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My mother was a computer programmer when I was growing up. When I was a little girl, Mom would often take me to work with her and I got to see these huge computers that would fill up entire rooms that were freezing cold because the air conditioning had run constantly to keep those massive machines from overheating. It’s funny to think that the MacBook Pro I’m typing on now is more powerful and has more memory than those gigantic computers I grew up with. Along with those computers, there were other interesting things in those computer rooms like big bins of colorful used computer punch cards, and large stack of dot matrix computer sheets, and big containers of data and cable wire which I use to play with when I got bored. I like to think that I got my interest in wirework because of those early days of playing with data wire.
Those days of playing with wire came back to my when I was looking at the work of Courtney Watson from Twisted Handmade. She makes fun and colorful jewelry out of twisted data cable and wire. Really cool stuff. You can check out the rest of her work here at the Maker’s Market and on her personal blog. In addition to jewelry, she also makes baskets out of data wire. Check it out!
My beloved 60GB iPod died a couple months ago and I hadn’t had a chance to get a new one. But this clever iPod Shuffle cover pendent might encourage me to get a Shuffle to tide me over. Very cool!
I first learned how to crochet when I when I was 9 or 10…so I have a soft spot of beautiful crocheted items. And the photography of the item is beautiful too. This linen pincushion with the crochet motif was made by photographer ( that explains the beautiful photography), graphic designer, and artist namolio. You can check out more crochet and linen items on her Etsy shop.
Okay, so how cool are these miniature glass chocolates? They’re made by glass artists Dinah and Patty Hulet. They have a beautiful line of glass chocolates, candies, and other beautiful and fortunately non-fattening treats. You can visit their website here.
Usually I like to blog about jewelry, but this was just too cool not to blog about. This calendar is what happens when art and simple science collide. This calendar by artist Oscar Diaz combines link, paper and the power of capillary action to design this calendar. A piece of paper is embossed into the numbers of the month. The end of the paper is immersed in an ink bottle and capillary action colors in the numbers as the days progress. Way too cool!
This calendar by Oscar Diaz is on exhibit in Madrid, Spain at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. Thanks to Craft Magazine blog for the link!
I love jewelry that combines two mediums. That’s why when I read about this jewelry by Australian artists Maja Rose and Tess Lloyd of Polli on the design*sponge blog…I had to run over to their website and read more about them. This line of jewelry, the “Woven” line is made of etched stainless steel and hand stitched cotton thread.
The combination of fiber and metalwork is enough to get me interested, but what’s even better is the story behind this line of jewelry. According to the design*sponge blog post, this line was inspired by Maja Rose’s family. In the 1930’s, Maja’s uncle became so inspired by persian carpets when he was working in the middle east that he decided to try to recreate one himself. This project ended up spanning over four generations with Maja herself putting in the final stitches to complete that carpet. The “Woven” line is her homage to that persian carpet project started by her uncle so long ago.
I was just reading my monthly e-newsletter from the Museum of Contemporary Craft last night and found this great link to a video interview from artist Mandy Greer. Mandy braids and sews yarn, beads, fabric and a variety of material to make these interesting room-sized sculptural installations. I love it when craft and art collide!
If you were watching “Ugly Betty” last night, you saw that i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t-i-n-g metal and glass dress with wings by that kooky designer Heinrich. By coincedence I ran across this cool choker that would go right along with it. The choker made by EJP Creations is called “There is Time Enough” and is made out of metal clock hands.
I love seeing how other artists are making jewelry with paper. Renee from My Ugly Kitty has made these cute little pendents out of security envelopes…you know those envelopes that have the pattern in the inside that prevents people from seeing the letter inside. Very cool and who would have thunk? You can check them out for yourself on her blog.
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My mother was a computer programmer when I was growing up. When I was a little girl, Mom would often take me to work with her and I got to see these huge computers that would fill up entire rooms that were freezing cold because the air conditioning had run constantly to keep those massive machines from overheating. It’s funny to think that the MacBook Pro I’m typing on now is more powerful and has more memory than those gigantic computers I grew up with. Along with those computers, there were other interesting things in those computer rooms like big bins of colorful used computer punch cards, and large stack of dot matrix computer sheets, and big containers of data and cable wire which I use to play with when I got bored. I like to think that I got my interest in wirework because of those early days of playing with data wire.
