Love List Friday: 07.30.10

 1. Untitled, 2. new at west + plum, 3. dandelion overload, 4. Some of my buttons, sequins and beads

After this week's love list, there will be a month-long hiatus from all my weekly posts (L'atelier Lundi, Musique Mardi, Love List Friday) while I participate in Susannah Conway's August Break. I will be (attempting to) post at least one photo every day for all thirty one days of August.
Next month is all about upheaval and change -- I will be packing up and saying goodbye to Florida, visiting relatives in Paradise, and then finally settling into my new home in Southern California.

So in the spirit of bidding adieu to my home of the past four years, today's LOVE is for all the things I'm leaving behind:

• lizards + geckos + iguanas
• huge expanses of orange purple sunsets (the land is so flat here the sky spreads out for miles, and there are no tall buildings where I live)
• almost daily torrential rainstorms with massive lightning + thunder
• all the birds (green parrots, orange orioles, red cardinals, blue jays, white ibis...)
• Kitty* (I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow!)

 * technically she is not mine, but the neighbor's cat, otherwise I'd take her with me

L'Atelier Lundi: July 26,2010

The Evie necklace; color palette inspired by the beautiful cover of Paranormalcy, a highly-anticipated YA novel coming out next month. Love that the design turned out almost exactly how I first imagined it, and am crazy about how prettily it hangs against the collarbone (kind of like those bead curtains from the 70's). But good grief the endless wire-wrapping has resulted in one extremely sore right thumb -- am not going to be able to make anything else until the throbbing pain subsides.
This is the first time I've ever taken color cues from a book cover, but it was a remarkably helpful jumping off point. A fun way to combine two of my great loves: YA novels and jewelry.

Love List Friday: Summer in Japan

Summer in Japan is brutal. Which is probably why there are so many delightful distractions to trick you into thinking it's a season worth celebrating. The Japanese spring is famously associated with cherry blossoms, but summer has its own time-honored symbols as well -- many, in fact. A lot of them are things that make you feel physically cooler, or somehow trigger the illusion of coolness.

My particularly favorite symbols of summer are:

1. goldfish, 2. 祭り＠赤坂, 3. 金魚, 4. kingyo with cherry flower

• kingyo = goldfish

1. fūrin, 2. FURIN

• fuurin = windchime

1. *, 2. kakigoori is sooooo goood!

• kakigori = shaved ice

1. *Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 線香花火

• hanabi  = fireworks 

1. A night of lanterns, 2. Cool Yukata Guys on Omotesando, 3. YUKATA, 4. Untitled

• yukata = summer kimono

We may look like we're enjoying our yukatas, but really we are on the verge of keeling over with heatstroke. Not really the most appropriate attire for 100-degree weather. Cute though.

Musique Mardi: くじら12号

The summer I turned 19, I was obsessed with all things j-pop. My days were spent poring over magazines from the Japanese market and dreaming of Harajuku shopping excursions, watching videos of Long Vacation (if you haven't seen it, follow the link -- I promise you'll be hooked {it has English subtitles}), and listening to my Judy and Mary cd over and over (and over) again.
くじら12号 (Whale no.12) is my favorite track off the album because of the imagery of the lyrics -- it's like listening to a punk bedtime story.
A few of the best (nonsensical) lines:

With imitation diamonds

I want a love affair made up of lies

My lover will be kidnapped

Let's rescue him from the monster's castle

The golden-colored travellers are waiting

Let's hurry into the fairytale

Once the sun wakes up

Let's take that boat

Cuddling, swimming through the melting snow like whales

At the end of the sky that no one yet knows

Is probably a blindingly bright glass door

I want to feel the spine-tingling kick of a dolphin

*Coming later this week: a post about summertime in Japan!

L'Atelier Lundi: July 12,2010

This week the creative endeavors I'm sharing are not jewelry, but my other true love: photography.
These shots were all taken with the instax mini, which produces tiny polaroid-esque instant photos. It is a tricky, tricky beast so far. Lighting is a b*tch (cannot tell you how many shots have come out pitch-black) and there is no telling if anything will be in focus or not.

But that is kind of the fun really -- the not knowing how it will turn out. Relinquishing control, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

The impatience while the picture develops from milky white and slowly the colors seep through.

It's a surprise every time.

Musique Mardi*: 27 Jennifers

*The formerly awkwardly-named Musical Interlude Tuesday will henceforth be referred to as Musique Mardi. What with the introduction of yesterday's L'Atelier Lundi I may be painting myself into a corner where every post must have an alliterative title (in French no less), but let's just go with it for now.
This week's selection is Mike Doughty's 27 Jennifers. The video creeps me out, but oh are the lyrics ever lovely. I mean, this is poetry:

 It’s the sweet shine of,
Yeah, force of divine love
The blessed arrival of you

You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for
You might be the strange delightful
You might be the girly who shall end all girls
You might be the sweet unspiteful

 The strange delightful indeed. I have been a fan since his Soul Coughing days, but whereas those were albums better suited for my strung-out on coffee late-nights in the art studio college era, his more recent solo work is melodic and layered and joyful and a good friend on contemplative rainy summer nights.

L'Atelier Lundi: July 5,2010

L'Atelier Lundi (so named because en français it has a more alliterative ring than "In the Studio Monday") is hopefully going to be a new weekly feature to share what I am currently working on.
Since summer began I have been enamored of making necklaces using hemp cord or silk thread in place of metal chain.  I first started using the thread in one color, but have since branched out to braids in complimentary hues.

In addition to the standard three-strand braid, I've fallen hard for the look of the nautical "rope-braid". Done in hemp, it is sturdy and cool to the touch, and makes me feel like I'm just one boat-neck, striped sweater away from being aboard some Mediterranean millionaire's yacht.

And lastly, beads strung and knotted directly on colorful thread is possibly my favorite technique. There is something soothing and meditative about the act of choosing beads and stringing them in an abstract pattern.

*A few of the pieces shown are available in the Etsy and 1000 Markets shoppes, and all will later be up at Daphne.

Love List Friday: 07.02.10

1. 34/365, 2. Don't Hold Back, 3. Untitled, 4. Tutti Frutti

Happy July everyone! Big changes are in the stars this month -- let's hope they're good ones.

Starting off on a positive note, here are some things I am brimming over with L-O-V-E for this week:

• colored pencils
• drawing swirly mind maps and finding clarity
• making a summer music mix to send a faraway friend (I will totally make *you* one too if you want)
• Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious -- the whole album just sends me into dreamy, sunlit, honey-dripping raptures
• plain yogurt with kiwis and watermelon
• f*ckyeahkissing's tumblr stream
• cute new floral knickers
• really good book recommendations via my reading guru
• persistent dreams that won't let you give up on them
• friendships, especially the hard ones -- because where would I be without them?