Steel Butterfly

I am SO excited about this. In my circle of "always ready with a hairbrained, newfangled, tree hugging idea" kind of friends, the discussion of alternative housing and building comes up often. Being in the Kootenays, the Land of the Intentional Community, there are actual examples of eco housing all over the place if you know where to look for them. What we don't understand, is why the concept is still labeled "alternative" and not looked to as the emerging norm.

Enter Maison Idekit Home out of Quebec. (For those of you not geographically adept, that is the large french part of Canada that sits right in the middle. Home to Montreal, which even Vogue recognizes as not being limited to igloos... unless of course you count the Ice Hotel, which is at least the most fabulous igloo going... for those who are into that sort of thing.) Maison Idekit's founders Bernard Morin and Joyce Labelle have finished construction on their dream home, which is also their business prototype, using seven reclaimed shipping containers. The massive steel boxes are the type used by freighters to carry shipments overseas and are generally reused to some extent. Eventually though, they end up in a sort of giant box graveyard that hopes to at least see the steel recycled, but with wood losing its reputation of being the worlds most renewable resource and the strength of steel being greater, using these containers for much needed affordable housing makes sense.

Brilliant idea, not to mention green, but the emphasis here is on affordable. The cost of the Idekit home using traditional building meathods, would reportedly be $400,000. Apparently, the actual cost using the second of the Three Rs was for $175,000. That is a HUGE difference and other countries (of course) have already put this idea into production. A company who calls itself, appropriately, Container City in London in the UK already is in full swing with a number of buildings that also boast clean wind turbine energy for their live/work studios.

For use as student housing in Holland the containers make quite a statement as the Keetwonen complex.

Hurricane victims in the US, as well as a few here and there one offs, may be the start of a movement on this side of the ocean, and companies such as DeMaria Design Associates are turning prefab into preFAB. (Ugh, I hate it when I do that. Sometimes it cannot be helped.)

The DeMaria website uses one of my favorite Bucky Fuller quotes,

"There is nothing in a caterpillar tells you it is going to be a butterfly."

So true.

Now You See It...

I have run into an issue with my studio and my EPIC party has been put on hold. I am fine with this because I have a million and one things to be getting done and thinking about pink pastries should not be topping the list. It will be a couple more weeks.


In the meantime, whilst diligently doing my eco research, I have run across this GORGEOUS artwork by Nicole Dextras. I ran across her visuals in a completely unrelated search on sustainable fabric dying and lo and behold, she turns out to be a graduate from our local art college, Kootenay School of the Arts! I come from Vancouver BC originally and am accustomed to high standards in most creative fields, (the west coast is pretty much saturated with stunning scenery and high profile artists flock like so many pigeons...) but can honestly say that the work that comes out of that school is really a cut above. Anyway, her open-to-the-public studio is on Granville Island which automatically gives her credence and as you can see in these photos, she is worth taking a look at so I plan to visit the next time I am in Van!


Nicole's work is ephemeral art, which means that it is by nature (no pun intended) made to be impermanent. The work is created, photographed and left to do it's thing. I am so taken by how such a simple idea can create such a lovely image, but then, simple is usually the most beautiful.

In her Iceworks collection, the folds of fabric and garments frozen in place or in blocks of ice create a stunning texture and "movement" and play of light.

That said, the detail in her Summer Weedrobe's layering of leaves, bark, flowers and twigs create a depth that leaves (oh, another one!) you with a glorious fairytale feeling.

So lovely!

You can see more and I believe purchase prints from her website here. I hope you like!

Let Them Eat Cake!

I figured this was fitting... I am less interested in the political stance around Marie Antoinette than the above statement. It seems just perfect for an over-indulgent, opulent and many pastried social event. I suppose my new credo is when in doubt, guild it!

I have a friend who carries the badge of "foodie" like a God given proclamation, and she has taken it upon herself to appoint each lovely piece of my pink depression glass collection with its very own special stack of pastries. Most of them I cannot pronounce, but I have complete and total faith. It is amazing to what extent one can carry a colour scheme. Lavender macaroons, who would have thought?

My wig arrived today and I think that once I figure out how to affix my three feet of hair beneath it, it will be fabulous! I dunno about the corsets of the time, a bit ruffly for me, but the fabrics are gorgeous and it always comes down to a stunning swath of silk for me. I am so excited...

I am having to wait out the structural renos to my space before I can paint, but there are some very intense painting days ahead my friends. I have a surrealist painter and a serious costume lover on my team and we shall create a space not for the faint of heart, I promise! (Think Holly Dyment.)

Oh, just for the record, Marie-Antoinette should be forgiven for the cake statement, as it wasn't her. Not only that, but at the time, it seems, it was an entirely correct political statement to make. Just sayin'...

Well, I s'pose it would go without saying that I am an eco girl at heart... and being an eco girl who makes things out of stuff, I try very hard to make that stuff sustainable. I have been reading an interesting article in my search for organic silk threads, and I thought I would pass a bit of it on to you. I have long known that silks are, while obviously a natural fibre, not very ethical in terms of production. Many many poor little worker silk worms meet their demise when in the employ of silk manufacturers. I did not, however know that the original silk worm (who just happens to go by the uber cool name of Bombix Mori) has been so domesticated that they are actually unable to live without the aid of their human masters. Very interesting...

“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown” – Ancient Chinese Proverb. The finest, most desirable silk comes from the mulberry silkworm, which is actually a caterpillar and not a worm. Known as the Bombyx mori by entomologists, the mulberry silk worm is a fascinating but tragic bundle of insect life. Raised by professional keepers in China on trays of mulberry leaves a thousand years before the Roman Empire when wild tribes were roaming Europe living in stick and mud huts, the mulberry silkworm has been totally domesticated and can not live without humans for their care and feeding. There are no wild silkworms or Bombyx mori moths that roam and feed in the wild.


Across several thousand years of captive breeding, the Bombyx mori evolved into a blind moth that cannot fly and lives only a few days during which it lays about 500 eggs and then dies within four or five days. The silkworm moth has even lost the ability to eat because of undeveloped structures within their mouth. "

The rest of the article can be read here. It is a good thing to realize just what goes into these things that we take for granted. There is a reason that things were once considered for the use of royalty only. Not that I am supporting that concept at all, but it is an interesting place we have come to where we now have access to so much that some things just don't even seem special anymore.

Anyway, on the note of extravagance, I am very near to my super stellar birthday bash which seems to have taken on a Marie Antoinette theme. I am bringing "Let them eat cake!" to a whole new level. I am renovating my studio and have decided on a rather parisian confectionary look to the entire thing. Much flocked wallpaper and girlie colours. You may as well enjoy where you work! I live in a very tiny one bedroom apartment with two boys and simply cannot do it in my closet, so I rent a studio across the street (I live downtown) and am now very excited! Photos to come...

Just a quick hello!

Here is another one with no pics cause it is just such a sloooooow computer I am hijacking. I probably should go and get some lunch. Anyhoo...

I watched another movie that I have to share titled "House of D". It has David Duchovny in it whom I am not a huge fan of, but I LOVE Robin Williams so I picked it up from out local aforementioned AMAZING video shop. Have I mentioned? Anyway, it turns out that neither of them are a huge part of the movie and that it may never have even made it to the big screen because I can't find anyone who remembers it.

The story is one of those that has a bit of everything, some laughing, some crying and a bit of laughing through tears which I believe makes it a chick flick. Don't worry though, not in a J-lo or Jane Austin kinda way. The story revolves around the childhood memories of Duchovny's character as he approaches the "becoming a man" stage of life at 13. He is played by a charming lad whose name I don't know. His best friend, Williams, is a challenged forty something year old who makes for an interesting sidekick. I don't think I will go fully into the plot because I think everyone would take something different from this flick, but there are great characters played by Tia Leoni and Erica Badu who really bring the whole thing together. Not life altering or anything, but a really good solid story.

On another front, it will be my birthday at the end of March and I am gathering ideas for it using (what else?) wedding magazines. I feel that as I have never really celebrated a proper birthday party I will put some effort for this one and so far it is coming together smashingly. If anyone wants to contribute ideas, please let me know.

Invitations... hmmm... well let me see if I can get a photo or two downloaded here.

Oh so sad... I can't get it any bigger. But they are in a magazine called Creative Weddings out of Australia. SUCH a fabulous photo spread with a Marie Antionette bent with such a cutie as the model. I am thinking to do flocked paper if I can find it online. I collect pink pressed glass dishes so I am going to lay out a crazy amazing desert table. I may even run with the Marie Antionette thing and do my hair up like hers. A few feathers never hurt anyone...

Gotta go, lunch is over and my course instructor is giving me some sort of eye.

This is getting fun...

At my sister's house. Just finished taking photos of my new pretty things. Thirty seconds on the computer. I know I said I wouldn't make a habit out of this, but I still want some feedback from your fabulous heads. I have finally started to figure out some new designs. Maybe. What do you think?

PS I forgot to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR last post. Not intentional, I don't type well under pressure. I imagine you are starting to figure that out. New computer asap, I promise!

At the movies. Many Thumbs UP

I have been bringing in the New Year one movie at a time. Here in Nelson we are lucky enough to have a rather broad range of movies at our local rental shop. It is kind of a pride factor for us that we spend a lot of time rubbing in our city friends' faces with " Oh, you really should try to track this down," knowing full well that Blockbuster or whathaveyou thinks that foreign means something involving Gerard Depardieu or Tom Cruise's Last Samurai. Anyhow, I digress...

I just finished "Roi de la Coeur", or King of Hearts which came out in 1966 and bombed in France. I would suggest perhaps that it wasn't very PC at the time to point out how ludicrous certain behaviors are in wars. (A year later it was released in the US and became an instant cult classic, running for five years.) The war has just ended and the Germans are leaving a "surprise" as they pull out of a small town in France. A local overhears the plan to blow the town sky high come midnight the following day and sends word to the approaching "good guys". The poor soldier chosen to diffuse the situation, Charles Plumpick, accidently leaves the gate to the assylum open when running from the German soldiers and sets the scene for a bit of a walkabout by the colourful inhabitants. As the townspeople have already evacuated themselves, these crazy characters are free to explore their "true" personalities with the "real world's" props and costumes. What a fantastic pageant ensues that truly blurs the lines with regards to what "crazy" really means! See this movie.

"Enlightenment Guaranteed" is the (subtitled) story of two German brothers lost in Tokyo ofter drinking away $600 (or possibly pounds) in a downtown bar. In this case lost refers more to their spiritual state than their geography, although the fact that they can't find their hotel by a longshot leaves them sleeping in cardboard boxes for the night. The one brother has been left by his wife and kids and can't for the life of him figure out why, although it is obvious to everyone else. The other is desperately trying to find a zen way of life by sitting on a meditation cushion daily. They spend some time in a monestary in the end that shows both of them what they have been searching for in a rather refreshing sense. A really beautiful story that has some of the funniest bits I have seen in a long time. (Sidebar: LOVE Ulwe's home, right down to the coathangers!) See this movie.

I don't have time to write about "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" but don't see the movie. Read the book. Then see the movie. It is so beautifully done. I am going to track down the book now online and read it. Then I will write about it next time I can take a computer hostage.