A Copper Coil

Designers and their Websites

2009-02-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of a few designers and their websites that I found. I think they are really thoughtful and inviting websites that promote both the artist and their work. I will post pictures of their websites shortly.

Eliana R. Arenas - This jewelry artist has a black background and white lettering for her font. The pictures are in color and display a range of her one of a kind pieces, as well as her production line. Her biography is simply her resume. Her artist statement is short and I really like the picture she chose to introduce us to her home page.

Jan Harrell - I liked how there were a variety of images and how almost everything you might want to know about her was available in the top bar above her photo.

Lisa Vershbow - This artist uses a simple bio as her intro web page with an interesting piece of jewelry that invites the viewer to explore her website further.

Georg Jensen - This is a web page for a large jewelry store. I really like how there are high quality, and interesting rings on the intro page to his website. I also like the black background because it makes the jewelry really pop off of the page.

Biba Schutz - She has an interesting intro to her website; her handwritten signature introduces the viewer to her website. She also informs the viewer which shows she is participating in with links that create another pop up window. Disappointingly, there is not a gallery of her work on her website.

I had a great Christmas!

2009-02-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, I had a wonderful Christmas, and even though it is almost Valentine's Day, I just wanted to post a pictures of my beautiful jeweler's bench. It has a familiar Ugly Duckling story arc to it. I found it on Craig's list, and drove about 2 hours north to get it. I bought it (no haggling) for $30 dollars, and it is really too bad I didn't take a "before" picture because the entire thing was rusty and warped from being left in a barn or outside in the rain.

I started to repair the wooden desk by prying the wooden slats apart and planing the hard wood, but school started and I didn't have the time or access to the tools. Lo and behold, my dad and my brother in law Brian stepped in and finished the project for me. And it was my big Christmas surprise.

I have no idea how old the piece is, but it is definitely missing the catch tray that came with it. It was made by William Dixon, Inc. in Newark, NJ. I did a little research online, and I think the company was bought out by Grobet U.S.A. in 1964. To make the gift even sweeter we went to Harbor Freight and bought a light with a built in magnifier to go with it for another 30 dollars. A little money and a lot of elbow grease looks pretty good.

Branding? Moo.com has me covered!

2008-12-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of one of the wool brooches I am selling, after designing a line of jewelry in Jan Baum's design and production class this past fall. I am pleased that a few of them have sold, so I am getting postcards and mini-cards printed from http://www.moo.com/ to go with them, and help me advertise more of my pieces. This website, based in the U.K., prints business cards. They have lots of different options for ways you might want to advertise yourself. I want to learn how to take a good picture and manipulate it in photoshop before I buy any more cards, but the plethora of options definately excites me.

For my business card format I used Arthur Hash's mini card as my template, and included my name, blog, email, and phone number.

I ordered them today, and the website said they would be sent by the 23rd, so I guess I will see them in early January. I can't wait!!!

New Mexico Pictures - the inspiration for my ring project

2008-12-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of me and my little sister Tara in Las Cruces, NM in 1986. The relevant part of this picture is behind me. I had to walk about half a block to reach the desert, and an unobstructed view of the Organ mountains. As part of my ring project I have decided to use the New Mexico desert as my inspiration for making my pieces.

On a different note, this picture was taken for the local newspaper in 1996. I was a senior in high school. These outfits were heavier than you might think. It really was a lot of fun to play and sing in this group; we were called the Mariachi Diamante, I think. Go ahead and try to find me.

Second Life - progress shots

2008-12-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the progress of my pop up space in Second Life:
An aerial view of my space.

I really liked the command ctrl D. It was fun to make them all in a row.

A first draft of my space. I edited out the eggs on the corners and made a different texture on the wall of pictures.

Everything got faster and faster with a little practice. My avatar had to rest though. :)

Another picture of the beginning drafts. The table has the first pieces of wearable brooches. I want to figure out how to give them away to the other avatars in class.

The gray and pink brooch. The colors may have to be tweaked before I upload the image as a texture.

The orange egg brooch.

Two acrylic chick brooches.

The pink and gray egg brooch.

The yellow acrylic chick brooch.

Arthur Hash; Another guest lecturer at Towson this semester

2008-12-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

That's him: Arthur Hash. This picture of him and more of his exploits and adventures can be found at his blog, The Art Escape Plan.

Arthur Hash was another lecturer that came to Towson to speak with us and show us some slides of his work this past semester. Jan was super excited to have him come and talk to us, and it was so clear why she had so much enthusiasm for him. He is a regular, down-to-earth, easy going guy who makes really cool pieces of jewelry, and knows his way around metal.

During his slide lecture, I was really impressed with his CAD abilities. He definitely knows his way around Rhino, and has made some really neat organic forms with his computer designs.

I was also impressed with the slide of his beautifully raised silver teapot, which he promptly cast in resin and sliced into cross sections during his years in grad school.

I liked seeing the slides of his work that showcased his traditional goldsmith and silversmith skills. I also liked the way he takes easy, ready-made objects and made them into unexpected wearable art. The orange cone brooch, made from a real rubber orange cone, is a great example of this. The steel coffee stain brooches are pretty neat too.

Arthur also told us about Moo.com, where he had a bunch of little half sized business cards made that advertised his name, website, email and phone number. (I almost forgot about this, but I am glad I remembered. I loved his business cards, and I want to go to Moo and get some cards done too.)

He has pieces on Etsy, and he is represented in a gallery or two. He seemed like a really nice guy who is immensely talented and didn't really have a gigantic ego. He was the perfect person to listen to from our tiny little art jewelry community.

Marcia Lausen: She wrote the book on ballot and election design

2008-12-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

I attended the lecture Marcia Lausen gave at Towson University on Election Design this past semester, and while researching her name later, I came across Design for Democracy: Ballot and Election Design, a book that she had written about election reform. I have yet to read it, but it looks interesting, and I enjoyed her lecture for a couple really important reasons:

1) It was not a partisan lecture, which I was expecting. It was about how to communicate to the public before and during an election in a visually concise way. The Florida debacle did come up, but it was about the poor design of the butterfly ballot, and how she and her students came up with clearer solutions for ballot design.

2) I learned about how reading a piece of paper with ALL CAPS, and lots of subtitles can be visually difficult to decipher.
for example:

JOHN SMITH
LIBERTARIAN
LAWYER

MARY WHITE
GREEN
TRUCK DRIVER

She decluttered a ballot by placing only the first and last name of the person on a top row (first letter of first and last name is in caps, the rest of the letters in the name are lower case) and then only their party fell beneath their name with nothing extra, like their occupation.

John Smith
Libertarian

Mary White
Green

It was interesting that the psychology of color played a role in her redesign of ballots and election signs. Blue is associated with calming feelings and red is associated with excited feelings. Blue was the color that she preferred as a complimentary color in an example she showed us of an election sign her class had created, with no red in it, because she wanted to instill a feeling of calm in the voters going to in to a precinct marked by her redesigned voting posters. The city government for whom they had designed the poster threw out the blue only color and opted for their own shade of red, and made a red only election poster instead.

For the sake of politics and an election, Blue = Democratic party and Red = Republican party. I don't think you can get around this fact and creating posters with only one color or the other gives the opposing political party the idea you are trying to subliminally communicate a message about one party or the other. It would be nice to see redesigned election posters with both red and blue harmonized, (the U.S. flag comes to mind as a design with both colors in recognizable harmony).

IDEO and the Art of Innovation, and another book I bought instead

2008-12-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

Last semester, when we were given our book list, Jan required The Art of Innovation, by Tom Kelly for all of the classes I had with her. Being a little short on cash, I declined this one, and read various chapters here and there. I confess I shied away from actually purchasing it after reading some of the reviews on Amazon. However, I was able to download it from my local library, and now I listen to it (ten CDs, total) in the car when I am not listening to NPR, stories meant for children (I am a mom), or Christmas music ('tis the season, right?).

So, I keep coming back to a couple of chapters again and again, and one of them is Chapter Six, Prototyping is the Short Hand of Innovation. This chapter deals specifically with prototyping. I guess the biggest point in this chapter is that prototyping isn't just model-making to Ideo. It is sketching, doodling, drawing, making and testing the model until their team is confident the product is ready to for production. It seems that all of the prep work before the product comes out is prototyping. Everything has to be checked to see what is right and what is not right for the product. The author likes to point out that constantly getting thoughts out on paper is the way they are able to work out solutions to problems, and essentially have the tools to innovate.

I also liked the story about the steering wheel that could only be prototyped in a red plastic to show the client in time for their scheduled deadline and meeting. The client loved the color so much it inspired a wide range of colorful steering wheels that were manufactured as components to video games.

The chapter also focused on the variety of extremes their company has gone to test a prototype - it has to be tested in the real world under real conditions.

I suppose the other chapter I really enjoyed is chapter four, The Perfect Brainstorm - Really, all of us need to get over feeling like an idea is embarrassing or not applicable and just get out the first things that come to mind when we sit down to actually do a brainstorm as a class. I can honestly say I have enjoyed brainstorming with everyone in our metals classes much more this semester than last semester. That is because I have been very forward and direct with my thoughts and ideas during our brainstorming sessions, without really caring if everyone liked or disliked what I said. The idea was to let every crazy inconceivable notion come out into the open in the beginning, and sorting the better ideas would come later.

Brainstorms that were memorable this semester were on the "Definition of Hollow Form" and our somewhat informal "Iconic Form". I was pretty sad to miss our "What is a Ring?" brainstorm, especially since the Walters Museum in Baltimore really set me in the mood for challenging what a ring form and purpose has traditionally meant and translating that to a modern form today.

Things we are missing to make our brainstorms like Ideo's:

1) tell the boss to leave the room...is Jan the boss? Do we feel pressure because we don't want to come up with an idea that she doesn't like? Or are we more fearful of blurting out ideas in front of our peers?

2)chocolate chip cookies. Yes, the book recommends chocolate chip cookies to get the ball rolling.

Fun Facts: Ideo came up with the Coinstar machine. I haven't used one yet, but now I want to, just to get more of the Ideo experience, without buying a heart stream defibrillator, for example.

So I bought another book instead: IDEO: Eyes Open New York. It was passed around on the bus we took to New York City this year. I only bought it because I saw who the authors were (Ideo) and the reviews on Amazon were good. This book reads like a little guide into the speakeasies and not so well known places in New York that might interest hip tourists. Hey, I'm hip. I like off the beaten path places. And I especially like the small size of the guide with color pictures.

I have yet to visit one of those places, but I think Rice to Riches may be my first stop - the restaurant featured on page 23 has a sign on their window, "Eat all you want...you're already fat."

Felt Brooches!

2008-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Branding and Tim Gunn

2008-12-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Is there anything Tim Gunn says to which we shouldn't listen? Here is his quote from an nymag.com article about the advice he gave to fashion graduates that had just finished at Parsons in 2004:

Now, when seniors tell Tim Gunn, the director of the Parsons fashion program, that they’re considering a summer in Europe or some lazy days at the beach, he tells them no. “They’ve got to get out there and brand themselves now,” he says. “The industry likes its talent fresh. You’re like a new car, and they want to still be able to smell the vinyl.”

The article also goes into a little bit of depth into four designer's aesthetics, and the markets to whom they are planning on selling their clothes. I am the most impressed with Natalia Allen's effort at branding herself. Her webpage looks phenomenal, and she seems to be an all around smart, innovative thinker. She has also done a lot of work since her graduation from Parsons in 2004. I think I am going to start following her blog.

Packaging and Branding

2008-11-19T16:04:00.001-08:00

I don't remember how old I was when I saw this ad for the first time, but I have been an admirer of Benetton's ads for a long time. This company has always promoted diversity through its ads and with the color palettes of its textiles it makes available to consumers. The ads themselves can be studied as innovative social design.

Light My Fire is a camping equipment company that I just ran into one day while I was shopping at Wal-mart. Not only does this ultra cool line of sporks (also has a serrated edge like a knife) come in a neat concise package, it is made with PP friendly plastic, and has other matching accessories in its line that look pretty cool too.

Just the design of the box of Godiva chocolates is a thing of beauty. Recognizable from a distance, and the chocolate inside the box is desirable as well.

I really respond to the different colors on display in the clear glass bottles of Jones Sodas, and the variety of colors and flavors of these juices and sodas. I really love the blue one (Raspberry lemonade?) Yum.

A Hershey Kiss. Small. Concise. To the point. Delightful.

Marimekko is a Finnish textile company that sells fabrics and textiles as well as coordinating home accessories. I love this store, and I love the way they have their colors speak, and the store itself is the the blank white palette with which it contrasts.

Neutrogena is a company whose line of hygiene products have been effectively marketed using a plain package with a limited color palette, and a distinctive orange-yellow color of soap as their product.

The Rubik's Cube isn't a company with lots of good designs, but a single high note as a product that can be universally agreed upon as good design. This piece pretty much markets itself because the design is universal.

Tiffany and Co., a chain of jewelry stores, uses the same blue box for packaging its jewelry. In fact, it has successfully copyrighted this shade of blue in shade of blue in some parts of the U.S. As an upscale jewelry store, this method of branding is similar to that of the Godiva company: the packaging itself reflects good taste, no matter what is inside.

Toblerone is a Swiss chocolate company that has a really cool triangle shape as its packaging concept. The distinctive large red font with the picture of the mountain on the box contrasts with the buttery yellow background and the shape of the pieces themselves reflect the picture of the Swiss Alps on the box.

Some PostSecrets I wanted to post

2008-11-19T15:17:00.001-08:00

Postsecret

A Designer's Workspace

2008-11-19T15:14:00.001-08:00

Ponoko!!!

2008-11-18T20:15:00.001-08:00

Elation doesn't even begin to describe it!

Store fronts in NYC

2008-11-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

40+ ring maquettes

2008-11-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

I missed everyone today, and I really did miss you. I was at home cleaning up after my stomach flu infested family. Everyone has had it except for me...knock on wood.
In the mean time, playing with the possiblilties of using sheet, wire, stock and tubing to make our rings has really got me thinking about the whats and hows of that task. I also think I might need to come up with 40 more maquettes, now that I can see my work in one glance.

Creative Business Cards, or how to effectively brand yourself

2008-11-17T16:27:00.001-08:00

I found a French design blog called fubiz, and they had some pretty amazing examples of business cards published on their blog. You can look here and here to see more examples. I just picked a few of my favorites to share:

Cooper Hewitt Exhibition - Fashioning Felt

2008-10-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

More Felt!!

There will be an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in DC called Fashioning Felt that will run from March 6 to September 7, 2009. Apparently this show is going to run the full monty of felt, from historical examples to current innovations, from wearables to architecture. This is going to be so cool.

Josh Jakus and his kick ass line of purses

2008-10-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love this line by Josh Jakus. Super cool. And the unzipped version looks so easy and simple too.

The Trashcanulator 2000!!

2008-10-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

Check this out! This IKEA hack is a great little light box for only $10 to $15! Tanya Brown had this on her blog, but it has found its way all over the web. I found it here at Tacky Living. I think I'm going to make one this Christmas.

Egg Bibliography

2008-10-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of websites I have perused over the past few weeks while I have been researching eggs:

Egg: Biology article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(biology)
Egg: Food Article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food)
Egg Shell Energy Article, http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/eggpower.htm
1,000 Rings, http://books.google.com/books?id=NtXwT05_RU4C,
Peter Carl Faberge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faberg%C3%A9_egg
Thomas Gentille, http://www.klimt02.net/exhibitions/index.php?item_id=4911
Seo Yoon Choi, Desire 1999
Sigurd Bronger, Egg ring
D-Vision, http://www.d-vision.co.il/151263, Motherbird
Lily Yung, http://www.lilyyung.com/, Necklace, 2005
Josh Jakus, http://www.joshjakus.com/, Eggflat
Paul Outerbridge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Outerbridge,
Triumph of the Egg, 1932
Felt Artist Links, http://members.peak.org/~spark/feltlistFAQ.html
Egg spoons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_spoon

d-vision

2008-10-10T17:57:00.001-07:00

Whoa! Go check out this really cool Israeli design collective called d-vision. They take recent undergraduates and place them in their design collective as interns for two years. This piece is called motherbird. They have many other cool projects and their 'inspiration page' is really neat too. Go check it out!

Creative Caffeine: EGG-centered phrases

2008-10-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a list of Egg-centered phrases and cliches, (which morphed in to recipe names and other bird centered phrases, idioms and lyrics), that we use in our everyday lexicon. If you have more feel free to add them in the comment section. :)

* Egg (someone) on
* Egg on (someone's) face
* A goose egg
* All your eggs in one basket
* Walking on egg shells
* Egg-head
* Bacon and eggs
* Sunny side up
* Playing chicken
* Why did the chicken cross the road?
* Chicken feed
* Chicken coop
* Fly the coop
* Chicken Little
* Chicken Nuggets
* Chicken wing
* S'matter? You Chicken?
* Chicken scratchings
* Hen and Chicks
* Chick peas
* Egg salad sandwich
* Chicken shit
* Chicken Little
* Spring Chicken
* Which came first? The chicken or the Egg?
* Scrambled eggs
* Eggs Benedict
* (Last one there is a) Rotten Egg
* A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush
* Duck, duck, goose
* Goose step
* Little Red Hen
* Henny Penny, and the rest...
* Eggo's
* Kentucky Fried Chicken; Churches Chicken
* Chicken a la king
* egging a house
* oeuf
* qui vole un oeuf vole un boeuf
* Omelette
* eats like a bird
* duck a l'orange
* goose is cooked
* christmas goose
* christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...
* Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
* ducks in a row

ReadyMade and Wired

2008-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

In September of 2004 Wired published an article about two Irish scientists who had isolated a particular species of bacteria that "detoxif[ied] styrene and return[ed] it ... as a green plastic." This green plastic could then be used as an elastic polymer, which has a wide range of uses such as plastic coating on cardboard.

The article mentioned how the scientists worked their bacteria experiment on a small scale, but hoped to recreate it on a much larger scale, possibly for the use of commerical and industrial businesses. I am unsure if they have been able to achieve this goal since the article was published, four years ago. According to the University College Dublin website, this research is one of their key research interests.

Currently I am planning on making some of my production line with styrene, and I am planning on outsourcing it to a laser cutting service: Ponoko, ("Pinnochio," as a friend just called it). Which brings me to the current issue of ReadyMade. I will bring it to class, so let me know if you want to look at it.

The issue has an article specifically about Ponoko: the background of the company and PhotoMake, the new application it just launched two weeks ago which enables users to submit a picture instead of using graphic design software for laser cutting. This application is supposed to bring the user from cocktail napkin drawing to finished product without so many steps in the middle.

They always find the coolest models for their covers.

Graffiti in New York

2008-09-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the bits and pieces of street art around SoHo I took this past Saturday.

The Sartorialist

2008-09-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Read this this blog: The Sartorialist

Ready Made magazine profiled this guy and H&M magazine profiled this guy. His name is Scott Schuman, and he photographs people on a daily basis and what they are wearing in New York, Paris and Milan.

I think his blog is so clean and so direct. He takes pictures of random, stylish people he selects on the street and puts the pictures on his blog. Because his blog involves the fashion of real people, engaged in real life, his blog is a huge design influence for other designers and everyday people. Go check it out!

Inventory of Skills - fall 2008

2008-09-23T00:38:00.000-07:00

Skills I can currently do:

*saw, drill, anneal, rivet, dap and solder non-ferrous metals
*weld small steel sculptures using acetylene
*create literal and figurative sculptures with clay
*throw functional pieces (mugs, plates, bowls) on the wheel

*make and use molds to create clay sculptures
*fabricate a sterling silver ring
*simple bezel stone setting
* beginner level: using 3-D CAD software Rhino 4.0, also Illustrator CS2
*carving and shaping hard wax and sheet wax
*lost wax casting process: investing, burnout, and casting

*basic sewing, crocheting, bookbinding
* intermediate origami sculptures

Skills I am learning this semester:

*raising, forging, sinking non ferrous metals
*patinas for copper
*using hydraulic press for dieforming
*making hinges and catches

*learning how to read a balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows

Me in Second Life

2008-09-22T22:07:00.001-07:00

This is me in Second Life. I am sitting in an Egg chair at Vassar College Island, relaxing.

My geese, Martha and Stewart

2008-09-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you:

Stewart is on the left, and Martha is on the right. They are White Chinese geese. And they are very, very loud.
Okay, so they are not really my geese. They belong to my sister and brother in law. But I picked them up from the post office when they were delivered at only 2 days old, I named them, I feed them whenever I am visiting, and I have loud conversations with them, and they do not bite me anymore, so I feel like they are my geese.
The other brown geese might be African geese. We can't tell yet, because they are still young. They came at a discount in a barnyard (read: random) assortment of birds, so the poultry company that sent them didn't give us that information.
They have been known to scare a fox or two.
I think we should get more of them.

Iconic Forms

2008-09-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a small collection of iconic forms that are, for the most part, hollow and are man-made pieces. Each one is easily identifiable in part or as a whole. Some are identifiable due to branding and marketing, some have withstood the test of time for centuries, and some are both.

Violin

The Colosseum in Rome

Jean Paul Gaultier corset and suit

Martini glass

Sports balls

Converse shoe

The new VW bug

The old VW bug

The dome of the Capitol Building in DC

The Coca-cola bottle

Grand piano

Process Shots, Green Design, Part II

2008-09-21T18:25:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Green Design Project we just finished. Working at my table at home, I wrote notes, and tried to rework the twist ties in a variety of ways.
Here are some creative endeavors with the material. I wove some, melted some with a hot iron, twisted some... you get the idea.

I used magnets and washers for the findings on the back of my brooches.

Here are the finished pieces!

Tool Cabinets: De Patta, Craver and Solberg

2008-09-21T14:29:00.001-07:00

So I decided to do a little digging to see who exactly all of these people were whose names are on the tool cabinets around the jewelry studio. I succeeded in finding them, with the help of Google. They are all women, and they were all influential pioneers in the fields of jewelry and metalsmithing during the 20th century.

Ramona Solberg's necklace. Her mini biography can be found at Art in America's webpage. She rarely used precious metals and usually incorporated found objects in her jewelry.

Margaret Craver's piece (not sure if it is a bowl or a brooch), found on Tyler School of Art's web page. This woman was a pioneer in the field of educating silversmiths.

Margaret De Patta's Brooch, front and back, found at an antique store. She studied with Laszlow Moholy-Nagy in Chicago at the School of Design. Mobilia Gallery has a great collection of pictures of her work online.

A Summer Indulgence: Phaidon's Fashion Book

2008-09-11T20:20:00.001-07:00

I bought a used (new to me!) book this summer, and I have not been disappointed. The Fashion Book, published by Phaidon, is a great resource of fashion designers and icons of the last century and a half. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Toplino: Makeup artist who seems to push boundaries with repeating forms and shapes - makeup isn't just lipstick and blush!
Vidal Sassoon: British hairdresser who utilized Bauhaus ideals of form and structure to create a precise, almost severe, haircut that didn't need any kind of product to hold it in place. (yay! No Hairspray!!)

Everyone listen to Michael Kors!

2008-09-10T14:54:00.001-07:00

Here it is, directly from Michael Kors: "You are never going to have a serious career unless you can have other people collaborate with you and help you."

Oooo...I can't wait for tonight!!

Green Design Process shots, part I

2008-09-09T19:33:00.001-07:00

For my green design project I have chosen to use twist ties that come from the barbie boxes as my material. They are especially precarious with which to work. However, they have the added bonus factor of a plastic coating. Stay tuned...

Favorite Green Designs from ICFF!

2008-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

Molo

iannone eco friendly modern design

Ango, design from Thailand
ex49, design from Germany

Knoend

Jonah Lehrer's Lecture at the Walters Museum

2008-09-07T15:01:00.001-07:00

A good friend of mine alerted me about Jonah Lehrer lecturing at the Walters Art Museum November 16th from 2 to 4. He is the author of Proust was a Neuroscientist and is the editor-at-large for Seed magazine. He also has a blog, which is a fascinating read as well. I confess I haven't read his book, but I am convinced from reading his blog this will be a lecture worth attending.

The tickets to the lecture are $10 a piece (free if you are member of the Walters) and you can spend the day at the museum looking at the Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry exhibit too. You can meet me there!

MIT Open Course Ware

2008-09-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

Let me briefly explain what MIT's Open Course Ware is, and why I have a link to it on my blog.

MIT has collected syllabi, assignments, course notes, (and in some cases exams), from several of its professors that teach there and placed them in one little place for anyone online to search and study. We can get an clear idea about what is being taught at MIT without actually having to attend MIT.

I think this is brilliant. Viewing what a top U.S. College is teaching to its students can be very beneficial to many students and professionals across many different disciplines.

Here is a list of a few that apply to our work in the Metals and Jewelry program at Towson:

MAS. 863 How to make almost anything - CAD/CAM and rapid prototyping

4.104 Architecture studio: Intentions - Designing spaces---the syllabus talks about students recognizing design as a process, not a product

4.183 Sustainable Design and Technology Research Department - Sustainable design in Architecture - the Course Materials has a wide array of online resources directly related to sustainable design in architecture

Search around the MIT OCW! Enjoy!

Green Washing

2008-09-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

In an effort to fully understand "green design" our class was encouraged to find the definitions to couple of words...so now we get to the meaning of green washing.

The most basic definiton of greenwashing is where a company claims to be "earth-friendly" or "eco-conscious" in labels and ads to consumers to green their image, when in reality the company is not what they claim to be.

In this phamplet, published by Futerra Sustainablity Communications, the meaning and implications of green washing are more fully explored. Although it is published with the UK in mind, it is clear that many companies around the world engage in the practice of greenwashing.

How I did it; a picture essay on how I made a cool ceramic bowl

2008-09-04T19:58:00.001-07:00

Pictures from our metalsmithing class from last semester

2008-09-04T19:34:00.001-07:00

Making Quick Silicone Caulk Molds

2008-05-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

To ensure I had all the proper instructions, I went to Taxidermy.net for all of their advice on how to make quickie molds with silicone caulk.
**The molds you make with this process are not for casting food you will eat. You need to buy a specialty silicone for that.**
My supplies included silicone caulk, a caulk gun, soapy water in a cup, wax paper and newspaper and Murphys oil soap, just to make sure the mushrooms would pop out of the mold.

First, I got my fingers wet with the soapy water, and I rubbed a thin layer of silicone onto the piece and let it cure.
Then, after it had dried, I mixed acrylic paint with the caulk and thickend up the surface of the mold. The paint is supposed to aid in the silicone curing faster than it would normally if it had no paint (water-based agent)

to help it dry out. It works. Go to Taxidermy.net and follow Joshua Knuth's illustrated instructions.

****Beware the odor!!!**** Silicone is quite...potent.

My Ikea Hack-Job

2008-05-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is the "Before" image of the Ikea child's table and chairs I bought and put together last year. This model is called Latt.

Here is the "After":

This is the finished paint and resurfacing job I did. I painted the whole thing with a primer, then I painted the wood black.

It is important ot note that the table top and chair tops were cheap, flimsy cardboard. But, I thought they could be strenghtened with a resin top.

I added little paint chips that you can pick up for free from the paint section of Home Depot or Lowes. (It took a while to cut with scissors. Next time I'll use a paper cutter.) I purposely placed them to look like I had tiled the surface. Then I mixed a two part resin epoxy for the hard surface on the top. Voila! A table and two chairs with a new twist. Not bad for a redo on a $20 set.

Mushroom Insulation - It's Green!

2008-04-23T21:52:00.001-07:00

After webcrawling for a while, I ran into an article about mushroom insulation. These two young designers, Bayer and McIntyre, found a way to create insulation using mushroom spores, and then they patented it.

Keetsa, a green friendly website, describes this “Greensulate” formula as, "an organic, fire-retardant board made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral blend found in potting soil."

Very cool. Especially since I was watching "Ask this Old House" on Earth Day, and how they were using the synthetic insulation to spray on the wall, to help lower the cost of cooling and heating the house they were making more green. The host questioned the use of the "spray on insulation," and the lead guy basically said, it is a trade off. It is nice to know younger designers aren't shrugging their shoulders so easily.

Mushrooms!

2008-04-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

From the mushroominfo.com webpage,

Crimini variety:
Maikai variety:

Shiitake variety Enoki variety:

Beech variety:

Oyster variety:

White:Portabella:

Earth Day at my house

2008-04-23T18:07:00.001-07:00

This is my house. Just because you have a tiny yard, it doesn't mean you can't grow a nice garden. I found all of my bulbs at Home Depot and Lowes when they were 50 percent off, just after Thanksgiving. They look great. The tree in front has been in my yard for less than a year. It is a "Saturn Peach," and when it bears fruit, the peaches will look like doughnuts. I can't wait for that. Every dandelion is welcome in my yard.
I love tulips.
These are the seeds I started from the livemonarch.com website. I gave them a donation, and they sent me some Asclepias seeds. These plants are important because the larva of the Monarch only eat the leaves of this particular plant.
You don't have to send them money. You can just send them an SASE and a letter, and they will send you fifteen seeds to start on your own. And you'll feel good about providing butterflies with some food.

The Maasai way of recycling

2008-04-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sports Illustrated featured an interesting picture essay about a group of six Maasai warriors who ran in the London marathon to raise funds for their village to get their own well, and prevent the waterborne diseases of which the young children are dying. They did well, four of them completed the race on the same day, and one of them got sick from one of the straps from the tribal outfit cutting off the circulation on his leg. He and his teammate who accompianed him to the hospital came back to where they had left, to finish the race the next day.

This picture came from the Telegraph:
Remarkably, they ran the entire marathon wearing their traditional tribal dress, and shoes made from RECYCLED TIRES! That's right...old tires. Amazing. Also amazing: I can't find any close-up pictures of their footwear online.

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Attention everyone! Go check out the really neat offerings of a website called Branch. It has lots of home products made from environmentally friendly products. A HUGE plus: the designs are awesome too!

This is a child's chair "cast in cork and an ecologically sound binding agent":
Lots of neat bamboo eating utensils:

This stuff is just the tip of the iceberg. Go check it out!

Uhhh...yes, I know I am one day late with the Earth day message...maybe next year I will be on time.

Patricia Urquiola and her awesome table

2008-04-16T21:01:00.001-07:00

One of the featured pieces in this month's Domino magazine was a really cool laser printed table designed by Patricia Urquiola. The material is PMMA: Poly (methyl methacrylate) or the synthetic polymer of methylmetacrylate, a.k.a. plexiglass or acylic glass.

I especially love the organic flow of the cutouts on the top of the piece. It is supposed to cast shadows in a dramatic way, but the dramatic lighting picture on the unicahome.com website didn't do it for me.
It you go to this link you can order this table. Several color options are available - my personal preference is the red one and the black one. I'm not hinting...I'm just saying....

Lab Created Diamonds

2008-04-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

This article from Chemical and Engineering News covers a wide variety of topics dealing with the synthetic diamond industry, including how diamonds are grown with a seed of a real diamond, then put under extreme pressure for a few days. The article also covers their potential application as technology increases.

a quote:

"Both Coe and Linares suggest that, thanks to its high thermal conductivity and electrical carrier mobility, single-crystal semiconducting diamond will be the ultimate material for fashioning high-powered electronic devices
...
The payoff for such work is potentially huge: Today's microchips are running hotter and hotter because more and more transistors are being crammed onto them. If the trend continues, silicon may not be able to take the heat. Diamond could be the perfect solution."

The Hope Diamond

2008-04-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

In an effort to cover as many angles as possible with my "Blood Diamonds" research, I found an article at ScienceDaily.com that talks about the special properties of blue diamonds. Blue Diamonds glow red for several minutes after they have been exposed to ultravioliet light. This is the Hope Diamond glowing after exposure to UV light:

a quote from the article:

"The research, recently reported in the journal Geology, confirms that all blue diamonds have a red phosphorescent component and that, through spectroscopic analysis, each blue diamond can be individually identified."

Researchers say this characteristic will help them "fingerprint" blue diamonds to prevent forgeries or theft of these rare gems.

Vermelha Chair

2008-04-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

This chair, the Vermelha chair, was featured in the Smithsonian magazine this month because the designers, Fernando and Umberto Campana, are curating an exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt museum. I really liked the image the Smithsonian magazine published of their chair:

Then I went to the MoMA museum website and found this Vermelha chair, which doesn't really seem to capture the beauty of the first chair. I think it looks like a different model. Maybe the chair below is the one that was sent into semi-production versus the one above which was the original.

Food Play - It's a Good Thing

2008-04-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

I need to add Food Play, by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elfers to my wish list on Amazon. I saw a similar book like this at my kids pediatrician's office, and I loved it. Check these out:

More casting pictures!

2008-04-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

This process of casting is so fun! This is the casting machine, balanced and ready to go with the hot flask in its cradle. The torch is heating the crucible and the metal.

This is the final minute of heating the molten metal, with the graphite stick stirring the metal to make sure it is completely melted and taking out any unwanted "skin."
We shut the lid and the machine uses centrifugal force to place the metal into the mold.
A blurry picture of a red-hot button, the bottom of the freshly cast bronze. The white stuff is investment, and the steel container is the flask.
I quenched the flask when the button was no longer glowing red. This helps break down the hot investment so I can retrieve my cast bronze piece.

My first wax studies

2008-04-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here they are! My wax studies. The assignment was to fabricate one set out of sheet wax and an identical set out of block wax.

Here is the sheet wax sphere. I had already mixed a small amount of investment and gently piped it in to the center when I took this picture.
This is the blue wax sphere:

These bronzes are my first wax studies. I was really happy about the way they turned out. I didn't have any flashing, and my sprues and buttons looked really good. I decided to photograph them with my notes, to put them in perspective.

More preliminary wax studies. This is the angular form:

This is the organic form, (they are supposed to be barnicles):

I have decided I like working with the block wax better, but carving out the form takes a while to do.

Interdisciplinary Cross-over

2008-04-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

This first individual is named John Cage:

Here he is, playing a children's piano.

John Cage is considered a revolutionary pioneer in 20th century music, especially with his use of "prepared piano" (sticking stuff in the piano, like metal, so the strings will make a different sound) and aleatory, or chance music.

I have recently discovered that John Cage did not have a flashy muscial background as a child. I was impressed to find he had been in so many different disciplines before he had chosen composition. I am convinced it was his training in so many different areas that gave him the advantage of having an "outsider's point if view" of which revolutionized 20th century music.

Here is Tim Gunn:

This design guru, studied English Literature at Yale! (I'm sure he studied sculpture at the Corcoran in DC at some point, so he has had at least a little art background). Here is the article from Fastcompany.com that goes into detail about Tim.

Again, I am impressed to find that his knack for organization and design is what lead him to the chair at Parsons he is today, and not his skills as a fashion designer.

These are just more examples of how people crossing disciplines leads to innovation and success.

***Update*** here is a link to Parson's press release in 2001, when they hired Tim Gunn as their chair. Among others things, he revamped the fashion curriculum before he was hired as the chair. Here is a quote from the letter:

"His improvements to the curriculum included: a retooling of the "Fashion Industry" class to place design in the broader context of forecasting, manufacturing, marketing and retail; implementing "Contemporary Business Contexts" as a new senior year requirement; and consultation with Steve Kroeter, Design and Management Chair, to develop new courses to address the business aspect of design."

It's Spring!

2008-04-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love Spring! This is our new saturn peach tree full of gorgeous pink blossoms. This tree was planted last year, so this will be our first year with some fruit! I can't wait!

Blood Diamonds part deux

2008-03-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Newsweek reports underground teams exploiting animals to fund terroist

groups, much like trade of blood diamonds. I find this so interesting, particularly in the way global commerce are traded over the internet. Because anyone in the world with internet access can pretty much buy anything with very little regulation, sometimes the most innocent are the first to be exploited for gain.

I remember when I watched the "Blood Diamonds" documentary I was reminded of the movie, "Gorillas in the Mist." Dian Fossey tried to scare the poachers away from killing the mountain gorillas for their hands and heads in Zaire. The point was if there wasn't a market for animal parts, the poachers wouldn't be killing all of these animals. Culturally, it may be difficult to understand why one might want to pay so much for animal bones for medicinal purposes, but it isn't hard to understand how a woman would want to have a Harry Winston diamond ring.

IDEO chapters: thoughts and comments

2008-03-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

"A Cool Company needs Hot Groups"

My thoughts about this chapter in general agreement with the notion that companies who want to work with creative people, or want to foster creativity in its employees will have to make accomodations for that kind of nurturing environment, such as the examples mentioned in the chapter. (i.e. the time you clock in shouldn't matter, so long as the hours you put in are quality hours; rooms should be designed so that creative people can get together and talk; etc.)

Every company faces ridiculous deadlines, everyone is dedicated to the end result, the project teams are generally well-rounded because their roles are so specialized. So in my mind, I really don't see how this is different for any other kind of business that requires a team for a project. Irreverent people break the ice and let other people know that it is okay to speak your mind without fear of repercussions, so if a design team is needed, then that kind of personality would be sought as an element of the design team. However, the ingredient of a "non hierarchical group" was a bit of a mystery to me, as I think one person should be designated as the final decision maker, ensuring that the group doesn't veer too far off track from the goal. That doesn't mean each idea doesn't have the dame consideration, it just means that a leader should be chosen for the final choices of the group.

BTW, I really love to eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and I love Newman's Own salad dressings and those yummy Newman O's cookies. However, I do not buy them because the company makes charitable contributions, I buy them because they are really yummy.

I really like the idea of just after a major project is completed, and everyone goes on break, the leader gives the group little beginnings of the next project, so as they have a little break from work, when they come back they have had time to absorb and process that information so they can come back to the team, ready with ideas to start moving forward with the job.

I want to have every one of those characteristics that all eight of the "Eight crazy Characters for Hot Groups" has. I think I fit in the "Cross-Dresser" character sketch; I am someone who was educated in something else entirely, and I yearn for creating beauty and designing objects.

"Innovation begins with an Eye"

This chapter was especially interesting as a study in how to design anything. It really isn't all that hard to come up with the recipe: you need to observe the activity with a fresh, and even critical eye. The difficult part is actually using that formula to really design something useful and beautiful.

I was reminded of an article I had just read in the Smithsonian magazine of a neonatal nurse, Sharon Rogone, who had become an entrepreneur of preemie products, because she could see that the equipment for the normal sized babies were always inadequate for the premature babies. Her first invention, the bilibonnet, keeps jaundiced babies eyes shielded from harmful "bili-lights." She speaks specifically about how she was motivated start her own company to meet this demand because the big companies "will put anything on the market that will barely meet the need and is the most cost-effective." Her story can be found here.

I also love the story at the end of the chapter of the kid's fishing pole kit invention. I love how the product was designed as an all-in-one bait box and pole, and the adults could show their kids how to fish without looking too foolish.

Project Runway!!! Top five episodes of season 4, and predictions of the winner

2008-02-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

My favorite show since 2005 has been Project Runway. Without a doubt, this is the one show I will miss sleep over to see the newest episode. The first episode I ever saw was the third episode of season one, "Commercial Appeal," where I was genuinely impressed with the generosity of Kara Saun helping Wendy Pepper look presentable for the runway judging, and Wendy winning with her blue cocktail dress complete with cape. I also fell in love with Tim Gunn and his ability to objectively help designers tweak flaws and issues that their garments had. I like the judges, especially Michael Kors's witty little over the top criticisms, Nina Garcia's dry, straight comments, and Heidi's honest assessment. What can I say? I'm hooked and I love the show.

Now, on to the top five episodes of season four:

*"Eye Candy," or episode six sent Elisa home, and gave the win to Rami.

Rami's dress was amazing, and it was neat to see him use a lot of that red and pink in his design and put it together for his red-headed model. Tim was right to congratulate him on a job well done, and the guest judge Zac Posen couldn't help drool over the amount of work that went into the pleating of the peppermint patty wrappers on the skirt.

Poor Elisa couldn't seem to get anywhere with that sad looking brown dress with the hanging silver arm drops and the way too much mismatched fabric stuffed in the bustier part of the dress. I loved her Sarah Jessica Parker dress where she made that amazing little blue dress, so we all know she is capable. But this challenge either drained her, or took her too far from her comfort zone. The whole season she appeared on camera as an extremely genuine, affectionate person, and I was very sad she left, but she deserved the "auf."

Chris March's runner up dress was fabulous, and worth a mention. His deconstruction of the "Hershey" pillow and the "Twizzler" pillow gave his dress a pop art feel, and it looked really cool. It wasn't a direct visual cacophony of "I used lots of brand labels to make a dress." It was simple and really cool. I want a dress like that.

*"En Garde," or episode seven was the prom challenge.

*Sigh* Kevin went home for a plain, red, really uninspiring dress, and VictorYa won for an ill-fitted blue, fake jeweled dress.

Honestly I don't think anyone was the clear winner in this challenge, and there were plenty of designers who could have gotten the boot for this one. It is always telling exactly how limited a clothing designer is when they cannot fit the body of a regular average person with an appropriately fitted garment. Case in point: Victorya's dress did not fit the chest of her client (the fitting on top was too tight and not proportionate for a young girls chest, and the weird hemming down below was a little on the short side). The length may have been fine if the fitted chest part didn't look like it was making her hunch on purpose. But Victorya wasn't the only one.

Train wrecks this week included Ricky, for that really washed out bland crumpled mess dress, and Christian, for giving a girl with brown skin a brown, ill-fitted dress (and she seemed like an impossible client, so it's not all your fault Christian). After looking at all the pictures again, the only designer to actually visually fit the bust of their client was Kit. The rest either made asymmetrical fittings, made the boobs look way too big, or just kind of hoped nobody would notice the riding up issues.

Tim was right, yet again. He saw how Kevin was leaving the bottom of that red silk dress unhemmed, and he was warned about hemming that dress, and he decided not to do it. At least he could have done that. Anyone who seriously watches PR knows that finishing a hem is what makes it or breaks it, especially with nit picky Nina Garcia.

*"Even designers get the Blues," or episode nine, was the Levi placement ad that gave Ricky the win and sent Victorya home.

I didn't really like Ricky's dress because of the silly ruffling at the bottom and the boob flaps on the top. The middle part of the dress was really neat looking, and I kind of liked the way the stitching went in at the hips and around the chest. I had thought Sweet P was going to win for her seventies vibe dress, or even Christian for his very ultra cool skinny jeans with the jacket arms as the bottom of the pants.

Victorya, on the other hand, took a jacket played around with some trim and some extra denim to make a skirt, and then she sent it down the runway. She deserved to go home. I really hadn't liked any of the pieces Victorya had made for this Project Runway, including the dress she made and won for the SJP Bitten challenge.

Again, this episode proves you should listen to Tim. Tim told Chris to go all the way with that weird semi-ratty denim trim thing going down the side, or to get rid of it and refine the look. Did Chris listen? No. Did Chris get in trouble for it? Yes. Plus the dress had boob flaps, and that made it look kind of cheap.

*"The Art of Fashion," or episode eleven sent Sweet P home and gave Christian the win. And also gave us a cliffhanger for the finale. Rami and Chris tied and would need to create looks for fashion week, and have the top three judged so they could see who would be going to compete for the top prize.

This is probably the best pent ultimate challenge Project Runway has ever given the designers. They sent them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and led them through the Greek and Roman sculpture courtyard, the European paintings and the Egyptian temple room. Then they were to pick a piece of art that would inspire them for their last design before it would be decided who would go to Bryant Park.

Sweet P sent a peacock inspired dress down the runway. It wasn't a bad, or poorly executed dress, but the bright red with the muted tones on the sides of the dress, not mention the giant purple and blue pockets, and the ELECTRIC BLUE feathers in the model's hair probably killed it for her. Speaking purely as an artist, the colors should have been more towards showcasing the main color in the front and on the sides (blue or blue green) and finding the complimentary color (orange or orange red) and using that for piping and trim. Also, forget the giant pockets.

Christian wins! His androgynous cape/blouse/vest/pants/hat were really cool, and the black and white color choices highlighted the form of his design. I didn't like the big separation on the bottom of the vest in front of the look (it appeared really boxy or blocky), but otherwise it was FIERCE. I have had Christian pegged as the winner since episode one, and it is great to watch such a confident, talented individual create clothes so quickly and beautifully. Christian, I hope you win it all.

Memo to Chris: Tim Gunn told you to wake up and finish, and you didn't do it! It was a really neat dress, but it did look a little bit heavy. You could have cinched your win to Bryant Park if you had just tweaked it just a little.

*"Finale, part one," or episode thirteen is where Rami and Chris compete to see who will be going to fashion week. Chris loses and Rami goes on.

Rami's clothing collection didn't really impress me as far as designs that I personally would wear. His whole collection was heavy and overdesigned, and the one dress that judges probably gave him the win over Chris was draped. The complaint during the entire season was that he draped too much, and now the draped dress was ushering him into contention for the big prize.

Chris lost. When Tim came to visit Chris, he saw the hair extensions Chris had used for his trim and told him a little story about the monkey house. The story goes: when you first walk in to the monkey house you are overwhelmed at the stench, and then after ten minutes you are getting used to it and by the time an hour has gone by you hardly notice it at all. But when a person who hasn't been in the monkey house walks in, they are overwhelmed and it is just way too much. He compared the monkey house reaction to the reaction the judges would have over his hair extension trims. Tim may have been over reacting, but the Judges didn't care for this kind of cutting edge vision, so Chris was canned.

Honestly, I would have gone with only the trim on the skirt, because that skirt looked so cool walking around on the runway. However, I bet Chris wanted to go for it to be daring and cutting edge, and kudos to him for wanting to go that extra length with his vision. I think it is great not to use animal hair for trim, and instead using a more GREEN alternative like human hair. All of his pieces looked like Beardsley illustrations. Your collection was fierce too, Chris. I wish you great things and many happy years of designing clothes.

The ACC show in Baltimore - Metalsmithing Field Trip!!

2008-02-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday our Towson Jewelry classes were given free passes for all of the students to attend the wholesale market at the ACC craft show in Baltimore.

There were a lot of booths to cram into one day of viewing, especially since the show had to close at three for the wholesalers to rearrange their booths for retail sales for the weekend.

So, Sherri and I were off. One of the first booths we found was run by a guy from Hampstead, MD. David Sleighthom of sleightholmarts.com was super friendly and extremely helpful when we asked him about his booth and his business. He talked about how he opted out of going to art school, and instead investing in his business. He does not use CAD software to design his metal housewares and objects, preferring the "old fashioned" method of sketching. He also mentioned how taking a really good, professional, picture of your work does wonders for the portfolio that you would show to your potential clients. It was nice to meet you, David. Your lamps are really cool.

The "Legos theme" seemed to stick out, with two artists using that particular recognizable shape to craft jewelry. JacQueline Sanchez uses actual legos that are sandblasted and set in sterling silver. (the logo of "lego" has been carefully removed). Her jewelry, part of the Greencraft segment of the show, focuses on repurposing legos that were intended to have been used to build lego structures. Her jewelry has been questioned if it should really be considered "green" if she is buying new legos to create her pieces instead of reusing old legos. This argument is entirely moot if Greencraft can be defined as using readymade objects to create craft. A readymade object does not have to be an object that has been dug from the trash, or using old pieces. It can be a way of repurposing an item manufactured for a different purpose, even if it is a brand new item.

Dena Penegas (no website as of yet) casts her lego pieces in glass and uses a real set of legos in the back for the snap closure. Her pieces are a bit more irregular, as they have occasional air bubbles on the sides of the small cylinders located on top of the legos. Her pieces were fun, and she has a wide variety of jewelry options for both men and women (think lego cufflinks).

My other favorites included Tom and Kathy Wegman's booth (they used a bead threader to cover old toys and other outdated icons in lots of colorful beads), Deborah Faye Adler's timing belt and blown glass sculpture, Folly's Fables wooden puppets, Leslie Thompson's Acoma inspired pottery, Rebecca Myer's jewelry and Lois Aronow's crawling glazes on her funtional pottery. It was also nice to meet Amy Roper Lyons and look at all of her colorful enamelled pieces.

Ancient Jewelry Bibliography

2008-02-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ancient shells may be oldest jewelry / Live Science

Ancient shells may be earliest jewels / Scientific American

Beads confirm ancient jewellery making / Natural History Museum

World's oldest piece of jewellery / Natural History Museum

Oldest jewelry found in Morocco cave / National Geographic News

Ancient shells may be world's oldest bead jewelry / National Geographic News

Is bead find proof modern thought began in Africa? / National Geographic News

Birth of symbolic thought / Paleolithic Art Magazine

How trade saved humanity from biological exclusion: An economic throry of Neanderthal extintion / American Economic Review Draft

Paleolithic Art Timeline

East African artifacts support evolution of symbolic thinking in Middle Stone Age

"The History of Beads from 30,000 B.C. to Present," by Lois Sherr Dubin

"A World of Necklaces: Africa, Asia, Oceania, America," by Anne Leurquin

Terry Gross's 2007 interview with Dave Grohl on NPR

2008-02-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Notes:

Terry Gross and Dave Grohl discussed a number of topics ranging from his own creative processes to how he related to his former bandmate Kurt Cobain.

While he was with Nirvana, he had little songs he used to compose by himself, just as a game, or an exercise to keep himself occupied. This became hugely beneficial after the group disolved after the death of Cobain. He was able to create substantial compsitions, and these became the songs he wrote with the Foo Fighters. It seems that this aspect of an artist, or a business man, is found in many disciplines, where keeping the mind occupied with different ideas and mind exercises pays off in a big way later on.

He was very motivated to move out of his little, dirty, cold, hovel apartment he shared with Cobain, and when he made $700 he was happy he would be able to leave and get his own place.

His (tangential) comments about Cobain's heroin addiction were especially telling as someone who had geniunely tried to help a friend, and who understood that the person who is addicted is the only one who can pull themselves out of that situation. A nod goes out to him for trying. It sucks to have to drive your best friend to rehab.

Janne Kyttanen, "Digital Manufacturing"

2008-02-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

The blackboard podcast had a lot of great info about Janne Kyttanen.
a member of FOC, or Freedom of Creation

He spoke of 3-D printers as tools originally intended as a prototyping tool, but now being both a manufacturing and a prototyping tool, with the the "prototyping machines" leading to direct manufacturing of anything made from materials such as starch, paper, polymer, and even metals. If you can stack it you can print it. $20,000 is the end price for a 3-D printer. Previously only accessible to large corporations who purchased a machine in the early to mid 90s. Access to the machine now: Knock on many doors, try every avenue.

These machines are especially handy for any kind of custom design. For example, "hearing aids": scan the ear canal, so a perfect model is custom made for the wearer. The laser centering machines have all kinds of implications from sports products to interior products and lighting.

Bibliography Blood Diamonds

2008-02-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_June_3/ai_n13794359

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/feature-stories/blood-diamonds-are-still-reality-20070123

http://stopblooddiamonds.org/

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=52826

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamonds

http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html

http://www.pacweb.org/e/images/stories/documents/illicit_diamond-eng.pdf

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:6VGiTZ4HUsoJ:www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond+history+of+diamond+engagement+rings&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/ar/i2001/crossfire.cfm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0212_030212_diamonds.html

Definition of a Diamond

2008-02-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

Diamond

C Elemental carbon

Diamond is virtually the hardest substance known to man. It gets its name from the ancient Greek word adamantos, meaning 'invincible'. The only mineral that is harder is the very rare lonsdaleite formed in meteorite impacts. ...Diamond is pure carbon. It glitters like glass because it has been transformed by enormous pressure underground. It is now possible to make diamonds artifically by squeezing graphite under extreme pressure. But pressures like these are rare in nature, occuring only deep in the Earth's crust and upper mantle. All diamonds found today are extremely old, being formed at least a billion years ago, with some more than three billion years old. They formed at least 90 miles below the Earth's surface and were gradually carried up in pipes of hot magma. These volcanic pipes cooled to form blue rocks called kimberlites and lamproites, which are the source of most of the world's best diamonds. Diamonds can easily be weathered out of kimberlites to be washed away by streams into placer deposits. In their rough state diamonds look dull and it was only when jewelers began to cut them in the Middle Ages that their amazing brilliance was revealed.

source:

The Complete Guide to Rocks an Minerals, by John Farndon. Hermes House, London. 2006.

Random thoughts on "Losing" and Diamonds; A Tangent

2008-02-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, while my family and I cycled through the stomach flu, I was able to read a book written by my Drawing I professor in Houston. (Her art class was the first art class I had taken since I had been in the 3rd grade. She was a terrific teacher.) Her book, 'Losing,' was about her life in Houston, and how her family had moved there from a small midwestern town during the oil boom of the 1970's.

This is the part I feel is most relevent to our research and discussion about diamonds this semester: In her book she speaks about what it was like to live in an upper middle class neighborhood, and how there were different grades of wealth that her and her teenage peers could see from a distance, based on the different status symbols each of their families could afford. Later in her life she mentions a meal she had once had at a London restaurant with her father and her "hopelessly evil pretentious bond trader boyfriend."

'It was 1990 and our little minds had been corrupted by the propaganda of the eighties. With all that Ralph Lauren clothing, we believed that just by wearing replicas of the aristocratic uniform that we actually were aristocratic. This is the foolishness that is America....America is a country of immigrants who are trying to pretend that we are the pampered princes and princesses that forced us out of our native lands a couple of hundred years ago. We have amnesia. American culture hassuch disdain for poverty because they're ashamed to admit that the poor are just like their mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers. We have forgotten that we are descended from indentured servants and bartenders and maids and cabdrivers and waitresses and janitors.'

I remember the Ralph Lauren ads of the 1980's all the way to the present. Well-groomed young men with fake polo club crests on the pocket of their jackets and women with flowing skirts and long hair. Everyone was tan, blonde and rarely smiled. It was the look of "All-American Wealth and Prosperity."

How do diamonds relate to all of this? I just read an article from Atlantic Monthly written in 1982, titled "Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?" http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:6VGiTZ4HUsoJ:www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond+history+of+diamond+engagement+rings&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us (The article itself is a treasure trove of information, which I will address in a completely separate blog.) It begins with the history of diamonds. Diamonds were a rarity, only found in the jungles of Brazil, or in riverbeds of India. Then in 1870, a gigantic find, a huge mine was discovered in South Africa. This lead to many other mine discoveries around the world.

The diamond industry needed to create a need for these "precious gems." De Beers, a company currently with control of 40% of the world's diamond production by value, with the help of a clever, polished, well-calculated ad campaign has made diamonds a necessity to get engaged and show-off ones social status. The article also mentions the various stratigies used by the advertising firm N. W. Ayer to promote diamonds for De Beers.

'In its 1947 strategy plan, the advertising agency strongly emphasized a psychological approach. "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to ... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring -- to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services...."'
N. W. Ayer proposed to apply to the diamond market Thorstein Veblen's idea, stated in The Theory of the Leisure Class, that Americans were motivated in their purchases not by utility but by "conspicuous consumption." "The substantial diamond gift can be made a more widely sought symbol of personal and family success -- an expression of socio-economic achievement," N. W. Ayer said in a report.To exploit this desire for conspicuous display, the agency specifically recommended, "Promote the diamond as one material object which can reflect, in a very personal way, a man's ... success in life." Since this campaign would be addressed to upwardly mobile men, the advertisements ideally "should have the aroma of tweed, old leather and polished wood which is characteristic of a good club."
Both Ralph Lauren and De Beers have used Thorstein's "conspicuous consumption" to motivate the "upwardly mobile" consumer into purchasing these goods to flaunt our wealth.

Genesis

2008-01-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

And so it begins! The main goal of this blog is to have a digital notebook of my ideas, sketches and random thoughts as I continue to pursue my degree in Metals and Jewelry at Towson University.

Here is a little bit about me:

My name is Megan Pase, and I have lived in the Baltimore/DC area since August of 2005. I was born in Alabama, and I lived in New Mexico and Texas before I moved to Maryland. I have also earned a BA in Music Education from New Mexico State University. I live with my husband Patrick and our two daughters, Joy and Rebekah.