5 Questions: science + crafting = awesome

There's just something about science that I love, I guess it's because being creative is all about experimentation; and so; obviously, is science. There is a whole sub-genre of Geekery on Etsy; nerd with cool factor thrown in for good measure. and one of my favourite Geekery shops on Etsy is Scientific Culture. With a range of items from famous scientist finger puppets, Microbe button and magnet sets and stuffed e-coli bacteria that not only have cool factor, but also some serious cuteness quotient to boot! I've had my eye on the Dinosaur buttons for the Peanut's birthday grab bags and they're in the mail as I type this. They are going to be a huge hit with the Peanut's friends.

Every last bit of it is part of Kate McCurrach's quest to meld science and art. With a degree in cellular, molecular, microbial biology Kate is mad about everything science and she loves to spread her excitement through her cute science crafts. Kate expands her love of combining creativity with science in her blog of the same name. You can also follow her on Twitter, and go ahead and "like" scientific culture on Facebook too. When you're finished there; head over to flickr to take a sneak peak into all things scientific culture.

For answers to my most pressing questions, keep reading. As always if you see something you like, click on the picture to get more information; all images are linked to the corresponding Etsy listing.

So, without further ado:

Can you describe the palette you use to create with, what colours do you always “reach” for?

I’m a huge fan of all muted and jewel tones. They let me keep my projects bright and punchy without being too overwhelming.

Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

Music is a wonderful influence on my creating; it helps me keep to a strong positive work ethic and makes long nights of embroidery or photoshop run smoothly. Right now I’ve been listening to a lot of CBC Radio 3 inspired folk-y musicians (Aidan Knight, Dan Mangan, Matthew Barber) as well as some melodic females (Laura Marling, Regina Spektor). I sometimes throw in some more upbeat Canadians (Mother Mother, Tegan and Sara, Said the Whale) depending on my mood – plus it feels great to support Canadian musical culture!

What got you started?

I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember and am always exploring ways to meld science (influenced from my degree in cellular, molecular, microbial biology) and art! I decided to take the plunge into Etsy selling after three long months of medical leave and some helpful branding from a graphic designer friend.



If you were granted 3 wishes to furnish your dream studio space, what do you choose and why?

Wish 1 – Unlimited funds! I’d love to be able to focus my life on creating but the realities of life (and budget) really don’t allow for it.

Wish 2 – New tools! What I wouldn’t give for a serger, sharper pair of pinking sheers, and a cat free cutting table!

Wish 3 – Martha Stewart’s design team. Mmm…



Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Hermione Granger - overachieving, book smart, and drawn to red heads.

5 questions: Little Clay Houses

I seem to be drawn to some of my fellow Canadian artists and artisans lately and wow are there ever a lot of great Canadian artists and artisans!

As I've mentioned here before, my goal for this feature is to put the spotlight onto some of the shops on Etsy that I have either spent my money in, or who I would love to buy from.

I initially came across the little red door shop through twitter, she's on one of my lists of super creative people and I've always loved her avatar. I've been known to laugh out loud to some of her posts but this feature is all about her super awesome shops and not her super awesome Twitter posts.

So I initially found her shop ages ago and then found her vintage and craft shops from there. Of her three shops SpaghettiJones is the least active with only one item for sale at this moment but her shop tag line is worth a visit and the cute robot greeting cards listed there really made me smile. Little Red Mercantile is chock full of amazing finds and well worth a visit.

When it comes down to why I love her shop I have to say that I just love tiny things. There’s something about the intimacy involved in both the making and the owning that really appeals to me. One of the main critiques I had in art school was my penchant for the small, while I’ve branched out size wise with my own work I covet it in others. From her signature tiny clay houses to tiny bowls, ninjas and an assortment of ceramic pendants and rings there is lots to choose from; and her colour palette is in a word divine. Plus, how enchanting would it be to give out tiny little clay houses as party favours for your next big event? Let me answer that for you: very enchanting.

As always each image in this article is linked back to Little Red Door's shop. See something you like? click on that puppy and get more information!

Can you describe the palette you use to create with, what colours do you always “reach” for?

I use mainly primary and other bright bold colours with white and black. I'm not a huge fan of pastels. My signature colour is of course red. I'm of the opinion that most everything goes with red.

Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

I listen to music all the time but most essentially when I'm creating. Without it, I'm in for a long lonely day of pottery.

My music collection is best described as varied. I like everything.
If I shuffle through my Ipod here are the next 10 songs that come up:

Sam Malone - City And Colour
Your Man - Down With Webster
Goodnight Goodnight - Hot Hot Heat
Rapture - Pedro the Lion
Hard Road - Sam Roberts
Tonight She Comes - the Cars
Time to Switch to Whiskey - Corb Lund Band
Sweetness - Jimmy Eat World
Just A Girl - No Doubt
Walls Fall Down - Bedouin Soundclash




What got you started?

I've always been a maker of things, since I was in grade school. Embroidery since I was 7. Drawing & painting in my teens. Cross-stitch in my early 20's. Papercrafting & photography since my late 20's. I'm approaching 40 and I've been working with clay now 7 years. I am one of those people that must create. It's my raison d'etre. I think everyone should make something everyday.



If you were granted 3 wishes to furnish your dream studio space, what do you choose and why?

1 - floor to ceiling shelving
2 - packaging area
3 - lots and lots of windows

I think they're all self-explanatory

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Little Red Riding Hood. She wore an awesome hoodie and loved to visit Grandma.

5 questions: *hollyhawk* Handmade Leather Cuffs, Purses, Accessories

So last winter, while searching for some unique items to gift our teenaged and young adult nephews I came across Holly Strate's shop; Hollyhawk. I was making an effort to shop locally as well as handmade and did a search within my province and Hollyhawk stood right out of the crowd, so much so that I was wishing we had the budget to allow for me to buy myself a gift.

We decided on an iphone case for one of our nephews and I sneakily asked him what type of colour combination he'd like most (which was good idea on my part, our original choice was not what he preferred). Holly sent out the case quickly and when I opened it up I was so blown away by her excellent craftsmanship.

I shouldn't have been surprised, since Holly finds working with leather extra appealing, which always means that there is a great deal of passion involved in the work. She says that there are so many interesting things that can be done with leather like dyeing, printing, stitching, embossing, molding, carving, painting, riveting... Holly transforms the material into unique, snappy wearable and useful items, and boy does she ever do a fabulous job.

What drew me was the combination of fresh colour choices (red, turquoise, purple, chartreuse and dusty sage) with beautiful, organic and modern graphics printed in ink. We went with the rotary phone graphic for the tongue in cheek factor.

Holly is trained in Fashion Design, and she learned about leather work by apprenticing. Through experimentation, she became really inspired to make pieces of her own design to share with the world. to find out more about Holly and Hollyhawk you can find her on Facebook and Twitter where she keeps her fans up to date in what's going on; like the recent addition to her family in the form of a handsome baby boy. Holly also has a website that lists where you can find her accessories, purses and jewellery for sale and she has a blog where you can get more information too! As always; if you see something you like, click on it! All images are linked to Hollyhawk.

Can you describe the palette you use to create with, what colours do you always “reach” for?

I love the contrast created by combining bright colours with more muted ones. I can’t always reflect this in my work though, being somewhat limited in the leathers that I can source out, but then it’s more of a challenge. There’s just something about working with leather that really appeals to me. It’s quite versatile and one of my favorite material to designs and create with.

Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

When I’m feeling creative I to listen to Luke Vibert, his music is this amazing collage of sounds and beats, very inspiring and you can bob your head to it. When I need to get stuff done on the assembly line I usually listed to CBC radio, it’s made me an expert in useless information.



What was the last shop/ item you hearted on Etsy?
The Strap Less Dress in Golden Apples by LesEnfantsSauvages.

I like to eat fruit and nut chocolate bars while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer; what’s your guilty pleasure?

Dipping dark chocolate in tea so that it gets all soft and melty, but I don’t feel guilty about it.



Which Children's book character would you be and why?
Pippi Longstocking, when I was a kid I wanted freckles more than anything in the world, just like Pippi and my Mom would braid my hair into piggy tails all the time. She didn’t have anyone telling her what to do. It wasn’t as though my parents were strict, but I’m a Sagittarius and we love nothing more than freedom to explore.

Months have passed

since my last weekly 5 question feature.

Doing a weekly feature was taking a lot of time away from my own creative practice so I took a break from it for a little while to focus on doing my own things.

Of course I never considered completely giving up the features, they're one of my favourite things to do on this blog but I think a break was necessary for more than one reason. I put a lot of work into each 5 question feature I do here mainly because the artists and artisans I feature are some of my favourites and I'd love to be able to help them succeed, even if it's just in the form of someone visiting their shop after reading about them here. Putitng one of these features together each week became a pretty daunting task what with contacting artists, compiling links and adding photos not to mention the research I put into the features, I was working in some cases a month or more in advance of a post which meant that I was working on more than one feature at a time which really became overwhelming.

While I was focusing on my own work, I made a few decisions about how I wanted to do these features and I'm happy to announce that 5 questions will be returning at the end of this month as a monthly feature instead of a weekly so that I can keep up with the momentum I've built up over the last few months with my own stuff. I'm also hoping to keep you all informed about my own processes, tragedies and triumphs too, so if you think I'm a little behind in sharing feel free to give me a nudge...