Holiday Ornament Workshop

I taught a holiday ornament workshop at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown, CT earlier today. We had a lot of fun making an ornament from recycled cardboard and pages from discarded books! :)

Highlights from the 3rd Ward Holiday Market!

Last Sat my friend Keka Marzagao shared a booth with me at the 3rd Ward Holiday Market. Good times! :)


Keka was selling prints of her mother Regia's beautiful paintings.


My studiomate Kerrie Yeung (right) was also there sharing a table with Samantha Wu (that's Samantha's sister on the left).


Beautiful jewelry by Kerrie Yeung!


Awesome jewelry by Samantha Wu!


My friend Amanda was also there selling "make your own light sensor theramin" kits! she's in a band called the Drunkard's Wife which is playing tomorrow Dec 16th at 9pm at Trash Bar.


And continuing with the electronics theme... check out some of my friend Luisa's awesome cross-stitched video game buttons! I bought one of the space invaders buttons shown here. :)


Holly Slayton of Artikal was at the Market showing her gorgeous handmade hats.


I got to meet Alicia Piller who makes beautiful suede jewelry.



And I also got to meet Kat from White Haus who had a great display of beautiful one-of-a-kind cuffs


and this is my fiance meeting the Panda! :D

Holiday party/Jewelry Sale at Studio 11!

Come on over for Studio 11's Holiday Party & Jewelry Sale! We'll have complimentary wine & food and 6 local jewelers/artists/designers will have their work on display.
Check them out!
Abbi Stern of Brooklyn Heavy Metal
Kerrie Yeung (ring above by Kerrie Yeung)
Jackie Tse
Kareen Fagan
Bridget Stein
& me!

75 10th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215

Pics from the Dec 6th Craft Workshop!

We had an awesome group for the "Green Crafting" workshop with GreenEdge yesterday! It was at the Brooklyn Creative League, which I highly recommend checking out. They have a great set-up!


All of the projects I demo-ed involved recycled plastic bags. The first one we did was the Upcycled Plastic Bag Bangle.


Next we tried a few yummy locally produced wines.


And we finished up by making two styles of barrettes made from recycled plastics. :)

Green Crafting Workshop!

Lately I've been busy getting ready for this super fun craft workshop I'm putting together with GreenEdge on Dec 6th! I'll be demonstrating two fun projects: barrettes and bangles made from recycled plastics! Participants get make their own to give as gifts for the holidays or keep for themselves. And we'll also enjoy a wine tasting of locally produced organic wines! :) Here's the details:

Green Edge NYC presents: Green Crafting for the Holidays

Location: the Brooklyn Creative League
540 President Street 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY
map

Date & Time: Sunday Dec. 6th 1-5pm

Price: $30

Register on the GreenEdge website, space is limited.
Reserve now!

Flatbush Open Studios- Zane Treimanis

Last weekend I got to check out the Flatbush Open Studios in Brooklyn. It was great checking out the artwork and meeting all the artists! :)


I'm going to do separate posts for each of the artists I saw. Today's focus will be on the work of fine artist Zane Treimanis.


I love this! Her wall pieces remind me of micro organisms. Beautiful!



She makes gorgeous sculptural pendants too!

Legos in the Kitchen!

I love this. :)

NYC Greenest City?

Check out this post on Treehugger, according to one study NYC is the greenest city in the US!

some new designs....

So here's a few of the latest pieces I've been working on....
I'm planning on holding a workshop demonstrating the barrette with the little circles sometime soon.

Open Studios and craft workshops!

Kerrie Yeung and I participated in the A.G.A.S.T. Open Studios this year.


We just moved into our new studio space on Oct 1st, so we're still settling in. I get to share space with some amazing jewelers! Check out some of their work here:
Abbi Stern of Brooklyn Heavy Metal
Kerrie Yeung
Jackie Tse
and more!

Also, just a couple days ago I hosted a Free Craft Workshop in our studio. preppin' the plastic:

workshop time!

Free Craft Workshop- Thurs Oct 22nd!

Come hang out in my studio this Thurs Oct 22nd for an evening of free crafting, pizza and wine! :) I'll be demonstrating a fun way to decorate old bangle bracelets with plastic bags!

Please RSVP at garbageofedendesign@gmail.com :)

Next up: Barrettes! Date to be announced...

Living Libraries

Interesting concept I just read about: "Living Libraries"
So they set up at a library, instead of signing out books you sign up to talk to different people about their beliefs ect. The idea is that it's a non-confrontational way to be able to ask questions and understand different points of view.

Free Craft Workshop Sunday Oct. 18th!

The A.G.A.S.T. Open Studios are this weekend all over Gowanus, so it's the perfect opportunity to check out tons of great art in the area! ANd..you can swing by my studio on 10th street for a free craft workshop! I'll be demonstrating a fun technique using plastic bags to glam up some old second hand bangles. Get there early and you'll get to make one to take home! I will also probably have some cookies to offer. :)

P.S. The entrance to the building is almost in the Lowe's parking lot.

Awesome Japanese Craft Club Exhibition

Before and After, an exhibit for Ossu! Shugeibu is going on at Gallery Hanahou in NYC (611 Broadway Suite 730). How cute is the little birdie made from an umbrella??

Fred Tomaselli- Magical Surrealism

I just read a bit about this artist on Flavorwire: Fred Tomaselli. His psychadelic paintings are made by assembling all kinds of different objects. He's best known for assembling pills and herbs but more recently he's been making new works assembling "flowers, feathers, anatomical illustrations, and other ephemera..."

BK Skillshare!

Yesterday I got the chance to check out the Brooklyn Skillshare. It was great! I got there in time to take the Fiber Arts Workshop and Natural Jewelry Casting Workshop, both very inspiring! They'll be holding more Skillshare events soon. :)



Jacqueline Schmidt of Screech Owl Designs taught the Fiber Arts workshop. It was a great introduction to knitting and she also showed examples of other techniques such as wet and dry felting, weaving ect. She makes a wide range of beautiful objects, knits, notecards just to name a few, check her out: www.screechowldesign.com


Timothy Gasbarro taught the Natural Jewelry Casting Workshop. This was a cool unusual technique, he pours natural objects such as beans, sand ect. into a can and casts the space around the objects. There's a lot more involved but thats the basic idea. The results are these beautiful abstract shapes. Check out the images on his website to see what I mean, especially images #18-21:
http://www.timothygasbarro.com/

Studio Share in Brooklyn!

A few friends and I are looking for studio mates to share an artist space in Gowanus for Oct 1st move in, rent hinging on how many people will be sharing the space. Rent is $1,000 total and currently there are 5 artists/jewelers who will be renting but we would like to get at least 7. Lots of storage and shelving, high ceilings and natural light with one wall of large windows, space is roughly 500 square feet. Close to the Smith and 9th street stop on the F train and the 4th and 9th street stop on the F, R, and M.

The attached pics are of the space, the supplies ect shown in the pics will be out by the 1st.

If interested please send us a note at garbageofeden@gmail.com letting us know what you'd like to use the space for. Thanks!

Crate Man!

Check it out! Recycled milk crate art! Apparently, Crate Man even has his own facebook page. Fancy that!

Van Jones Resigns

I was so psyched when Obama appointed Van Jones as his "Green Jobs Advisor". He's one of my heroes! He has been well known in the green community for finding innovative ways of tackling both environmental and social issues at the same time. He has helped make the green movement more accessible to all. He says he resigned due to controversy.

Anyways, here's some of the awesome work Van Jones has done, check it out!
http://www.greenforall.org/splash
http://www.vanjones.net/
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200904-omag-van-jones

In the end environmentalism really is a social issue, it's about improving people's quality of life. Check out more inspiring people working on both human rights and environmental issues in one of my past blog posts.

Gugger Petter- Newspaper Weaving

I just noticed this artist on Artlog, Gugger Petter. I love this idea, she weaves newspapers into "paintings". She has a show coming up in San Francisco.

Marriage Equality in NY

Calling your senator is pretty painless it turns out! I just called Senator George Onorato of Queens, NY to show my support for Gov Paterson's Marriage Equality Bill. Wouldn't that be great if NY state finally allowed gay marriage with all the benefits afforded to straight marriages? Here's Senator Onorato's #'s:
Astoria office 718-545-9706 Albany office 518-455-3486
Give him a call! It only takes a few seconds!

DIY Mother's Day card!

Show some love to all the Mamas in your life!
This card was made from a mac n' cheese box! I made the pin from part of a plastic bag but you could also use sculpey, old buttons, or whatever you want!

First, cut out the front and back panels on your mac n' cheese box. Then put them together, blank sides facing out. Next measure lengthwise to find the middle and score it on both sides with an exacto blade. Next fold it and put a few pieces of double sided tape in between the two layers. Then you trim the sides a little to even it all out. I like to use a corner rounder to finish off the corners.

After the card was made I wrote my message leaving a blank space for the "<3" pin. Then I punched a couple holes in the space to make it easy to take the pin on and off the card.

Have lovely Mother's Day! (in advance ;))

Shmeat?!?

Have you heard about Shmeat? What do you think, is it amazing or does it give you the heebie-jeebies?

Atlantic Yards Petition

Even though I recently moved to Queens, I'd still hate to see the proposals for the Atlantic Yards go through. DDDB (develope don't destroy brooklyn) have sent out a new petition to Gov. Paterson opposing the idea of using stimulus package funds to give the Atlantic Yards a boost. They've gone way over on the budget all ready and changed the design and scale of the whole project since the public referendum.

Spanish Word of the Day!

I'm trying to improve my Spanish skills so I can talk to my boyfriend's family, and we're hoping to take a trip to Peru, un dia! Sooo... I'm going to try doing a Spanish Word of the Day with my blog. Today's word is:

Viajar- to travel!

present tense
yo viajo
tu viajas
el/ella viaja
ellos/ellas viajan
nosotros viajamos

future tense
yo viajaré
tu viajarás
el/ella viajará
ellos/ellas viajarán
nosotros viajaremos

past tense
yo viajé
tu viajaste
el/ella viajó
ellos/ellas viajaron
nosotros viajamos

Nosotros viajaremos a Peru! : )

Inspiration Saturday-Carol Cole's Paper Sculptures

I love these sculptures by Carol Cole. She makes them by embedding found objects in paper pulp! I find it interesting that she spent quite a bit of time studying history and anthropology, I think it really shows in her work. They're like modern relics. Find out more about Cole and her work here.