Friday 5: Makin' It

What skill seems like it would be really fun to learn?

I really would love to sit down and learn how to crochet. Lawyer Mom crochets, and she tried her best to teach me (I asked!) but for some reason nothing beyond a chain stitch ever really stuck with me.

I still want to learn because sometime last year, I watched an interesting TED talk about how to prepare for aging and dementia. One of the things the speaker recommended was to develop some kind of hobby to keep your hands busy, even if your brain and body give out. Reading and writing don't cut it; making jewelry can ask a lot on the eyes (and requires lots of little bits and bobs, some of which can be expensive). But crocheting just takes a hook and some yarn and you're good to go.  I know my future old lady self would appreciate it if I could just figure it out, once and for all, but it's hard to find the time!


Which of the winter Olympic sports would you love to compete in?

Is drinking hot cocoa in the ski lodge an Olympic sport? No? Too bad.

What fun craft did you make when you were a kid, in school or at camp or somewhere else?

There are two that come to mind. The first is from elementary school, when we had a year-long (or semester-long? quarter-long?) weaving project. In all of the moving overseas (and back again) that I've done, and all of the purging and downsizing (I did the Mari Kondo thing before it was a thing), I've held onto that bizarre hodge-podge of a tapestry. I just loved working on it and learning the different kinds of weaves so much. (Another skill I'd love to learn: how to weave on a proper, actual loom!)

The second one is from middle or early high school, when I was at camp: basket weaving. (Weaving: noticing a pattern yet?) Mine turned out really well, I thought, and it's one of the few school/camp crafts that I've kept around; not only did it turn out nicely, but it was the perfect size and shape to hold pencils and pencil-shaped knick-knacks.


If everyone in the world is the best in the world at some very specific thing, what are you most likely the best at?

For a long time, I was unusually good at remembering people's birthdays. Sad to say, I've since offloaded that mental task to Facebook and I can tell that I'm not as good at it as I used to be.


What’s something you own that was handmade by someone you know?

Circling back to the first question, I have a wide array of scarves, hats, wraps, and blankets that Lawyer Mom has crocheted for me. Here's one, though technically for my sambo and not for me:

I also have an adorable owl magnet that was a gift from a friend I visited in the US in August.

This is in addition to the jewelry that I make and then hoard like a freakin' dragon or something, of course!

Friday Find: Woolly Bear Affair

I've been enjoying having Friday 5 to do—it's nice to have someone else think of topics to write about once a week!—but the site I usually use is down and 5 Fandom Friday seems to be as dead as disco so I'm excited to bring back the ol' Friday Find and share with you: Woolly Bear Affair!

Billing her shop as cruelty-free bug collecting, Annie Konarska makes freaking ADORABLE clay bugs. Some of them are wearable, like this eye-catching moth:

Teal Moth Necklace by Woolly Bear Affair

Or this red beetle brooch:

Red Beetle Brooch by Woolly Bear Affair

Others are actually collectible little specimens, complete with pin and name tag!

Ladybug by Woolly Bear Affair

If you want to get extra fancy, there are also display mounts:

Display Mount by Woolly Bear Affair

This bug's for you, entomologists!

Five Fandom Friday: 5 SciArt Shops You Should Know

It's been a while since I've been up for a 5 Fandom Friday, but this one was right in my wheelhouse! ....almost.

So, like I brought up in my last Talky Tuesday post, I'm not much of a shopper. I don't have five favorite anything shops, let alone geeky shops, to buy from because I keep my pursestrings closed and also I buy books more than anything else oop. Even when I do shop, I'm not much of a fandom shopper. But I do have five favorite sciart shops you should know! I have more than five, really, but these are a good start.

What is sciart?

Sciart is the intersection of science and art. STEM and the humanities, despite popular belief, are not mutually exclusive. The goal of sciart is to highlight how the arts propel the sciences, and how the sciences enrich the arts.

1. ArtAtomic

Kristin Henry uses her coding knowledge and programming experience to create really cool generative geometrical art. Do you need a modern geometric print to hang up in your living space? Or a coloring book? Maybe a new scarf?

Abstract Art Particle Flower by ArtAtomic

2. ChrissySparksArt

Do you love astronomy? Did you have childhood dreams of going to space camp? Do you have opinions about Pluto? Then you will love the art and jewelry from ChrissySparksArt. I think my favorite thing in her shop are the leaf paintings. They are something out of William Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand,
 And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
  And eternity in an hour.

Bubble Nebula Cosmic Leaf Art by ChrissySparksArt

3. The Occasional Bat

It is no secret that I love bats, and The Occasional Bat has the most adorable bat plushies imaginable.

Gray Victorian Bat by The Occasional Bat

But The Occasional Bat is about more than just cuteness—they do bat outreach as well. A portion of their proceeds on every sale go to the Florida Bat Conservancy and to the Bat World bat sanctuary in Mineral Wells, TX. We're still a long way from curing White Nose Syndrome (though progress has been made), so these little guys need all the help they can get. They also do custom bats for (as the name implies) any occasion!


4. The Vexed Muddler

Peggy of The Vexed Muddler is just all around really cool. I follow her on Twitter and her tweets make my day. So Peggy would be cool even if she didn't make sciart ceramics and cool t-shirt and temporary tattoo designs, but she does, so she's just even cooler.

Box and whisker graph bracelet by The Vexed Muddler

And if you wanted a beaded or chainmaille thingummy to go with one of her pendants, I could help you out. Jus' sayin'.


5. ESeas

For those who prefer that their sciart be a little more functional, Elizabeth Sargent of ESeas sculpts fantastic dishes out of polymer clay. If you have an absent-minded science professor in your life, one of Elizabeth's trinket dishes might make them a little more organized.

Sea turtle trinket dish by ESeas

If none of these are to your style (and I have a hard time believing that), then all you have to do is browse the sciart hashtag on Twitter to find lots of great designs and art. I swear, every time I check up on that hashtag I find two or three awesome new designers/bloggers/scientists to follow. It is an embarrassment of riches, y'all.

Feedback time: Tectonic Plate Pendant(s)

I did the first mock-up of my Mad Scientists of Etsy April theme challenge (plate tectonics) item: the Filippino Plate, one of the three plates that meet under Japan.



The real version, if I get around to it, will be cut out of metal. But I did a version in clay first so I could get an idea of what a thing of that size and shape would look like. I think it needs some pizzazz, so I'm going to add some kind of kanji character to the design (on the Filippino plate; the other two plates are large enough that I'm going to draw/cut out the Japanese islands). These are the only two appropriate ones I can think of:



I'm leaning towards the top one because I'm more clear on the meaning and because it's simpler. Corrections on my interpretations, or suggestions for other characters, are much, much appreciated.

42 Day!

42 day is coming. Are you ready? I am!



You could be as cool as me, with this 42 day nonsense.

Unfortunately, I'll be working on 42 day, so I won't be hopping #42 buses or baking "42 cakes." But I will be prepared with my towel and necklace!

What are you doing for 42 day?

WIP: 42 Day Swag, part II

I baked the guys I mentioned in my first 42 Day Swag post. The brilliant idea of acrylic paint and stamping didn't turn out so hot; the next round I think I'm going to bake the shapes first and then stamp the text directly on them.

This means I need to go out and invest, in addition to the alpha-numeric rubber stamps and glaze I bought, ink pads in assorted colors. But I need to start small (I'm not made of money! Though I do have a 40% off coupon for Jo-Ann's.) so I'm going to do what I always do when a decision has to be made: ask someone else.

What colors would you like to see in 42 Day swag?

WIP: 42 Day Swag

October 10th marks 42 Day, the only date for the next hundred years or so that can be written as 10/10/10. 101010 happens to be 42 in binary.

(Unaware of the significance of 42? Here's the answer to your question about the answer.) I'm prepping by shifting my focus away from math and chemistry and on to Douglas Adams.

Unfortunately, I am pretty bad at clay-sculpting. (Either that or I need better tools. I can't tell.) Before I make another attempt at a Babelfish, I want something a bit low-key. So I present the first step of my DNA Polymer Bits v 2.0:



The wavy orange parallelogram at the top is a towel before the screw-eyes, terrycloth stamping, and stripes painted on. Everything else will eventually have text that either reads 42 or Don't Panic. I could go a couple different directions with those:

1. Paint on the text.
2. Write on the text in Sharpie.
3. Stamp in the text.

What do you think?

There's also the question of if I should, sand, glaze or just let them be. This tutorial about faux ceramic effects in polymer clay seems simple enough, and the results are really cool. Shiny, matte, or faux-ceramic?

What are you doing for 42 day?