The end of the semester and Creature 003.

  Happy end of April! It's been one hell of a month, I'm not going to lie. It seems that life is becoming increasingly dense and uncertain and bizarre. I definitely am not minding it as much as I thought I would!

  I had a super two days with my pal Aerlan this week. It was a super surprise because he was supposed to mosey on down to Seattle for a visit. First, we went to a super hot pot place down on Victoria Drive (highly recommended - Fatty Cow Seafood Hot Pot!) where we partook in a little bit of everything, which included some "out of the comfort zone" foods such as oysters, liver and kidney. It was pretty tasty, except for the weird things. But, hey - now I can say, "I've totally eaten pork kidney," which I suppose I can consider a point of pride? The next day we had a super marathon of The Outsiders, American Graffiti and MASH followed by a strange dinner at a shifty Chinese food place that had horrible service - but hey, all the restaurants you walk into randomly can't be winners.

  I had a great dinner with my friend Amanda when she came through town on her way to spend a glorious year in Taiwan (take a peek at her travel blog!) when we walked around on Kingsway searching for some chow. We came across a strange place called Mega Grill. Seemed to have a little bit of everything. Lamb souvlaki for ten bucks (no objections here!) followed by surprise belly dancing. Yes, belly dancing. It was cool for about a minute before it got horribly awkward in that tiny restaurant. But again - it was a curious experience, and I'm starting to not mind those.

With school over - films screened and exams all wrapped up, I finally got around to sewing a bit this week. Creature 003 is up on Etsy! I think his limbs turned out pretty adorable, as did his teeth and eyebrows. The overall shape of him is kind of funny - but hopefully someone will give him a happy home! Sewing on my days off was such a zen experience. I'd put on some Star Trek Next Generation and stitch all afternoon! I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of felties I create all summer long! Remember to keep an eye out on my Etsy shop. I'm really going to be trying to spruce it up and keep it nice and stocked up from now until Christmas! So many felties!

I ended up taking a couple of courses over the summer - but with only one day actually affected by this I've been plotting out my summer beyond the work place. I'm bummed out I have to work so much - but its something I've been slowly coming to terms to, the fact that I'll be working jobs like this for quite some time. But I've got a solid job that pays alright, and I'll hang on to it until a better opportunity comes a long.

The end of the semester has really brought a change in mindset for me. I think the past four months have really gotten the ball rolling in a sort of "mental maturation" that had been overdue for a happening. After eight months of film school and meeting some of the most fantastic people, I think I've really started to gain new perspectives and at least get a foot hold in the seemingly unscalable wall of the lazy, procrastinating and boring self. I've definitely had a shift in my mind set and it seems that I'm much more positive and am regaining the passion and drive that I had lost in the previous two years of University.

Creator and Monster - and vise versa

The summer seems bright - I was not looking forward to four months of nose to the grindstone cashier work. But things keep popping up that will break up the monotony. I've told myself that by the end of the summer I want three complete short films written and directed by myself as well as a stop motion done on 16mm and the Bolex. I've got an idea or two that I'm slowly developing for the shorts. I basically just want to get out there and make films. It's something I've never really done. Any project that I've done in the past five years has been for school or a paid gig that I didn't have much interest in. With everything I learned this past year, I think I could really make some personal headway in developing a storytelling and visual technique. It's going to be awesome! Some traveling might be in the future as well - and that's always awesome!

I've got two fellow filmmaker shout outs to make this week:

CHOCH! Filmmaker Brendan Prost - creator of Generation Why - premiered his next feature, Choch, at Woodwards a couple of weeks ago. My review for it should be up in the next few days! Now that he's back in Calgary for the summer he's looking to get the word out. I believe he's going to be announcing some Alberta bound screenings in the next couple days. Choch is fantastic - a look at the identities we find ourselves putting up for the sake of fitting in as youth and as well as adults. Shot on a supremely modest budget, this indie film is worth the trip! Go check out a screening and tell your friends! Independent films greatly depend on word of mouth and small promotions. Prost's work improves with each project - take a gander at his previous work. He's got a new website up!

The Long Road Home! Hailing from Capilano U, Adam and Alex are working their way across country to their home towns in Ontario to start production on their first feature, The Long Road Home. They desperately need your support (and maybe some cash, if you've got any to spare). If you find yourself in Ontario this summer and want to lend a hand, get a hold of them via IndieGoGo! Or drop them a donation or a supportive word or two - whatever you can spare!

Support independent film!

I should really be asleep already, as it's a dense weekend filled with work and house hunting! Yes, I am moving! It's going to be insaaaaane!

I did a bit of a photo shoot of my firebellied toads as I fed them the other day. I've had these toads a very long time and every so often I just need to document their little handsome faces!

In other news, in an attempt to improve my speaking/conversation ability, I have started a video blog for the sole purpose of talking about anything and everything. My first post will be up shortly - but check it out at Kingfisher Says!

Hey there, ho there, DECEMBER.

Oh December, how bittersweet your arrival.

I did a lot of Christmas shopping today. Most of it in fact! Now I have sewing supplies spread all over my living room floor, am chiseling haystacks off of a plate I neglected to put parchment paper on and watching some good ol' Pulp Fiction.

Last week, I said goodbye to a feltie that's been with me for a little while. Little Buckaroo!

May he find peace amongst the dutch tulips!!

School is done on Monday, thank goodness. Monday is also the day I show my film to the class. When you show your film to the class, the following things happen: fingers trembling with trepidation, load the projector, fiddle with the sound, roll it, short round of applause, the class talks about your film for a while without any of your input, then you get to talk about it, then you take some questions, then you sit your ass back down. Needless to say, all I'm feeling is fear... but that is normal.

I picked up some inks from Opus, along with a variety of super skinny paintbrushes and my very first real X-acto knife in preparation for the post production portion of my film. Opus is now one of my favorite establishments because they give student discounts. I love a solid business who knows the financial perils of the student. I finished a rough cut today and will spend the next few days doing some all-too-fine work under a magnifying glass.

My one paper for the term is complete, pathetic as it was. My lame math presentation is done, thanks to one super group member who thanklessly did most of the work. Once my film presentation is done, it's on to studying for three exams. I will be done the Fall 2010 semester on the 14th and will be flying home to chilly Canmore on the 17th! I'm fairly excited to have a home visit after an entire year. Hard to believe it's been so long!

In recent (as in 10 minutes ago) news, I have finally started assembling this giraffe for my friend Amanda to give to her boyfriend's cousin who is two years old! I just put these fantastic eyelashes on it, aaand I sort of had to share it ASAP. SNEAK PEAK.

Working with the minky fabric has been a little bittersweet. Although it is extremely soft, it has a bad bad habit of looking a little mangy at the seams, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. It was probably a fabric made for more large scale things like baby blankets.... but it will have to do!!

State of the floor. I'm going to have fun vacuuming out all of the minky bits out of the shag. Not.

I'm really happy to be sewing again. I haven't finished anything since the Rainbow Owl. I've sold a couple of felties since then. I seem to be missing them a little more than I had expected. I guess every feltie I make has a little bit of my love stitched into it (corny much?!). Bahaha. Anyways. Life goes on. More felties come to life!

Back to felting I go!

I do plan to finish that VIFF review sometime...

Creature 002: off to start another life!

Bye bye, Bat Creature! Fare thee well!

OOOWL!

Hello everyone! Behold my first significant felt creation for quite some time! I've been fiddling with the pattern for about a week and in the past couple days the assembly began. Lots of things did not go to plan, but I think he turned out pretty swell!

See a quick progress photo in my last post, here!

The thing I love most about him is his shape That turned out pretty well. I ended up doing a lot of snipping and extra stitching than originally planned, but that is so with many of my creations. I love his colours and his lidded eyes! What I think I could of done differently is his front feathers - they could have been a little shorter I think. Originally, the pattern had him sitting a lot taller, so it would have worked in theory. He's a little lopsided (again, like most of my creations) and he doesn't sit quite like I wanted. But I think he's still quite handsome!

Side profile, so handsome!

I'm a big fan of how his tail turned out!

Ahoot ahoot?

Top view to see his glorious wings!

His gorgeous amber eyes are from Suncatcher Eyes, here on Etsy.

Such eyes!

See this sweet owl's listing on my Etsy!

Happy September everyone!!

Birthday/Fathers day coffee sleeve.

I finally got to give this to my dad on Monday, which he promptly left in my mom's car before leaving back home. I'm fairly proud of it, it was taxing at times and it's a wee bit large for your standard coffee cup, but that is easily amended. So it's made from felt, red and black as you can see. I'm not that great at/don't have the right tools to do embroidery, but it still turned out alright.

Anyways, I guess I should stop stalling. I need to start scrubbing my floors, which are filthy. *sigh*. Or maybe I'll make food first... well, procrastination always wins.

Buckaroos

I was just sketching up some creatures when Little Buckaroo was born. After I made the small fella, I just felt compelled to make a larger Buckaroo, with an even larger mustache!

Birthday Coffee Sleeve #1!

A coffee sleeve for Julie's 20th! It ended up being a little smaller than I wanted it to be, diameter wise, but I think it'll still do the trick. Up next: my dad's combination birthday/father's day coffee sleeve.

Creature 002!

A new feltie is up on Etsy! Creature 002! A bat-licious felt creation! He didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I think he's still pretty awesome! I love the colours of the felt I used. Delish!

My garden!

It's sort of a pathetic garden, but I like it. Whatever.

This is the deal I've got going on my patio.


What my plants look down over each and every day!

Mother's Day flower

My mom came to visit for my film interview on the 7th and it was pretty close to Mothers Day, so I made her this felt flower, which I then pinned onto a large planter that I filled with dahlias, bacopa, marigolds and this weird cascading yellow leafed plant. I neglected to take a photo of it because she arrived an hour earlier than I expected her to and things were... shall we say, rushed. Haha.

Creature 001's departure!

And away he goes to his new home in Canmore!!

I made a little name tag to go with him, and I think I'll need to continue this trend, because I love it! I have SO many more creatures planned! It's going to be a blast making them!

Today is Tuesday!

Hey everyone! Just some updates, I suppose. Did some shopping and some sewing the past few days. Today there was some thunder, some sunshine, some pouring rain. Good ol' Vancouver!

This swell fellow here is up on my Etsy site!

Shark Shark!

Yay! It's a hammerhead shark! This little guy is for Mary, who's birthday it is on Saturday and who's christmas present got lost in the mail. I think he's pretty cute. I really like how his eyes turned out!!

Completed penguin iPod case!

So here's the completed iPod case for my mom. See the work-in-progress post here. It took a long time to figure out how everything would fit together. The clasp mechanism (aka embroidery floss and button) ended up being pretty useless, but I don't really have the gusto to redo it. It would have been a lot better if I just did a fastener like the thread around the button (like those legal envelopes!) but I only thought of that after. I did get that puffy look in all of the penguins as I wanted. There are lots of layers on that back pannel! The adult penguin was 4 layers, the baby was 5. The ice at the bottom isn't as 'icey' as I wanted it to look. It was supposed to be sort of a cross section of the ice, but it looked a lot better on paper. It's also a little too wide for an iPod, but I couldn't really fix that by the time I figured that out! I think I just thought about this project WAY to hard, haha. Anyways, here are the pictures.

The back of the case!

Felted iPod case WIP

I figured I should post the 'in progress' photos before the finished product. So here are the pieces of the iPod case I was making for my mom's belated birthday present! Penguins? Yes.

Mamma penguin + intense iPod schematics. I did a lot of work trying to plan out how to construct the case itself. How it turned out was less spectacular than what I had planned, but on well!!


Mamma and Baby penguin!!

Some baby penguin love!

Stay tuned for the completed case!

Christmas Gifties!

So I thought I'd post a bunch of the Christmas felties I made, at long last. This year I decided to do a theme, after much deliberation, I decided on marine animals. Each ornament came with a card with a little inked sketch of the animal plus a list of facts (from Wikipedia, no less!).

One, unfortunately, seems to have gotten lost in the mail, so I'll be making another one to replace it before long. But most of them turned out pretty fine and I did make a lot of them!! I'll also be posting some gardening pictures a little later on. I do love to garden (well, as much as I can garden in a town house, anyways). And I just landed a job at a local gardening center! Oh happy day!

Enjoy!

Toasty!

Hi all, meet Toasty Marshmallow! I made him last night! He's a little taller than my first marshmallow, but he's made out of really nice felt (super plush!). There's dry pearl tapioca in his lower half, so he sits really nice. See him up for sale on my Etsy site!

See more pictures after the jump!

Happy January everyone!

I hope everyone had a superawesome Christmas and New Years. I sure did!

Already I've done tons of new things this January, and have a whole list of things to do!

I've started gardening (indoors, because I don't really have an outdoors). But Already I have some sprouting action going on with dwarf sunflowers, chives, brandywine tomatoes and await the rest with eager anticipation! I bought a pile of flower seeds the other day and hope to get to planting those this weekend. I also decided to pick up a biology minor, which is awesome! It's already a ton of work, but I think the opportunities down the road are going to be amazing. I'm volunteering at the Aquarium again, but this time it's with a different program, now I'm teaching kids about salmon, and learning TONS myself!

Things I have yet to do include, building an indoor worm compost for my town house, starting a garden on my patio and shooting on film (at last!). I think I'll be able to pay off my Bolex's by the end of the month so I can get right on that! Hopefully I can show case some of my experimental stuff on here.

Mele Kilikimaka

It's the thing to say, on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas day!

I hope everyone's holidays are proceeding with excellent excellence. I have been doing masses of sewing myself, but wont be uploading anything here until after the holidays. There's a couple examples of holiday things over on DeviantArt , if you're really bent on having a sneak peek.

I've also been baking a little here and there. All I can say, is that these are the best cookies I have ever made, ever. Possibly the best cookies I have also ever eaten. I've made them twice with cadbury white and semi sweet chocolate chunks, and I really can't stop eating them. Tomorrow (or later today), I am embarking on the baking of these for my folks to enjoy over the days leading up to Christmas. I'm pretty stoked about them, except for the cost of the booze.

Anyways, I suppose this is farewell until the new year. Have lots of fun, eat well, get together with old friends and celebrate!!

The Cube of Josh

I did this one for an old friend of mine! I had a couple of issues. One, I made the cube too large, which resulted in a small decrease in awesomeness. I also spelt 'Cucumber' wrong, which is embarrassing.