*** having an excuse to bake ***

As it is christmas time I have been a-baking again... I must admit, for christmas time, I have been baking way too little. But even just these couple of cookie batches made me happy.

I must admit, usually I face some amount of guilt when I bake, because I do it for the act of baking and not the result: I tend to serously overspend on ingredients for something I don't even neccessarily want to eat. Now I have a REASON: It's Christmas! Baking belons Christmas...

Dark chocolate-chip vanilla cookies and white chocolate and rum cookies. Mmmmmm.

*** chickens ***

I've always wanted a chicken. A baby chick to raise into a prize winning, egg-laying, hen [priscilla]. This video makes me want a chicken even more.


Video from here.

*** diagrams ***

No need for explanations. Just two plain cool diagrams:






From here.

*** ...some things ***

Nothing profound, just, in the spirit of the nature of my blog: some things I liked...





Images from this blog I really liked too.

*** whimsical shit... ***

Today I was doing some frantic last minute christmas shopping before I leave for Germany tomorrow. One thing I dislike intensely about modern society (and for some reason I find this more poignant in the UK) is that the shopping experience is turning into such a monotonous one. All the shops in all the high streets are almost identical: McDonalds, WHSmith, Primark, Poundland, Greggs, Starbucks, Costa Coffee etc etc etc: the list is endless. Also more and more shiny glass malls are sprouting up inbetween the old fashioned builings Europe is lucky to have...

So today when I got out of the subway and a girl handed me a beautifully designed flyer I paid little attention to it, thinking "ag, just some party somewhere... again..." But then I fell for the quaint illustration on it and upon closer inspection I saw it was a flyer for a new shop that had recently opened.

I was very excited to find a "fun and accessible retail platform for indie craft & design- a quirky little cosmos of vintage lifestyle and culture..." called "Maisonette", tucked away in a vibey side street just off Byres Road in Glasgow. If you are a sucker for what I call 'whimsical shit' check it out.


Have a look at their website.

*** children's magic ***

Like I have said in a previous post: I really like children's drawings. There's something beautiful about the way children think: untainted by bad experience, unrestriced by logic and wildly imaginative. They are filled with magic you only get from this kind of perception... What more can I say?

I found these images "bringing children's drawings to life". Too awesome for words.




[click for larger image size]


Images from here.

*** this picture ***

For lack of a better title: I really like this picture. One of my best[est] friends sent me this link today on facebook. I canned myself. [Thanks Chanel x]

Image from the bored ninja.

*** learning new things ***

Not that I like my animation- it is so not my style I could vomit every time I look at it, but I thought it's about high time that I post something that I made... Working in Maya frustrates me endlessly and I miss doing things with my HANDS, working purely on a computer is against all beliefs I have relating to design. The next project I do will definately involve more "manual labour"!

In a more positive light though, it's great learning new skills and I feel privileged to be able to do a postgrad course. Another year of student life is the best choice I could have made. And Maya is slowly growing on me, the more I learn the more I enjoy it. Who knows, maybe in a couple of months I will love it. Too sad that this part of my life will be over in just 9 months.

Unfortunately the video uploads i tried on the blog are really bad quality, so here are just some stills. Have a look at the animation here.





























Animation done by me, brief by Glasgow School of Art, Audio by Kostas Masorakis.

*** funny coincidences ***

For the sequence of events to make sense that I am about to tell you about, it is important to know that for a while now I have been hearing about one of my flatmate’s friends whose very unfortunate name is “Guy Cockhead”. That is his real name. Poor Guy.

Anyway, the other day I went to a gig with my flatmate (Colin) where he introduced me to Guy. I was really glad to finally put a face to that name. Our conversation went something like this:

Colin: Guy, this is my flatmate, Julia. Julia, meet Guy.
Guy: Hi Julia.
Me: Ah, You’re Guy… Cockhead?
Guy: *Disgruntled* Uh-huh.

I consequently thought to myself how can Guy not have a chuckle every time someone says his name? I mean, he didn’t even flinch, not a hint of a smile. If it were my name I’d probably burst into histerical laughter every time someone said it out loud.

That is however besides the point.

About a week after the gig, I told Colin that I was so glad that I had finally met Guy Cockhead. Colin was a bit puzzled as to when I had met him. Of course I thought nothing of it and replied “the other night at that gig we went to, don’t you remember?”. Turns out that Guy wasn’t Guy Cockhead, but a different Guy altogether. No wonder he wasn’t amused when I called him cockhead… Ouch.

*** heart bokeh ***

I stumbled across this the other day. I haven't tried it yet. But I sure am going to... Try it too! [Click the link below for instructions]

Most people know: I love hearts...



Found here.

*** animation ***

I am busy doing an abstract animation for university. Much to my dismay it is not looking the way I am wanting it to, alas alas. But not to fret, like they say: good things come to those who wait. Hopefully by the end of next year I can produce some form of animation that is to my liking...

Anyway, while looking for inspiration for my work my flatmate showed me this video. I love it. It was made by sandwiching spraypaint between two sheets of acetate. So beautiful. Animation is a beautiful thing.

Enjoy.


Aerosol Aboeba found here.

*** i like scotland ***

I've only been living in Scotland for about three months now, but I really like it. It's snowing outside [the snowflakes are HUGE]. Glasgow isn't the most scenic place to be, but there is always something to do here. A culturally rich and vibrant place with tons of live music and things to do.

I'm so eager to go up north to the countryside when the weather is better. Till then, here's some beautiful pictures taken in Scotland.






Images from here.

*** a creative life ***

That's why it's so hard... [I am having creative block].



Via pinterest.

*** i like the goodbye shirt ***

I stumbled upon this awesome image [with stumbleupon]...
Too cool.



Image found here.

*** i like... dedications? ***

When I saw this I was pretty amused. It isn't the most arty shot, it's really funny nonetheless. Dedicated to all my design 'cronies' from TUKS [and more recently the DDS]. I love you guys. x

*** ... charity shops ***

The area I live in at the moment is full of charity shops. I love these shops. They are the best. I can spend ages just browsing through store after store. You are always guaranteed to find at least one thing you really like. I'm on a mission to get loads of vintagey frames and put them up in my room... I've bought quite a couple so far. Once my wall is complete, I'll be sure to blog about it. But until then, here are some pictures that inspired me.

*** rainbows ***

I remember when I was in kindergarten, every Friday afternoon we had drawing "class" (if you can even call it that). I used to LOVE this class. Every Friday, I would draw some form of rainbow. Religiously. Big ones, small ones, fat ones, a multitude of differently shaped ones, round rainbows, heart shaped rainbows... any form of rainbow I could think of. I think this was triggered by a serious love of the Carebears Movie (1985) which featured many, for lack of a better word, "rainbowy elements". [I watched that film the other day and I still love it].

This was some serious obsession and went on for months, until one Friday my teacher told us, as she did every Friday, that it was drawing class and we could "draw anything we wanted", but this time ended her sentence with "except a rainbow". I remember being devasted.

I still think I am not quite over that obsession, although it did take a hard blow that day in pre-school. I still really like rainbows...


What an awesome flipbook idea! [found here]


I want to live here! A modern day real-person's CareBear village... [found here]

*** i like something different ***

I found this on design sponge [one of the lovely blogs I follow]. The story behind this video is really sweet: April and Jeremy were planning a wedding, which spiralled out of control because of 'external pressures'. They realised that a wedding is all about the two people getting married, so they ran off and eloped. Just the two of them on their special day. They had this video made and sent it to the guest's of their originally planned wedding with the subject title, “Reclaiming Our Wedding 2010.” How lovely!

*** i like artistic ideas ***

I came across these images a while ago. These 'paintings' are in fact not paintings, but photographs of painted people. How creative. How creative some people are...





By Alexa Mead. Images found here

*** crabbies ginger beer ***

This is an artistically irrelevant post, but I feel I have to get back into the habit of blogging, so I am sharing utterly useless information with you... namely that I really like this beer. The really friendly shopkeeper of the corner shop in my street was telling me about the new ginger beer he has in stock [and since I buy quite a lot of beer there]- he advised me to give it a try... and so I did. It is awesome. It tastes exactly as you would imagine the perfect ginger beer should taste. It is sweet, but not too sweet. Tangy, but deliciously so and as an added bonus it is alcoholic...

Also I had a great evening, baking pretzels and working on a script for class. So I am feeling pretty jolly and in the mood for sharing irrelevant drink advice.

*** i like being productive ***

A friend of mine referred me a blog that made her think of me, I found this image on it and it made me smile. I feel like a nerdasaurus... I have been feeling that I am getting old, because I spend most of my time in front of my computer [let me digress and say that my computer called "stinky pie"]... as opposed to being in some pub 5 out of 7 days a week. And surprisingly it feels really good. I like being productive. For the time being at least.



Image found via Personality Prototype.

*** i like... teaparties ***

The other day my "Core Research Skills" Group and I had a teaparty in an elevator. It is a response to the reappropriation of the space at the Glasgow School of Art. Basically the idea was to transform an elevator- an essentially very unsocial space- into a very social one... it was lots of fun. And our teammate Nils took lovely photos.