I took the above picture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, because I am kind of silly about records. I am surprised that I didn't get killed for using the flash.
So, I have been tagged, and I need to find a way to intersperse seven weird things about me into this post. I'll challenge myself and try to tie each fact in with a picture from the trip I took to New York in May. I'll do my best. Thanks,
Alice!
I snapped this picture from the window while riding through Manhattan in
Joan's taxi.
So here's my first factoid:
My all-time favorite band is
the Clash. For the same reason, I had to take this picture (some shops in downtown Brooklyn) in honor of "Jimmy Jazz," a fave Clash tune:
Well, maybe that isn't weird enough. Here's one:
I LOVE to play chess. I am the holder of a trophy that I won from my husband after winning 100 games against him. I'm really not that good but I do love playing.
Here I am, looking like a dork, playing chess at Washington Square Park with some of the hustlers who were actually in the movie
Searching for Bobby Fischer:
Yes, of course, I lost, but it was 5 bucks well spent.
What else?
Well, here's another picture (no flash this time!) that I took at the MoMA. I am showing you this because you might think it's weird that my son's middle name is Elvis.
In truth, he has two middle names. His name is Julius Elvis Chaos Claringbold.
Speaking of him, I might mention the weird fact that he was born at home. Okay, that's four facts...
Fact #5: I am a big fan of the author
Kurt Vonnegut. I had to take a picture of this sign hanging outside of a little club we went to in Brooklyn called
Goodbye Blue Monday. It was just too cool. Here we had cheap wine, checked email, and witnessed an amazing performance by
Elizabeth Devlin:
Anyway, I love Vonnegut and I will never forget the time I got his autograph when he visited
Powell's in 1992.
Fact #6 : I'm a friend of a friend of this person!
While we were at Coney Island, Joan pointed out this big painting and told me about how she was once roommates with
Heather Holliday, World's Youngest Female Sword Swallower.Everything was closed down for the season, so unfortunately we didn't get to check out any of the freaks.
Finally, Fact #7 -
The fact that my business is called Eye Pop Art does NOT mean that I make Pop Art. People often assume this. The inspiration for my business name actually came from this incredible piece of art work:
This excellent piece was executed by none other than
Julius Elvis Chaos, when he was in first grade. He chose it to hang in the school art show, and when asked to come up with a title for it, he decided to call it "Eye Pop."
I thought that was brilliant.
When I was trying to think of a name for my business, I kept going back to the phrase, "Eye Candy," which is how I have heard a lot of my friends describe my work. But that just didn't quite seem right. Then it dawned on me: why not Eye Pop? It was fun to pay a little homage to one of my favorite artists (Julius), and also a good play on words.
We have a little family joke -
When I say, "Eye Pop Art" -
You say, "So do I!"
Get it?
So there you have it, seven facts about me, and many bonus New York photos too!
And would you believe it, I just checked back and saw that I was only required to list 6 things, not 7! So I overdid it. Oh well, nothing unusual there.
And now I will "tag" six bloggers with this exciting assignment! I have picked some really nice people. They are:
Megan! (
tadahpdx.blogspot.com)
Sara! (
flutterbygifts.com/blog)
Mattos! (
fineartbymattos.blogspot.com)
Amanda! (
imaginebrightfutures.wordpress.com)
Gretchen! (
salmonstreetstudio.blogspot.com)
Jessica! (
cuzifeltlikeit.blogspot.com)
I wrote this article for the Storque, Etsy's new online magazine and blog.
I had a lot of fun choosing "related items" for the article. I tried to include items from Trillium's Etsy shop as well as items from various Trillium members who are Etsy sellers, and items from PDX Etsy members who are attending the workshop. 
This weekend I am cutting records. Makes me sound like a rock star, I know! Well, the band still hasn't made it into the studio, but I have a lot of Roman Record Cuffs to make for the holiday season, so I am working on slicing up some of the 6 cases of warped rap records I saved from the landfill about a year ago.
Blast it with some hot, hot heat and you can just cut it with regular scissors. So now you know! Have fun. Be safe. Wear protective gloves and a respirator. And if you can't manage to make your own cuff, just buy one from me!
There is nothing quite so fabulous as the feeling I get when purchasing high quality, expensive new art supplies.
I'm still a little overwhelmed from all the excitement of yesterday's HGTV show, so I thought I would just post these two beautiful treasuries that indiaylaluna and unstrungsisters were kind enough to include my work in.
This is what one of my murals looked like when it was illuminated by a big fancy light for our HGTV shoot two years ago.
Here's Chuck posing with a couple of the guys from the crew - the lighting guy and the "grip." They made my husband wear a tie to help counteract all his tattoos. I don't think the collar fully covered up the one around his neck, but we'll see.
Above is our director, Renato, getting the camera set up in order to interview me in the kitchen. Renato was also the director for my "That's Clever!" shoot, which will air on HGTV some time this holiday season. 
It's a good day! 
Here are some of the guys (rockers and roadies) pulling up with the equipment after the show. We played yesterday at the Foster Art Walk - as Chuck said, it was "Dartgun's first ever show during daylight hours (Lestat, are you listening?)."
These guys rocked. Their singer is Chris, who did an excellent job of organizing this event. The space, down in the basement warehouse at Bear eCycling at 63rd and Foster, was so cool. They called it the "Bear Bunker" and it was filled with art and madness, including a mind-blowing installation by Joseph Demaree. Check out this artist, he is really amazing.
There were a lot of scratches around the edge of the door, so this became some sort of psychedelic moth.
The big fish is made out of a record that broke when I dropped it on the hardwood floor. The two pieces that broke off became a perfect tail, and the opening left by the broken-out pieces made a perfect mouth. So I made it into a fish, but there was a hole in the wall below it so I made that into a cute little fishy.
Oh yeah, my bathroom rocks!
I love this treasury! I can't believe I found myself in five different treasuries all in one day this week. Insane!
I was amazed to find that one of my cuffs "hit popular" on Stylehive yesterday. Wow! Lots of people seem to like it. I really like this one because it is kind of asymmetrical. 
Click here to check out this cuff, called "Red Beak," at my Etsy shop.
I took the above picture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, because I am kind of silly about records. I am surprised that I didn't get killed for using the flash.
Yes, of course, I lost, but it was 5 bucks well spent.
In truth, he has two middle names. His name is Julius Elvis Chaos Claringbold.
Fact #5: I am a big fan of the author Kurt Vonnegut. I had to take a picture of this sign hanging outside of a little club we went to in Brooklyn called Goodbye Blue Monday. It was just too cool. Here we had cheap wine, checked email, and witnessed an amazing performance by Elizabeth Devlin:
Anyway, I love Vonnegut and I will never forget the time I got his autograph when he visited Powell's in 1992.
While we were at Coney Island, Joan pointed out this big painting and told me about how she was once roommates with Heather Holliday, World's Youngest Female Sword Swallower.
The fact that my business is called Eye Pop Art does NOT mean that I make Pop Art. People often assume this. The inspiration for my business name actually came from this incredible piece of art work:
