FoxandClover

I was bumping around etsy tonight, and as usual, found something beautiful that lead me to look into someone else's life, specifically a craftswoman named Sabrina who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Isn't the internet grand? Beyond all the cheap pharmaceuticals, there are so many amazing people out there...

Without further ado, here's a beautiful necklace and dish from FoxandClover's etsy shop:

lace doily necklace $65 and whale soap dish $48

These are made by painting glass enamel paints onto recycled glass and then kiln firing them. Beautiful, aren't they?

Miroslav Tichy's handmade cameras and photographs

Miroslav Tichý, MT Inv. no.: 4-95, by courtesy of Foundation Tichý oceán

From the official Tichy website:

After studying at the Academy of Arts in Prague, Miroslav Tichý (born 1926) withdrew to a life in isolation in his hometown of Kyjov, Moravia. In the late 1950s he quit painting and became a distinctive Diogenes-like figure. From the end of the 1960s he began to take photographs mainly of local women, in part with cameras he made by hand. 

He later mounted them on hand-made frames, added finishing touches in pencil, and thus moved them from photography in the direction of drawing. The result is works of strikingly unusual formal qualities, which disregard the rules of conventional photography. 

They constitute a large oeuvre of poetic, dreamlike views of feminine beauty in a small town under the Czechoslovak Communist régime.

He spent 8 years in a prison camp in the Czech republic because of his "subversive tendencies." After being released, he often photographed women with his homemade cameras. He couldn't afford a camera, so he built them himself out of tin cans, children's glasses, tape, string, wood and other found objects. 

More about Tichy from FotoSilver Blog:

In allusion to Plato's cave allegory, he regards the world as mere reflection and himself as its only conscious observer. Often Miroslav Tichý applies intricate pencil drawings onto the surface of his photographs and frames them with sensitively designed passepartouts, thus enhancing their profound poetry. Due to the yearlong storage in his run-down house, a melancholic veil of stains has layered itself upon the photographs. Miroslav Tichý works inhere an enigmatic and translucent atmosphere. In the mid 1980's the artist decides to give up artistic production: I had a norm. One hundred photographs a day. When I reached my norm, I stopped.
In his photographs the Czech artist renders a whole universe of female figures. He captures women strolling through the city, sunbathing by the swimming pool, chatting with neighbours, or going shopping. Other women are photographed from the TV screen. Sometimes they are unaware of the observer, sometimes unopposed, sometimes angry. Their ankles, faces and torsos dominate the composition.

His photographs remind me of a communist-era voyeur-recluse Joseph Cornell.

Flying Stick Cam

This flying stick camera is the sort of contraption I wish I owned (it doesn't seem to be in production in the US), or had the engineering mind to fashion myself out of straws and balsa wood. 

3 Cups of Tea

I've got this book in my blood right now, and am sad I just finished it this morning. After stumbling upon the story of Greg Mortenson and his humanitarian organization the Central Asia Institute in an article for Outside magazine, my interest was piqued.

While walking through Costco with K.C. last week, there lay Greg's story 3 Cups of Tea all alone on top of a stack of cooking books. I snatched it up.

3 Cups of Tea is the story of a lost, depleated, mourning mountaineer who finds his life calling in the remote northern region of Pakistan and his unlikely success at building schools for girls and boys in Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the bombing in Mumbai this past week, and the border dispute between Pakistan and India threatening to resume, I worried about the students and people I'd felt like I'd gotten to know while reading 3 Cups of Tea. Seriously. It's that strong a book.

Read it, please! 

stump on Wilshire

I saw this sad little guy heading home from Machine Project at LACMA on Saturday. 

Ash in the air, ash on my mind

Just another morning in Southern California: the smell of smoke coming through my bedroom window, ash in the kitchen sink, the sunlight a blood orange color. I was on edge the minute I opened my eyes. I can't explain how surprised I am by how deeply the fire that burned down K.C.'s house still affects me. We're approaching the one year anniversary of that nightmarish day and it's been weighing on my mind, and today I can't shake a bone-deep sadness for all the people who have lost their homes in the last few days. This Jenny Holzer plaque pretty much sums up how I've been feeling:

After motivating myself to get out of the house, I drove downtown to Felt Club alone, since all my girlfriends were busy (well, the three I thought of to call ahead of time). On the way over, the smoke from the Sylmar fires got thicker and thicker - and my anxiety intensified. When I finally arrived and cruised by the entrance, there was a line around the block waiting to get in. I couldn't deal with the thought of waiting alone for a half hour or more, so I drove back home. Without getting out of the car. That's how skittish the fires have made me.
I felt bad about bailing out on what I'm sure would of been a great experience, so I decided to salvage the day and make some art. The image of a house on fire in a bottle just popped into my mind as I was mindlessly doodling squirrels. (Don't ask - I got accosted by a squirrel yesterday in Hollywood.)
The text is from the only thing that made it through the fire, a charred page of a book that was found among the ash:

Whatever you call the new Dream, it is still a dream as real or as false as the dream of hell. But now you can choose which dream you want to live in. Now you have the tools in your hands to heal yourself. The question is: What are you going to do with them?

Smoke-filled sunday

I'm off to make some art on this hazy day. The fires all around LA are reminding me of this time last year when K.C.'s house burned down. It's making me squirrely, so I thought I'd post one of my favorite pick-me-up songs, Imogene Heap's "Just for Now" live.

Tiles and scarves

It *was* getting colder earlier this week, and although it was easily 90 degrees at LACMA today (way to go Machine Project!), the damage was done: I've begun to think/yearn for and about scarflettes and cowls. Don't ask me why; my neck gets cold easily (since I'm part giraffe, that's a lot of skin) and I'm tired of my tried-and-true long scarves.

I've also had home renovations on the brain because my friend Adri just bought her first house - a real fixer-upper. I was going through my "home links" file to send her some inspiration, and rediscovered some beautiful resources for tile. 

Why not combine these two interests? Why not dress up like your wall coverings? Don't answer that. If Ann Sacks' ads can do it, so can I.

So here goes: tile-inspired scarflettes or scarflette-inspired tiles:

"Bora Bora" glass subway tiles from modwalls

meets...

Knittles' awesomely green Forest Dweller's chunky neckwarmer/cowl ($45), which

also goes great with...

Bryan Kerrigan wood grain high-relief ceramic architectural tile.  This is my favorite tile, ever. Someday, I will have it.

The buttons on the cowl above also remind me of this earthy cork mosaic tile from modwalls.

I could do this whole exercise using modwalls' tiles, but I'm going to force myself to find a different tile for every goddamn scarflette. Yes, it is the weekend, and yes, I have some free time. Why do you ask?

Granada Tiles "Alhambra" series meets...

yearofthegoat's handknit snap up cowl neck ($60).

Urbanknit's green neckwarmer ($48) in all its chunky goodness, and also...

RockaByeBebe's organic cotton neckwarmer ($35) should be paired with...

Heath Ceramics citrus green 3"x3" tiles.

We're rolling now - on with the show!

Ann Sacks' Gotham ovals and oval stars in light grey g06, medium grey g13, dark grey g07 and black matte 210 reminds me of...

Ruffles scarflette ($40) by homelab. I like the funky knit - the dark grey keeps it from getting too kooky.

Hakatai's ashland series (crystal blue iridescent specifically) reminds me of...

KiwiandCompany's hand-knit teal blue cowl ($54).

Art & Ciment have so many beautiful tiles on their website (I could of spent hours rummaging around.) The Rustik 4-12 and Tradition 4-16 cement tiles are reminiscent of ...

The luxury button scarflette ($48) by Tortillagirl. I'm digging the chunky cable knit against the girly button detail. She also has these in cream with floral wooden buttons...

This crocheted  scarflette ($40) by MarienneS brings to mind another bold yet feminine pattern...

The Baroque collection in Midnight from Style bath and kitchen.

Sheknitsamy's organic cream and caramel cowl ($38) has similar colors to...

These beautiful art deco tiles from California Pottery and Tile Works.

Done! Now you have all your neck warming and wall treatment links in one place. Don't say I never did anything for you.

spicy turkey and acorn squash

Although fall in Los Angeles isn't as crispy-leaves-falling-a-riffic as on the eastern seaboard, my taste buds start to yearn for squash around this time of year.

Last week I was inspired from a posting on The Kitchen about filling an acorn squash with garlic cloves, which then led to another posting about Sweet and Spicy Squash.

I HAD TO MAKE IT. Well, I should amend that I HAD TO BUG K.C. TO HELP ME MAKE SOMETHING LIKE IT. Cooking alone is not my favorite thing. I find stuffing two people in my little kitchen much more interesting. Here's what went down in chilly Marina Del Rey last week...

Below is the original recipe, which we riffed off of:

Sweet and spicy Squash - serves 1 (I think it would serve 2)

1 acorn squash

2 teaspoons olive oil, or to taste

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds. Place in a small pie pan or baking dish. Rub one half with the olive oil, coating the cavity well. Then rub in the curry and chili powders, and some salt and pepper. Rub softened butter in the other half and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the squash comes up easily when scraped gently with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then eat straight from the rind, mashing it up with a  spoon.

We decided to forgo the sweet option, and instead added a few hot peppers from my porch garden that were ripe (serrano and mexibelle to be precise).

First, the prep:

First we halved the acorn squash, scraped it clean, rubbed olive oil in the cavity, and then filled each half with 4 garlic cloves, and diced pepper (each half got half a serrano, half a mexibelle).

In a bowl, I tossed the seeds from the squash with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Save these for addition later.

 Put the squash in the oven for 50-60 minutes at 375F. 

While the squash was in the oven, K.C. sauteed some olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, oregano, parsley, hot sauce (Cholula), salt, and pepper. Then he added the turkey, and when it was about 75% cooked, he started adding Bud Light. 

Yes, Bud Light. 

Just keep adding a splash of beer so the turkey is cooking in broth (like in the picture). We used a whole can when all was said and done. The last few minutes, let the beer broth cook off so the turkey will be less soupy and more dry.

After 30 minutes, we removed the squash from the oven, and added the turkey to the squash cavities (just put it on top of the garlic and peppers). 

Back in it went.

10 minutes later, we removed the squash/turkey again and added grated sharp cheddar to the top (about a 1/4 cup each). We also added the seeds to the pan to toast.

Back in it went for the final 30-40 minutes of cooking.

After a full hour of cooking (depending on the squash size, it could be up to an hour and 10 minutes), we took the squash out of the oven, quartered the squash halves, and topped with the toasted acorn seeds.

Voila, a one-dish meal!

Yes, it was really good.