House No. 12: Starter House

House No. 12: Starter House
ink on repurposed chipboard
9 in. x 6.5 in.
012/365; 01/12/11

Today, one of my coworkers gave me starter for a friendship cake. A friendship cake, for those who are unfamiliar, is a recipe that calls for a starter that ferments for 10 days, after which you can make additional starter as well as bake a cake. This new starter is then passed on to friends, and they start the process again in ten days. In theory, I suppose the starter could be passed around for generations. Actually, perhaps I shouldn't think about that.

The friendship starter got me thinking of a creative starter, which is exactly what Noah Scalin's 365: A Daily Creativity Journal is doing for many of his friends. People are sharing their work, connecting and even setting up monthly forums. Pretty cool.

With all of this in mind, I created my house today as a creative starter for collaboration. I am inviting everyone who is interested to use this illustration to make something for their own 365 projects, or any project at all. Then please send me a link to your post or email it to me at Madonna {at} TheHappyHomemaker {dot} org, so that I may share it next Friday here and on The Happy Homemaker Facebook page. I can't wait to see if people use this drawing and what they create if they do.

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

House No. 4: The Dresden Walls

repurposed paper, foil, and miscellaneous scrap on chipboard

6.5 in. x 6.5 in.

004/365; 01/04/11

Being a human magpie, I collect every shiny thing that I come across. I have organized boxes of paper, candy foils, laminated papers, the interiors of tea bag envelopes ...

For today's house, I thought that I'd break into my collection, which actually includes a few pieces of Dresden foil scrap that I didn't end up using. The metallic paper being an homage to the Dresden handicraft, I decided to make today's home in one of the styles of Saxony.

I find the most unique part of the house's collage, and what makes it look like the houses of that region, is the foiling of the half-timber that ornaments the walls.

Update 04/20/2011: Better photo.

Now with 100% more natural light.

 

Ahh. So much better.