Rocks in Watercolour

Experimenting with watercolour, painting rocks over and over from different angles.

Pine Needle Baskets

I've been making pine needle baskets this winter.

I collected a whole bunch of red pine needles, soaked them in boiling water, removed the sheaths

and made them into baskets by coiling and fastening them with twine.

Handmade Bitters and Elixirs

This year a friend and I made a collection of bitters and cocktail elixirs as holiday presents. 

For the bitters we used roasted dandelion, chicory and astragalus roots.  

For the aromatics we used cinnamon, cloves, ginger, anise, cardamom, pine, fir, 

rose petals, vanilla, and elderflower, among others. 

We prepared the individual tinctures several weeks in advance, 

allowing them to develop into bright, bold flavours, before straining out the solids. 

We then developed a series of unique flavours by mixing and matching the various bitters and aromatics.
We packaged them in 30ml bottles and printed labels featuring drawings of the main spice in each flavour.

Untitled Series II

Some more mixed media paintings in the series.

A dinner party, my mom and her sister drinking from a hose, 

my Oma on the beach, my Oma and Opa on a road trip to Niagara Falls.

Untitled Series I

Mixed media - acrylics on cardboard and photographs on transfer paper.

A series of mixed media paintings incorporating photos from the 1950s,

including New Year's eve of 1955 and my Oma & Opa on their wedding day.

Arrows

I found some pieces of balsa wood and decided to paint them with acrylics 

and make them into decorative arrows.

Leather Fringe Necklace

A simple leather fringe necklace. 

I cut a series of thin strips of leather, knotted them to jump rings 

and strung them individually onto a chain.

Clay and Gold

A collection of small white clay dishes pressed with lace

and accented with bits of gold leaf.

Weekend Projects

I've been experimenting with clay - creating organic shapes.

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I found some amazing gold studs at the leather supply store

and decided to make a studded leather phone case.

Clay and Lace

Some small dishes and ornaments made of clay pressed with lace.

I'm thinking of painting and glazing them, but I kind of like the look of the unfinished clay.

Macramé Wall Hanging

I made this macramé wall hanging using a piece of driftwood and bits of yarn from
leftover projects and unraveled from salvaged old sweaters.

Wedding Bouquets and Boutonniere

I made these wedding bouquets for my friends Zoë and Aaron's wedding.

Driftwood

I found a beautiful piece of driftwood on the beach, cut it into pieces and painted them with acrylics.

Small Clutch

I made this hand sewn felt-lined clutch with leather details.

Wooden Spoon II

Notebook

 Here is my latest hand-bound notebook made out of various types of paper including lined paper,

graph paper, washi, kami, onion skin and all sorts of coloured paper.

You can see more of my bookbinding projects here.

Wooden Spoon

 I carved this wooden spoon out of a piece of firewood from my father's 

wood pile. I plan on carving a bunch more in different shapes and sizes.

Screen Printed Pillow Cover: Shells

A new shells pattern.

These pillow covers are now all available in my online shop!

Plaster Casting: Vertebrae

I've recently been creating molds using sodium alginate 

(the same stuff they use at the dentist to make a mold of your teeth)

and making plaster casts of various objects.

Here are a bunch of casts of small animal vertebrae, freshly out of their molds.

I'm still trying to figure out an interesting way to mount them for display.

Screen Printed Pillow Cover: Leaves

A new leaf pattern

Screen Printed Pillow Cover: Crystals

Another screen printed pillow cover - this time inspired by crystals!

Screen Printed Pillow Covers: Nests and Cells

Some more screen printed pillow covers.

Both screens were made using the drawing fluid/screen filler method.

Inspired by birds' nests and cells, I wanted the designs to feel organic, 

kind of like something you might find in nature.

Screen Printed Pillow Covers

I screen printed some pieces of cotton fabric and sewed them into pillow covers. 

I used the drawing fluid/screen filler method, so these pattern are all hand drawn.

It was my first time screen printing so I'm still figuring out how to line up patterns

and get an even print, but I decided to just embrace the flaws for this project.

Popsicles III

Coconut Jasmine Green Tea - coconut water, coconut milk, jasmine green tea steeped in milk, sugar

Strawberry Blueberry Layered Pop - fresh strawberries, blueberries, greek yogurt

Roasted Marshmallow - roasted marshmallows stirred into scalded milk

Popsicles II

Sweet Avocado - one very ripe avocado, milk, sugar

Honey Blueberry - blueberries, honey, greek yogurt

Strawberry Basil - strawberries, water, finely chopper basil, a little sugar

Popsicles

It's the middle of summer, which means it's popsicle season! 

What better way to celebrate the season than by freezing fresh fruit juices (among other things)

and making them into delicious treats?

Mango Lassi - mango, greek yogurt, milk

London Fog - earl grey tea latte with scalded milk, a few drops of vanilla and honey

Watermelon - puréed watermelon with vanilla greek yogurt

Sweet Cherry - pitted cherries and greek yogurt all blended up

Lemon Mint - Juice of fresh squeezed lemons, water, sugar and chopped up peppermint

Banana Chocolate - banana, melted chocolate, plain greek yogurt whipped up in a blender

(make sure the mixture is a little sweeter than you want,

as it will taste less sweet once frozen)