Handmade Gift Exchange - Sunflower Brooch from Haley!

My last post before this included a photo of a sunflower in my garden and then I received this lovely sunflower brooch from Haley at The Zen of Making blog! Thank you Haley for somehow reading my mind and making me such a perfect and beautiful gift. How much fun is this? I can pin it to my bag or a cardigan. Rarely, do I spend time to make things for myself. Haley's site is quickly becoming one of those where there is always something refreshing and fun waiting to enchant you. 

A special "thank you" to Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous for organizing the entire Handmade Gift Exchange and making it so fun and inspiring! Not only do I have a super creative new friend, but I'm looking forward to next year's exchange too.

Fantasia Sunflower

Today was the perfect day for finishing up what felt like a million tiny things. It was exciting to mail out my gift for the Handmade Gift Exchange and the anticipation of having it be received is making me anxious. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute to get it shipped. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone sent and received too! Mostly, I hope it's loved.

After that, took some time in the garden. Sure, it needs to be weeded and the tomatoes need to be guided through the cages a bit, but when you step back and realize it's all you and your work that made such beautiful things flourish, it's pretty rewarding. This week will be perfect for drying some thyme and oregano.

I hope you have a lovely Independence Day weekend. I'm looking forward to friends/family, watermelon, fireflies and fireworks. What are you looking forward to?

Ai Weiwei, Artist

The Chinese Government has destroyed the studio of Ai Weiwei, a protean artist who is one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese Communist Party. Even though he said officials told him that the demolition would not take place until after the first day of the Year of the Rabbit (which falls on February 3rd) he was shocked to discover that workers had begun knocking it down today. 

Sad news. They also knocked down a neighboring studio he had designed for a friend. Mr. Ai's studio was to be used as an education center and a site for artists in residence. 

Weiwei compares the seeds in his current installation at the Tate Modern to Twitter "...a vast sea of ideas and communication contributed by individual people." Weiwei had the seeds made in the southern Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Each of the 100 million seeds was molded, fired, and painted with three or four individual brush strokes, often by women taking the objects home to work on them. One thousand six hundred people were involved in the process.

Although the installation was intended to be interactive and in the fist few days of the show people were allowed to walk on them and pick up the seeds, this has resulted in the release of dust from the individual "grains" rubbing together. The dust could "be damaging to health following repeated inhalation over a long period of time." Visitors are now limited to looking at the installation from behind a barrier and they are not happy. I personally would assume the entire 'feeling of the installation would be pointless without having the interaction with the piece.