(Inside A Black Apple)

Cozy

This sweater is perhaps the mother-of-all Forever 21 finds...I bought it first in ivory, but then, oh then, I stumbled upon this lovely lovely sooty grey version on a recent trip! I know I'm not the only one  who is singing the praises of the '21 these days, but...it's pure cotton, incredibly soft. I just love it so. And it has super long-wrappy-ties that just go around and around and around you.
So I spent Saturday afternoon reading yet another new (to me, you see) Nigella Cookbook, and snuggling under my beloved quilt and generally enjoying the lovely, lovely chilliness. Oh! And working on those "little books". But do you know what? I've completely exhausted my wool felt arsenal... and I'm only halfway through! I was running very low, but I thought I could cheat the inevitable somehow. So, it'll probably be that I'll have 5 or so ready to go this weekend, and then have another 5 in a week's time.

Thank you, thank you for doing such a number on those pendants! I knew you would love them...but I was still so happy at the response. I will have more, many more, made as soon as I can...and, when they do arrive, you'll hear it here first!

I'm going to get ready to meet up with Sarah to go see two of my favorite Athens peeps (one of which is my Sara, aka la blueberry bandit) play a show in Brooklyn (!!!). So exciting to see people out of the context they are usually in!
Oh, and a few posts back, when I was lamenting the harrassment problem of the neighborhood, some very smart cookies suggested that I just bring along music/headphones...and obviously, that is the answer. I brought a walkman (cd, not tape, sadly) along with me yesterday, with the Amelie soundtrack ringing in my ears...and the world/neighborhood was suddenly transformed! I became "Emily of Montmartre"...fantastically alone in my whimsical francophile bubble, and any letches that had anything to say to me that day? Well, I wouldn't know! Wonderful. I used to obsessively carry my (tape) walkman everywhere in Athens...but I just stopped, for some reason. I think it's because I only have like 10 tapes. So, the upshot is: I'm never leaving for the long march to the P.O. without it again!

Exhibit A. (Headphoes-Induced Pretend Neighborhood):

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, dears.

Wearable Apples!

The beautiful, beautiful pendants that I ordered arrived yesterday, and I couldn't be more pleased! I kept pulling them out of their packaging, squealing like a crazy person. I want wearable versions made of ALL of my girls now! There are 2 of each design available right here in the shop.  (Edit: Goodness! All gone in one afternoon!)
I'm telling you, they are gorgeous...in particular, the simple, black and white silhouette is a showstopper!

Hop quick like a bunny if you want one...if possible, like a blue bunny with a nurse's cap:

Certainly the best kind of bunny to be... (this sweetie came in the mail today! I'm in mail heaven right now).

So, Happy Friday, my dears. I've got to compile another epic to-do list...there is so much I want to finish up/start/do this weekend. List. Yes.

Geekish

Here I am, wearing my best secretary shirt for going to see the ever lovely Neil speaking, reading, and generally being hilarious and almost too charming for his own good tonight. Oh! And also being interviewed by John Hodgman, better known as Mr. PC in that new crop of Apple ads that I find annoying. I find them annoying because I feel like we all get it, Mac Marketing Brains that PC is geeky and Mac is hip...and plus I think Mr. PC is adorable and find the hipster annoying.
Anyway, back to Neil...he was full of wonderful insights about everything from the world of "fan-fic" (shudder) to the filming of the various worlds he has created (which I was very interested in). Stardust is coming out in March of next year...very exciting! and I presume Coraline (double hooray) will be happening next year as well. He read us some poems from his new short story collection, and it was just the most fun sitting-in-an-auditorium time I've ever had. I love Neil.

Tonight was my comic-geek night, and last night was my Etsy geek night, as I met up with these two & the incomparable Kate Black for a fun & somewhat gushing night of...well...being Etsy-friends in real life. Plus, we got to spin our own cotton candy when we left...I was terrible at it. Kate, however, could work at a carnival. I mean, if she wanted to.
Fun things will be popping up in the next few days in ye olde shoppe, so stay glued to ye olde blogge for pictures, news, etc.

PS: Thanks for all of the encouragement and sweet words about the little books! Now I'm thinking a mini-run of mini-books might be a bit too mini! But, that is the best problem to have :)

A Little Book

I whipped up a little quasi-prototype for the mini-felt-book portolio mentioned in yesterday's post:

Pretty darn cute, if I do say so :) I really love small things. Really. A Lot.
I'm going to try to streamline the process a bit and hopefully make 10 or so...it's in the pipeline. The idea pipeline, that is!

Hmmmm I'm not feeling like the wordiest of girls today, so I'll just be happy about this lovely lovely painting (which is coming to live with me! ME!) and also be happy that everyone seems to be in a consensus about Morrissey = Fall. Everyone's fall music suggestions were so good, though...I need to move past "Vauxhall & I" eventually so that I can listen to all of those lovely records.

OH! I was feeling a little bit like a childless mother yesterday, so I asked Sarah & Greg if I could cook something lovely for them and for me for dinner. I made a basic, but incredibly tasty ground-turkey lasagna (with Monterey Jack instead of the trad. Mozzerella! That's what I like to hear...innovation :) and sauteed zuccinni slabs, with Alicia's darn famous Green Apple Pie for dessert (to officially welcome fall!). I have to say, and this may be arrogant, but it ws the best dinner I've had in a while. And the leftovers (pie for breakfast! Lasagna for lunch!) Good grief. So good.
The lady didn't lie about that pie...it's incredible. And it's always nice to cook for my charming friends :)

So maybe I'm a bit wordier than I thought today! I'm off to package up loads of postcard packs & snuggle up with my new Nigella Cookbook...I swear, I think everyone around me is getting a little scared/annoyed of my huge crush on Ms. N. It started with these measuring cups, the most beautiful measuring cups ever...and then progressed to a full-fledged crush on the lady behind the measuring cups. I am so silly. Go ahead, you can say it.

Greta, My Favorite

She lives here, and I think she's my favorite doll. No, I know she is (so far, anyway). Note the cool woodgrain skirt, Lisa (I think of you every time I use that fabric!). It's hard to photograph properly, though.

Good grief, so many things are being conjured up in the little test-kitchen of my apartment-studio! This was one of the most productive weekends, (as far as the shop is concerned) to date...and I'm extremely happy with everything that was created. Especially this darn doll!Do you see the tiny book she's holding! Now I'm all crazy about maybe making a run of miniature, felt-bound "print portfolios" of 10-15 black apple paintings... good? I think so.

Lots of small things, tiny things (even if the little books don't happen!) are coming to the shop soon.
I'll let that be the only hint...that they're small in size, but big on darling. Let's see, what else is coming to the shop? I've been ordering (and re-ordering) lots of things lately...Oh yes! A re-stock of postcards is coming, and I think I'll order a batch of a new design, too. AND, and... Christmas/Holiday cards will be happening sometime in early November, hopefully. I'm so excited about that. Damn excited :) I've just gotta whip up an image that is lovely and elf-ish and wintery enough.

Speaking of wintery enough...I've officially switched over (in my brain & my cd player) to some of my favorite fall records. Just like Blair changed up the quilts to ready the house for autumn, I change up the music. My number one album that only-sounds-its-best when-it's-chilly is Vauxhall and I. What are your favorite fall records (if indeed, you are wierd like me)?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Happy Monday!

The Science of Sunday

Hello loves!

So, I just finished up the little boyish version of this, and then posted it to the shop...and I'm not kidding you, I think it sold in about 1 minute. I went to check out the listing, make sure everything looked okay, and it had already flown away! Goodness...that's certainly a record.

Here he is, and I must say he's just as lovely, if not more lovely, than his little lady counterpart:

So sweet. Anyway, so the original has vanished already, but I will surely have prints up in the shop  for purchasing purposes sometime tonight, so be on the lookout. (He's here!)

Yesterday, I had a marvelous friend-date with Greg, Sarah's boyfriend. We went to see the new Michel Gondry film, The Science of Sleep, which was marvelous.

It is opening weekend, and strangely enough the movie was only showing at 2 theaters in all of the city! He's so famous...you'd think this wouldn't be an issue after the humongous success of "Eternal Sunshine". I'd read mixed reviews for the film, but I had been anxiously awaiting it all summer, and I was not the least bit dissapointed! I had read (maybe in "Bust" or "Venus") that "crafty gals like us" would love the movie, because the Stephanie character (played by the angular half-frenchie/half-british Charlotte Gainsbourg) makes lots of things. It really was the "craftiness" of the film that got me. The story isn't the greatest, but visually, it is just the most tactile thing I've ever seen. I think I described it as "cozy" when we were leaving, and I think that's one of the best adjectives for it.  There is so much visible stitching, taped-together cardboard, and naively beautiful stop-motion work, I could hardly believe it. I first fell in love with ol' Michel for his stop motion work (from those incredible White Stripe's lego videos to the earlier work for his old band, "Oui, Oui"...so damn charming & just good...this can all be found on the DVD Collection).

Anyway, the film gets a big Oui, Oui from me!

I've been watching the "Royal Tenenbaums" off and on this weekend, while painting, as it has been playing on television. That movie is like soup to me. Like the best soup ever.

 

I am a fan of both Pirates and Literacy

      
Jeanie reads to Jack                           Rosie the Pirate Girl

Yessirree, they are indeed two of my favorite things ;)

PS: For all interested parties, I currently have in the works a "boyish" version of the undisputed favorite Black Apple painting. I just love it so darn much. I'm going to work on it this weekend, and it should be ready to post in the shop/blog soon. Ooh la la!

"I am a big, strong tree...

with plenty of branches for little birds". That quote is loosely taken from a line in "Night of the Hunter", which I watched last night for the first time. It is so good! She's here in the shop, naturally.

Thank you so much for all of the solidarity and kind words about the "harassment state" that I live in here on South 3rd in Brooklyn. It actually gives me one more reason to be happy about the chilly weather...more clothes to wear on my body = hopefully less disgusting comments!
And I don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but I'm going to be moving back to Athens in November (I've kinda been planning to almost since I set foot in Brooklyn, silly as it is). There are so many good things about living here (ALL of those things being museums, movies, etc.) but the trade-off is just too steep for me. The rudeness, the loudness, the inconvenience of every little day-to-day thing (going to the office supply store, for example, or, god forbid, the grocery store!), and oh lord the expense..well, it just crushes my spirit a little bit. Plus I'm away from my family and many other much-loved people.
So, there you have it. I'm a little house-mouse, and I want my own nice, big kitchen.  AND I'll have an actual studio in the extra bedroom of my house. THAT I am SO excited about, I can barely stand it. Right now there is a little part of me who doesn't even want to haul out the paint mess or the felt, etc., and spread it all over the coffee table...because guess what I'll spend the next day putting away and trying-to-make-our-living-room-livable-again? The prospect makes me so happy. I confessed to Sarah the other day that I will miss only 2 things when I leave (ok, 3 things) besides the good movie theaters and the museums:
1.) Her
2.) H&M
3.) The lovely, much-cooler weather

Okay, well, now I've gone and gotten ahead of myself. I am still in NYC, I have loads of Post-Officing to do, a bit of writing (I'm hard at work on my first real, ever-so-slightly complex, children's story!) and the aforementioned spreading out of the paint all over the coffee table tonight so that painting can be done. So, I'll do that & you guys do something fun, too. It's a vow... Promise to have a good weekend? Promise.

I heart you & Happy Friday!

Peach, Plum, Pear

Hello loves. How is Wednesday unfolding for you? It is barely lunch-time here on the East coast, so I'd imagine its not unfolding just yet for my little ladies on the West coast. And it's probably getting all folded up for bed soon on the Aussie front.

I just wanted to do a quick post-aroo and show this little painting that I made yesterday, inspired by the crazy girl-in-a-tree Joanna Newsom & her lovely song. I love that in "Peach, Plum, Pear", all of her overdubbed voices together sounds like a playground full of children singing. Crazy children, maybe. But it's a wonderful noise...er...sound.

Collage layers of vintage wallpaper (courtesy of my favorite Cookie) and book pages with acrylic on top. The original sold pretty much immediately, but prints are available if you love her. OH! And I just posted some Samplers, they'll be the last for a while while I re-group and plot my next packet-o-fun. So, yes, they're in the shop as of about 15 minutes ago.

So, lately I've been having to insulate myself extra-alot from the gross comments and leering and general animal-like behavior from the men that litter the streets in my neighborhood. It's BAD here, you guys. As in, I half-dread leaving the house because its so bad. I try to so hard to make a snow-globe around myself and ice them out & muffle their words and invasion, but it's so hard to do. It was so bad on Monday (as in, I felt so demoralized) it pretty much ruined my day. I mean, I was already having a sad day...but, goodness. I walk out the door, to make the little 10 block trek to the train station, so I can go to the darn PO, and its a non-stop harassment party til' I get to hipsterville (Bedford Ave., where the train is). The only good thing that has come out of my almost comically frequent street harassment here is that my dear Kate Black (and etsy friend) exposed me to this amazing website...you have to check it out.

Anyway, the whole reason that I mentioned this aspect of Brooklyn-life is that A.) It bugs me. & B.) Joanna Newsom goes a long way to helping me make a snowglobe around myself. Because she's kind of the opposite of that disgusting, human-garbage behaviour. I imagine myself and her and her enormous harp and maybe a swan or two and a tree that is shedding its leaves all around, and it helps make the layers of insulation thicker, but unfortunately, not impenetrable.

Wings & Pins

Hello, hello!
Here I am on a bleary, grey, too-warm-for-me Tuesday...glued to the computer, happily ordering supplies and postcards and things for the shop. I just drew up a little front-of-parcel stamp last night, and it should come in a few weeks:
Cute, no? I had been wanting to have a stamp made for the front of my official Black Apple correspondence that would be purely decorative (as in, NOT the ugly "Do Not Bend" stamp or my return address stamp). Actually, I suppose I employ quite a little arsenal of stamps in my mailing-life.

Thank you so much for all of the sweet words about Sam the Cassette Doll. I'm on a bit of a roll with these little ones... I finished stitching up this girl last night:

She's in the shop, here. I think she might be my favorite one yet...
It really is a shame that they are so time-consuming & therefore must be so pricey. I feel like that terrible art vs. craft double-standard is making people afraid of these dolls. You know the one, in which nobody would bat an eyelash to pay $100 for a painting, but a doll that costs that much? It's an entirely different story. I find this whole double-thinking very hilarious, as someone who is basically just a stuff maker, and the stuff I make are paintings, drawings, dolls, bags, and endless etceteras.

I know you guys must've noticed this as well...thoughts?

Also, last night, whilst watching Mrs. Parker & the Vicious Circle which is rather freshly on DVD, I stitched these sweet little pinwheel brooches:

If you need a little something to sass up the lapel of your fall jacket, they are to be found here.

Back to ordering and sourcing and packing & wishing that there was enough energy and time to be creating things 24 hours a day. Happy Tuesday, jelly beans!