emiko-o reware

Tempted by all the recycled circuit board parts laying around the house, leftover from the Jewelry_cycle project, I had to make some jewelry from it. The mini collection certainly was a hit a my Holiday Sale at Google last week. Here are some of the pieces, mostly earrings with a pair of cufflinks for extra geekery. Just posted to my Etsy store, for those interested in purchasing for the holidays…

Circuit cufflinks

Circuit Trio earrings

Circuit LG Drop earrings

Circuit Duo earrings with synthetic alpinite set in silver

Lucky for me, I am one of 3 Featured December Artists on Crafthaus.com. Other artists include:  fellow Clevelander, Todd Pownell, and Caroline Gore of Kalamazoo, MI. Thanks, crafthaus!

Here is the home page for this month’s Crafthaus:

Todd Pownell

Caroline Gore

This weekend’s MakeArt: Accessorize with Toys workshop @ SF Museum of Craft + Design was a hit was kids and adults alike! The museum’s biggest turnout yet for their MakeArt workshops, not to mention there was a surprise visit from Cabrillo College. Fellow Metal Arts Guild member, Dawn Nakanishi, brought her Metals students from Cabrillo for a field trip to SFMCD. The students got a treat to have a special artist tour (by me), plus they got to play at the MakeArt table with all those irresistable toy parts donated by SCRAP. It was definitely a fun afternoon.
There were 8 kids (7 boys and 1 girl, go figure!) in tow with moms, who worked right alongside their busy bees.

Shana & I, along with Margaret, the Education Coordinator, oversaw the makers, making sure no one hammered or hot glued a finger. The wondrous UGlu saved many a project as well, stealing Elmer’s thunder yet again. The time just flew by as everyone was deeply engrossed in their projects.

See more photos of the workshop on the museum’s flickr set, and see more images from the MakeArt table on my flickr set. More images will be uploaded in the days to come.

Say hello to the newest member of the Critique Collective, Julian! I picked him up tonite from a lovely photographer up in Twin Peaks who had killer view of the city. Christine found his ad on Craig’s list and I called his mother pronto this morning! He’s the model for the latest circuit board creation (see last post), which will not be a man thong after all, but boxer briefs such as pictured here. A bit more tasteful for a family-friendly exhibition, don’t you agree? Julian convinced me. So it will be a crafting camping car ride this weekend, hopefully much progress by monday. I should take him along for the proper fitting, but everyone knows that three’s a crowd, plus where would we put his all his gear, he’s such a diva….

On the recycling vibe, EVERYONE MUST watch this online video called, The Story of Stuff. It is a tad long (20 min) for watching on the sly at the office, but it is perfect for your lunch break. Very well done and poignant. The animations are very simple but entertaining.

Can you guess what percentage of the stuff we buy in America ends up in the trash within 6 months of purchase: A. 30%, B. 70%, C. 99%, D. 45? The answer: C. What in the world?!!!!
Here is a screen shot from the movie that lends some insight into the early makings of our consumerist society back in the 1950s; I may need to use this quote in an art piece .