MAKING STUFF
and writing about it
A record of the making and the learning along the way: process, material, and the social side of hand-making.
Dec 20, 2013
Making merry makes the maker
The Crassmas season is one big distraction to me. But once I remind myself that a gift does not have to be a solution to someone's problem but a simple, seasonal gesture, I embrace the chance to...
Dec 13, 2013
true craftsman makes a crazy idea real
While the rest of us are scrambling to post our recent activity , build our brand, be a part of the online conversation, Noah is solving problems through metal. His underwhelming website is testimony...
Dec 6, 2013
When words are not enough
When the news hit yesterday of the death of the world's greatest humanitarian of my generation you could almost hear the cries of grief — and celebration . When the tears dry and the dancing...
Nov 29, 2013
Just a bad craft? Time and techonology will tell
I'm posting this picture because if I don't do it now I might cram this doomed project into a green garbage bag and stuff it where the sun don't shine: in deep storage. I've seen through some...
Nov 22, 2013
The most powerful art might be made of garbage
The astronomical private art-investor feeding frenzy at prestigious auction houses is light years away from art. It's a greedy need for prestige, worlds apart from the hand of Picasso or Andy Warhol...
Nov 15, 2013
Designs for the rich look like cheap tricks following calamity
Nothing against the design visionary of Zaha Hadid but all this global starchitecture looks like rich people's toys in the wake of disasters like Typhoon Haiyan. This is no time for designers to...
Nov 8, 2013
Bushwacking through the geometric jungle
I read two articles in the old-timey newspapers this morning , one revealing that speaking another language may help delay dementia and the other suggesting that sitting for eight hours a day can...
Nov 1, 2013
Art trumps ads by just a whisper
They say if you want someone's attention, whisper. Or maybe that was just a line from a Whisper pantyhose commercial back in the '70s. Whispering to get attention isn't easy in an image-packed urban...
Oct 25, 2013
Horrifying rugs, Collectible rags inspire
I became acutely aware that craft can pack a serious political punch when I first saw a fleeting image of an Afghan rug designed with bombs, grenades and exploding figures, created by children. It's...
Oct 18, 2013
when dress-up becomes an artform
Thank god for The Walking Dead . It is the one force that has the power to kill off the overpopulation of pink princesses. All that Pepto-Bismol-hued froth and glitter kicks in my gag reflex but I'm...
