PopBetty

A Love Letter to Pop Culture

Art Pick: Ji Yong-Ho’s Recycled Menagerie

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Ji Yong-Ho's Mutant Mythos
I love Korean sculptor Ji Yong-ho’s “Mutant Mythos” series. It’s an arresting collection of real and imaginary beasts, all kinetically realized in recycled black tire rubber. Yong-ho has multiple reasons for using tire rubber: he was attracted to its flexibility & organic qualities, to the potential monstrousness of its dark, leathery appearance, and to the environmental message sent by using recycled materials. Also, the evolution of the tires themselves (from tree sap to tire to sculpture) echoes Yong-ho’s mutation theme.

The collection was first exhibited at Gana Art in New York in 2008, and has since been exhibited around the world. Read more/see more at Ji Yong-ho’s site, and at Designboom, Theme Magazine, & Yangshung’s Blog.

D.I.Y. Idea: Dotty Decorations

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Dot DIY Ideas

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. I personally had one of those “I need a vacation from this vacation” type of trips, and am only starting to feel normal again.

Question: do people have strong feelings about where to buy craft supplies from? For example, how do you feel about Hobby Lobby vs Michaels vs Walmart vs Dollar Tree vs [enter your favorite craft store here]? I’ve been doing far more craft shopping lately, and could use some guidance (e.g., are all the Hobby Lobby employees surly? Everywhere, all the time?).

That said, here’s a simple D.I.Y. idea I’ve been stewing over for awhile: using points or dabs of color to create a confetti-like effect (vs pointillism or Indigenous Australian dot painting, where the dots create or decorate recognizable forms). Links to the examples above and at right:

  1. Paint palette cards (and giftwrap) by Dear Hancock, found at Design*Sponge;
  2. Raval page flags at Paper Source {via};
  3. Poppies for grace confetti lolly bagDot paintings by Lauren DiCioccio, via Modish;
  4. Creative use of pencil eraser stamps by Carloe Liu (click through for more designs);
  5. Wonderful hands-on guestbooks by Bleu de Toi {via};
  6. Potato print artwork tutorial at Oh Happy Day;
  7. Textured wedding invitations from Wedding Paper Divas, design by Oh Joy.
  8. Pencil eraser bunting and wrapping decoration by Creature Comforts {via};
  9. Confetti lolly bags by Poppies By Grace, via Oh Joy.

Here are two more: confetti shoes over at Style Bubble & crayon chip wrapping paper by Liz Stanley.

I like this decoration method because it is inexpensive (tools used include pencil erasers, potatoes, thumbprints, bingo markers, and paint brushes), requires few technical skills, and produces such fun results. What do you think?

D.I.Y. Idea & Tutorial: Floral Wedges

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First, a quick note about the blog. Starting this week, I will be posting Monday, Wednesday and Friday only. I have some long-term blog projects I’d like to get done, plus I tend to go off in a million directions posts-wise, the result being that nothing gets finished. By limiting the number of days I intend to post, I hope it will allow me to focus and deliver. Okay, onto the post!

Inspiration 

Floral wedges

From left: floral high heels* {via} // Chinese Laundry wedges at ThreadSence {via}.

I’ve been considering potential D.I.Y. tutorials, and one idea that stood out was a tutorial for wrapping shoes in floral fabric. It helped that I already had shoes to revamp:

Target wedges

I bought these Target wedges long ago because I loved the shape, but haven’t worn them much since. The blue color (which is a bit darker than the photos) doesn’t really go with anything, being too blue to blend in, but not bright enough to make the shoes a statement piece.

Luckily, it turns out many bloggers have wrapped shoes with fabric before, meaning there are many inspiring tutorials for guidance. Here are the ones I referenced:

And here’s how it came out:

Floral Wedge Tutorial

Finished shoe versus old shoe

Finished shoe vs old side view

Ta-da! Much brighter and more fun than the original.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

[Read more…]

Budget Finds: Thrift Inspiration

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I find it harder and harder to post about Budget Finds, in large part because the online bargains no longer seem so cheap. Here’s a quick comparison between high street & thrift finds to explain:

Zara VBack Teal Dress, $89.90:

Zara Teal Dress

Disclaimer: I’m not knocking Zara. They’re one of my top three high street brands, along with H&M and [one of a rotating list of brands that are not as consistent]. I would wear the crap out of that dress.They also have other great things right now like this sequin shirt, this polka dot top, or this colored sweater. 

VS

 

Recent Thrift Store Finds, $25.00:

PopBetty - Thrift Store Finds

The skirt is Theory and has pockets, the two dark blue-green shirts are Ann Taylor Loft, while the other two are just cute. They’re all in nearly new condition; the skirt & shirt on the far right were just under $10 each, while the other three were under $2. So, you want to go thrifting?

To find a good thrift store in your area, visit Thriftshopper.com’s National Thrift Store Directory.