Secrets secrets are no fun...?

So if you haven't recently checks out Karen's blog, you should. There is a KAREN magazine. And it's amazing and I want it. "In KAREN magazine fashion is a T-shirt about the emotional world of the potato and beauty is goose pimples on the beach." Seriously. It's just ordinary things. It has a recipe for roadkill peacocks? Yes, it's just that cool.

I found it so randomly it was amazing. I was on a blog that linked to another blog. And that blog had shopping links on it. And then on one of the shopping sites off to the side there was a link that said KAREN. And I just had to know. And so I found it. And then five minutes later someone called to make a tour reservation and they lived on Karen Lane. It was just a Karen kind of day.

Anyways, I love little ordinary things and taking notice of them. Turning something uninteresting into something interesting just by noticing it. Little moments that everyone has. That no one else knows about, because why would they? We all do things or think about things and have since childhood that it doesn't even register that they actually happen or that we should take notice because they seem so normal to us. And so we don't tell anyone. It doesn't even occur to us to tell anyone. And then we have a little tiny secret. Not because it needs to be a secret or because we want it to be a secret but only because no one knows that it happened. I love little tiny secrets. When I realize a little tiny secret that I have, I try and tell someone about it. Usually the boyfriend, b/c why would anyone else care (does he?) . I just think it's interesting because as much as you might try to share your life with someone, it's impossible to fully.

So in honor of noticing the ordinary and all that is KAREN magazine (roadkill peacock dinners included), I'm going to share a little tiny secret I had yesterday. There's this part of Garden State where Natalie Portman like freaks out in one spot and does an original moment that no one else has ever done right there. I do that all the time except in much more parred down terms. I like to think about if anyone has ever stood in the exact same spot that I'm standing in. Maybe it's been similar but was it exactly the same? Or were their feet slightly closer together? And even if the feet where in the same exact spot, were their hips tilted to the side? And maybe, just maybe there was one time when there feet were in the same spot and they stood straight up, but that was the time their arms were crossed. The best part is that I'll never know.

Could this be worth exploring in a jewelry format and what would that look like are the questions I'm now asking.

Bibliography for Blood Diamonds

Stop Blood Diamonds Organization, Stop Blood Diamonds. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Stop Blood Diamonds Web site: http://stopblooddiamonds.org

Walt, V. (2006, December 7). Diamonds aren't forever. Fortune Magazine.

Koinange, J. (2006, December 12). Blood Diamonds: Miners risk lives for chance at riches. CNN.

Vereckey, B. (2006, December 8). More shoppers asking if diamond caused human suffering. Associated Press.

Jones, V.E. (2006, December 4). 'Blood Diamond' stokes fear of gem backlash. Boston Globe.

Global Witness, Blood Diamond Action. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Blood Diamond Action Web site: http://blooddiamondaction.org

World Diamond Council, DiamondFacts.org. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from DiamondFacts.org Web site: http://diamondfacts.org

Regeneration

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7165

A 3D printer that can print copies of itself making 3D printers affordable??? Maybe soon? How cool and like kind of freaky would that be? It would reduce the cost from $25000 to $500. They're not there yet, but it is being developed, so that's really cool.

New Goal!

I've decided that I will blog about a new artist/awesome jewelry AT LEAST once a week. I will also try and do updates on projects more often, but my main goal is the artist once a week thing. And I know, I know, "but Lizzy, there's less than half a semester left! That's not that many new artists..." Calm yourselves. I'm going to try and keep it up over the summer.

Aran Galligan

Ok, so I can't get any pictures off of Aran Galligan's very lovely website, so you'll all just have to visit it yourself. Personally I really liked the silhouette collection and the open work collection. I just thought they all are really beautiful and interesting. And I think little nice touches. In the openwork section, this one piece is very simple yet decorative (oxymoron?) but then on the back is this very nice pierced out tree. It's all about the details. And I love View From My Window in the Silhouette collection. Layers of pierced out branches. And then there is this:

"There is an interesting line between disgust and intrigue.... My work is the merging of a beautiful object and an uncomfortable thought."

I love it.

Um ok, can I just say that these pieces by Melanie Bilenker are awesome? Cause they are. And I really love the hand drawn quality that they have to them and her style. Except wait. Its hair. So its just like that much cooler. And her artist statement is so perfect. "I secure my memories...I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes...." I just feel like that is something that I can really connect to, because I like to think about how everyone has their own personal moments all the time that no one could know about. And they don't even have to be like SOMETHING. They can be so tiny but they're still there. The bottom one where she's buttoning her shirt says it all.

Adam Smith

I saw Adam Smith at Acc. He had a bunch of larger, sculptural pieces that I really enjoyed. These pictures are some of his newer work that I found on his website. I love that he has something on the back on the second one, and I just like the overall look of both pieces. I like the faded text in the top piece a lot. Also, check out those nice pin stems.