Okay, this contains many of my favorite things.Amazing tiny things!Small animal!3D printing!More miniature things!Art idea that most people would think, "What?! WHY?"
Artist Aki Inomata creates beautiful plastic shell for hermit crabs that are crafted into elegant cityscapes.You can watch a short video here.Reading articles about Ani's work led me to this article on Inhabitat about Maker Bot's Project Shelter and the shortage of hermit crab shells.
Map of Paris Dress
I found this old gold velvet map fabric online. It's got a bit of stretch to it and has a nice heavy substantial weight to it. I decided to use a pattern from The Party Dress Book: How to Sew the Best Dress in the Room
I added pockets, too. <-- possibly a mistake. Also, it was possibly a mistake to use this heavy fabric for what is supposed to be a flirty party dress. Anyhoo... I'm working on some fitting. The lower part of the torso needs to be lengthened and the bodice strap is making me twitchy.I had all sorts of ideas for incorporating some sort of Ardiuno into this dress. Upon further consideration I realize this would be distracting and TOO MUCH. I will be adding some embroidery to it, however.The Arduino powered dress will come later and needs more thought.
Progressive School Natural Playscape - Stage One
This is a great project off to a great start. Stage One has been completed with much community help and the kids have been having a blast exploring it.This is an under used area at a progressive private school (grades K-8). K and 1st grade teachers have requested this area be transformed in to Create with Nature and natural playscape area.After meetings with the teachers and Landscape Committee I came up with a fun plan that can be completed in various stages as budget become available
Teacher Requests- Largish circle of stumps (in combo w/ plants) to enclose the Create With Nature Zone- Create ‘Storage Library’ for loose parts and tools - organized baskets of materials- Ability to take over that whole space - involves moving nursery area- Moving the mulch pile over- Barriers to keep kids out of parking area and out from under delicate oaks- Incorporation of other play elements -- Water, Playhouse, Interesting plants, PathwaysZones- Create with Nature Zone - Enclosed by plants and stumps, inside are some movable stumps and some larger immovable stumps to build on- Loose Parts Library - Includes wicker baskets, wine crates or other containers with well organized loose parts- Mulch Mountain - Large persistent pile of mulch to be replaced as it breaks down or is used elsewhere- River Bed - Includes child friendly hand pump to access water, water flows into basins or sluice and down into dry river bed w/ bridge for crossing- Pathways - Mulch pathways, include two clear entrances, pavers under oaks through plantings, pavers for a curvy path leading to living willow tunnel- Barriers - Natural fencing (willow or branches) along parking area, low mosaic seating wall at south edge, under oak plantings- Playhouse - Small 3 sided playhouse made from natural materials - willow or branchesStage 1 - Oct 6th - Main goal is to build Create with Nature Zone and Library of loose parts.Stump circle - Arrange and dig stumps as we have into largish area surrounding treeLibrary - Low, kid accessible shelves for storing baskets of loose partsLoose parts - Tree cookies, tree blocks, smooth river stones, twigs, pinecones, bamboo pieces, interesting seed pods, any interesting plant materialTools - Small brooms, rakes, trowels[metaslider id=746]Next Stages:Stage 2: move mulch pile, create fencing along parking area, build willow/branch playhouseStage 3: plantings and pathwaysStage 4: incorporate water, boulders, watercourse and bridgeStage 5: K and 1st students create mosaic tiles, organize community mosaic buildAlso viewable on my Projects page!
Sketchbook - Fancy arbor
Tiny fairy garden planter
I can’t even describe how delighted I was when I realized that fairy gardens are A THING. This combines two of my favorite things: gardens and tiny things.
As a kid I spent so much time with my tiny glass animals. I had a dollhouse for them and I loved taking them outside to create houses for them on the moss patches in our yard.
I’m not so much in to the fairy aspect. I prefer to think of trundling badgers in smoking jackets setting up a living room in my backyard. But I have found that most littles nowadays will respond to the idea that fairies might visit their garden and would enjoy having a place to rest and hang out. If I was a fairy i would totally want to hangout in the above picture. Look at that tiny little pot! squeee
I made this garden in a wide and low plastic container that I bought
Plant combo - planter addition
Lysimachia nummularia and a Coleus hybrid with a deep burgundy and chartreuse foliage. This is a nice container combo for partial shade. I would like to see it in a larger pot so that we get more of the Lysimachia spilling over and the bushiness of the Coleus balances out.Remember to pinch off the tops of your Coleus plant as it is growing to get a nice bushy shape.
Plant combo
Cotinus coggygria, Pityrogramma triangularis, Hedera helix - variegated variety
Accessible playgrounds in the Bay Area
I want all children to have access to playgrounds and nature. One of the main problems I see with accessible playgrounds is that the designers lose site of the whole nature part.How do we make sure playgrounds are inclusive of children of all abilities but still include all the the things kids need to play and learn?How can it REALLY be done? Not just following the letter of ADA compliance that result in playgrounds with no nature and too much hot plastic surfacing?I'm reading and thinking on this. Playgrounds can be crazy expensive. Natural elements might seem to imply too much risk, uncertainty and unrealistic upkeep needs. Why? And what to do?Is no playground better than a playground some kids can't access? Both scenarios are disheartening.Some interesting resources:Bay Area Accessible Playground Finderhttp://www.accessibleplayground.net/Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, CA
Pretty Landscaping Tile
This garden is in East Oakland and thetiles are by http://www.handcrafttiles.com/
Eyes on the road!
Well, I didn't actually get into an accident while taking this picture and driving. I swear! I was stopped in traffic! I simple had to take a picture of this MONSTROSITY. Who decided on this as a good idea?
In case you can't tell, that is a concrete front yard with 4 holes for shrubs... a single shrub in each hole.I get that planting what looks like a steep slope could be daunting but think of the heinous amount of runoff this landscape is producing!This could so easily be solved with some hardy natives. Even just a nice carpet of ground hugging Arctostaphylos like Arctostaphylos uva-ursi would lessen run-off and be a fine weed barrier.
The Fantastic Umbrella Factory
When I was a kid my Grandmother would take us to The Fantastic Umbrella Factory in Charleston, R.I. Hands down this was one of the things I looked forward to in the summer. It def. counts as one of my childhood landscapes.
It’s was a warren of little stores and walkways and plants and goats and chickens. I would buy candy (made somehow special just by being there. I think I remember buying strings of Zots and Necco wafers with only the brown ones) and I could spend my money on little chotchkies. Later on I went there as a teenager and bought vintage jewelry and clothes.
I went in 2012 with a new appreciation of the gardens and nursery.
Forest Dress
I finally finished the Forest Dress. I started sewing this dress about 5 years ago when my son was a baby. The fabric is Timeless Treasures vintage lawn that I found in a thrift shop, or maybe I bought it at the Oakland White Elephant Sale. The black trim is an old black sheet that I repurposed into various things. The dress lining (skirt and front bodice only) is a really pretty black on black striped lawn.
I've not been slacking in the sewing dept. for 5 years. This just got wadded up and put in a box and I forgot about it. It's more a testament to ADHD. I love to start things and once I have the basic idea out there I get bored of it. Details! Annoying, annoying details!When I started getting obsessed with combining sewing and thinking about landscape design I remembered it and pulled it out. Since it was already started I figured I could finish it up real quick. Of course, that didn't happen. I started 2 other dresses in the middle of it (again?!) and THEN... horror of horrors, I accidentally locked my cat in my studio and um... let's just say that my cat destroyed the pattern pieces.I (mostly) used McCall's M4769 for this dress and since I have made other dresses with this pattern I was able to reverse engineer the missing pieces.I can tell I started this dress right when I got my serger. I serged the skirt seems with elastic thread I was using to sew myself some bathing suits at the same time. ahahaha. WHY?! Probably I did this because threading elastic nylon thread into a serger is a huge pain.
Fabrics: vintage lawn - brown blue and black forest scene, old black sheet, trim: striped lining: black striped lawnNotions: vintage pearly shank buttonsPattern: partially McCall's M4769, partially my own slopers, partial some reverse engineered/jiggered piecesTime to sew: oh, about 5 years. :DTheme: Vintage forests.
Visit to the Brick Factory!
We visited NcNear brick factory for class today and it was super cool. I absolutely love weird industrial machines. It was so interesting to see how bricks and paving materials are made and processed and packaged and sold. They have been producing bricks since 1868. I like to think the bricks from my foundation where made at this factory.
A hike down the street
Cute little Plectranthus ciliatus. This Plectranthus is a South African plant often used as a ground cover around here. It likes shade but wants a bit of sun to keep the awesome red/purple underside. It is more shrubby right here, is in part sun, part shade and seems to be thriving with little water and on a steep grade.This is our little road cut hike near our house. Actually, I can see the entrance to the path from my room RIGHT NOW. Mr. Who and I go there to inspect the state of things fairly often. Snacks can be the best part of a hike when you are 5. Especially if you have carried them in your very own backpack.
Visit to Tah.Mah.Lah.
Tah.Mah.Lah. is a really neat example of eXtreme green building for rich people. I’m glad rich people are trying out new techniques for green building and while trickle down economics is a giant piece of bullshit I can at least hope that trickle down green building can be a thing.
The entire site was amazingly gorgeous and the homeowners were so generous to let us visit and even tour the inside of the home! This was a tour with my classmates. I tried hard to not get other people or other people’s butts in my photos. :)
I am still overwhelmed by this visit. The property is huge and every nook felt highly deigned and fantastically executed. The first thing I was drawn to where the amazing willow structures made by Patrick Dougherty. They are billed as a play structure but honeslty they were BIG and DARK and not at kid scale really. So, while there was evidence of kids playing there, I didn’t feel like it was exactly FOR KIDS. It felt more like land art for rich people. Which is great and I’m all for that. It was beautiful.
I was also so intrigued by the swimming pool. I thought it was a natural pool and i had never hear dof that being a thing but damn! what a cool thingthat would be to have/build! Anyway, this pool is not that but they did build adjacent ponds to it looks like one. I am in love with the wooden walkway seperating the pool from the pond area. I felt like I could be walking through The Great Swamp I remember from RI. Not exactly but I did feel there was great scope for the imagination in that spot.
The warm gold of the paving materials was very inviting. It managed to soften the huge stone blocks around the driveway area. I also just loved the way the paving materials transitioned. In some fo the abve pics you can see how the paving softly transitions to the meadow or other areas.