mediatinker

I am a dilettante who can do almost anything, but does nothing very well. I work as a freelance editor (video and copy) and spend my copious free time making art and food from raw materials. I also record free audiobooks for LibriVox.org and sew reusable shopping totes for Morsbags.com. I've been living in Tokyo since 1998.

I'm happy to receive anything in our swaps, but if you wish some guidance, here are a few preferences:

Likes:

Supplies, tools, instructions for any creative project. Consumables. Elegant simplicity, graceful/bold lines, muted & glaucous colors. Natural materials, bumpy textures, complex patterns. Open source, public domain, creative commons. Spicy scents, candles, fresh flowers. Birds, elephants, maps & charts. Books (used, altered, and blank).

Dislikes:

Knick-knacks & dust collectors, mega-brands (i.e. Disney, Louis Viton), conventionally cute things, artificial fruity scents & flavors, bright colors, plastic & petrochemical materials. Meat, cheese and eggs.

1930-60s jazz, downtempo techno, female vocalists, quirky world music, and lots more. Not too fond of screechy/saccharine pop artists in Japan or the US.

Fight Club, Pretty in Pink, Amelie, Children of Men, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

I read voraciously. I am fond of girls' adventure stories, like Alice in Wonderland and The Diamond Age. I enjoy science history, science fiction, & historical fiction. I have a secret love affair with mass market spy stories & the sort of "men's fiction" you find at airport bookstores. Excepting cookbooks and art/craft books, I generally avoid textbooks.

I'm not much of a materialist and I prefer minimalist decor, so I stick to making practical items, consumables, and gifts.

I try to start from scratch whenever possible. Slow art!

I enjoy sewing clothes from patterns I draft myself. I work with metal and fiber of all sorts. I attempt knitting and embroidery. I like to draw and paint. I'm learning Renaissance painting techniques, which involves a lot of hand-made art supplies.

Black, greys and soft whites are always fitting.

I also like these colors:

• #765A89 (medium purple-grey-brown)
• #8FAA82 (pale green-grey)
• #607DA0 (medium blue-grey)
• #83BC38 (medium olive green)

There are myriad color combinations I like, but I am especially fond, right now, of medium/dark brown with an accent of bright green, turquoise, pink or red.

You may want to know that although I'm not a vegan, exactly, I don't eat meat, dairy or eggs. Living in Japan, it's impossible to avoid fish on occasion, so I can't even claim to be a vegetarian. Still, it's probably best not to send me beef jerky or creamy sweets.

Thinking outside the box is really great and I enjoy trying to develop creative solutions to all kinds of situations. How can I make a meal from three onions, an orange and some elbow macaroni? How can I turn a sheet of paper and 2" of tape into a birthday gift? Making things by hand (with or without conventional supplies) is great fun. And I am happy when I can explain my rationale, too. Not only What and How, but Why! If you really want to make me happy, do something original and tell me all about what, how and why.

365 Necklaces: a diary in jewelry. Every day a new necklace with a message encoded in it. I began on March 18, 2008 and will continue until I reach 365 necklaces - about a year, I imagine. See my Etsy store for some examples that I am selling for charity.