Thursday afternoon crafting equations…

So today I figured out that “balsa wood” + “emery board” = “look at that! I don’t need sandpaper OR a wider cutting blade!”

“The Doctor Is In” TARDIS Wall Art

My friend Bobbie just graduated with his BA in Film Production and is well on his way to his goal of a PhD in Media Studies and I thought, being a fellow Whovian, something Doctor-related would make a fantastic gift!

Favourite Videos: BECCA, “I’m Alive”

I drifted into the Black Butler series via Netflix recommendations more than a year ago and the lyrics of the closing song by Becca still resonate with me, particularly when played over the animation of Sebastian (the butler — and demon — in question) working day and night.

The Intense Pleasure of Slow Movies

I have a rare day off in the middle of a rare slow month and I decided to spend it working on a commission and re-watching my favorite movie from 2011.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was a film I sat in anticipation of for months. The cast was one reason — I love Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt with a fervency that anyone other than a hardcore film fan would probably find embarrassing. The subject matter was another reason — it’s a period spy thriller set in England in the early 1970s.

The pacing of this film and it’s characters appeals to me in many of the ways 2001: A Space Odyssey does. It’s a cerebral story, low on the violent, quick-cut action ubiquitous to most spy movies. Instead, the film’s tension hinges on discovery and the threat of discovery: George Smiley digging through the evidence to find the betrayer among his number, the threat of agents Peter Guillam and Ricky Tarr being discovered as they help Smiley, the cost to everyone involved. Smiley himself is a very emotionally contained character and he exudes both authority and restraint. He never loses his temper and we see him raise his voice only once toward the end. He’s a (sometimes) safe and very pleasant character to get lost with.

Tinker Tailor is a linear narrative with several flashbacks and the way it allows the events of the story to unfold (particularly the first and final fifteen minutes) is slow, subtle and requires several viewings to appreciate the amount of detail the writers expect the audience to pick up without spelling it out for them. It’s a mindbender in places, which during the times when depression and anxiety seem intent on turning my brain inside-out, is a welcome distraction.

“Toast and Tea” Teapot Wall Art

I recently made a trip to San Marcos, Texas to visit my dear friend Tracy Henry, poet and author of She Is Stranger Than Fiction and Geek Girl Gourmet. The two of us are hardly ever in the same 100-mile radius so we put together gift packages for each other’s birthdays and holidays. This wouldn’t have fit into most boxes I had anyway, so I waited until close to the trip to put it together.

One of Tracy’s characters, Tam Lenox, is a fan of tea (as are the both of us), so when I found this at Michael’s, I thought of her immediately.

“GERTI” Airplane Charm Bracelet

I need to laugh, loudly and often — it’s a necessity for me. So I was very happy (and very amused) when a friend of mine introduced me to John Finnemore’s BBC radio series Cabin Pressure. It’s a sitcom set in a small charter airline in Fitton, England and when I spotted this airplane charm at Michael’s, it immediately made me think of GERTI, the airline’s only plane (named for her phonetic designation — Golf Echo RomeoTango India).

Commission: Green Lantern E-Reader Cover

This was a commission from one of my students at the art academy. For the first few days I was working with his class, he watched me reading what looked like a paper bag in between breaks. On the third day, he walked over and realized it was an e-reader cover.

“Could you do the same thing with comic books?”

I didn’t see why not.