Magda's posterous

Building pillow drift.
About Me

I'm a Canadian artist and designer.

My art is focused on color in a major way and includes photography, digital art, and soft art (textiles).

Under the name RNA Studio I design websites and graphics.

I am in love with Marc Ngui who makes drawings.

Currently I'm living in Cambridge, Ontario, after five years of full time world travel. The last big trip was 5 months in California. I fell in love with Los Angeles!

Travelling helps (forces?) to learn about various ways of living, and I'm especially interested in consciousness change, design and the built environment, sustainable luxury (organic food tastes better!), and natural beauty.

Also check out:
RNA Studio websites
Ladilola Jewellery
Happy Sleepy blog

My Other Sites
TwitterFacebookFlickrmetaweblog
Tags
Get Updates
 

When the art looks back at you

Spent a little time with these mirrored beauties at the The Met in New York recently.

Untitled by Anish Kapoor

(download)

 

Flight of the Dolphin by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian

(download)

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Digital knit tree log bolster pillow by Chick sin Design

I just love this knit bolster pillow cover from fellow Etsy seller Chick sin
Design in the shape and size of a tree log!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35684134

And how about the grizzly bear bean bag?!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37949166 The graphic on the items is knitted in five colours, instead of printed.

"Special knitting machine". Hm. Sounds like I have some googling to do, because this stuff looks
amazing.

(download)

For a more complete report, check out my full entery on the Land of Happy Sleepy blog.

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Happy Sleepy Suavey in velvet and brown suede new in the shop

Hs_suuede_eye_01

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37173651

The latest addition to the shop is Happy Sleepy Suavey, made from tangerine
orange cotton velvet with brown suede "sunglasses" applique. When turned
upside down, the sunglasses look like a mustache.

The sunglasses/mustache were partly conceived to remedy a horribly botched
embroidery job. It took me a long time to get better at embroidering, it was
very frustrating, and this toy is from an earlier batch when I was still
learning. I embroider the eyes at the very end of the making process, after
the creature is all sewn and stuffed and closed, and the velvet is
unforgiving. There's no ripping out and redoing the eye embroidery because
the texture gets destroyed, so redesign was involved. Brown suede applique
to the rescue, and another OOAK is born.

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Green Christmas - Furoshiki instead of disposable gift wrap

Photo by David Hughes/Hotfoot Studio

Do you love fabric? Do you hate waste? Then furoshiki is for you.

From http://furoshiki.com/techniques/:

" Furoshiki is a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that was
frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. Although
possibly dating back as far as the Nara period, the name, meaning "bath
spread", derives from the Edo period practice of using them to bundle
clothes while at the sento (public baths). Before becoming associated with
public baths, furoshiki was known as hiradzutsumi, or flat folded bundle.
Eventually, the furoshiki's usage extended to serve as a means for merchants
to transport their wares or to protect and decorate a gift.

As a great substitute to using plastic bags. Not only is the Furoshiki
environmentally friendly, but it is also more attractive than a plastic bag.
For holidays and birthdays, you might want to consider skipping the wrapping
paper and give a few gifts wrapped in a Furoshiki. It's much better than
plastic bags you receive at supermarkets or wrapping paper, since it's
highly resistant, reusable and multipurpose."

Also decent discussion on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/furoshiki-for-the-holidays-6486/


-------------------------------

http://www.happysleepy.etsy.com

(download)

Comments (0)
Posted
 

The Etsy shop is starting to look pretty cool!

Shop_screenshot

I've been working hard to get the little guys up there, and only mildly
frustrated by sales that reverse my efforts to fill the shop. Haha, it's a
problem I don't mind having.

Check out the Happy Sleepy Art and Toys Shop on Etsy here
http://www.happysleepy.etsy.com

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Getting the hang of home studio product photography

Pyramid

New Happy Sleepies piled up in a pyramid

Cloudy days have lovely diffused light and big pieces of styrofoam make
really good light reflectors. That sums up the most recent advancements in my skills as a still life
photographer. I'm relieved, too, because I've figured out a way to take the
shots at our studio, which means I can do it any time (well, during daylight
hours) and to a quality that doesn't require hours of Photoshop afterwards
to cut out the background or get the colours right. Phew. My setup right now is on a table next to a window, out of the sun. Prop a
large piece of paper on a big piece of styrofoam to make a seamless tabletop
and background curve. Stand the Happy Sleepy in the middle, held away from
the background to minimize shadows by leaning in the back against an empty
toilet paper roll and masking tape. Use another giant piece of styrofoam as
a reflector on the side of the toy away from the window, to bounce some
light into the shadows. And bracket like mad. Check out the goods in the Happy Sleepy Art and Toys Shop on Etsy.

Comments (0)
Posted
 

All hail silversmith777 on Etsy

Look what sparkles late at night on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/silversmith777 does some fine work in fine metal and precious stone.

(download)

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Mung bean sprout creatures

 

           

(download)

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Mother's Day saris in Nepal

Img_6401

On Mother's Day in Nepal, married daughters wear read (or other bright
colour close to red) and buy fruit and sweets in the market as well as other
presents and go to visit their mothers.

Only mothers  with married daughters celebrate Mother's Day in Nepal!

Although the birth of a son is cause for much more celegration than the birth of a daughter, mothers who have only sons do not
celebrate Mother's Day, same as mothers of unwed daughters.

More photos from Kathmandu Valley in the set on Flickr:www.flickr.com/photos/happy_sleepy/sets/72157618781874060/

Comments (0)
Posted
 

Seedbomb by Jin-wook Hwang posted on Coroflot

seedbomb illustration

seedbomb illustration

Another project of the idealistic and completely impractical variety.

Why are these types of projects so popular and receive so much attention? Maybe they are just very easy to digest, and certainly they hit a nerve.

Found on Coroflot http://www.coroflot.com/

Comments (0)
Posted