DIY: MatchPix

Hello, hello! I got back from Zurich and I'm here to share some silliness. This is a little project my dad and I used to do when I was little. I realize that in the day and age of toddlers having cell phones making a matchstick camera is somewhat redundant, but I still have hope for the innocence of childhood and the amazement that comes from silly little things.

To start off, you will need the following:

• matchbox devoid of matches
• needle and thread
• pencil, pen, maybe some colour pencils as well
• two different sized coins
• small piece of regular paper
• bigger piece of harder paper in a colour you like
• images from a magazine
• glue
• maybe a ruler

1) Place the inner box on the small sheet of paper and draw the contour of the matchbox. Make sure the cutout can fit into the box comfortably and can also be removed without much (or any effort). If you draw the bottom of the box, you will get a paper that is slightly bigger than it needs to be, so take off about 2mm from the top and one side and you should have it right. If you're giving this as a present to somebody (with images that they like), you may want to stick some cardboard on the back, of every image you cut out.

2) Use the white bit of paper as a template for your magazine images. I found pictures of Barbies through the years and they are like little portraits, so I used those, but you can really use anything you like. When I was little, I preferred images from comic books because they had more motion.

 You know, the more I look at these Barbies, the more I think of creeps in crime shows who hang and tie up and gods-know-what-else dolls... Hmmm... Anyway, back to the task at hand!

4) Use a threaded needle to poke a hole through the sheath of the box (is that what it's called?) about 1.5 cm (slightly more than a half inch) from one of the edges. Don't tie the thread off before you do this, you want it going through both sides. Once it is, then you can tie it off.

5) Somehow my photos for this step disappeared, so I will try to talk your though it to the best of my abilities.

• Place the matchbox sheath on the edge of an A4 piece of coloured paper, so that the striking surface is on the paper and aligned to one corner. 
• Mark out the length of the entire box and cut out a band of paper as wide as the matchbox is long. The shorter side of the A4 is more than enough for this.
• Now mark out the width of the striking surface, folding the paper so there's a lip on the paper that matches this.
• Press the paper along the face of the box.
• Place a thick pen or marker that is about the same width as the box and fold the paper over it.
• Press the paper back down along the other face of the box.
• Make another lip that will close everything off.

I'm in the middle of preparing for an exam now, but as soon as I have an hour to spare, I'll make a drawing for this.

6) Use the coins to draw two circles. This will be your lens. I made mine a bit to the side. I trust your creativity to make something cool. And if you have drawing skills, even better!

That's my end result. Looks a bit like an iPod, doesn't it? See at the bottom and top where the paper is somewhat folded? That's that lip I keep mentioning!

 7) Now comes the gluing. Start with the striking surface and the lip of the paper you cut out. Move on to the face, careful not to put glue on your thread. Then proceed to glue the other face of the matchbox, leaving the second striking surface glue-free. Finally, place the second lip over the first, to close everything off.

You may want to use clothes pins at this point to hold the glue in place. I used regular glue (because I couldn't find my glue-stick) so the paper shifted a lot.

 While you wait for the glue to dry, look for any spills and clean them up. The hole where the thread goes is especially prone to leaking.

 8) Something that I should have mentioned earlier is that the thread should go out to the side to which the hole is closer. The box containing the "photos" goes in on that side too. When you wish to "take a picture", tug on the string and the box will slide out, almost all the way.

 Have fun with it, place any image you like, the box can hold a whole lot of paper. I hope you have enjoyed this trip into childhood memories and if you make this, I would love to see how it turns out. :)

-Tasha

Portion für zwei

Tsk tsk tsk. Fourth blog post and already it's late. I have a good excuse, though. IT WAS MY  BIRTHDAY! This week I'm staying with my wuvvie and celebrating my 27th year of existence. We marked the occasion with some yellow muscat and a green cake, which was very tiny and adorable, just barely spaceous enough to fit the 12 candles spellig out "happy birthday".

This is my third time visiting Zürich and each time I have to visit Cafe Zähringer. The place is a tiny bit off the beaten path of Niederdorfstrasse in a scruffy looking building with little green metal tables outside (apparently gone in wintertime). Don't let the scruff fool you. This place is a relaxed and friendly piece of paradise. If for nothing else, then stop by and try their carrot cake and sweet lemon tea. The bf and I always make the "mistake"of ordering a "Portion für zwei" tea, which leaves us with a huge teapot. Thankfully, you do not feel rushed to finish your drink and cake, the staff is friendly and very accomodating. You can sit for as long as you like, surrounded with books, art depicting the Spanish Revolution of '36 and likeminded people going about their business. I've seen people study,  hang out, bring their babies there. Today, I even saw a tiny dog hiding under one of the tables, waiting for its owner.

I love these sorts of places. The ones where you come in and you're greeted as a friend and made to feel welcome. The yummy food helps too. My fairly carnivorous bf enjoys the hummus plate just as much as I love their coconut curry pasta. Alas, only one vegan dish is served, if that is your thing, but I am assured by vegan friend Sandra, that it is quite delicious. Me - not being a huge fan of paprika, have yet to confirm this piece of information. 

I will be posting some photos up on my flickr, so stop by and check it out for bits and pieces of interest in Zürich.

And finally, something shop-development related. I tried to make a stamp, but came to realize that despite all my good will, my font is just too thin for my heavyhanded scraping on an eraser. The next attempt will probably involve some styrofoam packaging and a sharp pencil. I've seen this one with the cat about a million times and want to give it a shot, but while looking for the specific one I wanted to share I open the pinterest page on DIY stamps and thus end up making even more little projects for myself. It would really be a hassle if I didn't love it so much! 

And at the end, I will close by quoting something I've read on the bathroom door at Zähringer:

"The only magic I've ever known is how to turn money into alcohol"

Go brown or go home

"... brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things..."

Hands up, how many times have you heard this?  "My favourite things" is a lovely and extremely catchy song (I'll have trouble all day getting rid of it). And all of a sudden it's true! All the packaging is brown! To be eco friendly and recycle, it must be brown. The string must be brown, too! When did brown become so important?

It may be a bit hypocritical of me to be complaining, really. I love most things brown. Trees, clothes, packages, string, you name it. I was just surprised to find that so many others do as well. Starting up a crafting business ain't easy and I've been combing through Etsy's Seller Handbook religiously. Most of the examples of good packaging were eco-friendly and, you've guessed it, brown! I'm all for it. It looks neat and pretty, but really, if we all tie up our brown paper packages with brown string, does it stop being special and become commonplace?

I have yet to figure out my packaging idea. I've started with parts of the box my cupboard came in, but I'm not quite happy with the result. It doesn't strike me as very sturdy and most definitely isn't water resistant. When I find a design I like and which is functional, I will look back on this poor cardboard and string box I've made now and laugh the mighty laugh of experience and point and say "Lo, 'tis the lowly box of yore. How much more awesome my current packaging is!" I won't actually say that, but I will post a side-by-side shot of both. See how I didn't say "how much more my package is"? D'oh!

Everybody does haul shots. Why? Because the mighty hunter-gatherer in our brains wants to show off? Though I don't think showing four packs of pretty rocks is quite as impressive as lifting a slain mammoth over your head. Especially if you can lift a whole mammoth. That's impressive as hell! But back to the baggies. Some people buy drugs, I buy art supplies. They make me happy and when I want to try and make something, I don't have to panic about what I'm going to use. This line of thinking, unfortunately, produces a lot of clutter. But look at them! They're so pretty and shiny! Who knows what potential lies there! Not sure why I named them. Maybe I've been looking at Pac Man ghosts too much lately...

- Tasha

Exploring the jungle

For as long as I can remember, I have loved tinkering. You know, not really making things per se but giving this and that a try to see what works better.

When I walk into a hardware store, it's always overwhelming. That first tiny, teasing smell of metal drifts through the air, tickles my fancy as if to say "Hey you! Come, follow me, I know where all the good bits are!". And thus hooked, I follow. Greeted by big rows of shelves, my eyes wander around, maybe reading the signs for a hint of what interests me. But that's the thing, isn't it? I am interested in everything there is to see! Realizing this, with a small sigh, I plan out the best route for my exploration of the be-shelved jungle.

We don't have greeters here and it's next to amazing if you can find an employee when you need one. On the other hand, this means that I am not constantly hounded by "May I help you"s and "What are you looking for"s, I do my exploration on my own, braving the wilderness with no help!

I make it sound terribly dramatic, don't I? But it's always what you make it. Every trip anywhere can be made into an adventure, some with more and some with less use of the imagination. The thing to remember about it all is to always find the fun in what you're doing, however cheesy that may sound :)

My little sparkle project is going well. The peroxide is by far the best solution so far: The sparkles are staying put and the contents isn't spoiling. Based on what the control sample looks like, it should have started spoiling long ago. About three days in, the murky part started forming and pushing the sparkles lower and lower. It looks a bit gross, but I don't want to throw it away just yet, for the sake of SCIENCE! :) I'm assuming that I didn't mix the bleach in too well and that the clump that formed is a direct result of this. In conclusion: Peroxide owns!!!

Artish.si is coming to my little town in early December. All hopes of participating dashed so far, since I must study for exams, but I will work hard on eventually joining the ranks of the lovely creative people displaying their work in this small, but thriving community!

Hugs&Cookies

- Tasha

And thus the Powerpuff girls were born!

Sometimes you'll have a person on your IM client with a very clever quote or status that they never change. Mine is my friend, Andrej, and his quote is by Homer and says something like "An idea makes a good carpenter, not strength.". I look at that quote every day and think "That isn't true at all! What makes a good carpenter is a lot of practice!". So here I offer another quote, to stay on this blog forever (I hope) by Andy Warhol. I humbly offer my art to you, reader, and while you decide, I will be at my table, tinkering away, making new and beautiful things. By all means, stop by every Thursday and there will be an update on this and that, art, inspiration, experiments, tiny bits of research or things about yours truly in general.

We'll get along great, you'll see.

-Tasha