to make : marble magnets

(mini tropical vacation)	I finally gave in and made marble magnets. Not surprisingly they are quite fun, smooshing the glue out to make a perfect little magnified image is very satisfying. Here, in order of appearance, are the places I referenced: paper candy instructions with pictures (this is the first place I saw this project) dogmestic with instructions and pictures photogeek pictures ugly green chair cute ladybug magnets - pictures with packaging threads at Glitter: one two three I bought all of these supplies at Michael's, including the glue I went back for since I got the wrong kind to start with. I bought 1/2" and 3/4" round (strong) magnets (in with the frames, near the corks); 1/2" and 3/4" clear flat glass marbles (in the fake flowers aisle, check the mosaics section too); silicon sealer made by the Crazy Glue people (in the glue aisle). All of the pictures were cut out of Lucky magazine, in the last five issues. I hope I'm not violating any laws by showing them here. These are great packaged in those Altoid-sized tins, I've seen them in office/gift shops like that. I was very tempted to get googly eyes, and those flat bottomed plastic jewels (the ones in the bead aisle which don't have holes in them, you know?) and make sets of those. However, the plastic jewel colors weren't exciting me at the time. You can also do marble push pins, bracelets and chokers and rings, hair clips, heck you could just skip the magnet part and glue marble pictures to, say, a lamp.
	First I thanked myself for saving all those magazines. Then I hunted through for tiny pictures, I used the marble itself to test, then traced a circle the size of the magnet and cut it out with scissors. A perfectly sized craft hole punch would save a lot of time here.
	Gathering the stuff - silicon glue, cut out pictures, magnets, and marbles. I put paper down so I wouldn't ruin my cheap Ikea coffee table. Ok, at this point I have to admit my initial failing. I, of course, didn't check to see what type of glue would be best before I went to the store so I got Crafter's Goop first. I'm sure it works really really well, but man does it smell strongly! It's been three days since my first try and it's still at the stage where you sniff it once, but not again because you know it can't be good for your lungs. I went back, and on advice from the Paper Candy instructions, found silicon glue. It doesn't have a strong odor and seems to just work just right.
	note: I forgot a step. A few people suggest gluing down a white round of cardstock first (junk mail comes in great here) as the glue can seep through your picture and show the dark magnet underneath if you don't. It didn't seem to affect my magnets, I used magazine pictures which are fairly flimsy, however I will have to test it to see if my whites could be whiter. I used a toothpick to spread a thin layer of the glue on the magnet, and put the picture down over that. I had a few seconds to slide the picture into place if needed. I used a toothpick because really strong glue in squeezey metal containers hates me and gloops everywhere. I squeezed a tiny amount of the silicon glue onto some paper and used the toothpick from there. No traumatic events occurred and I don't need to go back to Ikea to replace the table.
	Using the toothpick again, I dabbed a bit of glue, about the size of a lentil, onto the middle of the picture.
	Lower the marble straight down onto the glue.
	And press down in the center. You can see the glue spreading out to the corners making a nice seamless, hopefully bubble less, magnet. Any of those ripples on the bottom of the marble will magically disappear. This whole thing is very satisfying.
	One word of warning, some of my marbles were too small and the pictures stuck out. Really though they won't show once they're on the fridge. I hope. At first I was wary of how thick the magnets themselves are, but now I appreciate it as it gives the whole thing enough height to hold on to when you're prying it off the fridge door. Um... I feel like I'm forgetting to say something. I'll let you know when I remember what it was.
	small update: I made these at night under my living room lamp (thus the bad photos), and the marbles seemed fine. But in the light of day I discover they have scratches on the outer surface. Nothing bad, just not quite the perfection it seemed. So do make sure you have decent light, as if you needed to hear me say that.
	update 12.23.02 I read about cabochons at this thread and this thread on Glitter, I didn't quite know what they were. I found some at Tap Plastics while I was there - they make them in 1" and 1/2" sizes. I bought some 1" ones and made some Christmas magnets, they are the two bottom and middle one in the picture at the left. The pictures at the Tap Plastics website is sort of unclear, they are solid half spheres, there is no hollow space in the middle. The 1/2" cabochons Tap carried were just slightly too small to fit over my 1/2" magnets.
	A picture of the side and the bottom - I used the 3/4" magnets. To make these I pressed the cabochon onto the picture first and allowed to set, then I attached the magnet. You can buy these individually at a Tap Plastics, or in quantities of 100 from thier website. Tap Plastics has stores in California, Oregon and Washington. I am sure there are other places to find them or order them online as well. The Glitter threads talk about using plastic cabochons for making marble jewelry. note: if you're wondering where to buy blank Altoids style tins, or other style tins, see Impress Rubber Stamps (look under Packaging), or try a Japanese stationary store if there is one near you. via: http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/marblemagnets

The origin of sushi

Southeast Asia and China:

Very similar and sushi-like (Nare-zushi type) foods are still found in Southeast Asian countries (Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, etc.) now, and the plains of the north of Thailand and Myanmar, where people make their living by both rice cultivation and fishery - fishing in rivers and rice paddy fields, could be considered as the birth place of the 'original sushi' from well before Christ, and it disseminated to the south part of China, and Japan consequently.

The original concept of sushi is, by the aid of starchy rice, to preserve those of protein-rich foods, fresh water fish and flesh meat, which were not always obtainable through the dry and rainy seasons. This kind of preservation method could not be existed without the development of rice cultivation.

Natural fermentation is taken place when fish is kept long with millet or rice, starchy grains, and the generated lactic acid prevents from rotting. But in a long storage time, the rice part gets too soppy to eat and it was abandoned as a waste after all.

By getting well-off, people did not need a long storage period for preservation and also utilized the 'precious' rice part, then sushi became a dish to eat both the rice part and fish, in still semi-raw, together (Nama-nare type.)

In those countries, sushi has not much changed or improved its basic style till now, further it had completely disappeared in China by ca. 1800 eventually as the fact.

Japan:

It does not exactly known still now when and how sushi came to Japan. The first evidence concerning sushi in Japan is found in an old law document, Taiho-Ritsuryo (701/718) that referred awabi (abalone) and igai (mussel/moule) in Nare-zushi type. As in the rice cultivating country, sushi in Japan has much relation with rice and it has been integrated into today's splendid Nigiri-zushi type, and still been changing its style continuously in the world.

The Axe Effect!!!

Greenpeace China: What You Can’t See Doesn’t Mean It’s Not There

his is a unique advertisement launched by Greenpeace China to make people aware about environmental degradation and threat. The advertisement was placed in an underground location of a subway station. The advertisement is clearly showing the environmental dereliction inflicted by non-biodegradable products. The advertisement has shown carved tree, dirt and Styrofoam boxes that remain in their original form casing environmental damages.

This was undoubtedly a remarkable idea to place the ad in an underground place giving impression that a portion of wall is showing what the earth has in its core. Another important aspect is this kind of advertisement catches obvious attention of public. The advertisement is quite punching as well.

The copy of the ad reads, ‘What you can’t see doesn’t mean it’s not there. Please don’t use non-biodegradable products’. The AD was created by JWT Shanghai.

狗的伪装

Privacy Scarf

What happens when someone using a new technology finds it to be so enticing that they feel compelled to indulge to an excessive degree, disrupting their lives and fracturing relationships?



Design For the Computer Obsessive, a project by Joe Malia graduating student in Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art in London, centers on the role design can play in guiding these individuals through their turbulent affair with the technology.

For example, Private Public is a series of objects that highlight the privacy we sacrifice when using mobile technological devices in public spaces.



By wearing the mobile phone scarf, you can venture into public spaces confident that if the need to compose a private text message were to arise the object could be pulled over the face to create an isolated environment.



Meanwhile, devoted PSP players can explore their passion in complete privacy (though i can't garantee they'll be unnoticed) by using a similar model specifically designed for the gaming console.

RED CROSS mobile billboard

Nothing grabs an audience's attention more effectively than a clever optical illusion. Combine that with an ingenious ad campaign and you get this brilliant mobile billboard for The Red Cross, currently gracing the streets of San Francisco.

It's photo journalism, meets Hollywood blockbuster movie poster, and it is turning plenty of heads wherever it parks itself. Enthusiastic onlookers have been snapping up photos of the mobile billboard and posting, uploading and sharing them online with friends. This is a brilliant example of how an audience can further promote the exposure of a great advertising campaign through mobile phones, blogs and sites such as flicker.

a series of bus ADs