Life Lately

Hi! I know I've been kind of AWOL and there's really only a handful of people who even read this, but I wanted to share what I've been up to lately.

In late August I started taking my first class since I graduated from college.  Since I work at an academic institution (UC) I can take classes for free.  And since photography is a key part of my job description, I can take a photography class on work time.  Super awesome, right!?  For someone who loves taking photos and even does it as part of their job, it's kind of crazy that I've never taken a photography class, not even a film photography class.  Somehow it's just something I skipped in all the high school and college art classes I took.  But since I want to start taking conservation photography documentation classes soon, I figured I should probably get a basic photography class under my belt first.  While parts of the class have come naturally, I am surprised how challenging it has been so far.  In particular, being restricted by our subject matter and assignment.  We all know that nature, and flowers in particular, are my favorite thing to shoot.  Well, the subject matter for our first class project was "Abstract".  That meant NO nature whatsoever.  No trees, no plants, no people, no animals.  No naturally made things whatsoever!  It was a definite challenge for me, but it really made me look at things differently and I think I really learned a lot and grew as a photographer during this project.  And that was only our first project!  I wanted to share some of my best shots with you all...

In early September I made probably my prettiest and craziest cake so far for a dear coworker's birthday, and I just have to share it...

It was an orange poppyseed cake with orange buttercream.

 Also, for the last couple months I've been making handmade books and watercolor cards and prints.  I'm finally getting ready to sell them this weekend!  This will be my first time ever going out into public and selling stuff I've made to people.  In person.  In real life.  I'm a little nervous!

I've got 49 books/journals ready to sell, as well as galaxy cards and prints.  Here's hoping it goes well!

For any Cincinnati folks who might be reading, I'll be selling at the Pleasant Ridge POP! Market from noon to 5pm this Saturday (24th).  The market is located in the Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church parking lot (5950 Montgomery Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45213).  

That's all for now.  I won't promise that I'll be back to blogging on a somewhat regular basis, because that just doesn't seem realistic.  I've got a lot of fun stuff on the horizon and being present in my life just seems infinitely better than blogging at the moment.  But I'll try not to be a complete stranger.  Happy Thursday everyone!

Book Arts

Sorry I haven't shared any new photos (or really really old photos for that matter) lately.  I know I've been slacking but I promise that I haven't totally been doing nothing.  Instead of editing photos lately I've been spending a fair amount of time working on a couple of artists books I've been making.  Ever since I started working at my current job about 8 years ago and learned how to make books I've been doing just that, making books.  But only blank ones, what you'd commonly refer to as journals.  I've sold some in the past, but mostly I've just either made them and kept them or made them and given them as gifts (the main recipient being my best friend, Amanda, who actively journals on the regular!).  Anyway, I'd never really made a book with any substance or content...until last year.

It's not that I never wanted to make a book with content, or an "artists' book" as it's commonly called, it's just I never really had a single idea.  Until last year, when for our student appreciation day we made carousel books (which I had never made before) in the lab, and for the first time ever I had an idea.  And so I made my first artist book and I was so excited about it that I entered it into Bookworks XVI (my book is pictured at the very end of the post!), a local collaborative book arts exhibit that's put together by the Cincinnati Book Arts Society (aka CBAS, pronounced like the fish, sea bass) and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Now, I had been trying to think up an idea for Bookworks for years, but nothing...until I made that first carousel book.  I really liked the structure and something about it just inspired me and before I knew it I had a handful of other ideas.  Which leads me to the pictures of the book below, my second ever artist book!  I worked on this book mainly over the holidays and just now finished up making a custom cloth-covered clamshell box for it, so I figured it was time to share it...

It's called "Cosmic Ocean".  It's another carousel book, but this time I used Arches 140lb watercolor paper and QoR watercolors! [Front cover]

[Side opening]

I used small, thin magnets to create clasps on either side of the book to keep it shut.

I also embedded magnets into the front and back cover boards so that the book would stay open for display.

Here's a gif/animation of the five pages, it starts with the Earth and ends with the red galaxy and the space ship.

This was a very fun book to work on and I felt I really pushed myself further on this second artist book.  It also, just the like the first, really inspired me and as I was working on it I started to come up with other ideas for other books!  I hope you enjoy it!  And if you're in the Cincinnati area, I do plan to submit it into the Bookworks XVII exhibit this year, which generally runs from June through August in the Main Branch of the Public Library, if you want to check it out in person.

Long Weekend in Instagram

I've been feeling crappy lately, so excuse me for taking so long to post.  And I apologize that all I have for you are some Instagram photos, but that's that.  Anyway, it was a nice long weekend for us since we had Veteran's day off from work, so here we go...

It started off with some basset-snuggling.  Cheese has been glued to my lap lately.  It might be because he loves me, or it could be the heated blanket I've had draped over my lap lately.  Hmm, I wonder?

I woke up early on Saturday, so while Antoine was still snoozing away Cheese snuggled with me while I read.

After Antoine woke up we made breakfast together and then got ready for a day of running errands.

Sunday morning I helped Antoine whip up some sausage gravy, and he was nice enough to make me a egg and cheese sandwich (with a little sausage gravy on top).

Sunday was a lazy day.  I hung out with the animals (Gui got in some snuggling time of his own) and that evening whipped up a batch of Montreal-style bagels. 

Monday morning I made a quick stop by Spring Grove to use up some film and enjoy the lovely golden Ginkgo trees.

Then I headed over to a friend/coworker's house, where she taught a little bookbinding workshop for some of the ladies I work with.  We also ate some delicious food and chatted, it was wonderful.

This is commonly known as a Secret Belgium Binding.  I made two during  the workshop, this butterfly one and a dog one.

After the workshop, Antoine and I headed over to the new(ish) movie theater near our house to finally see Gravity.  They were only showing it in 3D (which I'm generally not crazy about because I'm always worried it is going to give me a headache), but it was great!  So suspenseful and beautiful, we both really enjoyed it!  And that was our weekend!  How was your weekend?!

Vent Haven Museum

This year I decided to join the Cincinnati Book Arts Society (aka CBAS, pronounced "sea-bass").  It's something I had thought of doing for sometime, but when my coworker Veronica joined our department and started talking how great CBAS was and all the cool things she got to do and make I was envious.  So far this year timing hasn't been on my side and I've missed a couple of events.  But I was really excited to go on the study group's field trip to Vent Haven Museum last weekend.

As it bills itself, Vent Haven is "the world's only museum dedicated to the art of ventriloquism".  I knew the museum was somewhere in Kentucky, but had no idea it was so close to Cincinnati; just across the river in Fort Mitchell.  Now, I knew nothing about ventriloquism or "vents" (as ventriloquists are referred)...well, besides for watching the Lamb Chop tv series growing up and the very very little I know of Jeff Dunham.
Well, and I was familiar with the creepy connotations that go along with ventriloquist dummies too, from scary movies and the like.  To say my knowledge of ventriloquism was very limited would be putting it nicely.  But I will confess, I was a little worried that the museum would be creepy and maybe a little scary.  Luckily, that was not the case at all.

Vent Haven is situated, oddly enough, on a little residential street.  This is because the museum is based on the personal collection of William S. Berger who lived in the residence that sits in front of the actual museum.  You can read more about Berger on their website, it's a really interesting story.  Berger's collection, along with a variety of donations over the years, has left the museum with approximately 800 dummies in three different buildings.  It's an incredible collection, even if you are like me and you are not a ventriloquist aficionado.

Tours are done by reservation only, for a $10 donation fee ($5 if you have a larger group like ours).  Jennifer, the curator of the museum, will tell you all about Berger, the history of his collection and the museum, as well as demonstrate how the dummies functions and tell you loads of incredible stories about various dummies and ventriloquists.

This is Jennifer demonstrating how the pulls work in this particular dummy.

Cecil Wigglenose is definitely a favorite!  He's so expressive with 8 different actions he can perform; crossing his eyes, raising his eyebrows and wiggling his nose, to name just a few.  As you can see, his inner workings are a bit different from the one above.

As we were going through the museum, I wasn't at all freaked out by the dummies.  Instead I was captivated by them, all so different and interesting in their own way.  Plus, Jennifer's energetic and positive attitude is just infectious and she gives you such an appreciation for ventriloquism and for the dummies themselves!

I found these particularly intriguing (top right and bottom), as did many in our group, because they look so real.

Johnny, the third from the left on the top row, was definitely one of my favorites.  He's just got so much personality to him.

I had the best time at Vent Haven!  In fact, it was probably one of the most interesting museums I've ever been to; I would go again in a heartbeat.  With so many dummies and all the walls lined with old photos, it's one of those places that you can go again and again and not see everything!  I do have more photos that I took but didn't share here...you can find them on my flickr.

Have you ever been to Vent Haven before?  Would you go?  I know a lot of you probably think from the photos that it is creepy, but trust me, it's not!  The combo of the wonderful curator and the refreshing layout of the museum is just leaves you with a sense of amazement!

5 Years Together

Five years ago today Antoine and I went on our first date.  That day is the day by which we mark the start of our relationship.  The past five years have been some of the best of my life.  We bought a house, started a little furry family and traveled and seen new places together.  Though we have not gone without our hardships and problems, together we've come out stronger and happier than ever!  And each day my love for him grows.  I am so thankful for this life and love we have, and I eagerly look forward to many, many more years together.

Now, when it came to thinking up a good gift for Antoine nothing that came to mind seemed fitting.  Sure, he'd like whatever I got him, but none of my ideas seemed fitting for 5 years together...so I decided to make him a book.  It's an accordion style books with photos of us and places we've been together.  Since traveling has become such a big part of our relationship and is one of the things we enjoy doing most together, it only seemed right to include these photos.  Here's a little look...

For our anniversary, we're spending the day exploring Seattle!  We're starting the day off with a Pike Place market tour and we'll be ending the day with dinner at the Pink Door.