The folks at Core77 nailed it with “The Dreaded Killer Jellyfish of Graphic Design Favors” poster, and now it’s available for purchase—only $20 for the signed silk screened print. My favorite may just be “T-shirt design for a cute person who will ignore you forever after.” Wonder what other dreaded creatures are lurking in the deep…
I’ve never made my own fudge, but I’ve seen a few posts lately proclaiming how easy it is. Here are the ones that have looked the most appealing, which involve some of my favorite flavors—nice extra motivation!
Coconut Milk Fudge (pictured above) from Smitten Kitchen. I love coconut milk in nearly anything, so I’m betting I’d love this.
Really Easy Chocolate Fudge with Toasted Walnuts from Everybody Likes Sandwiches. Straightforward and simple, this looks like a great basic to try.
Cookies and Cream Fudge from Nestle Tollhouse. I admit to having a soft spot for cookies and cream ice cream, so while I suspect this one might be too sweet for me, I am curious.
Peanut Butter Fudge from Chow. Peanut butter and chocolate, need I say more?
My introduction to any and everything DIY was through skateboarding. After a brief flirtation with BMX racing in elementary school I got heavily into skating by the sixth grade and spent most of my teen years building ramps and riding them. (Below, Tim Lane on one of the ramps I helped build in Davis, California, circa 1988. Photo by Greg Hanes.)
While my skating habits have dropped off considerably the past few years I always try to keep up with what’s happening in that world. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about getting a new board. This urge has picked up considerably over the last few days after reading Katherine Sharpe’s great post on reusing old skate decks and all of my thinking and writing about Detroit. Much of the talks we’ve been having about Detroit have revolved around skateparks and how they do or don’t fit into the urban/suburban/rural environment. After a flurry of email exchanges about this yesterday I got to thinking about one of the best skate spots in the country, the Brooklyn Banks, and decided to pay them a visit.
After spotting this pocket square made from neon tape over at Once Wed, I had to check out where it came from. For a recent Kate Spade event in SOHO, Rebecca Ward really outdid herself…she even had a tape bar for guests to decorate anything they fancied. To check out more photos, click here and here. My only question: What could you do with all of that tape after the event?
( via Once Wed, images via Kate Spade)
By clicking through this link on the Kitchn in search of the source of the Semolina Butter Cookies with Sea Salt, I happily found myself at Cooking Books. Andrea is getting her PhD in art history and when not working on her dissertation, she’s cooking through some of her favorite cookbooks. The previously mentioned cookie recipe is from Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, there’s a Tomato Quinoa Bread from Patricia Wells’ Vegetable Harvest, Lentil and Wild Mushroom Hash is from The New Spanish Table, and the Jam-filled Buttermilk Country Cake is from The Cake Bible, just to give you an example of the lovely recipes available on the site.
(all images via Neil Coppen)
The melting snow and subsequent muck and dirt that’s left behind has me wishing for something beautiful, and Dutch Ink (a group of four guys from brand and communication school Vega) from Durban, South Africa, have just the thing. Their work, which draws inspiration from British street artist Paul Curtis, uses reverse graffiti to present various scenes on grimy city walls. By using stencils and stiff metal brushes, the group selectively cleans to leave behind a mural that fades over time. Beautiful.
(via Wooster Collective and Neil Coppen)
I saw this simple, yet toasted and cheesy sandwich on Simple Bites today (on a post that also features Coco-Banana pancakes and a One Bowl Gingerbread) and am wishing I had a stove and a skillet by my desk. Click here to see the full recipe for this quick croque monsiuer.
Anais Mitchell, Photo by Alicia Rose
Not only is Anais Mitchell gracing the ReadyMade stage at SXSW in less than two weeks, she also releases her folk opera, Hadestown, today with help from Justin Vernon as Orpheus, Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Ben Knox Miller as Hermes, Greg Brown as Hades, and the Haden Triplets as the Fates. And as far as album operas go, this one doesn’t give off an overly gimmicky vibe, but surrounds the listener with good, down-home folk that happens to tell a haunting tale.
Anais’ riff on Orpheus (set in a post-apocalyptic society), though rooted in mythology, takes on a very familiar tone: Every artist has the desire to make something so beautiful that they inspire the impossible—in this case, bringing back the dead Eurydice. First developed as a stage production in Vermont, Anais and her friends hammered out the details, wrote new drafts, and debated between poetry and story clarity before she went into the studio to lay it all down. Give it a listen here, and enjoy.
SXSW info below, and for more of the history behind Hadestown, click here.
This year’s music line-up includes:
12:15p Anais Mitchell / 1:00p Sarah Jaffe / 1:30p Birds & Batteries / 2:30p Everest /
3:30p Matt Morris / 4:30p Carney
Where: Beauty Bar @ Palm Door, 401 Sabine Street @ East 4th Street
When: Saturday, March 20th, Noon – 5:00p.
RSVP to attend: events@readymademag.com
Please put SXSW in subject line. Space is limited. RSVP does not guarantee entry. SXSW badges welcome.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my recent visit to Detroit. During that trip, my traveling companions and I were also able to get out to Bloomfield HIlls, about 30 minutes outside the city, to visit the Cranbrook Academy of Art. I’ve visited Cranbrook several times over the years and it’s always impressive. But this visit was particularly intriguing as we were able to pin down the director of the amazingly influential school, Reed Kroloff, and coax him into giving us a full-blown tour of the grounds.
The shot above is of the spot where Kroloff likes to begin any tour he gives because it is so illustrative of Eliel Saarinen’s unique take on architecture and design. Saarinen (the Finnish architect responsible for the design of most of the school) was known for combining the the urbane Art Deco style with a more earthy Arts and Crafts aesthetic. It was this Arts and Crafts influence that undoubtedly led to the architect’s obsession with creating near perfect symmetry and then tweaking it slightly as a tip of the hat to nature. Saarinen is famous for saying “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” [Read more →]
When it’s gray and rainy as it’s been here in the Midwest the past few days, I get an enormous urge to spend my day in the kitchen baking. This past weekend I made granola and cornbread, but at the moment, there is a bunch of almost too ripe bananas on my counter just asking to be turned into this delicious sounding cake. Here’s a description of the Banana Cake with Dark Chocolate and Walnuts from Bella Eats:
This cake, while not the prettiest kid on the block, certainly has the possibility of being the most popular with its stellar personality. So dense, so moist, the banana-scented crumb is perfectly balanced with dark chocolate and toasty walnuts.
I like the thought of a cake with a stellar personality!
Photo via Bella Eats
(images via Giver’s Log)
Sending mail, in my opinion, is almost better than getting it. Unexpected packages can brighten even the dimmest of days, and with the series 13 Ounces or Less from Giver’s Log, you can get inspiration for charming tidbits that fall within USPS guidelines. For even more ideas, check out their flickr group…the bouncy balls below are my favorite.
I am very, very happy to have on my desk a copy of a spiral-bound book about tiny house plans that crawls with black-and-white-drawings and pulses with loopy DIY energy. It’s called Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats, Funky Forts, and Whatever the Heck Else We Could Squeeze In Here, and it’s the brain-child of Derek Diedricksen of Stoughton, Massachusetts. The book the kind of creative outburst that makes me inordinately glad to be sharing the world with it, and I’ll no doubt be blogging some goodies from its pages soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this Youtube video of Derek giving a guided tour of one of his Humble Homes creations, the Hickshaw (”a rickshaw for HICKS,” get it?). Derek blogs at Relaxshacks.com, where you can obtain your very own copy of Humble Homes for a mere $15.95.
He likes to introduce himself sometimes as Blake, sometimes as Sarazin, or maybe even Robert if you’re lucky. Any way you know him though, Robert Sarazin Blake’s music remains the same. He’s been strumming his guitar since his first festival at the ripe age of 15, and more than a decade later, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
I had the opportunity to see him this past weekend, and whether Blake was all by his lonesome or playing with a ragtag bunch of friends on stage, you couldn’t help but keep your eyes locked on him. At one point, in front of a crowd of more than 1,000, he stepped away from the mic and let loose. Even in the balcony, I could hear him perfectly. Blake proved that his troubadour sound is at home just as much in a fancy theater as it is snug around a campfire.
And if you’re in the greater Midwest region these next few weeks, check out Blake’s tour dates here (he’s in Des Moines tonight at Vaudeville Mews). He’ll be tromping through venues with The Heligoats, an eccentric pop band with a whole lot of heart.
I think these photos are reason enough to consider giving it a shot. Above are Lemon Pistachio Donuts from the January 2009 issue of RM.
Glazed donuts from Flour on her Nose.
Oh My Chocolate Donuts from Priscilla Bakes
Apple Cider Donuts from the Smitten Kitchen.
Jelly Donuts from Baking and Books.
So, over on Twitter the other day, @messymagazine* asked me if we had any ideas about how to reuse old skate decks. I tossed the question out to our followers, and the wonderful stream of ideas that came back was enough to inspire me to put together a post. Consider this the first of what I hope will be many “How To Reuse…” columns.
*(That’d be Messy Magazine, an independent art/literary/DIY/music/photography/etc zine outta Cleveland, OH)
How To Reuse Skate Decks
A skate deck is the “board” part of a skateboard. According to Wikipedia,
“Most decks are constructed with a seven to nine-ply cross-laminated layup of Canadian maple. Other materials used in deck construction, such as fiberglass, bamboo, resin, Kevlar, carbon fiber, aluminum, and plastic, lighten the board or increase its strength or rigidity. Some decks made from maple ply are dyed to create various different coloured ply. Modern decks vary in size, but most are 7 to 10.5 inches wide. Wider decks can be used for greater stability when transition or ramp skating. Skateboard decks are usually between 28 and 33 inches long.”
Decks are flattish but not completely flat, and most have a kicktail that turns up at each end of the board.
So how do you reuse these often lovingly decorated objects? Here’s one idea. Read past the fold for many more.
1. A glass-topped coffee table provides a clear view to the decorated skateboards that make up its base. From the “Skate Furniture” gallery at Skateboardpark.com.
Alexa Fornoff is the assistant editor of ReadyMade, and she blogs here about art and happenings. She enjoys reading—a lot—and is currently making her way through the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions. When her nose isn't buried between pages, she likes to eat good food and drink good drinks.
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Amy Palanjian is originally from a mile-wide town in south Jersey. When she's not creating color-coded spreadsheets, watching out for excessive garnish on food shoots and keeping the ship afloat as ReadyMade's deputy editor in Des Moines, she quilts, bakes granola and blogs about people who make things at her appropriately titled blog, Things We Make. She blogs daily about food.
Contact Amy | Read posts by Amy
Katherine Sharpe is the online editor of ReadyMade. She lives in Brooklyn, where she mostly makes food and to-do lists, but she's interested in bigger, headier creations: think Buckminster Fuller-esque architectural utopianism. She blogs daily or almost-daily about furniture, design, buildings, awesome jobs, and books.
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Andrew Wagner, ReadyMade's editor-in-chief, has long been driven by his curiosity about how people and places mutually affect one another. After founding Dodge City Journal, and helping to found Limn and Dwell, he saw American Craft through a major redesign. His interests include architecture, design, art, music, baseball, and the ineffable yogurt/granola combination. He tries his best to post on Tuesdays about architecture, design, and cities.
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