Extreme Craft

Cuteoverload Holocaust

 

Greetings from Scotland! I'm still here, thanks to the wrath of Hurricane Irene (and quite possibly the ineptitude of United Airlines). It's been nice to have an extra week to dig a little deeper into Scottish culture (like the haggis burger I enjoyed at an Edinburgh Fringe Festival gig). Mike Press, who was the chair of the conference I spoke at, is an investor in a pretty extrordinary beer brewery here in Scotland called BREWDOG. 

Brewdog don't fuck around. They are one of the participants in the global arms race to brew the world's strongest beer (read: highest alcohol content). Brewdog's End of History beer, which was released last year, clocked in at 55% alcohol. If that wasn't enough to put some hair on your chest, they released a limited edition flask stuffed inside of a taxidermied squirrel.

All of this is a roundabout way of introducing another squirrelly confection from the UK that showed up on BoingBoing this morning. The video (posted at the top) is a profile from the late 1960s of rogue British taxidermist Walter Potter, who spent his life as a professional taxidermist who specialized in stuffing cherished pets. On the side, though, Potter took armies of cute, dead tiny animals (including a horde of fluffy kittens) and created intricate dioramas, including toads playing leapfrog and a bunch of rat police raiding an animal gambling den (which can be glimpsed in the video).

Sadly, the collection was auctioned off piecemeal in 2003. Fortunately for us, the video lives on thanks to YouTube, and the work is occasionally displayed in exhibitions, including one last year at London's Museum of Everything. Would it surprise you that Damien Hirst is a big fan? I didn't think so.

One can only wonder if Walter Potter was as voracious a hunter of kittens and bunnies as John James Audbon was of birds. 

If you'd like to relive an Extreme Craft classic about Albino Squirrel Heaven in Madison, Wisconsin, click HERE

LINK to Walter Potter video via BoingBoing

Greetings from Scotland!

Greetings from Scotland! I'm writing this at 5:30 in the morning from my hotel in Glasgow. I'm jetlagged from a journey that spanned three days, one canceled flight and one missed due to some bad weather. i'm here, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm in Glasgow for the Craft Connected conference, which is being hosted by CraftScotland. It's still possible to register for the conference, which is being held on Saturday, August 27th at the Collins Gallery in the heart of Glasgow.

I've been here less than 24 hours, and Scotland is already blowing me away with its vitality, its history and its hospitality. One of the major highlights was a visit to the Glasgow Cathedral, an interesting palimpsest of historical periods, leaders and movements. I was especially moved by the stained glass windows in the cathedral, most of which date from the 1940s, '50s and '60s. They're austere, they reflect their medieval predecessors, yet they're infused with a strong sense of 20th Century design. The lancet windows above were particularly stunning--especially the central one featuring Glasgow's own Saint Mungo.

Iconography from St. Mungo saturates the cathedral--images of fish, bells, birds and trees are everywhere. There were other religious objects sprinkled throughout that weren't slavish replicas of medieval pieces. One of my favorites was a series of embroidered seat covers in the lower church that spelled out the bible verses from Genesis 9 that gave Noah permission to eat meat...something the Scottish take to heart.

Speaking of which...... I ended my day at the Ubiquitous Chip, an inventive Glaswegian restaurant that likes to honor Scottish culinary history by updating it and slicing and dicing it with other traditions. I had their venison haggis with "tatties and neeps" before heading back to my hotel for a few hours of jetlagged sleep.

In an hour or so, I'm off for an epic train journey through the Highlands to Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh today. God bless Scotland!

Macramé The Force Be With You

I love living here in Humboldt County. Every so often, a sign comes along that our community hasn't let go of some of the finer things in life. Over the past year, I've come to appreciate the art of macramé. It's enjoying a renaissance along with other fiber arts, and maybe it's time for it to be reexamined as a serious force and not just a cultural relic. Plenty of fashion designers are even using it as an element in their collections. Still, it's good to know that there is still unreconstructed Macramé out there. I just found this jewel in our local Craigslist:

Brand New Macrame Plant Hanger.
The majority of the color is Forest Green with a hint of minty green.
All the beads are wooden, some dark and others light.
There's a lot of knots here, hours and hours of work..........and string :-)
It hangs from very top to the bottom about 6.5 feet. It will hold a pot at least as big as 12 inches in diameter.
If you want to look in person we can arrange a place and time to met up.
Thanks

If you've got a plant that can deserves to be cradled in luxurious macramé, follow this LINK.

 

My New Project

Phew! I just got done with my intense 1-month residency at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Claire and I are taking a few days of much needed R&R on the beach. The paparazzi have been stalking us, so I thought I'd scoop them with this photo of our most ambitious project to date.