I'm a proud Momma

 My son Ty has been published again. Last year he was hired by Time Out Chicago to design an origami cocktail ring from a ten dollar bill for the cover of their issue on cheap deals in the city. Last month they contacted him to do a feature in their kids issue.

Over the last couple years Ty has gotten several jobs designing origami models for ad agencies, so in addition to the article the Time Out editors asked him if he could make two models to coincide with local museum exhibits. You can see the article and photos of some of his origami here.

You can also learn to make an origami flower by watching this video tutorial by my son Ty.

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My sons a cover boy!

My son Ty has just made his first cover by designing an origami cocktail ring for TimeOut Chicago magazine. They even did a little feature of him on their blog.

Chicago Origami Society

A couple months ago a film crew showed up at the Origami Society Meeting my son Ty goes to. The film makers work for the city and usually film Mayor Daley's activities, but since they were on a hiatus from the Mayor they were working on a few personal projects, including this one. It was so funny to see Ty with his long hair again, he cut it really short a couple days after this was filmed. I think this will be aired on a local cable access show too, for the month of July.

Nina has been busy!

My daughter Nina had a big order to make 50 of her Happy Monsters for Christmas. She has been sewing like a fiend, but has finished her order and sent them off to their new homes. They vary in size from 10-14 inches and are made from polar fleece and super soft fur.
I want a couple for myself. Aren't they cute?

Nina's Hearts

My daughter Nina has been making Sculpy hearts. They range in size from about 3/4" across to 1 1/2". I think they are so cool.

Nina's first free motion stitching

I gave my daughter Nina a short lesson on free-motion quilting yesterday. I gave her a quick demo (about 2 minutes) explaining about coordinating the speed of the foot pedal while moving the fabric. I asked her to write her name and follow a wiggly line and then start seeing what she could do with the stitching.Before long she was drawing bones, veins, a tree, a squid, a heart, an eye and skull. She is not really interested in making quilts, but she really likes sewing and making things. I did not tell her any of the “rules” about quilting, just let her play and see if she could control the needle and draw. For her first time free-motion stitching I am pretty impressed.

Ty is featured on the CRAFTzine blog today!

How cool is this?!!!

Ty's interview on NPR

Ty was interviewed by an NPR reporter for a segment on the Eight Forty Eight Show here in Chicago about the Columbia College exhibit; It's all in the fold. The origami segment was bumped in the schedule 2 times and finally aired today. You can see a photo of Ty holding a tiny crane on the NPR website next to the 848 show description for today.

You can listen to the interview here.

Ty is featured in local paper

Pioneer News hit the newstands today in Chicago, and I have been told Ty has a full page photo on the cover of the newspaper. I have yet to see it myself, but you can see the article online here.

Ty's Big Night- The Origami Opening

Ty's opening at Columbia College was friday night. There was a great turn out, Ty thought the whole experience was pretty cool.

Ty sold this large green frog at the opening.
The standing dragon guy "the bahamut" was Ty's ultimate challenge in origami. For a year or two he talked about wanting to make this model, it has 274 steps. We ordered the Japanese book Works of Satoshi Kamiya a month ago so he could make it.
There are three cranes on the penny folded from 4 mm sheets of paper. The 3mm was accidentally left out of the case.
The centipede on the wall is 4 1/2 feet long, it was started from a 30" x 10' length of paper.
Ty folded 350 gold foil cranes for this installation. The cranes hang from the ventilation duct so the air currents make them dance while the lights project their shadows on the large open wall. It was really beautiful.

Ty was asked by this gal if she could interview him for her blog.
They had a huge bowl of chocolate fortune cookies that had the most relevant fortunes. Mine said "you are deeply attached to your family." I thought Ty's was perfect, especially on a night like this.
Besides Ty's work there were many other wonderful displays of origami. This is Robert Langs work.

This folded silk is by Chris Palmer.
This is a Menger Sponge made from index cards by Joshua Koppel. A member of the Chicago Origami Society.
These are geometric forms made from paper plates by Bradford Hansen Smith.
Christine Edison is also a member of the Chicago Origami Society and does the most beautiful tessellations.

There were quite a few other wonderful pieces in the show. Hopefully if you are in the Chicago area in the next month you can stop in and see them.
I am one proud mom!

Nina’s Latest Work

Nina has delved into the world of painting. These are her first acrylic paintings on 5" x 5" canvases.
She has taken some black and white vintage photos, manipulated them in photoshop and applied them to her canvas as a base to begin her painting. This is a great way to learn to paint. Several illustration instructors when I was in art school used this method for their paintings. Although back then, we were not using home computers and printers, we were relying on xerox machines to manipulate our photos. The benefit is that you see exactly where to put shadows and highlights while you paint. This helps you to understand how to make an image look dimensional, while you transform the photo into a unique new image with paint.

Tiny origami

Ty has been making these cards for the exhibit. It is a standard size business card, with a gelatin capsule glued to it containing an origami crane that was folded from a one centimeter sheet of paper. There is a sample of the one centimeter paper at the top.


Believe it or not this crane is more than double the size of the crane he has in the exhibit. He folded that one from a 3 mm sheet of paper.

IQF Silent Auction

This is going to be this years contribution to the silent auction in Houston. I started painting this at the Quilting Arts virtual studios during the IQA Chicago show.I pulled it out yesterday and started the quilting by outlining all the images. After quilting all of the black area I will trim it and finish the edges. I am thinking about using this aqua rick rack with another 1/4" ribbon to finish it off.

My son is starting to get calls for appointments with reporters for the origami exhibit. Yesterday we had a Chicago NPR reporter in our loft interviewing him for 40 minutes. I was so impressed, this guy had that NPR reporter sound and asked him great questions. Next week he has an interview with a reporter from a Chicago neighborhood newspaper. He is pretty surprised that he is getting this kind of attention. I don't think he realizes the extent of what a big deal it is to be in a major college gallery show at 13.

My Sons First Exhibit

My 13 year old son Ty is going to be in his first exhibit at Columbia College Book & Paper arts gallery in Chicago this month. He is passionate about origami, he has been doing it since he was 4 years old. At that time I taught him to fold a crane and a water bomb, the rest he has learned on his own. It is amazing what kids can learn when you provide them with the tools and opportunity.

Here is the press release:

IT’S ALL IN THE FOLD:
MORE THAN JUST ORIGAMI
Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts
July 28 – August 25, 2007

Chicago, IL – Can you imagine a traditional origami crane folded by a 13-year old to the size of a flea in perfect form? Or a mathematician turned origami folder who is regularly hired by the medical industry to fold something so small that it can fit into a shunt and expand in a human vein? It’s All In the Fold is an exhibition that takes a world look at the way paper transforms itself when folded. More than an amusement, origami today also teaches mathematics and geometry. It's more than just cranes and snowflakes. Try tessellations or tetrahedrons, dodecahedrons and other polygons. Origamic furniture, folded paper lamps, airplanes and a few naughty folds are all on the horizon.
Chicago and international paper folding artists and teachers will amaze you with the dexterity of their folds. It’s All in the Fold has attracted some of the world’s most celebrated folders.

Among the Participating Artists and Folders:
Ingo Maurer
Peter Webber
Yuko Nishimura
Robert Lang
Venessa Gould – of Green Fuse Films
Ty Perez
Bradford Hansen Smith
POPVase
Jennifer Diaz
Museum of Sex
Frederick Bryant
Ann Hansen
Christine Edison
James Dieter
Joshua Koppel
Michael LaFosse
Chris Palmer

WHEN: Exhibition runs July 27 – August 25, 2007
OPENING: Friday, July 27th, 5:30-7:30
WHERE: Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts
1104 S. Wabash Avenue, 2nd floor

Needlecases

Yesterday we made wool felt needlecases for when we take our sewing on the go. This one is mine.



And this one is Nina's for the ultimate in goth crafting.

Craft fair bummer

Unfortunately we had a terrible rainstorm the night of the craft fair and no one came. All the kids had worked so hard, their table displays looked great. There were some sales made none the less, so the kids weren't too unhappy.

Here is Ty's origami raindeer and more of Nina's monsters.