Sad iMac on a Happy Birthday

It was my birthday on Monday. Lots of amazing friends came over for a barbecue on a rare sunny day. It devolved into a late-night dance party thanks to our Xbox, and inspiration from Leslie and the Lys. I am now older, wiser, and on my way to a less-stressful lifestyle... right after I get over a few more hurdles.

My very insightful and loving husband noticed that I was spending a gluttonous amount of hours every day, waiting for things to happen on my computer. My iMac is old. So old, that I haven't been able to watch videos on it since before YouTube became popular. So old, that there's often 5 seconds of delay while typing.

Running an online business means spending a lot of time in front of a computer, and my time was just wasting away. So he bought me a brand new, very speedy new PC. Just shut up for a second if you're about to say something snarky about Macs vs. PCs.  This new computer is is so fast, progress bars don't even have time to show up on the screen before they've been dismissed. The screen is like sitting in a movie theater. And it was affordable on our tiny home business budget.

This, of course, starts out as a mixed blessing because I have to transfer all my files over (about 30 gigs of product photos, mostly), and my iMac decided on that day to commit suicide. It won't start up, no matter how much coaxing we've tried. Even the forceful kind.

Luckily, I have a backup hard-drive that only took about 4 days to successfully copy my files over without corrupting them. It's taken 5 days to get the printer to speak the same language as my new image editing program (GIMP, by the way, which I'm trying very hard not to assume is anything like Photoshop but it's hard.), and there was a bit of a learning curve when I had to switch to the PC version of my shipping software (which I spent an entire evening screaming violent threats at when it charged me 3 times for a $20 international label and still wouldn't print the correct date).

Things are finally beginning to settle down. The iMac won't even pretend to boot up, so it's just a very large paper weight until we can figure out how to erase the hard drive and donate it to "science". I'm proud that we've been able to pretend it was business as usual, even as we struggled to ship labels and create custom glassware designs in time for Father's Day. It's been hectic, but we haven't completely lost our minds yet.

The last big challenge is now the website. I don't have Dreamweaver anymore, and I'd like to switch to a fancier shopping cart anyway, so I don't have to code all my webpages individually. I'm researching software like a mad-woman, so that I can hopefully reinvent the site as quickly, cheaply, and seamlessly as possible. If you've got any suggestions, I would love to hear them (I'm considering WP eCommerce and Zen Cart).

Oh, and I'm teaching a class and a craft workshop for Hello Craft in less than a week, and haven't really started working on either project yet. Yikes. Good thing my sister sent me some awesome mead to help me drown my sorrows like a hero. (It's called Viking Blod, and it's super awesome! Sweet, but not as syrupy as most commercial meads that I've had. Also, a good amount of spice and flavor from added hops. Highly recommended!)

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Super Secret Scott Pilgrim Party!

Sometimes, I have the opportunity to work on super secret projects that I'm not allowed to talk about. My friends at New England Comics in Allston, MA (which, incidentally, is the home of The Tick, and where I used to sell my original little comic book series) have been organizing a big launch party for the release of the final volume of the Scott Pilgrim comics by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Volume 6, "Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour" comes out July 20th, and the film based on the comics (starring Michael Cera--which will be awesome) comes out August 13th, so there's quite a bit to celebrate. Watch the trailer for the movie here. Oh, and there's also going to be an 8-bit style video game.

You can't tell, but I've been essentially bouncing with excitement over all this magical SP-goodness since I got asked to work on this project! The event seems to be getting bigger and bigger as things come together and the ever-amazing Michelle wrangles it all together.

I still can't talk details, but I can say that I'll be designing something rad based on the Scott Pilgrim comics (which you should totally read), and that I'll be wanting very badly to be in Boston this summer when the party happens. I'll post more info when I'm allowed to release it, and the NEC website will also share news when it gets closer to the date. Read some comics!

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Lulu Bonanza

My friend, Michelle (a.k.a. Lulu Bonanza), works at New England Comics in Allston, MA. We used to frequent the comic shop as much to buy comics as to hang out with the super friendly employees. Michelle's enthusiasm is completely infectious, and she always has lots of recommendations for every genre, age and interest. She's never steared me wrong!

I'm thrilled that Michelle has started her own blog to publish her videos about comics: lulubonanza.blogspot.com They're silly and she admits that they're "a little odd", but that's why I love them! She's not doing this because she's getting paid for it, or anything like that. She's just sharing her love of comics, which shines through beautifully.

Go, Lulu Bonanza! <3

Also, she's totally right about Bone, by Jeff Smith. Read it! Get it from your local comic book purveyor, or www.boneville.com.

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Micachu & the Shapes

A friend of mine recently sent me a mix CD of a whole bunch of bands she thought I might like. I do have pretty wide musical tastes, but I've been in an "experimental" phase for a while now. I like music that pushes boundaries with the instruments they use (bonus points for homemade instruments, especially of the electronic variety), the chaotic noises they make, and the sometimes loose definition of singing that they employ. But it's still gotta be pop music.

While listening to this mix CD, I was nodding my head as each band played, weighing their merits in my head. When I got to Micachu and the Shapes, I immediately had to listen to it again. And again. And again. I stuck all their songs on repeat and called it a day.




[Here's a live version of my favorite Micachu song, "Curly Teeth"]

Sure, I like moody, angry, bob-your-head introspective stuff. But there's nothing like a song that actually makes me want to get out of my seat, jump around, and then look up the band online to find out how they made that noise.

I don't know a lot about 22 yr. old front-woman, Mica Levi, except that she's a classically trained musician from the U.K., and I want to listen to everything she's ever created. She made a bowed instrument out of a CD rack, fer chrissake!

[Check out more from Micachu and the Shapes on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/micayomusic
I strongly encourage you to search for more songs and videos around the web. There seem to be quite a few.]

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Do you love books?

How about an action-packed crime story about books? In comic format? What could possibly be better?

My friend, Liana, shared Shiga's first webcomic with me a long time ago, which I highly recommend for it's pure comics genius: FLEEP.

I don't really do the whole New Year's Resolution Thing, but I do always wish I had more time to read. I read all kinds of things, even cookbooks (the Best Recipes books have entire chapters on each recipe, so it's easy to get lost in there).

*    *    *

Since I'm still in business mode right now, (Sean and I have been making our 2010 projections and analyzing our sales and things today,) I thought I'd share some of our top sellers from the last year with you (my data is based on the last quarter, but it should be pretty accurate for the whole year):

Top Selling Pint Glass Designs:
1. Mustache
2. Bicycle
3. Robot
4. Guitar
5. Yarn

Top Selling Products That Aren't Pint Glasses:
1. Mustache Mugs & Teacups (assorted styles and colors)
2. Mustache Rocks Glasses
3. Mustache Double-Old-Fashioned Glasses
4. Robot Double-Old-Fashioned Glasses
5. Shot Glasses (the Robot is the top seller here, but we sold a good assortment)

So, Mustaches are still in vogue, as it were. And we will continue to put them on glassware. I think we may have sold about 1,000 mustache pint glasses this year. That's pretty crazy to think about. As far as our income goes, Sean and I earned a little more than we would have at minimum wage jobs. Which is sad, but we were still able to buy a house this year, and we didn't have to do any work on the side. We're still going strong, so this year should be even better.

Our more masculine designs seem to do well on all our products, so we'll be sticking with that theme for the future. If a guy would like it, and it's funny, or geeky, or kinda cute, then we'll be putting it on drinkware for you.

If you've got a great idea for the next big design, send it our way! We're in the exciting brainstorming and development stages right now, and we love hearing what you think. Thanks for reading the boring stuff I have to say, and above all, have a safe and joyful new year!

[http://shigabooks.com/indeces/bookhunter.html]

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Can Your Car Do This?

Finally put this sticker on the car. LOVE IT! Get your own here, if your car is worthy.

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Pop-Up LEGO Buddhist Temple

I've always been a huge fan of LEGOs, but I was the type of kid who followed the exact directions on the box and then never dismantled my structures. I bow to those makers who can create their very own design with LEGOs as their medium.

This replica of the Kinkaku-ji Zen Buddhist temple in Tokyo actually pops up out of its "box", and was made by the very talented talapz.

[via Laughing Squid]

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Neon Skateboard Tetris

I haven't shared anything random and fun in awhile (what with all the packing, moving, unpacking, losing my mind that's been going on in my world), but I thought you might enjoy this. The music makes me wish I were skateboarding in S.F. right now too.

[via Laughing Squid]

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I Am Carpet Destroyer. Also: SOCKS!!

Guess what I got in the mail today!! It's an amazing pair of pixellated knee-sock-y perfection, courtesy of webcomic guru Rich Stevens! Not only is Diesel Sweeties one of my favorite all-time comics, but this dude also designs wearables. Srsly, who doesn't need a pair of these??


Rich generously included this pair of stickers in my housewarming package as well. I've been coveting these guys since I first saw them, so I was completely overjoyed to have them in my (grimey, paint-spattered) hands! Sean and I are trying to decide if we can put the transformer sticker on our leased car, and if the penalties will be worth it. (They totally will be.)


Since you may (or may not) care about what I've been doing all week (I'm curious too, since this week has flown by!), I can assure you it's been time well-spent. It took us a whole week to paint the house, and I'm disappointed that there are still areas that need touching up. (See the "Fresh Water" color my new office/craft room is? I LOVE IT! Most of the rest of the house is "Gentle Rain", which is a light gray.) We've decided to move onto carpet removal, however, since we'd like to actually get some of our belongings moved in some time this month.

Remember this room? It had spectacular hardwood floors underneath all that moldy shag carpet! We discovered that it's not the removal of the carpet that's the hard part (although, that's some heavy crap to haul around), but it's the wood staples and nailed-down spikey edging that are the most work.


The pry-bar (this one is named "Wonderbar") has become my best friend. We're going to get to know each other better for half of tomorrow, too. This tool (which Sean found in a gutter at a house he was roofing awhile back) can remove nails, staples, molding and most other things that are securely attached to a floor or wall. It doesn't get much better than that, folks.

We'll be living on the sub-flooring until we can afford to replace some of the carpet, but it's still a huge improvement over the mustard and lime infestation that this house had before. If the kitchen carpet weren't glued down, we'd tackle that tomorrow too. Right now, we're just trying to make this house habitable, so we can move our furniture and our sick kitty over here as soon as possible.

More photos on Flickr!

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Solar-Powered Theremin

For Father's Day this year, I gave my dad a solar-powered theremin kit that I picked up at Maker Faire. It took him a while to get around to putting it together, but he finally did it! I'm so happy that he took a little video with his iphone to share with me--and now you!

If you want to learn more about theremins, you can read about them here and on Wikipedia. If you want to purchase your own (totally affordable) solar-powered theremin kit, you can buy one from Clockwork Robot here. (Assembly involves some soldering.)

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Home from Maker Faire

This was such a crazy week, wow!

I wanted to take tons of photos, but it was too crazy on Saturday and Sunday to walk around and see anything. I also missed my opportunities to photo the Bazaar Bizarre, which I'm really bummed about.

Here are the rest of the photos I took (there aren't that many, since I only brought my camera on Friday during set up): http://www.flickr.com/photos/breadnbadger/sets/72157619216519718/

Maker Faire & Bazaar Bizarre 2009 Recap
(The Short Version)

We drove a lot, worked really hard, made a bunch of money, met TONS of amazing people, saw some great spectacles, ate some incredible food, and drove home. It was super fun, and we hope we can have the honor of doing it again next year.

We completely mis-judged the amount of pint glasses to bring with us, and completely failed to bring some designs that were in high demand. We're sorry! This was really hard to plan out. To make it up to you folks, we're going to be running a big Father's Day Sale this weekend to help offset the cost of shipping. Join our mailing list here, or stay tuned for more details!

Maker Faire & Bazaar Bizarre 2009 Recap
(The Very Long Version)

Sean and I filled our little car to bursting and drove from Portland, OR to our friends' house in Berkeley, CA on Thursday. It was a great drive, with great weather. We set up our booth on Friday afternoon, and walked around the faire to see all the great stuff we'd be missing while we worked the Bazaar Bizarre indoors. We got free beer and paella (which was amazing), and said hi to our friends Cathy Pitters and Sister Diane.

Our Berkeley friends were missing us, so we headed home to play some Arkham Horror (board game based on H.P. Lovecraft stories). Late in the evening, I had my friend take me to the ER (while Sean attempted to get some sleep before the big day ahead) for an infection that turned out to be kind of serious. I finally left around 5am, after a catscan, IV fluids and a mysterious un-diagnosis.

Saturday was a little rough, due to the complete lack of sleep and general not feeling great, but we had so much fun anyway! People visiting the BazBiz were amazingly friendly, chatty, and fascinating. There was always someone walking by in a great costume, or with a great story to tell. I was blown away by the number of people who were already familiar with our work online, since we'd never sold in California before. I was also struck by the professionalism of the other crafters at the Bazaar, since I was already a fan of most of the work that was there.

Our booth was next to the Swap-O-Rama-Rama area, so we got to see the mayhem of massive crowds of people, all digging through piles of donated clothing for screen printing or sewing. I wish we could have had time to participate! Sunday afternoon, Daryl Hannah was spotted getting her craft on at one of the sewing tables, and she hung out 'til closing!

We rested as much as possible, and had an other fun but tiring day on Sunday. That evening, we headed in to Oakland for some grub at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, which I believe is owned by one of the guys from Green Day. It was exactly what we needed!

The drive home on Monday was uneventful, except for an impressive lightning storm that we drove through when crossing the mountains in southern Oregon. Man, I'm a fan of lightning! Especially when it's flashing across blackened mountains. That was some of the heaviest rain we've ever driven through, too. Really amazing!

So now we're back to work, with a little detour to Urgent Care yesterday to switch my antibiotics. Things are finally improving, so I'm feeling relieved. We shipped out all our orders today that had accumulated over the weekend (19, total!), so we're ready for gear up for our Father's Day Sale and release of some new designs.

Oh, and I just found out that I'm one of the 11 raffle winners from the Bazaar Bizarre, and I'll be getting a whole gift basket of fun items from other vendors!! There was so much talent represented there, I can't wait to find out what I've won. Unbelievable!

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Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire

We're packing up today to get ready for our long drive down to San Mateo for the Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire! We're leaving tomorrow, which means there's a lot of scrambling around to make sure we have everything. Luckily, only one glass broke in the process! (I accidentally dropped another pint glass inside this one from about half a foot in the air. It really takes a lot of impact to break one of these, but it makes an impressive "pop" when it happens.)

We're bringing our most popular pint glass designs, plus the new, unreleased Cassette Love design. We'll also have shot glasses, soap dispensers, hand-engraved necklaces on clearance, tons of fused glass accessories, and other tidbits of etchy goodness. This is a great opportunity to grab some Father's Day gifts and not have to pay for shipping!

The Maker Faire runs for two full days, and has tons of amazing creative things to see and interact with. I highly recommend bringing the whole family down!

If you're not lucky enough to be in the Bay area this weekend, you can still order Father's Day gifts from our website our Etsy shop, and we'll make them and ship them when we return at the beginning of June.

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Bohemian Rhapsody

I just saw this video and had to share it. Old school computer hardware blipping and beeping to produce Queen's classic tune is just too cute!

I found the video here, courtesy of Neil Gaiman, via Twitter. Someone else passed it along to him. Enjoy the nostalgia of old technology!

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Crafts + Robots = BazBiz @ Maker Faire

The Best of Maker Faire 2008 - video powered by Metacafe

The World's Largest DIY Festival
A two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology.

We just found out a few days ago that we've been accepted into the Bazaar Bizarre at the Maker Faire! I'm so excited that we'll get to go on a little roadtrip for our first California event, ever! The show is in San Mateo, which is just outside San Fransisco (as I understand it... I still haven't checked it out on a map). Buy your tickets now!

The Maker Faire is an event that I've dreamed of going to, so I hope I have a little time to check out all the action. There are always loads of fun, technological wonders at the Faire, and I feel inspired just thinking about it! This is what their website has to say about them:

We're hopefully going to be staying with friends, to cut down on our traveling costs. We'll be bringing as much stuff as we can fit into our little car, and I'm going to cross my fingers that we can sell most of it so the ride back to Oregon will be more comfortable.

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Teresa Sullivan beaded art

I'll admit that I'm not really a fan of the seed bead. I've tried to like those little glass pixels, but it wasn't until this weekend that I started to really "get it". One of the amazing people that I met was Teresa Sullivan, a Portland bead artist. To call her a beaded jewelry maker would completely miss the mark, however. Teresa creates sculpture and wearable art. She doesn't just string beads on thread, she really paints with her materials.

I had the pleasure of talking with Teresa about her work, and she got me excited about the inspiration behind her pieces as much as the work itself. The necklace above (along with other pieces of hers) was inspired by sci-fi pulp comics from the 1950's where bold, curvy women got themselves in and out of trouble without having to be rescued. She also likes to think of this woman as possibly being the mother of Zap Comic's Checkered Demon, which just adds new dimensions to the thought-provoking nature of her work.

The necklace above is titled "Wanted on Six Planets". You can read more about it and Teresa's other work here.

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ShapeLock: Plastic for Crafters

I ran across ShapeLock while watching a video of a robot someone had made from a remote-controlled helicopter. They used this amazing mold-able plastic to create the robot's outer shell and legs. I found out that ShapeLock becomes soft at only 150 degrees fahrenheit, so you just need to pop it in the microwave or put it in hot water! The gears in my head immediately started spinning with all the great crafty things you could make out of this stuff!

Is it safe? What is it really? It's a non-toxic plastic similar to nylon or polypropylene. It's endlessly reusable, drillable and paintable. Basically, it's awesome.

I bought a big bag for myself right away, not really knowing what I would do with it. I played with it for a day, and mostly came away with pruney, lightly burned fingers, since I needed to keep reheating the water it was in to keep it mold-able. Once it hits 149 degrees, it's not really moving anymore, no matter how much you poke it! I made a tiny figurine and a few organic-looking rings. I mashed some food coloring into some of it, which gave it a pale blue tint. I'm afraid the rings might lose their shape if they were worn on a hot summer day (or displayed in the sun for too long) so this might not be the best material for sellable jewelry. Just think what else you could do though!

I haven't had much time to experiment with my plastic since that first day, but I did find a great use for it: caps for the new industrial shelves I just put in my office! The tops of these shelf poles were left unfinished, and I was in danger of ripping my sleeves on them while pulling something off the top shelf. In a couple of minutes, I'd capped them all with shiny white plastic slugs (I didn't bother trying to make them look nice). The caps should pop off pretty easily if I ever decide to remove them, but for now, they're doing a great job of keeping me safe.

Check out ShapeLock's website for FAQ's and suggested uses, or to buy your own: http://www.shapelock.com/ They even have free samples available, which would have been a good idea for me. I went with the 250 gram bag, and it's quite a lot!

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The Adventures of Duane and Brando

[This video contains lots of F-Bombs. Don't watch it if you are sensitive to that kind of thing. Also, it's kind of long, but full of AWESOME.]

I like video games. I don't play all that many of them, and I'm usually content to play the same game multiple times. I've learned that I'm kinda picky about the type of game that I enjoy though. I like puzzle games, and hack-and-slash senseless violence types of games. Not so much one-on-one "fighting games", although Dead or Alive is pretty fun. Graphics don't really matter at all. I like Mario World, Zelda, Fable and the X-men games.

I've recently gotten sucked into the world of Ninja Gaiden (for Xbox), and I've been obsessively playing it every day. What could possibly be more fun than fighting evil ninjas and monstrous fiends with sword-chucks (*ahem* I mean, the "Vigoorian Flail"). I die a lot, but that just makes it more satisfying when I win.

I just discovered The Adventures of Duane and Brando, a pair of guys who rap about classic video games, over top of the game's soundtrack. I do love me some video game music, so this was a pairing I couldn't pass up! I really wanted to share their Ninja Gaiden video, but YouTube wouldn't let me embed it here, so hop over to their Myspace page to see it and other videos and songs about Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and more!

Laughing Squid has a post with other nerdcore rappers with video game themed music videos.

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The website is down

Not sure why, but I haven't been able to connect to or view my website all day. I've gotten two orders through it, so I know it must be working intermittently.

I was meeting all day with my accountant, and now it's too late to contact my hosting service provider. I'm going to cross my fingers that they get it up overnight, or I'll be talking on the phone to them all day tomorrow.

Hopefully that phone call goes better than this one.

You can continue to shop from my Etsy shop in the meantime: http://breadandbadger.etsy.com

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LOLmeme Continued...

Just had to keep sharing the great coverage of the LOLcat Art Show!

Boing Boing TV! http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/29/lolarts-show.html
Sean Chapin @ YouTube: "LOL Art Show"
http://www.zimbio.com/LOLCats/articles/2/LOLCat+Artists+Raise+Money+Adult+Literacy (this blog has a really cool pic of my vase with some neon backlighting!)

[Image is of "LOLCat Whiteboard" by Josh Zubkoff, which is completely awesome!]

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LOLart: i does it!

I finished my submission for the LOLcats Art Show in San Francisco!

The show is being held at Varnish Gallery (77 Natoma Street at 2nd Street, in downtown San Francisco), and the opening is October 23rd. I'm not planning on going to the opening, since it's a bit of a drive for me, but I really want to!

I'm really nervous because I feel like I interpreted the objective less creatively than most people. A "lolcat" picture is basically a found photo of a cat in a silly pose (not known for its artistic merits as a photo) with some less-than-grammatically-correct-English text over it. So, to bring that to a 3-dimensional level, I took a found vase with little artistic merit of its own, and applied one of my favorite silly cats plus text.

May not be as original an idea as what some other artists are coming up with (although, I haven't seen anyone elses' work yet), I'm hoping it makes at least one person smile. It was really fun to make! And this is what I spend all my days doing anyway: drawing on glass. Very fun! ;)

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