this is not an art blog

this is a craft blog.  it's about making stuff that is, to some extent, useful.  or, at least, not quite as haughty as art.  still, i finally got back to my art practice after what seemed like a terribly long 4 week self imposed sabbatical (after what seemed like an even longer case of artist's block.)  so to celebrate, here's a shot of a new maquette:

it is cropped in a bit because 1. this is not an art blog and 2. i'm not ready to show any finished images, seeing as it is a maquette.  when i do finish something, look for it at my website (johnruszel.com).

i guess the radishes aren't quite ready yet.

i'm a terrible gardener and i've killed a lot of plants in my time.  i usually work pretty hard at the beginning of a season, fixing up my little garden patches, ripping up weeds and dead things, mixing in some new soil and what have you.  and then time passes.  and i miss a few days of watering.  and since i already missed a few, what harm could a few more do?  and soon enough i have whole patches of zombie plants that want only one thing: revenge.  revenge for my negligence.  and that's when i start actively ignoring the back yard.

but things are going a bit better this season!  first: nature has been helping with the watering, second: i have much lower expectations and third: i planted radishes which, i hear, can be grown by even the worst, most uninvolved gardeners.  i also planted garlic (which seems to be doing alright, though i'm not counting my cloves before they a pulled up in the spring) and carrots and chard (which went in a few weeks after the other things and have yet to do much at all.)

someday, i'd love to be a proficient grower of food.  for now, it is baby steps.  i'll let you know how it goes.

a new shirt

hey, remember those buttons i was making a while back?  well, i made a shirt to go with them and finally got around to taking a couple of snaps of it. details below!

misadventures in dressmaking or why i hate polyeseter

my sister is in a choir.  during the holiday season, they wear victorian dress.  so i made a victorian dress.  and, with some help from her and sarah on the homestretch, i was able to finish it up for the first performance this evening. and i made it out of polyester.  which seems like a reasonable choice for a costume: cheap, available, shiny like silk.  oh, except that it is terrible.

and the making of this dress works as a perfect metaphor for the first amendment to the rule list (see this post):

4. if at all possible, avoid man made materials and plastics.

(there's a lot more after the jump)

sunday crafternoon

my friend sarah (curator of the lovely http://birdfoxbird.tumblr.com/ and superbarista) hosted her inaugural craft night yesterday and, though we both thought of the word "crafternoon" at about the same time, i posted it on the internet first so i get credit.

despite the presence of a couple of tea drinking sailors, a couple of documentary watching musicians and two to three pretty great room mates, only sarah and i were crafting.  but, i guess like brewing, it was more about the excuse to sit around and talk, get to know some new friends, and maybe come up with a few cat names based on evil dictators (fidel catsrto, benito meowssolini, ghengis kat, meow tse-tung, and cat jong-il, along with the not evil director federico felinei and the actress cindy clawford.)

anyway, the crafting.  i continued work on my green scarf, which is a gift so i'm not going to show you until it's done.  sarah whipped up this quick foxscape embroidery from a doodle i drew some months ago.  another great feature of the crafternoon is that, though i have no desire to embroider and sarah disowned knitting years ago, we can appreciate each other's handiwork as it is in process.  here, something more than the finished product is shared.

afterwords, our old friend matt whipped up a supper of chard and mashed potatoes with sauteed chanterelles.  but his skills in the kitchen deserve their own post, and i suppose that will wait for another day. 

also: if you name a cat after a dictator, you get a prize.

brewing

brother tom and i made some beer today.  above is the mis en place: bittering, flavor and aroma hops, in pellet form, as well as whirlfloc clarifying tablets.    today's recipe- an imperial IPA- was written by tom and has at least four times as much hops as my witbier from earlier in the summer.

if you haven't had the chance to smell hops, i highly recommend it.

home brewing is a pretty great experience.  it has hints of science and chemistry, an air of whimsy and alchemy and prohibition daring-do and, on top of all that, it's an interesting and near-infinitely variable process.  also, this is the end result:

i suppose the true value of home brewing is a little different than some of the other crafts i pursue.  sewing and woodwork and the like tend be very personal, almost meditative practices- only the end result is shared.  if you work with another it is usually as either teacher or pupil.  with brewing, we work as a team and often invite friends and family to participate.  we listen to music and talk and keep each other on task.  beer is not only a social drink but also a social activity.  a community builder from start to finish.  

after the jump there is a picture of tom working and a few more words...

knitting

the awesome allyce wood (http://allyceallyce.blogspot.com/) and the awesome allyce wood's mom taught me how to knit in the spring (the sentence, "allyce, what are you teaching this poor boy?!" was used).  then it was summer and it was too hot for knitting, but after that it was fall and i finally got back to it. 

the brown scarf is my first completed project which i was so excited to wear that i have yet to block it. the blue and gray is my current project. and i better get started on the green soon, as it is a gift for a birthday that was last week.  after i finish these up, i suppose it will be time to move past the comfort of the simple rectangular scarf and on to something a bit more complex.  say a hat.  maybe some socks?  more on the patterns and yarns after the jump....

oh, and, on a side note, i reinstated the "follow" tab at the bottom of the page.  if you're into that kind of thing.

buttons

small (under 5/8ths) two hole buttons cut from a lathe turned spindle of scrap walnut.  for a white collared shirt that is all but finished.  large (under 2 inch) hand carved three hole buttons of scrap mahogany- one finished, one just roughed out.  for a messenger bag for a friend.

little wooden objects like this are easily finished to a nice light gloss with the natural oils that your body produces.  sitting around after dinner?  hold a button in your palm and rub it around.  done and done.

so

i like to make things.  i like to make things for myself.  i like to make things for others.  i don't really like buying things- especially things that were not made by a person (read: a particular individual).  so i'm going to make things and document that along the way.  maybe with a few essays and rants and links sprinkled in and an occasional amendment to the rules of the project. 

here are a few rules to start us off:

1. don't buy things that you could make.

2. (and this one is important) make the things you need but don't need to buy.

3. when you do buy things, buy things that you won't need to buy again, at least not for a long time.

so here are two examples:  a blanket.  i need one and i can make one, and so i will.  shoes:  i need some, but i don't have the tools or skills to make them, so i will choose carefully and invest thoughtfully.

that should get us started.