The Blue Brick

Pretty little things

April 1, 2011
Just a random smattering of what I’ve been up to lately – Enjoy!

Following on the fun I had with my swirly mugs I tried to take the same technique to this vase. One thing I’m realizing is that the shellac doesn’t form a complete barrier against the underglaze, but I kind of like it that way.

I love the colours – this was inspired by the white sand and blue green colours of the beaches in Maui – a place I have been wanting to return to so I could take up surfing.

Another random thing are these earrings I made on the weekend:

Mom and I saw these at the Swarovski store at the mall on the weekend and decided to make our own versions. I love them, and they’re a far cry from being $120 a pair ;o)

Genuine Swarovski orchids (I love how they look like trilliums) hanging from sterling silver chain.

The design was inspired by these but I humbly admit that I like my version better.
- I’m not into hearts
- These particular stones have a front and a back to them – which to me doesn’t make sense on a flashy, dangly earring. I’d rather know that the sparkle factor would be the same no matter which way it was hanging!
In other news my sweater is off the needles and blocking – I’ll try it on as soon as it’s dry, make the buttons this weekend and decide what I’m doing with the neckline (possibly a hoodie)

It’s going to be sunny and 8 degrees in Toronto this weekend, welcome April!
Adventures in dying wool (or how to not remind people of Jim Jones)

March 30, 2011
I needed lots of single serve packets of Kool-Aid – so I could have the most colour variety possible. I went to the Sobeys near my place and loaded up on about 30 single serve packets, in as many different colours as I could get. I took my findings to the cashier, where the person ahead of me in line kept glancing back at my absurd collection. I decided to clarify for him.

—

Me: I’m dying

Person: You’re What ?!

Me: Yeah, tonight – you can do it with Kool-Aid – did you know that?

—

If you want to try it yourself here are some basic guidelines (use superwash, natural fibers):
1. Wash the yarn, and let it soak for about half an hour. Add a cup of vinegar (this helps the Kool-Aid be colourfast)
2. Put the yarn on the stove and bring it to a very slow simmer. Doing this slowly is key, otherwise you might felt your yarn.
3. Add the Kool-Aid – either pour the crystals directly into the pot, or mix with a little water to form a concentrated solution and add that to the pot. Needless to say, don’t add sugar ;o)
4. You can add different colours to different parts of the yarn to produce a varigated yarn, or do the whole thing in one colour.
5. Let yarn simmer for another half hour or so and then take it off the heat.
6. When it’s cool, give it a gentle rinse and hang up up overnight to dry.
Here are some pics of my favourite self-dyed pieces =o)
Quickie Post – I’m on a roll!

March 28, 2011
I was on a yarn bowl roll this weekend – I threw 12 new ones, all in the ‘honey pot’ shape that everyone loves.

These babies will be available for sale at this years Knitters Frolic here in Toronto this spring, at the Purple Purl’s booth.

Speaking of spring, there are so many great things to look forward to!
- I close on the condo in a little over a month
- I bought a brand new lens today, can’t wait to try it out!
- The spring One of a Kind show starts this week
- Good weather (it’s going to happen. Someday)
- Tito and I are going to see the Lion King in April
- I’m taking my family to see Paul Simon in May
- The Knitters Frolic (did I mention?)
- My sweater is alllllmooosstt there, one sleeve is done and I’m just starting the 2nd one. Now to make them match!
First sweater… almost there!

March 23, 2011

Just a quickie post today because I’m dying to show my progress even though it’s not done…

6 balls of TFA Green label Sunset, and a relatively simple top down cardi. Some waist, neckline and sleeve shaping (new to me) and what I believe is called Raglan sleeves. I’ve had to work with my old friends, the DPNs for the sleeve shaping. You can see a lighter band around the chest area, there is a slight colour shift where I switched skeins. I don’t mind it, and after blocking it might be more subtle. TFA yarn is all hand dyed goodness, so some variation is expected I’m sure – and I’ve heard that you can ‘stripe’ your knitting to achieve consistency with hand dyed yarns – does anyone know how to do this? Email me if you do!

It feels just a little small when I try it on, but I’m relying (fingers crossed) on my competent swatching. I took care to wash and dry the swatch before measuring because TFA opens up a little after blocking. Therefore, this should fit fine…(how many rookie sweater-knitters have said that, I wonder?)

Still hoping to have it ready for the knitters frolic at the end of April, but likely much much earlier. I still have two balls left, I’m hoping that’s enough for not just the other sleeve, but a hoodie instead of the neckline in the pattern (though if I stick with the pattern I’ll have a bonus ball of TFA left over for other stuff….)

Exciting, right? Well this has taken me over a month so far, and it took me around 7 months just to have the fortitude to select a pattern and start. So I’m pretty excited to have it done with! I’m even planning to make my own lampworked clasp, lets hope it works!
The Ritz Carlton Toronto

March 22, 2011

I just had to show these off – I was commissioned to photograph the new Ritz-Carlton hotel, by Cadillac Fairview, at Wellington and Simcoe. The new hotel is not only lovely, but it was a challenge to shoot because of the vast spaces and combinations of natural and tungsten lighting – and I love a challenging shoot =o)

I loved this room, high ceiling and a light, airy space. This was the only such space in the hotel which had a more traditional bent to it’s decor.

These two photographs were both of the hotel lobby. In each case you are looking at a 12 photograph panoramic stitch. I use photomerge in PS CS4 to stitch, and then blend the results by hand.

This is of the lower lounge for the restaurant. I love the chandelier.

This is the upper lounge of the restaurant, Toca. Hidden behind this table is the cheese cave.

The cheese cave is visible through the glass on the right. It’s the only one of its kind in Canada, part showroom and part aging facility. It showcases 80% Canadian product.

The hotel bar/lounge.

The shoot is not yet complete – I’ve still got to cover the spa, boardroom, sky lounge residential area and aerial study (possibly from a helicopter) Gosh, I love my job ;o)
I’m getting better at this… more glasswork

March 18, 2011

I’m getting better at this :)

This is the front view of my latest bracelet.

And a side/clasp view. With this one I used the same colour scheme for all beads but experimented with different forms and shapes. I discovered that flattened beads sit more comfortably against my wrist. I’ve got a bunch more ideas stemming from this, can’t wait to get back to beadfx!

This is my favourite piece so far – I took the best bead from my last session and purchased an attachment that would let me hang it from a chain.

Out of all my lampworked stuff this is the first one I’ve loved enough to wear.

In other news I’m almost out of the long dark eternity of the sweater – I’m finishing up the seed stitch hem on my TFA sunset cardi and will be starting the sleeves this weekend! I’m well on target for getting to wear it at the knitters frolic this May, but hoping to have it earlier as it’s occurring to me that, by May, things in Toronto may be a little warm. I’ve also got a fun idea for making the clasp out of glass, we’ll see how that plays out ;o)

Speaking of that sweater – I had started a fair isle design at the bottom that turned out pretty badly owing to a) my poor understanding of intarsia and when you need to secure your strands differently and b) tight strands, which started to pucker. I had to frog it back for 4 inches and chickened out of re-attempting the fair isle in favour of just finishing it with the sunset. To aid me in this adventure I used this handy tutorial from knitty.
Sugar Beach

March 17, 2011

Toronto is a city developing at a pretty crazy rate. Google earth has a function that allows you to look at photos 8-10 years old, and Toronto’s waterfront 10 years ago was quite barren compared with today. These days that area is full of snazzy new condos and developing parkland.

One of the cool things about a city that moves so fast is finding those places that are relics of the old Toronto, and the contrast between old and new.

One such place is called sugar beach – on one side of the water is an old (but functional) industrial looking Redpath sugar refinery. There is a dark water lane way for giant ships to pull in beside it, and on the other side is a brand new beach, complete with white sand, white muskoka chairs and happy pink umbrellas. Because we had a warm, clear evening I decided to enjoy it by doing a photographic study of the area.

This last shot I added for fun – this was taken 2 years ago while there was a ship pulled in. It was a beautiful, clear night and this was shot in HDR.
Japan 2007

March 15, 2011

I have felt absolutely awful at the images on the news lately – in fact I don’t think the news has affected me like this in a very long time. I feel as terrible as I did the first time (and every time, come to think of it) that I saw the videos of 9/11. I think it’s for a number of reasons, maybe the fact that it’s a triple whammy, between the Tsunami, earthquake and nuclear threat. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been there, and have lots of fond memories of how amazing and warm the people are. Maybe the fact that I’ve studied a Japanese art for almost half my life. It might just be the fact that they’re getting pummelled, it doesn’t seem to stop coming, and I know firsthand that they are not people who complain, or accept help easily.

Regardless of the reason I know that my thoughts are with them, and while going through old photos from my trip I decided to share some here;

The Inari Shrine, Kyoto

The friend I was staying with managed to book us in for a day at a pottery studio – this was one of my favourite parts of the trip.

Alas it is blurry, but I also did get to spend a day at a Goju Ryu Dojo – training in Japan is very different, it was much more relaxed than the school I was at in those days.

This is near the top of Mt. Fuji – we climbed all night to try and get the sunrise. Even though Fuji was a smaller mountain than the one I climbed in the Andes I found it to be much more difficult – maybe because it was a night climb. I remember stopping at one of the stations freezing my butt off and buying a can of green tea that had been heated over a fire. A can! I put that can under my shirt on my stomach, wrapped myself into a tight ball around it and fell asleep right there on the path. It was awesome.

The sunrise.

Japan has many gardens so beautiful they take your breath away.

The Golden Temple

An absolutely gorgeous dojo.

I’m crossing my fingers that we will see an end to this disaster soon. Canadians looking to help out can donate to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami fund.
Wishes for Japan

March 14, 2011

I took this photo in 2007, at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto when I had the fortune to visit this incredible country filled with strong, compassionate, resourceful people.

The tradition, as I understand it, is that people write their wishes down on pieces of wood that are burned in special ceremonies. They believe that the smoke carries their wishes to God. My wish is that folks around the world donate whatever they can to help this beautiful country pull through this challenging time.

I am selling an 8×10 Kodak Matte print on my Etsy site to try to raise funds for aid. Each photo costs $35 to purchase, and $30 from the sale of each photo will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami fund.
Glass Lampworking, take II

March 11, 2011

Before I show you todays piece I want to express my sadness and horror at the devastation Japan experienced with this morning’s earthquake and Tsunami. I’ve been to Japan, and I can say that they are an impressive people; strong, disciplined, brilliant, cooperative and resilient, and I know they will show all of those wonderful qualities in the days ahead as they deal with this terrible tragedy.

The bead above is just a solo bead that I didn’t do anything with yet, but I was so thrilled with how beautifully it turned out that I had to put it up here – I love the colour, the details and the way the brown just sweeps across the blue! If I had the skill I’d make 12 more beads just like this one so I could make a bracelet, but alas I don’t have the skill to make things that actually match yet.

Speaking of trying to match things though, here is my 2nd attempt at a bracelet. Though none of the beads match each other, they were made with the same techniques, and the same colour glass, so that helped create a cohesive result.

Here is a close up view. I broke out of my colour scheme a bit this time by going with violets in stead of the predictable turquoise. I’m back in the studio for 2 hours tonight though, and I think I’ll try and make earrings this time.

I’m definitely addicted, can’t wait to go back and try some more tonight!