Self-Portrait Made Out of Q-tips

I’m currently in the process of applying to a digital design program, and as part of the lengthy application, I had to make a self-portrait. Not just any self-portrait, though. I had to make a self-portrait without using any standard art supplies. No painting, drawing, photography, clay, pastels, or any of that allowed!

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I’ve only ever done a self-portrait ONCE and that was pencil when I was 15. It’s been 13 years, in case you were wondering. In fact, until two weeks ago, I absolutely loathed the idea of self-portraits. (Those are for narcissists and lazy artists who can’t think of a good subject!)

I figured if I was going to do this, I might as well do something unique. I’ve admired portraits out of screws, QR codes, and crayons. Except that all those would have been more expensive and large scale than I was willing to deal with for this application. Plus, they’d all been done before.

So finally, I settled on… Q-tips! I chose to dye them with food products I consume to keep with the theme of avoiding art supplies and also to give it an extra personal touch.

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photo(21) What it took:
Over 2500 q-tips
Chocolate, chai concentrate, cinnamon, ginger, sangria, strawberries, tomato soup, and apple juice
Floral foam
Clear packing tape to hold the foam in place
Scissors
40 hours
Lots of patience

How to Say Thank You in 30 Languages

Thank You 30 Ways from Hyperfluent on Vimeo.

In honor of Thanksgiving, here’s how to say “Thank You” in 30 languages. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Eva and I had so much fun working on this. We’re amazed by how many people shot videos and sent in videos from around the world last night. We’re still getting videos sent in, which we’ll use for next year. I say it in Arabic, Jessie in Hebrew, and Aidan closes out the video. Fun!

Snapshots from DC

Two weeks ago I decided to use some points to take a long weekend in Washington, DC. It was a  whirlwind filled with really good food, music, and interesting people. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten such a diverse range of food in such a short period of time. (I even ate grasshoppers!)

I’ve been to most of the monuments already, so I spent this whole trip just letting friends show me around and doing “local” stuff. I must say, DC impressed me.

Photos: 1-3. “Scramble” at the Phillips Collection, 4. Crab at Cantler’s Inn in Annapolis, 5. Mama Ayesha’s (amazing!), & 6. Kayaking on the Potomac.