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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

I spent some time in high school studying the medical and practical uses of local plants. I may have mentioned that I entertain Mr Man when we go out for walks: “Those ‘weeds’ are edible, that’s good for firestarter, and you can use that to make cough syrup. Oh, but that one’s poisonous.” (I’m sure my brother has stories of mysterious bottles marked with a skull and crossbones in the fridge.) 

That’s why this video appeals to me (the useful part, not the poison part):

In Search of Forgotten Colours – Sachio Yoshioka and the Art of Natural Dyeing

Sachio Yoshioka is the fifth-generation head of the Somenotsukasa Yoshioka dye workshop in Fushimi, southern Kyoto. When he succeeded to the family business in 1988, he abandoned the use of synthetic colours in favour of dyeing solely with plants and other natural materials.

So pretty!

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The world is a distracting place. If you’ve been having trouble finding the time and energy to focus on your writing, this free class from award-winning author Mary Robinette Kowal might be useful.

Free Class: Barriers to Writing

Hey there… have you been having a hard time writing? Yeah. There’s a lot of that going around right now.

This class looks at what keeps people from writing. It’s less about problems with the story and more about all the external things. It covers environmental factors, mental health, and tricks for compensating for all of this to write.

Thanks, Mary!

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“We’re only here for a short time. So why not go for it?”

— Belle Burden

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Today, a little update related to a post I made in (checks notes) 2012: Today in Spectacular Bookseller Practices: A Random Used-Book Vending Machine.

The image for that post is broken and there wasn’t a lot of information about the actual book vending machine, but I’m here to rectify that oversight!

What am I on about? The BIBLIO-MAT, a.k.a the book vending machine.

THE BIBLIO-MAT

The BIBLIO-MAT is a random book vending machine designed and built by Craig Small for The Monkey’s Paw, an idiosyncratic antiquarian bookshop in Toronto.

It’s awesome and handmade and should be something you can get in multiple sizes and formats for next-day delivery because it is just that cool. (Seriously, what would a suitcase sized or food truck style or e-book version of this look like?)

Check out the link for how-it-works videos and enough interior sketches to inspire your own if you are mechanically inclined (and have a significant pile of maybe-never-to-be-read books).

Because as Dame Margaret Atwood says, “THIS! IS! BRILLIANT!”

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You don’t have to be miserable or suffer to create art; but you do have to be honest, and honesty is terrifying.

— Elizabeth Bear

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“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

― Bertolt Brecht

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“You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”

― Deepak Chopra

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“Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.”

― Emma Donoghue

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“We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… And those that carry us forward, are dreams.”

― H.G. Wells

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“That’s what literature is. It’s the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!”

— Connie Willis

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