“Hey, remember that time that I found a human tooth?”

My friend Sam, who I met several years ago in art school, wanted me to make something “dental hygiene” themed for her to wear while she studies to become a dental hygienist. I couldn’t think of anything outside of silly cartoons on shrink plastic that showed cute smiling teeth in love with toothbrushes, or cute little doodles of teeth who were happily giving you a thumbs up or a peace sign. I wasn’t happy with those drawings, even after they were coated with a perfect shiny coat of resin and looked about as good as they were going to get. I stopped working for a few days, but kept thinking about the assignment to create something dental related…I couldn’t get past dental waiting room-type drawings to calm children down; but then I remembered the lyric from Regina Spektor’s song, “That Time.”

Hey, remember that time that I found a human tooth, down on Delancey? Hey remember that time when we decided to kiss anywhere except the mouth? Hey remember that time when my favorite colors were pink and green…

I don’t know why I didn’t just think to make a human tooth and turn it into something cool. When I finally thought of this it seemed so obvious…I used polymer clay that I painted with a super glossy finish after baking it. The smaller teeth are going to be cast in resin later today.

Ideas inspired by the unseasonably chilly weather.

My favorite season is fall…not only because it begins with my birthday (25 on Friday!), but because it is full of that feeling of crisp, clean new beginnings. I know that technically fall is the ending of the year, but to me, it’s always felt like a clean slate. I’m sure this is a reflection of a new school year, but I’m not actually in school this semester and I still feel that same feeling of starting something fresh and new. These past few days have been unseasonably cooler than the beginning of September generally is, so I’ve been hanging out around bonfires and sleeping under fluffy blankets, thinking about new designs to work on. I’m still thinking in terms of jewelry for my etsy shop, but I’m also thinking of some drawings to work on as well. I’m currently in the middle of casting 80s horror movie covers in resin for necklaces, and I’m also working on Dia de los Muertos themed drawings on shrink plastic. I’ve also decided to cast some images from traditional loteria cards in resin as well. I love all of these images, and am blaming this awesome fall weather as inspiration. Hopefully I’ll continue to be full of good ideas in the future. For right now I’m trying to stay motivated, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far.

Slow, sheepish voyage into being a person who Gets Things Done.

I’ve spent a lot of my time in life procrastinating. I used to have dreams and aspirations to Do Good Things, but lately, it’s been sleeping in as long as possible before dragging myself to work (usually a few minutes late, even), and staying up late doing things that are fun but not exactly productive. That is changing. In fact, it has changed. The fun is still going to happen, but I’m going to be happy and productive and creative, while still having fun (hopefully). I used to want to be an artist, and I’ve never stopped creating art or thinking about things in a creative way, but I don’t think I ever really believed it was something I could really do, not more than a recreational hobby at least. I even went to art school for three years, and still never gained the confidence to really Make It Happen.

But now! Today is the day I make my first Art Blog post. And this past weekend was the first time I ever sold handmade jewelry to the public and not only did it go well, I made a profit. Yesterday was the first day I listed things for sale in my etsy shop, Bunnyfox. This has been a week of firsts, and it won’t end there. Check back often, hopefully I’ll continue being this motivated. Leave me some constructive, useful feedback full of encouragement! I’m going to need it.