Character Zoo

Where is Character Zoo?

2012-02-04T23:09:00.002-08:00

Hello hello hello to anyone who may still be reading! I'm sure you lovely people are all wondering what could have happened to Character Zoo. Have I not made a single thing for months? Am I living a slovenly and unproductive existence? Well, mostly...but not completely!

It seems as though I have finally done what I've long threatened to do and moved this blog over to tumblr. As of now, this blog won't update any more, but if you head on over to The New Character Zoo you can already see pictures of my brand new ongoing project.

Sorry for the abrupt move and the long silence, but I'll be good from now on!

Tiny Norse Shrines!

2011-05-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

I made this pocket shrine to Odin today, and I think it's going to be a contest prize or something for a podcast I'm planning to start. That's him in the middle, with his wide-brimmed hat getup, with his dogs Gere and Freke on the bottom and his ravens Huginn and Muninn on the top. I'm thinking about doing one to Thor as well, and maybe Loki, but the mythology I've been able to find is a bit vague on what he looks like. I might end up having Thor's shrine just be a shrine to Mjollnir. Or hell, maybe I'll be too lazy to do anything at all!

In my big man hands for size comparison:

I like working this small; I had to paint some of the stuff in there with the tip of a needle!

Christopher's Room Installation

2011-05-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

This was the installation I did for my exit show. It's called Christopher's Room, and it follows the story of a young prince, Christopher, whose life changes when he is attacked by the great snake Ezra. Christopher defeats the snake, but takes Ezra's mask so that he is never hurt again. The mask gives him strange new powers, but renders him pretty soulless and zombie-like. The installation itself is a corner of Christopher's bedroom, in which the viewers can poke around and find goodies that expand the story. Here's me in the installation:

The snake Ezra:

Christopher's mother, the Insect Queen, doesn't recognize her son after he puts on the mask, so she collects pictures of him as he used to be:

A family portrait of Christopher and his parents:

Christopher's father, the king, uses Christopher's new powers to eliminate two potential assassins, the twin brothers Felix and Asher Orthrus. Christopher must send the king their tattooed hands to prove they are dead:

Each of Asher's fingers is in an individual box:

There are lots of little goodies in the cabinet:

Here's the little pamphlet in the cabinet that shows Christopher fighting the snake, and which I posted on this blog earlier:

New Books for a New Chapter...of my Life...Get it? It's a Metaphor

2011-05-14T15:44:00.001-07:00

Well, it's official: I'm a college graduate! Here are a couple books I finished recently. This first one is a cake-shaped book for my little sister's birthday:

Then I made this book and box so I could have a little book that was a perfect cube:

And finally, this is an altered book that I made out of a thrift store find called "The Adventures of Philip, Volume 2." It was published in 1900, and I thought the title was so hilarious that I had to illustrate it. The author's name was Thackeray, but I thought that in my story, Thackeray should be a monster that Philip has to defeat:

Everything inside is carved into the actual book pages and painted/collaged; the dirigible is a pop up!

In the end, Philip just turns out to be a dorky guy dreaming of adventure from his study. Aww. The middle panel has holes in it, so you can see from spread to spread:

Later tonight, I'll post pictures of my exit show installation. But for now, thanks for reading about the books!

A Couple New Books!

2011-04-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hello! Here are a few books I made recently. The first one is a big coptic book with giant wings. Practical? No. Conversation starter? Definitely.

I've already done a few bird-related drawings inside...

The second book is a pop up book that I made about my grandma's old house, which got destroyed in a hurricane years ago. I loved that house as a kid, and I wanted to make a book for both it and my grandma. Here's the cover, with a piece of Native American pottery that is often found in the area:

The first page:

Each successive page opens up to add a new layer onto the house:

Until finally:

When all the layers are up, you can pull on the topmost tab to reveal the final, post-hurricane page, with :

Yay books!

Ziegfeld Altered Book

2011-03-10T19:30:00.001-08:00

Hello, all! Finally, a new project! I just finished this altered book. I was originally a book about the performer Ziegfeld, but I thought Ziegfeld was a more appropriate name for some kind of space messiah. He ends up coming to earth to try to become a god, but things don't turn out that well. Here's the cover; I'll write the text that I saved under the images:

"Ziegfeld's father was the cause of everything that his dazzling son became."

"Almost at the outset he was to become aware not only of rich comforts but also of the threat of death and destruction that was to haunt and obsess him in later years."

"In his early teens Ziegfeld was lanky, already saturnine in features, and maddened by his father's austerities. Yet..."

"He was intensely loyal to his father. We may well imagine Ziegfeld's thunderous fury when he learned of this disgrace to the family name."

"The most powerful man on earth"

"After Ziegfeld's masterstroke of showmanship, he had everything he wanted in the world."
Here's another view of the inside part, where the biggest chunk of text has been carved out and a polymer clay figure is inside:

Lithography Crowns

2011-01-23T13:10:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!
Sorry for the long hiatus; finals and holidays have flown by, and I am back in action! Here's a project I finished just before Christmas. I did a series of three stone lithographs and then built three crowns based on the prints, using the prints. Here's what I mean (and thanks to the lovely Richard, my expert crown model):

This is all three crowns in front of the print they are made from.

I made this print, and then made this dirigible crown out of many copies of it:

Print number two:

Aaaand print number three:

So regal!

Mini Update! Snake Royalty

2010-11-20T12:04:00.001-08:00

Hello! Here's a quick print I made yesterday and today; I figured since I had done a Prince of Dogs print awhile ago, it was time the snakes got some royalty of their own. This is a 2-color letterpress print:

I drew this design with nib pens, which was super fun; I hadn't really tried them before. I think they're my new best art friend.

Letterpress French Fold Pamphlet and a question!

2010-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hello guys! Here's what I've been working on this week: a French fold pamphlet telling a little story through illustrations. This is a reductive linoleum block-carved print that I made with a Vandercook press (which I looove!) Here's the cover:

The middle:

With closeups:

Aaaaand the back cover:

Ta da! If you're interested in the videos I've been making, I also started a fancy schmancy cooking show called Recipes to Impressipes. My first dish is homemade ice water.

BUT! I have a question for anyone who might be reading this. I've been thinking about moving this blog to tumblr recently, as it seems more image-based (which is the way I like to blog) and posts seem easier to share and spread. I also think I'd get a little more image area out of it so I wouldn't have to squash my bigger images so much to fit into this template.

The downside of this, of course, is that I'd be starting from scratch (although I'd probably copy over all my old posts) and people who read this blog would have to go/subscribe somewhere new. So my question to you is: what's your opinion? I want to do whatever is easiest for the people who read this, so please let me know!

New Litho Print, a Collaborative Book, and Videos! Hurrah!

2010-11-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! Hope Halloween was lovely; it certainly was for me, as I got to go to a corn maze for the first time and enjoy a party from my always wonderful friend Chase. My roommate and I went as Hank and Dean Venture from the Venture Brothers because we are supernerds. But enough about that! Here's what I've been up to! This first print is a 4-color, 22x15 inch litho print, but I still want to add a couple more layers:

I also did this collaborative exquisite corpse book, in which I (and fourteen other people) made two body parts and bound them into a book, so you can flip the body parts around to get new combinations. Here are two combos with my two body parts in them:

And here's a closeup on the ones I did:

I've also made a couple videos recently: a parody of Doctor Who and a tour of Savannah with my little sister.

Hunter S. Thompson Mini Print!

2010-10-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

So I really love the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and decided to try my hand at polymer letterpress plates by doing this mini print of a Nixon-masked crow carrying him off into the great beyond. This print is about 5 by 7 inches and has just two colors; mmmm, a little printmaking appetizer.

Lithography Skull

2010-10-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

I made this litho print the other day. I was experimenting a lot with stone lithography and my image started to disappear as I was printing, so I made prints with the image starting out like this:

and ending up like this:

Oh lithography, you flighty vixen. On the video front, I've been raging about cake and being an idiot in the car.

David Bowie Moonage Daydream Print

2010-09-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am pretty obsessed with David Bowie. This is my first time printing a woodblock on a Vandercook press, and it was pretty awesome. Actually, the blue layer is just carved out of a placemat, the black layer is a woodblock, and the text is lead type. These are my four favorite Bowies: 60's mod Bowie, Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, and Labyrinth Bowie. WOOOO!

Stone Litho Print

2010-09-22T11:34:00.001-07:00

Mini update, hurrah! This is my first stone lithography print, drawn with a grease crayon:

And if you've been wondering what I've been up to, you can watch my video blog to see my new apartment and roommates or watch me gossip about Andy Warhol.

Letterpress and Litho Prints!

2010-09-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hello there! After an unfortunate camera-fixing-related hiatus, here are a few litho prints I've done recently. This one's done with a pronto plate:

And this one's a plate:

And here's a small little letterpress flier I printed with hand-set wood type. These projects were kind of made to learn about lithography and letterpress processes, so look out for more interesting and complex things later!

More Cast Jewelry! Rhino Ring, Obelisk Ring, and Bronze Medals!

2010-08-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is: the promised post about the other things I've been casting here in Italy! The first is a rhino ring that I loosely based on the Albrecht Durer rhinoceros print:

This one's an obelisk (which are everywhere in Italy) with my initials in Egyptian hieroglyphs going around it:

And finally, if you remember a looong long time ago I made this print of me battling an octopus. I thought it was about time I got some accolades for that feat, so I made myself these bronze military medals:

Less than a week left in Italy!

Saint Sebastian Double Ring

2010-08-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

Here in Italy, I'm afraid I have become somewhat obsessed with the Catholic saints, and my favorite is Saint Sebastian, who's always depicted being shot by arrows (second favorite: Saint Peter of Verona, always depicted with a cleaver in his head. Ow!) I learned to make wax molds and cast recently, so I cast myself a Saint Sebastian double finger ring so I can kick ass Catholicism-style.

I'll post much more cast jewelry soon; I've been busy. For something much less dramatic than a giant ring of a dying saint, you can watch my critique of Kinder Egg toys I've found here in Italy.

EARGASM! Quick Print Update!

2010-07-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a superquick print update...this is a woodblock print with a keyblock and a second block all jigsawed out so that I could ink the pieces individually and print all the colors in one go. EARGASM!

And here it is without the background, coming soon to a t-shirt near you!

Still having a blast in Italy...look out for more jewelry etc. soon!

Cortona Streets and Priests: Intaglio Prints!

2010-07-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here are my first ever intaglio prints! These guys are etched into plates, inked up, and run through the press to produce awesome little prints. I have a long way to go before Intaglio Masterdom, but here's a start! This first one is two separate plates of a sketch I did of one of the alleyways here in Cortona, Italy.

This one is a three-plate print inspired by my recent trip to the Vatican:

And here's another version of it, a "ghost print" made by printing off of the key plate a second time:

Still having a great time in Italy...only a month left!

A Jewelry Mini-Post

2010-07-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hello from Italy! Yes, I have been in Italy for nearly a month now, and will be here for over a month more. Here's something I just finished a few days ago, a Cerberus pendant made of copper and brass. The whole thing is maybe the size of a quarter and a dime pushed together:

Aaaand here's the back. I'm thinking I'll make it into a necklace, but as of now it's just a chunk o' metal:

If you're interested what I've been doing in Italy other than making things, you can follow my video blog starting with this video!

The Ugly Uncles: Cast Plaster Sculptures!

2010-06-01T19:05:00.001-07:00

So here's what I've been doing for the last three weeks: casting a series of sculptures!

I had never done this before, but basically I made an original out of plasticine, covered it in rubber and plaster, cut it open strategically to form a mold, and then cast these guys in plaster with that mold. Here are some little maquettes I was doing in the planning stage:

I chose this guy:

And made him bigger! Such intense concentration...

Here he is almost done; just needs some smoothing out and his legs fixed a bit.

After he is cast, he becomes the four ugly uncles pictured above! Oh, and the four uncles have a fifth sibling. This fifth uncle was my test cast, and he didn't fit in well with the others. So I took him outside and left him in a gargoyley perch downtown for pedestrians to appreciate:

Whew! Oh, and as for what happens to the plasticine after the mold is made: it tends to come out pretty trashed. I combined my leftover plasticine with somebody else to make this abomination afterwards:

Think of that when you try to sleep tonight.

Less Art...More Ridiculous: Justin Bieber and Doctor Who

2010-05-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Well, I don't have a real art update right now, but I figured I'd post these for fun. This first thing is a little animation I did about a week and a half ago about Justin Bieber; doing this kind of cheap slide-showy animation was really fun, and I'm going to try to make another one soon. Sorry Bieber fans:

I also made this Doctor Who shirt; I saw a girl a few weeks back wearing a shirt that said "The Dark Night" and had a pretty badly drawn Joker on it. I thought the shirt was hilarious and that she had made it herself, but in the end it was just a shirt for some sorority function. The idea stuck with me, and I decided to make a really painfully bad fan shirt for one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who!

It's a little embarrassing to wear due to the sheer badness of it all, but I do it anyway. So far, nobody has said anything about it, not even my creative spelling of "Doctor."

I have a show this Friday for some sculptures I'm going to cast in plaster, so look out for that this week; take care!

Art in Boxes and More Photography!

2010-05-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a sleepless couple of weeks, but here's a brand spankin' new post! These are some box installations that I've been working on. The first is called Subvultures! and it's these two connected boxes:

The boxes are about a foot and a half tall, and they are filled with stuff that I drew, then digitally colored and printed. There are people jumping from one box to the next; people from each box seem to want to get into the opposite box. If you're curious, the text above the box on the left is Japanese for "the most beautiful butterfly of all is found in the cocoon of your heart," and the text for the box on the right is Latin for "Ah, human cares! Ah, how much futility in the world!" This is one of those projects that I wish I had better pictures of, but here are some closeups nonetheless:

At some point I'll try to take better pictures; you can't see any detail in these, arg! Here's my second box project, which functions as kind of a small cabinet, I suppose:

When you open the clasp at the top of his head, it swings open to reveal what's inside:

Aaaaand finally, something that's nice and easy to translate into a digital format because it's flat! Here's some more 35mm photography (some of which has been painted on, bleached, had the negative scratched, etc.):

Thanks so much to models Lauren, Kathryn, Eric, and Ana! Well, now that all of that is over, look forward to about a solid month of rubber sculptures. Yes, really. Moldmaking and casting, I am pumped!

Prints, Giveaway Boxes, etc!

2010-04-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday, all; here's what I've been up to! I made 20 prints with digital photos I took combined with screenprinting; here are three of them:

In other news, last night I put up this installation of about 40 boxes. This was an exquisite corpse-esque collaboration between two other people and me; we took 40 of these little cardboard boxes, printed out a bunch of stuff, painted, drew on them, and passed them between the three of us until they were suitably worked over. Then we hung them from the ceiling and decorated a big pair of hedge clippers to hang with them so that people could cut down a box and keep it. I think this might be something that you kind of have to see in person, but I tried to get a couple of pictures anyway:

I passed by it later today and there were only four boxes left, so I guess people were into the idea! Speaking of people taking art (although not with permission this time), if you want to see my grand television debut, you can do so here. Wooo!

I've also been playing around with Illustrator for my next project, and although I'm having a great time using it, I still have a LOT to learn. Here are some sneak previews:

What does it all mean? In a couple of weeks, hopefully it will all make sense! I feel as though this post has been a lot of stuff that doesn't really look like the kind of thing I'd usually make, but there you are. I sort of mentioned in the last post, but I've been thinking lately about including more than just finished art related things on this blog (more videos, sketches, little comics, etc.) Still up in the air about that. Stay tuned!

Magnets, Prints, Photographs, and...a Video Blog?!

2010-04-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!
First of all, I recently had the awesome opportunity to screenprint these posters designed by artist Joshua Ray Stephens for the AUX 4 experimental arts festival here in Athens, GA:

So other than that, for one of my classes, I was asked to make magnets with a "springtime" theme. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I thought that was a little cheesy, so I got kind of "creative" with my springy magnets. Here's Spring, but why is there a knife in her mouth?

Because she killed Winter:

This next on was my roommate's (brilliant) idea:

And this quaint little Easter scene was mine:

Here are a couple more 35mm photographs! First, the always-unnerving Patrick:

Here's my awesome dad, working in his woodshop:

This is a photograph taken by photographer Diane Arbus:

And here's my copycat version (with aforementioned awesome roommate Lauren):

And for the last photo, a self portrait. Embarrassing. Thanks Kathryn for helping me on this one!

But what's even more embarrassing than a self portrait? A video blog. Yep, I've thought for a long time that making a vlog would be fun, if not pretty self-indulgent. So I'm going to try and give it a shot. Nothing deep, just a kind of anecdotal diary-type thing. Anyway, here's the first one:

Squid vs. Ship Mini Installation

2010-03-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
So this project is based on the idea shown in this blog, the idea of making an installation in a tiny gallery space. I really encourage you to check the stuff out there; I love the idea of a tiny installation, and building this was super fun! I made my own box out of foamcore and filled it with stuff I had printed with an inkjet printer and screenprinted:

It's difficult to tell in the photo, but the space actually goes quite far back. And what are those four switches at the front for? They control the lightning, the most fun of the whole project! Here's a video in total darkness of my friend Patrick demonstrating how you can make your own lightning (and adding his own sound effects.)

I really enjoyed putting circuitry into this thing, so look out for more electronic things in the future! Here's one more 35mm photograph of my lovely friend Eric to rap up the post:

My First Attempt at Coloring in Photoshop

2010-03-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

Yep, pretty self explanatory title. This is just a quick late night post; this is what I did today! I scanned in four drawings (three of each different person and one of the pig and chicken), and combined and colored them in photoshop. This is the first time I've tried this, and it took forever!

Click the picture to see it in a larger size!

My First 35mm Photography

2010-02-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

In my endless quest to try as many mediums as is humanly possible, this year I am trying 35mm photography! So far, I'm not exactly the best at it; I've had some issues processing, and once I even opened the back of my camera before the film was completely rolled up. Nevertheless, here are some photos I've taken. Thanks to awesome models Kathryn (/Katy), Lauren, Ross, and Patrick!

Aaand just because I thought it was interesting, this is actually a rubber pipe (I had no idea rubber ever looked like this:)

Screenprinted Animal Pelt Headdress

2010-02-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hello all! So this past week I built this bizarre headdress. Everything on it is screenprinted and attached to the foamcore structure I built, and yes, you can wear it. Wooo!

The Evolution of a Poster, and a Birthday!

2010-02-14T22:31:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Although it's actually after midnight, so I suppose I'm a bit late. I'm just going to go on pretending that it's still the 14th and tell you all that today is my 21st birthday! So to all my friends and family that helped me celebrate, thank you all so much! I got super-awesome art tools PHOTOSHOP and an awesome DIGITAL CAMERA that not only takes pictures but HD video! Expect movies from now on. Oh, there will be movies.

But for now, here's the evolution of a poster I made. To start, I googled one word ("propaganda") and made an image using only google images from that word:

Then, I printed the image out, and drew/painted on it, added paper and cardboard, etc, to get this:

I then scanned the new image, opened it in Photoshop, and added more things (because it didn't have enough dragons the first time, apparently.)

After that, I (you guessed it) printed it out yet again. At this point, I was getting kind of tired of looking at this image, so as my final product, I altered it quite drastically. Once it was printed out, I cut it all up and painted and screenprinted all over it:

So there it is, my final product...a 22x30 poster of this guy's head!

Collaborative Installation and a Poster in Progress

2010-02-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

It's that updatey time again! I was able to borrow my super nice friend Patrick's digital camera in order to post the following installation I recently participated in:

These pixel-esque little squares are all mono prints! My portion is the third grid from the left on the bottom row...

They are all animals at a tea party; here are a couple up close:

I made these by printing a few layers of monoprint color on plexiglass, screenprinting the animals' shapes in yellow, red, and blue, and then using a pronto plate to print the black lines.

Here's one more thing I've been working on; I took a bunch of images from google image, photoshopped them together, printed it out, then painted/glued things onto it until it became this:

But this poster isn't done yet; I've already scanned it back into photoshop, messed with it a bit more, and printed it out again. Tonight I'm going to have fun cutting it up and rearranging it, so look out for more on this soon!

Abaca Paper Coptic Book, Photograms, and David Bowie

2010-01-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Yeah, I know it's been awhile...this is due, unfortunately, to the sad demise of my trusty digital camera. But never fear! Although I am still devoid of my camera's sweet, metallic embrace, I will post nonetheless. Here's a little coptic book I made before Christmas with samples of all of the handmade abaca paper I'd been making:

It's amazing to think that all of the paper in that book is made from the exact same fibers; the pages near the end have just been beaten a lot longer. Aaaanyway, last Friday, I made photograms for the first time! A photogram is when you take a sheet of photo paper and expose it with objects sitting on top of it. The light shines through certain items and it's blocked out by others, and it makes quite an interesting effect. Here's the one I made:

You can also take a piece of photo paper, place a finished photogram on top of it upside down, and create an inverted image, like this:

In the "what mediums are next to try" front, I'm soon going to start doing 35mm photography! Hurray! I'm also finally attempting to learn photoshop, that most elusive of beasts. I've just started, but here's a picture that I think accurately shows my progress; I made it using a scanned drawing, old scanned money from Honduras, and pictures of David Bowie from google:

If that doesn't show progress, I don't know what does.

Monkey King Tunnel Book

2009-12-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

Here's another book-type project I've been working on: a tunnel book! These books are flat until you open them up, spreading out the pages and giving the image depth. This one's about some sort of Monkey King that lives above the clouds. Here it is when it's flat:

And here it is when it's extended (sorry for the weird green sheet in the background.)

Aaaaand here's the back:

Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers Zine

2009-12-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

OK guys, I know I haven't posted for awhile, but I've been busy making lots of new projects, so expect lots of posts in the next few days! The first one is this zine package I just finished; I made these an edition of ten, and here they all are:

So here's the story: these are made to look like corporate packages from a fictional company called Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers. I screenprinted everything in this package: all the box logos, coupons, letters, and the zine itself. Here's what the package looks like when it's being opened:

From the top left, there's a white chocolate box, two coupons that read "One free truffle redeemable at any Ghost Mantis location," a black chocolate box, and a sealed letter with the actual zine itself underneath. The letter is abaca paper I made myself, and I sealed it with red wax and a "G" seal; here it is unopened:

The letter reads: "Dear Loyal Customer, as a member of the ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY community, either you or someone you know has most likely been affected by the tragic events that occurred over the Thanksgiving holiday. Some have pointed to Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers as the source of this disaster, but we would like to stress that test results with the potential to substantiate this claim have not been released. As such, we must all remember that we do not yet know the cause of the accident. That said, although Ghost Mantis does not yet take responsibility, any disturbance to the ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY community affects us, too. That's why we have prepared these complimentary chocolates, coupons, and Collector's Edition Ghost Mantis Company History Pamphlets as a reminder of our concern for the community and as a sign of our goodwill. We sincerely hope these packages find you well. Happy Holidays, Mortimer Windle, CEO Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers."

That's right, these packages are sort of apologies for some sort of unexplained tragedy that was, in all likelyhood, caused by this company. Here are the chocolates that come in the package (white and dark chocolate, with painted chocolate G's on them.) I made these by painting G's backwards into a chocolate mold, then pouring the opposite kind of melted chocolate on top:

And finally, here is the zine itself, the company history pamphlet:

Text: "Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers
A history of painstakingly observed tradition"

Text: "In 1884, Gregor Mantodea, a wealthy Englishman and the future founder of Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers, moved to Warwick, Rhode Island, to make his fortune and to escape a father who had difficulties accepting his many eccentricities. One of these eccentricities was his fascination with the ghost mantis, a small African species of praying mantis. In these glossy, black specimens, he saw not only himself, but the decadent allure and polished aesthetics of chocolate."

Text: "Mantodea adopted the ghost mantis as his mascot when he founded Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers and began selling chocolates out of a small cart in 1886. The American public were willing to ignore his rather offputting mascot in order to get their hands on the delicious chocolate that he was making in his own home. By 1891, the Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers company boasted its own factory, situated in the heart of Swansea, Rhode Island. His fortune made, Mantodea retired early in 1893, leaving Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers to a series of individuals hand-picked to run the company."

Text: "Since Mantodea's time, Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers has altered neither its chocolate recipes nor its machinery, despite all modern advances in the field. We believe that this respect for tradition is the key to our success. Aesthetically, however, our company continues to improve. In 1902, company CEO Humphrey Carasik created the iconic "G" that now appears on all Ghost Mantis Chocolates when he discovered his daughter Isabelle painting in her room. He wasted no time in putting her to work hand-painting each chocolate. To this day, every "G" is painted by hand."

Text: "CEO Artemis Gadebush, too, developed our company's look when he introduced the black and white motif, based on the aesthetics of the mantis itself, that still graces all Ghost Mantis buildings and packaging. Today, Ghost Mantis Chocolatiers has nine factories and hundreds of specialty stores around the globe. We look forward to overcoming any obstacle that we meet and providing our customers with unparalleled service and quality."

So, at some point I'm thinking I'll don a Ghost Mantis representative uniform, take these babies to the streets, and hand them out to the unsuspecting public. Delicious!

Steampunk Leather Longstitch Journal and Handmade Abaca Paper

2009-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Remember this picture from the last post?

Well, at long last, here's a closer look at the book on the bottom. It's a leather journal bound with longstitch, and I hope it gives off a somewhat steampunk vibe:

Now I just need to fill it, I suppose...
And here's a preview for a project I'll be working on this week. All of this is handmade abaca paper, and the pulp for each one was beaten for a different amount of time. The little tag on the top that says "7" means that I beat that stack's pulp for seven hours. If you're curious, the different time periods were, in hours, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 2.5, 4, 5, 6, and 7. This week I'm going to work on binding them into a book!

Creation Myth Installation and Hand-bound Books!

2009-11-14T09:51:00.001-08:00

Happy weekend, everyone! I, for one, am taking a nice cushy weekend, as all week I've been working on this, an installation piece about the creation of a world. The pattern on the head and all the little individual parts are screenprinted, and the pieces were laboriously hand-cut-out by not only me but my amazing friends as well, who spent hours of their time to help me get this done. So Lauren, Beth, Megan, Naeha, Patrick, Jase, Stone (who also took these photos), and Collin, thanks from the bottom of my heart, you guys rock, and I couldn't have done it without you!

Other than that, I've also made a few books recently. From top to bottom, there's an accordion book, a coptic stitch book, and a leather longstitch book that isn't finished yet. I'll most likely complete it today and update later:

Here's the first one, an accordion book called "a tale of suspense followed by disappointment." The paper I used is paste paper I made, and the fish and boats are pen on mylar (a material I have quickly learned to love):

Here's the first page:

Many pages later:

The disappointing end:

And here's the second book in the pile, a coptic stitched book made with graph paper, tealish paper that I made awhile ago, and red/gold handmade paper that I bought:

Hopefully, I'll finish the leather one today and have it updated tonight or tomorrow!

Shrinky-Dink Goliath Beetle Necklace

2009-11-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

Time for a weekend mini-update!

I liked drawing the goliath beetle that I printed on those lunch trays so much that I had to draw another one on shrinky-dink paper to make my own goliath beetle necklace. If you look closely, you can see that there's a pin sticking about 1/4 of an inch out between the thorax and abdomen, so it looks a bit like the beetle is pinned to my chest when I'm wearing it. How delightfully entomological!

Prince of Dogs Print, Monogrammed and Watermarked Paper, and a Book!

2009-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent all of yesterday making this print, so being able to laze around in bed and write about it now feels pretty good. The prince of dogs doesn't really reference anything, but I guess it's part of a story in my mind. To me, it's about finding something awesome out about somebody that you never would have thought would be there. Fun fact: this is the first time I've used my own unaltered handwriting in a print. I wrote the words in the banner as a placeholder, but I ended up liking how they looked in my handwriting, so I went ahead and inked it in.

Changing gears, here are some watermarked pieces of paper I made by attaching a fun foam watermark (hi tech, I know) onto the mold before the paper sheets were formed. Perhaps it says something about my ego that all of them have my initials on them. Looks like I need to start writing some letters!

Here's the same guy on lighter abaca paper:

What kind of animal is this? I honestly don't know. A friend suggested "foxboar."

Here is some paste paper that I made and hand-stamped (which explains the wonkiness of the little skulls, I suppose.)

Here is a book I made recently. If anyone has any suggestion for what to fill it with, I'd love to hear! I have a couple ideas, but I'm a bit at a loss, as I feel like this is one of the girlier looking things I've made. I made all of the paper in this book except the cover paper. The first and last pages are cotton rag paper (shown in a previous post if you're interested) and all the middle pages are abaca.

Aaaand a Monday figure drawing bonus:

Whew!

Rock Idols Print

2009-10-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Here's a print I did a few weeks back. I wanted to do something based on the concept of idolizing rock stars. The middle part is a few sheets of mylar I printed on, and the "frame" portion is regular paper. I love music history, so this was super fun to draw. I feel like the design and color choice could have been a lot better, but hey. Clockwise from the top, it's John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Sid Vicious, Nancy Spungen, David Bowie as a sphinx and Ziggy Stardust, Jimi Hendrix, Iggy Pop, Elvis Presley, and Kurt Cobain.

And details of my favorite parts, Iggy Pop and Sid Vicious:

Entomological Lunch Trays

2009-10-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

All right, to put a cap on last week's series of guerilla art, here's one last project: lunch trays printed in the theme of perhaps my favorite of all scientific branches: entomology, or the study of insects. I borrowed three trays from my dining hall for awhile, printed these three beetle specimens (the Pleasing Fungus Beetle, the Goliath Beetle, and one type of Tortoise Beetle) onto it, and returned them to the wild for dining hall patrons to enjoy. Here's what they look like:

And here they are being returned to the dining hall wilderness:

The tray return:

Street Art Beehive!

2009-10-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a mini weekend update, hurray! So about a couple days ago I went around downtown and grabbed a bunch of the band/apartment/new album out posters. Then I screenprinted on them, and last night, I returned them to the wild. I printed a beehive with bees on one of the big poster kiosks, and I scattered smaller posters printed with bees on them around the rest of town. It made sense to me, with the kiosks being kind of a cluster of information while little lone pieces of information were floating around town solo. So here we go:

Here's the big kiosk with the beehive:

And the cooler, "at night" shot:

I probably put up around 20 "just a bee or two" posters, so I didn't want to put pictures of ALL of them up here, but here's a sample:

Sorry, Rita:

Figure Drawings and Tape Cover

2009-10-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Before I start this post I wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been commenting...it's really nice to get feedback and to know people are reading. You guys rock!

That said, I thought I'd try to classy this blog up after Monday's toilet paper post with art that's a little more "traditional." Here are some figure drawings I've done recently; these took anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes and were drawn from life. I feel as though figure drawing is one area I need to improve upon...that said, getting up the motivation to work on it is like pulling teeth.

This model kept falling asleep...not so good when all I was drawing was her face, haha!

This poor woman never got a proper face:

Changing gears, my chum Alex, who runs DIY tape label Foxpop, asked me to do line art for a tape cover for musician Little Fyodor. I was asked to draw him riding on a bomb...this was super fun to draw. Looks like a lot of Tank Girl influence snuck in there.

Look out for more street art adventures and prints this week!

Toilet Paper as Street Art, Paper Pulp Painting, and Wrist Cuffs from Ties!

2009-10-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's quite dreary in Georgia today, which makes it the perfect time to lie around, read comic books, and update my trusty blag.

I've always been a huge fan of street art and graffiti, so I was pretty excited when I received my current screen printing project: find objects outside, in public places, etc., bring them back to the studio, print something on them, and put them back where I found them. So here is the first in a series of probably 4 things that I have rescued, modified, and returned to its natural habitat. Today's street art treat is my very own hand-printed toilet paper. It has long been my dream to be so repulsively rich that I can hire somebody just to fold all of my toilet paper into intricate origami, but, assuming that probably won't happen, I went with the next best thing and printed origami instructions on a whole roll of toilet paper. The idea is that you follow the instructions on one sheet and fold the actual origami with the sheet below it to make your very own origami cat face. Here's the roll of paper, waiting in a public bathroom for somebody to use it:

(yes, there is even a cat taking a swim in the toilet there.)

A closeup of the instructions (unfortunately, my favorite part, in which the participant is implored to "use" their new creation, got cut off):

The result of folding one of the sheets:

Truly, I am a classy sort. Look out for more modified objects throughout the week! In other news, here is a paper pulp painting I tried out recently. All the pigment is added by squirting dyed paper pulp directly onto a freshly formed sheet of paper (the thin black lines are made of thread.) For a medium that seems pretty difficult to control, I had a lot of fun with this...it was like kindergarten all over again. I wanted this to look a bit like a grimy poster you'd find in a venue somewhere...

And one more thing before I enjoy the rest of the rainy day: here are some wristcuffs I made a long time ago but have just gotten around to uploading. They're made from the ends of neckties and buttons that I found in a lot of random places:

So long!

Gang's All Here: An Accordion Book

2009-09-23T15:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I finally got around to photographing this little accordion book that I made. Each page has a face and each face flips up to show a skull underneath:

So there you have it. Gang's all here!

Stencilled Screen Prints and Handmade Paper

2009-09-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned that the "Freaks Rise Up" print was my second try at screen printing...well, here are my firsts. I had to cut out 5 stencils and arrange them in 4 different designs. Considering the constraints of the assignment, I'm pretty happy with these results, but I am a little peeved at how much white space there is:

I've also been making some handmade paper recently, my favorite of which has been this Japanese-style paper made of bark, which had to be boiled, cleaned, and beaten until it was ready to be used for pulp. The sheets then get stuck on a window to dry:

And here's a batch I made of green fabric and my roommate's old blue t-shirt:

Freaks Rise Up Print

2009-09-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Well, it's been far too long, but I finally got ahold of a way to upload pictures again after a bit of a drought there. Last night I finished a screenprint edition called "Freaks Rise Up!" I guess I'm ok with how this one turned out...there are some registration issues and places where the printing is uneven, though. I figured this is my second try, so there are bound to be some mess-ups, right? Anyway, here it is:

I'll get some pictures of my first screenprints later today. For now though, here's a sneak preview of the dragon I'm putting on my dorm room wall. Lovingly named Hypno-Dragon, the lights of his eyes are already functional:

More soon!

Electrobug: A Robotic Bug Made From a Toothbrush

2009-07-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I think it's time to break my long silence...having a full time job this summer means not being able to devote nearly enough time to making things, I'm afraid, and this blog has suffered for it. But never fear, I go back to school soon, and will surely have lots more when I get back. For now, I've got a little robotic bug that I made today (it's a pretty easy project if you're looking for something to do in one day or less.)
Before I begin, I should say that I took the electronics behind this little guy from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories' Bristlebot instructions. The gist behind it is that if you take a vibrating pager motor and a battery, and attach them to the top of a toothbrush head, the vibrations will cause the toothbrush to move forward. It's a great project for people who aren't really technologically inclined but still love the idea of building a little robot for themselves. As for me, I just like the idea of having robot pests, especially self-sustaining ones (which is why the next time I do a project like this, I'd like to try working with solar panelling.) The cockroach-like movements of the little bristlebots appealed to me, so I built a paper bug around mine to give him a little more personality. So here he is!

When you open his little paper wings, you can see the battery and little red wire that connects to the motor.

And here's a view of the bottom, so you can see how his "feet" look (pardon my painty hand):

And of course, how could I post pictures without a video? So here he is in motion; now if only the video could get the detail that the pictures can!

P.S. If you haven't forgotten about the sneak-preview of the doll that I posted last time, don't worry! I haven't abandoned that project, I've just been busy with other things. He'll be on here soon!

Carved Rubber Stamps and a Sneak Peek...

2009-05-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Sorry I've been so awful about updating recently...the beginning of summer, job searching, hanging out with friends, and most of all, beautiful laziness have kept me from it! But never fear, good things are coming. Here is a double-sided rubber stamp I carved earlier this year...one side is a scary little impish looking kid, and the other is a dragony head:

These are actually incredibly easy to make...just draw your design on with pencil and cut it out with a speedball linoleum cutter. Cuts like buttah! And one last thing, here's a sneak peek at the next project I'm working on. Right now he looks like a freaky bald alien, but soon he'll look like a freaky human, don't worry!

"Anywhere But Here" woodcut print

2009-04-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hey there! It's that time again...print time! The theme for this one was "anywhere but here," so here's my interpretation:

I forgot to take a picture of the first layer (the lightest blue), but here are the second and third layers out of four:

I'm really happy with the way this turned out; I hope you like it!

Medea Costumes

2009-04-23T22:33:00.001-07:00

Here are some costumes I designed for the play Medea. They're for my set and costume design class, which is the beginning one, as I'm about to make apparent. Even if these are just cartoons, I really need the figure drawing class I'm taking next semester. Aaanyway, I've written a paper about why I made them this way, but I'll give you guys the Reader's Digest version. If you're interested in reading the play, the full script is available here. If you're not, be wary of spoilers.

So here's Medea, who at first tries to blend in with Creon's kingdom but then goes apeshit-goth and kills her kids (those ribbons she's holding have been around their necks). That's Hecate's Wheel on her corset, a symbol of the goddess that she invokes at the end.

This is Jason, Medea's cheating husband. Like her, he's trying to blend in at the beginning but is later interrupted when his bride is killed in the middle of his wedding preparations. Ouch.

Here's Creon himself, the haggard old king and Jason's intended father-in-law. Clearly he's tired of his kingly duties.

Creon's daughter, who I wanted to be uncomfortably young for Jason. She's wrapped up like a present, which she basically is, given to Jason to increase Creon's power. The mask and cloak are the poisoned ones given to her by Medea.

Medea's kids, ill-fated little chaps with the aforementioned red ribbons:

Aegeus, the travelling king who needs Medea's help to cure his impotency (thus I gave him a huge codpiece). He should look like a once-powerful king that's been on the road way too long, and is worn down and weak.

Finally, the nurse. Vaguely modeled after the Fates, she's just a decrepit old hag.

Whew! So there you go. I did designs for a chorus too, but it's basically people in white robes. That's it for now, but first, here's a sneak preview of my next print. This is the initial sketch:

New Woodcut Print

2009-04-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

So I've been carving a print for the last few days and I just printed it yesterday. Here it is:

Sorry about the somewhat crappy picture; I'll get a better one at some point. I'm thinking of coloring one of them with watercolor, so if that happens, I'll post it here as well. To be honest, I'm getting a bit crazy having not done much 3D work recently. As soon as possible I'm going to start working on one or two more dolls; the steampunk iPod has fallen by the wayside, but will happen eventually. If you're into that kind of thing, I found one the other day that you can see here that incorporates the gramophone like I wanted mine to...awesome! On Friday I'll also post some costume designs I had to do for the play Medea. Stay tuned!

Wooden Spiky Plant Sculpture

2009-04-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello guys! So this a spiky plantlike sculpture I made out of wood and painted with plain old acrylic. This was nice because it was the first time I had worked with wood, and the paint could cover up any mistakes, woo! First I'll show you the finished sculpture, then some from the planning stage:

And here's the planning stage, where I basically made a cardboard version and hot glued it together...I thought it might be cool to show how I plan this kind of thing.

Monotype Deer-Riding Print

2009-04-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Another mini-update with a less than satisfactory project...my first monotype (painting onto plexiglass then printing onto paper). Yikes. I wasn't into this medium, but at least I gave it a shot, right? Don't worry, I'm working on a really detailed woodcut right now that'll make up for it!

Paper Mache Fish

2009-03-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Sorry I haven't been updating for awhile; rest assured, I've been busy. Here's something quick until the next post; I had to design a fish for my marine biology course; the assignment was basically a nice easy grade for the end of the semester. So here's mine, a huge-mouthed monstrosity with a city in its mouth. The story was that a certain breed of sea monkeys take residence in its mouth, hollowing out its teeth into the plastic aquarium props/buildings they're so used to seeing. I was hoping to make it really cool and intricate...but then I waited until the last day to start, and it ended up pretty kindergarten-projecty. Ahh well.

Woodblock print of I Monster's "These Are Our Children"

2009-03-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

So here's my newest print, which I did with four separate blocks. I had to choose a song or band to represent, so I chose I Monster's "These Are Our Children." I listened to a shitload of music before I settled on this one, but I couldn't resist the creepy children's chorus. Here was my preliminary sketch:

And here's the final product with closeups (sorry, forgot to take in progress shots this time!)

Yep. I know the registration's a little off, but I found out a way to fix it that I'll use next time. I couldn't find a link to the specific song, but they have an album called These Are Our Children that you can download here.

Watercolors and Drawings

2009-03-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some drawings and watercolors I did last semester. I had them lying around so I figured I should document a bit. For this first one, we had to cut a bunch of pictures out of magazines, make a collage, and then copy it exactly using watercolor:

This watercolor was supposed to be either a dreamscape or a nightmarescape...

Detail, woo!

This one's actually huge, although it's hard to tell here:

And this one's just a generic scary scientist with disturbing specimens, I suppose...

I'm currently working on my first multi-block woodcut print, based on the song "These Are Our Children" by I Monster. I'm done carving the first block (out of four) and should be done with block two today and have layer one printed tomorrow. Should be delightfully creepy!

Jewelry and Bowie

2009-02-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a bit of a mini-update; a couple necklaces I made and a scratchboard I did last semester.

For this first one, I went to a thrift store, found a baby doll, chopped her hand off, "zombified" it with paint and clay (plus a little glossy action to make that blood really pop...), and stuck it on a chain. It's only about an inch and a half long, but it's quite the conversation piece (I regret not getting better pictures of the bones sticking out the top).

For this necklace, I make a giant shrinky dink and shrunk it down to be reasonable necklace size. The colored pencils worked out well!

OK, so this has nothing to do with jewelry, but I love me some David Bowie. This is one of those craft project scratchboard things you can pick up at Michaels (mine came with instructions on how to scratch out, I shit you not, a kitten.) You take a sharp instrument and scratch out your design, and I went with Emperor Bowie. He looks a little wonky, but hey, there's no sketching and you can't make mistakes! Give me a break!

First Woodcut Print

2009-02-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

Hello! So over the weekend I finished my first woodcut print. The wood was more difficult to carve than linoleum (big splinters kept breaking off when I was trying to work on details) but I suppose I'm generally pleased with how it turned out. I carved into the same piece of wood four times and print them all on top of each other, and I took a picture of each step so you can see how the print is put together. First of all, here's the final print:

OK, so here are all four layers in the order I printed them in:

The print is of Camden Town in London...one of the coolest places I've visited. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and hopefully I'll post again soon!

Wire Boot

2009-02-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

Here's another one from last semester; I had to take one of my shoes and translate it as closely as possible into wire. After lots of painstaking bending of wire and clenching of pliers, I got this metal version of one of my favorite pairs of boots:

Or, with different lighting (I'm still trying to figure out how to best photograph things):

Part of the assignment was to hand in a simple line drawing of the shoe as well, but when I asked what medium it needed to be in, the response was "be creative." And so arose the challenge between my awesome friend Patrick and I to come up with the most bizarre medium; I ended up giving him a henna tattoo of mine on his back (what a trooper):

He ended up painting his with mud (and one unfortunate earthworm.) I wish I had a picture! Ahh, well.

So anyway, today I printed my third layer of color on the woodblock print I've been working on; I'll probably print the final layer on Saturday and post it up here; I've been taking pictures of the process so you can see how I did each layer; I've been making lots of mistakes with carving, but otherwise, I'm ok with how it's turning out. Hope you all have a good Friday!

First Video Blog and some Assorted Crap

2009-02-15T09:31:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wanted to see me rambling sleepily right when I wake up? Of course you have! Well, now's your chance, in my (stylistically obvious) first ever video blog (or vlog as you crazy kids are calling it these days).

So here is the aforementioned ATC I did yesterday...I'm OK with how it turned out, although it doesn't really seem that original or anything. It starts out as the standard card shape and unfolds to reveal some sort of rock angel monster:

And, as a bit of a bonus, last semester I had a sculpture class and our first project was to make four sculptures out of paper. The guidelines were we had to use one big sheet of cardstock, and we could cut it, but we couldn't cut any piece off of it or use any sort of adhesive. So when our piece was taken apart, it would fold back into a full piece of paper. Then, we had to incorporate a black letter (from any alphabet) into our design. I've long since cannabalized the first three of mine for other projects, but here's number four, which has been lying under my bed for awhile. See if you can figure out how I did it without cutting anything off or using adhesive (hahaha, don't worry, it's not that hard.) Oh, and the letter I used was lower-case I.

Yep, not overly interesting, but hey, all I had was a sheet of paper and a knife. I hope everyone had a good Valentine's day...expect to hear from me again soon!

Painted Cell Phone (Again)

2009-02-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a little mini-update: my current cell phone, that I painted up a little while ago:

I tried to copy the Japanese off of an Ando Hiroshige print (his signature, of course), but I'm sure I butchered it somehow! Ah well, few people will ever know. This has been riding around in my pocket since I painted it a couple weeks ago, so it's a little dirty, but still holding in there!

Steampunk Robot Arm

2009-02-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Well, it's time for another post. There comes a time in everyone's life where they realize that something's missing...and that something is usually, but not always, a giant robotic steampunk arm. I don't usually delve into the more mechanical realm of art, but I think I might start getting more into it. I'm definitely making a steampunk ipod case, so look out for that in the future. But for now, if I ever need to become a Bond villian or just reach something that's a few feet away without moving, I've got this:

The armory shell bit and the ratchet system are wood, which is bolted to the frame (chickenwire). There are brass hinges on the elbow and tiny ones on each joint in the fingers so they can move. Each finger is attached to a leathery cord that runs on the inside of the arm and connects to your real hand, so you can move the fingers and make them grab (although they aren't really done yet; I need to add a spring to every joint like I did with the knuckle part.) Here are some closeups of the hand part:

And here's the racheting system (it makes delightful clicking noises as you bend the elbow up, and it makes it so your wrist doesn't have to support the whole weight of the arm):

And (sigh) the obligatory picture to prove that I can indeed use it:

I guess the caption for this photo would be "Holy balls! How will I ever type out lame blog captions now?"

So, as soon as I obtain a) a very small ipod speaker and b) an old miniature (maybe dollhouse?) gramophone, I'll get to work on my steampunk ipod! Until then, the only wood-related project I'll be doing is the wood-cut print that I'll start designing tomorrow.

In other news, I seem to be getting a lot of visitors from a site called ponyhaven.proboards.com... I had never heard of it, and the site has no description or anything, but I assumed it was My Little Pony-related, so I tried to make an account on the board, but was rejected by a moderator! Oh, the shame! Oh, the heightened mystery! Who are you guys? I must know!

First Two-Color Print, Valentines ATCs, and a Failed Dorodango

2009-02-06T20:21:00.001-08:00

Finally, new projects! Here are some things I've been doing this week. First of all, I finished my first two-color linoleum cut print; woohoo! I made a bunch of these babies; I decided to go with the theme of "myself punching an octopus in the face." Which is strange, because I actually love octopi; I just wouldn't hold back in a cagematch. Here are some super exclusive behind the scenes shots. This first one is what the print looks like with just the layer of blue put down:

And here's the final print!

Here's a (somewhat blurry) closeup:

And here are a bunch of them on the drying rack!

This was really exciting for me as I've always loved the way relief prints turn out. Hopefully I have the patience to churn out a few more before I get tired of this medium (which I think hours of working in the print studio might do to me soon).

In other news, Valentine's Day (and thus my birthday) is coming up! And you know what that means...valentines! This year I made my own special breed in a series of two ATC's for a swap on craftster (so if you came from there, maybe you should wait for the surprise!). Here's number one, tentatively titled "I Give You My Heart":

And this one, called "Too Much Candy":

So there you have it! Now, unfortunately, I have a failed project to report. Last weekend I tried to make a dorodango, or shiny ball of mud. Sounds strange, I know; you can check it out in more detail here. It's basically a Japanese art of rolling up a ball of dirt until you get a perfectly shiny orb like this:

Sigh...unfortunately, my dorodango ended up like this:

I'm pretty sure that my problem was the dirt wasn't producing any really fine, dusty particles to do the final layer with, but who knows.

Now a couple things about this blog itself: first of all, thanks so much to everybody who's been reading and commenting; it really means a lot (which sounds cheesy, but it's true.) I'd love any advice, comments, or criticism that you guys have to offer. Second of all, this post has made me realize that this blog is really image-heavy. Is this crashing anybody's browser or making it load horribly slowly? Would it be better if I displayed fewer posts per page? And third of all, I know I said this would be a video post but since then I've gotten horribly sick...from the feel of things, a small colony of fire ants has taken up residence in my throat. I feel so crappy I had to miss my best friend's birthday party (happy birthday, Ali!). So worry not, videos will come soon, but not today. Thanks for the support and expect more fun soon!

Create or Die Backpatch

2009-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! So this is a bit of a filler post until my next one (which will most likely be Saturday, but I may try to get it in a little sooner.) This is a kind of day-of-the-dead inspired overshirt kind of thing I painted. CREATE OR DIE!

Anyway, I've been up to a lot, so next post will hopefully be my first video post. Look out for new projects soon!

Giant Emo Head

2009-01-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a giant emo head that I painted with my awesome chum Nicole back in high school...we ended up sneaking in early and hanging it up on the wall. This was the only painting that I ended up getting back when I used to abandon them in school, and it currently resides in my bedroom. Creepy? Definitely.

Hundreds of Paper Doves

2009-01-29T12:24:00.000-08:00

OK, this is the last art-related thing I did in high school; I put this up around my last day of high school, and it stayed up for a couple days. I folded hundreds of little paper doves and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line, then had the woman painted on posterboard. Took forever to hang, but I ended up with the effect I was going for. Best of all, instead of suspending or publically flogging me, the principal was super awesome about it and let it stay up for awhile.

An Awkward Introduction

2009-01-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

Hey gang! So this sort of my first blog, although I had a high school embarrassment-filled xanga that I like to pretend never existed. I made this one as a place to keep pictures of all the stuff I make, talk about things I've been doing/things I'm into, like movies and artists and the like, and as a driving force to keep me motivated. I started out by uploading a bunch of crap I've already done, both in high school and my first year of college, so at least there's something to look at!

SO although I'm guessing most of the people reading this will know me already, here we go: I'm Hannah, I live in Athens (and Marietta), GA, and I'm a 19-year-old student (although my birthday is in a couple weeks!) I'm an art major and a laziness minor. Sadly, due to loss of camera charger, this is the only picture I have of myself since my haircut a couple weeks ago, and it's a shady Myspace-style bathroom photo:

Attractive, I know. Anyway, let's hope that I'm not completely lame and that this blog gets updated (hint: it will!) and that at least one person out there won't roll their eyes and press the back button on their browser.

Japan Goodies

2009-01-28T20:31:00.001-08:00

Japan-inspired goodies! I made this set of stationary, a sushi pillow, and the Prince from Katamari Damacy for a swap on Craftster a long time ago.

Packing Tape Air Guitar

2009-01-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite graffiti artists is Mark Jenkins. He does a lot of cool stuff with clear packing tape, and I wanted to try it out for myself, so I made this literal air guitar:

More ATCs...with Villains!

2009-01-28T20:11:00.001-08:00

Some villainous ATCs, starting with the Decemberists' Shankill Butcher and ending with a Wizard of Oz flying monkey:

Hurray for retractable hidden weaponry:

More ATCs...with Folding!

2009-01-28T20:02:00.001-08:00

More folding ATCs:

More ATCs...with Brads!

2009-01-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

ATCs using brads:

More ATCs

2009-01-28T19:44:00.001-08:00

More ATCs:

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

2009-01-28T19:30:00.001-08:00

Awhile back I was really into making ATCs, or Artist Trading Cards. These are really awesome tiny pieces of art (2.5 x 3.5 inches) that people make and trade online or in person. If you want to try it out, my favorite ATC sites are:

ATCs For All

Illustrated ATCs (this one's juried, so you'll have to submit some previous work before signing up.)

Here are a bunch of the ATCs I did, starting with my very first one:

God and Devil Paper Sculpture

2009-01-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

A paper sculpture of god and the devil fighting over a soul:

Zombie Pop-Up Book

2009-01-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a zombie pop-up book that I did for a color/comp class last year. It's accordian style, so here's the whole thing:

And each individual page:

And here's the cover:

My Little Pony Customs

2009-01-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

So, embarrassingly, I really like My Little Pony. Like...a lot. But sometimes they aren't as awesome as they should be. So I got into modding them for awhile:

Aaand here's zombie pony:

Iggy Pop Comic Book

2009-01-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Kakakakomics! I am of the personal opinion that everyone should draw comics. Here's part of one that I did awhile ago called The World's Forgotten Boy. The premise was that there was a nuclear apocalypse, and the only surviving organisms were the cockroach and, due to sex and drug induced near-mummification, Iggy Pop. Maybe one day if I get bored I'll upload the rest to read.

Aaaaand not to give too much away, but here's a panel from later in the story...

Paper Insects

2009-01-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

So these are three insects I made out of computer paper. I'm a bit bummed because this picture is pretty shitty; I spent a lot of time getting the minute details of the insects with the paper but you can hardly see anything. Aahhh well. So these are the Hercules beetle, the stick insect, and the harlequin beetle. I got the opportunity to see these charming fellows alive when I visited an insect museum in Costa Rica last summer!

Polymer Clay and Cloth Dolls

2009-01-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

Continuing in the polymer clay vein, here are some dolls I did with polymer clay and cloth. Loved the clay bit; the sewing wasn't so fun.

Polymer Clay Deer

2009-01-24T21:26:00.001-08:00

A polymer clay deer I made when I was bored...its inside is aluminum foil and I painted it with plain acrylic paint. If polymer clay were a person, we would be happily married.

Plaster and Paper Mache Dragon Mask

2009-01-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

So even though this is large, completely pointless, and takes up space, it's probably one of my favorite things I've ever made. It's a dragon mask made of a motorcycle helmet, paper mache, and those plaster bandages. The teeth are made of clay, and they glow in the dark, as well as the eyes. The model is my beautiful roommate, Lauren (thanks buddy!)

Gogol Bordello Painted Messenger Bag

2009-01-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a Gogol Bordello messenger bag I did before my trip to Costa Rica. This baby lasted pretty well in the rain forest, traversed river rapids, carted art supplies through the city, and continues to lug my shit around to this day, and it's held up great so far!

Here's the inside pocket:

And here's the strap, with my name on it and some flowers I made with fabric and buttons:

Cardboard Paintings

2009-01-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

Cardboard paintings! The thing I love about cardboard is it's free, it's everywhere, it's semi sturdy, and it's super fun to paint on. Here are some of my cardboard creations:

This one's a collage; I live in Athens, GA, and there are always lots of band posters lying around. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt to go around and find cool band posters (ones the show has already passed for, of course...) and then make a collage with those images as well as paint and whatever else you have lying around.

Here are a couple that were on my dorm room door last year. After a long, spiritually enlightening Bowie binge, I did the "David Bowie in heaven" one, and it was decided that if I was going to have a heavenly Bowie, I needed a devilish Sid Vicious to be his counterpart:

Maybe at some point I'll upload some more...but everybody should get out there, find some cardboard, and get going!

Painted Laptop and Cell Phone

2009-01-20T12:14:00.000-08:00

One thing that I always find cool is when people have somehow modified their technology. I'm not very tech-minded, so mine have been purely aesthetic so far, but here are my ex-cell phone (that unfortunately met a watery grave; RIP) and my laptop, which is currently being used to transmit these groundbreaking images to you, the viewer.