letters

this is the box i have been working on this week. i used a set of old type-written letters from a guy living in italy to his mom to cover the box. i tried about a million things in the center, and nothing would work. i spent all day sunday putting different things inside, but it all looked either forced or lame. this morning i was walking into the kitchen and saw this nest i made from wire and string sitting on the ledge...and that was it! all i had to do was add the red thread and sew the glass beads inside. that little nest took me a couple of hours to make. i don't know how the birds do it.

anyway, i like it! when i went to look for some scrap of ephemera to put behind the nest, i found another letter home from italy--this time from another person. on the back i have adhered an air mail envelope from italy, too.

this one won't go into the shop until the show on may 21st either. but i just can't resist putting it on the web.

bird box 2

This is a detail of my new "bird box 2". i kinda like this one. it will be hard to give up. i got the carved birds at the antique mall the other day. they were so cool, that i went right home and built this box. my dear friend johnine sent me the little memo book with that awesome scrawl in grapite. and i got the flocked wallpaper at amy's shop, the pink attic cat, in littleton. it's on the website, but won't go into the store until the show in may. i gotta have some new stuff to wow the crowds! hahaha!

tired tonight. this life with two jobs is killing me. only a few more weeks of school. then i can stop and rest for a minute.

acabado!

it's finished. all i need is glass. i always put the glass in last so that i can photograph the boxes without it. then there's no glare to deal with.

i glue in the pieces using gel medium. i have found it's better than any kind of other glue because it dries clear, is really strong, and is also flexible. it also has a long drying time, so you can adjust things a little as you get the pieces put in. way better than epoxy, once you are past the 5 minute drying time, you are unable to move anything.

i also finished bird box 2 and am really happy with it. i think i'll photograph it tonight and get it on the site. i'm thinking i may leave it out of the store until the show. i want to make sure there is some new stuff that nobody has seen yet. i am also buying up some fun and different things that i will have for sale. funky magnets, cool necklaces, lots of found objects and ephemera. i just hope i can get it all together before then.

new boxes

i'm working on some new boxes for the upcoming show. it will be on may 21st, and will be called "altogether curious". we will be sending out invitations on or about may 1st. if you would like to be on our mailing list, you can either comment here, or go onto sk3tchbook.com and send info from there. either a physical address or an email is fine. we never share our lists, they are only used for sending invites and occasional info about sk3tchbook.

anyway, this is the start of a new box. the frame isn't show here because i am still working on it. the entire composition is made of game pieces (mostly vintage with a few newer ones thrown in for color and fit). this took me hours to create because i wanted a perfect fit for the elements. i kinda like it!! in real life it looks a lot richer because you can see the layers more clearly.

i'm also working on "bird box 2" which is looking pretty nice so far. i hope to finish today. i think it will be posted by the end of the week. i covered the frame with pages from an old coloring book that was colored in about 60 years ago. the crayon was still vibrant and the artists did a great job of staying in the lines! i used to have the worst time with that! my mother always got frustrated with me for my lack of neatness. seems like i am finally getting better in my artwork. now all i need to do is transfer that skill to my surroundings!

spring break in tennessee

we just got back from visiting my dad and his wife in east tennessee. they live just outside sevierville, which is next to pigeon forge, which is the home of dollywood. always an interesting trip.

we fly into knoxville, which has a gorgeous neighborhood of old houses, and is also the home of the great yee-haw industries. it's a letterpress studio that has a awesome store in the front that sells all manners of letterpress magic. posters, cards, art, you name it. i got a cool t-shirt with one of their designs on it. they are worth the visit.

tennessee is hard for me. the landscape is beautiful. rolling hills, beautiful vignettes of rural loveliness. but mixed in to that is a bunch of not so pretty stuff. development at its worst. the main drag from sevierville into pigeon forge into gatlinburg is filled with fake fronted theaters, arcades, "museums", and restaurant chains. you can go to the miracle theatre and see flying angels and reenactments of bible stories. or you can go into a fake upside down mansion and play arcade games. how about the black bear jamboree or the elvis impersonators? maybe stop at the huge titanic museum, which is a half-ship crashing into a faux iceberg. (they say you can even renew your wedding vows on the grand staircase). it's sad to me. seems like everyone has sold out to the tourist crowd.

at least the trees were blooming, and the grass was tinged with green, and the horses were out in the meadows, and the farm houses still looked quaint when you got away from the craziness.

the sign in the picture struck us as funny. just had to include it.