The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody I really enjoyed Matthew Cody’s first book, POWERLESS, so I was delighted when a copy of Cody’s latest MG fantasy THE UNDEAD GENTLEMAN arrived in the mail. Unabashedly steampunk, this novel throws steampunk elements at the reader like a magician flinging cards. Submarines! Goggles! Mechanical birds! Time travel! One …
Apr 06
February Bottlecaps 4
You can use sharp stuff in these bottlecaps as long as the pointy bits are completely encased in the resin. I like to have some stuff that sticks out, like the tiny fuse and the top of the push pin. The blue bead in the bottom is from some canes I made during a polymer …
Apr 06
Book Review: First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria
First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and A Third World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite This is a charming story about a young woman’s experiences living overseas. As the back flap will tell you, Eve had been toying with the idea of joining the …
Apr 03
Fluted Top Bottle
Dave Vogt, the glassblowing instructor at the Mesa Art Center, demonstrated a “roman bottle” which is a technique for quickly making a long-necked bottle. I must have made a half dozen of these, only two of which came out without cracking. I figured if I kept practicing, I’d get it. I got frustrated after a …
Mar 30
February Bottlecaps 3
My favorite of these are the open safety pins. I don’t think I have any more safety pins. Making future bottlecaps is going to be limited by my dwindling supply of weird tiny stuff. I used to get great stuff by cleaning my kids’ rooms. Barbie shoes, beads, scraps of paper, etc. They’ve outgrown toys …