A Lesson in Reed Making

While I was in Arizona I got to help my friend while she made some of her reeds. Technically I helped process the cane while she shaped it, and that was only the first stage! Even though I wasn't very good at it, the process was really neat so I felt compelled to document it. The photo above is only a half finished reed but you can see its begun to take shape.

Cane soaking beforehand

Fitting the cane onto the barrel

The Profiler - let's do this!

Precise incisions are made

Then, we shave!

Shaving the cane down

Sliming the cane on the shaper

Shavings

Arizona! And Some Geometric Shapes

I recently had a short jaunt down to visit my bff in Pheonix, Arizona. The trip, although too short, was awesome! I love that she gave me a tour of her campus, not only because there is some awesome flw-ness going on but because the campus was totally inspiring!

ASU Gammage, the building in these first 4 images, is a performance hall and one of the final designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Below is what I am calling the cake building, and the adjacent Art Museum. I was giddy photographing all of the geometric shapes, patterns and angles that played with and off of the buildings.

I took sooo many cacti photographs! The landscaping in Az follows a general theme and I have to say I quite like all the simple rock & cacti designs. I was originally just playing with the shadows from the cactus flower but then I noticed the gorgeous coloring - rose, sage, yellow, blues and purples all meshed together like a living watercolor.

I found these two palettes that have some of my cactus hues, actually they are basically the same palettes but different shades. I have a lot of these colors already in my house...but then I also think I have a lot of every color in my house. On a side note, I love design seeds - if you want to get lost in color for an hour, browse their website!

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Experience the Impact of Meteor Crater, Arizona

The colors of the Southwest are stunning, and I enjoyed driving through this part of AZ and beyond. Before leaving I totally geeked out reading up on all the inspired Cars locations so I could spot them out when driving on good ol route 66! (Singing ensued, and also through "Winslow Arizona")

But the next major destination was a big hole in the ground. And by big whole in the ground, I mean a ginormous...gargantuan...IMPACT CRATER!!

The Crater was awesome! Huge! Technically known as the Barringer Crater, it's over 4,000' across and nearly 600' deep. Sadly, they no longer allow tours down into the crater but you can tour the rim (I did not, it was SOO windy!!!) On the right side of the inner circle (down at the bottom of the crater) is a small building and a life size astronaut cut out...you can't even see them in the picture! And to think, they've only found one piece of the meteorite that made the impact, a 1,406 POUND hunk known as the Holsinger Meteorite, which is on display inside the Visitors Center, crazy!

This photo (1) is an aerial shot just to show how big the crater is - just amazing!

Although not as graceful as this head scarf tutorial it was so incredibly windy that I didn't care. A moment on the glasses - these are possibly the best 5$ purchase I have ever made ever. Sunglasses that fit over my glasses. Yes, it is a little dorky. Yes, you can still see the glasses underneath but the amount of pleasure I get from not having to squint all day far outweighs anything else. Thank you to my friend TinyMartin for discovering that WalMart sunglasses are crappy and cheap - and perfect for our purpose!

Meteor Crater is minutes from the interstate so it is a stop worth making. However, if you have a National Parks interagency pass, it's no good here because the Crater is independently owned not federally owned. Just a heads up! So, next time you're in Arizona make sure you "Experience the Impact!!"