Em's Bedside Table

For Design and Technology at school I created a bedside table. I wanted to make a non-symetrical shaped bedside table incorporating curves or spheres that was still functional. They sloped top allows for easy access. Laminated plywood made into a ball using the lathe (blunted the tools every few minutes because of all the glue in it), Tasmanian Silver Oak and Tiger Myrtle for the draw. Angled feathered joints in contrasting wood for strength and character. I love the mix of woods.

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Stop Motion Music

A clever and effective music clip. I've seen others like this and they always amaze me.

Em's Mulch Men/ Warm Fuzzies

I remember buying a creature like this long ago for Breast Cancer Research fundraising. I had him on the dashboard of my old car until he faded so much he was white and the clear eyes were black. That little guy went with the car. Now I have a new car I kept thinking that I wanted a new mulch man to go with it. For Australia's Biggest Morning Tea at work I thought I could make them to fundraise, so I made a whole heap to sell. They were really popular with the guys showing up everywhere on people's desks etc.

I used pre-made pink pom-poms, 10mm craft eyes (plus some smaller ones), and improvised with the feet by using adhesive felt hearts, which also eliminated having to also put double sided tape on them.

My Mum had them when she was younger and called them mulch men, so that's what I've always called them. I don't know what they really are called. Warm fuzzies are also a cute name for them.

Em's Discharge Tie-dying

or reverse tie-dying.

Using bleach to take out the colour of the fabric I love the outcome of doing this and it's so economical. I actually came across this one day by accident when I spilt some Domestos on my dress and bathmat while cleaning. I had heard of tie-dying with bleach so did the mat and dress to begin with and have done a few other things since. Much cheaper than dyes. I love the earthy look that black fabric creates. I have yet to try denim but have seen that come out well too.


You need to use natural fabrics such as cotton. Different fabrics work differently so experiment. These are two different tablecloths that I made with black cotton fabric. They both came out differently. One not being affected with the dye anywhere the bands touched, creating a very contrasted effect. I like the softer brown colour that came out on my first go but no matter what I did with the second tablecloth it would come out contrasty. (diluted the bleach, soaked longer etc) I wish I wrote down times and ratios but I don't know. I made these tablecloths as presents for people months apart.

1st tablecloth:





2nd tablecloth:

Other ideas:

DIY Shibori

Bleached T-shirt designs

Screen printed bleach wigs

Dying with bleach tutorial

Or what about stockings? Will have to try this one..

Letter scarf- use acetate and light sensitive dye for similar effect

Recycled House Paint Art

"Cassandra Tondro is a Los Angeles artist who has found a unique use for leftover house paint she uses it for her colorful and contemporary abstract paintings."

Without following any rules, Cassandra experiments and explores techniques and materials, with a concern for the environment. She collects the left over paint from local Household Hazardous Waste Center, which will give it away, and from the mistint shelves at home improvement stores.

One technique, which I would love to try, is similar to mono-printing. Painting on sheet plastic, then pressing a canvas onto the wet paint to create the design.

Interesting Videos

I love this effect of using many people to speak the same words, which has been used in many music clips and ads but is so effective. It is similar to a video a friend of mine made at uni, which was lots of fun making.

Forgetfulness: Poem's by Billy Collins come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. (he has some other great animated poems in the series on his Youtube Channel)


I love this concept of making music out of sounds. Check out Mystery Guitar Man's other great. videos for video effects and music inspiration too.

Literal Music Videos

Literal music videos are parody's of original music videos with the lyrics changed to describe the video. Hilarious!

A-Ha 'Take on Me'

 
Bonnie Tylor 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'.


James Blunt 'You're Beautiful'


Enrique Iglesias 'Hero'

Michael Jackson, 'Billie Jean' 

Stop Motion Animation

Check out more PES stop motion animations, makers of some really awesome and viral videos. Some of my picks:
Coinstar
Human Skateboard
Fireworks I wanna try this!

Other cool Stop Motion Videos:
Moving On music video about life and death using stop motion yarn (sad but well done) 

Human Tetris. Love this!! Even the sound effects work well.
 
Best Beer commercial ever  


Amazing stop motion with dice


I've seen some pretty cool stop-motion animations with post-it notes, this is just one one them. So much work! But so effective.

Alimation: Awesome eatable Zoetrope animation.

 

Chalkboard stop motion 

Em's Beaded Curtain

I made my own beaded curtain from pom poms and buttons. I used scrap wool to make random pom poms and recycled buttons all from op shops.

Other door curtain ideas: 

Buttons!

Ribbon and beads

Macrame

Macrame curtain- love this!

Check out more macrame on my macrame post.

'Wave"- Bottle tops- and other curtains made from bottle tops

Paper magazine beads

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Temporary Site-specific Art

There are some incredible and interesting artists who create ite-specific sculptures and land art with nature as their medium. The use of sand, rocks, leaves, ice etc, which eventually are moved or erased with wind, water and weather. Photography is of course an important part of the art process, as the sculptures are so temporary. 

Andy Goldsworthy's site specific environmental works use rocks, leaves, sticks, ice, snow to alter the environment, commenting on how we affect the environment. He then photographs them. "Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights... Process and decay are implicit."

Andy Goldsworthy

Jim Denevan creates large temporary geometric drawings on sand, earth, and ice that are eventually erased:

Jim Denevan

Andres Amador arts is another artist with a similar concept, using local natural materials that eventually dissolve back into nature. He calls himself a Earthscape artist. He is best known for creating large-scale artworks across the landscape, especially on beaches across the world. 

 

Andres Amador

Simon Beck is another similar artist who walks around in snowshoes to create geometric patterns in the snow. Taking hours to create the huge designs, he uses a compass and other aids to finish the mathematical masterpieces that can even sometimes look 3D when viewed from above.

Simon Beck

Calvin Seibert also uses the temporality of nature to create his geometric and architectural sand castles. 

Calvin Seibert

Michael Grab balances rocks as a meditative artistic phenomena in his stone balancing Gravity Glue;

"The process boils down to contemplative vertical stone arrangement; involving patience, problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptation, slow-breathing, steady hands, and a host of other practiced skills… Gravity is the only “Glue” that holds these structures in equilibrium." 

Michael Grab

Em's magazine beads

Afri Beads made from recycled magazines by women in Uganda to help them send their children to school.
I have tried to get a hold of Afribeads without much prevail. But have had success in making my own beads from magazines and PVA glue. They are really strong and using a whole page of similar colours creates a great coloured necklace/bracelet. The key is to find pages from magazines that are mainly one colour but with writing etc. to create interest. The necklaces I have made have been 2-3 pages, usually using two colours and two different sized beads. I then cut the page into long triangles (see diagram) and use a skewer to roll them around covering in PVA glue. It is quite time consuming with the hardest part being getting off the stick. I found spraying some oil on before hand helped the bead slide off. They didn't last being made with PVA. If I did it again I would need to use a different glue or cover with some type of water protectant.

They have all been gifts so I haven't got photos for all of them. These are the two latest ones I have made. It takes a fair while to complete them, however I am definitely getting faster.

 

My own magazine beads!

Pattern for other shaped beads

How to make magazine beads
How to make a recycled magazine bowl. 

Paper mache style beads

On the topic of recycled eco jewelry, these bangles made from magazine scraps wrapped around a wooden base..