Bee Abodes

I'm confident this has made its way about the blog circuit by now; I meant to post it ages ago. Even so, the story fits nicely into a few previous posts — Hubert Duprat's Trichopteran Integuments, Decapod Domicile — and included an Aha! moment for me. These amazing photos are of tiny bee nests, made by a particular kind of solitary bee, Osmia avosetta, who builds a single cocoon for each of its eggs. The findings occurred almost simultaneously in both Turkey and Iran, and I have not been able to confirm that any other kind of bee makes a nest similar to this or in any other part of the world.


But while hiking in Northern California at the Marin Watershed 2 months ago I found these mysterious dwellings (above) under the trees alongside the lake. The photos aren't fantastic, but these thumb-sized nests were made from pine needles, moss, dirt, and some kind of binder, presumably from the insect architect. Once you started looking they were everywhere ... what had made them? There were no signs of life, so it appeared that whatever was living in them had already vacated. They were just large enough to stick a finger in, so I imagine the inhabitant(s) must have been about the same circumference. After reading this article I thought, Maybe a bee! as there are many ground-nesting bee species. I'd love to learn what made these cocoons. If you have any knowledge of this at all, I'd be super excited to hear about it. [Thanks, Ginny, for forwarded me the NPR link!]

Poppy(shop) June 4-6!

It is my distinct pleasure to (help) announce the upcoming, up and coming, pop up shop, Poppyshop! which boasts "a mix of vintage and handmade finds, new and mid-century furniture, art and home accessories". The first run will be in Oakland CA in less than 10 days, and will include paintings from Alison Kendall, furniture from Thomas Wold, works by Marina Luz, and felted housewares from Papaver Vert, among many others. Hello lover!

Come check it out Friday through Sunday, June 4-6, from 11am-6pm @ 3217 Lakeshore Ave in Oakland. In the meantime you can find them on Facebook. I believe this store will be a nice segue to Indie Mart on Sunday.

Doors and Windows, by Ewa's Oceans

Loving the boost of texture, adornment, and earthy color inspiration this Friday with Doors and Windows, by Warsaw photographer Ewa's Oceans. [Thanks, Candice, for the link!]

Arielle de Pinto: Crochet Jewelry

Canadian artist Arielle de Pinto treats metal like fiber and crochets fantastical sheaths and adornments, sui generis. A graduate of Concordia University, de Pinto developed her unique technique over the course of her studies in textiles. She launched a line in 2007, the same year she graduated, and has been a regular participant in New York and Paris fashion weeks. Her collection of hand-worked jewelry is presented by select specialty stores internationally.

Read the Cool Hunting interview here. [via Ambit]

Maker Faire Bay Area 2010: Ready, Set ...

Every year my life gets colonized for one week in May, during which 80,000 people swarm out to partake in a single event comprised of several thousand happenings. There have been many phrases and comparisons used to describe Maker Faire — "equal parts science and art, with hints of Burning Man" (San Jose Mercury News, 5/30/09), and our own tagline, "The World's Largest DIY Festival" — but somehow none of them quite sum up the whole of the parts. My dad overheard this gem last year: "This taps into something primal — so much more than geek-appeal." It's true. While we may fly our geek flag high, this isn't about one social bracket, it's about catalysts. It's about bringing potentially disparate groups together and seeing what happens in the name of exploration, creative endeavor, science, and pleasure. That's right, pleasure. AKA fun! The joy of learning something new, or sharing what you already know. I could go on and on, but I think it's best if you see it for yourself.

Maker Faire Bay Area 2010 will be happening, as usual, at the San Mateo County Event Center, May 22 and 23rd. There will be 2 other Faires happening this year, one in Detroit on July 31 and August 1, 2010 at the Henry Ford. And World Maker Faire in Queens NY, September 25 and 26, at the New York Hall of Science.

I will be working Maker Check In 24/7, so don't be shy, please stop by and say hi! And feel free to bring with you life-giving fluids (aka beer and coffee).

You can read about a number of our featured Makers on both the blogs, makezine.com and craftzine.com. Here are a few links, compliments of Goli:
Flaming Lotus Girls SOMA
SolarPump Electric Charging Station
Interview with the Raygun Gothic Rocketship crew

All photos by Will Wilson, from the set How Will YOU Make the Future?

Susie Cowie Embroidery

Not before today have I ever encountered the term "Freelance Embroidery Designer." But there it is, running out behind the name of one London-based Susie Cowie like so much colorful floss. Graduated with honors from the Glasgow School of Art in 2006, Cowie's body of work includes fashion and interior concepts, costume and prop pieces, plus illustrative embroidery. She has produced work for the likes of Margaret Howell, Anthropologie, Victorias Secret, and Calvin Klein ... and yet when I look at her pieces I can't imagine how a style so incredibly ethereal could ever be made mainstream. All I can think of is how to say the word Love in 20 different languages. Amour, kærlighed, liefde, kärlek, liebe ...

Tommy of This Is Naive has put together the most incredible artist profile on Cowie, replete with gorgeous photos, interesting tidbits, inspiration bulletins, even a DIY on how to make Cowie's favorite snack. All the photos seen here are from the post. [via All the Mountains]

Design Notebook: Nature Textures Library

Hello all. I wanted to share with you my new column for CRAFT, Design Notebook. I (finally) wrote my first post this week, on creating your own textures library. I've included an excerpt here on TT, and you can check out the post in its entirety on the CRAFT blog. I've included some select shots from this project — please feel free to grab them for your own use, copyright free!



As a designer, I have a great love as well as a professional need for visual lexicons. Type faces, illustration, ephemera, old signage — you name it, I collect it. Textures are no different. It's not infrequent that a texture is needed for a design project, and what better way to amass a royalty-free collection than to generate it yourself!

In this post I will address some basic tips for finding and capturing textures with your digital camera, and share with you some selects from my nature texture library. All of these photos were taken while hiking in the beautiful regional parks of Northern California. They are free for you to grab and use however you want — have fun!

In the next post, I will go over how to zoom waaaaaay in on your photos to create a specific color pallet from individual pixels using imaging software. Stay tuned!








A special note of thanks. This project was inspired by Bay Area artist Matthew Jervis, who has been taking amazing texture shots and open sourcing them in a Facebook album. Super sweet idea! You can find more on Jervis at Kulture Hero.

Raoul Ollman: Daily Shot

I've really been enjoying Bay Area artist Raoul Ollman's Daily Shot album on Facebook. With a gentle pinhole effect and moody pallet, Ollman captures a certain crepuscular character.

WE DREAM OF A RAIN that, in lieu of falling, moves parallel to the earth. Sheet after sheet of rain. Then an upward rain that originates a few feet off the ground. You can get under the rain and watch. With the disappearance of public space, we dream a rain that's moved indoors. A miniaturized rain restricted to one room, one wall, a box. Then we dream of snow.
—Ben Lerner, Angle of Yaw