Plaiderpillar

Tatiana is our first winner!  This is her with her new PlaiderPillar Octo Girl.  Rahul Gupta and family were the first “$ OFF!” button finders at BEASTBOX!  They drew a “GIMME CANDY” button too and got to pick out a PlaiderPillar candy pack.  Stop down before 4:00 this afternoon to cash in in on the goods!  And remember to check my Twitter posts for even more freebies today.

Read the last few posts for details about our last day’s goings-on, then hurry down to 13th and Webster!  It’s our very last day!

Here’s our BEFORE and AFTER for our room.

So sad.  So so so sad that it’s over.  I wish this could be the PlaiderPillars’ home forever.  This month is rankin’ high on my Marvelous Months list.  We’ve met unique, creative, friendly people every day.  Not a day went by that we didn’t have visitors.  To all of you, our sincerest thanks.

If you haven’t seen it, check my last post.  There are freebies to be had at BEASTBOX today only!  Candy and discounts!  Check my Twitter, too.  I’m giving you hardcore PlaiderPillar fans more free stuff today.

Remember that you still have a chance to have a month as amazing as ours!  What would YOU do with an Empty Room?

So what’s up with BEASTBOX?  

Right now I have a buncha projects in the works.  A new vinyl yoga ball for an Etsy gal, a Long-Arm-Legling for a Netherlands couple and their adorable child, two teeny needle-felted birds for Paula Wallace of Hot Shops, and an Octo Girl for Josh Powell and maybe more for you guys!).  These are pics of the progress.

Then, I’ve been thinking about tomorrow (last day BEASTBOX is open).  I wanna do some fun things for the closing.  A thank you give-away for our last day!  Everyone who stops by BEASTBOX on the 28th will draw a button from a bag.  I have labeled half of them with “Gimme Candy!,” which means you get to take a buncha candy.  The other half are labeled “$5 OFF!” through “$20 OFF!” which can be used on any PlaiderPillar merch in BEASTBOX!  No matter what, you win something, and you’ve got a good shot at money off my PlaiderPillar stuff.  Come early so you can get first crack at the deals and so no one swipes the monster you want!  Follow me on Twitter and sign up for the mailing list at the left to get the news about any BEASTBOX freebies and fun.  Who knows!?  Maybe I’ll think of even more fun stuff for tomorrow and update you last-minute!

Oh!  And if you don’t get a chance to swing by yet, here is the link to the BEASTBOX pics:  TOTAL AWESOMENESS.

So what do we have here?

Here’s me with Ellie in her new dress!  There was a big Hot Shops wedding this weekend, and I got to help in a few ways.  The bride Rebecca (the daughter of Ed the glassblower from Crystal Forge) was super cool and let the girls pick out their own green dress, so Ellie asked if she could get some emerald green satin and have me make her a lil’ sumpin’.  And here it is!  Could there be a better color with her awesome red hair?  I think not.  

I also got to showcase a few of our BEASTBOX goodies at the wedding.  The umbrella swing and toadstools were the perfect backdrop for a wedding.  And it was great that Rob and I had a hand in the setting.  It seems every artist from Hot Shops has contributed in their own way.  The galleries where the reception was held were full of art from the studio artists.

And the best part was that the groom, Dan, got the umbrella swing for his new bride for a wedding gift!  I mean, maybe I’m a little biased here, but I think maybe that’s the coolest wedding present any bride has ever gotten in the history of the world.  What a guy!

One of the best things about this Empty Room is how it links together great groups of people.  We get to tell our visitors about Hot Shops, Bluestone and the 22Floors residences, What Cheer and Secret Penguin, the Omaha Creative Institute, and more. I love getting to spread the word and get people linked up with these Omaha opportunities.

I’m sitting on the BEASTBOX couch writing to you, and Chloe is hanging out by the toadstools!  Hurray!  

Last night’s opening was beyond a success.  I was near tears — no lie — at the turnout.  Astounding!  As Rob and I sat on the toadstools in the space earlier today, I said that we must have the coolest fan base ever.  Today more people have stopped in, and it’s been great to be visited by family and friends, and put faces to the names we have known only through the interwebs thus far.  We met some awesome people!  It seems more like getting to hang out in your living room with your buddies than working at a shop.

My brother Eddie was excited to spread the word about B&G, too.  A T-shirt was awarded to one guy who ate five BeeGee sandwiches.  An awesome feat of eating!  Need more loose meat sandwiches?  Head to 79th Street and Dodge, on the north side!

So, keep following along here and I’ll keep you updated on what we do this month.  I’m going to keep regular hours of operation, so drop on by.  And don’t forget to check out the Omaha Creative Institute Workshops here.  And congratulations to Alicia Perry for being chosen as the winner in the BEASTBOX soundtrack give-away!  Charles the Puggle’s favorite movie is Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, so it was a no-brainer for him.  Thanks to all who contributed!  I will play the soundtrack on the Giant Pile (stereo setup by Eddie Morin and Eric Shew,pictured above with an awe-struck Amy) all month.

Hours of Operation, 6.1.09 — 6.28.09

Monday - Friday, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Saturday, 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Sunday, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

I’m getting ready to head to the studio to put some finishing touches on things, but I wanted to use my Thursday BEASTBOX update to say thank you to those who have helped get this together and let you know who was involved in the project.  I’m going with list format here  . . . 

•  Dave, John Henry, Cody, and all at Secret Penguin and What Cheer.  They orchestrated this and turned this room into an Empty Room for others to use, when they probably coulda turned it into a What-Penguin super lounge!  

• Christian and the folks at Bluestone Development.  Thanks for this amazing space!  We hope we do it justice.  You have given us the greatest blank canvas we’ve yet come across!

• My Morin family has let me raid EVERY SINGLE material stash they have, including lumber, steel, fabric, trees, food, furniture, glue, paint, compressors, frames . . . it goes on and on.  If they own something that they thought would help with this show, they handed it over.  Including their time.  Last night Mom, Dad, and Kara dropped everything and spent the day installing, while Eddie worked B&G and prepped for the food for the show.  They even made a run to the store for more tape, just so that our plaid would have one more red stripe.  My mom even went kleptomaniac My brother has not only prepped the food for tomorrow, but is sending help to serve it!  And a special thanks to Eddie and Kara for saving all of our pets this week.  Chloe leapt through a closed window in the rain while we were at our studio, and Eddie and Kara drove by.  They called me, rounded up Chloe, checked for the rest of the kiddos, and cleaned up our shattered windows before I  had even made it home!  I can’t even begin to tell you how much they’ve all done.

• The Chuf and Charles Skullface Honda for holding it until we could get home to walk them.

• The Quinn family has rounded up fabric and inspiration for our projects, forking over their suit coats and wool pants for the sake of umbrellas!  They drove the entire way on their vacation so that we could sit in the back and work on BEASTBOX projects.  They have kept us sustained throughout the project, feeding us while we snag supplies from their home!  They even send carefully packed food for our studio work nights!

• Signs and Shapes, where I work, for being understanding and gracious enough to not only work around my time-off-for-BEASTBOX schedule, but for providing resources and loaning me supplies to use.

• The Omaha Creative Institute, for letting me host workshops in the BEASTBOX space.

• Everyone at Hot Shops and The Omaha Craft Mafia for their undying support, and for always keeping us in mind while saving supplies and letting us use equipment.  It’s great to be a part of groups that will drop their project and help you with yours.  We hope we can always return the favor!

• All of YOU!  I’ve been checking Google Analytics, and you guys are really a dedicated crowd.  You are the reason that people I’ve never met know me as “the monster girl!”  You have created the soundtrack, and all the publicity for this show.  For your tweets, blog shot-outs, email-forwardings, mailing list sign-ups, and word-of-mouth advertising, I am so grateful!

So, from myself and Rob, I offer my sincerest thanks.  It’s a monster thank you.

Today I wanna show you our Empty Room before BEASTBOX takes over!

This is the space, located at 13 Street and Webster, on the north side of the 22 Floors building.  It faces the parking lot behind Urban Outfitters, Slowdown, What Cheer and Secret Penguin, etc.  Christian at Bluestone Development has been wonderful to work witht.  So helpful!  They outfitted us with one sweet room, lemme tell you.  It has an exposed ceiling for hanging monsters, nice big open walls to hang monster art, a shiny polished concrete floor to bounce with bouncy monsters on, cool round windows, our own bathrooms, and killer lighting!  

I mean, if you came up to someone and said, “Hey, can I use your room?  I wanna fill it full of monsters, hang stuff from your ceilings, use it as a studio/shop, serve loose meat in it, and invite every single person I know to come hang out there,”  most people would say “HECK NO!”  

Most people.  But Christian said it sounded like a great idea!  We couldn’t ask for more.  I can’t wait to see the space change — almost overnight — from month to month.  There is no cooler way to use a room than this Empty Room project!

For your Tuesday BEASTBOX update, I wanna give you a sneak peek of what we’re working on, and tell you more about our work.

First, here’s Rob hanging from a mystery thing.  It’s just a peek, so all I’m gonna say is that it’s seven feet tall, and in this photo it’s being held up by a chain hoist.

Next you’ve got your standard crazy PlaiderPillar face.  Who does this face belong to?  Come find out Friday.

Rob has paintings, metal work, and ceramic pieces ready to show you, and I have sewn stuff, of course.  There are some large-scale, play-with-able pieces in this show, and some teeny tiny detailed ones, too.  We are going to keep Friday as kid-friendly as possible.  But, if the opening Friday is too late in the evening for your kiddos (8pm), bring ‘em by during the day Saturday or Sunday to play.  See you tomorrow for another update!

It’s here!  June!  Our Empty Room month! 

Take a peek at my last few posts for all info abut our Empty Room show, BEASTBOX, but this week I wanna give you some previews before the opening Friday.  Check this blog during the week, and follow me on Twitter.  I’ll keep you posted as we go. 

Like I promised, B&G Tasty Foods is providing the food for the opening.  If you haven’t checked out this Omaha classic, you’re in for a treat.  My brother Eddie recently purchased the restaurant, but it’s been around since 1953.  Their specialty is the “BeeGee,” which is a loose meat sandwich.  The have awesome shakes, fries, and Eddie added a few options for veggie lovers, too!  He has been working crazy hours slingin’ meat and updating the restaurant.  It’s not to be missed.  Even if you don’t like monsters, you should come to our opening for the sandwiches alone.  If you can’t make it Friday, go visit Eddie at79 and Dodge Street, across from Children’s Hospital.  And just so you know, they sell BeeGee meat in family size buckets, so you can go home and make BeeGee nachos, BeeGee mac and cheese (to be eating while renting one of these), or just sprinkle a little on your cereal.  Eat it up.  It’s so good. 

 Who could resist?  It’s the loosest meat in town!

We want you to hang with the monsters and us at BEASTBOX!  Here’s how:

Opening Friday, 6.5.09, 8:00 pm

Food by my brother’s restaurant, B & G Tasty Foods.  Hope you like loosemeat!  We will also be featuring a mix tape of your requests (see previous post — it’s not too late to enter your request!), and announcing the winner of the prize for best opening night song.  

 “Making Sock Monsters” Workshop, 6.7.09, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Rob and I are teaching this workshop through the Omaha Creative Institute.  You can sign up here.

“Making Upcycled Bags” Workshop, 6.19.09, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Rob and I are teaching this workshop through the Omaha Creative Institute.  You can sign up here.

Last Open Day, 6.28.09

This is the last day to catch us before we tear down the room!  Stop by this day for a BEASTBOX give-away.  Keep checking here for more info on this.

Hours of Operation, 6.1.09 — 6.28.09

Monday - Friday, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Saturday, 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Sunday, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Rob and I are planning on working in the space and adding to the show during the month, and want you to feel free to make monsters (and other things) with us too!  Stop by and we can work on monster-y projects together.  I will keep you posted about BEASTBOX here, but make sure you sign up for the mailing list to get the latest!