THESNEAKYSPOON

BEST NEWS EVER.

2012-02-16T23:52:00.001-08:00

New camera lens! Huzzah!

2012-01-25T01:23:00.000-08:00

So I decided that I wanted to update my camera gear but I didn't have the cash to buy a new camera body so instead I bought a new lens! The cheapest lens around really, but it's pretty fun so far! Also happy about DJ beginning to get his beard back. Yuss.

Dingding

2012-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

It is a true story that Ding is one of the coolest cats around. I spend a lot of my time when I'm not at work trying to convince him to hang out with me and then feeling blissfully chuffed when he does, worried when he won't come home, and annoyed/amused when he attacks me.

I also like that in summer and in winter he looks like a totally different cat - in summer he's sleek and shiny and in winter he's got the puffiest ruffs and breeches around town.

We've got an awesome relationship. I can't wait until winter so that I can hang the birdfeeder outside the window again and watch him try to catch them despite the glass in his way.

Happy New Year

2012-01-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Ahoy Brave Reader! I can't believe you're still here! So sorry for keeping you waiting all this time.

A million million apologies for my crapness at posting last year. As it turns out, this is something I seem to do annually - start the year off strongly with a flurry of posts only to have the activity die off over the course of the year.

In 2012 I plan to be much more creative. Good plan hey! In order to implement this bold plan, I'm going to be cutting down on how often I work at Marbecks to four days a week instead of five. Scary stuff. I think I wrangle it though - do some freelance work, make some art, paint my house. Good things to be doing.

I don't want to just post about stuff that I've designed, I also want to post about stuff that's going on in my life. If this turns you off, fair enough, not everyone is into hearing about my cat and how angry customers make me. Seriously though, people need to learn a little thing called respect. Also how to be polite. I encounter so many assholes on a daily basis and they manifest in so many different ways that it blows my mind. What really surprised me was how the worst ones are the older ones who have such a sense of entitlement that they believe throwing their credit card and purchase at you while talking on the phone and not looking at you is a perfectly acceptable form of interaction to have with another person. Yeesh. Give me one of our crazies any day - at least they know how to say please.

Anyway, this was just to say I intend to be on here more often posting about more kinds of stuff and I hope you stick around!

Luci

Derby!

2011-08-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is a derby dame and was asked to take a whack at redrawing/tidying up their logo. She was tearing her hair out about it so I offered to help. I don't know if they're even going to use it (I think they're a bit uncertain about the direction they'd like their "brand" to head in and I gave it to them about a month and a half ago) but it was pretty fun to make so I thought I'd put it up on here.

Cellists of Otago

2011-08-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Months ago a lovely lady called Judy came into our store to ask if she could hang a poster up, I said sure, and she handed me the poster. It was... ok. I had some time on my hands and told her that I was a designer and that if she'd like me to put together a new poster for them, then I could do it in an afternoon for them for free (not my usual approach but she was so nice and the poster was so... ok). She agreed delightedly and I gave her my email address.

Later I went round to her house and photographed her lovely old cello, sparred with her ferocious kitty on the couch, (there is nothing I like more than teasing and then trying to sooth a ferocious cat - live life dangerously) chatted with her husband George, then headed home to put it together.

I made it simple so that they could reuse it again and again by just changing the text on the left hand side. Judy was delighted. They had very positive feedback on the poster and swore that the audience was larger than usual. They gave me a cute little card with a wee dog on it and a lovely thank you note and a cheque (which was not at all neccessary but nonetheless very kind).

I'm glad I offered my services to them on a whim - it felt good helping them out with a new poster and in a month I'm going to photograph the whole group of cellists which should be some good experience (I don't think I've ever tried to photograph more than 5 people together at a time...).

Matt Langley + Darren Watson

2011-08-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Made a tour poster for Matt Langley and Darren Watson. Sweet deal! The one above is the one they went with. Ah the lonesome road! I liked a couple of the other versions of this I whammied together (I think the deer were my fave):

Below is an even earlier idea that I made for them that fell through - might end up using it again later for someone else... watch this space and all that jazz! This was the first time in a long time that my initial concept was rejected by a band - something I'm putting down to the fact that I tend to make posters for bands who I know both personally and musically, and in this instance I didn't know them well enough to begin with (not that they're not nice guys, they are - I just didn't "get" the vibe/aesthetic/genre bang on first try).

You live you learn.

Michael Gillette

2011-07-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Dude ought to know what he's talking about here - he is an awesome illustrator responsible for the coolest James Bond book covers I've ever seen. Check out his work at here and here.

The wants of a leggy blonde

2011-06-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

As someone who stand 6'1, shopping for tights to wrap around my pins has long been a pain in the butt. Or mid thigh if I'm honest, because 90% of the hosiery that I've purchased in my life result in the gusset of the tights hanging out in between my thighs and refusing to stay near my crotch like some fearful gay man...

I have friends who are at least a head shorter than me who buy x-tall tights and find that they're just right. Gah!

Well, finally I seem to have found a brand that gets that the X stands for extra and have made tights that are actually EXTRA TALL. Long live Voodoo! They're my new hosiery heroes - not only are they long enough to cover the full length of my leg, they have tights that don't sit at the hip, instead sitting much higher around the waist.

The firm control ones pictured above, are AMAZING. Getting into them made me feel like Winnie-the-Pooh trying to get out of Rabbit's burrow after over-indulgin in honey. Quite a squeeze. But once on, glorious snug fitting, firm-holding goodness.

Love.

Open email regarding Annabel Fay's Leg

2011-04-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

(This email was originally sent to the photographer, Olivia Hemus, and the designer of the album, Indium Design, that the above picture fronts.I didn't get a reply sadly, and I'd quite like one.)

Hi!

My name is Luci and I work in at a record store in Dunedin and studied design at Otago putting me in a somewhat unique position where I'm interested in both music and design and ever since the promotional poster for Annabel Fay's new album arrived in store and was unfurled on the wall, and then when the album itself arrived in store, I've been dying to find out whether she is, in fact, an amputee.

Can you help me? Is there actually a second leg hiding behind her front leg due to an amazing feat of foreshortening/lighting/camera angle/bendy knee syndrome? Is she an amputee who wears a fake leg most of the time but decided bravely to reveal her amputee status to the world on her new album (new album, new start)? Or, dare I ask, was it an editing decision to remove that unsightly, un-called for second leg? Who needs two of them anyway.

This has been making me crazy for ages. I emailed EMI but no-one could give me the truth! The truth! I figure between the photographer and the designer credited in the liner notes, one of you can help me out. I promise, I shall take the truth to my grave if needs be, but this is an itch that must be scratched for the sake of my mental wellbeing.

Much obliged,
Luci

Go font yourself

2011-02-28T19:12:00.000-08:00

At last! A quiz that answers that age old question, "if I were a typeface, which would I be?"

Turns out, I'm Architype Van Doesburg, because apparently I'm Emotional, Assertive, Progressive, and Disciplined (lol). This is the 6th most common result out of 16 typefaces.

What are you? I really want to see if anyone comes out as Expanded Antique - such a minority!

Happy Nude Year

2011-01-18T22:35:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! 2011 eh!

From henceforth 2010 shall be referred to as my Lost Year. The equation below explains it quite clearly: homeownership + hilarious cat + full-time work + loss of dedicated "creative time" = an exhausted non-productive hermit who emerges only for netball and when emotionally blackmailed. Yuss.

So no more! My one resolution for 2011 is to not let it be a repeat of 2010.

Thus far, January has proved promising - I've got a couple of interesting design projects on the horizon, my mum bought me a beautiful old sewing machine for my birthday which just needs a new cog before it's all mine, I've been drawing a lot more, and with the addition of an iphone as part of my anatomy (because it's now a permanent fixture on my body) I've been taking lots of photos and getting into observing and composing images again. I'm posting them at http://otherwiseforgettablemoments.tumblr.com if you want to check them out anytime.

So in the spirit of this being a new year with new creative endeavors, check out these posters!

I put this one together last night for Thundercub. Fun times!

This one is one I did for Tono in December. Wanted to see if I could make an interesting poster using Wing Dings. Mission accomplished?

Yule and the Telemetrics

2010-11-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Poster for an upcoming gig for Yule and the Telemetrics that I put together at short notice. Shazaam!

IIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA

2010-10-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

Oh man. Oh man. OH MAN OH MAN OH MANOMANOMANOMANOMAN.

I <3 ikea so much. SO MUCH.

We went today and I was so happy I hyperventilated a few times. The range of stuff! The excellent storage solutions! The wee setups that they have to show you things you could do to your house! The KITCHENS. Gah.

We left before I broke down and hid myself in a whole heap of pillows so I'd never have to leave.

We're going back next week.

Catching some flicks

2010-10-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

On the plane over to Brisbane, DJ and I flew Pacific Blue which was cheap and frill-free. $3 for water anyone? Mmmmhmm. We rented one of their inflight entertainment thingummys that cost $20 and came with two pairs of headphones. BRING YOUR OWN HEADPHONES. These were easily the shittest headphones I've ever had the displeasure of putting in my ears. Sigh. The movie selection was fairly decent though and we decided on Toy Story 3 seeing neither of us had seen it.

It was excellent! Man, sad and nostalgic and funny all at the same time. The characters, both old and new, were vibrant and interesting, and the storyline was entertaining and suspenseful. DJ and I both had a wah a couple of times during the film (which is always a wee bit awkward on a flight which is a daytime flight. If it's at night and everyone's asleep it's far less shameful)

So yes. Go see it if you haven't, it's pretty radpants.

We started watching Cemetery Junction which was alright and just starting to get interesting when the flight attendant came and took it off us because we were "just about to land". 20 minutes later we landed. That cheeky bitch.

My sister, who I am staying with, and I both were humongous fans of the Tomorrow When the War Began books by John Marsden when we were teenagers. In fact, they were easily my favourite books. Nothing compared. I was madly in love with them. I even wrote John Marsden a fan letter which I was too much of a chicken to send which means it's at home somewhere. When I decide that I'm in need of some public embarrassment I'll post it in all it's fawning glory.

Anywho, we went and watched the film adaptation yesterday and as much as it was not as good as the book, it was still totally enjoyable like watching Home and Away on steroids with guns and a better budget. Some of the acting was just naff as fuck, but the key characters pulled through alright - my hope is that they decide to make the whole series of books and through that process, the acting will improve and some of the depth that Marsden put into his characters will become more apparent onscreen.

Has anyone else been along to see it yet? Thoughts?

Posters

2010-09-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Oh hai! See, I still exist! Lately I have been mostly hanging with the cool cats of my flat and playing far too much League of Legends which is free, addictive, and awesomely abbreviates to LoL. So if you've been wondering where I've been hiding, that is where. My user name is Moreconi - if you decide to give it a go, look me up and we can gank some n00bs together.

As well as ganking n00bs I have been fighting with our cat Dingding over whether I have the right to rub his tummy or not, making delicious soups, planning a trip to Brisbane to see my little sister, and trying to keep on top of all the new release movies that come into Marbecks. I have also made a couple of posters, so here they are! I am quite keen on blogging more again. However, it will mostly be inane dribble. You ought to all be used to that by now though eh!

Overheard by the vinyl bins

2010-07-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

"Everyone knows Brian Jonestown Massacre are just a tryhard Dandy Warhols"

Erm, yes posturing teenage boy. With your posse of awkward accomplices and your muttered throwaways about "how overpriced vinyl is these day" despite the fact that vinyl had more or less gone out of circulation at the time of your birth in 1990.

I'd almost rather have an afternoon of rude old classical customers than have to restrain myself from coming over and slapping you for being SO YOUNG.

Almost. At least you make me laugh in a snorting kind of way.

Spectacles

2010-07-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love getting new glasses, even more so, I love getting cheap glasses because I am a notorious scrooge when it comes to parting with my precious pennies. It's called being thrifty alright? No point paying way more than I need to eh.

Which is why I was super pumped when DJ introduced me to Zenni Optical a few years ago. These guys have prescription glasses starting from $8US including the frames and the lenses. Shipping is a flat fee, and they have a mammoth range of glasses.

I'm thinking that this week I'll get my prescription updated and then order myself these! Yuss!

Fingers crossed they'll suit me and fit my ginormous head because this style is available in white, red, and tortoiseshell. Gotta catch 'em all!

Phantom Tollbooth + Thundercub

2010-06-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Whipped this up the other night for Dougie J's band Thundercub, and Chloe's band Phantom Tollbooth. Man. It's quite fun doing a poster in a night - when everything just comes together really nicely straight away. Huzzah!

T-post

2010-06-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

T-post is a concept - kind of like the 12club at Threadless where you get mailed out tshirts on a regular basis but with the added point of interest of each of the tshirts having an illustration designed in response to an article which is printed on the inside of the shirt.

The above t-shirt is for an article about some of the stuff people get up to while asleep - you can read it here.

renovating...

2010-06-07T05:31:00.001-07:00

...this blog.

need to brush up on some web lingo so the blog will jive the way it want it to daddio. hopefully will have this baby running smoothly asap. in the meantime, yellow! whee!

Tono and the Finance Company

2010-06-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

So, the other day I took some photos for Tono to use to promote his new ep Fragile Things.

The weather was atrocious so I suggested that instead of going out to take photos, we stayed in. So we did!

Refusing to stop reusing

2010-05-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

I helped some chappies out lately with some illustrations for a council funded website informing people on how to get rid of all kinds of stuff without just throwing it away - expanding the lifespan of the item, giving it another life/purpose, what-have-you. As well as being a directory of places that will deal with your refuse/junk, it's also a directory of places who'll give you stuff like horse poo, bokashi... that sort of stuff.

So I did three icons - one for organic waste, one for inorganic waste, and one for community groups. Here they are:

Here are all the icons outside of their little clusters, including some of the ones I made but didn't end up using. I particularly liked the t-shirt.

Old dream

2010-05-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrew used to have a blog with all his dreams on it. They were really interesting dreams and he didn't try and force narratives on them which pleased me so I told him one of my dreams, and via the medium of facebook, he reminded me of this dream and gave it back. So I'm giving it to you!

I woke up this morning and went to radio1 to do breakfast show (by the way, I actually did have to do this because Hawkins' called in sick - which is probably why I had this dream) and when I arrived in the studio, all the equipment was gone and yet there was still music. I was very confused and wondered if someone had stolen the stuff. Just then I heard noise in the corridor and went out and saw three random boys in the production studio which had turned into a long hallway.

I said "who are you and have you stolen the radio1 computer stuff cos I need that to do my show" and they said nothing and stared at me like emos. So I said "what are you doing here?" and they said "we are playing on air at 9" and I said "oh, so you are the sneaks" and they said yes. I then asked the tall one how the trip down had been and he said "horrible" and then had a cry and I gave him a hug. While I was hugging him, he backed away and became two people.

I went back into the studio and the equipment was back as well as a boy who was crooning into the dj mic making a helicopter drone. I told him to stop that, I need to play proper music and he did.

Then I went into the office to get the weather info but there was a tea party happening to celebrate the live-to-airs happening all week. Phoebe Smith was there eating grapes and pistachio nuts. I had to crawl between everyone's legs to get to the computer and no-one offered me food except Phoebe who threw grapes at me and shouted nonsense.

Then I woke up and it was 6am and I realised that I still had to go to Radio1 and do a show.
END

Ding-ding!

2010-04-30T03:13:00.000-07:00

Oh man! I love his little face! And how he sometimes gets all chatty in his high-pitched querulous wee voice! How he makes puddings on anything fluffy and the the next minute he's flipping out and eating flies (ew). How he growls whilst eating fish and is THE clumsiest cat I have ever encountered.

Ding, you make my heart explode.

Kings of Convenience

2010-04-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

A few months ago a friend of mine, one Ian McKinlay, emailed me asking if I could do a poster for a gig that was coming up in Hong Kong that the company he works for was putting on. I agreed instantly because I like Ian and I like making posters.

Turns out it was for Kings of Convenience, one of my favourite bands despite them sounding like "elevator music" as one of my former flatties put it. I prefer to think of them as the Scando version of Simon and Garfunkel (who were one of my favourite bands when I was 12). Worth checking out eh.

Anywho, Ian sent me through the rejected design from the previous designer so I could see what had already been done:

I thought it was really clunky (obviously, so did UNTITLED seeing as they got me in to do a new one) and while I liked the photo, I didn't think it was really all that attention grabbing... and I really, really did not like how the text was being treated by cramming it in boxes with some kind of bland Arial font.

So I decided to start from scratch. I wanted to do soem kind of sweet illustration but I get freaked out doing posters sometimes and the photos they supplied were really cool so I decided to just do a fairly straight edge poster. This is the first version I submitted:

Too much negative space and the information needed to be bigger. Ok. Let's try it again... and again using a different picture... and again with slightly different elements... (you can click on them to see larger versions)

The last option was their fave, so I tweaked the logo layout and the blend of the solid background into the photo and voila! Finished!

Hopefully I'll be working with these cats in HK more in the future. I'll be sure to keep you posted :)

OH MAN, I really ought to be filing CDs right now...

2010-03-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Worst blog writer ever.

It's quite high on my list of priorities to start writing a blog on an "at least weekly" basis. The problem is, my other priorities are "go to work on a daily basis", "relax post-work on a daily basis", "play heaps of netball", "do some design stuff", and MOST importantly, "get the house to a liveable state of tidiness".

It's actually the messiest I have been since I was 10. No shit. My mum used to say my room looked like a bomb had hit it and I'd be offended but the reality is that if she were to say it now, I'd be forced to agree.

On a total tangent, here is a really awesome doodle tool - called harmony. I do suggest you try it. Below is one of my doodles. Sweet!

Twenty ten eh?

2010-01-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

Hey! So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Gosh it's been a busy start to the year so far.

Working Christmas Eve in a retail store that sells some of the most common Christmas presents (CDs, DVDs, and books as well as gift cards) is a really crazy experience. At the end of the day when we closed the doors and tallied everything up, I figured out that we made a sale every 30 seconds. From opening to closing. I mean, obviously there were slow times when we'd get to kind of tidy up the chaos and get a drink of water, but there were also insane times where we were doing fifteen sales a minute... Nuts!!

But also really fun. People were quite nice, probably because they knew that the chaos was more their fault than ours seeing as how they'd left their shopping to the last minute.

After work I went round to my Aunt's house for some extended family love and promptly fell asleep in the massage chair in the study. Rosey sure knows how to appreciate the finer things in life. When I woke up, everyone was leaving but Champ and I stayed and introduced Rosey to the wonders of Battlestar Galactica. Yuss.

Christmas day I woke up early and went to my dad's house where we ate a fantastic breakfast that my stepmum Monique had made (eggs benny with bacon! coffee! champagne!) and watched the twins rip into their presents although Zach only wanted a Wii game and ran off with it as soon as he found it.

After that we went round to Mum and Paul's wee house on the hills above the peninsula for lunch with them and their pals Sandra and Dieter. It was PHENOMENAL. Here is photographic proof of the nomness of that lunch. It was the best roast chicken I have ever had in my life.

After lunch Dj had a wee catnap, much like my favourite chum Pusster who is so lovely. And old. He's about 21years old now. Gee whiz!

When Dj woke up, we went for a wee stroll. Below is a photo of Mum's partner Paul, and a lovely foxglove. Their garden is seriously cool - it's such an idyllic cottage garden.

I visited the neighbour's goat. This is a wacked out goat. Wants to be in the exorcist I reckon.

Then we went into the shed (it was really hot in there) and checked out Paul's rolling ball sculpture which is pretty excellent. I tried to photograph it, but it didn't turn out so good. So here is a photo of Paul talking to Dj about the mechanics of the sculpture.

Life Changes

2009-12-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

So a few things of note have happened recently.

1. I finished up first year at Art School.

2. I got me some full-time employment. Working in retail selling books, dvds, and music. Which is awesome but has also been quite stressy due to the fact that the store opened a week after I started working for them (the week before they opened I worked 80 hours processing stock for the new store) and it's now building up to the whole christmas craziness (and we're still receiving and processing heaps of stuff).

3. We took possession of our new house yesterday. We're moving in over the next few days, which is pretty exciting. Like, really exciting. Expect to hear a LOT about it in the coming forever.

Right, those are the important things. I thought I ought to let you fullas know the reason why I've been so absent from my online existence. So yeah. Things will calm down soon and I'll be back around here a lot more.

Win!

Swimmer

2009-10-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a drawing that I did today during a framing workshop at school. The workshop was damn cool, and I'm going to try and frame this as a practise run before I attempt anything big/time consuming.

Win!

(edit: below is a coloured version of it that I put together tonight while watching the Spongebob Squarepants Movie.

Paisley Ghost

2009-10-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

This one I drew thinking about poor old Champ who has his wisdom teeth coming in and wreaking all kind of havoc in his head. He's looking at getting them out but that kind of work don't come cheap, and isn't covered by his health insurance. Stink buzz!

Anyway, I'm playing with this drawing in Illustrator and will hopefully have something done with it in the next few weeks.

Not doing so well on the Daily Drawing front.

2009-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

BLOODY SCHOOL HOLIDAYS MAKE ME MEGA UNMOTIVATED.

Sigh. I don't think I've done any drawings for the past two weeks which is really lame. So I'll get onto it asap. I have, however, had a great time sleeping and playing Settlers of Catan both in the real world and online. It's awesome, easy to learn, and really fun.

So that's been my holidays.

I made this today.

Argh! So behind!

2009-09-27T03:01:00.000-07:00

So I've been mega-lax with updating this - here's some of the backlog now, more as soon as I FIND THEM AGAIN. Sigh.

Sketches from the 21st and 22nd:

The 23rd(ish):

September 24th:

I don't even know. September 20.

2009-09-21T02:51:00.001-07:00

No! You Jump in a Lake! (19th September Drawing)

2009-09-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

18th September

2009-09-21T02:47:00.000-07:00

I really don't know what's going on with her left arm - her left, our right. Hmm.

2009-09-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's drawing - September 16

2009-09-17T03:34:00.001-07:00

Really into drawing triangles, swimsuits, and people eating/vomiting hair

Drawing from September 15

2009-09-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

Drawing for September 14

2009-09-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Up to date, booyah!!

13th September - Daily Drawing

2009-09-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

12th September

2009-09-14T02:42:00.000-07:00

2009-09-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

(I forgot to post drawings over the weekend - but I'll do so tonight, it's a promise)

The Gideons / Thundercub / Sex with Bowie

2009-09-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

I finally busted my ass out to Chicks in Port Chalmers on Saturday night for the Sex with Bowie album release party. The fact that I love The Gideons and haven't seen them play inages, nor the fact that Logan and Chris of Sex with Bowie are hilariously rad (no offense Bugs and Gordon, you guys are pretty neat too), not even the simple fact that my live-in-lover is the keys player for Thundercub had anything to do with my decision to go along. I just felt it was time ok? Stop questioning my motives!

In any case, it was great.

The Gideons were a bit sloppy, but that's one of the things I love about them - the frustration that Louis emanates on stage sometimes has a stage presence of it's own. Yuss.

Thundercub are sounding quite tight these days. Selfishly, I hope they stick to their minimal performance quota, but for the sake of the music public by and large, it'd be awesome if they played more shows. Even if it means I end up going out more often as a consequence.

Sex with Bowie were great too. By that time I was well into my third or fourth pint, and using the speaker stack as a makeshift tripod, and the crowd was having a doozy of a time. I love the performative aspect of Logan's frontman act, and Chris looks so damn happy behind the drums, it's transformative.

Anywho, there are some more photos on flickr if you feel like having a look.

Drawing for 11th September

2009-09-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

I found this group of peeps on flickr who do a daily drawing of what they wore that day. I don't think I can do it everyday, but on days when I've got nothing to draw, it's a good go-to.

Also awesome is that the group is headed by one Gemma Correll. Her shit is tight, I recommend checking it out. I really like her illustrative style.

You know what? Space is cool.

2009-09-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

I've spent this morning hanging out on the NASA website checking out the images from the hubble telescope and suchlike. I should be researching an essay, but you know what? Space totally trumps essays.

I also made these because nothing says procrastination like images of space and people talking about space... I can only really top this by actually going to the library and then reading some Asimov that I've hidden in a book about state housing. Yuss.

Drawing for 10th September

2009-09-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

I couldn't focus on much for long tonight so I kind of doodled instead. Might have been the beer? I like the clowny person at top left. Also the eye on the far right. That was fun to draw, but pen can be so unforgiving if you make a boo-boo. Ah well.

Daily Drawing for 9-9-9

2009-09-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find my scanner yesterday because it was hiding under a mound of clothes. Here it is for you now! Whee!

First daily drawing!

2009-09-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

I drew this in class today - well, I drew the Quail in Space in my lectures and then came home and made it into a show poster... and then photoshop crashed cos it was a mega file (can print 300dpi A2 size suckas!) and I had to start from the raw scanned image AGAIN.

Every time I get lax about saving files, the universe kicks me in the reproductives.

Don't expect stuff to be this polished every day, cos it's most probable it'll be a lot more doodle-like.

Woo! Sleep time!

Life modelling

2009-09-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Not life modelling as in getting nakey and letting people draw you, but life modelling meaning looking at a nakey person and making a 3D representation of them.

I'm not very good at it, but it was fun. Given time I could get better maybe. I think making a bust would be more my style because I like faces way more than bodies (and by like, I mean that I find it easier to make visual representations of faces)

I'm going to start doing a daily drawing from Monday - I was going to start tomorrow but remembered that I have a twin-flavoured 7th birthday party to attend at my dad's house tomorrow. I can't believe they're 7 already!!

Seems like yesterday they were just babies! Sigh. I'm getting old.

Daily Drawing?

2009-08-31T01:18:00.000-07:00

Seeing I'm at Art School this year, and endeavoring to push myself into being more creative and drawing more frequently, I've been thinking about doing a daily drawing and posting them on my blog.

Sounds like a good idea?

Cos I know I love it when Liz and Gi at the friendly teacake post theirs, as well as Lauren Nassef's drawings, and Chris Piascik's typographic treats are wondrous to receive in my reader too.

So do you reckon I ought to? Yeah? I think I'll stick to doing the drawings more often if I know someone out there is interested in seeing them.

But no pressure.

My flat is awesome

2009-08-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

The other night our flat decided to have an evening of drinking. We drank gin and rum and absinthe (hoorah for Samdrub!), played drinking games and singstar, and then fancied ourselves up to head to town. The result is the above photo.

We walked to town through the gardens and this happened:

The result of this was a lost wallet and cellphone in the middle of the botanical gardens in the pitch black. Nice work. Luckily, my wonderful man (pictured below) was able to find the missing items which allowed us to continue on to town:

Good work Champ! In town, cigarettes were smoked, dances were danced, and burgers were eaten. I think we ought to do this more often.

Knives at Noon

2009-08-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tim Couch, Radio1 Friday drive host extraordinaire, and drummer for local lads Knives at Noon got me to take some photos for them a wee while back and I realised today I never popped them on here! If you're interested, you can see them here, otherwise just enjoy the family photo nostalgia in this post.

Haunted Love Tour Poster

2009-08-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

This was about the only other thing I did during the holidays of much consequence. I finished it up about two minutes ago (there were some date changes that needed made due to double bookings) and now that everything's all A-OK, I thought I'd share it with you guys.

It's nice putting hand-drawn elements into posters, and having them feel quite sparse, letting the main image draw you in rather than bucketloads of text. Huzzah! Here's hoping the Haunted Lovelies get me to do more things for them in future, also hoping you go check them out if you haven't heard them before. Their new EP, Darkness in Diamond City is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, just like their darling faces. It's boppy and sweet and dark and harmonious and rocking and so bloody good.

GO LISTEN NOW!

Sunley

2009-07-23T22:01:00.001-07:00

One of the things I did over the holiday was to do the album artwork and layout for the new Sunley album, Apologies. You can listen to bits here.

Evan pretty much gave me free reign which was wonderful, and it was really nice doing some design work again. Seriously, I love it in small doses and frequently. So long as I don't have a huge workload from school or other projects, doing design is one of my favourite things. Yeah!

Five Weeks

2009-07-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit shamefaced about admitting why I haven't posted on my blog for over FIVE WEEKS. I mean, something big must have been going on right? Wrong. I've been on holiday for the past five weeks.

Oh, so you've been out of town? Away somewhere awesome and removed from technology? Umm, actually no. I've been in Dunedin. At my flat for the first two weeks, then cat-sitting for my Mum who WAS in some remote awesome location (Niue) but still had the interwebs and skyped me fairly frequently.

I've just been playing the Sims and hanging out with the cats and it has been THE BEST holiday I've had in ages. Mum and Paul have a lovely big warm house, four radpants cats, a high-def tv, fast broadband (I know, no excuse) , and CONTINUOUS HOT WATER making taking a shower easily one of the high points of my day.

I think the real reason I haven't blogged is cos there's been very little to blog about. I'm going to do one or two posts of the few things I did manage to do on my ridiculously long mid-year break, so there is that right?

In any case, this posting drought is pretty much over as the holidays have finished, and I've been back at school since Monday - Mum and Paul get back on Sunday and I'll be back in the coldness of a student flat once more. Yay for ten layers of clothing indoors!

x

$9.99

2009-06-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

This movie looks awesome - for one thing, it's stop-motion which is always worth a look (I love stop-motion, especially claymation... it seems quite magical). Secondly, it sounds like it has a plot that'd be mighty interesting to watch even if it were filmed normally.

"Based on the Short Stories of Etgar Keret, and adapted for the screen by Etgar Keret and Director Tatia Rosenthal, $9.99 is a stop motion animated feature which offers slightly less than $10 worth about the meaning of life..." - $9.99 film website

Rodent Plague

2009-06-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Our house over the last six months has become home to not only humans, but a variety of rodents. Thus far, we've only caught mice, but our flatmate claims to have seen a rat hanging out in the library and the amount of noise made as they run about in the walls and floors and ceilings indicates something larger than a few wee mice.

I like to think of them as wrestlers, it sounds like they have massive smack-downs and the squeaking galloping noises that accompany the matches seem very appropriate - almost like the redneck yelling at WWF matches.

Object Study

2009-06-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

As part of our project drawing class we were required to make a marquette/object study of pretty much whatever the hell we liked. I like glasses. Big nerdy glasses (and boy do I miss my real ones - such a dumbass to have sat on them, sigh).

Logan and Champ as additional models. Suaaaave. I think I might post a few Seth pictures later too - his geeky faces were spot on despite the fact that he was actually trying to look like a grandma.

Sculpture

2009-06-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I really enjoyed sculpture at school, so much so that I've decided that it'll be one of my two majors next semester alongside printmaking. Squee! Getting to use power tools made me hyper-pumped, and the vast broadness of materials on offer in the department was also excitement inducing. Yuss.

Robot is made out of a floppy-disk holder, grater, jar-opener, long forks, and bits of wood and keyboard and scrap.

Skull is an old christmas tree and polystyrene. Such a goofy skull.

Video Works

2009-06-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

I just realised that if this is meant to be a way to show off the cool things that I've been doing, I should probably put up cool things I've done as well.

Here are two videos I made as part of my design degree at Otago.

Both videos were made for special topic papers where I got to choose what I wanted to make. The one above was about the experiences my peers had had with social anxiety - I was interested to see how many of them had encountered it, and what their perceptions were. It took ages because I took a lot of the frames into photoshop and drew on each of them individually.

The video below is a music video I made for one-time Dunedin band, The Tweeks. It's a song about the limitations of texting, so I made the cellphone into a set of costumes for three of the band members and got them to follow around the fourth member of the band as his lackey. Yes yes.

Enjoy!

Attention: Friends

2009-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

This is a note to say please stop moving overseas. Overseas includes crossing the Cook Strait. I am serious. And lonely. Chamcham is awesome, but so are you. And one Champion does not a group of friends make.

I understand that you all have important things to do abroad, like teach, save the world, play music and get high/drunk/sunburnt, but dammit I miss you. And surely that is more important. I know that I wasn't always the most social beast, often saying I'd come out and have a drink/dance/standatthesideofthestageandstompmyfoot with you and then pull out at the last minute but I PROMISE that if you come back I will work really hard on not being a piker.

In any case. You are well missed, so I hope you're having fun. If you're not having fun, get back here. NOW. If you're still in Dunedin, good. Text me in a week and a half and I will cover you in anecdotes, icing and cups of tea.

Love,
Luci

Haunted Love

2009-06-02T04:51:00.001-07:00

I recently took some photos for the newly y chromosomed Haunted Love. They're all so pretty. So ridiculously pretty. If you're interested, you can check out the rest of the photos here.

Basement Cuts

2009-06-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some posters I made for Mr Hawkins' DJ Manick gigs at Pint Night. I love old pin-up postcards. They're so sassy! I think I'll keep this theme up for a while if he decides to get me to make more of them.

Recent project stuff

2009-06-02T03:22:00.001-07:00

Man, recently I've been so freaking obsessed over hanging mobiles. Like, really really into them. I can't stop thinking about making them - this is the first one I'm working on. It's a series of discs with pencil sketches of ladies on them. Getting to do doodles on them in front of the tv was really fun, looking forward to making more of them.

little squid

2009-05-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

Here is a drawing that I did in class yesterday when my attention wandered. I like the squid's little beak. Honestly though, I have no real idea of what a squid looks like, so he's only a semi-squid.

Cupcakes of the Chocolate Variety

2009-04-28T03:44:00.000-07:00

Indeed. I made these to say thanks to Hope for filling in on Monday's drive show at Radio1 when I was pissing razors and totally unwilling to sit through a three hour show in agony. To say the least, they're quite over the top when combined with buttercream icing. The cupcakes themselves could be a bit more chocolatey, as it is they're ok, but kind of boring, and they have a touch of that baking flavour which possibly comes from baking soda.

But never fear! The mountain of icing you pile on top will totally solve the problem.

Thanks Martha Stewart!

Best. Photo. Ever

2009-04-26T23:12:00.001-07:00

I have no idea who took this, but this photo makes me so happy inside that I want to cry.

Rebekah Bogard

2009-04-26T22:52:00.000-07:00

Rebekah Bogard makes ceramic creatures of such a sweet, sensual nature that I just want them all to come and visit for tea and cupcakes. They're seriously gorgeous, it's worth checking out her website. Like, suhreeusly. SUH-REE-US-LEE.

Anita DeSoto

2009-04-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

My life drawing tutor at Art School, Anita DeSoto, has an exhibition opening today at Milford Galleries on Dowling Street in Dunedin. It looks like it'll be bloody gorgeous, do come (I'm about to crawl out of bed and head there myself). If you can't come, you can check some of her work out online at Milford's website.

Sex with Bowie

2009-04-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Was pint night at ReFuel last night as good for you as it was for me? Because it was pretty fucking good for me. Sex with Bowie freaking rocked my socks right off of my feet and shoved them into my mouth. You can listen to some stuff from off of their debut release "Corporate Karaoke Function" at last.fm for free.

We went and took some photos in Milton yesterday for band promo stuff. This one was probably my fave.

There are a few others on my flickr if you wanna see 'em. :)

Ceramics

2009-04-01T16:24:00.001-07:00

As the one or two of you who read this blog probably know, I'm at art school this year, and am currently running through a marathon of three week modules in various disciplines offered by the school. Three weeks per subject, two days a week, essentially craziness.

But fun. Oh lordy yes.

The first module I was in was Ceramics, where we were required to look into making vessels that could be used in a japanese tea ceremony (wiki) using the wabi-sabi aesthetic of assymetrical, unfinished, imperfect objects. Perfect for rookies like us.

I got hooked on the wheel fairly quickly, and made pretty much everything using it.

Here's some stuff I made that I liked:

If you wanna see more of the stuff I did, go have a look on my flickr account.

Fake CD covers

2009-03-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

I was bored last night and looking to kill some time and ran across this little bit of photochop fun.

You go to wikipedia and hit random search - the subject that appears is your fictional band's name.
You then run a random quotations search and the last three to five words make up your album title.
Finally, you then go to flickr and hit explore: the third image is the one you have to use in your work. Put it together however you like and voila, you've just effectively procrastinated.

Here are more of mine (the one at the top of the blog was my first attempt):

February

2009-02-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Holy moly! It's mid-february already!

I thought I better give a wee bit of an update as to how I've spent the past three weeks.

There were several largeish things that have happened this month, the first being Camp A Low Hum 2009, in Wainuiomata.

It was three days of hedonistic drinking times, dancing to radtastic bands, falling over laughing, and catching up with the wonderful wellingtonians that I so rarely get the chance to see (seriously, Bronwyn, Chloe, Liz, Gianna, Alex, Phil and Amanda are the bees knees and it always makes me SO happy to get to spend time with them! Albeit rarely! Also, was fabulous to get to know Lily too... my wee asian bebe!)

I mean, holy shitballs. It was grand, but over so quickly, and on such a down note too. You see, my liver no longer has to process large amounts of alcohol on a weekly basis since I dropped the scarfies-on-the-piss routine and adopted a "higher" way of living.

Over the course of Camp, I consumed a couple of boxes of Double Brown, Scrumpies, Red Wine, Gin and Tonsies, and miscellaneous beer. I also smoked like a train. By Sunday, my liver was ready for a revolt so I decided to stop drinking... until the afternoon. So my liver declared war and I spent the wee small hours of Monday morning creeping back and forth between our tent and the toilet block where I spewed from both ends until my stomach was cramping and bile was the only flavour I could remember ever occupying my mouth.

THANK GOD FOR DJ AND FRIENDS. They sorted me out in the morning and let me lie outside on the ground while they packed up all the camping crap.

SECOND amazing thing about this month was that Anni, my Finnish exchange student friend, arrived in New Zealand... and came to camp! Haha! Having never been to a music festival before and only knowing me! What a champ! She made friends pretty quickly though, and we had a stonking good time.

Third big thing this month was that I decided to go to art school. Signed myself up for a three year degree I did. Necessary? Perhaps not. Fun? Heck yeah.

The biggest shit thing about art school so far is the new degree structure meaning that instead of getting four weeks on each module in the first year, we only get THREE weeks per subject, which equates to SIX DAYS, or 39 HOURS PER SUBJECT TOTAL. From only 39 HOURS in each of the five subjects we choose, we have to decide on two to pursue for a semester, and after that BAM, you've got a major and you're off.

I WANT MORE TIME!

Ceramics is the BIZ NIZ. I didn't really like our first day because we were working using coiling and slab techniques and all my work looked SUPER clumsy and like something you'd find on an old lady stand at the local school fair. Not the sort of stuff I'm looking to make. Today we hit the potters wheel and I had a fucking blast. I managed to make two bowl type things and two mug type things in the six hours we had.

I can't wait to get onto glazing them and then making some more. ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT :(

Poos.

Happy Birthday Mumsy!

2009-01-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

It was my Mum's birthday on the 30th, and she spent the day in Central Otago buying kilos and kilos of fruit to preserve and make into jam with her partner, Paul. They had a number of adventures, and when they returned to Dunedin, they had this waiting for them:

Mmm! Delicious dark chocolate torte with gingernut base! Super easy to make, super easy to eat! Rich and satisfying! Goes straight to your thighs! Get the recipe here! Oh how I love you Deb, you and your tasty recipes of goodness...

I also made Mum a wee friend. She seemed to like her new chum. Yay for Mum! Yay for new chum! And birthday fun!

Block Party Breaks

2009-01-31T19:26:00.000-08:00

Poster for an upcoming party at Di Lusso and Barakah. Boogie on down, down, boogie on down.

I like to draw people

2009-01-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here are two people I drew the other day. I was having fun with coloured pencil (which is something I have now vowed to do more of, because it was fun.)

New Fangled

2009-01-21T16:37:00.001-08:00

This is a poster that I made for Radio One. It is also an ad that went into Vice Magazine. Hope and I had a lot of fun lighting sparklers inside while she struck viking-esque rock poses, and I tried to get my damn camera to do what I wanted it to.

Friendly Fires

2009-01-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

Friendly Fires 'Skeleton Boy' by Clemens Habicht from Nexus Productions on Vimeo.

This video is truly fucking sweet. It's the kind of thing that makes my guts writhe in jealousy because it's a really simple concept which is well married to the song content, and executed brilliantly.

CUPCAKEAGE

2009-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

So I made these cupcakes from a recipe at Smitten Kitchen and let me tell you, they were awesome. Super moist and really tasty. I doubled the amount of spices she used the second batch I made, and added some mixed spice for good measure and my tastebuds were very appreciative.

The icing still needs work.

I'm not sure I like the frosting that came with the recipe, it totally needs lemon juice in it, and possibly more icing sugar because when it sets it basically IS cream cheese, and I struggle with that. The texture is so... rubbery... will experiment more sometime in the future...

Internetz Lovage

2009-01-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

Veer.com chose to feature my batch of critic covers on their portfolio homepage! Squee!

Deck the Halls...

2008-12-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

...and dress the tree!

I went around to Mum's house the other day and helped decorate the Christmas tree. So many decorations too - Mum has a couple of bags full of them, from ones we made when my sister and I were kids, to ones Mum has slyly bought every year.

When we were younger, I used to sit down before we hung everything on the tree, and split all the decorations into equal piles so that none of us felt slighted. Often we'd have three fairly similar ornaments (like a set of angels or cherubs) but there were also special awesome ones that had to be carefully measured against one another so as not to offend anyone who felt that their pile was not as special and awesome as the other two.

In which case we'd renegotiate.

A delicate balance really.

Here's a photo of one of our cats Lemme (as in "lemme up! lemme on you! lemme have that") hanging out on top of the computer looking bemused at all the tree activity.

Lemme's son, Max, loves the Christmas tree. He has a perennial love affair with a wee felt Santa that we've had for years. Every year he pulls it out of the tree and lavishes licks all over it, so as a result, it's quite fluffy and gross looking. Mum still hangs it on the tree, but at the bottom, for easy access for Mr Max.

Percy and Thornton

2008-11-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

So, I've really taken to making buddies. Haven't had much time in the past few weeks, but now that I'm staring unemployment in its bloodshot and crusty eye, I will have more time to play God of Soft Creatures.

Percy is a penguin who kind of wants to be an owl. He loves having stories read to him, but is equally happy to watch cooking shows on TV. Be warned, if he's hungry, he may forget himself and try to peck the TV to get the treats inside.

I gave this guy, Thornton, to Leigh for her birthday. They get on really well, apparently, they hold hands when Leigh's falling asleep, and sometimes she brings him into work with her.

Love and Economics

2008-11-19T15:36:00.001-08:00

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing the video! I've seen some stills, and it looks quite cheesy, in a golden-good kind of way. Yuss. I really like Tono and the Finance Company (check out tono's blog here), they have such clever and catchy songs! I'd been crapping my pants a little about doing the poster for this, my mind was drawing blanks instead of pictures. After torturing myself for being terrible for a good few weeks, I had myself a session and sat down and did this in an hour. More of less. Pretty happy with how it turned out too.

If you're not in Dunedin, they're playing a show in Wellington on December 3 with Matt Langley at Happy, then playing at Whammy Bar in Auckland on December 6, with Bearcat and the Wicks. There'll also be shows in Port Chalmers and Christchurch but I ain't got the deets for them yet.

New Hayao Miyazaki

2008-11-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Gake no Ue no Ponyo
Uploaded by yom_

So this is apparently called "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" and looks adorably cute - as you'd expect with a Miyazaki film.
Wikipedia informs me that:

The story revolves around a five-year old boy, Sosuke, and the Princess goldfish, Ponyo, who wants to become human. Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki noted that "70 to 80% of the film takes place at sea. It will be a director’s challenge on how they will express the sea and its waves with freehand drawing." The film does not contain any computer generated imagery, or CGI, in contrast to Miyazaki's other recent work.

Apparently it did really well in Japan when it was released earlier this year - I don't know if it'll be in New Zealand cinemas... Spirited Away did super well, so it wouldn't surprise me if it did find its way onto our silver screens, even if that happens through film festivals instead of mainstream cinema releases.

To find out more about Hayao Miyazaki (if you're unfamiliar with his work and want to know more), check out, wikipedia, or here.

Happy Birthday Leigh!

2008-11-10T15:28:00.001-08:00

And thanks for the best party EVER! Smashing that piñata was the only way I made it through the election coverage. x

Taxes

2008-10-29T16:16:00.001-07:00

I just realised last night while I was perusing various websites by various creative individuals, that I very rarely make art or design something for the pure pleasure of it anymore. That I use photoshop and illustrator as tools only for doing work for other people, not for doing work for myself, not for playing.

"Well, that sucks and I'm a sucker" I declared. "From now on, I shall endeavor to do one arty designy thing a week for fun."

I started last night by making this poster of a taxman as I imagine them in my head. I have a great fear of taxes, and the tax system as a whole. It seems so incomprehensible to me. Just thinking about having to do a tax return gives me the willies. It's not a maths thing either - I was really good at maths at school, it's more-so to do with the fact that I've never had to deal with taxes personally, and accounting and economics are like a foreign language to me.

I'll have to learn to speak this whack language of tax one day, in the mean time, woe unto those who refuse to acknowledge the might and smoting powers of the taxman!

Sacha

2008-10-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is a photo I took the weekend that we spent with the twins for their birthday in Wanaka. They're six now. SIX! Holy jesus.

Anywho, I thought this was a pretty cute photo, she looks so thoughtful in it. I recommend clicking the image and seeing it big, cos it's much nicer big than it is small.

Walking into work today

2008-10-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Joys of Photos(hop)

2008-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

I love how photoshop makes pictures pop when you know how to play around with curves and levels and all that jazz.
Here are some photos I took of Dunedintown and the golden weather we're having this afternoon. You can click on them for lovely big juicy sizes.

Dunedin Circle Jerk

2008-10-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is a poster I've just finished. It's for a Circle Jerk show where a number of local bands play covers of local music. Sahweet! Covers are one of my favourite things! It should be a rocking night so if you're in town on Friday the 24th of October, pencil this puppy into your diary as it should make for an entertaining evening.

I've been fairly stoked to make a decent number of posters this year. I love the format and like seeing what I can do. Sometimes I want to make things smaller and more subtle, but generally the feedback I receive is to "make it bigger" so I almost automatically do so these days.

One day... one day I'll make posters that have the details small, as an almost afterthought and it'll be the image and the headlining band that'll take up the majority of space. The way things ought to be.

Vege Garden

2008-10-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

DJ and I enlisted the help of my dear mother and her partner Paul quite a few weeks ago to help us build a couple of no dig vegetable garden beds. I'm fairly excited about the progress of the plants so far. In the past week or so, the lettuce seeds have all turned into seedlings - ditto with the radishes AND the potatoes have started putting their little sprouts up! So green and tasty looking! I often find myself standing next to the gardens with my hands on my hips, a sprig of parsley in my mouth, ginning, and nodding to myself.

It's a good life.

This is one of the broccoli plants - we have six of them and they've been the biggest growers so far. Exciting!

Here' some celery. I want the celery to grow faster! It was planted at the same time as the broccoli but just isn't taking off as much as I want them too!

Chives!

One of two newly planted courgette plants. Delicious!

Here we have two varieties of parsley - fancy/curly and italian. I like chewing their leaves. Num num num...

MINT! So lush. Apparently I need to put it in a bucket so it can't escape and wreak havoc all over the garden.

Pizza Thyme - the first wee plant died from neglect because I bought it well before we had a garden to put it into... and so I had to get a new one.

Baby Radishes! Cute! They've doubled their leaves since I took these in the weekend!

Rhubarb. I think our second plant may have died. Sigh.

Zoe's Birthday Present

2008-10-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is the diamond dog I made for Zoe for her birthday!

Unbeknownst to me when I sat down to make it, the inside of her van is actually covered in the same coloured material! When I gave it to her, I was saying something and she turned to me with this glazed look of delight and shock and said "I'm sorry, I didn't catch any of it... he's just so loud!"

Awesome.

Sacha's New Friend

2008-09-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is the bunny I made for Sacha for her birthday. It's quite a punky bunny (I think it's a little gender confused, but that's ok by me) and likes to get her frown on when she's thinking - which is all the time. She likes beat poetry and people watching and when no-ones around, she sings "little bunny fu fu" because it makes her happy.

I think Sacha's decided to call her Fluffy "because she is fluffy". Can't argue with that. I once had a pair of rabbits - one called Whitey, one called Brownie. Logical, but perhaps a bit off in retrospect

Peanut Butter Brownies

2008-09-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

Makes more or less 32 little bite-size brownies

These “brownies” are more fudgey than cakey, with an excellent peanut butter-chocolate contrasts. Have a glass of milk/water handy.

Ingredients
For brownies
225 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter of your favourite variety
2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon salt

For ganache
250 gms chocolate. You can use whatever you like - either choc chips or broken up chocolate bar. I went with Dark Ghana stuff because that's how I roll.
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon butter

Method
BROWNIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C with rack in middle. Ideally, use a 30cm by 20cm baking tin with a depth of around 5cm. I used a square silicone cake tin and it came out fine. Butter your tin up, then line bottom of pan with baking paper, and then butter the baking paper.

This next bit works best with an electric beater. If you're skint, like me, you may be resistant to getting a beater claiming that you can do just as good a job with a fork. Stop kidding yourself, they're $17 at the Warehouse and they'll stop you getting RSI and in the meantime your butter and sugar will be practically creaming themselves. Double entendre intended.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and beat until incorporated. Beat in whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Reduce mixer sped to low, then mix in flour and salt until just combined.

Mix in chocolate chips then spread your thick and sticky batter in baking pan, smoothing the mountain-like globs off of the top.

Bake until brownies are deep golden, puffed on top and a wooden pick inserted in center come out with some crumbs adhering, around about 45 minutes.

Cool completely in pan on a rack, which'll take about 1 1/2 hours. You can choose to be impatient and try taking it out earlier, but the brownie'll fall to pieces and be really shit if you do.

GANACHE
I did this differently to the original recipe and it worked grand. Melt your chocolate using the old "put a the bowl of chocolate on top of a saucepan of boiling water until the chocolate's all melted". Pop your cream into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil, then tip it in with the melted chocolate and the butter.

Gently whisk until the butter is incorporated, the chocolate is melted, and you're left with a bowl of smooth, shiny chocolate that begs you to dip your fingers into it.

Spread ganache on cooled brownies and let stand until set, about 15 minutes.

Brownies keep in one layer in an airtight container three days, and apparently much longer if hidden waaay in the back of the freezer.

LINK- Smitten Kitchen

Brand New Math

2008-09-25T01:49:00.000-07:00

I love making posters! I love D.I.C.K. parties! Party-hardy y'all.

myspace.com/indiedunedin

Excellent t-shirt

2008-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly! Threadless just printed the most awesome tshirt. It's a vampire tee that uses UV ink so that when you go out into the sun, the vampire looks like he's buring in flames, and when it's dark, his eyes and teeth glow.

I want one so bad! Damn my credit card-less situation!

Banana Walnut Loaf

2008-09-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Banana Bread

5 ripe bananas
3/4 cup of honey (or maple syrup if you like)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup plus of broken walnut pieces optional

Method:
Mash bananas with honey + vanilla until combined and creamy. In another bowl, sift dry ingredients (don't bother to sift wholewheat flour if you're using that) then add dry to wet - stir until just mixed and at this point add nuts if you want to.

Pour into greased tin= bake @ 160C for an hour - no matter how delicious it smells, don't take out early! check if it's baked through by running a skewer into the loaf and if it comes out clean, it should be all ready for consumption!

We like eating this while it's still warm and slathered with peanut butter. Delicious!

Mister Mews comes to Work

2008-08-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

I think I'm hooked, sewing friends is so much fun! Damn you Gianna! You and your adorable friends got me hooked on stitchin'!

Meet Mister Mews.

He was bored at home so I brought him into work today. (you can see the packaging for my blog's namesake in the background - god I miss that spoon)

He's a bit of a scaredy-cat and hid behind my computer a lot.

Yay for Mister Mews! If I get time later, I'll show you his many different hairstyles - he has so many different looks!

Spring has well and truly Sprung

2008-08-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

I love that I get to walk through the botanical gardens every morning on the way to work. Woohoo!