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cluttercore, balloon antics and punk style
Every inch of my office is filled with knick knacks, art supplies and miscellaneous detritus from about fifty projects I have going on. And all of those projects are personal projects and not even paying gigs! I don’t know why but I am the clutter queen lately.
I recently stumbled upon the hashtag: “cluttercore” (type it into your instagram search bar and see what happens) and nothing has made me feel more pigeon-holed than that term. Clutter is oozing out of me in every way right now. It’s in my art, it’s in my home-decorating, it’s in my closet …I think it might be a defense mechanism against the crazy world I’m getting old in.
I don’t love it. It’s just how things are right now.
I’ve been making recycled postcards for months now. Have I blogged all the postcards I make? I don’t think I have but they are all over the place (half mailed, half on my desk, some framed…) so I don’t see a collective blog post happening anytime soon.
I like to take recycled bits and make art out of them. My latest craze is painting chip board black and then doodling all over it. I’ve also been painting funny hat ladies and gluing bits of fruit mesh bag on the hats to look like veils… I’m not posting any yet (although there is a peek of one above) because I think they are crap. But I think I will get some good ones soon.
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In other news, Bug and I took a long walk (off a short dock) to take some pictures for her instagram feed.
Bug had this idea that we’d buy some mylar balloons to say “1K” and pose with them for her 1000th instagram photo. Not 1000 followers but her 1000th post. I thought that was cool and since I’m always up for a photoshoot, I was happy to oblige. Not to mention I could use the steps. So we walked and we walked and we walked all over the nearby bird sanctuary and I think I took about 1000 photos. Not really, I took 300-something but it felt like 1000.
So many photos!!! You know what’s hard to do in the afternoon when the wind kicks up? Get two balloons to face the right way.
Those balloons were our nemesis. They went every which way but the right way. It’s too bad we weren’t trying to post something about “K1” because that was a winner.
Of course we got our shot (you’ll have to check her feed to see them) but we also got a lot of shots like this. Balloons have a personalities of their own and they are jerks.
And speaking of personality, Bug never disappoints.
She’s going through a self-described punk stage. I’m down for it. She wears eyeliner and fishnets and underwear over her clothes. Payam and her dad hate it, naturally. But I think it’s cool. I’m also picking up a lot of new musical interests because of her. Kids are awesome at that. She makes me playlists and fixes my phone when I forget how it works. So yeah… that’s my news lately.
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Crazy Pandemic Hobbies: Tiny Milk Carton Houses
Lately, I’m into making tiny milk carton houses. It’s a crazy hobby that I don’t see paying off anytime soon. They take forever and the waxy surface of the milk carton makes painting them nearly impossible. It’s also messy. But I am not giving up!!! I have four of them sitting beside me (on the little handy side desk that I McGivered by putting two desks together). I tinker on them a little bit every day. I have grand plans of creating a whole village and selling it for a thousand bucks but more than likely I’ll just gift them to the family who won’t know what to do with them either.
These milk carton houses are not for work. I wish they were but they are not. I’ve used a few for work but the ones I’m working on now are not. They are really just something to keep me from going crazy.
I also have a postcard hobby which means that I save every piece of chipboard that goes through our house. Chipboard is thin cardboard from cereal boxes and cartons etc. My collection is kind of a problem. My desk looks like a recycling plant and now I’m having issues throwing anything away. My kids save everything for me too because they know I have this hobby. It’s gotten a little out of control.
I have dreams of making “an old house in Paris that was covered with vines” out of a cookie box but I don’t know when I’ll get to it. I just work a tiny bit on these houses every day. Day by day by day by day… in between other more lofty chores, of course. It’s slow going and this mess is not going anywhere any time soon. It feels like my own personal pandemic decor. Kinda like how we moved Payam’s desk into the living room and the kids have their own zoom classroom backdrops incorporated into their bedrooms…and it’s a permanent part of our life now. It’s funny the changes we’ve all had to make now that we do everything at home. I’ve always worked at home but this latest recycling craftiness has definitely turned my madness up a notch.
I hope I finish someday. Kinda like I hope I can see friends again someday…
