Milk plastic

In June the Make blog posted about an Instructable on how to make plastic from milk. I thought it was pretty gross & cool and filed it away.


ew!

Well today I saw what some designers have made with milk plastic, Core 77 blog posted this:



A French design collective called Duende made a collection of jewelry out of plastic made from human breast milk! They are doing a whole exhibition of objects that explore the the relationship between mother and child and food. The exhibition will be on view in France here. (cool space, n'est-ce pas?)

I particularly love this piece since it reminds me of a small book I did maybe 5 years ago about mother's millk and father's seed....if I can find an old sample I'll post that next.

culling old links part 1

I'm trying to clear out my backlog of bookmarks and links that I have been collecting over the last weeks and months (the things that inspired me to start writing this blog) so some of my upcoming posts have been floating around the internet for a while now.


Stolen Jewels

mike and maaike is a joint effort between maaike evers and mike simonian, their website says they are "a resource for experimental design, progressive ideas and unexpected solutions for products, furniture and environments" and they've done some big projects (mike led the design team for the xbox 360). But I really like their jewelry projects:


Suretape Necklace


Crochet Necklace

Everywhere

Kiosk is a shop in Soho I really need to visit (of course, will report more when I've been). I've just spent an hour doodling all over their website and I'm in love with a lot of stuff now. The website is so well done (and the product descriptions are so well written—I feel like I know them already!). I'm so not telling you my very favorite things because I don't want them to get sold out. But here are some I feel duty bound to share:


Bavarian Gamsbart Stag Pin Large ($60.00)
The folks from Kiosk went to Germany to get all the new products for March-August. Every season they travel & buy and bring good stuff to NYC for sale (and anywhere the internet reaches). About this feather for your cap, Kiosk says "In theory, the size of the gamsbart reflects the size of the manliness. Franz Blumtritt and Sons was established in 1923, the founder’s granddaughter Regina Erb now runs the company. Grandfather Blumtritt started by following traditional patterns from the Alps; time passed and in the 50's one of his sons took some creative license and developed the collection they have today."


Red Necklace with Ribbon ($45.50)
Mexico was one of the previous destinations for Kiosk. This necklace is marked down from $65! There's also previous merchandise from Japan and Sweden (which are also marked down), but there's lots that's already sold out here.
I like this necklace because Kiosk has intrigued me with this line, "In Cuetzalan most of the indigenous women of a certain age wear this necklace." What age I wonder? and why? They do give another clue as to the meaning behind this piece, "The textile researcher, Bob Freund, told me that the beads represent coral as historically it was traded with the Indians from Vera Cruz over the mountains." hmmmmm.....


Dunkel Peter Popcorn ($4.00)
Last from Kiosk (from me) to you (what am I talking about?!) is this popcorn. I swear they have everything as well as little nothings at this store (irresistible!). Kiosk says they brought us this simply because of the packaging. I love everyone who can admit that, and even more in a retailer who does.

toenail necklace

This is just the kind of thing that represents one wild end of my interest in dress! Jan Ryerse made this necklace out of lost toenails from marathon running. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch wrote about him (click the image to link to the article and see a pic of him wearing his necklace) and other runners who do ultramarathons (more than a marathon! often 30- 50- or 100-mile events).

"People tend to be less competitive in ultramarathons; they go at it at a relaxed pace," Jan says. He also contends that women and older runners have the advantage in ultrarunning because they are more patient. I wonder if there is also an emotional component in running this kind of race that would be an advantage to women and older folk, as opposed to a passionate one that would perhaps be found more in the young and male. The article says that "most ultrarunners will tell you that the shared experience of mentally and physically battling the incomprehensible is by far the biggest draw." Creating a talisman to wear of battle scars from these ultramarathons is the ultimate emotional attachment!

Full disclosure: I have many of my childhood teeth, 2 toenails that fell off, and a collection of hair (mine and others). Apparently it's genetic: my mom has a keepsake box with a piece of skin that my grandfather was born with over his face, and my aunt has a necklace that my great-grandmother wove out of her own hair (really full disclosure: I wore it on my wedding day (and it matches my own natural hair color).

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