dorothy...

i was browsing through some of my old photographs and found these images of my grandmother, dorothy. you can spot my pops as a little man too in the collage. my grandmother would make him little army outfits to match his dad. as a young lady my grandma dorothy sang on the radio, and played the banjo. in all honesty, she is the most beautiful woman i've ever seen. i only really know her through photographs and stories, so i've built this mythology around her.
here she is as a small child. look at those shoes!! and clothes...do you see what i mean, doesn't she have a enigmatic beauty.

little thing...

little thing magazine says, "we collect beautiful things". i'm all kinds of pumped to be featured in a 3 page spread with lots images and an interview. it's all in chinese though, so if you'd like to read the interview let me know and i'll post the text too.

its so cute because they only refer to me as jessica and since all the text but names are in chinese you see my cat "bug" mentioned, like in the first sentence, and later the name of my parent's dog, Buddy Lee jumps out from all the chinese characters.

lots of great, beautifully printed images throughout the magazine....

i love that memory is my main tagline! memory is one of the main focuses of my work...
they also feature helle jorgensen or gooseflesh, whose work i have been in awe of for awhile....

check out little thing magazine....

bright new things...

my friend Lynelle has a nice new etsy shop called Bright New Things. we went to school together way back for photography. we basically lived in the darkrooms printing the old school way, black and white and color, no computers. her shop has lots of her beautiful imagery....

and lots of good vintage finds, like these rubber stamps i'm loving...

oh yeah and i should mention that lynelle is a kung fu master (what!) and has awesome sphinx cats (hairless cats!) that i've been wanting to steal from her forever!

here you can find lynelle's shop, flickr and blog

say hi to her!

ebay fail!

damnit! out bid outta nowhere on this tiny, tin, vintage typewriter pencil sharpener. (<-- that's a crazy sentence). i was looking at this thinking, "its cool but i really don't need that". like most things i like on ebay, it suddenly becomes, "i must have this." i really didn't need this, but how good is this!!

wax seal rings!

i came across these seal rings from Blind Spot Jewellery (etsy) on their flickr. i am duly impressed. i love creating beautiful mail and often use sealing wax on special packages and letters, so i'd love one of these rings. but which!? they are lovely rings in themselves, but with the utilitarian aspect and old timey charm they are just so crazy good!

and check out their how to on using sealing wax with these rings hereall images via Blind Spot Jewellery

Urban Outfitters blog...

excuse me while i toot my own horn for a minute. UO featured my stars on their blog yesterday. not gonna lie, it's really exciting to me! next month will be my shops one year anniversary with the etsy! it went by so crazy fast. i work really, really hard and question my ability to make it. it's and little things like this that show me that things are looking up and keep me motivated...

and this Nascar thing- is great! 

thanks to forest bound for letting me know!

weekend work...

something satisfying about in progress images. usually its only the finished thing people see, no mention of time and real concerns. i've been stopping more to take photographs of the in between, the process and really enjoy it...

here is the bug hogging the work table while i make a book and the last image is a finished piece i sent out on saturday that i really like making. its a surprise gift so just in case i will save all the telling details and just share this sneak peek...

csa eats...

these are from last week, but i wanted to share now before we get our next batch on tuesday. we are so enamored with the beauty of these fresh veggies in form, color, texture and scent, so we have decided to photograph each batch. i can imagine some stark, strange black and white photographs. just look at these roots. they need a narrative, a little photo story....

cilantro...
smells crazy good. we made salsa with it!

napa cabbage

napa cabbage

u-choy

7.17.2009

while i was working yesterday i stopped to capture this light. i like all the little bits just so...

blue dress...

something so simple...makes me happy

just browsing vintage and found this beautiful blue dress from kirby vintage. i hardly ever wear dresses. i am a true t-shirt and jeans girl. i feel awkward wearing dresses and skirts. strangely enough though i have many vintage dresses that i wear on special occasions. this is something i'd love to have for one of these times....

you should check kirby's shop. good, interesting images. seems like she has fun with it.

thinking of a blue dress made my mind wonder here to this song....

thank you etsy....

for the new category, Natural History! in the gift guides. so many wonderful things to pursue! ...so excited about it....it is dangerous. and thanks for featuring my cabinet of curiosity in this awesome new category. (side note: the "hot list" sounds so funny to me...)

henna...

A's bridal mehndi, originally uploaded by kenzilicious.

yesterday i pumped into a lady with beautiful henna designs on her hands, palms and wrists. she said it had been done for a wedding. i never knew that henna is a traditional done for weddings. the one i saw was so very beautiful in design and color and got me thinking of the intricate patterns. i searched for images and thank you flickr for gifting these....

Moroccan henna for a bride, originally uploaded by kenzilicious.

distressed ceramics...

by natalie moore. such a testament for buying vintage and recycling. this tea cup and plate were purchased at a second hand store and turned into these amazing pieces. i covet. imagine tea and such using these....

thanks to tea for joy for sharing these on her great blog, where i originally saw these and had to share too...

my weekend work (and a crazy great bike)

i was working on these pieces this weekend non stop trying to

make time for making my friend's guest book for her wedding
in two weeks. so right now i'm watching the life aquatic and
finishing these embroidery pieces up-
putting them in frames and backing them...

i love the one that says, puddin'. people request the best things!

example two of great requests...
here is a child's anatomical drawing that I've been requested
to embroider...how crazy amazing is that! i love the image so
much. the child handwriting and scribble-y lines kill me... ...and i had to share this shopping cart/bicycle hybrid that i
spotted on one of my neighborhood walks. i'm in love with
creative/ghetto problem solving. live in ny? can't carry much
because you don't own a car? bike can't carry all your grocreies?
why not build a ghetto shopping cart bike? i love you ny....

summer walks...

...while it was sunny last week we took a walk in our neighborhood of crown heights.

ny always has great trash. it makes me so incredibly sad to see so many perfectly useful things just thrown away, especailly books. seeing books in the trash drives me crazy!! plus you find things like this!

it's cat city here! so. many. cats.

photoshoot- what else do you do on your walk, but take pictures in an alley? really. i like how we both made the same pose (in reverse) in our respective images. this may be the first image i've ever posted an image of myself here.... hello there!