gifts from afar.

hey, look what i got from my friend missy and raoul at racho cocoa in athens, georgia. actually, that is just a sampling on the generous care package missy put together for me. there are postcards, missy's note pads, foreign candies, never-ending eight-hour shift zines (who wrote that?), a wooden tofu baby pendant, a triangular pouch and (our shared loved) a squished penny! the cup of tea was not in the package, but i'm sure if missy could find a way it would have been. there was also a vintage shirt (now in the wash) and a pile of security envelopes.

this package was waiting for me when i got back from vancouver and so was another surprise package from our little leah in berlin.





apparently the flea markets there are pretty amazing. i wish i could teleport to germany and spend a week wandering around with leah. she also included some brilliantly creepy glass jars with the names of chemical compounds taped to them (just our style around here) and a metal pin of a local folk hero. leah will have to explain the latter further, as history confuses me. i really love the washe bag, by the way and am just thinking about how to properly display/use it.

even though i currently feel overwhelmed with stuff, i was so nice to come home to care package from some far reaches and favorite people. thank you guys. what's in toronto that you babes want? all dressed chips? kit kat bars? codeine?

actually, i can't remember what chocolate bars are specific to canada. coffee crisp? who knows? but i remember those ones with puffed rice in them being strictly american.

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.

moss plate.

above is a collection of moss, ferns, cones and lichens that i brought back from the farm where my dad lived. aitor and i unpacked it all when i got home. he fed all the bugs that crawled out to his carnivorous plants (thus, facilitating the circle of life) and we arranged the moss onto our bigger serving plate. i wish we could just keep it like this. aitor and i both decided that we like it quite well. unfortunately, toronto apartments with hot water heat are far too dry in the winter time for moss so these samples are soon to be arranged under glass. but for now, we have this beautiful focal point in our living space. there are these long spikey red things that even dance when you mist them with water (which we do constantly to keep them happy). some of the lichens also unfurl (or maybe they furl) when misted. i'm pretty excited about this project and the fascination/calm it is already bringing us.

what your country looks like from above.

i deeply regret not pulling my camera out during our ascent from vancouver today. the ominous fog that has been sitting over the city for this whole visit looked absolutely incredible from above. it swirls around and makes the downtown look like the emerald city poking through the mist. oh yes, vancouver, the sun is shining so bright and clear just a mile or two above you.

here is some more:

portland morning run-arounds.

after an early rise (for me, anyway) so that we could get to powell's right when it opened, we met with the book buys and then staggered around, overwhelmed. i actually bought nothing which was surprisingly easy when i thought of all the dribs and drabs of my father's that i already had to find ways to bring back to toronto with me.

after powell's, we went down to the little alberta street arts district to check in on some stores i had sold to there. i was sad to see imp going out of business (sadly, this is becoming a more common sight on my trips south of the border). i wish the owner, chris, all the best and hope the closing doesn't signal some greater worries. that store, and this whole neighbourhood, were places that my father and i stumbled into when we drove from vancouver to los angeles in the spring of 2006. you know, bittersweet stuff.

i did discover a newer space that had open on the strip, together gallery (pictured above). i was drawn in by the window display by ryan bubnis, which inhabited an aesthetic that made me feel i was at home looking at it.





the window is part of their current group show, waiting for the miracle, which is pretty spectacular. oh yes, there was also a terrarium in the window. feelings of home, again...



the woman behind the counter, i came to learn, was an artist named mia nolting. we got to chatting and after she handed me a survey to fill out i had a similar home-like inkling. some later internet stalking has confirmed my feelings. she's incredibly talented and seems to enjoy illustration, typography, lists, surveys and cussing...clearly there is some kindred spirit going on there.



i ended up going home with the book pictured above (by nigel peake) and a multiple choice diary that mia gave me. i love them both a lot. but am i supposed to fill in the diary and send it back to her? is this more of the same personal information hoarding that the surveys feed into? and what glorious/nefarious purpose will all this information feed into, i wonder?



i also got to visit office, one of my favorite portland shops to drool in. they always have great shows in their corner gallery and the shop has the magical feeling of being totally empty and totally full at the same time. you know...when the stuff for sale is arranged so carefully that it insinuates lots of space then when you look closer every single thing is deliberate and well chosen.



john and i then booted it out of the city and made our way home. of course, we had to make a stop in olympia on the way home to stock up dumpster values - the best store in town (and not just because they are my olympia retailer). i love that place.

and i am very thankful to john for redefining whirlwind with me and for treating me to a trip into the world and away from my worries (as much as possible, anyway). i didn't even have to drive once for the whole two days! and he went into a yarn shop with me. now that's a gift.

small steps south.

my mother's partner, john, has graciously offered to take me on an overnight trip to portland, oregon. this is both for me to decompress a bit and also so that we can sell some of my father's old books to powell's - the biggest craziest bookstore in the world (that i know of).

the image above is from our drive-by of seattle. we did manage to pop into the city just long enough to check in with the good folks at red light (the capitol hill location). i am happy to say they are now stocked up again with sweetie pie goodness, should you seattlelites find yourself wanting.

tonight we sleep in a weird little motel in a barren portland neighbourhood i can't understand. but we are near downtown. i already know how much i would like to stay in this city longer. but any time here is much appreciated.