Thursday, September 26, 2013

Henson Stitch

A couple of nights ago, while watching Kevin Clash's Being Elmo, I saw a snippet on how muppets are made. It fascinated me that most of the muppets are made by hand and that some muppet-building techniques were developed by Jim Henson himself, such as the fabled Henson Stitch. A mental image of a group of bearded guys sitting in a circle and sewing muppets was a bit too funny for me, but who knows? Henson and company probably did that while trying out different voices and throwing around dialogues for Sesame Street segments.

In any case, I found a really helpful tutorial for doing the Henson Stitch:



Friday, July 12, 2013

Tesla Tribute

So here's an amazing video I found while rooting through paper engineering videos (yes, I'm still at it):



While the video uses 3d projection mapping, what's amazing is that they combined this with amazing paper engineering pieces designed by Peter Dahmen.

What a lovely birthday tribute to Nikola Tesla. Enjoy!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Crocheting Anxieties Away

Last year, at the height of Habagat, we got stuck at home anxiously monitoring the news and checking up on my mom who lives in a flood-prone area. So with one ear on the news and the other ear glued to my phone, I picked up my crochet hook and a ball of yarn, and started to crochet.


On the fly, I decided to crochet cozies for our drinking glasses.  The pattern I found was simple enough to almost-mindlessly crochet through, yet the finished project looked pretty enough to actually use and not relegate to the dreaded useless junk cabinet:


Having something productive to do with my hands and head, the anxiety I was feeling, the worries I had for my mom and brother's safety were crocheted away, and effectively calmed me down enough to come up with emergency and contingency plans, should my mom's house get flooded.

While Habagat went on to become one of the  most devastating storms in the last couple of years, and left most of Metro Manila submerged in floodwater, my mom, my brother and his family were thankfully spared from the flood and devastation.

Now that stormy season is here again, I think it's time I dust off my crochet hooks and get more balls of yarn.

May the storm gods be more kind to us this year.

Photo taken today. Check out the storm clouds.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Popup Tutorials

Okay, so I'm still infatuated with popups.  I have other entries I want to post but I can't seem to get over popups.

Here are some helpful, easy to follow and interesting resources I found on making popups:

1. Robert Sabuda's site - simple to intermediate popup projects, with downloadable templates. I love his books.
2. Little Green Box - she makes really pretty popup cards that she features in her blog.  She posts detailed tutorials too.
3. Extreme Cards - 23 lessons on popups with a list of helpful books
4. Patchwork and Paper - this entry gives a really great behind-the-scenes look in making a popup book.  Plenty of awesome popup goodness as well.

I think I'll be embarking on a popup project soon.  


Monday, June 17, 2013

Popup Cities

And since we're on the topic of paper engineering, check out what Dutch artist Ingrid Siliakus created using  single sheets of paper:

photo from Architizer blog



photos from Ingrid Siliakus

Amazing.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Robert Sabuda's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I know it's been years since I've updated, but what the hey, I'm back! Heeee.

Even if this blog has been ignored for the longest time, I gotta say that every time I see exquisite, interesting and provocative handmade things, I tend to make mental notes of them, and given the opportunity,  take photos to accompany the (imagined) blogpost.  So, I think it's time to unload those mental notes, get my ass in gear and start posting!

First things first - my brother-in-law recently gave me a wonderful gift, Robert Sabuda's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland pop-up book.  Unopened, it looks like any other children's popup book, but when you open it, it's breathtaking.

photo from Amazon.com

There are huge popup pages representing significant scenes from the novel.  The text is thoughtfully printed at the side of each page, with mini surprises containing little delights that accompany the text.   

I was especially astounded by the page where Mr. Sabuda represented Alice being chased by the Queen of Hearts' army. The page crackled and popped when I opened it - I was afraid I would tear it apart - so verrry carefully, I completely opened the page. A jagged rainbow of playing cards unfolded and Alice, with a look of anger and terror, appears beneath the Queen of Hearts' pack of playing cards.  Needless to say, I was breathless when this paper engineering wonder greeted my eyes.


I have to admit that I haven't finished reading the book.  Yes, I have seen all the main pop-up pages, but I have yet to explore the little treasures on the side of each page.  Somehow, I get so overwhelmed by the beauty and genius of how the big pieces were engineered that I need time to absorb everything and quiet my overly stimulated senses.  

Someday, I'll be able to finish this jewel of a book.