Patterns, drawing, and bags.

I have recently become the owner of a wacom drawing tablet. I don't know why I've never used one before, what with my love for drawing type and all, but i'm a little in love it.  It was tricky getting used to watching the screen instead of my hand as I draw, but i'm catching on.

I've also been really interested in making textile patterns lately, and I love screen printing and sewing and I have a huge bag of colorful vintage metal zippers.

So this happened:

(UPDATE: they're on etsy, HERE!)


Last week I was out at school to talk to a typography class about things they should be doing in school to get ready for the real world, which I am so not an authority on, but Ellen told me I was inspiring.  Anytime I'm at Trinity for any reason, I make sure I bring a screen printing plan with me, and the cranes won this time.  The print studio is probably the best room on campus, it has huge windows that face the prettiest view of Trinity and it's sunny all afternoon. Theres an old radio that happily and loudly plays The Drive all day long, and I don't think anyone is using that room this semester, so I take advantage of that when i'm out there.

Those of you who know me know that I don't really draw anything other than letters (it's just best if I leave that to MelissaPeterson), so to draw these guys I folded a crane, took pictures of it, and then drew over the photos with my wacom.

I like them.
The little zipper bags will be on etsy soon, and I hope to be printing larger scale pieces of fabric as well!





Side note: this is my first wacom adventure. It was for a poster for a Pantene Beautiful Lengths hair donating party that the nurses at Northwestern are putting on.

What a cute ponytail! Who knew I could draw those? Not I!

Etsy Earrings

I just spent another weekend slaving away at my torch, and finally finished the order for good old North Dakota.  And then I finished about 20 more and started posting a few to etsy.

I think they're looking pretty good!

So many earrings! and so much color!

Lauren & Bruce: Wedding Invitations

Lauren and Bruce, dear friends from college who are living in chicago and responsible for maintaining my sanity, were married on October 21st in the beautiful and sunny Boston, MA. They were kind enough to ask me to design their invitations and programs, and I'm so happy I could be part of making their day perfectly Lauren & Bruce!  The ceremony took place in a quintessential new england chapel, and the reception was at a cozy country club with a fantastic vintage vibe.


They're just so freaking cute, it was impossible to pick one picture. So I picked 2. (props to aguyandagirlphotography.com)

Now for the invitations. Although I didn't screen print these ones, they were just about as time consuming. But 100% worth it! We matched the feel of their wedding with a little art nouveau, some vintage lace and a a gorgeous off white butcher paper from the French Paper Company.

RSVP card

reception/map card,  front and back

And the program:

I love that you can see the texture of the paper in this shot, it really was lovely!

Congrats Lauren and Bruce! You're pretty great.

Snowflake Book

[snowflake pattern pdf's available HERE]


We've hardly seen any snow yet this winter, and it's almost January! I think that's depressing. I mean, really, I can see a kid outside my window playing basketball in shorts and a t-shirt. That shouldn't be possible this time of year!

So here's my answer to that, lets fill this city with paper snowflakes! My snowflake pattern book is FINALLY printed, cover screen printed, assembled and for sale on my etsy. Not in time for christmas, but at least it's still winter.  I've been putting pages in order and stitching them together, and i'm excited about the growing stack of finished and lovely objects.

They took 3rd place in graphic design for my final year of Opus (Trinity's juried student show), and I know everyone loved them because they started disappearing from their pedestal. Come on, world, thats not what we do with art!  For those of you who restrained your selves, now is your chance.

Theres more info about it's origins on my website.

a few snowflakes in my merry christmas window!
(notice the lack of snow outdoors)

1000 paper cranes

(Aren't they cute?)

My wedding gift for Claire and Gary is finally done and delivered, and I thought I'd share. 

The japanese tradition says that folding 1000 paper cranes for a couple on their wedding day is wishing them 1000 years of happiness and prosperity.  My obsessive paper-folding tedium-loving self thought this sounded like a great plan, and a few months of continuous paper folding later, I achieved a very large pile of pretty white birds.

1000 paper cranes

I had them all folded in time for the wedding, but I was a little too last minute in figuring out how to display them, so that part didn't happen until later. It's a good thing I have a wonderful woodworking father who was more than happy to assist!

Museum glass, curved edges, tricky spacers, pretty wood.  It's the perfect addition! The inside dimension  is 10"x10"x1.5", and 1000 cranes fit inside. They're pretty tiny!

The cranes are now hanging in the VanBehm apartment, and I hope they serve as a daily physical reminder of all the prayers and well wishes offered on the part of their family and friends who have been (and will continue) supporting and cheering them on!  

Fire and Glass.

One of the benefits of going home (other than seeing my lovely family, of course!) is that I get to play with my torch (Actually, I share it with my sister, so it's our torch, too bad she lives in Baltimore). And when I have an order for another 4 dozen earrings for the gift shop I worked at in Medora, ND, it gives me an excellent excuse to do so.  I took a couple of photos, which are less than stellar because it's hard to take pictures of fire and molten glass, but I think you can get the general idea.

This is our torch and some of the set up. And all of our glass rods in the organizer thing.  We've been making beads for almost 10 years (?! wow, thats a long time!) so all the pieces on top are the short ends of rods that are just about used up.

In this picture you can kind of see the spiral in the end of the glass.  I take one rod, add a stripe of another color (or 2) and twist them together with a pair of pliers.  

Then I let the whole thing get super hot and drip ( very carefully so that it doesn't get too thin or fall off) and then break it off and let it cool down in a fiber blanket before reheating the skinny end and curling the loop over.

Some finished earrings!

A layered one.

Detail of a spiral pair.

Fun with some with color / transparency combinations!

Well, there is some of the magic that is playing with molten glass. not even close to seeing it in person though, so if any of you Holland-ers are around when i'm home for christmas, feel free to stop by!

Craft Time.

Hey friends! It's been a busy month, I've been freelancing at Abelson Taylor since Halloween. In case you were wondering, Halloween is a hilarious day to start working somewhere.  And I've making pretty things.

I've been needing a new wallet for about 2 years, but I'm too cheap and also too picky, so I finally decided to make one. I'm pretty happy with it. Vintage zippers, awesome fabric combinations, and all the right pockets.

I also crocheted the warmest scarf I've ever worn.  I used the afghan stitch, so it's literally a mini blanket that's appropriate for me to wear in public.  It may suffocate me, but at least it'll hold out the chicago winds!

I finished the scarf on the train ride home for Thanksgiving, so I tested it out at Saugatuck Dunes. It worked pretty perfectly.

also, my parents dog is awesome. not very good at posing for pictures though. 

and a few of the first snowflakes of the season!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!