"Sleepy Inuit Village" button ring

I'm fascinated by igloos. It's crazy to think about how early Inuits were able to live and flourish in the harshest of conditions.

There's a dreamy documentary from the 1920's (the first feature-length documentary ever) called Nanook Of The North that follows the lives of a family in the Arctic. Here's a little clip of Nanook building an igloo for his family in under an hour. Complete with a window made of ice and snow to reflect the warm sunlight inside.

And that's the inspiration for my latest creations...

One button...

Two button...

Delectable clothing buttons repurposed into...

"Sleepy Inuit Village" button rings

A miniature Inuit village sits atop the frozen lake of turquoise flecked with gold. Two stacked buttons create the scene of chilly igloos set on a pearlescent stage. Their three-dimensional character and subtle variations are the perfect splash of color for a cold winter's day. Each ring is completed with an antique brass-plated band.

The finer details...

The ring's face is made of 2 plastic buttons made in Italy. The top is a transparent light green, speckled with gold. The bottom button is aquamarine, faceted, and 7/8" in diameter with pearlish speckles. The band is a very strong, adjustable antique brass-plated, 4mm in width.

I have been creating button rings for the past year and this one will finally be listed in my Etsy shop available for purchase. Head on over to purchase your very own.

Each ring is shipped in an itty bitty box, ready to give as a gift. Special attention is given to the packaging to make it special for you or your recipient. It's a lovely gift to give a friend, family member, or co-worker.

Sandy Skoglund

The Cocktail Party has been hanging on my inspiration board. This installation of Cheetos, mannequins, and people was created in the early 90's by Sandy Skoglund. When I discovered Sandy's work in an art textbook back in high school it had a huge impact on me. Huge. It has encouraged me to think outside of the box when creating art. Her work makes me want to make my own rendition of installation art.

Installation art is a media that I haven't touched a whole lot, but I know it will someday be involved in my art career. I love the idea of setting up 3-dimensional objects within a space with purpose and thought, for others to be able to walk through it as if they were part of it. Now that concept really excites me. I have been brainstorming about my future in installation art for quite some time. You can imagine the amount of ideas that are stored in the ol' noggin.

I picked a few of Skoglund's works that are my favorites. I find it humorous that they have a 80's & early 90's feel. I also included video of the making of The Cocktail Party... brilliant!

REVENGE OF THE GOLDFISH, 1981 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

FERNS, 1980 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

FOX GAMES, 1989 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

RADIOACTIVE CATS, 1980 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

RAINING POPCORN, 2001 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE, 2001 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

WALKING ON EGGSHELLS, 1997 Sandy Skoglund, www.sandyskoglund.com

A creative motivated mind

What motivates you?

I was asked this simple yet broad question this morning. With believing that motivation and inspiration work hand and hand, I decided to write about this topic today for my weekly inspiration post. Hopefully Yoshimi (my cat) isn't anymore of a distraction. She has been very rambunctious & kind of a nuisance: racing around the apartment, batting at paper, and finding new ways to chew on electrical cords.

This question made me think more about what motivates me to do art. Two distinct reasons have been rolling around in my head like marbles... community and experimentation. There were many many reasons why I moved to Portland from the Midwest. One being, I knew there was a strong creative/diy/artsy/designy community here. Being around these folks' creative energy and the fact that they enjoy the same thing that I have since I was 4 is, well... pretty friggin' awesome, I must say. I wasn't getting this artsy energy nearly as much back home and I felt my motivation to create art was dwindling. Oh sure, I went to art gallery openings and had art discussions & critiques with friends, but it just wasn't enough. So being involved with Portland's creative community is part of the pie. Sharing my final works with people and (hopefully) making their day brighter definitely motivates me to go full steam ahead.

Next, experimentation. Playing Sequence (the board game) with my friends on Christmas, three of us subconsciously made patterns with our unused game pieces. Eventually we noticed this, pointing each others out while we chuckled. I think it's so important for me to have different media to work with and to see the different directions to take it in. Playing around with those game pieces led me to think about drawing the patterns and ellipsis that I include in my artwork. Maybe that's why I love collaging so much. The experimenting is so very limitless. Sometime in the future I can see myself doing installation art and this encourages me to experiment more and more.

Well I'm going to stop there. I've got a proposal to write. I may be working on designing a consultant's business identity package. Weeeeeeee!

So I'm very curious... Artists, Crafters, and Designers out there... What motivates you? What reasons are rolling around in your head?

Blythe dolls

When I was 5 or 6 years old I was given a porcelain doll with long brown locks for Christmas, or maybe it was for my birthday... I'm not for sure. I remember being excited to get her but that's as far as my interest with dolls went. I was more into creative artsy activities and definitely a Legos kind of girl. She sat propped in a rocking chair on the shelf until she made her way into a garage sale years later. I'm surprised she stayed as long as she did in my bedroom. To be honest, I was rather spooked out by her beady eyes staring at me in the middle of the night. So why am I now having an interest in Blythe dolls? For those that don't know, these dolls have very large eyes which definitely are eerie. Their captivating eyes are color changing from blue to green to orange to pink. The more I've thought about these mysteriously strange characters, I've realized that that is part of their attraction. The chances of me owning one are very slim, the price ranges for NEO's are from $80 to $3,000. Below are some great Blythe finds. Thanks to the following for letting me share them!

Chocolate and Toffee Pixie Hat

AmandaRuth's Etsy Shop

Oona via via jemmielina's Flickr

CherryMillie via jemmielina's Flickr

Handknit Bobble Hat

PetitTricotage's Etsy Shop

Doll Sized Acorn Necklace - Green on Brass

via Art School Dropout

felted helmet

Bigsmudgeuk's Etsy

Vintage Handkerchief Eden Halter Dress

silkenstone's Etsy

The Virgin Suicides

78, that's the page I've made it to thus far... of The Virgin Suicides. Recommended by a close friend back in Nebraska, who has also recommended The Bell Jar. Do you ever have those moments when you are fully engaged into the world of reading novels? I think I have reached that point for the first time in my life. Thanks to Multnomah County Library and cold evenings, I'm currently reading three books: The Effects of Light, The Bell Jar, and alas The Virgin Suicides. I've been this way about art and design books in the past and now novels have taken their role. I think I'm becoming a book worm, seriously. I look forward to when the day grows to an end, throwing the tea kettle on the stove and sitting on my comfy chocolate suede couch, sipping and reading. Speaking of tea... over the weekend a friend and I made a drive up (in rush hour traffic I might add), to Ikea. I purchased two sets of these darling mustard colored coffee cups and saucers, they are perfect in every way. I'm a little persnickety when it comes to mugs.

image source: Barnes & Noble

Anyway, back to the Virgin Suicides, I had watched the film years ago... visually it was beautiful, with warm colors and sun bursts. Now absorbing the story in another media... the words of Jeffrey Eugenides is so extraordinaire. I am fearing the melancholy ending, I know it's not very pretty. I remember turning my eyes away from the television and asking whoever I was with to tell me when that scene was over with.

image source: Amazon

The soundtrack lives in my music library, I highly recommend listening to it. Anything that has to do with French music duo, AIR grabs my attention. On a side note, I hopped on over to Wikipedia and learned that, "The name AIR is a acronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêve which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream." Interesting.

Lastly I discovered a nice Flickr group tributed, take a look here. I'm interested to hear your experiences relating to the film and novel, feel free to comment about them.