Science Illustration

Earlier, while dodging an issue on work ethics and ignoring a spurious request to block That Social Network from the office internets, I stumbled upon California State University's Science Illustration Graduate Program. It was a eureka moment that was almost about two decades too late. It was the perfect marriage between two interests - science and art. Had I realized while selecting the course I wanted to take for college that there was such a thing as a science illustrator, I think I would have moved my lazy ass to actually work getting into that program. Never mind that it's in another country and that the course year would cost a whopping 43,000 USD, travel costs not included.

But still upon further reflection, science illustration is such a niche market and I probably would have spent the rest of my life as a proverbial starving artist, making ends meet - though that's not much different from what I have now. Also, it's never too late.

So now I'm practicing for a retirement vocation, making up for lost time and trying to regain those old drawing skills I had when I was younger which I ignored since my studies as an engineering student.

Plate 1. Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Drawn right after I volunteered for Balyena.org's Humpback whale research in  the Babuyan Islands.

Plate 2. Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata)
Drawn as a birthday gift for a friend and one of the many dolphins we spotted in Babuyan during the survey.

Plate 3. Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)
Just because I missed seeing a whale shark this season.

And maybe, just maybe, I can gather enough portfolio material to actually apply for that program and maybe even get a scholarship. Libre naman mangarap.

DIY: 5-minute Apron

This was initially posted in an old blog of mine - reposting here just because. (It still is my favorite apron.)

In a house-cleaning frenzy one Saturday motivated by the presence of a clean-freak friend, I hastily made an apron from an old pair of jeans. It was a bit late in the making but it still had its use.

Ingredients

• An old pair of jeans, preferably one that fits your hips or waist
• A pair of scissors

Steps

1. Make a jean skirt by cutting along the dotted line as shown in the picture. Be sure to cut the crotch of the pair of jeans to turn into a skirt. Also, trim the hem of the jean skirt to make it straight.
   
   
2. With the front side facing you, cut a little to the left side of the fly from the bottom. Upon reaching the waistband, cut across the zipper thereby separating the two sides of the front.
   
   

That’s it! All done! Wear the apron buttoned from behind, so you’ll have use of the before-back-pockets in front for the putting of various cleaning implements.

Happy New Year's Crafting!

Happy New Year to all! (And a super belated Merry Christmas. Derp.)


I'm eschewing all pretenses at new year's resolutions and have decided to embark instead on craft projects throughout the year, to be logged and documented on an old Starbucks leatherette planner that's been gutted and refilled with nice blank pages.

Lesson 1: Make it pretty but not perfect. So I won't be afraid to make mistakes and be frozen with fear instead of actually starting the doing.

The leatherette planner was an old 2008 planner that has been sitting around for ages that I've been meaning to refill and use for something. Several trips to National Bookstore yielded no premade refill paper that would fit the rings. So I said screw the search and started punching holes on standard bond paper to make my own refills. Problem solved.

Lession 2: Start the doing. Never mind that the materials aren't complete or if a crucial step is missed now and then. Just start doing.

Project 13A is a white shirt embroidered with a whale shark (yesss, addictions...) in bright blue embroidery floss. Inspired by the designer Aida Coronado's mexican clothes with its exquisite embroidery, I wanted to start practicing embroidery again. Last time I held embroidery floss was almost 15 years ago when cross stitch was all the rage. I finished after 4 nights of sewing.

Craft MNL's Knit Wit!

Craft MNL is hosting a beginner's knitting workshop by yours truly! Hala! So soon! I'm scared-excited. As part of the facilitator's profile, they asked me to answer a whole slew of questions about crafting. Napa-tumbling ako. And so, after all that effort, I'm posting my answers here:


How long have you been crafting?  What got you started?

I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember. My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was young, but making doilies bored me as a child and I was always reading through craft books for projects that was different or out of the norm. Art was a favorite subject (along with Math, Science and Reading ;p) just because that gave me freedom to fool around with different materials and techniques.

What's your favorite medium?  Why?

Colored pencils! I love colors and I love to draw. I would have liked to be a master painter but sadly, painting was never my medium. It didn’t agree with me and my grande vision.  It’s still a dream, though.

Next up are yarn and needles, of course, which include knitting and crochet. I taught myself how to knit in 2007 from video tutorials on the internet, which always amazes people for some reason. I can’t stop myself knitting hats since then.

Tell us about your favorite projects.

One of my earlier knitting projects was a unfinished knit pouch using a binary pattern that when translated is supposed to say “property of rubybox” in Unicode Western Latin. I did the manual translation myself from UTF character to binary, and feel sufficiently nerdy enough to brag about it. I doubt though that the translation would hold water if checked by a computer science major. As for the project itself, all that’s left is to sew it up and attach a zipper - something I’m not looking forward to and have been procrastinating doing since 2008.

What's the one crafting skill you've always wanted to master/learn?

Spinning! With the amount of yarn that I use in knitting and crochet and the lack of variety yarns in the most accessible craft store, it stands to show that the next step would be making my own yarn. I’ve watched dozens of tutorial videos but am still at a loss on how to start sourcing tools and materials.

What are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m knitting a winter hat with an attached fake beard for my sister in the US - she wanted one for when she starts snowboarding this Christmas season. Also, an ambitious crochet blanket that I forsee will be finished by the year 2020.

What's your dream project?  What have you done to make it happen so far?

An ambitious rainbow crochet blanket that will be finished by the year 2020. I’ve already got the initial set of yarns and have already started on it, but the going is slow.

I also want to make a set of bike accessories for my folding and mountain bike but that’s still on the drawing board.

Aside from crafting what else do you do?

Aside from knitting, crocheting and drawing, I also make websites, climb mountains and do volunteer work for different environmental groups. I help out whenever I can with Dolphins Love Freedom murals, an awareness campaign initiative by artist AG Sano for the plight of dolphins in captivity, and am also currently helping to maintain the website and facebook page for Butanding Network, another awareness initiative, this time, for the conservation of whale sharks in the Philippines.

How does creativity influence the other areas in your life?

When I encounter little problems, I always think what can I do/make that will solve this? When my wallet zipper broke, I crocheted a little coin purse as a replacement. In my favorite color. With a carabiner so that I can attach it to anything to keep from losing it.

Any advice for other aspiring crafters?

Make something useful and pretty, then USE IT, or give it to someone who will. That’s how I get my motivation to continue crafting.

What do you do to beat a 'creative block'?

Hmm... I usually sleep on it. For several days. Or I do another entirely different thing, totally unrelated. But then that could just be me procrastinating again. Though it does work sometimes.

Give us 3 crafting essentials you must have in your toolbox at all times.

A pair of scissors, any writing implement and a notebook. All for catching ideas.

Why should people get their hands busy (and start crafting)?

You know that satisfaction people get from finishing a long and arduous project? Add an actual tangible finished product that you can show off to unsuspecting people with a smug look on your face, saying, “yes, I made that.”

Where can we find your work?

Usually worn by friends and family. I’m terrible at keeping blogs and it takes me two gruelling hours to write a single paragraph, but I’m changing that soon *crossing fingers. For those with a Ravelry.com account, I keep my projects posted under the username rubybox.


The workshop will be in Craft MNL workspace on November 24, 9-12pm.

Craft MNL
Unit Y, The Collective,
7274 Malugay St., Brgy. San Antonio, Makati City
+639178040553

Join the class! Register now with Craft MNL.

End of the world draws near

It always pays to be prepared.

MFPI Awards

MFPI Awards 2012 from Melissa Lynn Pablo on Vimeo.

The Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, Inc. is an umbrella organization of mountaineering clubs in the Philippines, seeking to promote the practice of responsible mountaineering among its member clubs and individuals. During its annual congress this year, held in Botolan, Zambales, MFPI launched its annual MFPI Awards that aim to recognize the various accomplishments of its members in furthering the federations's mission-vision. Nominations will be accepted in the upcoming midyear President's Meeting this October.

MFPI Awards General Mechanics

Please take the time to read and understand the mechanics, it took us weeks of sleepless nights and heated debate to write them down.

New template after 10 years

I bid you goodbye, 10 year old layout!

Bike Adek

For someone who spent 30 years of her life not owning nor riding a bicycle, I'm a bit flabbergasted?flummoxed? to suddenly own two.

A couple of years ago, I got a folding bike for commuting, being the self-proclaimed environmentalist that I am. Spent 2 years fantasizing about it first before my sister said to stop dreaming and get one already. Then spent another year learning to ride my bike around town before taking the plunge and riding it to work on a regular basis.

I love every single ride on my foldie. It also made me want to go bike camping. So I started dreaming again. And I read about this couple from The Path Less Pedaled who went on a cross country bike tour on Bromptons (drool). However, owing to the fact that none of my camping friends owned folding bikes, I never went on a bike tour. Plus, I couldn't really go on bike trails with my folding bike. And I wanted to.

So I started dreaming again. This time of mountain bikes. This past year. Which I mentioned to my friend who had 3 bikes and had a partner who had six. She pm'ed the other day that she's getting a mountain bike for a friend for dirt cheap considering the bike specs, and that I'd better prepare a whole stash of cold hard cash because she's not going to let this opportunity of getting that particular model for cheap pass me by. She even picked it up at the warehouse for me.

So now I have a kick-ass mountain bike. I've named it Tanding, short for butanding. It's huge and it's blue. And it intimidates me with its size and complexity every single time I hop on it. I know next to nothing about it - its parts, the uses, the features - but it seems friendly enough and hasn't thrown me off just yet. 

By contrast, my old silver foldie is now named Tilapia, having taken on an identity by comparison to Tanding. Tilapia is comfortable. It's my everyday bike, my going-to-the-market one, do-errands-next-town one.

Tanding is adventure waiting to happen. Which hopefully will.

Oh yeah, now I'm also flat broke and in debt. Haha!