collection of found objects from charlottesville

i've been away for a while

here is what ive been doing:

i moved to charlottesville for the summer, got a wonderful job at a coffee house called mudhouse, found out that i got into my dream school, decided to transfer, and moved to richmond. 

i am now attending vcuarts. it's really stressful and busy but so much more fun than UVA. this is definitely what i'm supposed to be doing.

i'm trying to resurrect the blog. let's see how it goes.

not craft related but:

this song and video by Noah and the Whale is so cute. i love the shoe square. 

also can't go wrong with ukulele. i have a friend who plays it and i want to learn!

i made dead battery underwear!

journal wednesday 1

new tradition at molly milkfish!

wednesday is journal day.

i've kept journals all my life. i don't write in them consistently, really. i go through phases where i'll write every day and then take a 5 month break. the older i get, the more i use visuals in journaling. i'm really inspired by drawing from life: the journal as art. it's beautiful. 

anyway ill start out with some recent stuff. 

my current journal is a moleskine - a staple, hipster or not. (hopefully not)

charlottesville map and tracing paper.

announcement

i'm so excited to announce

 

my etsy shop!

stamp drawer!

i am going back to charlottesville on the 9th of june. so unpacking is a bit frustrating because i know it all has to go back in boxes pretty soon. when i was organizing, i realized that i finally have enough stamp/stamp paraphernalia to warrant a whole drawer! (i think that the words paraphernalia and warrant look weird, but spellcheck told me they were right!)

letter and number stamps. 

homemade linocuts 

drawer!

BLAGOBLOGSPHERE

i've been working on a really awesome project, 

but it is secret for now.

i'd like to call your attention to this.

while im working 2-7 on my project my favorite 9-5ers have created a blog!

and 3 posts in one day! does it get better?

i need a camera

these are way more fun than i remember. there's something really awesome about a disposable camera. i would recommend it, definitely. i got some awesome shots of the banana pancakes my new ihop friend robert made for me. hopefully i will scan the cream of the crop for your viewing pleasure. 

i really like to use phrases like "cream of the crop" and "that really gets my goat!"

happy birthday amber!

customized pencils: the project for when you're really bored!

this is a tutorial about how to make covered pencils. it works best to use hexagonal pencils, but here i've used a round one. magazine paper works really well for this project!

After you have chosen your paper, measure out a strip. I make it as wide as my pink ruler. Draw a line.

then measure the length of the strip by matching up your ugly uncovered pencil's metal strip to the edge, and make a mark.

now, turn your paper over and glue the back of it. i used a mixture of about 1 part glue 2 parts water. 

slowly roll the paper and cover the pencil. be careful! this is where it's easy to mess up. make sure your top edge still lines up with the metal band!

you're done! sharpen and admire!

 

maybe even use them!

i made this for my mom, as a thanks for the awesome care packages she sends me (definitely a post to come dedicated to that!). it's a plastic-y bag filled with perfume, scented pencils, a little notebook, and a cool fortune telling fish! the bag was a little plain so i used some sticker paper she got me to add an armadillo. it's one of those things that i drew randomly and i dont think i can recreate. bummer.

oh oh

i made this as a quasi-easter-basket-sorry-i-couldn't-go-to-the-beach present for my friend (and future roommate!), kate. i filled it with tea, mints, a dark chocolate bunny, and a necklace. 

i do believe she liked it. 

bunny label

I used to try to write my friend Richard a letter each week, because he gets sad on Wednesdays (long story). Of course, I slacked off, but I still love him and send him good vibes on Wednesdays. Anyway, I really liked this bunny. 

following amber's lead, i made magnets using some ugly free "i love gavin degraw" magnets that plan 9 gave out. 

sharpie art

raccoon bandit drawing. i want to burn a screen with him... or make a stamp. we shall see. 

amber

000

this is my friend amber. she's a pretty awesome artist. check out her online uber portfolio.

she came over and made me a wonderful gift using my two mollymilkfish stamps (perhaps i will later post about the wonders of linoleum?)


she also made this awesome cow cutout. with more shameless mollymilkfish plugging.

for illustration friday

this week's topic is primitive. i chose to layer the cave drawings in order to make the whole piece even more primitive. i don't know if i like it all that much, though. just dicking around.

i am a bug geek.

this is my favorite thing i've ever embroidered. it's a cicada on a white tee shirt.

i really miss the cicadas. it's officially been 4 years since brood X visited northern virginia/dc. i remember my bio teacher took us out digging for little ones. today i saw a white webbish thing in a tree, and almost 100 tiny caterpillars were wriggling around it. bugs are always better in large numbers, dont you agree?

click here for a really awesome stop action molting cicada. if you dont like bugs, you might not want to watch.

speaking of bugs,



this is herbert. he was my dead bee. he was really cool while i had him. but i got drunk one night and got a little too rough. he split in two. now i can't listen to Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me" without a heavy heavy heart. ("you wreck me baby, you break me in two"). that album also has "Honey Bee." it's a guilty listen.

p.s. 5oth post!!!

need more spf 1000

this is what 45 minutes of sun yesterday did to me. note how appropriate the necklace is...


ok enough chest shots for one blog!

in progress:

gregor mendel in thread. on purple fabric i found for free outside the frame shop here in charlottesville! almost makes me regret saying anything bad about this place. also check out my totally cute wooden needle holder from the small object. photos taken on cassie's refrigerator. i dont really put too much in there (it's inefficient to eat), but the top of it makes a great glossy background.

in progress:

my grey (gray? which is better?) sweatshirt was looking a little boring. here is an iguana that i am putting on it. he'll have a frame around him when im done.

cluster

my wall has gotten busier.



this is my dream.

new blog!

i've moved from cuterthanmartha

for a few reasons.

#1.
ever heard of notmartha? well i hadnt, until after i created cuterthanmartha. and then it was just awkward.

#2.
no one is cuter than martha

#3.
the old blog didn't allow me to do a lot of things. there were some account glitches.

#4.
the plan is to legally change my name if i can't find a man named milkfish to marry.


so welcome to the new blog. photos courtesy of amber erickson. she's good for some stuff.

and i resolve to try to post every day!
whoa!

everyone's favorite wish-he-wasnt-gay guy

i've been obsessively listening to ten in the swear jar and xiu xiu lately.



click and print for a jamie stewart coloring page!

oh oh robespierre

i have a friend who really likes the french revolution.

like REALLY likes it.


for his birthday, i embroidered robespierre, leader of the jacobins. i dont know much about any of this, so you'd have to ask him for details. alls i know is this is what he looks like. I traced over it with a sulky heat transfer pen, then put it on some white fabric.

here he is embroidered. he sorta looks like george washington, oh well.

then i stuck him in a shadow box, and put a frame around him about 2 inches in front of the fabric. it creates a sorta peek in kinda look.

anyway, he says he liked it so im glad! im going to make one for me with gregor mendel. ive almost finished embroidering him.

ben

my brother (^) is moving to France. Maybe I'll go visit him.

baby animalssss

i made this envelope for a friend from a book called "Baby Animals" nabbed from the bargain section at Barnes and Noble. Giant glossy pages with picture of cute things are perfect for envelope making.

im loving paper cutouts!

here is a rooster in a shadowbox; he's on my wall with a bunny right now.

today was a really beautiful day. at about 12 am, i posted some secret fortunes in the classrooms and outside around my school.

"i want to meet you"

"you should be a bit nicer to people"

"going to class isn't the most important thing in the world"

"college isn't the only option."

"in 10 years, you won't remember this class, but you might remember this note"

and as i was walking back to my friend's dorm, i saw this sign. oops.

i laid in my friend's bed until 4, and then i came home and slept for a long, long time. i had a dream that someone i was supposed to hang out with that night went out of town.

i met a friend for lunch. we stopped by a bagel store and i saw a girl whom i had read about on craigslist's missed connections. someone has a crush on her but is too scared to talk to her. she matched the description on the post. i knew it was her. i told her about it and i hope she checks it out. maybe ill go back sometime and ask her about it.

and my dream from the early morning came true; the person i had made plans with went out of town!

i got a cute baby squirrel tattoo!

i think it's important to leave your roommate secret notes everyday. the more random, the better. today i went to Foods of All Nations. I was psyched because they have some good european candy. also, they have cadbury mini eggs - the best easter candy ever. not those gross creamy things, these guys have a chalky sugar shell and super good milk chocolate inside. i love easter. yet another sign that i might be jesus. lets add it to the list:

REASONS I THINK IM JESUS
1. stigmata
2. meekly nice
3. love easter (for the candy)

REASONS I MIGHT NOT BE JESUS
1. not jewish
2. dont believe in me
3. dont have apostles - yet.

another reason to love easter is baby chicks. my mom used to get them in her easter basket. this has never happened to me. when i get older and have some money i'd like to have chickens and a goat maybe. you know what always cheers me up? saying PEEP PEEP out loud. go ahead, try it.

here is what's on my wall: it makes me happy
most people have photographs of friends or family. that's kind of boring. mhm.

this was a birthday present - and an awesome one at that - it's a linocut of a man and his bike in Amsterdam.

i think bugs are pretty cool. i dont know though. if i saw these guys walking around my room i might feel differently. but i wouldnt kill them. no no no.

this is a photograph by my friend ellie (blog link soon!). it's a squirrel amongst nutcrackers. i was really impressed.



this is a shadowbox i made with some of my vintage buttons. my favorite one is the smoking one. resting on it is a postcard of souther salazar. he's amazing.

i'm sorry that i take such shitty photographs. I should learn how to do that...


on another note, id like to say that this weekend has been a pretty good one. i love listening to people talk about what they love. kate, thanks for talking to me about your epiphanies. they're beautiful. chandler, i loved hearing about reed. im so excited for you and jealous! james, hearing you talk about SAS is awesome.

does anyone else feel like going to class is making them dumber? i mean so far i've had only one teacher talk about the subject with passion. and it was an awesome class because of that. genetics and anatomy with pennybacker was awesome last year because he was excited about it.


i know that college is making me less creative.