A good friend sent me an email about Debra Baxter's Crystal Brass Knuckles. When I opened up the image I gasped a 'HELL YESSSS'. I am increasingly interested in art that reinvents popular culture or spins taboo subjects. I asked Debra to tell me a little bit about this piece, aptly titled: Crystal Brass Knuckles ( I am going to realign  your chakras mother******! ). She had this to say:

"It is sort of a superhero tool/weapon. Most of my work is about engaging the body in some way. Calling the body to do something. My work embraces failure and fragility...though you won't know that seeing this piece.

I have been fascinated with crystals since high school where I did a [talk] [sic] about their potential powers. Explaining how my grandpa who was an electrical engineer made a quarts crystal radio utilizing the "vibrations" of quarts. As much as I am not new agey or woo woo, crystals do have energy and powers. They seem to amplify what is already there. Crystal Brass Knuckles ( I am going to realign  your chakras mother******!) is dealing [with] [sic] this, the dichotomy of a weapon and healing device in one. And just how completely ridiculous and contradictory that is. They are made to fit a woman's hand. There is a feminist/grrl power piece to this...and to all my work. Women engaging in their power and sexuality."

Can I get a woo woo? Like I said HELLLLLL YES.

Listen, I'm not going to lie to you...I love T.V. It practically raised me. It's my friend. Recently, I have fallen in love with Amy Poehler's Parks and Recreation. It's hilarious and a bit twisted (Ron Swanson's patch of hair growing in after he was shot in the head?! OMG. The BEST.) Amy Poehler's humor is off the wall and so dynamic. Any woman who can rap and dance at nine months preggers is incredible in my book. I wanted to share this print that Hideout Gallery recently released (originally shot for the Village Voice) because I love Amy that much. I love everything about it.

There are also some red herrings on this week's wish list (hey, who doesn't love library perfume and illustrations of the renal cavity?), so enjoy those as well.

Onward!

I worship at the inspiration altar that is folk art + antique jewelry mecca Erie Basin. I envy the Christmas morning ecstasy that must have followed the unveiling of this intricate homemade toy castle, complete with working drawbridge and a knight on a pedestal.  

Antique dolls are my obsession. Whether it's just the head or the entire doll, I line my shelves with their never-closing eyes. (Well, except when they fall over.) These particular specimens brings out all manners of "ENH!" from me. 

I love taxidermy, fur and miniatures, so these fur-covered animals will do quite nicely for me. (I adore the antelope!)

The jagged terrain of this ring by Schmuck and Klunker compels me to bling out every finger and contemplate the universe while driving across Siberia in a Sweet Pickles Bus.

Soaps shaped like gems and rocks make washing your hands seem much more exciting than the mundane reality. These mineral chunks bring to mind fantasies of spelunking in search of mythical Andean mummies and breaking off a warmly humming gem or hunk of calcite to take home as a memento.

CB I Hate Perfume is one of my favorite places to visit: there's a seemingly endless array of unreal scents in every flavor imaginable  — like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory Factor (snozberry, etc.). In The Library combines all of my favorite memories of working at the library: fragile paper, worn leather and wood (minus carpeting and the smell of sweaty books). The scent is summed up as "English Novel taken from a Signed First Edition of one of my very favorite novels, Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish."

This digestive lithograph from the 1940s — well, this is the kind of stocking stuffer that I'd gladly forgive for being oversize and ruining the surprise. Love the illustration of eating at the table for digestion context.

I think antique wind-up toys and organ grinders' monkeys are the sweetest things. The more they've been loved (ahem, missing eyes), the better.

Ah, tinysaur! Kelly Farrell's diminutive T-rex is intricately laser cut and displayed within a hand-blown glass jar. Lovely.

And last, but not least, I ache for a killer collection of vintage marbles. I'd love fill a gigantic tumbler with glittering glass bits.

 That's all for this week! Stay tuned for more gift ideas in the coming weeks. In the meantime, hit me up on Twitter or read me on Etsy's blog, The Storque.
 

I was so delighted to check out of Boston's own Bazaar Bizarre on Sunday. The line was out the door and around the corner! I was so impressed by the amount of people that were there to see handmade! It made me really excited and proud to call Boston home.

I met a bunch of new people, saw friends and bought some great things. I just recently got a new camera...so I thought I'd show it off with some pics of my favorite vendors (and things) from the Bazaar. There are a ton of photos, so be sure you click on the 'see more' link at the bottom!

Alice of Forestbound (look at what a beauty she is). Check out her amazing bags & accessories.

Ok...be sure to click to see more!

Jaime Zollers' illustrations were super cute. She had so much to look at...prints, buttons, journals, etc. 

Happy Owl Glass Works had her colored glass displayed so nicely I wanted to throw down a blanket and have a picnic.

Love, love, love Alison Cole's world where it always seems to be sunny.

I stumbled onto The Paper Apartment right before I left. So glad I didn't miss her!

Loved these little guys by MIAOW.

Always a favorite of mine; Boston's own Chroma Lab.

I was excited to see Sarah Ressler displaying not only her amazing bird paintings but her sick jewelry. I couldn't resist buying myself a pair.

Always a fan of classic fonts and letter press, it was great to finally meet Mike of Repeat Press. Look for a studio visit with him in the coming weeks.

I've been a big fan of Nervous System for a while. It was amazing to see all her works of art in one place.

Lastly, always a sucker for felt. Loved these brooches from Murdock Design.

Here's my shortlist of art I wish to own. Let the rearrangement of my apartment begin!

I've always been fascinated by hand iconography, be it religious, anatomical, roughly sketched or forgiving flesh and blood. Poodle Breath's sculpture (and cowls with big ol' buttons, and jewelry) is at the top of my wish list. I'd place a gentle feather, tinkling beads or other found objects in those waiting hands and use them as a devotional.

 Uh, YES. It's high time that my "poor Yorick" impersonation had a physical manifestation upon which to project. (Really, any skull representation will do for me. They are my favorite.)

I'm fascinated by the universe and my place within it, so hunkering down with an interstellar art quilt riddled with white dwarfs, supernovae and black holes leaves an infinity to ponder (literally).

Justin Durand seriously rules. I love everything he produces; his Mermaids VHS piece literally made me laugh out loud. This original drawing is captioned as such: "this drawing is about being alone in pitch blackness.
and being totally still and silent.
either being scared or feeling peaceful.
not sure! both!"

I could moonily gaze into BergmansBear's rolling knolls, deep creeks and hazy expanses for, pretty much, ever. They're like portals into an alternate reality.

Luca Dipierro is a new artist on my list. His ominous, slightly carnivalesque assemblages remind me of the skeletons and ghouls from Minnie the Moocher meeting a carnivorous zombie processional in a darkened alley. His inspirations read: "Northern European Renaissance painting, Italian Mannerist etchings, the cartoons of Fletcher Hanks, the work of François Rabelais, Mexican chapbooks, early advertising, funhouses, graveyards and marionettes."

Because...who doesn't need a convenient wishbone? 

The Miscreants of Tiny Town series by Alex Kuno is at once mythical, uplifting and terrifying. It's a tad raw + grisly, but I always appreciate artwork that provokes a reaction. "Sally and the Serpent" is by far the best.

Because the intersection of bivalves and pom poms is something of which I must plumb the depths. (Damn, this is cool.)

Caroline Gaedechens' work is just mind-blowing. The spareness of her linework and the simplicity of her subject matter is ethereal, tenuous and ridiculously up my alley. I own many prints of Caroline's work and would love to own this diminutive book of illustrations, entitled "13 Dreams."

This decrepit antique horse reminds me of something from a Chinese emperor's tomb. I would gladly give it a new home in which to gallop.

That's all for this week's gift bazaar! Next week: perfume, plants and so much more. In the meantime, hit me up on Twitter or read me on Etsy's blog, The Storque.

If you are in SF be sure to check out Poketo's Pop Up Shop at Rare Device. One of the best shops in SF...which Lisa happens to co-own. So jel I won't be there!

I can't get enough of Tristram Landsdowne's paintings of abandoned buildings, machinery, shacks, etc. He captures these urban casualties to a tee, right down to making the graffiti look as if it had been tagged after the painting was finished. Awesome.

Tristam's show Entropical Paradise is currently up at Le Gallery in Toronto. In February, he'll have a solo show at Joshua Liner.

The ephemeral look of this print by Joao Ruas at Paper Tiger is so soft and lovely, it almost makes me sleepy. How can you refuse a little waif snuggling a turtle? Totally speaks to the little mermaid in me for sure. Only a 100 prints available.