October

For the month of October, 30% of all proceeds from the sale of miss koco's nipple and breast pieces go to the Breast Cancer Fund.

In response to the public health crisis of breast cancer, the Breast Cancer Fund identifies – and advocates for elimination of – the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease.

xoxo,
koco

new work: 10K Ω

10K Ohm jewelry is all handmade from resistors, capacitors, diodes, voltage converters, and other electronic components used in circuits.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

You can find 10kohm at Mew Gallery at 906 Christian, in Philly, or in one of my online shops 10kohm.etsy.com or 1000markets.com.

there should always be more dancing

Sunday morning was rough. After all the late night fun at the wine bar, it was inevitable that I'd wake up feeling like I broke my brain. I thought I'd stay in most of the day and watch some trashy reality nonsense on TV while recovering. Two episodes into my marathon of America's Next Top Model season-fill-in-the-blank/who-cares, I get an invite to go dancing--IN THE DAY!

Though I was mucho hungover, I couldn't pass on going to an adult sized sand box with house music on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Phil is a fun dance partner, and a huge math nerd who loves teaching. I love these things about him, so I knew the afternoon would be enjoyable. We headed over to the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City with one thing in mind, getting a good dance in. The sun set on Manhattan as kids chased each other around in the sand. Large groups of Asians took pictures holding the ever so popular peace sign pose. The smoke from the bbq filled the air with that nice smell of summer. There were people in the crowd dancing truly like no one was watching, but I was... The warm afternoon turned to night. They turned on the flashing red, yellow, and green palm trees and I went back to the dance floor for just a bit more. Latin house beats made me shake my hips and forget the doldrums of my morning slump. There really should always be more dancing.

perfetto

What a day! I woke up feeling rested, slowly drifting from strange dreams about being in a water ballet show with a dolphin to a reality of love in the form of text messages about yoga class with one of my most favorite people in the world. I leisurely got myself together and made my way to yoga with Eleni at her favorite huge, and rather awesome studio, OM in Union Square. After a great class we strolled around the farmer's market and got some groceries. A mint ice tea later, I was in heaven. Yes, it's crowded, and can be overwhelming, but I just love the market.
I have to admit, I am moved by seeing mass amounts of produce. Carrots piled up, beet roots flailing this way and that, baskets of lush greens pouring out all over, the smell of fresh herbs--it's like a spiritual experience. After the market we went back to Eleni's and May came to visit. We went up to the roof and had a beautiful dinner of sundried tomato and garlic polenta with mushrooms on top, a huge salad, and May's carrots, of course. The weather was just perfect. PERFECT! And the company was divine. We went out for a little saturday night fun, that ended in us actually, very easily, convincing the DJ to play Madonna for us. It was somewhat like how I'd describe my ideal day.

hello harlem, nice to meet you

I often say that New York city was my first true love, but after seven years we kinda grew apart. My first night back in NYC, Harlem is a totally new and different version of the city I thought I knew so well.

Me and NYC... we are both a bit older, we've seen some things in the years apart, and we definitely have grown. I'd like to think this time is going to be different, but I know better. At my core, I am still the same and eventually those same old irritations will remind me of why I left in the first place. I go into this knowing this is temporary, but I'm going to love every second of enjoying the good bits: like yoga with Eleni, and the farmer's market, hanging out on rooftops, picnics in the park, brunch in the East Village, late nights with some of my favorite people, mini-adventures to discover my new neighborhood, and just adoring this apartment.

I'm staying in an apartment filled with reminders of my artsy family, of the aunties and uncles that showed me a world of creativity and endless possibilities. This feels so nice. I am exactly where I should be.

The Upcycle Workshops @ Mew Gallery

I'm looking forward to the crafty workshops at Mew this month. May is focused on upcycling, and if these go well I hope to do some basic knitting and crochet workshops in June. I'm busy making kits that every person attending the workshop will go home with. There are still spaces available. See below for details.


Tuesday Night *Upcycle* Workshop Series

Workshop #1 Paper
May 12th from 6pm to 8pm
(get $5 off if you register for this one by Wed. May 6th)

Overwhelmed by Junkmail? Learn how to turn it into one of a kind journals and stationary! Upcycle all that extra paper in your life and learn how to create super easy journals, envelopes, magnets and stickers from maps, menus, and magazines.

Workshop #2 From Jeans to Jewelry
May 26th from 6pm to 8pm

It seems like everyone has a few pairs of jeans that just don’t fit right… or they have the whole sandblasted butt, low-rise thing you can’t rock anymore…or they’re just so worn they’re un-wearable… What can you do with them? Make them into jewelry! Miss Koco will show you how to give your old denim new life.

$30 per workshop
*includes all materials and light refreshments

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required no later than the
Friday before each class: 215-625-2424 or mewgallery@yahoo.com
Mew Gallery is located at 906 Christian Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

i'm workin on it...

"Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou

I know, I know!

Think Green

I'm showing Fresh Kills: One Man's Trash... in a show at the Plastic Club.

"THINK GREEN"
AN EXHIBITION ABOUT ECOLOGY
Opening Reception
Sunday, April 5th
2 - 5 PM

The Plastic Club
247 South Camac Street
Philadelphia, Pa 19107

View Larger Map

i'm new

Kutiman you are sooo clever. Thruyou is a collection of youtube remixes. I want more, I want to see live versions. I want a cd, a dvd even. Kutiman, make it happen.
I'm in love with I'm New. A jazzy space music sound mixed with occasional sultry female vocals gets me every time. The little drag queen in me that adores gay house anthems, wants to sit in front of a mirror and lip sync to Just a Lady all day in clear heels, big fake eyelashes, and way too much makeup.

And just look at how adorable he is:

Philly Makes!

I've started to contribute to a new blog called Philly Makes! Check it out for my weekly project updates and tutorials.

Philly Makes! is a group blog for artists, crafters, designers, and makers of all sorts who live in Philadelphia. Participants commit to create and post one thing per week. A "thing" can be just about anything you might make- a piece of art, a scarf, a bicycle, a website, your dinner, whatever! It can even be a work in progress that you'd like to share and get feedback on!

Want to join? Send an email to Jen with a brief description of what you make and your web URL if you have one!

proud to be...

I loved the beaches in Thailand where I let the sun kiss my skin. I took a long long long train ride from Beijing to St. Petersburg and played in Mongolia. I found Japan to be one of the most delicious places on earth. However, dulce de leche ice cream is best in Argentina. Most of my dreams take place on Buck's Rock Road in New Milford, CT. NYC was my first true love. But... Philly, is where I'm from.

No matter how far I go, I always end up coming back, at least to visit. There is a wonderful community of creative people that keeps me here these days. The designers and artists around me keep me grounded and sane, inspired and excited to create new things. Through March 2nd, in honor of PA Pride, Handmade in PA organized a collection of sales and specials in HiP members' etsy shops.

In my shop, for every item purchased, I will be including a gift--a sweet dreams sachet. These are stuffed with lavender. You can tuck it under your pillow to bring you pleasant dreams, or stick it with your clothes to make it smell lovely. Lavender is really calming and just smells really nice. Just add “PA Proud” in the notes to seller at the etsy checkout.

Check out the specials from other HiPsters:

Kristen from WatersGirls - Enjoy 30% off your purchase!
Lynn from UnaOdd - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Rosie from RosiesWhimsy - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Kerry from ALittleSparkle - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Marissa from MarissaJoannaRojas, MJRojasPhoto, and YayforFidgetArt - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Dana from WiredDesign - Get a single FREE "Never Enough" Sterling Silver stacking ring with your purchase!
Kimberly from ChezSucreChez- Enjoy 10% off all items in her shop!
Sarah from SweetSallysSoaps - Get 3 bars of handcrafted soap for $15!
Melanie from SpreadtheLove - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Erin from Ruju - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Hillary from Antebelle - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Patty from ArtfulMommy - Enjoy FREE Shipping!
Emily from disCARDS - Enjoy FREE Shipping on orders over $5!

Mew Gallery Annual Pay-the-Rent Event

If you didn't already know, I love Mew. They do so much to continue to help create community among local artists. They host fantastic events, they are open to having meetings for local collectives of artists and designers, they carry the work of people who live in the area, they make cool stuff... they're awesome! Mew has become like a second home to me. I love hanging out there. I donated the Benjamin Bangle for the fundraiser. I know it's a school night, but I hope lots of people come to support them, come to dance with me, and come to buy me lots of drinks.

All proceeds go toward keeping this place open and running. Please, help support local arts and join us for the fun!!

March 3, 2009 from 6 to 10 pm
at the South Philly Tap Room
1509 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia

Beer specials, silent auction, raffle, djs, dancing, and general merriment.

$5 suggested donation

Win fabulous stuff (photography, paintings, prints, jewelry, clothing, zines, candles, ceramics, and sooooo much more!!!) from participating artists:

Alina tees & zines, Anna Burke photography, Beck’s Buttons jewelry, Bell Buoy Press, Boto Designs, Faceplant Wasted, Flying Fox, Gray Nation, Isaac Bushkin, J.L. Schnabel, Jessica Liddel, Joy Stember, KnitKnit, Lana Heckendorn, Lauren Lopez, Leslie Albend, Megan Dorien, Mike Geno, Miss Koco, Nicole Rae Styer, Rebelle Couture, Sarah Myers, Shannon McLaughlin, Sideways E, Tiny Airplanes, Tranquility jewelry, Un De Six clothing, WabiSabi, Warren Veith, and COUNTING!!!

seriously. so much good stuff.

the benjamin bangle

A curious case of a button stash gone wild.

The buttons were sewn to a felted merino band (still using pieces of that shrunken sweater!). Many of these buttons were sent to me from chickitout as a PIF (pay it forward). I will be donating this piece to Mew Gallery for their upcoming annual fundraiser at the South Philly Tap Room on March 3rd from 6 to 10pm. There will be beer specials, DJs, dancing (there should always be dancing), a silent auction and a raffle on art and merchandise from local artists and designers. $5 suggested door donation.

knithacker

I'm obsessed with flickr groups lately. I came across a group called knithacker that is dedicated to knitting projects that are a bit whacked out, have a certain flare, or are a combination of a couple of patterns combined together to make, as they said, "something gloriously unique and knitty-licious."

They also have a website--and they picked one of my projects from the photo pool that they featured. How fab! This knithack was part of my project Pieces of Koco. I wonder where it is now and how it's doing.

in the news

Channel 6 aired the story today to promote the craft swap tomorrow at Mew with the Sewing Collective. They presented it as a way to save money whereas the focus in the interviews was on community and creativity.

It's always strange to watch yourself. I was there, next to Amber, of PheaJean, for a few seconds giving my "I'm soooo interested" look. Hilarious. You can check out the video here.

I have to put together a bag of things to take to the swap that I can part with. This may end up being a difficult task. My yarn stash is out of control, so I'll probably bring some of that in hopes of trading it for some red buttons or cool fabric.

links to love

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talked about mavens, people with some kind of specialized knowledge. For all things funny, interesting, and important in the world I rely heavily on two sources: my friend Luimbe and the almighty ITP Alumni listserv. Luimbe is a maven when it comes to the most delicious ridiculousness from the internet.

Luimbe has a unique ability--a super human magnetism that sucks things in from all corners of the internet. He scans content at lightning speeds, tossing aside the best nonsense to serve up to people like myself in the form of links. Beautiful, hilarious, brilliant links. His links are so tasty that I feel it is time to dedicate occasional content on my own blog to the wonders I discover through him. I will call it Luimbe's Gold Lui's Golden Ticket, uhhh... golden linkage? Luimbe's Links? Links Love Lui? LinkLuimbe? http://luimbelinks? Good Ish from the Big L... I'll have to think about that more. Just so you get an idea of what I'm talking about, here are some recent tidbits from my inbox:

Oh, and this is great: The Worst Album Covers Ever (.pdf)

I do love Luimbe's Links. They keep life interesting. More! More! More!

Swap/destash

The Philadelphia Sewing Collective is holding a supply swap at Mew Gallery this Saturday. Channel 6 did a feature about the event and it will air on Friday around noon. This should be fun. Be sure to RSVP to give them a good idea of how many people will be there.

repurposing

The upcycling of that one sweater continues. I'm having fun making outrageous fiber jewelry now.

more from old jeans

I love the way fabric looks when it's rolled. I need to make more stuff out of these rolls. I started playing with rolled fabric last year around this time and made a trivet and some fiber wall pieces. Here's a new experiment with the rolled denim beads for thing-a-day:

things

I'm trying to focus on paper things this week, but I'm getting distracted--by my bed calling me to go to sleep, and buttons telling me to make things with them instead. I made a paper mobile out of circles I cut out of SEPTA schedules and the necklace is made from a kilt pin with buttons on it. I'm really into buttons right now. I don't know why; I've never been into buttons before.

ridiculous holidays I need to celebrate

I've missed out on two holidays in 2009 due to late notification. This is unacceptable.
Today is Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, but I had a bowl of wheatina. I totally would have eaten a huge bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream if I had only known just a few hours earlier about this. Doesn't everyone know that YOU MUST TELL MISS KOCO about these things?!

Nobody has kept precise track but through word of mouth ICFBD has been celebrated in many homes, states and countries all over the world. Some people give parties with musical instruments, others simply celebrate with family members. There is no right or wrong so long as you follow the 3 plus 1 simple Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Rules

(1) Eat ice cream
(2) for breakfast
(3) on the first Saturday in February

(4) spread the word

The rest is up to you!

I also missed out on Intergalactic Tutu Day! I can't tell you how much I would have loved to celebrate ITD 2009 this year. It's possibly unhealthy how much I want to wear a tutu right now.

On Earth, Intergalactic Tutu Day is celebrated on February 2nd of each solar year. While the observation of Intergalactic Tutu Day varies greatly from civilization to civilization, the most common practice is for beings to simply wear tutus! You do have a tutu, don't you?

Please notify me of any fun upcoming holidays I must celebrate. Here are a few I'm considering to add to my calendar:
Blame Someone Else Day -- Feb. 13th
Pi Day -- March 14th
Take Your Pants for a Walk Day--July 27

I will not be participating in:
International Sword Swallowers Day -- Feb. 28th
Pig Day --March 1st
National Sea Monkey Day -- May 16th

working magic

My lovely tinyredhead made a mistake and put her chocolate split collar turtleneck sweater in the wash. It shrunk. I took it and performed some magic on it. I transformed the sad sweater into a fierce neck warmer, cozy leg warmers, and a pair of mittens to keep tinyredhead appendages from freezing off.

The legwarmers used to be sleeves, the mittens I cut from the body, and the neck warmer is from the collar. After all that there isn't much left of the sweater, but I might be able to squeeze another project out of it. The great thing about felted material is that you don't have to worry about it fraying, so this opens up a lot of possibilities. All made in under an hour; I'm really getting into my thing-a-day projects.

red orange fire pop

Thing #4: Trying to keep warm, moving into hot colors. A lonesome clip-on earring serves as a closure.

another earthy wrap

This week I've been making things with yarn for my thing-a-day project. Next week I'll take on fabric or paper. For the third I'll do whichever option I didn't choose for the second... and I don't know what I'll do that last week, maybe instructions.

Here's what I came up with for day 3. Thought I'd have some fun with photobooth...

Project America's Next Top Drag Queen

I'm so into Rupaul's Drag Race, the new reality show where drag queens compete to win some money, a cover for Paper magazine, and the title of the next drag queen superstar. Rupaul is Tim Gunn in one scene and Tyra in the next. Santino, from Project Runway, is one of the judges. I'm so happy I get to see him again.

In the first episode there were handfuls of lovely little gems like, "I think you might need to take a pregnancy test," or "In a moment I will ask one of you to shante, which means you can stay, and ask one of you to sashay--away." Ridiculous. This is like the most intense reality competition show ever--not only do these guys have to create theatrical and realistic versions of femininity, but they also have to sew outfits, do runway, do photo shoots, do their own makeup, and lip sync, with a whole bunch of bitches.

I love this. It's my favorite day.

My only questions are: Why didn't someone think of this before? And why isn't this show on Bravo???

HiP!

I made it onto the Handmade in PA site for their 6 more weeks of winter shopping guide.  I love that site! Check it out and see the details for a discount from my shop.

thing2

I made my friend Tone a wrap in earthy tones with a mix of a bunch of different yarns.  It ended up being a blend of merino, silk, cashmere, microfiber, and mohair.  With a couple of wooden buttons, this turned out to be my absolute favorite wrap yet.  

I was pretty thrilled with the colors and decided to make something else with greens and golds. I ran through my stash and pulled out all the earthy odd and ends that worked well together. I'm evoking spring, hoping that I won't have a reason to make these pretty soon.  I came up with a two tone merino wrap for day 2 of my thing-a-day project. I picked up the silver hook closure in Thailand.  Love it.

25 things... YUCK!

I can't stand that people keep tagging me in this 25 things thing that is going around facespace like a sneaky STD.  Didn't we learn, like in grade school, how irritating chain letters and things like this are?

multi-grain cheerios

The first thing I made for thing-a-day is a crocheted neck wrap. It reminds me of multi-grain cheerios. Delicious. I crocheted it up quickly.  It's just a big circle that you fold and pin with a big kilt pin.

thing-a-day 2009

I've been contemplating doing some kind of project similar to my sister's 365 project. I want to create everyday and share it. I want to be more diligent about documentation and writing about how to make the things I make.

I will kick off this new endeavor with thing-a-day 2009. Artists all over post something they did that day, everyday during Feb. Last year was a lot of fun, register before the 31st to get in on the fun.

new koco knits

It's freezing out, so I've been keeping myself warm and busy by crocheting and knitting a bunch. With some help from J9, here are photos of the new "scarves" I've been making.

dim sum twist

I went to a Korrupt party in Chinatown at a dim sum place. I like the concept. It felt like a high school homecoming dance, but with booze--maybe that's because the high school I went to always had those events at large restaurant with tacky decorations or mirrors. I always seem to bump into someone I know from a while ago when I go out in NYC, this time it was Nick, from Nickydigital.com. Love him! My sister used to do magic shows with him. She was the "tah-dah" girl. Now Nick has a handlebar mustache, goes out a lot, and takes photos of drunk people. Love him!

sweetness

Thus far, the thing that has most defined 2009 for me: dessert. It's like life is what happens between cookies. I've been spending lots of time with Sugarmonk in NYC satisfying our sweet tooth cravings. Spending time with him in itself has been like one treat after the next, adding good eats to the situation makes for a very happy koco.

One of our recent adventures took us to two bakeries in Hell's Kitchen to compare their chocolate chip cookies. The pumpkin chocolate chip cookies--slightly cake-like, super soft with big chunks of chocolate and nuts--came out on top in that challenge, though the monk would argue otherwise. After dinner, bellies typically filled with some fantastic Thai or Japanese creation, we often find ourselves scoping out the nearest place to get a sugary conclusion to the evening. Per his suggestion, I ate ice cream for breakfast in bed last week. It was incredible. Before going out to a show this week, we had to pop into a cafe for a cupcake, just so he could eat all the icing off the top. Here, at Milk Bar in the East Village, we had some disappointing soft-serve chocolate mousse ice cream and a corn flake chocolate chip cookie. The cookie saved that experience.


In my creative world, I'm obsessed with Mew Gallery, and they've started selling my work there. My new item there this week: fortune cookie card sets. There are two cookies in each Chinese takeout box for you to write your own message or fortune on. They're cute. You can also find them in my etsy shop.

I want to make some cookies this week. I made some bangin' oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pecans in them. Maybe I'll replicate that. Any suggestions?? Recipes? Please send them my way asap.