A Day at the Beach

Took Max to Half Moon Bay on Thursday. I was hoping the weather would hold out for our trip and miraculously we had sunny skies! I've had Max since I was 12 and he lives at home with my parents. I don't get to see him so often, but he will always be my baby.  MJ took some film of him running around. Hopefully she'll send it to me so I can post it soon. Isn't he the cutest?!?

A Venture to Scrap in SF

Went to Scrap this afternoon to check out the offerings. I've heard a lot about this place, and wanted to see what goodies I could find there. Some have compared it to Berkeley's Urban Ore, but it was more in the flavor of Center for Creative Reuse...a place for raw materials and whatnots instead of furniture and architectural salvage.

Scrap has a shelves of paper, rows of bindings and fabric remnants, and much more. Among my favorites, were the spools of thread and old sewing patterns.




We found a couple of good things, but there is lots of promise for finding treasures at a place like this.

Return of the Plastic Camera

I love taking photos and have always been a bit addicted to buying cameras. I recently purchased a stereo camera from eBay (which I have yet to use), as well as a few plastic cameras. My most treasured new purchase however, is the Diana+ camera by Lomo. The Diana+ is a plastic camera, a remake of the 1960s version which failed in its day. This camera is entirely made of plastic, and creates these dreamy vignetted images because of its construction and light leakage. I have owned a Holga for years (a similar plastic camera that also takes 120 film), and it was too perfect, I rarely had vignetting, and I was too lazy to modify the camera. What's so great about the Diana+ is that it also has a pinhole setting, two masks that allow you to take either 12 or 16 exposure per role, plus you can take one continuous panoramic image. This image is of my boyfriend's daughter and is from the first roll of film I shot with the Diana+. Its shot with Fujicolor Pro 400 H, 120. When I picked up the pics from Sarber's Camera shop, I was immediately in love. Check out the lomo website for cool Diana+ pics from other Diana+ users, and flickr has some good Diana+ groups as well.

Am happy to say I made a dozen ATCs last night. In the beginning of my ATC discovery, I started making ATCs with rubber stamps. Soon after I moved into making them with original drawings and paintings, but I love stamps and like using them in combination with drawn images. I pulled out my stamps last night for the first time in months, and made a series of bird themed ATCs (did I mention I love birds)? I posted them on Flickr, and hope to start trading more regularly. Its hard to get back into doing things consistently, making time to build something back into your routine, and it has always been something I struggle with in my painting. I think I have art ADD.

A bit tired tonight, so this post is a list of some of my favorite craft and art supplies, both new and old...
*Twinkling H20s by LuminArt (a new find, pictured above)
* Black Gesso (a staple)
*Colorbox Chalk stamping ink pads
* Permanent double sided tape
* Bone Folder (eveyone needs this, if you don't have one or haven't used one, go out right
now and try one!)
* Tea for dying (tea colored inks work well too)
* Roller ball pen with chocolate ink, my favorite is the Signo by Uniball in size .5
* Business cards size blank cards in Curry and Gravel colors for impromptu notes
* Baker's twine in red and white
* Ribbons, threads, and buttons
* And of course... Duct Tape and Dental Floss (hence the name of this blog)

My apartment is very small but it has character and lots of interesting things inside. Its curry colored walls hold many pictures and paintings, and a collection of antique red furniture houses unique objects of all kinds. A small table by the front door is laden with natural objects collected and gathered from nature with care. Above, thin shelves keep small rusted tins and paper ephemera. A French landscape painted by a friend reminds me to make a trip back there sometime soon. Bottles, jars and other vessels hold small objects made precious by their presentation, and butterflies with brilliant iridescent wings hold still in their frames. This is my house, my tiny space in which I share my life with the people I love.

More Birds, Nests and the Like

Above are some images from the current window of Tail of the Yak, a wonderful curio shoppe in Berkeley situated on Ashby at College. This store houses a myriad of oddities and beautiful, antique objects including gorgeous French ribbons, paper trims, handmade crepe paper surprise objects, and antique jewelry. Their collection on antique santos figures is reason enough to visit the store. Their hours are a bit selective so call before visiting.