something about this band

I've been listening to Dr. Dog a lot lately.  They soothe me.  The above song is a cover of an Architecture in Helsinki song, which I loved to begin with, but didn't know I could love it like this too.  I got obsessed with this cover when I first heard it.  I hope you get obsessed too, or at least find something to love as much as I love this song.

Below is the original song too.  This is actually the first time I've seen the video, which is insane and distracting.  Maybe you should just listen to the song without looking at the video.

World Implodes as Local Crafter Merges Prehistory with Digital Age

Check out this laptop cozy I made for Ilan!  It was to be his Christmas gift, but it took me until a week ago to finish it completely.

The blue fabric is re-purposed from a thermal pullover I bought at a thrift store, delightfully soft to the touch and just the right amount of stretch.  I lined it with some thin squishy foamy fabric I got at SCRAP, and added some velcro tabs to the flap to keep it snug as a bug.

The embroidered image is of a megatherium, an herbivorous prehistoric ground sloth who looked something like this:

And was this big:

(We had the pleasure of basking in the glory of this skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History in New York!)

Here's an extreme close-up of the face.  He's going to see a 3-D movie, as was a common pastime for these creatures in their heyday, which lasted over five million years.

My original plan for the flap closure was the have one of those buttons that resembles a claw or a tooth, like this:

But, after much deliberation, we both decided that for the sake of practicality and convenience, velcro was the superior option.  (I still think the button would look way cooler.)

My next project:  A cozy for MY laptop!  My design includes dolphins.  Stay tuned.

Presidential Hams

It's been a while since I've posted on here, so please excuse me while I play a little catch-up on days gone by.

In early February, we stopped by the "Presidential Hams" show at the art gallery inside Powell's City of Books.  It's a series of paintings by an enigmatic Portland artist named Bijijoo, depicting every single past (and present) U.S. president holding a ham.  Bijijoo does a lot of cool portraits of celebrities and historical figures.  Here are two of my faves from the presidential portraits:

It was interesting noting the different positions of the hands and the ham in each portrait.  It seemed like the same hand model may have been used for all of them, because the hands all pretty much look the same.  I applaud this guy for his handy-work, since hands are one of the most difficult things in the world to depict convincingly!

They even had two papier-mache hams for posing!  Here are Ilan & me in our hammy presidential portraits:

The Never Bird Strikes Again!

Now showing at Courier Coffee Roasters (923 SW Oak, Portland -- the former location of Half & Half) during the month of February!

It's my Never Bird, right there above the baristas!  This is part of a group show called "Intuition", featuring over 20 different artists from around the United States, curated by Kyle Simmons & Ryan Donaldson.

On my list of things to do:  Make more sculptures like this.