DIY lotus lamp

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Ali

I’ve wanted one of those Ikea Knappa lamps for a while. I realize they’re rather ubiquitous, but they have a neat look and the price is more than right. One issue: they’re not available at Ikea Canada. I’m not quite sure why there’s a discrepancy between the American and Canadian stores, but alas, the lamp and I were not meant to be

That is, until I found this instructable. With nothing more than a bunch of plastic file folders, scissors, a drill, some wire and a lot of patience, I now have one of my very own. I warn you that since I had to buy the ceiling fixture separate, the cost of the lamp is probably equal to that of the ikea one, but it’s still much cheaper than anything else that I was able to find.

One small warning about the instructable – it makes a very small lamp. I doubled the bigger template to get a lamp that is just over a foot in diameter.

Work in progress

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Ali

Apparently there was confusion about which part of the kitchen was being done over. Not the cabinets, we already painted those this summer and being lowly students we aren’t rolling in the dough enough to change all the cabinets. Luckily for us (or unluckily) we have a very very tiny amount of counter space. While this is a pain most of the time (like when we’re trying to cook), it makes for a much cheaper update.

I don’t want to post the finished pictures yet, but here’s the one with the counters ripped up.

Goodbye white laminate!

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Ali

Today I bid goodbye to the awful white laminate countertop in both my kitchen and bathroom. I don’t know whose idea it was 20 years ago that thought that bright white counters on white cabinets with white-ish linoleum floors was a good idea. Maybe they just weren’t cooks, because I’m pretty sure that it you look at that counter it will stain.

But as of today no more! I really hope everything goes smoothly, I have no idea what goes into replacing a countertop, but luckily it doesn’t matter since this is one thing we’ve chosen not to DIY.

Fancy pants technology

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Ali

Yes, I am that person, the one who went at 5 to go wait in line for a new iPad. Well, it was closer to 6, but there was a line, though I didn’t actually have any problems getting one. The worst was waiting until the next day (post CV/Resp exam) to open it. It’s definitely a nice little piece of design, I can’t believe that there’s enough room inside it to actually be a minicomputer.

In non-ipad-gushing “news”, I’ve been working on lots of design stuff as of late (hence the lack of updates) and some fun kitchen and bathroom updates that I will post photos of!

New photos

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Ali

As I mentioned yesterday, I finished off a roll of film that had been sitting in my Ricoh. The roll was Lomography 400 ISO colour negative film, so the colours and contrast are pretty neat. I think it’s going for a cross-processed sort of feel. These are some of my favourite photos off the roll. I could say I’m doing a themed thing with feet, but I think these photos are almost a year apart (though it may just be that the theme is on going).

(I cheated and made this one black and white in Photoshop)

Mini flash diffuser

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Ali

Today I decided that I wanted to finish off the roll of film that had been sitting in my film SLR for, lets just say, too long. While waiting for my film to be developed, I was eyeing the flash diffusers and remembered that I should make one for my big flash. Then, while googling home made diffusers, I came across one for the built-in flashes on many DSLRs, using none other than a FILM CANISTER (and it just so happens that I have a bunch of those)

So I whipped out the exacto knife and and made one of these, and I must say, it works very well! I’m excited to get to play with it some more.

(photo from Photojojo.com)

The tutorial can be found here, courtesy of Photojojo.com (an awesome inspiration site in general)

Ampersand ID chart

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Ali

On Design Sponge I saw this wonderful Ampersand ID Chart by Douglas Wilson. I. Must. Have. It. It is the perfect combination of my love of typography (and ampersands) and it’s a Snellen chart! (for checking vision)

Unfortunately it’s currently sold out, but I supposed I’ll just have to keep checking back or scour the internet to find one.

Anatomical sketches

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Ali

I’ve started going to the Anatomy Drawing Club again. It’s good because it forces me to make time for just drawing (since I have a horrible guilt of doing so normally). Tonight I ingeniously thought of taking photos of my sketches with my iphone before leaving.

Pelvis and lumbar spine

Heart (with a bunch of detail)

Heart (without a bunch of detail)

Wedding invite

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Ali

Rachel (and Mico) are getting married this summer, so I offered to design their invite. They’re being very avant garde/budget smart/tree friendly by emailing their invites and having guests respond on their website rather than mailing everything out (postage is expensive!). Part of me really wishes they could letterpress these though.

Dates and location have been changed so that the entire internet world doesn’t show up at their wedding (as I know they would)

Little logo

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Ali

I’ve been doing a lot of little design things lately. Which I love. Sometimes the poor student in me tries to complain and say that it would be nice if I was getting paid. It would also be nice if I won the lottery.

So while most of my work has been working on top-secret Euphoria stuff, I’ve been doing some illustrations of flaps, and I also got asked to help clean up a little logo that someone had done. It was already a really nice little design, all I did was make it a vector to clean it up a little.

Spilt Martini

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