the lundr hive.

I am moving...

2010-10-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

not in real life, right now, but on the internet. I am a very visual person, and I find the need to write more on here, and that is intimidating. Pictures of my everyday doings and such can now be found at:

http://lundrhive.tumblr.com/

-BEK.

Afternoon in the park

2010-09-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

A couple friends of mine joined me in Cherokee Park here in Louisville earlier this week to model some of my creations. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect afternoon, it was fun hanging out and the photos turned out great! Here are a few of my favorite shots, to view the rest from that day, check out the flickr set.

whirlwind roadtrip oh ten.

2010-07-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

aust and i went on a road trip this past week. first stop the city museum, which if you haven't been, GO! revert to child-like excitement and run until you cannot run anymore! then a couple days with our friends Jack and Joelle, and a couple days in the beautiful and lush environment of nordhouse dunes. forest, dunes, bogs, lake michigan... all rolled into one.

the view down the hill from our campsite.
there was not nearly so much water in this boggy area
on my last visit to nordhouse dunes.

moss and mushrooms.
i would have taken more photos, but i dropped the digital camera
in the sand, and now the lens won't open. no good.

a collection of photos from a day spent at auburn hills last year, machine sewn onto sheer brown ribbon.

this is the first of many photo quilts to come!

hanging on the wall underneath the quilt was the first necklace I ever crafted out of metal back in 2006 or 2007. silver with copper rivets. inspired by the children's book "the Tin Forest". one of the neat things about Joelle's house is that it serves as a time capsule of almost everything i make!

summer is for adventures

2010-07-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

I returned a few days ago from a week+ spent in the upper penninsula of Michigan with my dear friends Jack and Joelle. My fourth time up there, but first during the summer. And it was breathtakingly beautiful. ( a great escape from KY heat, too.) In the winter the landscape is stark and white, and the sun reflecting off of the snow is oftentimes blinding. The summer landscape is also nearly monochromatic, but lush, full and overwhelmingly green. There are no words to describe how incredible it feels to be standing in the middle of the dense forest, so full it is about to eat you.
I had fun playing around with some new lenses I got for my diana camera, mostly the macro attachment. If I hadn't gotten that, the crazy shroomage growth would have been torture. I haven't gotten my film back yet, so it may be a while before that is all scanned in and uploaded.
Traveling is dangerously addictive. Only a few days after returning home, I again have the itch to GO GO GO!! luckily, in about a week we are leaving again, this time going west to Colorado for only a couple days. My first time heading westward, and first time to camp in the mountains of north america. STOKED!!
This week is cram time, because immediately upon my return, I have a couple fairs lined up.... but I wouldn't feel right doing all this talking and not leaving an image. So here is a shot taken from the roadside of a moose in a bog in Amasa, MI. yup, we saw a MOOOSE!!!

custom rings for friends

2010-06-07T12:58:00.001-07:00

Both projects were long overdue, and I was nervous about my traditional-cut-gem setting skills since it had been over a year since I had set a faceted stone. But ended up feeling super stoked on how they both turned out.

The first ring was a remake of my friend Kit's wedding ring to include a beautiful large ruby that her husband, Ian, had given her as an anniversary gift (if i have my story straight!) . Since she is a tattoo artist, the challenge was to set the stone without any prongs or excess bulkyness that would tear at her gloves. I don't recall a single time that Kit and I have ever disagreed on anything stylistically or aesthetically. So this ring was a lot of fun to make because i could play around and make it funky and not worry that she wouldn't be into it! They were married on June 6th, 2006... hence the 666 on the side. And was delivered just in time for their 4th anniversary. Success!!

The second ring is an engagement ring commissioned by a past roomate (who happens to have the exact same first and last name as my husband... funny and true!) for his lovely lady Julie. A simple and elegant 14k white gold channel set ring made with the diamonds from his grandmother's wedding ring. Finished and delivered on her birthday. She said yes!!! Not that there was any question about it :)

im really awful at keeping up with blogging.

2010-05-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

and ive been doing a lot over the past month! So here is a summary in phrases, just so that you all don't think I'm lazy.

barn swallow.
chicago.
some gardening.
some knitting.
free bees (bee gum saving!) mtgs.
visiting family in MN.
LOTS of chainmaille.
trunk show at Kuaba in Indianapolis.
lots of jewelry sales in china!
friends from VA visit.
mammoth cave-ing.
Butchertown art fair.
KY fiber and folk fest.
introducing a new hive of bees.
brewing.
>>>over the next week!!>>>
Michigan bound!
Red River Gorge. Later Gator, brother Jon.
lost wax.
chainmaille.
friends from PA visit.
>>>>>goals over the summer>>>>
regain sanity.
start to set more realistic goals for myself.
remember to listen to celtic frost everyday.
carve lots of wax.
westward bound.
not wait until i have a million things to say to update this! :)

Photo Archives

2010-04-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

I just went through several years of photographs and uploaded lots to flickr. I'm still not all the way caught up to more recent stuff and photos of creations, but I have spent entirely too much time today staring at this screen, not outside enjoying the beautiful weather. But there are a couple hundred images up so far. Take a gander!!
I also added a little feed gallery for it on the right side of this page, for easy future reference.

stash busting

2010-04-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

in effort to organize my space and give purpose and project potential (say that 10 times fast!!) to my stashes of supplies, I have been knitting like mad the past couple of weeks. I have combed ravelry for patterns or inspiration to fit every skein of yarn I have. then put said yarn in a zip lock bag with the printout of the corresponding pattern/inspiration. This way when I finish one project I can just reach for another bag, that for the duration of the project, it will be contained to. kind of obsessive, but a much needed step away from 'yeah, i know where that is, it is organized to that pile in the corner. no not that one, the one next to it'... you get the idea. I also purposely chose projects that would help round out my knitting skills:fair isle, cabling, lace, and even designing my own!

my awesome yarn bin!!

I keep saying, 'after I finish this project, i will chronicle what I have done'. and then i awaken from my obsessive crafting frenzy, and realize how much time has passed. As of last night, I finished up a hair wrap I was knitting for myself, and made a decision to mellow out of the yarn stash-busting for a while. Personal projects need to be allotted to personal time. Not totally putting down the needles, though... Yesterday morning, the mailman delivered some totally awesome yarns (so thin, I dont know if it really can be called yarn... its the same weight as coat thread) made by Habu textiles. One is a blend of steel and wool, and the other is a blend of silk and wool. Metal AND fiber??!? way too cool. The potential of this makes me want to explode.

and on the note of wanting to explode with excitement, I signed a lease for a studio space at Melwood arts center this morning. I have done round one of moving, and will need a second hand for round two. This studio will be dedicated to metalworking and all of the more intense activities associated with jewelery making. My craft room at home will be for beading, sewing, knitting, painting, etc etc. a more open space for designing.
And I am off to get my creative spaces settled!!

bee school!!

2010-03-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

The beekeeping school this past weekend was great! My friends Lindsay and Camilla both came into town to attend it with me. Having extra hands was very useful both the day before, and at the event, because we were able to switch off watching the table to attend classes. I attended a couple by people involved in the Coal Country Beekeeping projecpts. i had only heard a little about them before, so it was fascinating to find out more. Definitely follow the link and read up on what they are doing to reforest mountaintop removal sites. The third class I attended was an intro to top bar hives. It is a style of beekeeping that is particularly popular with organic beekeepers. Now, with a better understanding of their (so simple!) construction and mantinence, I definitely want to build up a hive. Not only do the bees build up their own wax (so no foundation wax made from hives possibly heavily medicated and pesticide ridden), but the structure seems to nurture a more natural and wild functioning patterns. Also seems possibly easier for the bees to winter with access to their own stores of food and easier for the human (me) to harvest honey, as the idea is to put an empty bar back on top for them do draw fresh clean wax on, so preserving the wax is not so much a focus. I still have reading to do on it, but it seems super rad.
The screenprinted stuffs went over very well, particularly the blockprint design. All the patches I had made sold before the first class started! Note to self: just because you aren't tabling a punk show, doesn't mean that patches won't sell. There were quite a few bee-themed things that I was working on that did not get finished in time to take, but i am going to keep working on for the future. Today I finished knitting a hat, topped with a plush bee. Its rather chilly and gloomy out today, so the real bees did not emerge from the hive to inspect the intruder.
The past couple of weeks have been rather hectic, so the past couple days have been used to sit and do relaxing projects and to clean up the house from the chaos I through it into with everything I have been creating. Unfortunately, my fervent cleaning threw tons of dust and who knows what into the air (cleaned the rat's bedding, lotsa nasty)... which, even though it was a few hours before he came home, cause my dear Austin to have the most severe asthma attack he has had in over ten years. It was a scary night that ended up in the ER. Which is the better of the possible endings. Today, in need to calm myself again, I knit a neato hat and a lacy headband from some yarn my friend Jess had decided to leave behind when she moved to Montreal last year. She and Josh are moving back to Louisville next month and I am very very excited to go camping and knit and drink tea and all those such awesome things. I would like to think that I am in a healthier and less hermit-ish state than I was when they lived here a year or so ago.

Also, I am much happier about this headband than I appear to be in the picture. :)

of bees.... just bees.

2010-03-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

Screened a couple of designs today. going to do a couple more tomorrow, too. I found a nice variety of different colored and patterned shirts to print on. I'll see how they go over this weekend, then I hope to do a larger run of the "Help a honeybee, Grow organic" shirts on organic cotton tees. Drawing of bee with gasmask by Sarah Frary. The design of the two skeps is a blockprint from the 1800s.

On the note of other bee related things, here is a hood/cowl I knit while in the UP. It was my second colorworking project, and my first pattern (that I wrote down)! I plan on applying the design to another item, and will make a chart for it then.

spent grain sourdough

2010-03-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

I love baking bread, and its usually spent grain or sourdough. But i had never combined the two. It has been a while since we have brewed beer, but i still have tons of saved grains from brewing sitting in the freezer. To save the grains and have them prepped for making bread with, I puree 2 cups grains with 1/2 cup water. It is the perfect amount for one batch of bread (usually makes two loaves). It depends on the style of beer, but it usually makes a lovely chocolatey, nutty bread.
For grains used today were from a smokey habanero porter. I probably should have let it bake for a while longer, as one of my loaves collapsed in the middle during cooling, but the smaller loaf is awesome. I threw in a little porketta seasoning (from tall pines grocery in amasa, MI... im currently obsessed with the stuff) which added a nice peppery spice, but I'm not including it in the recipe because the grains and tangy sourdough have enough flavour on their own. Definitely making stew for dinner! okay... on with the recipe!!

Ingredients:
1 batch portion spent grain puree (2 cups grains, 1/2 cup water)
1 cup sourdough start
2 1/2 cups water
5 cups bread flour
2 t. salt

- combine all ingredients in a large bowl. stir until well mixed, but do not knead. the sourdough will do enough of its magic without that. This will make a rather slack dough.
- let sit, covered by a damp cloth for about 10-15 hours (seriously) depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Do not let the bubbles burst, that means it has been left for too long.
- dust flour around edges dough in bowl, flour hands liberally and start scooping around the bottom until all the dough is nicely dusted and dry on the outside. then split it into two lightly oiled baking dishes, again do the sweeping with flour so that each part is dusty on the outside.
- let sit for two hours
-preheat oven to 450 degrees. put lid on dishes and bake for 30 minutes. uncover and bake for another 15.
- remove from oven and plop bread out of dish onto a cooling rack. tap the bottom to ensure its done. It should sound hollow.
ENJOY!

time to catch up a bit!

2010-03-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

So much for 'up to date' happenings... I have been all over the place, and have not made time to sit down and report it here. Not a bad thing, really... but I do want to share it all! We spent a couple weeks in Michigan with Jack and Joelle, most of those days in the upper peninsula staying with Joelle's dad, Bruce. Most days we went cross country skiing, which felt much more natural to me this trip than last. Every day we were up there was gorgeous. Suprisingly warm, but so much snow was piled up, that even 40 degree farenheight days could not make the billowing white winter wonderland dissapear. I had good intentions of only taking one knitting project with me, so I would have plenty of time to catch up on reading and spend time with friends. That didn't happen. There were lots of leftovers from the one project. Enough to make several more. But that's not all bad I suppose, in those projects were my first colorworking and lace patterns! And I designed my first, too! (for another post...) I also shot about 20 rolls of film on a camera that i had never used before, which was somewhat unsettling. Upon our return to the lower mitten, I developed my film and was very pleased the results. There were only a few days between our return to Louisville and the Second Most Awesome Art Fair, which I participated in this past weekend, but I managed to go visit my friend Bob Anderson in Columbus and have prints made from some of the images taken in the UP. The art fair was awesome. Met lots of great people... artists that I would love to collaborate with on future projects, and got tons of positive feedback. I am all about trying new looks and techniques, but now I am encouraged to return to some ideas. I am so motivated to create, I don't even know where to start! For this week, I need to streamline all ideas to honeybee things (so hard, i know. haha) This upcoming saturday is the Bluegrass beekeeping school. I have attended the past two years, and there are always great speakers and classes. This year i have a table at which i will be selling bee themed silkscreened shirts and such. will post pics in the next day or two.

do not eat!!!

2010-02-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Another project that had been stewing in my mind for a while came to completion today! Beeswax sushi candles, boxed with handmade polymer faux grass incense holder and sticks of green tea incense cleverly packaged up as chopsticks. I don't think i will continue to produce these past what I have made up, but they were a lot of fun to piece together!

Also, the totally metal kitty on the label is a very simplified version of the most badass tattoo I have... done by the ever excellent Kit!

snow and spiced wine

2010-02-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Snowfall calls for mulled spiced wine. And today, we are surrounded in a pretty decent accumulation of the fluffy white stuff. Of the couple of winters I have spent in Louisville, I have noticed that wintery weather doesn't stick around for long, so you have to love it while you can. One of my favorite things about the chillier months of the year is making mulled spiced wine. My mom introduced me to it, and I still swear that she added a dash of rum to it, even though she denies it... but I don't because it packs enough heat already. It is made much like spiced apple cider, but with port wine. Here's an outline of what I do, although with any kitchen craft, it becomes delicious with irregularity and personal flair.

You will need:
1 750ml bottle port wine
750 ml water
2 sticks cinnamon
1 orange
approx. 20 whole cloves
1 Tbsp brown sugar (or other sweetener)
1 small branch rosemary or about a tablespoon of dried leaves (optional... my personal addition because i LOVE rosemary)
1/4 cup raisins (also optional, but really awesome if you plan on not straining stuff before serving. raisins absorb the spiced wine much like the joys of jungle juice)
*********
Start by heating the water in a medium sized stockpot. Meanwhile, scrape the orange with a grater in a couple of spots, then stick all the cloves into it. This can be fun and pretty if you make designs with the cloves!
Put the clove-studded orange, cinnamon, rosemary, sweetener and rasins into the water and bring to a boil. Then cover, lower heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add port and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Do not bring to boil, doing so will burn off the alcohol.
Remove from heat and enjoy!

knittiest week yet!

2010-02-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

This is somewhat of a delayed post, as I have so much I want to mention, but don't know where to start, so I end up not doing so at all!
Two weeks ago now, Peregrine and Seidr embarked across the snowy midwest on their 4-day "crushed by winter" tour. I tagged along. Lots of laughs, doom and grind. Most excellent.

On the rides between towns, I worked on a hat that my friend Annabelle commissioned me to knit for her fella, Mike. As a yule gift for Austin, I had made an ear-flap hat that was open on top, to let out the dreads. Mike expressed the need for something of the sort in his life. Although the general idea was the same, I made the earflaps and bottom inch or so of the hat ribbed and also created staggered folds at the back. Annabelle had given me Noro yarn to work with, which I had never done before. I loved watching the colors progress... the finished garment looked kinda like a lake + mountain landscape. Or maybe thats just what I wanted to see. I need to track him down and take a picture of the finished product!

After the four tour dates, I was dropped off back in Chicago to spend some quality time with the Hall family. My second day there was Ian's birthday! Kit and I made an awesome bowl cake. long story. I loved spending time during the day with Arya, my favorite little lady. At 2 and a half years, she does a great job of constantly amazing me. More personality than I could have ever imagined could fit in something so little! Kit and I made a routine of ending our days almost into the morning hours knitting and watching awful girly films. Hanging out with another knitting fiend really fires up ravelry pattern snooping and yarn obsession. hah!

The day prior to tour I finished something that I started working on last August I believe. (see crazy big thing above) Sadly, not all turned out as planned. I'll start at the beginning:

I take jokes way too far. Probably four years ago now, Joelle made a passing comment about how tough (and ultimately granny-core!) it would be to have a knitted 'motorcycle jacket'. Not knowing how to knit at the time, I tucked the idea into the back of my mind.

Once I learned to knit, I realized the sharp angles involved in a jacket of that style would be difficult to knit. Being more familiar with felting and sewing than writing a knit pattern, I decided to knit a giant piece of material, felt it just enough so that the pieces would not unravel, stitch together and felt again for a totally seamless product. Simple, right?

Well, the yarn I chose to work with was Andy's Merino by Farmhouse Yarns. Not only is it a company that I feel strongly in the ethical treatment of their sheep, but it is a bulky yarn that would knit up somewhat quickly and I am familiar with how it reacts to felting. Unfortunately it does not come in black. So I order some 20-30 skeins of it through the Knit Nook, and set about dying it all. Jaquard Acid Dyes are the first I have ever used that actually dye fibers JET BLACK... amazing!!! Then I wound them all into balls and set about garter stitching myself into eternity. It grew and grew, and was a super awesome lap warmer as we drove through the mountains of Norway.
Upon return from tour and my stay in Chicago, I felted it and cut out the pattern and then the sad moment of truth came. I had to lengthen the sleeves on the pattern to accomidate my lankiness. Because of this alteration, I was short on fabric! OOOOHHHH NOOOO! I proceeded to slump against the kitchen cupboard and stare at my giant piece of felt covered in chalk marks for an unknown length of time. Dramatic, I know... Then I realized that I had gone through all this trouble because I couldn't let a funny idea slide by. But I didn't really feel that a felt motorcycle jacket was my thing. And with that project cast aside (no pun intended, get it cast... knitting...haha) I can now use the felt to make LOTS of other awesome stuff! It's at least a centimeter thick... soft, super warm and chunky... aka SO awesome!
So far I have made two cowls/ neckwarmers.

I'm really into neckwarming things right now... I've also made a rather cow(l)girl lookin piece out of supersoft lumpy bumpy multicolored yarn.

To top off the knitty-ness of this week, I finally held my first 'Surly Stitching' - yarn and beer gathering. I was one of three attendees, which was super relaxing and fun! Starting this group is my attempt to corral my knitting, so I get a better balance of other stuff done.

And on that note, congratulations on making it through this long account of my knittiest week yet. I'm going to go play with Sculpey clay!

at home

2010-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

My dearest friend Joelle does a musical project showcasing her mad banjo skills and lovely voice singing songs, reclaiming the oral tradition. Her songs are the soundtrack to many of my crafting days, mornings drinking tea, relaxing baths before slumber, and all of my pie baking days! Reverb Worship in the UK just released her first album, "At Home". Limited to 50 handmade copies with stenciled covers and a zine style cut and paste booklet made by Joelle.

check her out at: www.myspace.com/allinthemerrymonthofmay

The cover of the booklet is a photo I took on her past summer visit to beautiful Kentucky. We took a trip to Bernheim forest, just south of Louisville and wandered in the large field of wildflowers. Here are some of my other favorite shots from that day:

...thinking of summer days in the woods with friends. -Bek.

modeled pieces

2010-01-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

This past sunday, Ms. Frary modeled a bunch of necklaces and a couple of bracelets for me. Mostly recent work, some from last year. I will be posting these on etsy in the next day. Thanks for your cooperation in the cold, Sarah!

heeelloooooo!

2010-01-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

it is a new year, and i am very much in a 'fresh start' mentality. I have decided to dedicate my time to doing the things i really love to do, the things that i previously kept myself from doing too extensively as I know once my mind gets running with ideas, i cant even keep up, much less stop it. This past saturday was my last day of 'proper' work. This week has been spent trying to make sense of my studio space and getting personal projects that have been looming over me out of the way. Two days were spent with the always inspiring Sarah Frary, who is helping me set up a web site... we hope to have that up by early February. Until then, and in addition to that, I will be posting on this thing, any feedback on work is greatly appreciated, friends!