Saturday, July 23, 2011
I've moved
Hey everyone. Long time, no post, I know. Thing is, I've gotten to the point where work is taking over a great deal of my creative thought, and that + the mold in my basement means Maneating Flower is officially on hiatus. I'm still making art though, and I've started a tumblr account for all the random stuff I do. Maybe I'll start this up again at some point, but until then, there's this: maneatingflower.tumblr.com
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Owl Flask and a Contest
Yes, I know I've been gone for far too long. There's a simple reason: I've been really busy. Remember the Theorizing the Web stuff that I was soooo happy about because I was done with it? I wasn't. The conference is this Saturday and I've been a crazy mad designer on the loose, making posters, banners, fliers, business cards, printed programs, custom individual name tags, everything. It's been insane. I'm even doing a twitter-based installation. Crazy! On top of that I'll be at Spring Bada-Bing again on the 17th, and I can't wait.
This brings me to my next point. I MADE NEW WORK OMG. I know, it's been ages since I've put a new flask out there, but like I said, I've been busy. I've also been in a major creative slump; the downside to having a job in the art business and freelancing on the side is that all my creative energy goes elsewhere. All of it, that is, until last night, when I sat down and carved this:
He's a hoot, right?
I love this design. It's probably the fastest thing I've ever carved, and it was a fun exercise in mark making. I did break one of my cardinal rules though; I didn't use my own reference. I learned this lesson a very long time ago in my first printmaking class, when I and two other people in the same building used the same dead bird as reference. Affectionately known as "that fucking dead bird", I've seen it in a lot of other artwork since then. It's not like it was the first result either, it was many pages in, so everyone else probably felt the same justification I did.
In that case, dead birds were fairly plentiful in Savannah and I feel like I should have just found one to work from. This time, I didn't have an owl, so I used Google Images. This brings me to my little contest. First person who finds me a piece of artwork that clearly uses this particular owl as reference gets an owl flask! Here's the photo, GO!
This brings me to my next point. I MADE NEW WORK OMG. I know, it's been ages since I've put a new flask out there, but like I said, I've been busy. I've also been in a major creative slump; the downside to having a job in the art business and freelancing on the side is that all my creative energy goes elsewhere. All of it, that is, until last night, when I sat down and carved this:
He's a hoot, right?
I love this design. It's probably the fastest thing I've ever carved, and it was a fun exercise in mark making. I did break one of my cardinal rules though; I didn't use my own reference. I learned this lesson a very long time ago in my first printmaking class, when I and two other people in the same building used the same dead bird as reference. Affectionately known as "that fucking dead bird", I've seen it in a lot of other artwork since then. It's not like it was the first result either, it was many pages in, so everyone else probably felt the same justification I did.
In that case, dead birds were fairly plentiful in Savannah and I feel like I should have just found one to work from. This time, I didn't have an owl, so I used Google Images. This brings me to my little contest. First person who finds me a piece of artwork that clearly uses this particular owl as reference gets an owl flask! Here's the photo, GO!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Theorizing the web
Those of you know know me know that I don't really "do" websites anymore. The design process makes me angry, I hate having to manage them for other people, and they cause me so much more stress than I ever get paid for. As a result, I'd sworn off ever doing freelance web design again... that is, until a couple friends of mine both completely capable of generating their own content and managing things without me needed to add some legitimacy to their endeavors. So I've designed them a logo and a site that I love, and I never have to touch it again!http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb
Check it out. If you're an artist and interested in doing some cyborg/technology themed artwork that'll get hung in a gallery for the opening reception please please please email us! I'll be on the jurying committee, something I've never done before, and I'm really excited. The actual call for artists is on the CFP and under the artists section of the site.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The Drink of my Forefathers: Virytas
It’s holiday season again, and this year my gift to all of you is a recipe. No no no don’t go away, this isn’t one of those “find it anywhere” recipes for cake or brownies… it is, in fact, my family’s recipe for a potent, whiskey-based drink that smells like Christmas itself: Virytas.
Pronounced “vititas”, this Lithuanian recipe is hard to find. I’ve only come across one online, and it isn’t the same one we use. I have many childhood memories of this drink being concocted on my mother’s stove, filling the house with the aromas I now associate with Christmas. Ok, I’ll admit they weren’t fond memories. I actually hated the smell when I was a kid, but as I grew older I gained a certain nostalgia for it, and now, as I sit here writing with a pot of Virytas cooling on my stove, I can tell you with no uncertainty that it smells absolutely wonderful.
I had been wanting to make Virytas for years; I’d asked my parents about the recipe several times but somehow it never made its way to me. This year I was determined, and today my stepmom emailed me with my second cousin George’s recipe complete with her warnings about the difficulty of making it. I’m going to chalk them up to a bunch of people in one kitchen, because it wasn’t difficult at all.
George’s recipe was funny but all in paragraph form (much to my stepmom’s chagrin, since she was trying to tell me what I had to get over the phone) so here’s my version, with some of George’s commentary mixed in.
Ingredients:
1 orange peel
1 lemon peel
10 whole cloves
8 cinnamon sticks, crushed into slivers
4 whole nutmeg, cut into eighths
2/3 cup (about one and a half of the 1.5 ounce containers) fennel seed*
2 pounds honey
1 750 mL bottle Rye Whiskey
1 quart of water, plus a bit more for later
* I’m pretty sure my dad’s side of the family makes this recipe differently from my mom’s side. The smell I remember as a child was pretty heavily of the caraway seed persuasion. I'll have to give that version a try some time.
Ingredient buying hints:
Spices are expensive. Even on sale, this could be a really pricey recipe if you buy everything from the spice section of the grocery store. Other than the fennel seed, the other spices can be found dirt cheap in the international foods section.
I used the Aunt Sue’s Raw-wild natural honey. My cousin specifically said to use the “wonderful stuff you buy at roadsides, not the junk in the stores unless it is the true dark Sioux honey form South Dakota”, but I was in Giant, and the Sue Bee’s stuff was from Iowa but it was dark and in a nice big bottle and it actually tastes pretty darn good.
On the topic of the whiskey, George says he always uses “Pikesville Rye”, which I actually managed to find in the local liquor store here in Silver Spring. It’s dirt cheap, and it’ll take the skin off your teeth. Cheap is good though, as far as I’m concerned, and when all was said and done this recipe cost under $30.
And here’s the actual recipe!
Making Virytas is a two-step process. In the first step you make the bitters, and once that is done you make the rest of the liqueur.
For the bitters:
Peel your orange and lemon and throw the peel in a large pot. Just for the record, seeing a peeled lemon has the same psychological effect on me as seeing an egg without a shell. Annnyway, measure out your fennel seeds and count your cloves and throw them in. Chopping the nutmeg wasn’t too bad if I scored the nut first and used a large knife to cut it. To get the cinnamon all chopped up, I stuck it in a Ziploc bag and hit it with a hammer. Add those to the pot too, along with a quart of water. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and stir it as it goes. Allow it to boil for five minutes, and add a little water (about ¼ of a cup) as it evaporates, then take it off the heat. At this point, you should have a cider coloured mixture and your kitchen should smell wonderful. I wound up with just about three cups of bitters. Scoop out the big chunks and strain the rest into another container.
Step two:
After your bitters have cooled, add one cup whiskey, one cup bitters, and one cup honey to the pot and bring it to boil, then turn off the heat. Here my cousin George says to mix the ingredients one at a time until you get a mixture you like. I wound up using all of the whiskey, all of the bitters, and about 2/3 of the honey I bought. To quote George, “You will know you have attained perfection by two criteria 1. You will suddenly exhale and shout Wow spontaneously and 2. You will see saints dancing and can converse with your long departed grandfather.” Well, the second didn’t happen, but I definitely had a “wow” moment, so I guess I did something right!
Oddly enough, I don’t recall ever drinking Virytas as an adult, so I really can’t tell you if I botched it or not. As far as I’m concerned though, it tastes fantastic. In the end I had two 750 mL bottles of Virytas, minus the bit I’m sipping now. Always be sure to serve it warm.
So to conclude, if you like sweet, warm wintry drinks, by all means give this one a try. Make a bottle for yourself and give the other away to someone you love!
Wishing you a boozy holiday (hey, what else do you expect from the flask lady?),
Ned
Pronounced “vititas”, this Lithuanian recipe is hard to find. I’ve only come across one online, and it isn’t the same one we use. I have many childhood memories of this drink being concocted on my mother’s stove, filling the house with the aromas I now associate with Christmas. Ok, I’ll admit they weren’t fond memories. I actually hated the smell when I was a kid, but as I grew older I gained a certain nostalgia for it, and now, as I sit here writing with a pot of Virytas cooling on my stove, I can tell you with no uncertainty that it smells absolutely wonderful.
I had been wanting to make Virytas for years; I’d asked my parents about the recipe several times but somehow it never made its way to me. This year I was determined, and today my stepmom emailed me with my second cousin George’s recipe complete with her warnings about the difficulty of making it. I’m going to chalk them up to a bunch of people in one kitchen, because it wasn’t difficult at all.
George’s recipe was funny but all in paragraph form (much to my stepmom’s chagrin, since she was trying to tell me what I had to get over the phone) so here’s my version, with some of George’s commentary mixed in.
Ingredients:
1 orange peel
1 lemon peel
10 whole cloves
8 cinnamon sticks, crushed into slivers
4 whole nutmeg, cut into eighths
2/3 cup (about one and a half of the 1.5 ounce containers) fennel seed*
2 pounds honey
1 750 mL bottle Rye Whiskey
1 quart of water, plus a bit more for later
* I’m pretty sure my dad’s side of the family makes this recipe differently from my mom’s side. The smell I remember as a child was pretty heavily of the caraway seed persuasion. I'll have to give that version a try some time.
Ingredient buying hints:
Spices are expensive. Even on sale, this could be a really pricey recipe if you buy everything from the spice section of the grocery store. Other than the fennel seed, the other spices can be found dirt cheap in the international foods section.
I used the Aunt Sue’s Raw-wild natural honey. My cousin specifically said to use the “wonderful stuff you buy at roadsides, not the junk in the stores unless it is the true dark Sioux honey form South Dakota”, but I was in Giant, and the Sue Bee’s stuff was from Iowa but it was dark and in a nice big bottle and it actually tastes pretty darn good.
On the topic of the whiskey, George says he always uses “Pikesville Rye”, which I actually managed to find in the local liquor store here in Silver Spring. It’s dirt cheap, and it’ll take the skin off your teeth. Cheap is good though, as far as I’m concerned, and when all was said and done this recipe cost under $30.
And here’s the actual recipe!
Making Virytas is a two-step process. In the first step you make the bitters, and once that is done you make the rest of the liqueur.
For the bitters:
Peel your orange and lemon and throw the peel in a large pot. Just for the record, seeing a peeled lemon has the same psychological effect on me as seeing an egg without a shell. Annnyway, measure out your fennel seeds and count your cloves and throw them in. Chopping the nutmeg wasn’t too bad if I scored the nut first and used a large knife to cut it. To get the cinnamon all chopped up, I stuck it in a Ziploc bag and hit it with a hammer. Add those to the pot too, along with a quart of water. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and stir it as it goes. Allow it to boil for five minutes, and add a little water (about ¼ of a cup) as it evaporates, then take it off the heat. At this point, you should have a cider coloured mixture and your kitchen should smell wonderful. I wound up with just about three cups of bitters. Scoop out the big chunks and strain the rest into another container.
Step two:
After your bitters have cooled, add one cup whiskey, one cup bitters, and one cup honey to the pot and bring it to boil, then turn off the heat. Here my cousin George says to mix the ingredients one at a time until you get a mixture you like. I wound up using all of the whiskey, all of the bitters, and about 2/3 of the honey I bought. To quote George, “You will know you have attained perfection by two criteria 1. You will suddenly exhale and shout Wow spontaneously and 2. You will see saints dancing and can converse with your long departed grandfather.” Well, the second didn’t happen, but I definitely had a “wow” moment, so I guess I did something right!
Oddly enough, I don’t recall ever drinking Virytas as an adult, so I really can’t tell you if I botched it or not. As far as I’m concerned though, it tastes fantastic. In the end I had two 750 mL bottles of Virytas, minus the bit I’m sipping now. Always be sure to serve it warm.
So to conclude, if you like sweet, warm wintry drinks, by all means give this one a try. Make a bottle for yourself and give the other away to someone you love!
Wishing you a boozy holiday (hey, what else do you expect from the flask lady?),
Ned
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
La Fée Verte
Oh pin-up girls, how do I love thee. I realized a few days ago I hadn't added a new flask to the shop that I printed since May, and that I was getting bored with my current lineup. I really wanted a new pin-up to grace the collection, I had a large pair of lime green pants lying around, and I had been knocking around ideas for an absinthe flask anyway. It all just kinda flowed out in one easy-to-draw evening, which is unusual for me since I normally go through many rounds of revisions with my sketches. Carved on Saturday and printed on Sunday, I'm really happy with the speed and the outcome.
My favorite thing about this flask is the ink. You can't see it online, but in person the green ink really shimmers. I mixed it from a dry pigment, a first for my flasks.
On another note, since this design really requires green, I'm thinking of discontinuing the quail flasks. I can hear the collective "nooooooooo" from those of you who like it, but it almost never sells online and rarely at shows. I'm thinking of moving it to a greeting card format. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that though.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I just want you
Here's a little project I've been talking about for a while. Make a bunch of inexpensive, free text-based artwork and leave them places. I want to communicate, make people happy, and add something interesting and unexpected to the lives of total strangers whom I will never meet. These will be going around DC and possibly Baltimore.
My partner in crime for this project is Atom Davis, a painter, musician, and historic preservationist living in Savannah, GA. This phrase actually one of his but I just had to run with it. Eventually we'll be making bigger prints, and some of them might (ok, probably will) wind up for sale at some point, but I'm starting small.
This design was a compromise between what Atom did for the original and what I wanted to do, and for a little bit I was worried about how they were going to look. I used the Speedy Carve stamp material instead of my normal lino, and just used hand pressure instead of running them through the press. I have a hard time carving cursive in general, and the stamp material is so easy to mess up. I was also concerned with the overall aesthetic, since it speaks to letterpress but is completely hand carved and imperfect... but I love them. Right now they're drying on Bertha, I'll get them out and about this weekend.
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