Found Will Bryant. Laughed.

I randomly ran across this image a while back, I forget where (ffffound?), and I loved it:

But I was feeling too lazy to find out who the artist was. Or, put another way, I was feeling too productive to allow myself another internet rabbit trail to follow that day. The phrase stuck in my head, though, because it is so perfectly true, isn't it? Today I finally decided to leap into the rabbit hole of Google, in search of its creator.

I re-found the image on the flickr photostream of this guy Will Bryant, along with several other amusing drawings and some cool mixed-media stuff. It seems that "I make things because I get sad if I don't" is his signature phrase, because it shows up like a tag line on his personal site, his Etsy shop, and his blog. Okay, now I totally feel like a stalker. And you can too! Check out his work and your day will be happier.

Margaret Wertheim – Crocheted Coral Reefs

I've admitted in the past that at heart I'm a total math nerd... which explains why my heart was doing flips when one of my favorite feeds, TED Talks, published this lecture by science writer Margaret Wertheim. But, it doesn't take a mathematical mind to appreciate her colorful, woolly, crocheted coral reefs, which have now become a viral collaboration. In fact, as she says, the project has roots in fields as diverse as "mathematics, marine biology, feminine handicraft and environmental activism." See for yourself:



The visuals are so beautiful and complex, you may want to watch it hi-res.

The video is fifteen minutes long, and some of it gets kinda technical, but I encourage you to find the time to watch it, and to keep with it. She does an excellent job of making the complex stuff completely relatable, and also raises some interesting points towards the end about our social and educational systems. ("Think tanks"? Try "play tanks"!)

Here are some more pics of their creations, which have been displayed in galleries in London, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere.

Margaret and her twin sister, Christine, founded the Institute For Figuring, "an organization dedicated to the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and the technical arts." Isn't that a great name! I wonder if we could get them to do a workshop somewhere around here ... the UCC perhaps??

Ikebana Vase from pre-fire Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

I knew nothing about ikebana (a certain Japanese art of flower arrangement) until I bought this pretty little vase:

My husband and I were celebrating our first wedding anniversary on May 3, with a short trip up the coast to Santa Barbara. Of course we had no idea that two days later a horrible fire would sweep through, and we would be among the last to enjoy some of the beautiful countryside north of the city.

The highlight of our trip was the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, a collection of California's most beautiful and diverse wildlife. We were devastated to learn later that it sustained significant damage in the fire. The eerie timing of our visit will probably mark it as memorable enough, but at the time we wanted to get a little memento from the gift shop. They had several of these beautiful ikebana vases, which it turns out are actually made in Maine by Georgetown Pottery.

I love how they seem to defy gravity, with an incredibly shallow vessel supporting impossibly vertical arrangements. The secret is the "pin frog," a metal disk with a bunch of pins sticking straight up, into which you press the stem of the flower.

I wonder what kinds of interesting found objects I could make into vases with some of these pin frogs and a hot glue gun... I'll have to keep an eye out at the next flea market!

Another neighborhood sighting: Yard sculpture

An installation in someone's front yard near our apartment:

An oldie but a goodie: The Science of Sleep

It was a few years ago that Michel Gondry came out with this visually stunning film, but I was recently referencing The Science of Sleep for its frequent use of hand-made-style art direction, and I found this interview with one of the production designers. I thought you might enjoy it:



How can I get that job??! Seriously, how fun would that be to see all your crafts come to life. Wow.

(By the way, if you have never seen the movie, well you absolutely must. I promise it will be one of the most artistically satiating experiences you will have in a while...)

How to make a tabless tab

This is a fun little trick that I came up with one day when I wanted to flag a page in my sketchbook, but I didn't have any of those little Post-It Notes flags. Basically, it's just a way to create a tab on the edge of a piece of paper, using only the paper itself. It's useful for dividing a book or notebook into sections, or for flagging an important page that you want to be able to reference easily. I was inspired by the stapleless stapler, a handy gadget that I picked up a few years ago.

The process consists of making a few cuts in the page, creating a flap and two slits, and then weaving the flap through the slits so it extends over the edge of the book. Here are some detailed instructions.

First, on the edge of the right-facing page of the spread you want to tab, draw the pattern I've provided at the end of this tutorial. (You can draw this at any size, as long as you follow the notes below the template. I've made it quite large for demonstration purposes, but you can make it take up less of the page if you like.)

Next, put a cutting mat (or scrap of cardboard) underneath that page to prevent cutting the subsequent pages, and use a knife to slice along the lines you've just drawn.

You should now have a flap and two slits. Fold the flap and crease it at the edge.

Then, tuck it under the first slit and back up through the second slit.

That's it! Now you have a tab, which you can write on if you want to label it.

Here is a template for the cutting pattern, though it can be freehanded fairly easily.

And, as I mentioned, you can play with the size of the template, and even the aspect ratio (how wide or narrow the overall shape is). The key is to make sure that the distance from the fold line to the end of the flap is greater than the distance from the fold line to edge of the page, so that when the flap is folded over it actually sticks out past the edge of the book to make your tab.

So there you have it – the tabless tab. Perhaps not quite as nifty as the stapleless stapler, an actual gadget that does the job for you... I do acknowledge that it's rare that you have a cutting board and an Exacto, but no simpler means of achieving a tab, e.g. some tape and a scrap of paper! But, it's a fun idea nonetheless. And as soon as I can find a manufacturer that will create custom craft punches, I'll get one made in this pattern, so you can just punch and fold. Let me know if you've got a lead on that!

Amy Sedaris turns to crafting

...as the inspiration for her next book. A brief AP article seems to be the only source of info as of yet, but I'm staying tuned!

(Amy Sedaris is a brilliant comedienne who's been in lots of stuff. A few years ago she wrote a hilarious book about entertaining called I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. Her brother David Sedaris is also a famous humorist, and one of my favorite writers ever.)