One of my first Summer pieces. I call this my frustration dress, as I made it in response to several rejection notices from job applications. They were all very polite, but it’s always a little bit of a kick in the teeth when you hear: if only you’d sent in your application yesterday, etc… Either way, I think a pretty nice dress came out of it.
It’s everyones favorite plasmid! PGlo plasmid! This is one of our favorite places to stash GFP for insertion into bacterial DNA. Represented here, we have Ara C which is necessary to make sure the plasmid inserted correctly by utilizing Arabinose in the plating to form a complex, promoting the expression of the GFP. Beta Lactamase is a resistance gene, necessary for countering the antibiotic on the plate medium. The bacteria will be unable to grow on antibiotic medium without this gene, so it is necessary to ensure that the plasmid was inserted and properly coded into the genome. The Ori site, is the origin of replication site necessary in *most* plasmids for replication of the DNA to occur. I say most, because biology is amazing, and some entities like viruses have their own method of replication.
The GFP is detachable, and I will likely add its restriction enzymes there, showing that if you want to isolate just the GFP and you have your own method for ensuring its addition to a DNA sequence, you can use restriction enzymes which cut at specific points in the plasmid to release certain genes. pGlo is designed particularly with this in mind, so GFP is easily removable without disrupting the rest of the plasmid.
In short: my jewelry might accidentally teach you something.
Today was the Westword Music Festival, in which my friend Cameron’s band Choke The Word played. So I decided to make bling for us. The seed chokers were mine and the lovely Pharlain Ross’ . The ear bar went to a very patient and also lovely Joe Sheckles, who was far too kind to let me attempt male jewelry. He pulled it off perfectly, I thought. The birds are from the band’s shirt design, made of Sculpey and painted.
I have not actually been idle this Summer, I realized I have very few matching earring sets, so I made these for interviews. It’s like secret mitosis.
I made this set a long time ago, but thought I should finally get around to posting it.
So with two weeks to go, I am finishing my graduation projects. These are my gifts for the 4 most inspirational women I have ever met. These are their names in amino acids. Dr. Jennifer (Martin), was one of my first MCDB professors, and my P.I. (lab boss) for the past 2 1/2 years. Dr. (Nancy) Guild co-taught that first class, and hired me on as lab teacher last year, helping me to realize my adoration for teaching. (Megan) Greening was the lab coordinator for the class I taught, but she was around throughout all 4 years as a reminder that I was in the right place. (Joy) Power was the lab coordinator for my advanced classes, and has helped me immensely in staying with it. I know for a fact I could not have gotten through the last 4 years without their help and encouragement. I hope they like these!
Oreo-filled chocolate chip cookies inspired by Wil Wheaton, and my cookie-loving husband. I am taking these to our semi-monthly epic board game day. Today, we are playing Twilight Imperium which is not a game to attend without cookies, beer and a substantial sense of humor.
This was my contribution to a “moustache party”, for my friend Cameron’s little brother, who I knew in high school… but anyway, we live in a small big town. The other models here are the lovely and brilliant Pharlain Ross, and the ponderous and talented Cameron Hays. My husband also had one, but managed to remove it before every picture. I put a length of wire behind each in order to make them twirlable. A fun time was had by all. Photo credit to Dennis McGilvary (Cameron’s dad).
Far from being idle the past month, I just can’t post of the projects I have done until they have been given to their intended owners. This was one of my favorite projects, a quick homage to my favorite game Ilomilo which is both brilliant, challenging, and flipping adorable. One pair was for me, and the other for my friend Pharalin Ross, who has been a brilliant inspiration and sanity maintainer during these last months before I have to enter the real world. In the next photo set, we are both wearing these, but I didn’t have a chance to focus on them.
This is one of the sillier designs I have done, but it was fun. These are the logo for my husband’s company Survey Gizmo and today is their 5th year anniversary party. I like to look festive, no matter what the event. Also, I love my husband, his company and his coworkers. It is pretty much the best company.
