SHOCK STOCK 2012 {day one}

Woe! I can not believe that I was not able to make time to post for three weeks.  But sometimes things are out of your control (and sometimes you end up with some mystery illness and stupid doctors, hurray!).

I still intend on doing my personal coverage of Shock Stock 2012.  I actually wrote most of this one more than a week ago (shame!).

(Photos included are not in a linear order, but they are all from the first day!)

So, my first day of Shock Stock was certainly the most relaxed (if you want to call it relaxed), it was the shortest day which made it easier.  James asked me if I felt comfortable around celebrities, and whether or not I would be comfortable helping one at their table that night since the other female volunteers didn’t show up this day.  So, what guest did I get to hang out with all night?  Joe Pilato, AKA Captain Rhodes from Day of the Dead!  Yeah, I guess you could say I was kind of excited, and it felt a little surreal to be sitting beside him having casual conversations with him.

That doll of Joe Pilato was kind of super cool.  I was double jointed, and one of a kind.  A fan made it for him (supposedly), and included very detailed accessories, such as the pack of cigarettes, and a tiny coffee cup (not shown).  Even at a horror convention, I found unique doll making.

Back to the convention…

Joe Pilato was very entertaining.  He was friendly and obviously excited to be there with fans.

Plus, I was stationed right beside Fred “the Hammer” Williamson, a truly iconic Blaxploitation star.  But to be honest, I was more excited because he stars in a movie that is very near and dear in my heart: From Dusk Till Dawn.

Oh, how I kind of regret not getting that pussy photo signed instead…

There was lots of burger kicking every day, and so I will pick one photo each day to include in these posts.  So the burger kick of the day was:

Anyone who witnessed this burger going to the moon, know where this is headed.

After the expo, we had a later supper/ snack with some friends: Tyler Baptist, who runs Bad Monster Films (another Grindhouse promotion happening in Saskatoon), and Bill Zebub, the mighty King of B-Movies (who also has a pretty entertaining late night radio show).

Tyler Baptist, and his preferred exercise routine.

Bill Zebub and Joanna Angel.. exchanging videos?

Of course, the main event of the night was the 35mm print of Demons, including a Q&A with Geretta Geretta, Bobby Rhodes and Claudio Simonetti.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Vagrancy show without a balls to the walls trailer reel.

Demons!

Of course the night didn’t end there, we got to have drinks with Geretta Geretta, before finally getting to bed around 3am. To think, this is the earliest that we made to bed that weekend!

Thanks for reading, I will try to post day two tomorrow or Friday.  For full photographic coverage of Shock Stock 2012 Day One (and Two), please check out my facebook page!

xoxo

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia! {adventures in sprouting micro greens}

{Disclaimer: Okay, I admit I said that I was going to post this yesterday… remember when I said I don’t go on when my partner is home?  Well he got home early yesterday so here we are!}

On Monday, in my never-ending quest to try new things, I decided to try to sprout some of the Chia seeds that we have in the pantry (normally for eating purposes).  I had been wanting to grow micro greens for a little while now, and so when I realized that I actually had a type already, I had to do it immediately.  This is the website that provided me with all of my information on sprouting (not that I followed it perfectly but still), they also have more info on other greens and plant life. 

Step One! Place a single layer of seeds into a shallow dish of some sort (I used a spoon rest for this initial experiment). I have since realized that I was not supposed to put so many so close together, but they still seem to be growing okay.

Step Two! Put just enough water into the dish to cover the seeds, then let it rest where no kitties will disturb it.

After an hour or so, the water will turn into a type of gel, this is because Chia seeds are a Mucilaginous seed (and this is essentially what allows us to grow them without any soil).

Here you can see how thick the gel that forms actually is.

(sorry for the bad photo, late at night!) This is a full day and a few hours after "planting" them, you can see the hulls already being shed and the sprouts coming out like little worms.

Once the sprouts started growing, I covered the dish and put it in the sun. I did this on the fourth day.

So, now I can start to see my first fuck up, being too many seeds on the plate (I doubt the ones in the middle will grow at this point, I may just scoop them out so that the rest have a better chance of success). The sprouts that are coming up are starting to turn green though!

Not Chia seeds, but I snapped this photo yesterday after taking this loaf out of the oven. I really want a proper bread pan, so that I can make bread that is not perfectly round (or super oblong), but I am still kind of impressed with how quickly and easily I can make a loaf of bread now.

I plan on trying to grow a lot more micro greens over the summer, now to just find seeds…

UPDATE:

Since I wrote most of this on Monday, added to it yesterday, and am posting it today, I thought it would best to post the most updated photos available.  Over the night those little sprouts managed to do a lot:

Green sprouts!!

Thanks for reading, if you have any tips or advice, or if I have done something that is terribly incorrect, please let me know in the comments!  I haven’t done this before, and I would probably be described as having a black thumb.

xoxo

Introducing Chie {original art by Lauren Brevner}

I have to admit, that I am a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to post this beautiful art doll that I received late last year. I was very very lucky to win this doll in a giveaway.  I have been reading Laruen’s blog for a while now.  Originally I was reading because of her work in clay and the amount of WIP shots she would show of her ball jointed doll pursuits.  Recently she has been working more with painting and 2-Dimensional art, which is also very interesting.  Please check out her inspiring art blog by clicking here.

Isn’t she beautiful?  Aren’t you just a bit jealous? I know.  Not only is this doll lovely, but she is also incredibly inspirational to me.  I have been working in clay, experimenting and trying some new things, using air dry clays, over the past six months now.  You must be wondering, why have you not posted any of this?  Well, because I get super frustrated when I work with clay and usually end up hating whatever I’ve made by the end of it.  But,  I have been working on one doll for a little while now, so I’m thinking I might have the confidence to post some shots of her later in April.  In the note that arrived with Chie, Lauren mentioned that she is the first thing to leave her studio, and that she represents a beginning of great things.  I think she’s right, and I will use her to inspire and motivate me to keep trying and moving forward with my own art.   Thank you so much Lauren for such a beautiful art doll, I really could not have asked for anything more amazing from an artist that had already been inspiring me!

xoxo

Spring Cleaning {year long super purge continues}

This is a quick update about how the house re-decorating, de-cluttering, organizing and losing my mind overall is going.

As you know, I have been focusing my decorating efforts in the kitchen.  I can’t wait for the consistent nice weather so that I can finally paint the doors to the kitchen.  If you remember  from my “before” shots of the kitchen, one area that was in dire need of re-organization before I could even consider what to do with the space was the small counter beside the fridge, seen here:

if you can believe it, I actually tidied up the counter before I took this picture

As you can see, the microwave took up almost all of the counter space; also, thanks to poor outlet locations, we are required to string a heavy extension cord across the window and allowed to just hang out awkwardly in the bottom left hand corner there.  My partner and I discussed the possibility of moving the microwave to the other counter.. but that seemed worse.  So, we decided to try to go a full week without using the microwave, to see if we could do it.  We even taped the door, so that if we forgot, we didn’t accidentally use it (I do admit that we used it once during the week, to use our last pack of microwave popcorn).  After the trial week was over, we moved the microwave out of the kitchen:

Now, there is so much more space!  I am excited about this simple change, it gives me a lot more area to work and forces us to eat a lot more healthy on a regular basis.  I’m still not entirely sure how to decorate the spot, or how I should organize the kitchen to utilize the space as efficiently as possible.. but one thing is for sure: I really don’t miss that big, ugly microwave.

But, being the super crazy person I am, I am not never happy with doing only one thing at a time.  Today I decided to do some super organizing/ purging in the living room.  So far, I have sorted through two storage ottomans, the TV unit, our “coffee table” (which is really just two milk crates staked on top of each other with a tray on top), and now I am tackling one of the worst offenders: the book-case.

Here is my current progress shot, which I am avoiding at the moment to write this post:

We have too many books for the book cases we have.  That is a sad fact that we are hopefully correcting soon (Ikea here we come!), and so I will probably be putting a lot of these books away until then.

I have also been playing around with the Iphone and taking photos again with it.  You may have noticed that my new photos today were both taken with it (hence their slightly funky colorations).  I found a new app to play around with called Photo HDR, although I’m not really sure how well it does high dynamic range, it does offer some fun possibilities.  Here is a photo of my living room, a complete mess, taken with the Iphone:

If you are online, and bored, I also found this website that might eat up all of my free time: http://random-tutorial.com/

It’s a site where you just click a button and you are brought to a random craft tutorial.  However, one downside is that you have to go to the actual blog site and post in order to pin it, which kind of sucks.

xoxo

CCMC {Vagrancy Films Event}

This gallery contains 9 photos.

This past weekend, I had the joy of going to a Vagrancy event with good friends.  The event, very subtly called Colour Correct My Cock, was meant to raise money for them to convert 35mm film to digital.  Since many theaters are changing their film projectors to digital projectors, unfortunately, Vagrancy will have no where [...]

Cindi Talbot {Somewhere In Between}

This past weekend, some friends and I were able to go to a fantastic art opening at a local bar (I’m not sure if this is popular elsewhere… but art shows happen a lot in bars in London).  Any ways, the art show features an artist I went to school with, and whom I respect very much (plus I love her art).  She is very adventurous with her art, experiments with a lot of different mediums and techniques, but this show focused on her printmaking.

Domestic Bliss Series: #2- Blinded. 2011. Stone lithograph on Somerset paper. image size: 16" x 22"

To find out more about Cindi’s show at the Nite Owl click here.

Click here to see Cindi’s facebook page, and more of her amazing art.

Cindi also has a website that is currently under construction, but is a site to keep an eye on.

Etsy Shop {new items and updated}

Just a quick note to say that I added new listings to my Etsy shop, and I am offering a free “My Heart is in Stitches” key chain when you buy my pixel heart magnets (but only until Valentine’s Day!).

Click here to check out my Etsy store!