{Film Keychain}

One year ago, I had to take my first photography class. Since I had to use an analog camera I had to buy film. A lot of film. Don't get me wrong, I prefer how the photos turn out in analog photography over digital but spending 2-3 hours waiting for my film to develop in a quite far place is no cup of tea.

The first time I went to develop I asked the guy if it was ok for me to get  some of the empty canisters he had around. I was aiming for 2 or 3 but he ended up giving me 10 {pretty neat}. You can do a lot of things with empty canister but I settle for keychains.

Extremely easy to make and very eye catching if you ask me. Some people have gotten some of them. Oh so nice to know people like stuff you make.

♪♫ Riot Radio by The Dead 60s

{Detachable Collar}

Back to when I was getting ready to the longest 2 days of my university life {that time I participate in my university's bazar} among the things I made to sell, I tried to make some detachable collars. It was not a lot of fun after I made the third one but easy nevertheless. I made 6 different types:

If you want to make any of them, just follow the steps after the jump.

{Shicake}

Ever since I came up with my "oh so clever" {note the sarcasm} name back in 2008, I've been asked, quite a lot, what's the meaning of it. Well, by that time, I was really into sushi and cupcakes for no particular reason. I tried to merged the two of them and ended up with Sucup.Shicake. I kind of liked it but it was too long for my lazy fingers to write/type so I started going by Shicake. It's just the end of sushi and the end of cupcake as my header implies: "a blog fueled by sushi and cupcakes". Plus, I like the sound of it. {I'm still into sushi and cupcakes though}

The other day I was trying to draw something regarding the name. Only problem is how exactly do you relate sushi and cupcakes... it came up after 5 minutes of not-so-serious thinking. After some doodles on my sketchbook, a 4 hours nap and some tuna and crackers, I went to my computer and started painting.

The main point was to make a background for my twitter account that I could use freely without feeling guilty about using some weird image found on google. I made the banner and then started making the pattern that will be used as my background.

I kind of got bored after that so to explain my name a little better I made a sort of poster describing the Anatomy of Shicake. Pretty handy.

♪♫ Rome by Yeasayer

{Yokomo}

Yokomo is a sushi place from my country. Yokomo is from the phrase "Yo como which means "I eat"in Spanish. They change the c for the k to make it sounds more Japanese -ish. I've been ordering sushi from there for a really long time but, sadly, I've only been to the actual place once.

What makes it different from other sushi places is that it incorporates Dominican vibes to their menu. Just by reading the roll names {Rollito Play Be, Fuin Fuan Roll, Ñikiti Roll} you get the general idea but one of the things that caught my attention was the design. The palce is full of design. From the walls to the tables it has art plaster all over the place.

The other day, while I was waiting for my teacher to arrive, I started doodling and ended up doing something related to Yokomo. After scanning the drawing I didn't like how the colors turned out so I decided to make it a digital thing. 2 days later, I finally finished it!

Even though those 2 days felt like the longest days of my life, I'm actually proud of how it turned since  turning regular drawing into digital is not exactly my forte. Some of the shades makes me cringe but hey, at least it's something. I'll try to fix them some time.

♪♫ Welcome to Japan by The Strokes

{Inspiration: Jazz that Nobody Asked For by Benny Box}

I love shorts, especially animated shorts.
 In this week's Vimeo-staff-picks-sobbing-because-talented-people round, I ended up watching Jazz that Nobody asked for by Benny Box. 

Jazz that nobody asked for from Benny Box on Vimeo.

In the author's words, this is what the film is about:

Sometimes a song can get stuck in your mind. Become a little piece of unwanted music, that keeps looping for the rest of your day.

Neurologists claim that stuck  songs are like thoughts we're trying to suppress. The harder we try to think about them, the more we can't help it. The phenomenon is also known as earworms, and the ongoing 'dim di da da dum' causes a kind of brain itch you can't scratch.

Jazz that nobody asked for is an ode to all those unwanted songs out there, that have nowhere to go. The music that haunts this film, is the amazing swing jazz tune 'Quaker City Jazz' by the long forgotten 'Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters'. In 1937 they were the first jazz big band to feature an african american vocalist.

Oh those unwanted songs that just get stuck in your head... How I hate them. HATE THEM!
I personally love the jazz players and the expressions of the characters in the entire film {especially the animals and the nurse running away screaming with fire}

{Library Pictures}

Of the quickening canoe!

Months ago, I kept listening to Suck it and See by Arctic Monkeys on a daily basis. I ended up designing something out of the blue based on Library Pictures.

 Actually proud of that thing. I was going to print it on transfer paper to make a t-shirt but {a} I didn't have the time to go the print shop and {b} I was not going to spend money on that. Since I got an incredible urge to make something yesterday I said to myself "whatever, I'll paint it by hand". Got my paint out, cut out the stencil and started painting on the t-shirt.

 I was extremely nervous about painting on a white t-shirt since I tend to smudge paint over every single t-shirt I paint but since must of them are black it's not noticeable. It didn't turned out as bad as I expected so score! I might need to get more black paint and retouch the center banner.

Materials:

• White fabric paint
• Black fabric paint
• Plain white t-shirt
• Plastic sheet
• Tape
• Cutter

 ♪♫ Got the Life by Korn