First Week of School and Another Recipe

So I've made a few more adjustments to how I want to set things up.  I decided that rather than make list after list every week of what specifically I've done each day, I'll just do a recap of the major projects and accomplishments each week.  If I don't outright say that I didn't do something one day, just assume that I probably doodled in sketchbook or made some minor adjustments to another project.  However, as soon as I get our scanner back up and running, I will scan in some of those sketchbook doodles.  The ones I feel are slightly more exemplary.

A few of the projects and things I created this week were assignments for school.  Boy, school only started on Tuesday for me and already I've had to do a ton.  But I suppose that's Senior year for you.

This project was for my Foods and Nutrition class.  We had to create a place setting with items that represented us, but weren't actual utensils.  My theme was 'Special Occasion Place Setting of a Mixed-Media Doll Artist'.  I wouldn't really count this as a creation, necessarily, but I also did some drawing that day, so I decided to share it.  The utensils are various sculpting tools and a foam paintbrush.  The plate is my paint plate (I think it has a name), the dinner roll plate a spool of ribbon.  The drinking glass is my Tacky Glue (love that stuff!) and the napkin's a square of fabric.

Hey look!  It's this guy again.  Okay, so it's fairly obvious that this is going to be an art doll, but if anyone can guess who it's supposed to be before I'm finished with it, I might just take a commission for you (maybe . . . this isn't set in stone).  Anyways, this guy caused me a lot of grief this past week.  Let me explain.  My number one class this year, for me, is AP Art.  On Tuesday, the first day of school, my teacher mentioned that some people were submitting a 3D Design portfolio rather than 2D Design.  After class I asked if I could do both.  My teacher's response: "I think that might kill you, Amanda."  After some thought, I agreed.  So the next day (Wednesday) I asked her if I could just do the 3D portfolio.  I explained that I wasn't talking about doing ceramics, I meant mixed media sculptures and such, mainly art dolls.  My teacher hemmed and hawed and then asked me to bring some of my work.  So I went home and feverishly worked on this guy because he's my best bit of sculpture I've ever done, but I couldn't take him anywhere until I baked him, and I couldn't bake him until I made his shoulders and armature.  So I worked all afternoon and late into the night whilst fighting tin foil that kept getting stuck in the clay and fingernails that kept nicking off little pieces.  I eventually ended up with this.  Honestly, I'm disappointed.  I had great details in the shoulder and chest, but I had to pry some tin foil out of the center of the clay and things just got kind of ruined.  It's alright, though.  When he's finished you won't actually be able to see anything below his neck.  Still . . . it was a lot of work.  Well, on Thursday I brought in several of my projects.  I was so scared and nervous my teacher would say "These aren't good enough" or "this isn't art" or something awful like that and totally crush my hopes and dreams.  Instead, she barely even looked at my work and said "Yeah, I think you should go for it."  I was so relieved!  I mean, I nearly had a breakdown the first week of school because I was so worried.  It's all over now, and I can't believe I get to create a professional portfolio with the things I actually feel confident about!

I did some more work on my space mask.  I'm not all that excited for how it's turning out, but I'm just gonna have to stick with it to the end.  The asteroids have been adhered and the background of an eclipse-thing has been painted.

Woohoo, another school project.  This project I've been working on all afternoon today.  It's an assignment for my Astronomy class where we have to research the legends behind a certain constellation and we had to have some sort of teaching aide to go with it (we have to present them to the class).  Technically this was a group project, but my group just sort of sat there and we lacked a lot of communication, so I've sort of taken it upon myself to be prepared for tomorrow.  Anyways, this is the constellation Perseus.  For the most part, I'm pleased with how this came out.  I really dislike Medusa's head, though.  I was worried about how the stars would look once I put them on, but I think they turned out kind of cool (oh, and they glow in the dark). If you don't know the story of Perseus, I recommend the Clash of the Titans (if anything, it's a great movie to laugh at).

And now, I have saved the best for last.  Another recipe!

Peach or Peach-Berry Pie with Grape Juice

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups pure grape juice (strained)
• 1 cup pure peach juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup ThickGel
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• fresh peaches
• assortment of berries (This is optional.  I made one pie with just peaches and one with peaches, strawberries and raspberries.)
• 2 9-inch pie crusts (2 tops, 2 bottoms)

Mix all the juices together in a bowl and set aside.  Then mix the sugar, flour, salt and ThickGel together.  Add it to the juices and make sure they're thoroughly combined.  Put this in a pot and heat on medium until the mixture is thick and bubbly.  Separate into two bowls.

Put your bottom pie crusts in pie dishes.  Wash and slice your fruit.  Add about 5 cups of fruit to each bowl of filling and mix until the fruit seems evenly coated in the gel.  Pour the filling into your pies.  Sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg over the top of the fruit before covering it.  Add the top crusts and then seam the two crusts together.  Use a fork to make the edges a bit more decorative.  Make ventilation holes in the tops of your pies either by stabbing with a fork or slitting with a knife.

Bake the pies at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes and then at 350 for 40 minutes.  We forgot to do anything to the crust to help it brown, but it seemed to turn out all right.  If you wish there are things you can do like brushing the top of the pie with egg whites or sprinkling it with cinnamon and sugar, but since we didn't try it, I can't give much help there.

Here are the pies before we put the tops on.

And here they are after being cooked.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.  Chill them, if you like, or serve them with whipped cream and enjoy!

Days Created: 16

Total Projects Finished: 5

Mondays, Moving On, and Mysteries

I've decided I'd like to try and update my blog every Monday.  Mondays I get out of school earlier, so I should have more time in my day to finish my homework, create something, and post about the past week.

Last time we left off at my Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam recipe on Tuesday.  So, as seems logical, I'll start with Wednesday.

Wednesday - I made another bookcase.  I've actually been working on the bookcases off and on all week and I now have 11 of 15 (sorry, I goofed on my numbers in my earlier post).  I also have the backs made for the last four.  The last four are going to be a bit different as they'll be used for the non-fiction section of our library and so I'm covering them in pages from old manuals I'm not using. (Like the manual that came with my calculator and my digital camera and also my driver's ed manual.)  As soon as I finish those I'll get some pictures up, because I think they look pretty snazzy.  Sorry I don't have any of the other ones I've made recently, but they just look like the other one I already posted, so I figured it'd just be a waste of space and time.

Thursday - I continued working on bookcases, but I also made Grape Juice with my mom using the last of the juice from my purple grapes.  Sorry, but I didn't take notes on that process - it's fairly easy, I'm sure you can find good instructions elsewhere online (or in a cookbook).  Now I just have all my green grapes (buckets and buckets of them) to figure out things to do with.  In the near future you may see some posts about Raspberry-Grape pie, raisins, or possibly Grape Leather.

Friday - I began work on a project that's been stewing in my head for about a month now.  It's top secret for the moment so I won't reveal what exactly it is, but you'll see some pictures of it a little farther down.  While I was working on this project I also sculpted some asteroids.  Yes, asteroids.  They're for a mask I started back in May or April some time and only now am I getting around to finishing it.  It's space-themed!  And it still needs a lot of work.

Saturday - I worked on my super secret project.  Here are pictures of how far I've gotten.  I don't mind showing what I've done so far, I just don't feel like divulging the intended outcome of this project just yet.

 I know the face is lopsided, but I think it's the best face I've sculpted, yet.  I'm really proud of how hard I've been working on him.  Normally I just gloss over details because I think ". . . oh, I don't know how to sculpt eyelids, yet.  I'll try next time . . ." or ". . . his forehead isn't big enough . . . eh, oh well . . ." but this time I was more like ". . . his nostrils aren't in the right place, I guess I'll have to redo them . . ." and ". . . drat, looks like I have to take more clay off the back . . . well, here goes . . ."

I'm especially happy with the details I was able to get around his eyes.  I'm not super excited with the eyes themselves, but the full centimeter-radius around them fills me with delight. 

Also, I adore his ears.  Normally, after I bake things like this, I pull it out of the oven and go "oh rats, another earless one."

Sunday/Monday - Sunday is when I did this guys ears that I love so much, but I also started drawing a picture on Sunday, which I then finished today.  Well, I finished the pencil part of it.  I may go back over with pen and clean things up, later, but it can stay as is for now . . . and apparently you can't see it right now. For some reason our scanner isn't working at the moment, so I guess I'll have to post it later.  Sorry.

Well, anyways.  I'm really proud of myself - it's been over a week since I've started my project and I haven't missed a day, yet.  I haven't created anything super spectacularly awesome, but I've been having fun all the same.

Days Created: 9/365

Total Projects Finished: 2

Three for Three

And in the twenty and twelfth year, on August 11, Amanda did begin her year-long challenge.

Yep, I officially began on Sunday.  And what, pray tell, did I create for such a momentous occasion?  Surely something most remarkable and magnificent in honor of the beginning of such an undertaking . . .

I made a bookcase!  A miniature one.  Out of books.  Ta-dah!

I've made several of these little bookcases before and they're all part of a much larger project I've been working on all year.  My sister and I wanted a way to keep track of how many books we'd read from our family library, but we didn't want something commonplace - like a list, or something.  We wanted something cool, something . . . 3D.  So I began work on a model of our library.  This is bookshelf 9 of 14.  When it's completed, we'll keep track of the books we've read by creating small models of them and shelving them in the miniature library.  It's 10 x 5 x 2 cm and made from cardboard, pages torn from ratty old books, tacky glue and gluesticks.

Just so we're all clear, though, I do not intentionally rip up books for the sake of art.  I use only books that already have missing pages, are chewed on, or are completely irreparable.

Day 2

Monday, I thought I would have to use painting our den as my 'creation'.  Painting a room is kind of creative, but I didn't feel like it would be a good project for this.  Fortunately, I found some time to create this:

Another project involving my sister which I came up with on our airplane ride together last week.  My sister and I are going to collaborate on a project but without a plan.  For instance, I sculpted this head yesterday and gave it to my sister who will now add something to it, give it back to me to add something, and so on and so forth until we feel the project is finished.  It's like one of those creative writing activities where one person writes a line of the story and hands it to the next person who writes another part and hands it to the next person until it gets back to the person it started with.  I can't wait to see what Megan does with this!

I'm sorry the picture doesn't show all the detail very well, it's kind of disappointing.  My digital camera is not a fan of miniature objects and has trouble focusing on the right spots.  Don't worry, though.  You'll get to see it again and again, I'm sure, and hopefully I'll be able to get some nicer pictures.

Day 3 (Today)

Today was a little different.  I created food.  Not only did I just create the food, but I also created a recipe.

Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam (Jelly because the grape juice, jam because the raspberries.)
If you want to try and make it, I would suggest reading through everything first before you start anything.

Ingredients

• 1 cup crushed Raspberries
• 3 cups pure Grape Juice
• 3 cups sugar (I don't use any pectin, the jelly seems to turn out fine with just sugar, and the raspberries help, too)

To crush the raspberries, I put a few in the measuring cup and smashed them with the handle of our potato masher, put in a few more, smashed them again, and continued like that until I had a cup of gooey raspberry sauce.  But watch out, it can get a little messy, trying to keep the juice in the cup.

Now combine the juice and the raspberry goo in a medium-sized pot and put it on the stove at a high heat.  I got my grape juice from juicing some grapes I've been growing for a few years now.  I was so excited.  I had nineteen quarts.  This is the first year I've actually gotten any grapes; they were all eaten by birds last year.

Watch your pot carefully.  They say a watched pot never boils, but an unwatched pot always boils over (as I learned today).  When the mixture is boiling, add the sugar and then stir constantly until it dissolves.  You may also want to turn the heat down, now.  After the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil again, you can start testing it.  Using a metal spoon, scoop up some of the jelly-jam and pour it back into the pot.  It's the right consistency when the jelly-jam begins to come off the spoon in two strings but then come together into one.  Be patient.  Mine took about 45 minutes to thicken up and I'm still not sure it was quite ready.

Then comes canning.  Before you begin cooking, throw some jars in the dishwasher to sterilize them and get them hot.  Leave them there until you're jelly-jam is ready.  Boil the rings, not the lids, in a pot of water (also to sterilize them).  When you're ready, pour the mixture into the jars using a funnel (if you have one).  Use tongs to dip the lids in the boiling water and set them on the jars.  Then take the rings and screw them on.  This process works best with two people, but I managed it well enough by myself today.  Let them sit overnight to seal and viola!  Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam.  If any of the jars didn't seal, put them in the fridge - you can still eat them.  Also, if it turned out too runny you can use it as raspberry-grape syrup for pancakes, french toast, or waffles instead.

If anyone tries out my recipe, please let me know how it turns out!

Though I didn't follow these instructions exactly, here are some websites I found useful in creating my Raspberry-Grape Jelly-Jam: 

http://farmgal.tripod.com/Jamsjellies.html

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makejam.htm

Days Created: 3/365

Complete Projects Finished: 1

Look, I Created an Introduction

So - Create the Day.  What does it mean?  How does it work?  Where did it come from?  Who is it for?  And why is it on the internet?

If you've stumbled upon my blog or I happened to tell you about it, you probably aren't actually thinking of any of those questions.  No matter, I shall answer them anyways.

I was on a rather interesting plane ride from Manchester to Las Vegas, reading my Art Doll Quarterly, when I began to think about how I want my life to have more creativity in it.  I have never-ending lists of projects to be started and I spend hours on the computer looking up countless tutorials from bookbinding to juice-making.  But projects don't get started, tutorials go untried, and juice remains unmade.  So I challenged myself, whilst sitting between two slumbering strangers, to go a whole year and never leave a day unseized.  I would create something, anything, every day for 365 days.  My idea was set and all it needed was a title.  Create-Something-a-Day-for-a-Year seemed a little too wordy, as did its shorter version Create-Something-a-Day.  I shortened again and came up with Create-a-Day.  It wasn't as long and rolled off the tongue a little easier, but I still wasn't completely satisfied.  However, I had strained my wit and this seemed the only possibility left to me.  But then, when all hope of discovering a better title was lost, my sister and I began to converse via notes across the airline seats, written in Roman script.  I suddenly remembered that wonderful Latin adage - Carpe Diem!  Seize the day!  Create the Day!  It was the perfect match for my crazy idea.  My plan was formulated, a title was found, now all I needed was a way to document it.  My original plan was to haphazardly jot notes down in my project book (a book I use to plan projects and create concepts), but it seemed a little - I don't know - haphazard.  I then thought of making a journal specifically for my Create the Day project, but I thought it might distract me from my actual journal-writing (which I'm not very good at anyways).  So I decided to take my sister up on her suggestion that I start a blog.  She had suggested it a while ago and not really in relation to this project - she just wanted me to start a blog about myself because sometimes she gets the idea that I'm cool.  So, blogging it is.  My plan is to post a weekly update on my how my project is going and what I've been creating, rather than try and post every single day.  And, since it's public, I'll see if I can provide helpful tips I might discover and make some tutorials so I'm actually benefiting the internet community.

I hope you are just as excited to hear about my project as I am to work on it.  Please feel free to join in, critique my work, and shout out suggestions (I particularly love suggestions).  And remember, Crea Diem!