Zine Ideaz!

It’s kind of weird that I never really got into zine-making when I was younger, because I was definitely the target demographic: GenX, artistic, creative, into counter-culture movements, loved going deep on my latest obsession, … the list goes on. But for whatever reason, I never really made many zines beyond just learning to make them.

My theory for why I wasn’t making zines back in the 80s and 90s is that I took a different but similar path: mixtape art. Everything you can do for a zine (a little rectangular booklet made of paper that folds out to reveal vibes and information), you can do for a mixtape insert (a little rectangular booklet made of paper that folds out to reveal vibes and information).

Since music was pretty much my holy grail, I was spending most of my time obsessing over anything that had to do with musical artists, albums, songs, lyrics, MTV and VH1 videos, etc. In my high school art class for a section on drawing and scaling portraits, I drew a huge portrait of Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, which I hung over my bed because the walls were too full of all my Metallica posters.

I loved making mixtape art, not only because it let me go deep into a particular set of songs I was currently obsessed with, but because it was such a freeform art. I could draw, collage, cut out typefaces, and create a whole vibe. Most often, these were to share with friends, meaning I don’t really have many of these mini-masterpieces. And that was another great thing about mixtape art that reminds me of zines: zines can be made for yourself, but at their core they are for sharing. They are for contributing to the sharing economy where books and art and mixtapes of recorded music are for everyone— not just those who can afford them or have access to them.

Sadly, physical music media is less a part of my life than it used to be and I don’t really need to make mixtape art these days. But I can satisfy the part of myself that loved making cassette and CD covers by making zines instead. And what’s even better is that with zines, I’m not limited to talking about one set of songs, one artist, or even one genre like music.

Lately, I’ve been excited by the idea of making zines to process information or remember main points of something I’m learning. I was recently diagnosed with ADhD and in thinking about unconventional ways to synthesize new information, I realized that zines not only allow me to take and organize notes about what I’m learning, they can help me think about what’s most important to remember and how best to organize it into a simple structure. When I’m finished, my little zine is a lot more fun (and helpful) to look back over than I page full of disorganized notes.

Now I’ve been thinking about other ideas that could be fun to make into zines. If I can turn a podcast episode into a zine, why not a movie or show? Maybe an album as a little zine? Or a zine of a recent trip I took? 

So, here are some ideas to light you up when you want to make a zine— or when you’re super pumped about something you’re learning/listening to/watching/feeling/experiencing, and you want to turn that feeling into something cool and tangible:

ZINE IDEAS 

• A Podcast: The “Clipsnotes”
• A Book: The Zine
• An Album: The Zine
• A Band: The Zine
• A Movie: The Zine
• A Documentary: The Zine
• A Person: The Zine
• Song Lyrics (include a link or QR code to the song or a playlist with different versions of it)
• A Mixtape (include a link or QR to the song)
• A Poem / Poetry 
• An Art Zine
• A Collage Zine
• A Tiny Storybook
• A Zine Photo Album
• A Trip to ______ 
• An Experience You’ve Had
• How to Do a Thing 
• A Thing You Are Obsessed With
• A Vibe Zine
• T.I.L. (Today I Learned) 
• A Topic - Thoughts and Info/Advice/Wisdom
• Radiowaves: A Zine of Listening to the Radio
• A Calendar/Diary Zine (of a week/month/year, etc) 
• A Zine Memoir

In the spirit of mixtapes, why not mix a few of these ideas to make something even more fun!

• A Band + Your Favorite Albums/Songs + Lyrics + A Playlist link
• An Actor/Director + Your Favorite of their Movies + Lines/Dialogue
• An Art + Poetry + Vibe Zine
• A Tiny Storybook Collage Zine
• A Photo Album Zine of a Trip + Calendar/Diary Entries

You get the idea! Mix it up and have fun! And if you end up making something from any of these, feel free to share in the comments— I’d LOVE to read your zine! <3 

Zine: Andy J. Pizza’s Five Things to Help Creatives Become (and Stay) Consistent

Another zine is upon us!

This is another podcast zine edition. Specifically, this one is from Episode 500 (!!!) of the podcast Creative Pep Talk with host Andy J. Pizza. I haven’t listened to all 500 episodes because I only discovered the podcast about a year ago (which I guess would mean I could have listened to at least 365 episodes, but alas, I have not).

I’m not even entirely sure it was exactly a year ago, but as I recall, here’s what led me to find this very energetic, very encouraging podcast for creative people:

Around this time, I was giving a lot of thought to what I was consuming (content, news articles, non-fiction books, endless scrolling, etc) and to how it was impacting my energy— more specifically, what I had energy to create (real talk: not much). I was feeling drained and fatigued and I was thinking about how changing the way we spend our time, move our bodies, hydrate, nourish, etc, can change our energy and even our outlook, thoughts, and what we’re thinking about.

In one of those windows of time that seems to be aligned with something comic, that very week I experienced a synchronicity when a blog came into my awareness called Input/Output. Author, educator, and Input/Output creator Caitlin Kunkel is working off of the premise that we not only need input in order to output, but what we input can drastically impact what we output.

In order to explore that theory, Kunkel created a simple spreadsheet where she could track her inputs and outputs to better see the relationship between them. I found this tool incredibly exciting and immediately set out to make my own (you can find the original template here and Kunkel’s post about the idea and process here). While I haven’t yet made the practice of logging my inputs and outputs a habit, the idea of connections between what I’m inputting and outputting is constantly lighting things up in my mind.

But back to the Creative Pep Talk podcast! During that early period (even before discovering Kunkel’s Substack), I decided to make some intentional changes to what I was consuming. I wanted to fuel my creative energy which had waned to barely a sliver during a period of constant travel, debilitating health issues, and an ongoing barrage of social media scrolling and stressful news exhaustion.

I found I had energy for challenging tasks when I was listening to a good podcast— especially upbeat or positive ones— so I did a quick search for podcasts about creativity and came up with a short list. I can’t even remember the other podcasts I tried out now because from the first time I heard Andy J. Pizza’s super-positive, super-encouraging vibes coming through my headphones, I knew I’d found something special.

I love Creative Pep Talk. It’s just what it claims to be: a Pep Talk. More specifically, it’s a place for questions and conversations that come up when you’re on a creative path, which is ever changing, unpredictable, and filled with traps of self-doubt and societal pressures. Sometimes Andy goes deep into a particular question. Sometimes he talks to other creatives about their process. He always shares openly about what he’s learned on his own journey. And he always ends each episode with a CTA— a “Call to Adventure!” 

I made this zine about Episode 500, which Andy titled: “From ADHD Serial Quitter to Podcaster with 500 Episodes.” In it, he shares the five things he’s learned to be able to go from a creative person who can’t seem to stick with anything for very long to someone who has managed to create something that is much greater (and more enduring) than the sum of its parts.

Here’s my zine with— spoiler alert!— the five nuggets Andy shares to help you go from inconsistent creative to consistently creating with a body of work to show for it.

Incidentally, making zines from podcasts (and potentially other inputs I’m chewing on, like articles, videos, etc) is one of my ways of trying to re-establish a consistent creative practice that is low stakes but fun and impactful. So is reviving this blog. :) 

And if all this talk of creativity has piqued your interest, check out the Creative Pep Talk podcast! Episodes are also on Youtube if videos are more your thing— and/or you can sign up for Andy J. Pizza’s Substack.

Found: A Lost Time Capsule

From the spring of 2003 to the late summer of 2005 I lived in Malmö, Sweden. I moved there to live with my then boyfriend, now husband, Per, who I had met in Australia in late 2000 and promptly fallen head over heels for.

The move to Sweden was supposed to be romantic— and in a lot of ways it was. But it was also a really difficult time for me personally. I never quite fit in there— the friendly, open, loquacious girl from Texas trying to connect with a people who— though nice (and seemingly impressed with my self-taught Swedish speaking skills)— could, as one Swede put it, “take ten years to call someone a friend.” Who has time for that? I thought.

If I’d had a job, I would have at least had a way to meet people, but entry-level jobs were sparse and closely guarded by the personal referral system. And I had no friends to give me a foot in the door. The closest I got for most of my time there was a basically unpaid position I took at a local cafe and record store for credit in my “Swedish for Immigrants” program.

I loved being in the cafe, and the owners said I was one of the hardest workers they’d ever had, but when my course-work was up, I was only offered the option to keep working for peanuts— the practicum rate of about five bucks a day. “Det är en fis,” the owner admitted gruffly as he signed my papers of completion with a cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth: It’s a fart. Still, that was his best offer, apparently.

I left with my dignity, having refused to work for “a fart” voluntarily for any longer than I absolutely had to. Once again, I was jobless.

. . .

I spent a lot of time alone in those two and a half years— Per was working as a mail carrier and later went back to school to finish his degree.

Being the early days of the Internet, but pre-social media (MySpace was just coming on the scene), I spent a lot of time seeking out new hobbies. I bought my first yoga mat and a small book of poses to go with it. I learned about Tarot cards online and eventually bought myself a deck.

I was drawing (doodling, really), writing poetry and lyrics, and learning the most basic HTML to create a simple website for myself. During that time, I also discovered some simple music and video editing tools to play around with.

One winter day early in 2005, when the idea to leave Sweden (to return to the United States myself while Per finished school) was just starting crystallize in my mind, we took a walk to a nearby cemetery— the closest thing to a park in our immediate neighborhood. Per filmed me as we walked around on the snowy paths and sat under the low sunbeams in the afternoon light.

I later set this footage to an instrumental track of a song I’d written to create a moody, deeply reverby, video that somehow managed to capture the vibe of that time better than anything else I’d created before.

. . .

Since moving back to the states just a few months after that walk in the cemetery, most of our old digital files have been saved to external hard drives and packed away in storage. We occasionally get them out, searching for some old relic. I’ve often thought about the video, but no matter how many file folders inside of file folders I search, the video has always eluded me.

After two decades, it became almost mythical in my mind. I could hear the music, see the snowy ground and the sunbeams, and feel the melancholy, warm tones. But I’d started to wonder if it was lost to time, if maybe it no longer existed.

Then, just yesterday, as Per and I sat side by side, digging through old hard drive files to better arrange (and delete) things, he suddenly found it. It is so old at this point that we had to download a special video player to play it, which we immediately did. And then… there it was.

We watched together, remembering that walk in the cemetery on that snowy day, remembering that time in our lives, remembering how I’d turned to my creativity to deal with the loneliness and depression I felt in Sweden. The video is only two minutes long, but it represents so much more than that two minutes. It may be one of the last things I made before I decided it was time to start planning my exit from Sweden and subsequent return home.

So, without further ado, I present the long lost —and now FOUND— video, a virtual time capsule from early 2005 and a very formative and important moment in my life captured in film and music.

"Spacegear Instrumental" by Treetrunkwise Music, 2005.

Music written and recorded by Rachael Sage.

Video recorded by Per Nilsson and edited by Rachael Sage.

All Rights Reserved.

. . . 

Footnote:

After almost two years in Sweden, I finally landed a part-time job at a kitschy dollar store called “Tiger” (a Danish word that referenced “a ten”— an sum of money that was around a dollar). I’d gotten my foot in the door there thanks to Per, who had been moonlighting as their fish tank caretaker for several months (yes, really). For months, I took the train to the next town over, to stand behind the cash register and ring people up for small household items and trinkets. That first real paycheck felt earned and I was happy to buy myself something nice— a super-long, chunky-knit green scarf and the matching fleece-lined mittens. Practical clothes for the Swedish winter (something I still had relatively little of) and a perfect souvenir that I could keep even if I moved away. I’m wearing both of these in the video. And although I gave the scarf away a long time ago, twenty years later I still have the mittens, and they are one of my most treasured possessions.

Post Script:

I did return to the U.S. in the summer of 2005. But instead of moving back home to Austin, I made my way to a new place far from Texas— I moved to Seattle, Washington, where I ended up living for more than 15 years, most of that time with Per, once he was able to come and join me in the States. It was one of the best decisions I ever made and I credit Seattle for bringing me back to life after I’d all but frozen over from my time in Sweden.

Zine: The Man Who Predicted the Downfall of Thinking

I love listening to podcasts while doing tedious household tasks, like cleaning the kitchen, doing the dishes, or organizing the junk drawer (just kidding, I don’t do that).

One of my favorites of the last couple of years is Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Wiser Than Me, a podcast where the actress (and former Seinfeld star) gets into deep conversations about life, love, work, and creativity with women in their elder years. If you haven’t listened to it, I highly, Highly! recommend it. It’s an easy listen, where conversation flows naturally and there’s plenty of laughing, crying, and exclaiming Wow! and Yes!And my personal favorite part is that there are plenty of F-bombs dropped by JLD, whose acceptance speech for the Webby she won for the show was a brief and potent “Listen. To. Old. Women. Mother. Fuckers.” Definitely my favorite award acceptance speech of all time.

Some podcasts, however, require deeper listening. I’m a big fan of conversations that explore politics, social and cultural issues, and technology with deep and critical thinking. When I listen to these, I often find myself having to stop what I’m doing to really take in what’s being said. And even then, if I want to really learn something, I often have to pause and replay an insightful section multiple times until it really sticks in my brain.

One such conversation I listened to recently was on the podcast Your Undivided Attention, a tech critical podcast hosted by Tristan Harris. In episode 105, “The Man Who Predicted the Downfall of Thinking,” Harris invites Sean Illing (host of The Gray Area podcast) and Professor Lance Strate to discuss the work of media theorist Neil Postman and how to apply his philosophy (much of which centered around TV at the time) to our current technological landscape, particularly the tenuous moment between social media and artificial intelligence (AI).

The conversation is dense and exciting. My brain (recently diagnosed with ADHD) was following insight after insight with great interest, but as for me, I kept wanting to slow everything down, to really learn what was being shared in each segment of the episode. I didn’t want to forget a single thing!

The following day, still chewing on all that I’d heard, I grabbed some pens and paper and headed to a nearby coffee shop with my headphones. I’d decided that I wanted to listen to the episode again (repetition/remembering), but that this time, I would turn the most salient parts of episode into something I could refer back to as many times as I wanted to: I was going to make a zine.

Making a zine about a podcast episode is so brilliantly simple, I can’t believe I’d never thought of it before. Admittedly, it’s been a long time since I made a zine, but I’ve always been someone who likes doing something with my hands while I’m listening and learning— dishes, laundry folding, knitting, doodling, taking copious notes. But turning my doodles and notes into a zine about what I was learning had never occurred to me.

Needless to say, I felt really excited as I sat in the sunny courtyard of the cafe and scrubbed through the episode to listen to the parts I wanted to try to capture in zine form. When I finished, I used a key card envelope from the hotel we were staying at to create a little book cover for my zine, so it looks like a real and tiny book.

Flipping through the zine-book, I felt such delight and satisfaction with what I’d made and what I’d discovered— a creative way to process learned information into a keepsake reference tool.

Back at the hotel, I requested two more key card envelopes and told them it was for an art project I was working on. My plan was to make a three-volume set of tiny zine-books that cover the most fundamental and thought-provoking insights of Episode 105 and what it teaches about Postman’s work, but I made the second zine, didn’t like it as much, and my ADHD kicked in and sent me on my way to the next project.

Anyway, here’s a little gif of the zine I made (also pictured, just because it’s tiny and adorable, the guidebook for the pocket-sized Archetypes oracle deck by Kim Krans of The Wild Unknown).

And if critical thinking podcasts about tech, society, and human culture interest you, check out Your Undivided Attention (brought to you by the Center for Humane Technology, who also created the tech critical documentary The Social Dilemma). And if you’re curious about the episode that inspired this zine, you can check it out here.

Back to the Drawing Board

For the last couple of weeks I've been trying to push my creativity by drawing something every day, no matter how simple, plain, or just plain bad. It's been a great creativity exercise, and I had forgotten how much I really enjoy it!

Through this exercise, I've also realized that the artist's sketchbook is a fascinating and often overlooked treasure! Individually, the pieces may not speak to the ability or style of the artist, but once you begin looking at the collection as a whole, not only does the artist's style begin to come through, but often you can really begin to see their process- when they allow themselves to play, get messy, go with the flow, and go out on a limb. Seeing the process of an artist or designer becomes important when you're trying to choose the right person to bring a project to life. Looking at an artist's sketchbook is getting a glimpse into their mind, and with that connection and understanding you may be able to tell if they'll be able to take your project somewhere you'd like to see it go. A polished portfolio can't show you all of that. Epiphany!

Here are some recent drawings from my sketchbook, all drawn with pigment ink (no eraser). I'm looking forward to experimenting with color on some of these. I'm also hoping to end up with some good screen print ideas and lots more!

            

Design Board

I am putting together a design board for my final project in my Interior Design class. The project is to redesign a 2000 sq. ft. loft in downtown Austin for a young professional couple. The project requires a floor plan redesign, interior design from materials to colors, and sourcing of all new furniture and fixtures. This process has been really enlightening and informative. It's also been ridiculously fun.  Here's the first draft of my board:



*(Update, July 25: Wow, this looks so amateur to me now! haha.. Its amazing what a couple of months of experience can teach you. Here's to the learning process- Cheers!) :) 

Talking with Prop Stylists

There has been a recent surge in recognition and interest in the field of prop styling, and I've found a couple of great interviews and blog posts online which shed some light on the work that prop stylists do.

I recently found this blog post by a prop stylist who decided to document and share all of the tedious details of a day in the life of a hard working prop stylist. I loved that she was willing to go into such meticulous detail about what's expected of her and how she spends each minute of her time. Since there is little information out there about this field, this blog post really illuminated the hidden art of prop styling and all of the thought process and hard work that the often uncredited stylist does for a shoot.

Today I found this interview with a prop stylist, which also focuses on the incredible amount of detail, running around, and savvy required to succeed in the business.

While it's slightly intimidating to read about all of the things a prop stylist is responsible for and expected to do on such short notice, the best jobs always have some aspect that seems intimidating. Therein lies the challenge, the opportunity for reward, and the pure excitement!

Today's inspiring prop styling image comes from Amy Chin's Desire to Inspire!  

An Inspiring Discovery

A few weeks ago I started an informal Interior Design class through UT. The idea to enroll came from a few places: First, I am not working or taking any college-credit classes this Spring, so I kind of have a lot of time on my hands. Second, that I have an intense interest in design- you might say I even have a knack for it- but I have never received any formal training in any area of design. Third, and perhaps the biggest push to take the class, is that over the last year or so, I have slowly been discovering that there is a specific field that I am interested which has a name and even a job description. 

It's called prop styling, and I've been obsessed with it my whole life without even knowing what "it" was. My obsession with magazines has had to do with one thing: images; and not just any images, but specifically what I now know are photographs styled under the categories of "Lifestyle", "Still Life", "Interiors", "Tabletop", and even "Food". I love the fashion styling, too (hence my obsession with Vogue magazine), but I'll be honest, if the model is standing in a room filled with amazing things or storybook qualities, I'm looking at the room. 

Hansel and Gretel: Fairytale styling by the amazing Grace Coddington for Vogue.

Natural food ingredients styled for Martha Stewart's Whole Living Magazine. 

Which brings me back to my enrollment in the Interior Design class. I know nothing about Interior Design, and for such an artistic and creative person with such a vivid imagination, I certainly bomb when it comes to envisioning structural changes to a room. For some reason, I seem to have a blockage in my left architectural lobe which prevents me from tapping into that particular ability. However, as a prop stylist- heck, as someone who's interested in buying a home one day- a person needs to be able to work with spaces- with light in spaces and with functionality in spaces. I'm hoping this class with at the very least introduce me to some concepts to explore, give me some guidelines to draw from, and teach me some of the basics involved. I don't intend to come out of this class ready to dive into an architecture field, but I hope to give some foundation and knowledge to my creative process. 

The first example of what might now be called prop-styling that I can remember having a
profound effect on me: Photographer/artist/stylist Cindy Palmano for Tori Amos on Under the Pink. 

Dandelion Clouds

Speaking of installations which create amazing and dreamy environments, I came upon this magical one while browsing yesterday: 2,000 Suspended Dandelions, a work by a German artist named Regine Ramseier, created a fluffy fantasy land in a simple white room. Preparing and transporting the dandelions takes more work than one might realize. This article on Colossal details the process and shows some beautiful pictures of the installation. Make a wish!

Lauren Fensterstock: Laguna Gloria

This morning I finally made it over to AMOA at Laguna Gloria to see this installation I've been drooling over on the website all week. Like the Kia Neill installation I posted about  two Januarys ago, the artist of this installation, Lauren Fensterstock, creates organic environments in spaces. Unlike Neill's colorful and twinkling cave installation, Fensterstock uses only black paper, relying on natural light and reflective materials to provide depth in her creations. She uses a paper-curling technique to make grass, flowers, moss, and other monochromatic foliage in her works. It was a beautiful and inspiring work to see in person!

This article has some good pictures of the installation in its space at Laguna Gloria.

Picture from http://www.meca.edu/portfolio/mfa-faculty-lauren-fensterstock

Spring Greens

More stationary today! Want some? Let me know!

Spring Stationary

Yesterday I took a dizzying trip to the paper store, which I nearly left empty-handed after close to an hour of considering the possibilities. So many! So incredible! So fun!

Settling on the minimum number of pieces to make a set of ten cards, I finally chose a palette of grey, yellow, teal, and pink. The colors and patterns were bright and springy, while classic and sophisticated.

Here's a sample of the finished cards:
Happy Spring (almost)!

DIY Tile Coasters

I recently came across several tutorials for DIY tile coaster and couldn't wait to try them! (Here are a couple (1, 2) of the tutorials I referenced to make my coasters.)

The idea that really caught my eye was using paint color swatches as the focal point of the coasters. I decided to make three sets of coasters as Christmas gifts, each individualized to the couple receiving them. I ended up making one set of paint swatch coasters, one set of map coasters, and one set using vintage paperback book covers.

Here are some pictures of how they turned out:

Two complete sets, the books in the background, and (my husband's hand) cutting foam bottoms. 

Map of Santa Barbara, California

Paint swatches

Two of the vintage book covers I used.

Summer Recipe Share: Watermelon Fresca and Super Gingerade!

I can't seem to get enough fresh juice during this early summer season. Since I don't have a juicer, I have been choosing fruits that go well in the blender, and using my own judgment on whether or not to strain anything out. Here are my two favorites right now.

Watermelon Fresca:
watermelon
filtered water & ice
agave nectar
fresh mint or basil leaves
optional:
pinch of sea or himalayan salt


Juicy, sweet, bright red watermelon certainly seems like the fruit of the Gods this during this time of year!  And it is! Watermelon is a highly alkalizing fruit with an amazing myriad of healthy properties. Drink a glass or two of this to cool down, wake up, or energize yourself! I tend to buy watermelon in quarters or halves for our small household of two, so it stays fresh. As soon as I get it home, I slice it all up and store it in a plastic container or ziplock bag.

Throw about 2 cups of cubed watermelon into the blender and add about 1/3-1/2 cup of filtered water (this will help the blender start blending the fruit). Add 1/2 Tbsp of Agave Nectar (optional), a handful of mint leaves (or a few basil leaves) and pinch of sea salt. While blending, add a little more water if needed. At this point, you can strain the juice if you'd like less pulp. Add ice and blend until slushy and delicious! Drink and be refreshed!


Super Gingerade:
juice from 1/2 lemon
juice from 1 lime
organic apple juice (about 1/2 cup) 
1 large piece of ginger, peeled (about 2 TBsp)
agave nectar
optional: 
a few leaves of cilantro


Throw all ingredients into the blender and blend until very smooth, adding filtered water and other ingredients as needed. Push through a strainer once or twice to remove the fibers from the ginger. Pour back into blender and blend with ice, if desired. Enjoy your healthy tonic!

The Light Collective: An Interview with the Creators of the Otis Under Sky Light Art Project

The Light Collective: Illuminating the World’s Connections

(Full Interview by Treetrunkwise)

Austin independent film, Otis Under Sky, has not only captured the attention of the SXSW Film festival, it also has the SXSW Interactive community buzzing. The film features a light sculpture that represents the collective consciousness and connections between people. 

The sculpture is made up of thousands of optical fibers and electroluminescent wire, whose light patterns are controlled in real-time by an Arduino connected to social networks. Sound like a mouthful? Otis Under Sky creator and director, Anlo Sepulveda, interactive designer, Per Nilsson, and custom software creator, Andrew Duhan, enlighten us.

* * *

TTW: Where did the idea come from and does this thing have a name? A working title?

Anlo: It is an interactive light sculpture the people behind it are called the Light Collective. Originally Otis was going to film and post on the internet a fake act of self-emilation (setting yourself alight) to call attention to war and suffering. I decided to go with a less dramatic and a more peaceable way to reflect positive energy into the world. My friend Paul Collins is a conceptual designer so I discussed the Interactive light project with him. We decided it should reflect positive energy by having a website where users could physically click the page to effect the light project. Then I met Per Nilson, an interactive designer, and I had no idea how to make this concept, and Per was able to take the idea and make this reality of it. The more we worked with it, the more we learned to manipulate it. Now it is capable of having different data streams reflected in the sculpture.

TTW: Who were the main people in the think tank for this project?

Anlo: Paul and I birthed the idea and he developed a simple web-based design. I met Per Nilson and his wife Rachael at a music festival and Rachael said “Yeah you should talk to my husband and Per said, ”Yeah I know how to do that.” Andrew Duhan came on board as the technical designer to develop the functionality hardware, and all of them together will develop the algorithms and use their electronic wizardry to make the project glow. There were a lot of people instrumental in helping with the workload, like Johnny Villareal and Corey Sepulveda who helped assemble the physical project. Sean Gaulager from the Co-lab gave us some perspective on showing the installation and allowed us to use the Co-lab for our first art exhibition.

TTW: Without giving anything away, can you talk about the piece from the main character's point of view? Does Otis change the project from its original intent?

Anlo: Otis wants to build a reflection of the positive energy that lives in the digital realm in a way that it hasn’t been done. For Otis, this is an existential project that evolves as his ideas about the world around him evolve. The project is in part finished, and is in part, still happening. Since its inception the potential for it to evolve and be productive and interactive has grown. There are so many different potential data inputs on the internet and its still being developed. Who knows what it will look like in 5-10 years from now. That is what is exciting about it--it is a static and immediate reflection of the positive energy of our existence.

TTW: You didn't just make a movie prop--you made an entire living art project. What inspired you to take this prop to the next level?

Anlo: We came up with the concept for the film and had to make the prop but because it was such a beautiful idea we figured we might as well make it real. I like a film to be more than just a film. There’s the vlogs that can exist on the internet and be its own thing. Even the music can live outside the film. Instead of having a narrow self-focused thing I wanted to make multiple components live outside the film.

TTW: Will the installation live on after the festival?

Anlo: Yes. Definitely. I hope the film helps pique interest in the installation and it will continue to live and evolve and to connect to other users who will try to affect the data stream. You can watch the film, go home and find the art project on the internet, and know that your data stream is affecting the glow of the light collective. I hope it creates its own legacy and the two, the art project and the film, can sort of prop each other up, like if you go to the film you will hear about the art project, and if you discover the light collective, you will hear about the film. Everything all connected.

TTW: Anything you'd like to add?

Anlo: The most critial thing is that this is an extremly colloborative project. Without people contributing time and creativity this light project could not exist and becomes ineffective. Its a group of writers, actors, and interactive artists who have created this dynamic thing that helps other people to connect. The sum of parts is greater than the whole. There is no way to conceive something like this on my own, and it could not have happened with out everyone’s help, and the project itself is useless without the energy of all the people on the internet and this planet. This whole thing is about connecting people with other people and to reflect the beauty of that.

TTW: Hi, guys. Per, you were the first part of the team brought on by the film’s director, Anlo Sepulveda. How did that come about?

Per: I met Anlo at a music + art festival called Art Outside in 2008. He was running this amazing stop-motion animation station in the middle of a field, where anyone could come up and make claymation shorts. My wife and I struck up a conversation with him, and told us he was working on a movie and needed someone to build him a light installation. We started planning the work right away!

TTW: And how did you become involved with the project, Andrew?

Andrew: I'd seen the first version when it hung in Co-Lab (an East Austin Art Space where it was on display to the public) and immediately started dreaming of the possibilities. It actually inspired me to learn quite a bit more about microprocessors and higher-power circuits. A short time later, Anlo contacted me and asked if I could help bring the piece closer to the final vision and of course I jumped at the idea.

TTW: Can you describe the installation physically- what it looks like, what it’s made of?

Per: It’s made of over 2000 strands of optic fibers- yes, I counted. They’re cut at different lengths, distributed throughout a large space, and then suspended from the ceiling. It kinda looks like stars- or underwater fluorescent plankton. From a central light are hanging a couple hundred feet of electroluminescent wire, which is a phosphorous-coated wire that glows when you apply a high-frequency AC current through it.

TTW: How does it actually work?

Andrew: The installation is driven by a circuit built around a microcontroller using the open-source Arduino platform. Bundles of fiber optic cable are lit by super-bright LED and spread throughout the space. The LEDs and Electroluminescent wire are controlled and dimmed individually within a matrix. The system interprets the data it receives and translates the values into a visual experience.

TTW: From a technological or programming standpoint, can you tell us why this is an original or relevant idea?

Per: I don’t know that you can say that anything in programming is original, but the combination of using software PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) and light effect algorithms across a massive amount of light points is one example of the Arduino’s versatility. The idea that the collective consciousness, or the "health" of people's thoughts, can be represented as points of lights in a three-dimensional space is relevant from an information visualization perspective. First and foremost, though, it's an art piece, and should be regarded as such.

TTW: The light sculpture in the film was originally built in an art space in East Austin (Co-Lab) where it was on view to the public. How did people react to it?

Per: Very positively! You could see people "swimming" through the lights, laying underneath the installation gazing up, and walking through it with their eyes closed, feeling the optic fibers brushing against their faces. The interaction was purely visual and tactile back then- the light patterns were manually controlled, rather than data-controlled.

TTW: How has the technology changed since you began working on this project back in 2008?

Per: The availability and robustness of real-time APIs, like Twitter's search API, makes it possible to let the installation reflect the "pulse" of certain parts of the online community. The concept of the installation is to represent people's thoughts and prayers around the world. The challenge, then, is how to make this connection obvious to the audience. We are experimenting with different inputs, including sensors in the installation space itself, providing direct feedback to the audience interacting with the lights. To me, the most important thing is to provide our audience with a dazzling and immersive display of lights.

TTW: How will the installation change for the SXSW festival. Is it bigger? Does it represent something different?

Per: From a technical standpoint, we are adding more channels. More channels means more fine-grained control of the lights, and we'll be able to create more interesting effects within the space of the installation. We will customize the layout depending on the space, so the installation will look different every time it’s set up. The effects in the first version were driven by a light sequencer written in Pure Data. This time around, the effects will be natively coded on the Arduino board for better performance. Also, for the new version, we want to make the installation react to people's presence. We'll be adding either ultrasonic rangefinders, or implementing some sort of blob detection.

* * *

The Otis Under Sky light sculpture will be on display at the film's premiere party during SXSW.

Anlo Sepulveda is the writer and director of the feature-length film, Otis Under Sky, which is an official selection of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. Anlo has created several short films and documentaries, and has been recognized for his film work in numerous projects such as The Force for Change Award for Wear the Sun, and the CASE Award for Hip-hop Congress. Anlo currently works at Texas State University as a Digital Media Specialist

Per Nilsson has a BSc in Interaction Design from Malmö School of Art, Culture and Communication, where he studied under David Cuartielles, one of the inventors of Arduino. Per has taught physical interaction design at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC, and at 911 Media Arts Center in Seattle. He now lives in Austin, TX, and is having a blast making social games as a software engineer at Zynga.

Andrew Duhan is a software developer and sound engineer with a penchant for shiny things. He currently lives and works in Austin, TX.

Otis Under Sky Connects with its Audience, and now with the SXSW Film Festival.

You may remember this post from a while back when I did some screen printing for a friends' fundraiser. The fundraiser was for the film Otis Under Sky, an independent movie shot in and around Austin and San Marcos, Texas. The friends were Anlo Sepulveda, the writer and director, and his wife Mandi, the producer and all-powerful-organizer.

Since then, Anlo and Mandi have had a baby, built an eco-apartment under their house, and generally had a crazy amount of stuff going on- and their friends have since had a baby who carries the moniker Otis! Also since then, Otis Under Sky has finished filming, started the final editing process, and been selected as one of only nine Texas films to be featured at the 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival here in Austin. Wow, what a ride!

The film follows a "socially inept video artist", Otis, through his enlightening and painful one-way love affair with Ursula. Otis is played with beautiful awkwardness by renowned slam poet Anis Mojgani. Google Mojgani and you'll find a multi-award winning, multi-talented artist- with plenty of live videos and rave reviews to back it up.

There is a little bit of Otis in all of us, especially those who've grown up with the internet. On one hand, it allows the painfully shy to reach out and connect with some level of anonymity to protect their fragility. On the other hand, it can simultaneously errode the real connections we have by turning them into disjointed and superficial digi-relationships.

One of the film's features is a light installation which is created as Otis's opus. It is a warm, pulsating, and glowing sea of thousands of tiny points of light and color, which responds to people's interactions with it. Hopefully in time for the movie premiere, the installation will be set up at some location in or around Austin, and the movie website will allow people all over the world to manipulate with the installation by interacting with it online. This is the part of the project that my husband Per has been helping with, so I'm sure it's going to be a busy few weeks for him before the SXSW film festival starts! (Check out his crew credit on the crew page! So proud.) :)

There are two trailers for Otis Under Sky available to watch on Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/17308214
http://www.vimeo.com/1603686

How can you support Anlo and Otis Under Sky?
*Create some internet buzz for distributors to notice of by tweeting, blogging, or Facebooking about Otis. Comment on the video trailers and articles on the web.
*Like Otis Under Sky on Facebook and tell your friends to check it out, too!
*Donate: Anlo and crew are also accepting donations to help them along in the final push to make Otis festival-ready. Every little dollar helps! Plus, they are offering some cool rewards as a thanks for donations!

New Year Brings Winds of Change

It's been a year since I last posted anything here. That seems reasonable as I think over the last year. I was kind of a hermit in 2010, but I can't think of many crafts or creative things I did while holing myself up. I hope that is about to change.

I have a list of new projects I'd like to get started on- many of them have to do with a camera. It's been years since I took pictures as an artistic outlet, but I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head.

I also hope to start up a craft night again. I feel starved for the company of my friends, and women in general. Not sure if these will still be centered around knitting, or maybe something a little more visceral, like painting!

I did make some nice holiday cards this year (see picture), but I was a little lazy about actually sending them out. All that really means is that I still have a couple of my favorites to send out whenever I like. And I like that. This was my first time to buy these somewhat pricey sets of stickers, but it was worth the cost! I used the stickers sparingly among my own designs and cut-outs. Fun!

It's been a strange couple of weeks. I've had a building feeling in my core of the desperate need to create and to share company with friends and family. I'll take this as that gut feeling one is always supposed to trust. I have broken away some of the earth to allow more space for the water and the fire.

It has felt like spring for the last few day, and today it feels like winter has completely taken over. Wild winds whipped through last night; they blew down a tree limb that cracked the wooden fence. And they blew away some parts of me that were in doubt. It feels like autumn in my heart, and that means I need to create: words, images, sounds, relationships...

I'm really looking forward to it.

I ♥ Moss!

I miss Seattle. I miss the little city in the midst of the big rain-forest. I miss the sidewalks that are broken and pushed up by massive tree roots. I miss stairs and concrete covered in moss. I MISS MOSS!

In the last week, I have seen a series of postings via CRAFT magazine on how to build your own little moss terrarium in a jar. I freaking LOVE this idea! I adore shadowboxes and miniature environments that make me want to crawl right inside. The moss terrarium beautifully combines my love of mossy and tiny environments into an absolutely spell-binding tiny mossy environment!

I cannot wait to try this.





Here are some links on the how to.


A great little tutorial including the word "frippery"
See how Becky Stern's moss terrarium turned out.
A more in-depth how-to, including ideas for both closed and open containers.
Use a wine bottle as your "mossarium" container.
Martha Stewart gets into the act making "fairyland terrariums" with Dame Julie Andrews.

image credit: becky'smossarium

Kia Neill: Terrain

If your heart is warmed by twinkling colored lights, moth wing silouhettes cast on a wall, and fantasy worlds made real, then you must experience this!

Kia Neill creates environments using textured and atmospheric media. In "Terrain" you will enter the dark, cave-like room to walk the winding paths between turrets and stalagmites made of papier mache, netting, lights, and little gems. Kia has created an atmosphere that transported me back to my child-like mind, where I wished to live in the fantastic worlds of The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and The Neverending Story. A dream!

"Terrain" is twinkling at the Women and Their Work Gallery in Austin at 17th & Lavaca, now through February 25, 2010. Thanks to our friend at The Austinist for the fantastic tip!

No Non-Stick Nonsense

No beating around the bush: Recent studies have linked non-stick cookware to cancer. Cast iron and stainless steel remain the safest cookware you can have in your kitchen. And they're probably the highest quality and longest lasting, too.

We are fortunate to have both in our kitchen, but cooking in our cast iron skillet never seemed to be followed by an easy clean-up. Then I read about cast-iron being the original non-stick cookware, and needless to say I was a little confused. I started looking into the seasoning process, which I had always assumed meant oiling them after cleaning, or simply not using soap to clean them and there by seasoning them with flavor.

I came across this very simple tutorial on how to properly season cast iron to create an excellent non-stick surface. After completing the easy process our pans look and feel amazing, and they cook like a dream! I highly recommend taking time to do this once. Your pans and your cooking will thank you!

STEP 1: Preheat oven to 225/f.
STEP 2: Clean cookware and scrub off rust or uneven spots.
STEP 3: Coat entire pan- inside, outside, handles and lid- with vegetable or canola oil.
STEP 4: Place pan upside down on cookie sheet or aluminum foil to catch any oil drips.
STEP 5: Bake in oven at 225 for two hours.
STEP 6: Wipe clean of excess oil and allow to cool completely before using.

When the heat causes the pan to expand, the oil seeps in. When the pan is allowed to cool, the oil forms a permanent non-stick coating. Simple!