#196: Mr. Underhill

posted by Andy

For the 700 molemen project. Super sculpey model with some post-production effects. #196 Mr. Underhill, who is on a secret mission.
If you watched the Daily Show last week and saw John Hodgman's book review spoof on his own book, well within the pages is a list of 700 mole-men. This one is my contribution to the cause.

Junior Improv at Bombs Away Cafe

posted by Andy

Scott and other after school improv brats, aka: JenEric's Kids, doing some improvisational games at Bombs Away Cafe earlier this week. They'll be holding another performance at CHS on Friday, Oct 24. Many of these guys just happen to be in the upcoming "Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood" that seems to have taken over our free time. That play is shaping up to be a hilarious show.

In this game the audience suggests a murder victim (Jabba the Hut), a location (Kitchen), and the murder weapon (cheese grater). Each actor then has 30 seconds to pantomime these facts to the next participant without words. The last person then blurts out the end result of this string of misinterpretations.

Muddling Through the Flu

posted by Angie

Okay, so I don't know for sure that it's the flu, but it is definitely an icky bug. I'm almost done with it, just kind of tired and snotty at this point, which believe me, is an improvement over how the past few days have been. Honestly I am a hideous patient, it's for the best of all involved that I get over this ASAP. If I were the type of person that could sit still and be content to do nothing, being sick wouldn't be so aggravating. But, I think that might be asking too much of me, my attention span is way too low to pull that off. I prefer to alternately whine and grump like a big baby about my inablity to do what I want. For their sake, it's probably a good thing the kids and Andy are gone from the house during the day.

Whining aside, I was able to make a delicious carrot soup yesterday. The produce was scored from a local farm. The carrots she had were too irresistible for an artist to walk past. They were an assortment of gorgeous colors, including lemon yellow, purple, red and the more classic (though now boring) orange. I sauteed the carrots, onion, and a small potato in the tiniest bit of butter for 45 minutes, until it started to soften but before the potatoes were mushy. I blended the produce and a bit of milk until it was just a little chunky. Then it all got plopped into the crockpot with a touch of salt and some water. 2 hours later the soup accompanied a loaf of bread from Big River for a yummy low-key dinner. Even Andy, who is not as much of a veggie lover as I would like, went back for seconds.




On the Art Scene, I'm still working away at my costuming.


Maid Marian, who will also be wearing a wig with candy pink pigtails and an oversized cone hat.


Marian's lady in waiting, who will have a blue wig.

These costumes are totally slapped together, which is what the schedule demands. I didn't even hem the bottoms, just cut them with pinking shears so that they wouldn't fray. In a way it's freeing to cut so many corners on a sewing project, but it goes against all of my training (fussy enclosed seams, hand sewn hems, etc). It feels naughty to just slap on some velcro instead of a perfectly positioned row of buttons. After this show, I think I'm going to have to sew something for myself that is really uptight and meticulous. I find fussy sewing strangely soothing. Maybe it gets me in touch with my inner control freak.

While sewing I have been listening to "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, which chronicles her family's journey to eat only local foods for an entire year. Though I do not agree with her section on meat (hoofed animals) and its environmental impact, the book is overall witty and informative. I have a lot of respect for how she has chosen to live her life, especially knowing that she has many options available to her as a successful author. My next audiobook on hold at the library is "World War Z", which Andy promises is very scary. I don't want to go and build too much character by reading an over-abundance of "literature". That kind of behavior could only serve to raise expectations of me.

Also going on at the Purviance Art Scene, tonight Scott's high school improv troupe, Generic's Kids, is performing at Bomb's Away Cafe from 7:30-8:00pm. It should be hilarious.

Critter Sculpey

posted by Andy

Chris has been at it again, making more super sculpey (tm) critters, just so he can sit back and giggle as the rest of the family battles over who gets which one. Each one is tiny, somewhere between one or two inches long. For non-geeks, super sculpey is an expensive playdough like substance that works great when forming and shaping tiny details. The medium of choice for many movie model makers.

Say, "Ahhh." The making of a cartoon slug. This became Slug Bus, with added stripes, barrett and a mini-slug passenger on it's back.

The Birds and the Bees, constructed from the memory of his brother's Threadless t-shirt. Below are some wigged out water critters Otter, Turtle, Beaver and Purple Thingy.

Fall Festival Fun

posted by Angie

My local Weaver's Guild was asked to participate at the Children's area of the Fall Festival again this year. Another member and I strung up a warp between 2 trees for children to weave on using rag strips. The warp was really loose, but it seemed to work fine. This was definitely "temporary art". Last year we made a PVC cube that children worked on. However, Chris used my PVC pieces to make creations with, so I decided to just use the trees. It was a beautiful day and our space was next to the Art Center and a bit away from all of the hub-bub of the festival.



Weaving instructions were purposely light to allow children to experiment. It was interesting to see what they did. Some fastidiously took their rags over one warp, under the next, etc. While others just tied on their rag strips to let them flow in the wind. Parents are always interesting to watch, too. I had to tell more than one that it's okay with me that their child is "weaving" randomly and not paying attention to the structural soundness. It was total chaos, and I love chaos!



Though the end result was in no way structurally sound, everyone seemed to have fun creating it. There was a steady stream of children throughout the day. It was a total pain to unweave, but I think it was worth it. We'll go back to the cube idea next year. These outreach events are always time-consuming, but I think it's important for people to see that there are still fiber craftspeople out there. It also gives children (and adults) a peak at how fabric is made, a foreign concept for most, and one that seems magical to them when they see it. The Fall Festival is always fun (& free!), with many many activities and shows for families. It's one of those reminders about how lucky we are to live where we do.

First Flickr Video

posted by Andy

This has been a test of the emergency sock puppet performance. If this had been an actual performance the sock puppet would have been replaced by an actual famous person.

Photos: Chook Feats

posted by Andy

I've been trying to snap some shots of our chickens' feet. I know birds are distant relatives of the old dinos, but seeing it close up really drives the point home. Birds are really odd critters if you take the time really observe - scales, claws, spiked tongues, eggs ...