Create the Day: 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.