by deets

It’s coming!!! It’s almost here!!  Detroit Maker Faire!  That almost even rhymes!  I am geeked to the core for this upcoming weekend.  If you don’t know what you’re in for take a look here or here for videos of what’s in store.  or don’t, if you’d rather not spoil the surprise.  I’ll be in the Craft tents  I’d love to see you there!

The weather has become gorgeous in Ann Arbor again, salt in the wounds of the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Depsite the rain and humidity, or possibly in part thanks to it, the Robot Art Fair at 826 Michigan was a wonderful success!  My new line of robots were received warmly, and are now available through 826 Michigan’s shop.

And since I keep talking about robots, and robots, and making more robots, I figure it’s about time I actually post a photo of these guys.  I’ll be taking an army to Maker Faire this weekend, and those sold at the event come on a base inscribed with “Detroit Maker Faire 2010″.

robot mixer

Let me know what you think! I plan to make some larger robots soon, as well as robot ornaments as winter approaches - think tiny robot scarves…

One day, a super hero awoke and said, “when there is a hotdog frankfurther, schnitzel, kilbasa, redhot, weenie or weiner in trouble… Ploch Man will heed the call!”

and so it began.

I’m going to be trying my hand at mold making with Ploch Man.  Who knows?  Maybe he’ll start some sort of strange adventure or something.  I’d love to hear your suggestions!

Saturday, July 10th, come to the Majestic, have a beer, listen to live bands and take a look around!  Should be a great way to spend next Saturday night, not to mention it’s free!  I’ll be there with strange sculptures and my army of bugs.

I’ll be at the Blue House for Crafterlot this Saturday night, June 12th, 5-8pm, with many new bugs and sculptures.  Come check out this fabulous organization, and support some awesome local artisans.  I hope to see you there!

Congrats to this wonderful couple who got married in Central Park this May!

It was really fun creating this dress in clay, and surprisingly, I believe this was my first plaid!  The suit has a really cool texture as well, that I added with a steady hand and tiny needle.  Some of the other details I included were the makeup for her, and a bit of a five o-clock shadow for him.  Clean shaven he still has that rugged shadow goin on.

If you’re in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area and would like to see an example in person, check out Zingerman’s Cake! showroom, or send me an email and I would be more than happy to meet with you in person.

I found this awesome bottle at Treasure Mart a bit ago.  Apparently Space Foods Co., based in Baltimore, declared bankruptcy back in 1953, before distributing any of their product, or even filling the bottles in most cases!  It was going to be flavored syrup for home soda machines.  Now he’s just a cool bottle, or bank I suppose, as there’s a coin slot in the cap too.

Actually, so far no beetles, but I didn’t want to leave them out considering that Lola thinks that Beetles, Bugs, and Butterflies is the best book in the whole world.  Except of course for Cheetahs and Chimpanzees.  Enough with toddler literary references, though. (Bonus points to anyone who has a clue what I’m talking about)

Ahem, so…with the wonderful reception my snowmen ornaments received in wintertime, I wanted to create a little springtime version.  And here they are!  Electron Tube Butterflies.  They will make their debut this weekend at the Art in the Park fundraiser in Ypsi along with some six legged friends and bumblebees in the works.  I’d love to hear what you think, and any future bug suggestions!

Picking up where we left off:   we have the foundation of a better studio, and now it’s time for walls.  Most days I woke to the sound of builders building, each day adding a wall, putting in a big beam, or making holes for windows.  Watching the process was fascinating, our drawings coming to life.  At this point, I think the photos will tell a better story than words, so drumroll please…..

So that’s it!  At least from the outside, minus a couple finishing details (the balcony railing and decking).  As you can see, the studio has been an adventure from short sleeves to winter coats.  And although not quite done yet, I’ve moved in and begun the exciting task of organizing and setting up my space.  Check back again soon to see the inside.  It’s like my own (not so) little tree house!

Now that you are a little acquainted with the back story, let’s continue on.  It was the summer of 2008…

As I admitted in my previous post, instead of DIY, our studio was going to be DIYWLALOWFOWC.  For those not in the know, that stands for do-it-yourself-with-lots-and-lots-of-work-for-our-wonderful-contractor.  (As a side note, if you are anywhere near the Ann Arbor or Toledo areas, hire Peter J. Kane.  You will not regret it.)  In July of 2008 our shed came down, and the project sort of officially started.

The more we thought about what we wanted to do next, the more we realized that we wanted some professional advice to minimize those “oh I wish we thought about that” moments after the money was spent.  With my husband’s work at the Ann Arbor District Library, he went to the architect who designed two of the libraries new branches, Carl Luckenbach for advice.  Looking for a suggestion as to who we should go to, imagine our surprise and delight when they took the (incredibly small scale compared to their normal work) job!!  Let’s see, we said we wanted a two car garage, with “geek room” in the back, with stairs to the studio above, lots of natural light, a modern look, and a site plan that would best use the land we had and tie in with our existing home.  Check, check, check, check, check, and check!

And now on to the exciting part.  We broke ground in the spring of 2009.

So that’s it!  It’s mid summer, our hands are sore from check writing already, and we have a little more firsthand experience with the slow bureaucracy of city government than we would like, but it is more than worth it. Our dream is becoming reality, and just standing in the dirt gives us goosebumps.

Check back soon for the next installment:  As the Walls Go Up.