House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

 

House No. 124: Connect the Dots House

collage and encaustic on chipboard

18 in. x 12 in.
124/365; 05/04/11

Those of you who know me in life outside of the innerwebs know that I am super Safety First Girl. Somehow, I threw that caution and conscientiousness to the wind whilst working on today's house.

I was not exactly thinking about what I was getting hot, and I had glue and packing tape on this piece that probably should not have been heated and inhaled. 

That customer card is from the late Minerva Books in Petersburg that closed down a couple years ago. I loved that bookstore. Sigh.

I just love the way the wax pooled and beaded-up on surfaces, especially the metallic paper that is most likely toxic when heated but oh, so pretty.

Below, you can see the packing tape that shriveled up from the heat. I ended up getting a headache and feeling light headed and nauseous. I'm not sure how much of that was from toxic fumes and how much is from working over a hot pizza stone and oven

House No. 15: Easy Bake House

House No. 15: Easy Bake House

repurposed chipboard, packing tape

4 in. x 3 in. x 2.5 in.
015/365; 01/15/11

Today, when cleaning out a closet in an old house, I found two boxes of Easy Bake frosting from the eighties and made this house out of them. In essence, Easy Bake ovens are the training toys for homemaking, modern day little girl hearths.

It's funny to think that these boxes are from the time when I was coveting them. Though I had always wanted an Easy Bake oven, I never had one as a child, but as an adult I have a couple antique ones. People have differing views of the gender role-playing that homemaking toys encourage. What are yours?

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. 9: House Husband

 

House No. 9: House Husband
printed photos mounted on repurposed chipboard

6.5 in. x 7.5 in. x 5 in.

009/365; 01/09/11

 

My own home has little to do with the structure in which I live, though I am quite fond of the old thing that is gradually being restored, but, rather, where my significant other is to be found and the life that we build together.

Home is, for me, where I can be myself, warts and all, and feel safe and protected and sheltered from the rest of the world. And there is no other place that has all of those elements for me other than the space I share with my husband.

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.

House No. 2: Home is the thing with feathers

House No. 2: Home is the thing with feathers

feathers on repurposed chip board

4 in. x 6 in. x 4 in.

002/365; 01/02/11

Today's home is inspired by birds (making it a birdhouse?) and titled after Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" is the Thing with Feathers. 

While working on this piece today, it kept reminding me of Meret Oppenheim's Object of 1936.

 Now, while I'm a fan of that particular piece, my true Oppenheim love is Glove (for Parkett no. 4) of 1985.

Perhaps Glove will be an inspiration for another day ... hmmm ...

House No. 1: Welcome Home

 

 

House No. 1: Welcome Home

repurposed paper and chip board

3 in. x 3 in. x 2 in.

001/365; 01/01/11

My first home welcomes the start of this project, the new year, and you. Happy 2011.