Wildish

Brrr, is it ever cold here in Nova Scotia!

These are just a few quick snaps of frost on my window pane, I’ve been staying inside crafting and avoiding the chilly temperatures.

As much as I love the beauty of frost and snow, I am starting to get a bit tired of winter at this point. I find myself dreaming of running maple syrup and courageous crocus blooms slumbering beneath the snow banks, waiting for their first opportunity to pop up. C’mon spring, hurry up!

 

Hey friends,

I just realized I haven’t posted since December, how time flies! January tends to be a quiet month for me, but this year I’ve been busy traveling, catching up with visiting friends and working on new projects.

It’s 2010 and there are so many things I want to do this year! I have always been the kind of person who wants to do everything, but what really drives me is the desire to experiment with materials and ideas in order to create beautiful things. I’m excited to see what I will dream up this year and what projects will finally come to fruition. I think it’s time to tie up a lot of loose ends leftover from 2009.

I started painting again, it’s been a while. I’ve been so busy crafting three dimensional objects that I’ve been neglecting the two dimensional world of images. This year I hope to balance my creative practices and make more drawings and paintings.

So here’s the new one, fresh. It’s 4 by 5 inches, just a wee one. I was working on this one originally for a show, but since this month was so surprisingly busy I didn’t get the chance to finish it until recently.

The surface of most of the figure and landmass is matte, while the sky and lake is painted with layers of shiny gel and iridescent paint. The image seems to change with different levels of light, when it fluctuates the surface of the painting seems to do so as well. Please click through the images below for a closer look.

 

This time my quilted accessories are robot inspired. I used a lot of shiny lame to give these a sci-fi touch, they’re wild. Check em’ out. These would also look great on a suit jacket. They are entirely hand stitched and made with love and care.

 

The Halifax Crafter’s fair was splendid. It was at a new venue this season, the Olympic Centre on Hunter street. It was much larger space with wide balconies, a stage and a large counter at the front where they served snacks and drinks.  Even though it was busy there was lots of room and it felt like people could relax, have a chat and shop. I thought it was a great success!

We have been busy late night crafting and inventing new things here in the craft lab. We’ll be posting galleries of our new designs over the next few days. This time they are inspired by robots, galaxies, stars, science and living forms. Perfect for the fashionable mad scientist on your list. (I’ve been watching a lot of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, can you tell? It’s so good).

First: our new galaxy inspired work. Their shape reminds me of stars swirling around galaxies, and of the massive black holes that live at the hearts of galaxies. That’s really what started me off putting beads and pearls on them.

These are made of two or more interlocking circles, although I do tend to use three at a time. Three interlocking circles are commonly refered to as a triquetra. I was attracted to it originally because I am interested in Irish culture and it is a pre-christian symbol in Ireland. Some say it was a symbol for an early Celtic triple goddess. It is symbol found in many religions and customs around the world, meaning things that are threefold or three inter-related things. It can easily represent many aspects for example elements (fire, water, air) or time (past, present, future).

 

I can’t believe the Halifax Crafter’s fair is this weekend! Come out and see some of our new brooches and hair pins. Free gift wrapping in handmade origami boxes while quantities last.

(The fair is Dec 5th and 6th, 11-5pm at the Olympic Centre on Hunter street.)

 

You can make these oreo or fudgee-o style, depending on how you fill them. Buttercream icing with a splash of Kahlua or peppermint extract is yummy. I love a little chocolate truffle filling with a splash or Grand Marnier best personally. I’ve made large batches of these and filled them with various flavoured fillings. They’ve been very popular…

Chocolate Cookie Dough:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (fair trade)

Flavoured Buttercream:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup (plus a tablespoon or two) icing sugar
1 tbsp liquor (Kahlua, peppermint, etc)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Truffle filling: I can’t remember my exact measurements for this, but it shouldn’t be a problem since it’s so simple. Chop your chocolate up into small pieces and add hot cream while stirring until it is a spreadable consistency. Add a splash of liquor, such as Grand Marnier, for flavour and to lengthen it’s shelf life.  Delicious.

Method: The dough:

• Whisk together the flour and salt, set aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla blend just until combined.
• Stir in the cocoa. Next this stir in the flour mixture gradually.
• Divide the dough into two pieces, flatten these into disks and chill them in the fridge until firm (1-2 hrs). This will make the dough much easier to roll out
• The icing is simple, just add everything to the bowl and cream it. Make sure your cookies are completely cool before icing them.

Driving back from checking out the Leonid Meteor Shower…

 

The last of the goldenrod is drying out on the counter in my bathroom.

Winter is close.

 

Snickerdoodles have the strangest name, but the cookies themselves are very simple. There seems to be a lot of debate over where the origins of this particular cookie and it’s fanciful name. Some say it’s name comes from Germany or the Netherlands  while others claim it’s from New England.

The cookie itself is such a classic combination of vanilla cookie and cinnamon sugar, I would imagine it could crop up in more than a few places independently. I think the story I like best is that it comes from the German words Schneckennudeln, which means “snail dumpling.” It sounds like something from a fairy tale, like it should be served as a teeny treat at a tea party for small beings and magical creatures.

Theses are made by rolling soft vanilla cookie dough in cinnamon sugar. I’ve been making this particular recipe since I was a little kid and I am always happy with them. The trick to making snickerdoodles, like most cookies, is to be careful not to overcook them. They should be soft (but not gooey) with a cracked surface when you remove them from the oven, as they cool they will firm up quite a bit.

Snickerdoodles:

1/2 cup of butter or margarine (at room temp’)
3/4 cups of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (or 1/2 pod)
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp sugar

• Preheat oven to 375f (if you have a dark pan 325f).

• Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla on high until it turns light and fluffy. If you don’t have a mixer you can do this with a small whisk. Mix in the egg just until blended. Use a large spoon to stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour.

• Shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut, roll in cinnamon sugar until the are well coated. place them on cookie sheets approximately 2 inches apart from one another.

• They take between 8- 12 minutes to bake, depending on your oven. The best thing to do is turn your oven light on and keep an eye on them.  Makes about 32 cookies.

 

I had a memorable Halloween with my lady friends Karyn, Amy and Genevieve. We spent the evening running around in the streets, drinking wine, kicking leaves and howling at the moon. The next day we were all feeling a bit hungover, so Amy and I decided to clear our heads by going for an afternoon breakfast and post-Halloween walk. Here are a few photos from our adventure.