Holiday Cards

Well, I did it. I had some Bent Objects holiday cards printed. I had just a few thousand made, so they will be unique.
They were delivered to the house a few days ago, and the printer did a very nice job with them. They're A2 size ( 5.5'' x 4.25'').



They're multiple use, because they're blank on the inside, so they can be Thank You cards, Christmas or New Year's party invitations, or Happy Holiday cards. Versatile is good way to describe them, I think.

I also like blank cards so I can personalize them a bit with a "Happy Holidays!", Season's Greetings!", "Merry Christmas to our good friends ____", or "Happy New Year To _____!" You can have it say whatever you want without trying to think of something extra to write under an already printed saying. That's the trouble I have with cards anyway. Maybe you're more talented in this area.


Oh, and did I mention that the cards are 100% recycled? Yep. And the envelopes? Also 100% recycled. Try finding that in the big box store down the street.

I'll be shipping these priority mail, so they'll be at your home in no time. If you should be interested in buying some, the prices are as follows for the U.S. --

(edit-Sorry, had to raise shipping rates on some of these. I miscalculated.)

18 cards and envelopes for $17.95 + $5 shipping. ($22.95 total)

30 cards and envelopes for $24.95 + $8 shipping. ($32.95 total)

50 cards and envelopes for $38.95 + $8 shipping. ($46.95 total)

For Canada, the shipping is $9.
For my international friends outside of North America, the shipping is $18 dollars.

You can pay using the donate button on the sidebar (there is a section there at Paypal for you to leave info for me). If you have any questions, email me at BentObjects@gmail.com.

--------------
edit- Yes, I know there will be some peeps out there asking for Hanukkah cards ( and I have that one photo from last year), but I shot my budget on this one.

A Saturday Morning Cartoon

I got this idea from my friends over at the d'ArteBoard. No it's not wire wrapped around objects, but this is my blog, so there. In the U.S., as long as I can remember, Saturday morning cartoons are something kids look forward to watching while they eat their sugary cereals.

Milton was a classic cartoon that I'd watch after I got home from school in the 70's. It's Halloween today, so it's a good fit. At least watch the opening song. It's awesome.

Milton The Monster - The Hearse Thief
Uploaded by DwightFrye. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Our 12 year old and I both have gmail accounts, and she gets upset when she goes to check her email on our laptop, and I haven't signed out. The other day I received this email from her gmail address, but it wasn't from her, it was from Ted from gmail, or so he said.

(One more thing, I'm always telling her to delete some of her old messages, which are many, but she refuses.)

Dear G-mail participant,

Every once and a while we check on our G-mail users to

make sure everything is going smoothly. We have only one

complaint, you have not been signing out. We have no other

complaints and we believe that we are lucky to have

you using our sight. It may seem as if you are getting this

form someone else but, we are sending this to you from

the person who first filed the complaint that you were not

signing out. We can not say this person because it is being

sent to all the others who don't sign out. We will still let

you use G-mail, we just like to make G-mail a better

experience for everyone. Please enjoy using G-mail

and please sign out.

Sincerely,

Ted Lamasso

Remember- There is no need to delete because G-mail is big.

Thank you again, Ted.

Have a wonderful day.

----------------------------------------------------

One more thing- The art of Kevin Van Aelst

Leaves and Leaving

Some music to go with it- Miles plays some "Autumn Leaves"...

Doodling books while I look for leaves...

Searching for some good leaves for the next Bent Objects image.

Only the best leaf will do for my Bent Objects visitors.

Meanwhile, while I'm coming up with an idea involving leaves, several people have asked about signed copies of the book. I'll tell you the truth, trying to arrange appearances (speaking/book signing) is not something I have enjoyed. My talk/signing at The Indiana Historical Society December 5th will be it for now.

But I have another possibility for you-

I'm offering autographed copies that I'll gladly personalize,

with doodles (I don't draw, I doodle)

of all sorts for $30 + shipping.

Each copy will be unique as far as the doodling is concerned. Copies without doodles and just an autograph are $20 + shipping, but my feelings will probably be really hurt.

U.S. shipping is $4, Canada and Mexico- $7, and everywhere else is $15.

I'm also still offering personalized, signed book plates for just $2 each total.

Use the "Donate" button on the sidebar to pay the $30 plus appropriate shipping.

You can email me at BentObjects@gmail.com (Go ahead, don't be scared, I'm a fairly nice fella).

Wish me luck with the leaves!

I'm drinking lots of caffeine and thinking about Autumn! Such hard work.

---------------------
Bitchin Lifestyle has an interview of me here. Very cool site.

So the winner is autumn leaves

Autumn Leaves? Sounds like the name of a heart-breaking starlet. It's also the object of my next Bent Objects image thanks to your votes. I'm going out to see what I can rake up now.

While I try to figure out what to do with leaves, read this review of my book and think of all the many people that you know who would love it as a gift. Kathy over at The Junk Drawer, was also nice enough to talk about it.

What should the next object be?

Hey, time to tell me what to use as an object in a Bent Objects photo. Leave an idea in the comment section. Sometime early Saturday morning (eastern standard time, U.S.), I'll pick my favorite 5 items for you to vote on.

What are you waiting for? You have about 12 hours.

Edit- Times up! No more comments. 31 comments are pretty good for a late Friday night. Thanks!

Fruit with life experience.

I made this fella up quite a while ago to show the people of American Greetings Card Company. He's definitely one of my smallest Bent Objects "people" yet, and he's lasted a long time off to the side of my photo table.

American Greetings is producing several cards with Bent Objects on them, to be sold exclusively by Target. I've seen a couple of them in the stores already, with some more to come next year. Pretty surreal seeing my stuff in there.

I'm really thankful for the reviews that I've gotten on the book so far. Feel free to tell all your friends. Of course, maybe you don't want to tell them, because you're planning on buying a copy to give them as a present? Yes, that sounds like a fantastic idea! Good thinking on your part! You are so awesome!

I'm giving a presentation, a bit like the one here, December 5th at the Indiana Historical Society, with loads of other authors. I'll be signing books for several hours, and I hope anyone in the area will stop by and say hi (it's free). I'm also on the lookout for other bookstores and such who would like me to do the same thing in their super cool establishments. Keep in mind, I'll be driving my old clunker, so distance can be an issue!

Also- The most wacky, cool review you will ever read about milk on Amazon.

Today, Bent Objects, The Secret Life of Everyday Things" is in stores.

Well, here we are, very nearly 400 posts after this blog first appeared September 10, 2006. Today, I'll stop by a couple of bookstores to try and find copies of my book (and then put them on a table near the front door). Yes, today is the first day that it's officially in stores. Hard for me to believe. It's been a long process.

This photo of this pencil bug and paintbrush fly was part of my first post, long before the thought of a book crossed my mind, and even before I thought of using my kinda strange sense of humor.

If you have enjoyed my many attempts here over the last three years to add wire to objects, and end up with something interesting, I hope you'll take a look at the book. I'm very, very relieved to say that the early reviews from people who have already received the book in the mail have been very good.

So, I'll keep making things for you to enjoy here on the blog,

but I hope you all will help me out by visiting a bookstore and taking a look,

or ordering the book from one of the many links on my sidebar on the right.

And if you have an uncle or cousin with a good sense of humor?

Well, the holidays are just around the corner! (Yes. I said it!)

Best,

Terry Border

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jon, over at Five Rules For Life, reposted my five rules. They work really well for me (when I can manage to follow them myself).

Am I a Stud-Muffin?

That was a rhetorical question.

The Wall Street Journal blog "Speakeasy" called me for a short interview yesterday. Seems to be kind of a neat blog, and I'm only partly saying that because they have good taste in wire-plus-object arteests.

For people in creative fields- Teller, of Penn and Teller (the magicians) tells a young struggling performer his secret to success. I posted this link on my Twitter and Facebook, and people really got something from it. I couldn't agree more with his main point.

The First Bent Objects Promo Video

Our cat makes a cameo appearance, and is sure to be the most memorable part of this.

If you like it, please fee free to share it with a friend. Or even a friendly looking stranger.

Oh, That Nutty Irony

Love can do terrible things. It can break your heart, or just smash you to pieces.

Prints available here.

Zombies Are Nuts About Brains

Prints available here.

A side of baby carrots

----------------------------------------

Know a website that would do Bent Objects some good with a possible review of the new book? My publisher has some copies it would like to send out for just that purpose. Feel free to leave your idea in the comment section or email me at BentObjects.blogspot.com .
Thanks.

Hamlet Was Nuts

Prints of Hamlet now available here.

______________________

Chris McVeigh- Legos, Star Wars, and Chipmunks

_______________A Balanced Breakfast

-----------------------------Photograph by Chris McVeigh All rights reserved

No longer does a person have to be lucky enough to have a gallery show, or try to get feedback from a limited circle of friends in order to know if what is being created is connecting with an audience. We all want to connect with others somehow with what we create, and for me that's what Bent Objects has done, and I have the internet to thank for that.

Lately, I've become curious about other people who are creating work to post online, and have decided to do some interviews for my own selfish reasons.

Some of these people have work that you've seen floating around the web, and maybe some of them will be new to you. I'm no journalist, but I hope people might get something out of the following interview, and hopefully future ones too.

I picked Chris McVeigh as my first person to interview because I felt some kind of connection with his work. He's a graphic designer by trade, which I can tell by his design sense. He uses characters that are already made (Star Wars toys, and lego people), but then he puts them in situations that form a sort of narrative sometimes, or a gag other times, much like me. He also has added an incredibly unique element to his photographs- live characters in his shots in the form of wild chipmunks (!), that he has managed to tame to some extent.

Chis has sold images to Microsoft, and has had a Chewie meets chipmunk photograph on the front page of the official Star Wars Blog.

Okay, here goes-

Me- Where did you learn to photograph your work?

Chris- All self-taught. Pretty much everything I do is self-taught, actually, from writing to illustrating to Adobe Photoshop. I glean bits of information here and there and just use that as a starting point for experimentation. I find it's the best way to learn, really; I'd much rather be actively sorting out how to do something in my head than reading about how to do it.

What are some of your influences? Cartoons? Movies? (Only I would ask what cartoons influenced a person. Geez.)

Well I think it's safe to say Star Wars is a main influence. It's odd, but it's only been in recent years where I've felt free to articulate my geekiness in any real capacity. It's just so accepted at the moment, so I'm reveling in it.

Is there something that triggered that change in you? What brought it on?

I think it's all about finding an audience or a group of people with whom you share interests. The first few Star Wars Chipmunk pics that I put together got a great response, and no one piped up and said "Oh, you're such a moron, why don't you just grow up?" That's the kind of response I would expect from some people in my social circle, and it's the kind of negative reinforcement that cause so many of us to abandon our interests just to fit in, or fulfill someone else's expectations of us. But I've outed myself now. I'm a geek, I love action figures and video games, and I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. And I'm not the only one who has stood up and declared my geekhood; there seems to be a major social movement towards that right now. No shame, not any more.

Where do you see this all going?

Honestly, I have no idea. I actually have a backlog of chipmunks photos and I'm pacing myself. I don't want people to get sick of them or lose an appreciation for the work that goes into each one. I am sure there are already some people out there who think "OMG its teh chipmunk guy agains!!?!"

After you've exhausted your chipmunk ideas, then it's back to shooting mainly just the figures themselves? (BTW, my faves of yours are Chewbacca from below, on his skateboard, and the Stormtrooper lying down watching the river go by)

I think so. This summer more than others, I feel a lot of pressure to take shots of the chipmunks while they're out and about. Once fall rolls around, I'll have more time to focus on whimsical action figure and Lego shots. (I actually have three such shots currently in production but haven't had time to shoot any of 'em.)

Oh, and there will be follow up to the Chewbacca/skateboard shot, if I can ever get the sky to cooperate. :D

Has your photography and all that comes with it, has it changed your design sense at all?

I think so. It's certainly brought out a clear preference for minimalism. I usually try to construct images without too much chaos in the background. Now that might not be the truest definition of minimalism, but I definitely have a tendency to limit the amount of disparate items in my pictures in order to encourage focus.

Here's Chris with Frannie, one of his stars.

Thanks to Chris for humoring me with this. Make sure you check out his flickr page, and maybe even buy a print or t-shirt (I like this one, ha!).