aviator

This isn't the best picture, but I made a new hat. I'm not sure what face I'm making. . .

portraits

These are the final images of my friends that I used for my portrait assignment. The critique went really well. I also used the photograph of Arlie that I posted earlier under "art school."

he is growing up

Henry has been making a lot of advances recently. So I'm going to post a bunch of pictures documenting his new tricks. Some of the pictures are blurred, but that's because he's always on the move!

He is very good at sitting:

He loves to crawl:

He stands up every chance he gets:

He is demonstrating an early interest in photography:

He can drink out of a sippy cup like a pro:

He is an expert at playing fetch:


As you can clearly see, he likes to "help" me feed him his dinner:

And the latest development. . . watching Baby Einstein on YouTube:


It seems like he's doing something new everyday. I love it!

splish-splash

Henry took a bath in the big-boy bathtub last night. I snapped this picture with my phone. He sat perfectly in his bath pillow ring thingy, and corralled all of the ducks into it with him. So precious! He was playing so well, I had to keep adding warm water so he could stay in longer. I think it was about a thirty minute bath. He absolutely adores water.

jealous

Sometimes I really wish I were a fashion photographer. Especially when I see something like this diptych from Rinze van Brug. . .

Just a thought. That's it for now.

art school

In our location lighting class, we're working on our first project of the semester: one indoor portrait with available light, one with reflector, and the same outdoors. Above are some of my personal favorites from my shoot (but not the finals for the project by any means.) The topmost is my classmate Jan, and the second is my good friend Arlie.
Below are some progress shots of Arlie's shoot. At times it seems as if the entire junior photo class at VCU is nudie-obsessed, taking naked pictures of ourselves and each other whenever we get the chance, though this is not the case. Arlie's final portrait of Christina turned out to be really cool, and I'm excited to see her entire series on critique day.

some things i've made

These are just a few of the things I've been making recently. Above is an adapted pattern for a short-row knit scarf. I apologize for the pictures . . . low lighting=high ISO=high grain/poor image quality :/

Multi-colored ruffle scarf (NY Gypsy yarn - love it!):

My giant circle scarf. Loop it around and around as much as you want:

My metallic gold circle scarf. Wear it as a hood or a scarf. It's gorgeous:

Finally, I posted some knitted/crocheted creations. I'll post more when I get a chance to take better pictures. For now I need to stop blogging and start knitting. . .

one more post for tonight

Google wastes energy and Macbook causes leukemia. These are recent discussions we've had in class. Yesterday someone mentioned reading that for every two google searches, enough energy is used to boil water. It's scary to think of all the things we use and do that harm ourselves and our world. And a lot of us rarely give it a second thought. I personally would like to be more eco-friendly, but find myself pushing the thought from my mind because when I do think about it, I feel too guilty about every tub of developer, stop, and fix I've ever poured down the drain. I shudder to think of all the synthetic yarns sitting in my dining room right now. I wish I had more green (money) to be able to go green (organic/natural fibers.) Until then, I better get to work on my plastic bag bags.

Remember to bookmark my blog, website (http://marionbraffordglass.com) and flickr, so you never have to google me again!!!

the fan

Sounds like I'm talking about my neighborhood, but I'm not. The fan I'm referring to is the one I made as a Christmas gift for Arlie, featured in the photos here. Above is a detail of the feathers used. They were primarily peacock, but there were some pheasant feathers around the lower parts.

The back:

The blown-glass bead:

Feather detail:

The fan in all its glory:

This took me a few hours to make. I started with a base I thrifted that was roughly the shape of the fan. I attached a 3-ply jute to the back in a spiral. I also glued the jute along the edges, and attached the bead to the bottom edge with it. On the front, I layered feathers upon feathers upon feathers. I wish I had taken progress/process pictures, but I was too busy trying to fight the cats off the feathers and finish while the baby was happy and/or asleep.

The best part about this gift was the wrapping. I didn't have/couldn't find a box or bag big enough to put it in, so I thought I'd sandwich it between two large pieces of cardboard to protect it, tape them together, and then wrap it. I didn't have any cardboard on hand (I threw out the huge box from the high chair I had just gotten the day before like an idiot) so I ventured out to the Dollar Tree. There I found some Nascar posters, backed by cardboard and wrapped in plastic. I bought them, intending to throw the posters out and only use the cardboard. Instead, I left the posters on, facing outwards, with the fan hidden between them. The look on Arlie's face when she tore back the wrapping to find Jeff Gordan and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was priceless. The obvious relief she felt when seeing the fan was even better. Merry Christmas, Arlie!

back to school

School is back in session. Classes started here at VCU on Monday, and I am already too busy! I have been neglecting my blog for a while now, and will probably continue to do so until the end of the semester. That's sad. On a happier/more interesting note, I am excited about learning the mysterious language of html this semester. I thought it sounded daunting at first, but after thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I'll like it. . .


You can't see it. . .


but I'm typing html right now. . .


The reason you can't see is because it's working.


Yay!

so sorry

It feels like it's been forever since I wrote last. I'm sorry! Life has been crazy lately. And I've been doing other things online, such as "stashing" all my yarns on Ravelry. If you love to knit and/or crochet, you should join Ravelry. It's pretty awesome. Anyway. . .

I don't have much to say at the moment. I promise to try to post pictures of my finished knitting/crochet projects soon. I have so many, I've just been waiting for the right weather to go out and photograph them. And the time, of course.

This is all for now.

P.S. My son started crawling today! Life will never be the same.