These earring are actually not something that I made. They are, however, old enough to be considered vintage by Etsy, so... That was a little weird for me. I bought these when I was in 7th grade, probably from Claire's Boutique or some other such mall store. I was into dressing crazy-funky, and I loved how outrageously large the hoops were. Of course, they were so big that I hardly ever wore them. I had to be careful to keep my head level, because they would touch my shoulders.

Part of me is sorry to let these go, but all things considered, I am happy to release them out into the world. Someone is going to be thrilled to have these crazy things.

"Six drawings per movie, in sequence, no movie stars" is the simple caption that accompanies a series of eye-catching black and white line drawings that recreate scenes from classic movies. The game is to guess what they are.

I probably guess correctly about a third of the time, but it is always fun trying.

Most of my buttons are done as singles, but these pinwheels demanded to be made ina sete of four. Perhaps this was to echo those four segments (which should not be confused with the fallout trefoil, though it did remind me of that).

Spin, little pinwheels, spin!

"Ophelia, you're breaking my heart!"

This is one of my favorite photos, and also from one of my favorite photo shoots. Did I mention how grateful I am that I have such obliging friends as fabulous models? This was my first "put the model in the water" shoot. Happily, we had a warm September day for the work, and the water was not at all uncomfortable.

Earlier in the day, we had wandered around in a graveyard, doing a mad scene. The photos turned out all right, but none were exactly what I was looking to achieve. We then trekked over to Lake Wingra Park, where an obliging willow tree and the warm, shallow water provided the perfect backdrop.

I always find this photo to be beautiful and haunting...and just slightly creepy.

Tonight was our second restaurant week outing. Dinner at Sardine was not a disappointment.

We had a party of five, and managed to order all but one of the Restaurant Week offerings. (Well, we did order all of the main, published dishes. They had added a veggie entree, but while we were strongly tempted by the Potato, gruyere and leek croquettes, we had all pretty much made up our minds before we even arrived.)

The Soup du Jour was Butternut Squash puree, and while I was tempted, I decided to try the Apple Salad. I'd made a huge batch of squash soup this fall, and I usually don't make salads for myself. I did not regret the choice, for the salad was light, savory, and well-balanced. Reports from the rest of the table were that the House Salad and the soup were also quite enjoyable.

The Bone in Chicken Breast knocked my socks off. (And if you know the kind of socks I wear, that is quite an accomplishment.) The meat was perfectly juicy and tender, and the Riesling cream sauce was one of the best things I have ever tasted. I had to grab a piece of bread at the end a mop of every last drop.

Oh, how I wanted the Vanilla bean crème brulée. It was actually the deciding factor for me in choosing the restaurant. Alas, it was not to be. A very popular choice, it seems, for they were all out. I had to console myself with the Gateau Victoire. As second choices went, it was pretty choice. The one member of our party who chose the Assorted cookie plate shared bits of it around, so I also got to try nibbles of lavender shortbread, and other delicious tidbits.

There was not a single bite of the meal that was not excellent. We had plenty of room at and around our table. The waitress was friendly and professional. A fine night out, on this cold Wednesday night.

Next restaurant week will be around July. Looking forward to it already.

Can you judge a book by its cover? Maybe, maybe not. Seeing the same image used for so many book covers really makes me appreciate how art and imagery can be interpreted.

It would be kind of nice if there were little blurbs for each book. Sometimes the titles can give a good indication of what the book is about and if it is similar or different from its covermates, but not always. The way the cover designers use different crops, color balance, contrast, etc to change the feel is also intriguing.

Study of Emma Hart as Circe seems to be particularly popular.

I just got in a bunch of cool new (new to me, as they are vintage) supplies. I'm going to play with them, and see what kinds of cool things I can create.

<oh so giddy>

Murmur is photographer Richard Barnes' fantastic series of photos of swarms of starlings. The clouds and shapes formed by the millions of small birds flying together are astounding. Some resemble spaceships or storms.

I think this is the sort of thing that would be neat to see in person, but only from a reasonable distance. Or with an umbrella.

I kicked things off yesterday with a small group lunch at Quivey's Grove Stable Grill. (Someday, I need to have a meal in the Stone House, but not this week.)

The restaurant week lunch offerings had something to please everyone in our group. Sadly, though there were 5 of us, we did not sample every offering. We went 2/3 on the tomato bisque and the breaded mushrooms. The soup tempted me, but I went with the mushrooms and was not disappointed. The pretzel coating was light and crispy, and the portion was just the right size for a first course. Reports from the soup eaters was that it was also delicious. It certainly looked great.

No one got the fish fry, though I was strongly tempted. All but one of us had the Kobe beef cheeseburger. I ate about half of my burger there, and saved the rest to take home. It was a satisfying burger, and actually held up to re-heating, thanks to ciabatta roll on which it was served. The "Pork on Pork on Pork Basket" was a little too much pork for most of us, but the person who did order it enjoyed it, though she did disassemble the sandwich, eating the sausage patty separately from the pulled pork and bacon.

We all enjoyed the thick fries, which also came in reasonable portions. Neither skimpy nor overwhelming. I am often very relieved to receive restaurant meals that don't try to give the illusion of "value" by loading the plate with more food than I will ever eat, and which will only end up in the trash. Give me a reasonable portion that will leave me satisfied, but not gorged.

We did end up with all three dessert options, and each one was quite enjoyable. Three of our party got the brownie sundae (which also came in that reasonable portion). One of my tablemates had the bread puuding, which looked so appealing that if my own slice of Turtle Pie wasn't so light and creamy, I might have regretted my choice. As it was, the crust was flaky, the filling was silky, and the caramel and pecans were chewy and toothsome.

The food was everything we could have wanted. The service was a little bit less than impressive, as we were there for about 40 minutes before our order was taken. Our server took our drink order and said she'd get our food orders when she brought the drinks. Given that we were pretty much ready to order at that time, this was a sad choice. It was a good long wait until our drinks appeared, and then we got an "I'll be back in a minute" followed by another long wait before she returned to take our orders. Once our orders were actually placed, the food came promptly. I think they were understaffed for the day. It wasn't super-crowded, but the staff-to-diner ratio was such that she probably ended up in the weeds for a while when a number of orders came up at the same time. Not entirely her fault, but still unimpressive.

Overall, it was a great start to the week. We are all looking forward to our Wednesday night outing to Sardine. (L'Etoile was our first choice, but unsurprisingly, it was booked up for the whole week.)

Check out the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team Blog. It features lots of artists and artisans who make things with recycled and "upcycled" materials, including yours truly!

While I didn't end up going into illustration myself, a good many of the people who inspired me to do art were illustrators: Maurice Sendak, Trina Schart Hyman, and of course, Normal Rockwell.

My dad had a great big book of Normal Rockwell covers. It was huge, and I loved looking at it. I would sit in my favorite chair and the book would cover my entire lap. I could spend hours looking at it. I'd imagine the stories that went with each, try to spot the jokes in the April Fool's covers, look for repeating themes and ideas, and pretend that I was one of the characters in some pictures.

Of course, he is "America's most beloved illustrator". So it I know my love of Mr. Rockwell isn't some crazy rarity. At the same time, it can be fashionable to sneer at the sentimental Americana of Rockwell's work. I'll have none of that, thankyouverymuch,

I recently had the urge to look at those illustrations again. My dad's book is up in northern Wisconsin, so I picked up the three-volume Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post: The Early Years, the Middle Years, the Later Years from the library, and have been reading through it. And yes, reading. I intended to just look at the illustrations that I remembered from my girlhood, but I find myself reading the paragraphs that accompany each page, and learning quite a bit that I'd never know about the artist and his work.

Even his "less successful" covers are a pleasure to look at, and I strongly recommend the collection. What I really find neat are the oldest covers, before he was able to work in full color. They are only red and black duotones, but somehow I'd never really noticed the limited palette until it was pointed out to me. I thought that was pretty neat.

Robbie Fulks' "Fountains of Wayne Hotline" is my new favorite song. I'm just sad that I didn't hear this years ago.

Winter, winter, winter. I have to say, I'm not digging it right now. If I weren't sick, and could take advantage of the ice skating this week, it might be different. Instead, I am craving flowers something fierce.

Well, Lynda Naranjo's photography feels like a bit of summer. At least a pleasant memory of warmer seasons. Hollyhocks and days on the lake.

Why not check her out?

You may already know artist Shaennon Garrity from her webcomics Narbonic or Skin Horse, but you don't have to be a regular reader to appreciate her delightfully droll Edward Gorey's "The Trouble with Tribbles". She really nailed the style.

Sometimes I get a little silly when naming things, but when I looked at what I had made, the alternating discs and seed beads really made me think of plate spinning. The cheery yellow base and the pyrographic design also lend to the circus feel. I think these are fun and decorative, without being over the top.

I am really not a "car person". I'm not someone who can tell you year, make, and model at a glance. (Well, except for the models with really distinctive body types, and even then I'm not going to be able to tell you a year.) Still, I do appreciate the lines of a well-designed automobile. There was something about this car that caught my eye.

This is also an early image for me, circa summer of 1998. It may have been within a roll or two of "Derelict". If you look closely, you can see a wee, unintentional self-portrait in the chrome.

I have been following The Uniform Project for a few months now. This is a very neat internet project that would be cool even if it was just for it's own sake. The fact that it is raising funds for The Akanjsha Foundation makes it particularly good.

What is the Uniform Project? To quote from the site: "Here's how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies." She then takes and posts self-portraits in these outfits. Readers will comment and rate the outfits, and people make donations as they see fit. As of today, the site has raised $52,621 to send kids to school in India.

Hurray for awesome internet projects!

These earrings are a wee bit less "found object" than my usual. The keys are found, the birds came from the same fabric store going out of business sale that netted me all my plain wooden buttons. But I just sort of love the idea of these hummingbirds bearing keys. Very much like something that might happen in a fairytale.

If I recall correctly, this was taken on Thanksgiving of 1998 or 1999. I was using a Cmeha Smena 8m, a Soviet Russian camera that I picked up for super cheap. (I think this was before the "Lomography" craze had hit big...I hadn't heard of it, at least. I picked up a Holga at the same time.) It is considered a "toy" camera, and it is pretty limited in what it an do, but the lens produces some very cool effects. Frankly, I wish that processing and printing from film hadn't become so much more difficult, because this kind of thing makes me want to shoot a few more rolls and hit the darkroom.

The shadows are from my sister and I, as we were out in a local nature preserve walking the dog. The title comes from a line in L. M. Montgomery's Emily Climbs.

Today was a wonderfully full day. I took a set of product photos for the fabulous Anandi, then started getting them web-ready (color correction, cropping, sizing...) We would have done more, but my camera battery started running low.

In exchange, she is going to make me a nightgown. I have been looking in vain for something sexy/cute, yet warm (it is, after all, Wisconsin in winter). So I bought a few yards of some soft green jersey cloth, and she is going to custom-make something for me. I'm very excited by this. I'll totally post some pictures of it when it is ready.

I'm also looking forward to seeing her shop up and running live. (She has a few pieces in it now, but she has quite a few more lovely things to list.)

Nice. I've got 6 new photos up:

Cicada

Tall as Our Shadows

Tower

Chevelle

Palette

Climbing the Walls

Enjoys!

"We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm a hero."

Seriously, if you are a Browncoat, these cufflinks will get the "Hero of Canton" song running through your head.

One of the things I really like about this pair is that it is pretty much the same token (unlike my mixed sets) but the colors are not identical. We have one silver-tone token and one that looks like it may have been coated in a darker layer (copper?) that has started wearing off. It would be too easy if they looked exactly alike. The difference makes it interesting to me.

This was totally a lucky shot from my very first roll of film in an SLR. Sweet timing, that's what I say to that.

I'm particularly fond of his shadow.

In a way, it was a LARP that set a good bit of this in motion. Not everything, but it certainly played a part. There was a period of almost 3 years during which I was taking part in a Live Action Roleplaying game based on Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I was, in fact, playing a version of Ingress (Ress), the youngest daughter of the the House of Arch, who only appears in the book very briefly and is still missing (and perhaps dead) at the end of it.

She was an Opener, and had a tendency to collect lost keys. I didn't even have to try very hard, as over the course of the game other players would seek me out and hand me bunches of old keys. Sometimes they would want the prop back at the end of the game. Usually they didn't. Then the key acquisition started to bleed out into the real world, and old keys continued to find their way into my possession. I amassed quite a horde of random keys and a desire to find things to do with them.

This key actually did come to me during the course of some Floating Market session or another. So it seems appropriate that when it does eventually leave me, it will also be by way of The Floating Market.

This shot is the result of a happy accident plus some digital manipulation. I'd tried to get a good shot of a group of people staring down at the camera in an ominous way. The actual result, when I made the print, was pretty lackluster. Only, there was one tiny bit of a face in the corner which really drew my attention. I loved the way the light and shadows played together for in a highly creepy way.

I made that bit of the image the basis for a really cool pen and ink drawing (which I should find and scan one of these days). Once I actually had a scanner of my own, I made a very high resolution scan of that part of the picture, than started working with it in Photoshop to sharpen the contrasts a bit more and build on the scary anonymity of it. I must say, I'm really proud of how it turned out.

The internet is really such a mix of "oh god, my eyes!" and "Wow, you have to see this!" (Sometimes simultaneously.) I love how the net has enabled so many really cool projects. I'd like to highlight some of my favorites from time to time.

Shadow Unit is one such cool project. It is a collaborative fiction project started by Emma Bull (one of the folks who also started the whole "urban fantasy" thing) and involving a roster of really cool authors. It is often described as "fan-fiction for a show that doesn't exist"...at least, that doesn't exist in our universe. However, in an alternate reality it airs on the WTF Network ("The Platypus"). A little bit X-Files, a little bit Criminal Minds and a whole lot of its own thing.

Not only does the "show" feature some amazing writing, but an active and engaging fan community. Furthermore, in an almost ARG-like move, some of the characters have Live Journals and interact readily with readers who comment—provided you don't break the Fourth Wall.

There is a whole lot of entertainment to be had with Shadow Unit, all for free on the internet (donations are appreciated). How can you beat that? Season three starts in just a few weeks. Check it out!

A few years ago, I started a project of buying old leather coats from the Dig and Save and revamping them in an odd, urban fantasy way...the aesthetic that soon took over a lot of what I was doing. (I don't have any of the coats ready for sale just yet, but you an glimpse a bit of one here.) Part of the revamp was to replace the plastic buttons with more interesting things. Around the same time, a local fabric store was going out of business, and I ended up with a whole mess of plain wooden buttons that were crying out for some pyrography. Of course, I liked it so much that I ended up with way more buttons than I would probably use.

This particular button plays with surfaces and textures. The design is owes more to pressure than to burning—quick, heavy presses with the tool. When I finished, I realized that it reminded me of the old Aztec and Mayan calendars. (Hence the name.)

Have I mentioned how much I love my obliging friends? This is the result of a collaboration with the fabulous Anandi. I gave her a Project Runway style challenge, with a Floating Market twist. Assemble a costume for a Bridge Troll using only items that could be found in the trash of the Dig and Save bins. The modern samurai feel came in as a why to indicate troll as honorable warrior, rather than scary monster. (And we tried to do the whole thing in a respectful, rather than icky, way.)

I think she pulled it off quite well, and J., our model was quite game for climbing around and under an assortment of bridges, even wading out in the water a few times. I was extremely happy with how this shoot turned out, and look forward to trying it again sometime.

So, lots of changes to Movable Type since the last version I had. Still trying to get all the templates figured out. It isn't intuitive to me...yet.

"I'm not Lion"

Expires Friday, 1/15/01 at 5:45 PM CST

I wear hair sticks all the time. In fact, a twist held in place with a pair of sticks is kind of my default hairstyle. Of course, this means I own a *lot* of hair sticks. A few years back I ended up with a surplus of these yellow wooden hairsticks. I'd have to break or lose quite a few other before I'd need them.

They sat on a shelf for quite a while. Then I started playing with a wood burning tool I'd also had sitting on a shelf for years. Turns out, they went together quite well. I love the way the spiral turned out, as that had me a little worried. The butterflies are also a fun touch. I'd be tempted to keep these if I didn't already have more hair sticks...than you can shake a stick at.

This is another very early image for me, which got me into playing with low-light, long exposure shots. I think this was a 30-60 second exposure (guess who failed to write this info down?), and the negative it super-thick. It is also another instance of "gosh, I'm glad I have obliging friends" because not everyone is going to let you wrap them in Christmas lights and hold very stil.

Actually, the "hold very still" thing only sort of applies here: about halfway through the exposure, she turned her head to the side without thinking about it. Talk about a happy accident! I love the way that motion totally obscured the face. I used it again with other models later, but this one gave me the idea.

Ok, technically, I can't get a Man Cold, but damn if it doesn't feel like that. Took the day off work and moped about the house drinking tea and feeling sorry for myself. However, the day wasn't a total waste, as I got 15 new items listed at The Floating Market. There was a long slog of color correcting and photo resizing involved in that, but I have a pleasant feeling of accomplishment—somewhere underneath all this grossness.

Can you? The Wolfman

There is an "Etsy Front Pagers' photostream." Neat.

So I can currently see my first front page feature again that way, too. It's nice to know that if you miss actually seeing it live, there are still so many ways to catch it after the fact.

Time for some late-night pyrography, as I just sold a bunch of buttons. I want to take pictures tomorrow, so tonight is the time to create.

I've been spending a bit of time visiting the northeastern U.S. in the past couple of years. Now I find myself wanting a visit to the northwest. Specifically, I want to have supper at The Night Kitchen in Seattle. (With a side trip to Sock Dreams in Portland.)

I know one of the people who's opening it, and I've been following the process with great interest. Acquaintances who have been there since the opening have good reports. And here is a preview report, complete with photos. Does that not look tasty? Seriously, want!

Visit CREATE StudioLounge in Sun Prairie and The Project Lodge on East Johnson. They have been on my radar for a while now, but I haven't managed to get to either. This must change, and soon.

Let's all campaign to bring back French cuffs, shall we? I say this not just because I sell cufflinks, but because cufflinks are just so damn cool. After all, men are generally kind of limited in adornment for self-expression these days.

(On that note, I think we should also bring back tailoring and the wearing of non-baseball hats for both men and women.)

I love these cufflinks in particular because of the contrast inherent in wearing something so rough and industrial on a nice dress shirt. Of course, if you really want to get into the spirit of the thing, you'll put this together with a tailcoat that has seen better decades and a patchwork top hat.

This was one of my earliest shots, and one of my very favorites. I shot it in the summer of 1998, during my very first college photo class, using an old Nikon I'd borrowed from my dad. The camera was completely manual, with only a 50mm lens and a broken light meter. In a way, it was totally perfect, because it made me have to really think about what I was doing, and the limits of the 50mm made me frame my subjects with care. (I love my digital camera, 28-80 lens, my built-in flash and light meter...but it is easy to just snap snap snap when you don't have those limits in place.)

For this shot, I climbed into the cab of the rusting wreck of a truck that was sitting in a vacant lot near my apartment. I was nervous that I'd end up with tetanus or something, but I got the shot that I wanted. The truck is long gone, and even the lot has been built up, but I'll always remember it.

I have a new treasury on Etsy at the moment. A little something to cheer on a cold, snowy winter day. It will expire Sunday, 1/10/10 at 7:57 PM CST. Take a look before it goes away, and check out the great items being featured. (There are 12 regular slots and 4 hidden alternate slots. I switch the alternates in and out over time, so the collection will change from time to time.)

Do you know of Elise Matthesen, AKA the Lioness? If not, then it is about time you did, for she is pretty neat and she makes some very cool jewelry.

I own two pieces by her, very simple but rather fun: two pairs of earrings from her Wiscon Haiku Earring parties. (Pick a pair of earrings. Show them to Elise, who will give you a title. Write a haiku to go with the title. Give the poem to Elise, keep the earrings.) This past year, I got to help her out pre-party, by assisting in taking photos of many of the earrings for the party. Doing so was very helpful, for it gave me the confidence that I would, in fact, be able to get decent product shots for my own jewelry when the time came.

Talking to Water

Before salt grey cliffs
Whisper to the Autumn sea
Speak my need of you.

Right now she has some of her "current shinies" on sale. Go check them out.

This is very neat. I can see the two front page treasuries I was in!

I've been a busy bee lately. It's either that or hibernate. I made 6 new cufflink sets last night. I also have a pair of earrings and a button set that are ready to be photographed for The Floating Market. I should get a few more things created in the next few days, and then I'll have a photo session on Sunday, when I have some light and some time. (It would be nice not to have to rely on natural light for my photos, but all in good time. Things cost money, so I need to sell a few more things.)

I also need to shanghai one of my friends into modelling for me. I think the Silk Necktie Scarf would look much, much better photographed on a person than on a dress dummy. I'd also like to get some shots of that coat. It is so much easier to do these things in the warmer months.

In the meantime, it feels good to be keeping busy.

I took this photo in the spring of 2000 while on a road trip. I was in a phase of taking photos of my shadow. I really liked how it turned out, particularly with the textures of the ground below.

I actually used this photo as the basis for a graphic design project that involved making a pop-up book. I should dig that out and take some pictures. If I do, I'll post them here.

I was rather pleased with how these turned out, and had to fight the temptation to just keep them for myself, rather than selling them.

The purple beads and the larger silver beads (just below the purple) came from a necklace that a friend made for me about a decade ago. It was a beginner beading project, which I wore until the string gave out. I kept all the pieces, but after years of keeping it in a box, I decided to re-purpose the beads for something new, rather than trying to recreate the old piece.

I love these particular tokens. They are so petite—just the size of dimes—and the cutouts are very neat. I never thought I'd describe something made out of transit tokens as "airy," but I think that word really does apply here.

I've gotten my Movable Type updated, for the first time in years. Lots and lots of changes since I first installed the old version, so I have a bit of a learning curve. I'm also going to be tweaking the design a bit. The old one was nice, which I why I kept it so long, but it was also getting a bit stale.

This started out as a personal journal blog. Then it became more of a place where I reviewed movies I'd seen, shows I'd attended, restaurants at which I'd eaten. Then it became a photo blog. Now is is moving in a new direction once more, something that will have elements of those, and a bit more.

This time around it is still going to be heavily an art blog. I have two Etsy shops—Irving Place Photography and The Floating Market—which I will be featuring. I'm also going to try to document more of the creative processed behind them. I'm also going to throw in some reports and reviews of interesting goings-on around Madison and on the net, particularly as they relate to creative endeavors.

Hello, 2010, good to meet you.

They sold pretty fast, but then the sale was canceled since the customer couldn't pay. So they are back and ready to sell!