In which my skirt is like a cape

 I have been wearing the asymmetrical skirt in these photos to death over the last few weeks. I have become very vain with it because I utterly adore the way it swooooshes out behind me like a cape. I feel like a superhero. It has completely reimagined my style. Well not exactly re-imagined, more brought me back to my roots. I used to be very 'grunge-y' as a kid. I was all about the baggy trousers, the barbed wire bracelets and the hoodys. About as unfeminine as it gets in some ways. However this last week I have been wearing lots of black again (where usually I am very colourful) and mixing black with dark colours, like dark red or dark green and then wearing my black felt hat or my pink bowler. It's like my teenage self, but with nicer clothes. Heh.

I wanted to blog more this week but my computer is having problems with Blogger. The image upload function not only fails to work but crashes and freezes everything. It has been driving me mad. I am having to use the boy's laptop which is unfamiliar and it's just plain irritating.

Anyhow it has been a pretty good week other than the computer issues. In the UK we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday so Andy and I did the works. Bananas, chocolate sauce, blueberries, lemon and sugar, everything you should have on stacks of pancakes. I also got to see a friend I haven't seen properly in years. We are renewing our friendship after a chance meeting and I am so glad we are. It's weird when you haven't spoken to someone for ages and then it feels like nothing has changed once you get back together. Then today we (that's the boy and I not the friend and I) did some big grown-up things like opening a joint bank account and buying some new Magic the Gathering cards and Lego figures. I think the guy at the toy stall in the market is starting to know who we are!

I have also been living in this headband since I bought it. I couldn't believe it wasn't on the blog yet. I got this from the toddler section at John Lewis. Genuinely marked for 3 year olds. But it has buttons, spots and pictures on pencils! And it goes with my new red hair! Everything I love!

My antique pocket watch necklace. One of my favourite items of jewellery, more on it later.

Outfit details
Velvet top: charity shop
Skirt: New Look
Shoes: Local shop
Bangles: Mixture
Headband: John Lewis
Pocket watch Necklace: Family heirloom

In which I discuss board games and cherry buttons

I have a friend who has wonderful luck finding things in charity shops. I have had some pretty good finds in the past (my winter coat for example) but in work clothes, where I am trying so hard, I score nothing. I think there must be someone in her size and style just donating things for her to find. Even this weekend I popped in to the local Oxfam at the weekend and sighed over finding not a single shirt I liked. However I spotted something quite different and just as fantastic as a pair of designer shoes going for £10: A Mah Jong set.

I actually already have one, but a mini version a friend gave me. This set was in a beautiful box, complete amount of tiles and even the little bone scoring sticks. Only going for £20. I have since looked it up online and equivalent sets go for at least £80 so that is my charity shop deal.

To me a Mah Jong set is the definitive item to have in a house. I have mentioned my love of board games very recently so you can see how quickly I amass them, but it is really nice to have something this beautiful. I can’t wait to put all our board games together when we get a place. In our house with friends last year there was quite a collection, but about half were ours! Add to that the ones bought in the last few months and the ones I didn’t take to uni, we are going to have so much entertainment we shall have to throw a board game party. I look forward to photographing the pile to share here.

Behold, photos of my Mah Jong set:

In other news, as I fail to find anything in the charity shops I have been browsing on Asos for interesting work clothes.

I am looking at these shirts and trying to work out whether they are really nice or I am just being tricked into believing they are nice because the model look hot in them. Cherry buttons for instance. Is that quirky, but smart or really just childish and not work suitable st all? Or is it just that the model reminds me a little bit of Amelie in the first photos and I am suffering from a brief girl crush, unable to see beyond her cute surprised look? I don’t know! I sound very fickle, but it is always the problem that clothes generally do look better on a model than in a shop and online shopping doesn’t allow the key element of looking at me in them. I thought I would share these with you and ask for opinions.

Thoughts?

In which I offer some bows

I thought it was perhaps time to mention my creative outlet of jewellery0making partly because it has been a while and also because I had an idea.

I know that not a lot of people read this so doing a giveaway might just fall on deaf ears, however if you do and are quick it makes you a lot more likely to get free stuff than if this was a blog with hundreds of followers.

Anyway. This is how it is. I became obsessed with making bows not so long ago. I made so many sitting at my desk all day stitching pretty buttons onto them. I made a blue one with a whale sewn on and dropped a tiny piece of glue on it by accident. I washed it and scraped it off so you can hardly see it is there. Trust me, if you were wearing this no one would see. However it is not good enough quality to sell and shows up a little in photos (see below). So. I could either keep it for myself (but I have lots of bows) or give it away.

It has a barrette clip on the back that is 2” long. You will not be able to get all your hair in this but it is good for half up/half down or just putting a little up on the side.

I also have another one. A green bow with a button with a smiling bee on it. I really like this one and am loathe to let it go. However as I said, I have lots of bows and lots of buttons. I must look away from the happy bee and not be tempted by his innocent smile!

The problem with this one is that I attached 2 other bits of ribbon to the bottom of it but they have started to fray. I’m not sure how to stop the fraying, I think it is because of the way I cut the ribbon. I learnt my lesson for the next one. Again, this is still wearable but I don’t believe it is sellable.

It has the same style barrette clip on the back.

Anyway. If you would like either of these bows please email me at ruthcoustick@gmail.com

(which is obviously not my real name) with your interest and address. First come first served.

I actually made tons of bows and have put some of the good ones up on ebay and some others are going to an exhibition in Birmingham for Living Hope with a percentage of the sale going to the charity. So yeah, if you live in the midlands you should go to the event because another friend of mine is doing performance art there. Follow above link.

See bows!

I’ve put links to my etsy shop underneath just in case you fancied paying money for them…

Lime Green BowChecked Bow

Dotted Bow

Sunflower Bow

P.S. At update time (20/8/11) I have sent off the whale hair slide but I still haven't given away the happy bee if you would like it.

In which I list the things that make me happy

This week I am going to offer you a list of things that have made me very happy in the last week. I've actually had a rather bad week so I decided to ignore all that and think about the good parts.

-Making new jewellery:

I have had some wonderful deliveries in the past week of new jewellery making tools including some fantastically shiny wire. Sadly the 50 barrette slides I ordered were the right length but not the right width. However I think I can work with that. I can work with it enough that I made a whole bunch of button barrettes and brooches.

The above are for the craft fair I will be in in just over a week!

-Joining a team and being featured in treasuries:

I have joined a team for EtsyYouth and have also made a treasury to celebreate this featuring EtsyYouth.

Winter Travelling Treasury

I have also had my wonderful gold vintage button necklace featured in a couple of treasuries lately. This one is especially beautiful

Sweet Gifts Any Girl Would Love

-My shiny shoes:

I feel a sense of perfect happiness whenever I wear this combination of gold brogues, socks with bows and smooth grey tights. (However I am actually wearing double socks in this image as my tights are in the wash, but you'll have to ignore that)

-Dancing to Latin Music.

-Solving puzzles:

I have had another letter from this mysterterious enemy saying he knows me secret identity and will reveal all.

Previously these letters had not been delivered to my house (which is naturally kept secret) but left at locations I frequent, like the forest. However this one was through my letterbox. However there is only one fight I have had in which I briefly lost my mask in the tussle. I immediately hid and made a new one, but I know which villain that was with and I know that he enjoys the waiting game far more than the fight.

-Making real bunches of flowers out of origami ones, even if they only last for an hour:

The below bunch were made by LiliesbyLisa over at Etsy.

Have a good week!

In which I ramble about prawns, graveyards and photography.

You may remember last week I was feeling so proud of my photography? This week it all seems to have fallen apart. I have tried so hard and yet my camera is refusing to focus properly. It keeps putting the focus on the wrong things. Its so frustrating when I'm trying to put things up on Etsy.

The photography standard is so high there it's intimidating. I spent hours this weekend trying to photograph one necklace!

Finally did it! Sometimes trying to own an Etsy shop feels like too much hard work I have to say. However Christmas soon so hopefully some sales of shiny things.

In other news I went to see a play this week based on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (oh yes its him again) and it was fantastic! I was so impressed, especially as the theatre was almost built for the performance. It was next to a graveyard and they did a couple of scenes outside and a few in the attic of the theatre. It made me feel all in love with good theatre again. I know I talked about how much I love theatre before as I reviewed my fringe experience. The thing is that with all the student protests there seems to be a backlash against the arts and some people seem to think they are useless. Well. Seeing a brilliant play of a brilliant book where everyone came away impressed made me just want to stick my tongue out at them all, or turn their science and law degree certificates into paper finger puppets.

Also going to have a brief Art Nerd moment. I suddenly feel that Dave McKean's drawings (above) look a lot like John Piper work (below).

This picture is massive and totally irrelevant to my blog post but I just love his work. So there.

I haven't mentioned it much before but I am also massively into cooking. I used to be fairly bad I believe but in the past few years living away from parentals I have got a lot better. I say this today because I made a meal I was so proud of.

Onions, mushrooms and garlic cooked with some basil. Then a little bit of chopped tomatoes thrown in (not the whole can) and stirred round. Wait a bit and then added double cream and red wine.

While all that was cooking I also had some spaghetti on. Poured the spaghetti into a wok full of sauce and stirred that round. The put it on a plate. THEN add a box of pre-cooked king prawns and some spinach leaves to the top of the meal. It was so amazing. For some reason the photo is terrible, (I said Im having a photography fail) and doesn't show how pink the whole meal looked and the shinyness of the prawns. But there was no way I was going to set up a light box and tripod when I could eat it all up. Nom nom nom.

I promise you this is not going to turn into a cookery blog. I just wanted to share this beauty with you. My blog entry is a little all over the place this week, even a little bit of politics in there. However Origami Girl does have to eat and have a bit of fun. Besides it's good to talk about other things than my superpowers occasionally.

Next week though I'm going to update you on the pyromaniac-creating local scientist.

In which I make a 16 pointed cosmos destroying paper star

So today I have some beautiful photographs to show you. I'm being very subjective here as these are photos I have taken it's true. I'm just feeling especially proud of them. I spent two hours today making this 16 pointed modular star. I know you are thinking 'but you are Origami Girl, you can make anything' Well. That's kind of true. However I do have to learn how to make new folds occasionally you know. Once I have got this down I think it will be fantastic.
Anyway this is how it looked


You see how I made it out of cosmos printed paper? I had a pause for a while and consider what would happen if I made it real. You know how I can make anything I make become solid. What if I made a star? John got a little bit worried that I was about to bring the universe to its knees by making a massive star the size of the sun enter out solar system and destroy everything. I think I could try making a miniature star but then you start considering how that would actually work with the molecules and things. I have always found it best with super powers to not be too interested in science or you can't believe in yourself.

On another note I ordered some more buttons from eBay.
I love buttons. As much as I love beautifully patterned paper. I get so excited about buttons I want to roll around in them. Maybe not go that far... or do I?

Here is my joy and light of my heart.

Oh I love my beautiful button box with its beautiful colour co-ordinated buttons.

And I also put up these earrings made of clay and thread on my Etsy shop here. You may remember them from a blog post a long time ago. I put them on eBay where they failed to sell, before I even owned Etsy. I just wanted to make a point about how much I have learnt in the last few months, photography wise.
Obviously I still have a long way to go. Don't think all these shots are being dancing around singing 'I'm amazing,' but I am rather proud.
Also you may have noted the recurring background of the musical score. This is actually photographed on an antique leather bound copy of Beethoven's Sonatas that me and John found in a wonderful second hand bookshop.

In which I take down robbers

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I tried so hard to do my post on Tuesday but time ticked by and I got sucked into making more treasuries on Etsy and then it was bedtime.

I am so happy about some of the compliments I have had on them lately. It makes me feel like this is something I am good at. My latest ones have all been on fairy tales. This one on Red Riding Hood and this one on Cinderella

John is back from his trip to the Himalayas and seems pretty smug about something though I'm not sure what. He got me a book of batman comics for my birthday and for inspiration. It's 'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader' by Neil Gaiman (the author I'm obsessed with) The comic is written at Batman's funeral with an interesting mix of characters with totally different angles on how Batman's life actually went.

So this morning a couple of guys came round to the flat ostensibly here to fix our lights. Now in truth there had been problems with several lights in the house –about a month ago. The problem was long fixed. It seemed a little suspicious but I let them in, after all they could just have got mixed messages from the letting company. I took them upstairs to look at the lights and then they tried to go into a friends room and told me that they didn't want to keep me and they would get on with the job. Hah. Fat chance. I stood in the doorway waiting for them to get their tools out. They seemed to make up their mind and came towards me, the older guy grabbed hold of my wrists. Seriously?

I didn't even use my powers.

I just kicked him in the balls.

Then I kicked the other guy in the face and then in the balls.

Do they think we're stupid or something?

Just another event in the life of Origami Girl.

Oh and I bought myself a present today: