool handmade wooden "button" (center of necklace) at a local craft bazaar. I added some other beads, an abstract wire construction, and leather strap to finish it off. I think it has a very bohemian meets Native American goddess sort of vibe! What do you think?

P.S.--the star burst looking creamish/yellow bead to the right of the wooden center was handmade by me over ten years ago via high school ceramics class. Funny, huh?!!

Record Clock

I made my dad a record clock for Christmas. It's hard to find a good gift for those people in your life that seem to already have everything. I think that's why I usually end up making a lot of gifts for the holiday, so people will get something unique...since my dad collects records and has close to 5,000 now, I thought this clock would be a good addition!

If you want to make your own, it is super simple. I just got a record at the thrift store (this one is "Dreamboat Annie" by Heart, isn't the mushroomie center as cute as pie, or as cute as a button-mushroom?!!). I bought the clock parts at hobby lobby and assembled it in less than five minutes. The only thing you have to remember is that the clock parts will probably end up being a little bit bigger than the hole in the center of a record, so just use a knife to gently make the opening larger...be careful to check the size of the opening periodically so you don't make it too big!