New Project: Pachisi Board!

I found myself growing ever more frustrated with the lack of beautiful Pachisi boards in stores. I did not want some horrifically colorful game for kids - I wanted a sophisticated, beautiful version.  So I decided to make my own. 16x16" pine, stained and colored with Sharpie.

I decided to stripe the back and put a chalkboard on it, for whenever I need to write something down.

 

It was great to do a project for myself for a change. I hope everyone likes the results!

Edit: better picture.

Monday Musings

Above: An amazing project: What if Renaissance Masters had our standards of beauty?

Little Somethings

The spiral bound journal features photogaphs of my Aunts. The other two pages, "Musings," are part of a spiral book project as well, made through the use of a few lovely stamps, a ruler, and a black pen.

Monday Musings I

To amazing/beautiful things. I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been working like crazy, I have made some things but sold them instantly, i.e. before I was able to photograph them. Sorry y'all. Anyway, here's a roundup of things I've read over the past week, generally found interesting, and would like to share. Complete with pictures! I know that makes for more scrolling, but at least you'll see just what is so cool.

It's rare that I see an art installation as beautiful as this one. Its title is Bloom: 28,000 Potted Flowers Installed at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Colossal has a great interview with the artist, Anna Schuleit.

Check out this pic of Marlena Dietrich and Edith Piaf being awesome.

Frida you so sexy girl.

Lastly, there's a book that's filled with images just like this one. I need it, and so do you.

Next week's links will be more plentiful. I promise I'll keep a running list of cool things just so I can give them to y'all. Monday Musings? Think that's a good name.

Edit: So sorry I forgot the best one! If you haven't checked out the opening of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, watch it now. It's amazing. Superb animation. Also, Karen O singing the Immigrant Song. Perfect beyond words.

Valentine's Day Gift :D

So with Valtentine's Day come and gone, I figured I'd show you guys the present I made for Matt. It was just a plain cardboard heart-shaped box. I covered it with Lokta Heart Paper, attached some embellishments, and attached a card that said "I love you more than _____ loves _____." Filled them all in with two things that match, like "bacon loves eggs", "peanut butter loves jelly", and "chocolate loves vanilla."

I pasted comic book hero paper as the lining.

The gifts were wrapped in Space Invaders Paper, Sushi paper, and just butcher's paper supplied by the cheese store, Claudio's. They were super friendly and helpful, located in the Italian market. I highly recommend them! 

The gifts: two pieces of cheese from Claudio's. One is a truffeled pecorino, and the second is a stinkier cheese, but I cannot remember what kind! The jar is sundried fig jelly that I got to pair with the cheeses.  The bottle is apple flavored soda from Mexico.

Best Planner Ever

What do you do when you hate all the planners in stores? You make your own. And that's precisely what I did. I don't think these pictures do it justice. I'll have to get you guys some real pictures soon.

Designed, printed, and bound by me.

Deets: inkjet printed, designed in Adobe Illustrator, none of the pictures nor fonts are owned by me, I mounted a cabinet card on the front cover. Pasted the paper over some cardboard to give it a border around the edges. Sewn with waxed linen thread.

Oh, and did I mention it's all in Italian? Sí.

Rutgers Camden Class

I am happy to say that for the second year in a row, I had the honor of teaching Alan Espiritu's Graphic Design class in Rutger's Camden! The class was actually huge, about 22 people. These are the final pictures. I taught them a basic case binding sewn on tapes. It was a lot of work - 4 hours for what's normally a 2 hour class! But all the students were great sports about it. Everyone's books turned out great! Thanks for the wonderful opportunity, Alan and Rutgers!

Students putting finishing touches on a book.

Gotta get that paste in there!

Working it in...

Finished product - mini book.

Two finished books stand side by side.

The classes' books, and mine. Can you guess which one I made?

I have to post something pretty important: there were a lot of protests going on at Rutgers while I was there. There is a proposed merger of the Rutgers Camden campus into Rowan. The students are not happy about it, and neither am I. The state of New Jersey is treating Education like a Business. There are faculty and students at risk here. They love their school and chose to go to RUTGERS, not to ROWAN. Nothing against Rowan, but it seems like a mess for everyone involved. To get more information, google or visit the following:

http://savejersey.com/2012/02/save-rutgers-how-the-merger-could-happen-and-how-it-could-be-stopped/

Everyone from Jersey: be sure to write your local  legislator and say that this merger should be STOPPED.

And, lastly, if you ever interested in learning any bindings from me, contact me and I'll be happy to set up a class with you.

EDIT: GET INVOLVED, SIGN THE PETITION

We need 10,000 signatures and are at the time of this post at 9052. Come on guys we can do it!