Kitchen Adventures!

My day was a weird hybrid of productivity and non-productivity. I started off by seeing my brother off, after lending him my couch for a couple nights. This was really early in the morning, so after he left I watched episode two of Odd Folks Home (a spin off of Oddities, where it follows the quirky and unique individuals who frequent Obscura in New York) and then fell asleep for about two and a half hours. It was great, but I probably could have slept for the rest of the day if I'd stayed in bed. Since that's never a good idea, I got up and commenced preparation for making pretzel cookies. This was an assignment for art history. Our instructor is having us over for a textile-themed tea, and we have to make easy to eat snack or dessert food inspired by textiles. We also have to argue how it's textiles-based. I decided to feed (ha) off of my research project on navy textiles, and made cookies in the shape of sailor knots. I was going to do this with actual soft pretzels, but I didn't have yeast and I wanted to get going on it then. So instead... cookies! Did you know that making knots out of cookie dough is painstaking and kind of difficult? It is. Shocking, I know. 

I made my test run of cookies using a variety of knots. Cow hitch, figure eight, granny knot, sheep hitch (NOT easy), and a couple others. I found that slip knots were the easiest ones to fashion out of long bits of cookie dough. Result? They're delicious, as far as simple sugar cookies go. I'm toying with the idea of attempting to make caramel to put on them, and then make them salted caramel pretzel cookies. I probably won't, though, since right now they'd be perfect with tea (good dipping cookies, but not too crunchy), and if they're dressed up I'm worried about their being knots becoming even less recognizable. 

In other news, I went to Sun Terra to buy milk, and a couple of groceries. I went there because it's only two blocks away, and it's on Elbow Drive (such a beautiful walk, especially at this time of the year). Other than that, I really question whether or not I'll go there again, unless I desperately need something and don't want to walk further, or walk along McLeod Trail (less beautiful, especially at this time of the year). In my mind, Sun Terra is an organic food store, with things that you can't get from Safeway. In reality, it's just a more expensive version of Safeway, and they don't have good organic milk in glass bottles. The clerk was also kind of rude, in a passive aggressive type way. I don't like when people in service positions aren't polite or at least a little cheerful, because I tend to take it personally. It's what happens when people give you dirty looks for absolutely no reason. I don't really care, but my grocery money is helping pay their salary, so they should try to be nice, right? Any ways, Sun Terra is a less convenient grocery store than I thought or remembered. I don't really like paying more money for something that I know the exact price of elsewhere. At least there's a Safeway on the Elbow Drive bus route. I could always walk there and bus back. 

Now, just a quick song of the day. I was reminded of it today while making a long playlist for studying and writing my final. It's probably my favourite White Stripes song, and since tomorrow is the first day of December (!!), I feel like I can share it. It's technically a Christmas song, and it's my favourite Christmas song (though I am fond of Carol of the Bells). 

Foxhole (a.k.a. I can make drawings that I'm proud of)

Remember on my other blog when I was talking about Astronautalis and gouache? Well guess what? I made a drawing that I'm actually proud of that involves both of these things!

This drawing is called Foxhole, and it's inspired by the song (you guessed it) Wondersmith and His Sons. It's one of my undying favourites. I was inspired by these lyrics:

Sweating through the pain of digging his foxhole that he knows is just a grave

And thus, Foxhole was born. This is the best fox I've ever drawn. Though the man is based off of Astronautalis, it is continuous line and looks nothing like him. I'm not too pleased with the shovel I put in, and I kind of want to get rid of it, but I showed it in the photograph of the drawing for honesty sake. Overall, not too shabby.

Side note, I also like these lyrics: Let's walk along the wire and watch the muzzles flash like lightning.

The Knicker Misadventures- Goth

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I've been posting comics or images daily on my Facebook page for The Knicker Misadventures, and this is one of my favourite ones thus far. It is based off of something that a friend of mine said (that goths should wear sombreros, to protect from the sun). Thus, I created a stereotypical goth character named Goth. Truth be told, this keeps making me laugh like crazy, because the idea of a goth wearing a sombrero makes me giggle. It just brightens my day.

And this is an acrylic on paper painting of Goth. It strikes me as a sad painting that a sad goth would paint. Maybe not of themselves, but just in general.

In other news, I'm planning to make art dolls of all of the characters. It's just a matter of going home for Christmas first, since I have a bunch of soft stuffing there, and I may as well use that instead of buying more. I'm really lazy, apparently. Nonetheless, I have so many plans for The Knicker Misadventures. Is it weird that I'm commercializing before I've even published a comic or anything? It's not really about the comic, though. It's just a creative outlet in which I can create more things and a greater variety of simultaneously light  hearted and gothic things. There's so little limit to what I can do with The Knicker Misadventures. Paper dolls, mini sombreros, art dolls, t-shirts, prints, knickers, clothing items based off of characters (and their historical/actual inspiration)... Ooooh this is a time where I haven't painted myself into a corner! The weird thing is, it's going to be a bizarre Quentin Blake- Ralph Steadman- Emilie Autumn- art history textbook- Wildfox Couture- my world type cacophony hybrid mix of neat things and characters. At least I know what I'm being influenced by, which is good.

I'm eating spinach?!

I can't believe it, but it's kind of great. I've been craving a certain pizza for a while, and finally... I'm eating it. True, it's kind of a pseudo-pizza (I made it on naan bread and used pasta sauce as pizza sauce), but it has spinach and tomatoes and feta cheese, and it's glorious. I don't know how I survived without feta cheese for so long. It's more or less the yours truly equivalent of something like... I don't know... soy sauce?

I also got my hands on some Twinings loose tea... Earl Grey style! Have you ever had loose Twinings tea? It's the best tea on the planet. I want to go back to the Stride in London and back to Twinings to get more tea from there. However, that is a story for another day.

Thought note

Okay, so this is a bit of a side note and out of nowhere and unrelated to anything, but I decided that I'm going to talk about my feelings and wishes for the New Year, specifically for when I turn 21 in April. The age of twenty-one seems like a huge age. I have no idea why, but I feel like I should reform myself and how I live my life when I turn that age. It's not because of the Legal In All States thing or anything. It's just that time when it's far enough from being a teenager and close enough to really beginning my life after university that more should happen, and that I should really consider what I want to do and who I want to be. Normally, I wouldn't write a birthday wish list before Christmas (or in general), but this is mostly a note to myself. Recently, I keep looking at my life and purely loving some aspects, but I really feel like other aspects are missing, and that I'm not fulfilling myself or my own wishes. It's kind of like a weird sense of disconnect from myself based on my own decisions. Weird, right? Or is it? 

I just keep thinking about growing up and what it is I want to grow into or grow out of. I'm not sure if it's nothing, or if it's everything. I keep thinking about what I could be, but the things I'm not because I or other people get in the way. 'Get in the way' sounds negative... I don't think that that's what it is, but do you know what I mean? The constant ebbing theory that if you were alone with the ability to decide when you wanted to have people to socialize with, you would get more things done, and more of what you wanted to do. More of what you felt you needed to do in order to achieve a sense of satisfaction. I'm come to loathe things like Facebook purely because it's a source of my loneliness. I constantly go back to it, in hope that there will be a small pat on the head through a notification or someone I can talk to. I do this despite the fact I know that I don't want to talk to anyone or be on the computer to begin with. It's just a small hope that it will make me feel like I have companionship. My first wish is that I'll stop being so dependent on the imaginary technological idea of people, and accept my solitude as solace, just as I used to. 

My second wish is that the day I turn 21 will actually feel like something, or seem like it means something. When I think of 'meaning something', my mind reverts to movies like Pretty In Pink or The Breakfast Club. John Hughes films. There's a subtle uncomplicated complexity to them, and something that says 'yes, you're growing up, but you're growing up into something unbelievably important'. I'm shy, and quiet, and an introvert, and all of these things that lead to me feeling less important than other people who are loud and extroverted and such. I can't express myself, and because of that, I often do feel undervalued, even by those who claim that I am important to them. I don't really believe them. In the context of birthdays, I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't for Facebook and its updates, no one would know it was any notable day in my life. That's one reason why I feel depressed on my birthday- it's all of these birthday wishes from people who never even talk to me. I'm guilty of it, too, in relation to other people, but I only wish happy birthday to people whom I don't get the chance to talk to, or I wish I could talk to them, but there's never a reason to, or I feel like I'm being invasive in an attempt to do so. I guess this brings me to my third wish for growing up (or whatever this is). I want to stop being so neurotic about everything. I want to keep calm and carry on.

The weird thing is, this whole rant came from the image that's at the top of the page. I found it on Pinterest, and they are Birthday Pancakes. I couldn't find a recipe for them, but I didn't even look. Have you ever had those desires that are for something so small but you want it so badly? It's not a craving, or a passing interest, but something that feels like it defines a moment in your life? For some reason, the image of a cake-like food made to resemble pancakes just... I don't know why, but right now it makes me want to cry. It's like a weird lust after something that is the only thing I would want for my birthday, and in no realistic way will I get it, unless I make it myself. I'm fine with making things myself... The only thing is this is a reminder of the fact that the people close to me and within the same city are often full of empty promises. The promise of something like birthday pancakes that have rainbow sprinkles, but a promise so fleeting that it will never happen. How can something like a photograph of an original cake pancake hybrid cause me to feel so weird in the place of my life, and cause me to look at how I'm living my life and who I want to be in about five months? 

Of course, most "wishes" are things that only I can grant myself. Sometimes I just need to discuss these things to a universal entity, because I don't talk about these things to others. Y'know, other people who might actually discuss it with me, and offer suggestions to solve these things that might be viewed as problems. Or not. Maybe I just over think and under act. Alternatively, perhaps I don't think about these things enough, or at all, or it's the fact that I don't discuss them that's the problem. 

Silkscreen

Another opportunity to use my beautiful silkscreen! For my ongoing project with making a straight jacket tuxedo jacket thing, I made my first attempt at printing on fabric. It was fairly successful, but it got a bit messy at one point. I don't really mind, but it would have been better if it was cleaner. Then again, I only had a rough idea of what the heck I was doing, and my bedroom isn't exactly the best space for silkscreen printing.

The print I designed is a basic one colour stencil, based off of a photograph of Melvin Burkhart, a famous sideshow performer from Coney Island. It's a fairly abstract stencil, but I don't mind. It is an image of him doing human blockhead. In fact, this photograph:

Melvin Burkhart: The Anatomical Wonder and the Original Human Blockhead

I eat super at 4:30

For some reason, whenever I'm at my house, I eat supper between 3 and 5 in the afternoon, or "prevening". I don't know why, especially since I don't go to bed early. I could, I guess, but I tend to be more productive between the hours of 6 and 12. However, the good thing about eating early is I tend to be more inclined to cook something complex. Today I cooked chicken with yoghurt, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and fresh herbs. I also made rice. And frozen vegetables (not that much work, but I don't like keeping fresh vegetables around, since I often forget about them). The chicken turned out pretty awesome. Yay! Good food!

The Knicker Misadventures

For those you keeping score on my 12 Months of Alice blog, you are aware of the fact that I have made substantial progress in my graphic novel-esque project The Knicker Misadventures. Since the Leeches short yesterday, I have written three more, and they are beautiful. I'm not sure that they have a plot or anything, but I'm quite pleased with the art.

 

To view larger image, open in a separate window. I think it's in your best interest... Unless you have super microscopic vision or something.

I'm quite happy with how this series is going. I have so many ideas for these characters. I mean, I want to do everything from embroideries to create clothing based on the characters. Etsy shop coming soon, methinks...



Side note- I had to do some housecleaning, so my first hundred or so blog posts have been deleted. I still have the images elsewhere, but since I want to keep bringing new things to the table, I think that I will let bygones be bygones and let new things in! Also, there's only so much storage on my Blogger account (bummer)... But I did find a way to get around the storage issue! I just though I'd mention this, in case any one is trying to find the first blog I ever posted. I don't want any extreme disappointment.

Coney Island Sideshow... School!

I can't express how excited I am that I discovered this... and how much I want to do this. You've probably heard of Coney Island. It's one of the most famous amusement parks and sideshows in the United States, and it has a lot of history. Today, while bedridden and painfully sick, I was watching some repeat episodes of Oddities (one of my favourite television shows ever), and one of the appearances on the show was Adam Rinn, the First Real Man. I looked him up, and this led me to discover the Coney Island Sideshow School.

I truly want to do this. This definitely means that I do need to get back to putting money into my travel fund. Especially since the course I want to take is $800 for four days of sideshow education. I would also have to consider flight costs and accommodations. But hey, if I do this, I would have an amazing experience, new skills, and I would finally see New York. It's just going to take a bit of work to meet this goal. Especially since I also have to save for school and rent and life. Hurm...

Brutal \m/

The \m/ thing you see in the post title represents devil horns, as in the hand symbol you see metal heads at concerts doing. Why is this important or interesting? Well...

I went to my first hardcore metal concert! It was loud. And... bloody.

Not real blood, as you can imagine from the Oompa-Loompa skin colour, but I was still doused in it (along with everyone else in the relatively small concert venue. The headlining band was GWAR, who put on dramatic costumes and take on the persona of weird cross-dimensional aliens who kill exaggerated versions of historical figures and people. It is a bit... insane? Especially when you're in the front row, and they are spraying their weird watery fake blood and it's getting everywhere. I took care to cover my mouth and piercings and close my eyes every time. Whether or not it made a difference, I don't know. And that stuff stains. It took forever to scrub it out... and I haven't even bothered with my clothes yet. Good thing I chose to use worn out jeans and my awesome old school Scotty t-shirt.

Some of the openings bands were pretty cool. I really liked the band Cancer Bats, who were the second opening band. There were three openers, which is a lot. Especially when it's really loud and metal or at least scream-o type music. I was kind of miserable by the time GWAR took the stage, mostly because I was squished into the front railing and my ears were ringing. Those people who wear earplugs are geniuses. I just never think of it, but I should. 

In other, less metal, news...

I made beef stroganoff! 

I made it pretty much from scratch! I mean, I used canned mushroom soup for it, but nonetheless... So good! I'm always so proud of myself when I make more complicated meals, even if it a type of pasta. I want to try making quiche of some kind. Maybe some muffins.

Work in progress!

Next in the sideshow series! This is a terrible photo, but it's actually really hard to photograph things when your hands are essentially in mittens. I'm so so so excited for this garment. It's inspired by escape artists, and a few other things. I shan't reveal too much yet... But gah! I love this body of work that I'm working on. I really hope that I could show it in a gallery later on. I think it would make an amazing show. Even if I did photo shoots with the garments... I think that would be great.

Foxy

I like fashion. I'm a big fan of couture, runway, and anything to do with clothing that makes me drool. However, it causes me a great deal of pain. I'm a student, so it's not remotely realistic to buy high priced designer clothing. But the thing is... those clothes are so NICE.

Recently, I've been following this vlogger on YouTube who regularly talks about fashion. She shows off the clothing that she buys, and suggests make up and such. (for the record, her name is Brittani Louise Taylor, and she's an absolute ray of sunshine). Because of some of the videos on her beauty channel, I've discovered some amazing designers. One of which I'd known about before, but I hadn't bothered to investigate the photo that I'd found.

My favourite one thus far is a couture company called Wildfox Couture. Great name, right? I can't express how many I want a lot of the clothing. As I get older, I appreciate dark skinny jeans, slightly oversized tops and big sweaters. I like things that look vintage, but are new and go fabulously with my old combat boots. Maybe one day I'll do a blog on my day-to-day clothing, and just how gloriously fashionable I am (just kidding. But seriously, I try sometimes. I like to at least look pulled together). I do also like vintage clothing (do I ever), but designers like this just make me so very happy. I just wish that it wasn't so terribly expensive to have such glamorously comfy clothing.

One of Wildfox Couture's older collections, but I really adore these Marie Antoinette inspired photographs.

Winter

I'd like to take a moment to express the fact that I love winter. I realized recently that I am a winter person. I like icy trees, snow falling from the sky, and the clothes that I wear. There are some things I don't like (for example, icy roads and streets, -40 weather, and things like that), but overall... I like it.

The above are my boots. They're quite old, because they were my mother's combat boots. They are the most comfortable boots on the planet, and I absolutely adore them. Today I didn't have any thermal socks, but these boots... My goodness, they're great!

Too soon?

A few days ago, I made 'shabby chic' garlands out of cotton, silver paint, thread, glass beads, and vintage buttons. They look really cool, especially now that I have two faux evergreen garlands entwined with them, and they are now decorating my window. It might be too early to decorate for Christmas... but it's not too early to decorate for winter! It's also nice to change my room up a little bit. It is now a bit more wintery and festive, and it makes me smile.

Blurry photos in the dark! Huzzah! (personally, though it's distracting and hard to see, I like blurry dark photos of lights. It makes me happy)

In my soul I always long for nostalgia and the wild

For those of you keeping score on my other blog, 12 Months of Alice (where I am challenging myself to 365 days of creativity), you will be aware of the fact that I started a knitting project. Initially, this was going to be a scarf. Then it was going to be a headband. However... I was dumbstruck (geniusstruck?) with an idea, and took knitting in a direction I'd never taken it before.

Please ignore the quality of the photograph, and the obnoxiously large and crooked hooks. My bedroom isn't the best place for documentation of the work.

Moving on to the actual work and not my quality of photographs (I took them late at night, okay?!), this is the first of a body of work. I've realized that I'm developing three or four persona in terms of my practice. There is the persona that focuses on production work, which is all of the wearable stuff that I sell on Etsy. There is the gallery persona, who creates work that is mostly display, but could be function-able or is at very least interesting, and sometimes it is wearable art (but I'm kind of weird, and with some of these works [like my sideshow garments] I don't want people to wear it). There is the persona that creates art for fun and likes making quirky things and would want to try illustration, and then there is the persona who wants to do more work that can hang on a wall and be seen in commercial galleries.

The latter persona is the reason I attempted this knitted work. I was knitting, and then I just decided to try making it look degraded, but still structured. Wool is a nostalgic material for me. I grew up with it, and I have so many memories connected to every aspect of the 'life' of the wool. The lambs, the sheep, the shearing... stomping down on freshly sheared wool into giant burlap sacks, raised into the air by the forks of a tractor. There are so many smells and sights, and it's embedded in my soul. The woods and the prairie are embedded in the same way. Pine branches brushing coats, mud on boots, paws carrying in grasses and bits of gravel.

I'm haunted by memories of the decrepit buildings of the prairie. Stags leaping out of the collapsed walls, and rotting long johns hanging in an ancient wardrobe. There's always a voyeuristic feeling of trespassing as you hunt for precious things, and look over your shoulder for the shadows of ghosts. It's a strange sense when you walk into these buildings. Even if you are only walking over the long since overgrown homestead, covered by grass like an old grave. It's a lonely feeling, and a sensation that reminds you both of decay and loss, but of how alive everything. Even after the people who lived there have moved away, the world moves on, filling in cracks and taking back bricks and logs. The earth buries the glass and the metal and the rotting wood. I imagine the lives that were, and create stories in my mind. The stories are quickly forgotten. I can't keep imagining when the world is so still. The wind blows through the grass and the old houses groan in their old wooden bones.

Somehow, I connect my own memories to the imagined memories of these buildings and the prairie. No matter how much I try (or don't try), I can't shake the sense of belonging in the prairie. It clings to me, as if all of the time I've spent roaming the grass has left my own roots deep in the earth. And thus...

I created works like 'Cabin'. This knitted piece with a found antler, from the prairie itself. This is another time where I feel like I may have stumbled upon something that fits me, in terms of what I create and how I feel about it. I like when I create works that are contemplative. When I create art like this, I feel tranquil and calm. In general, I don't like art with lots of colours or lots going on. I like simple work, or work that is bizarrely beautiful. The not like lots of colour is why, whenever I weave anything, it is two colours or less. Preferably one. I like the simplicity, and it seems to like me.

We'll see where this goes.

Tattooed Madame (Tell me your story)

 

This is the second instalment of my series of works inspired by 19th century sideshow. This is a corset based on the tattooed women of the 1880s, and the stories they created to tell on stage. It was prompted by my thinking of alteration of one's self, for any reason. It kind of amazes me to think of these women letting or getting themselves get covered from head to toe in tattoos, especially at a time when such technology was only just making an appearance. It must have been a little bit painful... Still, they transformed themselves into living canvases, and joined a different world. It strikes me as brave.

This corset consists of two layers of heavy cotton, two layers of light canvas, plastic boning, red stitching, silk, fringe, ribbon, metal eyelets, and temporary tattoos placed on the cloth. I chose to use the fringe for its showgirl-burlesque ideas, and the fact that it also hides the hyper-feminine form created by a corset. Which, is my way of referencing the hiding of the tattooed skin, even by a disguise as revealing as a corset.

I already have my next work planned out, and I'm terribly excited to get working on it. It's going to be extraordinary. I hope. It's going to be strange, at the very least. Also, it will be challenging, because I am going to try to fit it to someone else. A little hint- it is inspired by male sideshow performers, such as escape artists, human blockheads, human pincushions, and the like. Some of these didn't exist in their form that they do today, but I want to link the past to the present, while making other links and discussions. Due to the fact that it is a piece about men, I am making a male garment. Usually, I would make the garments to fit myself. However, I am not a man, so I will be fitting it to someone who is. As I have it envisioned, this work is going to be absolutely beautiful. Silkscreen, satin, buckles... OOOOH I can barely wait to get to work!

Beautiful Things

This afternoon I tracked down songs that make me think of beautiful things, and the result was a playlist that, in listening to it, kind of sparked me back to life. 

It's not really that I was not alive or anything... it was just more of a refreshing reboot that kept me relaxed all day, as I listened to these songs over and over again. You'd think that I would get sick of these songs, but that isn't happening. Instead, I feel so wide awake at this time of night, and I want nothing more than to stay awake forever, and fill the world with the beautiful and wondrous things I imagine when I listen to these songs. It all kind of started from listening to a song that a friend posted on the Facebook. The song is 'Dirty Paws' by Of Monsters and Men. I've listened to a bit of them before, and thus I was prompted to listen to this song. It caught my soul in the rhythm and the lyrics just made my mind reel in wonder at... whatever it is that makes it so beautiful. The lyrics...

Jumping up and down the floor,

My head is an animal.

And once there was an animal,

It has a son that mowed the lawn.

The son was an ok guy,

They had a pet dragonfly.

The dragonfly it ran away,

But it came back with a story to say.

Her dirty paws and furry coat,

She ran down the forest slope.

The forest of talking trees,

They used to sing about the birds and the bees.

The bees had declared a war,

The sky wasn't big enough for them al.

The birds, they got help from below,

From dirty paws and the creatures of snow.

And for a while things were cold,

They were scared down in their holes.

The forest that once was green

Was coloured black by those killing machines.

But she and her furry friends

Took down the queen bee and her men.

And that's how the story goes,

The story of the beast with those four dirty paws.

I could create art based off of these lyrics for the rest of my life. 

And thus, I am sitting awake, knitting with tiny needles and listening to beautiful things.

Important Differences

I drew this a little after 12 o'clock this morning. Shockingly, I can entertain myself for hours.

Wish List

It was requested that I narrow down my Etsy favourites a little bit, to show the things that I really like and are a little more realistic in terms of things I would actually own. The results...

 

  

Left to right going down the page...
Thanks For The Treat Stupid mug by Corduroy
Nordic Winter sweater by shoprukus
Mini sparrow skull earrings by Skullery
Wolf in Headphones raglan by Zen Threads (though I would like it in cranberry... size medium)
Flexible steel spiral boning by CheringtonMetalCraft
Black fox long scarf by celapiu
Sailor Jerry Be A Bear necklace by Autumn Bear Studios

It's so difficult to narrow down my favourites. Etsy is so full of treasures! Though, as far as 'wish lists' go, there's nothing like a cozy top, a good mug, and something animal related! Oh, and I'm quite fond of woolie socks.

Pay It Forward and the beginning of 365

*sigh* FINALLY. I finished my miniature works for Pay It Forward 2012. This... was a long time coming. Essentially, someone starts it, and it begins with someone saying that they will make something for the first six people to comment, but in return those people must post the same thing and make something for six other people. This is mostly through Facebook. I commented on the status of one of my friends, who made me a beautiful Red Riding Hood based piece (which now sits on my tea shelf with a dog creamer and a drawing of  two rabbits). Four people commented on my status post of this Pay It Forward, and I finally finished the works for these people. Only three of these people get works that I put some effort into, since the third person is a person whom I see often, and there are no rules of what you make for the lucky six. This friend of mine will likely get a very fancy cup of hot chocolate or tea or something of the sort.

These are the completed works, all of which are quite small. I won't say who they're for (since it's really not that important), but I will describe them in detail. I will describe them in clockwise order, starting with the black bear.

The Black Bear- Soft sculpture, inspired by Rose Red & Snow White (one of my favourite fairy tales by The Brothers Grimm). This is a very small bear, with semi-movable arms and legs. I made it out of this weird wool blend fabric I have from a past project, and it's sewn to look quite ratty. The fact I made it was kind of inspired by the person whom it's for. The glass eyes (I wish I had gold beads) reference the bear in the story, who (for those of you who don't know- spoiler alert) turns out to be a prince. The red thread and white ribbon reference Snow White and Rose Red, the two sisters who show the bear kindness.

Bear- Embroidery, with wool and acrylic paint on tea-stained raw silk. For some reason, I decided that I wanted to do a weird abstract embroidery of a roaring grizzly. I kept thinking of the Sailor Jerry tattoo 'If you must be a bear, be a grizzly'. I have no idea what it means (something relating to the sea and sailors, I imagine), but it is regular tossed around my skull, and I think it's one of the reasons why I'm so obsessed with bears.

Bow- This is the first hair bow I have ever made, and I'm quite delighted that it turned out okay. Though if it's worn it will probably be ginormous. Or a nice size. I haven't decided yet. I kind of wish that I made it a little bit wider so that the coming together part in the middle was more extreme, but... Live and learn, I guess! It is cotton, with painted birds wings (which... I'm not great at... these are probably the best I've ever done) done in acrylic, and it has one of those clips that you have to pinch together at the end to release. That in itself is almost too much detail... Any who...

Overall, I'm fairy content. And this brings me to....

365 Days of Creativity Challenge

My very own attempt at the genre of 365 days of creativity challenges. This is truly going to be a challenge for me... At least, I think it's going to be. Or, who knows. It could be the easiest thing I've ever done, end up being one of the healthiest decisions I've made. Only time will tell! It seemed like finishing the Pay It Forward challenge was a good way to start something that I've been wanting to start for several months.

Now, everything for this 365 day project will be on a separate blog, since I want to keep it separate from the projects that I do for Etsy, school, and so on. If I have to do something specifically different... Even better! I am calling this project '12 Months of Alice'. Mostly because I like the sound of it, and whenever I think of what I'd like to do, it inevitable involves some reference to Alice in Wonderland, madness, or all matters of vaguely relating to dear Alice. After all, we are all mad here. You can find the blog right here: 12 Months of Alice.

Oofta let's hope that I don't drive myself madder than I already am!

Halloween II: The Return of November 1st

Yesterday was Halloween, and it was great. My costume turned out quite well, and I finally saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Trick or treating was fun, and then a bunch of people got together for classic horror movies and pizza. The only downside is that after all the fun, I woke up this morning sicker than a dog, and sicker than I've been in over a year. Every time I cough I want to cry. This is painful, and absolutely horrible.

Still, even though I am in bed feeling dismal, yesterday was fun. I absolutely adore Halloween!

And now, with no further ado... The final result of my Halloween costume. I spent over a month planning and making it, and it turned out not too bad.

 Now... to rest, drink hot lemonade and eat toast. Merr... :( I hate being sick.