Second Spoonflower contest

I entered a second Spoonflower contest, this one themed "root vegetables." My design is of ginger roots. Like the last time, this was a design I had already created for my own purposes, that just happened to more-or-less fit the contest. I know ginger is not a "vegetable", but heck, another entry was themed on root beer, so there's some leeway!

It came in 88 out of 181 with 141 votes, so better than last time. I'm surprised, since it's not really a very strong design on its own - I created it to be a tone-on-tone element in a larger design. Of course, that's how the last one was as well, but they had a record number of entries in the last contest, and actually had to reject some entries for the first time ever. So I probably fared better simply due to there being fewer to look through. (The way these contests work is that you can vote for as many designs as you like, so the more you have to look at, the more fatigue sets in.) In any case, it's fun to have other people take a look at my designs.

First Spoonflower Contest Entry

I finally entered a Spoonflower design contest! They have a new inspiration every week, and this week was ditsy prints. I came in 218th place out of 247, with 45 votes! The design I entered is here.

I've started creating more designs. So far all the designs were created with specific projects in mind (just as I hoped to do), so I hope to post about those soon!

Interconnected Artists

The second issue of Illo magazine finally arrived! I am pretty jazzed. I learned something really interesting - James Gurney, the Dinotopia guy, was college roomates with the infamous Thomas Kincade, "Painter of Light." Even better, they worked together painting backgrounds for a Frank Frazetta-produced animated film. Frazetta is basically the guy who invented fantasy art as we know it, with muscly men, volumptuous ladies, and raging monsters, all naked or nearly so. To top it off, the film was directed by Ralph Bakshi, known to me as the guy who also directed an animated version of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings. I have fond childhood memories of watching this, which I've been informed by my brother I am completely incorrect to have, so I'm thinking I'd rather not see it again so I can continue to enjoy the memories.

The film in question was called Fire and Ice, and it sounds terrible.

Voice Range

I'm partial to Mozart's operas, though I have very little music theory or history foundation to speak of. A few days ago I was idly pondering how far apart the standard voice ranges are - for instance, tenor and mezzo-soprano. Wikipedia to the rescue! There is a lovely chart comparing not only human voice ranges, but also a number of instruments. The answer to my query - they overlap by about one and a half octaves.

In the same article, I was amused to see the note about highest and lowest notes in standard singing repertoire - both are in Mozart operas! The highest is in both arias sung by the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, and the lowest is sung by Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. So, not only Mozart operas, but specifically German Mozart operas.

An Amazing Life

For my bedtime reading lately, I've been reading On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change, a collection of essays on architecture that my dad gave to me a while back. I've always had an interest in architecture - I even wanted to be an architect when I was a kid. I like to look at random buildings and imagine what it would be like to repurpose them, usually as houses. What if you converted that strip mall to apartments? Or that office building? These essays, by Ada Louise Huxtable, are mostly reviews of buildings (such as museums & corporate headquarters). I wish there were more pictures to go with what she's describing, but it's still fascinating to read critiques of structures. One of the architects who comes up frequently is Mies van der Rohe, who is basically the guy who came up with what we consider now to be the default corporate skyscraper - a giant glass-covered rectangular prism. One of the articles happened to mention that he lived from 1886 until 1969. What an incredible time to live - can you imagine if your living memory covered from a time before cars & planes and only a rudimentary electrical infrastructure, up to the development of computers and the landing on the moon? (Not to mention all the world-changing global conflicts in that span) We study all those things in history and know the dates, but it's still pretty incredible to think that they all really did happen in close enough sequence for someone to have lived through them all.

Birthday Crafts

I got another craft book for my birthday this year (some months back): Patchwork Puzzle Balls by Jinny Beyer. I love Jinny Beyer's style - she does cleaner, more modern takes on traditional styles with an emphasis on color gradients. Her quilts use so many different fabrics that it's a little exhausting to think of. These balls are neat, because I always thought geometry was fun, and these are just geometic solids, stuffed tight until they become spheres. The trouble with projects like these, that are so easy to work up, is...what do you do with them? I'm not the type of person who likes having "decor" touches, like bowls of decorative things out just to look nice. I was thinking it would be fun to stuff these with beans or rice instead and use them as beanbags. One of my favorite toys as a kid was a set of beanbags my mom made out of fabric scraps - all kinds of calico and fun early-80's prints. Even so, I suppose I would have to take up juggling to get any use of out such a thing now. Hmm, maybe I could sew little bells in and give them to my mom as toys for her cats...

Tried out Spoonflower

I finally tried out Spoonflower. I made a design out of some abstract square knots.

So much fun! The mind reels at the possibilities. I want to come up with custom prints for every sewing project I do from now on.