This morning I was on the news show, “More Good Day Oregon” here in Portland. It was pretty fun! Here is a video stream if you want to watch it.Continue Reading
Lately, my daughter is enjoying dressing up and wearing accessories, like purses and headbands. Having never made a dress-up toy before, I thought it would be fun to make a nice family of cats that could be dressed up like paper dolls. We’ve been calling them, “The Dressy Cats!” My son especially loves putting on...Continue Reading
Etsy just posted their How-Tuesday video recently filmed in my studio! We made a Paper Bird Mobile that works nicely as a Mother’s Day present. I’ll attach the template below, but you can view the entire Etsy post and more info here. Thanks, Etsy! [vimeo 23216545 640 360] “This week’s Etsy how-to unfolds in the...Continue Reading
Here is the music video for Mnemonic Sounds! I decided to go with an abstract art theme for the video. It ended up working quite well I think. The band came to my studio last week, and we had a great time shooting it. Everyone got to be involved, which made for a lovely variety of puppeteering...Continue Reading
Last week I made this wooden catapult toy. I was originally going to have it toss paper balls but thought it would be cool to sew some instead. (Similar to the yo-yo balls I made awhile back.) It worked really well. The kids both had a real kick trying to make a basket. I made...Continue Reading
Cheerios just posted the second video I made for them. Here it is. A rubber band box guitar! Very fast and easy to make, and also quite entertaining to play. Could be fun to decorate it with paint or stickers too!Continue Reading
Cool news! Cheerios has sponsored me to make some crafts! They asked me if I could create some “how to” videos for their FaceBook page. Check out my first ever craft tutorial video: How to Make a Snack Box. Hope you’re hungry! My kids really loved it. Always exciting to make something new from a...Continue Reading
Artist Hazel Terry recently told me about Science Toy Maker, which is a site run by a brilliant technology educator and filled with great toy projects including this oscillating woodpecker. It’s such a fun toy! Easy enough for my 3 year old kids to use. Yet, there are some adjustments that can be made, such as how tight or...Continue Reading
The kids and I just made some pop-up puppets this morning. We had a great time picking out the fabrics and drilling holes for the dowel sticks. When we were done, the kids were pretty surprised at how they came to life. Below you can see a quick video. (Including another one of my old...Continue Reading
A couple of days ago we took another short trip out to the countryside to visit my wife’s grandparents. The kids love visiting their great-grandparents, and so do I, because they always seem to have some vintage gifts for me. This time it was an old box of wooden odds and ends that they thought...Continue Reading
I used to do this all the time when I was a kid, but forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago when drawing with Jack and Tess. It’s a great trick, and you can do all kinds of animations. We did a chicken first. If you want to try something like this, here...Continue Reading
Now that I’m on an embroidery roll, I decided to make some owl shirts. I think it might be part therapy too, since all three of my owl paintings sold at my last art show. (You can see a video below of me painting them, if you’d like.)Continue Reading
A friend of mine has been wanting me to make a bird shirt for her, so she finally came to my house with a blank shirt and made me make her one. Here is a little video that she took of the process. You can see my other shirts here and here if you’d like.Continue Reading
I’ve been wanting to make some wire animal sculptures for awhile, and finally got around to it. I thought it would be fun to make the heads out of wood and paint them. They’re definitely Alexander Calder and Joan Miró inspired. Also below is a quick video of me making one, if you want to...Continue Reading
