breakage.

one of the most heartbreaking elements of the awards for nothing project is breakage. the experimental nature of the project lends itself to disaster and yet every piece consumes completely one-of-a-kind materials. with so much unknown jamming into my machines, i feel like a potter waiting for the kiln to fire. it's never entirely clear what will emerge. i'm always nervous the result will come out busted.

i like to think these broken pieces pierced their own mylar coatings to maintain their ephemeral natures.

i might leave them in public places.

it's also worth noting that those broken awards are lodged on a stack of new security envelopes given to me by the great bruce burton (no web presence at this time). sorting and slicing through them last night really made me want to revive the project.

freshly pressed.

i just finished this little design side project for press pass, a socializing and networking night for local toronto media folks. my friend nadja sayej started the thing up. i know her from my earliest days in the toronto zine scene. since she wanted four different looks i played pretty fast and loose with the colour correcting here. the photography is pretty rough and tumble, too. i was charged with making something a little more crafty and organic than normal logo design, so i like these qualities. i am nothing if not flawed.

the clever among you will notice that i made the whole thing out of security envelope scraps. there is a lot of extra material from that project which i am now trying to find other uses for. this little deal seemed like a good fit. the even cleverer among you will know that it only takes five characters to spell 'press pass'.

renewal notice.

photo by garth johnson

i was offline so long that i neglected to mention my involvement in renewal notice, a group show curated by garth johnson on the topic of reuse. the exhibition runs in conjunction with this year's american conservation film festival in shepherdstown, west virginia.

the show (and garth's presence at the festival) are related to his book, 1000 ideas for creative reuse. i have to admit that none of my work is in the book. i considered submitting some work when the call was out but was feeling gunshy after an entirely unrelated and strange experience with another publication. i now regret my hermit-like reticence as garth has become a good friend who i consider to be exceptionally thoughtful when it comes to art, craft and intellectual pursuit. he is a veritable bridge of a man, linking various worlds that tend to misunderstand one another (art, craft, academia).

my contributions to the exhibition are a small sampling of plastic bag models from the toronto hyperbolic crochet coral reef (pictured above, right) and a selection of buttons from the security envelope project (not pictured). i could not be happier to be involved. thank you, garth.

renewal notice has a brief run from yesterday (november 4) through november 7, 2010. if you re in the area, you might want to go check it out.

be your own brass.

hey world. guess what? now that i am finally caught up on some administrative things (it's a long story that involves timing and family trauma) the security envelope project has finally been able to grow into a long-awaited second phase. please behold the do-it-yourself security envelope installation kit. here at the sweetie pie press, we aim to make your weird decorating impulses easier to achieve through carefully mapped out (and easy to install) projects.

taking its inspiration from the trials and tribulations of doing this (like this), the idea for these smaller scale at-home installations came from the notion that even installation-based projects should be easy and accessible (in some instances, at any rate). at this smaller size, it was easy to refine the installation process and make it less gruelling, too.

want to see some picture of what i am talking about? here:

you can look at the whole process (27 minutes in total) here.

so, i know what you are thinking. how do i get my hands on one of these amazing kits? well, there are currently two ways: 1) this first triangular kits should appear in my etsy shop in a matter of hours 2) i will give you one of these first kits just for leaving a comment here (well, i will give one to one of you). you have until friday at midnight to leave a comment, friends and lurkers. after that, i will devise a means of making a random selection and one lucky soul will get an easy-peasy installation kit! (since these are so brand new, photographs of your finished installation would also be nice). please be sure to include your email address if it is not on your blogger profile.

the nothingness of excess and possession.

i rarely buy books. it's kind of embarrassing. i wear glasses and look smart, but i generally tend toward comics, zines or (usually) making things when i could be reading. but when i saw faythe's mention of collections of nothing by william davies king, i felt a very strong pull to it. i would be lying if the fact that the cover hints at his security envelope collection of 800+ patterns didn't have a lot to do with it.

possession, acquisition, collection and material concerns have been very much on my mind this past year (or more) as i sift through the leftover materials of my father's life and absorb the important things that my grandparents left behind when they moved into their new assisted living home (which they love, by the way). there's a whole bunch of family and personal history that i don't really feel like getting into but suffice it to say that issues of hoarding and material are deeply interesting to me.

i can only write from personal opinion, so i'll say that i found the book pretty amazing, confusing, upsetting, exciting, annoying, indicting, and comforting. it basically lead me through a large swath of feelings and thoughts in relation to this stranger's life history, behaviours and deconstructions of both. as annoyances go, i had a hard time (as i usually do) with some hopefully involuntary trappings of academia that the writing dips into at times. i have a very deep-rooted knee-jerk hate-on for academic blather but then, it never really worked for me. mostly, though, these feelings probably stem from the permission king gives readers to come right inside his life. he has laid himself bare (awkwardness and neurosis included).

the more detached processing of the notion of collection and collector were what i really clung to in the book. i am still turning many of his ideas around in my head. king's collections (in a voyeuristic way) came into my life at the exact right time. i am currently wrestling with my own heaps of envelopes, jars of shredded money and crushed pop cans. reading the thoughts and struggles of this similar (yet very different) stuff-magnet felt really useful to me at this time. i was also strangely fascinated by how some of him collections seemed oppressive to me, some repulsive and some delightful even though they all occupy a very similar space of uselessness. food. for. thought.

leah, you should read it. actually, a bunch of people i know should.

update (march 24, 2010) - here is a video documenting some of his collections that professor king shared with me:

security blanket.

today i took a break from city of craft, shipping and endless sorting to put together a little dream project of mine...well, the beginnings of one, anyway.

i have joined the beta testing team for the spoonflower textile marketplace. this allows me to goof around with some fabric designs and offer some choice selections up for sale to you, the people of the internet.

i am starting with a few designs including a series based on the security envelope project. offered up here is the first in the group, a tiling collection of scanned circles.

finally, we can all sleep under the security of quilted patterns that can obscure our presence to the outside world.

a day in a window (and a little more).

photo by fuzzy gerdes

today was my day to sit on display for an entire work day. i have to say, i quite enjoyed the experience. i got to uncle fun a little early to set up my tiny cross-legged office and settled into the hard work of going through the security envelope submissions i accumulated while on the last leg of this year's tour.

first i got to go through a great package from erin dollar, a portland-based artist and beard maker:

her collection contained some old favorites and a couple of new discoveries. i don't think i had that diamond-zigzag one. hopefully, it is not some corporate branding sneaking its way into my project. those corporations are nothing if not sneaky. the cross-hatch with the orange/yellow background is also a new discovery, for sure.

next, i went through a package from renee. renee and i arranged a swap a while back after i saw her beautiful security envelope pendants and spied a few new patterns in the mix. as it turns out, she has decided to decorate her wedding entirely in flowers made from the blue patterns so i offered her some surplus (there is more coming, renee, don't you worry). here is her package to me:

there were so many new patterns in this batch - lots of new background colours and this amazing bird and letter abstract that i did not get a good picture of. of course, i also loved that so many of the scraps came to me die cut and pre-punched with flower and gift tag shapes. it made me feel like part of a big aesthetic assembly line of reuse.

speaking of reuse, my scraps get set aside for st. louis artist, bruce burton. i don't know what he plans to do with them but a lot of his art is based on collections and arrangements of things, so i am sure something interesting is in the works. and i apologize to shannah for sending more clutter to your pretty home.

and that was that for an entire day in the window - two packages sorted. it's good to realize how labour intensive this particular project is. at home there are always distractions to distract me from staying on track. in spite of a bit of chatting today, i realize that this really does take a lot of time. thank you, uncle fun! i had a veritable blast. even more so when we got to go upstairs for a circuit bending workshop...

what fun! they do this sort of thing from time to time, so you should probably find a way to get on their mailing list and stay informed. uncle fun is the best.

window dressing.

photo by massdistraction

i am not ashamed to announce that i will be coming out of my button making shell this sunday when i will find myself on delicate display in the window of one of my favorite chicagoland stores, uncle fun. i will be there making buttons for your amusement and fascination (and my own stamina challenging). since many people make buttons (chicago is not wanting for button prodigies by any stretch), i have decided to do more than just make buttons. instead, i am focusing on a redoubling of efforts in the security envelope department. were i seven different people, security envelope button production would never have slowed. but i am one person and there is sometimes rent to pay.

regardless of any of that, this sunday will see me turing a big heap of envelope guts into a smaller (but still impressive) heap of 1" buttons. marvel at the calming monotomy! wonder at the smallness of modern day factory manufacture! watch garbage become accessories! press your faces against the window and weird me out!

saturday will also see aitor doing unflattering portraits in the very same window. just sayin'. at the time of posting, there are still appointments left. scoop 'em up!

security envelopes: regrouping, reimagining and renewed effort.

above is a big collection of magnets used for the diwhy/ security envelope installation at the ontario crafts council. until this evening, these magnets were sitting in a bag with an equal number of big huge nails. but with the workroom window display coming back to my home shortly, it was time to get things squared up on the security front so that i can wake the project from its hibernation and get back to going through submission and cataloguing.

i should also say that during this fallow time i have come across a few new postal/security projects of note that i wish to share with the world...

1) signature security envelopes by the esteemed tara bursey.
obviously, tara would share obsessions with me - design, art, zines, mail, personal touches, collecting...just to name a few overlapping territories. her totally perfect self-made security envelopes really bring thoughts of safety and identity to the next level. and, as always, she does it with infinite grace and attention to detail.

2) insecurity envelopes by jk keller.
i actually stumbled into this project after being sent this by a friend (pretty amazing in its own right). this mr. keller fellow seems to be onto a great many interesting things. his entire online portfolio was worth the steadfast peruse i gave it. my other favorite project is the paulette ribbon typeface. you'll see. i really get a thrill when math and craft collide. and it's a plus when the results are pretty.

security found (on late night south-bound roncesvalles streetcar).

last night, as we were coming home from a grand night out at ghost jail theatre (the sweetie pie brother is visiting from vancouver and i am trying to impress him with worldly delights), i discovered a very special something on the floor of a streetcar. it was a slightly crushed security envelope button. what kismet. i guess the world is finite and circular after all. i get excited enough when i see buttons i made on the backpacks of strangers but to have one returned to me by the fates...well, it was just too much.

so i am having a two-part contest to celebrate.

part one - if you think you lost this on the king/roncesvalles car on sunday, march 29th, 2009, then i will return it to you.

part two - if you want to win a care package of mysterious sweetie pie goods, then leave a comment under this post. and if you want a second entry, then say something nice about me on your own blog (you will have to leave a link in another comment here to get a second entry). entries must be posted by midnight (est) on friday, april 3. yup, this is a quicky.

after all, i have to return the favour to the gods of stuff and chaos. i can feel karmic debt looming over me as i type.

i neglected to mention...

...that the entire security envelope collection (my personal one) is currently on display in the window of the workroom on toronto's queen street west. it's a simple display, using the button boards by tara broderick. i had big plans to sew all kinds of envelope strips together to display as a big curtain behind the boards. given my time constraints, this amounted to two ten foot long strips - not my original vision, but also not altogether unappealing.

things are pretty fluid with me and the workroom, so i am not sure how long this display will stay there. you'd better just go soon and check it out. there are all kinds of great events going on there all the time. for instance, i stopped in on today's quilt sunday. the next chance to loaf around there should be a stitch 'n' bitch in a couple of weeks. maybe you should go.

issues of security in america's new dawn.

envelopes are still trickling in from collection phase one. it's nice. the pace is easier to keep up with and the security envelope project has gone back to being a loving process to me (i react poorly to being beholden).

above is the new pattern i found in a contribution from frank in indiana. i have seen this pattern before but never in red. i love it!

in a recent letter, my friend melissa brought up the idea that i should bring this project to the states, what with the connotations of security there these days. of course, i had considered these themes before but they were not central in my artistic motivations for this project. regardless of that, she's right; security seems to be on everyone's minds these days in one way or another (american or not). i like the notion that these scraps of paper could keep us all safe. i think it's working for me. there is a security in being focused on a project or goal. well, it's one of the best kinds of security i have come upon in my creative life, at any rate.

it's not like i'm done, or anything.

just because the security envelope project is currently experiencing its first public outing, does not mean the project has reached an end point. far from it. in fact, i am still receiving contributions from a few stragglers (no derision intended, the time off has been much appreciated).

above are some highlights from joanne, who is my first south african contributor. as hoped, south africa offered me all sorts of new and exotic patterns. those thirteen above are all new for sure. the two at the far right are very exciting, indeed, as the gray one features a very very subtle grid pattern (which is hard to see in photographs) and the blue one has a very large repeat on it.

oh, and here is a picture joanne sent earlier to entice my senses:



yes, yes. there is still much security to explore. and i am steadily scanning patterns in preparation for collection phase two (the quickening). in phase two i will be rewarding folks for finding new patterns only. this will both make the project more like a treasure hunt and hopefully keep me from going broke and having to live in a hole (from which blogging would become impaired).

it's alive! (or the security envelope project has its coming out party).

well, world. it has finally happened. the security envelope project i have be obsessing over has come into being with its first gallery showing. the piece pictured above is a 17 x 17 (289) button grid installed with nails and magnets at the ontario crafts council as part of the group show, diwhy?











the show opens today and runs through march 1st at the crafts council gallery (990 queen street west). aitor and i went today to drop off a spinning rack of button sets - yes you can buy the sets of three themselves for $6 at the gallery for the duration of the run. this gave us a great chance to poke around. i'm really into the whole thing. i was especially excited to get to put the first few stitches in miriam grenville's lovely diy wall paper.



you should go see it all.

putting 289 buttons on 289 nails (or how to drive yourself crazy in four easy hours).

today i installed my piece (affectionately titled 'the security envelope project') at the ontario crafts council for the diwhy? exhibition that opens tomorrow. as a result, i will show you how i did it in case you ever get the urge to display 289 1" buttons on a wall somewhere. oh yes, i should apologize for the photos in advance. the lighting was not great and my photography skills have some holes in them so they are petty grainy.

step #1 - do math
i did this in my head and thus couldn't take pictures. in this case, the buttons'centres will be spaced 1.5 inches apart (leaving .5 inches between each button) and will be arranged in a grid of 17 squared (the highest square number i could muster out of my current collection).

step #2 - make a centre dot on the wall.

step #3 - apply a horizontal piece of masking tape over this dot, extending the width of your intended display. this part can be eyeballed. the level will come in later.

step #4 - measure out a leveled series of dots (at your predetermined intervals and quantity).

step #5 - place a new piece of masking tape vertically using the centre dot as a guide.

sep #6 - repeat step #4 on the vertical axis.

step #7 - start applying lines of tape (eyeballing their levelness), using this centre axis as a guide. part way through, your grid should look like the one above. when you are finished this step, it should look like this:



step #8 - draw levelled lines through your central axis of dots. this should be done with some amount of care.





...see how my eyeball lines and leveled lines vary considerably? i even had to add tape in a few places so as not to draw on the wall (which i was trying to avoid).

step # 9 - nails!



i used 2 inch common nails with a nice flat head. although i started by placing two in the middle, i quickly realized that right-handed people should start in the upper right corner. i would imagine that the reverse is true for lefties but have yet to test this theory.

step #10 - keep it up! don't loose focus and just go for a coffee/tea.



step # 11 - finish nailing and feel a warm sense of accomplishment. after all, this is the most stressful part of the process. if you mess up, you risk making the holes loose and having your nails fall out. i am very proud to report that i hammered in 289 nails without bending one, loosening a hole (well, that's debatable), or hitting a finger. my dad would have been so proud.



step #12 - remove tape. i find that this process is greatly aided by having shannon gerard idling in the vicinity. if you are lucky enough to find yourself in this situation, you will see how much faster she is than you at picking masking tape off a wall.



this is also a good time to start marvelling at the shadows that a big grid of nails casts.

step #13 - apply a single magnet to the end of each nail. i chose the rare earth magnets at a diameter of 1/16 of an inch. these magically fit the nail heads perfectly with no math or effort on my part. when applying magnets to the nail heads, you will also notice that shannon is faster than you.



step #14 - apply your 1" buttons to the magnets. i found that you have a better chance of getting them close to centered if you open the pinbacks. i did not take any pictures of this step because i could not bear the resulting images given the low light. but fear not, i will be back tomorrow and will take some pictures when the sun is shining.

step #15 - be proud of your accomplishment. you actually did something today!

reflections:
- gallery walls are full of patched holes. you should have spackle and paint on hand to deal with the chips and cracks your nails will create.
- tape is hard to peel off walls. i actually may have to think of a better system for future installations, but this was a first stab and worked out exceptionally well.
- accept the irregularities of doing it by hand. it is nearly impossible (for me) to make this grid all sit on the exact same plane. also, there are so many layers of variable (measuring, nailing precision, magnetism, button/pinback cooperation...) that inconsistencies are bound to present themselves. i have decided that these elements make the piece more organic. besides, a show about the diy movement can't possibly want to install the craziness like an automaton, right? like what is this...readymade?

thanks for reading (if you did). is anyone else actually going to try to do this somewhere? let me know, if you are. i am thinking of selling do-it-yourself kits in my etsy shop (of various grid dimensions) but i am holding off until i have perfected the instructions. please let me know what you think of that idea, too.

and go to the show! it opens tomorrow with a reception on february 5th.