The Pineneedle Collective: Ginger Pickle

Showing posts with label Ginger Pickle. Show all posts

Saturday 6 September 2014

Anni Long Stockings and Memory Metals

One problem with having a thrifting buddy who has a very similar style as you is that you have to fight over clothes. I found this shirt while thrifting the other day with Katie, and I nearly made her cry because she wanted it so badly. Katie begged and pleaded and I eventually had to give it to her - mainly because she looks exactly like Pippi Longstockings - with the caveat that I got to borrow it whenever I liked. So, being the great friend that I am, I stole it back off her almost immediately ;)

You may have noticed that I titled this post "Anni Long Stockings". Anni is actually what my family and close friends call me, rather than Annika. This stems from me being a bratty 12-year-old who, deciding I loathed the name "Annika", violently attacked anyone who decided to address me so. Soooo, my family basically got this weird pavlovian reaction where they flinch upon accidentally calling me Annika (probably still thinking they're going to get punched by an angry 12 year-old), and the name Anni stuck, even though I actually prefer Annika now. I was a super bratty 12-year-old.

The more you know.

Update: My mum (my blog's biggest fan hehe) just messaged me to tell me that one of Pippi's best friends was called Annika, which I totally didn't know. My mum loved Pippi as a kid, and it could be one of the reasons that I am called Annika!

Top is thrifted | skirt is thrifted | necklace c/o Ginger Pickle | socks are from Clear It | shoes are Naot

Memory metals! They're a thing! I can't actually believe that this exists:

A nickel-titanium alloy, this metal is able to revert back to the shape that it was created in using "heat memory". To create the desired shape, it needs to be heated to a "transformation temperature" - usually around 65 - 80°C. When it cools down, it becomes flexible and can be molded into any shape. However, once it hits that "transformation temperature" again (like being put into a hot water bath), its atoms remember their previous arrangement, and it springs back into its previous shape.

Called Nitinol, the metal has proved useful in medical applications, helping arteries retain their shape and removing clots from deep inside the brain, and has even been used in eyeglass frames.

So cool.

I hope that you're all having a beautiful day,

Friday 29 August 2014

Eye Can See You

Today, I am just so grumpy. You know that mood where everything has been going a little bit wrong all day, and you've become so grumpy and irritated by it all to the extent where it actually becomes kind of... funny? And you start making jokes about it? (No? Is that just me?) Anyway, part of that mood features me being like "I'm so damn grumpy I'm going to wear black lipstick. Because it's dark like my MOOD" and, of course, deciding that I hate everything. Like smiling and the sun and tripods and self-timers and posing in photos. Hence the reason I am standing like this in front of this bin: "I'm going to stand here in front of a bin because I just don't caaaare."

Yeah I'm totally hardcore.

Anyway I then cheered up enough to get a couple of nice photos of my face and the stuff I'm wearing, which I actually really like.

Dress is second-hand from Katie (who i think got it from Dangerfield/Clear It) | necklace is c/o Eclectic Eccentricity | ring is c/o Ginger Pickle | tights and shoes are super old, so you can't buy them anymore | jacket is thrifted

POST-LUNCH UPDATE: Ok, I think I just had some serious hangry. Because I ate some food and instantly felt slightly less hate for all things. Just a little bit.

Expecting me to do some cute little science tidbit on what's going on in your brain when you're angry? Haha, NOPE. I'm way too grumpy for that right now. Go on, get out of here. (If you really want some science talk then check out all of the science posts I have already done).

Have a good day. Or not. ;)

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Nautical Astronauts & The Tree of 40 Fruit

Shirt, skirt and cardigan are thrifted | necklace c/o Ginger Pickle (Eclectic Eccentricity) | shoes are Naot | socks from Clear It | Lace shorts are years old (Wholesale)

I am back at university and have been having a few health issues - nothing too scary, hopefully - but that might mean that my blogging/video-making will become more sporadic over the next little while (I hope it won't, but just a warning!) Because uni has started again - and I've started being recognised by strangers from my blog/instagram/youtube - I've been aiming to look stylish & cute on campus - but I've also wanted to stay cozy because I haven't been feeling 100%. The perfect solution? Stealing my boyfriend's super comfy cardigan!

No matter how many clothes you have, I think that it's always more satisfying to wear someone else's! Does anyone else agree?

(By the way - I think the shirt that I'm wearing is a little kids shirt, hahaha. Oh well, it fits! And looks cute!)

Now this is just the coolest combination of art and science - the tree below produces 40 different varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and almonds (which are NOT nuts - what?!)

Image source: Sam Van Aken

The tree didn't start out like this - each different species has been carefully grafted onto the branches of the tree as it has grown, over a process of 5 years. It looks like a normal tree for most of the year, but during spring it blooms into a variety of different colours, and then grows 40 types of fruit in the summer. It's a project of art professor Sam Van Aken, who has made 16 of these trees so far, and is also used to conserve rare varieties of fruit that would otherwise be lost! To make the trees, the technique of chip budding is used - the bud of the desired tree is inserted into the working tree, left to heal over the winter, and if all goes to plan it will grow like a normal branch on the working tree!

Friday 27 June 2014

A Picnic in my Backyard & Spellbound by Space

If you gave someone the task of creating "Annika's dream jewelry store", and this person knew me well, they would make it 1. Science-themed 2. Vintage-inspired 3. Handmade 4. Kitschy/novelty and 5. An alliterative brand name (pun optional, but highly recommended).

So when I visited Eclectic Eccentricity for the first time, I was fairly sure that I had made their store up in my head - because they are all of these things.

And then! - I found out that they wanted to work. with. me. And send me all the cute stuff. Eeeep! Yep, I thought, I have definitely dreamt this all up. So can you all please do me a favour - visit their website, and tell me if they really do exist? It still seems a little too good to be true!

The two space-themed necklaces that I'm wearing are pieces from Eclectic Eccentricity, though I actually got the astronaut necklace from Ginger Pickle a few months ago. I always wear the two necklaces together so I can pretend that the astronaut is Sandra Bullock, and the intense scenes from Gravity are playing out on my chest.
Yeah. I have way too much fun with my clothes.

Image credit - European Space Agency via NASA TV

So this seems appropriate considering my outfit - did you know that you can live-stream the Earth from space, from a camera mounted on the international space station (ISS)?
The ISS is a station (in space, as you may have guessed) where astronauts go to hang out, 410 kilometres above our heads, in orbit around the Earth. While there, the astronauts are usually involved in different biology, physics and chemistry experiments and observations.

Anyway, you can watch a live HD stream of the Earth below! If you just see a black screen, that means that it's currently night time for the ISS because the sun is on the other side of the Earth - but don't worry about waiting a whole 12 hours for it to get light again, because the ISS goes all the way around the earth in just 90 minutes!
So if the screen is blank, come back in about 45 minutes, and you'll see some amazing footage. I just watched the sun set behind the Earth and IT WAS AMAZING.

Hey, you're down there, somewhere. Wave for the camera!

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

This page shows exactly where the ISS is at any particular time of the day (so you can see if it's just about to pass over you!)

Friday 28 February 2014

House Purse & Astronauts!

That bag I'm wearing right there? It's only a MOTHER-FLIPPIN' HOUSE PURSE! I know, I know - best thing ever, yes? Well, if you're anything like me and obsessed with novelty items then yes, it is indeed the best thing ever. I thrifted it from some market stalls, from these gorgeous rockabilly girls, for only $10. The bag didn't have a long-strap when I bought it - only a really short chain - so I just added one and... bam! It's a shoulder-bag! It's also completely wooden and so a little bit impractical for everyday use, but I don't care, I'm going to try and wear it out as much as I possibly can!

I don't wanna just wave this house purse around in your faces without helping you find your own - search for house purse on ebay and you'll actually find a few like this (I found some here, here, here and here!)

I really went all-out in this outfit, novelty-wise. I'm also wearing an astronaut around my neck from Ginger Pickle, and a bowl of fruit loops from Tash Tash Jewelry on my fingers. There's really no theme going on here apart from "wear weird stuff" - all of the items are fairly incongruous! But I really like that about this outfit.

So of course, what would be more appropriate now than to have a science item about an astronaut? This video is unlike any other hair/beauty tutorial on youtube - Astronaut Karen Nyberg, while onboard the International Space Station, shows you how she does her hair in space!

Karen Nyberg is one of my heroes because she's also a sewer, and brought sewing stuff up to the international space station in order to do some quilting!! Apparently, sewing in space is fairly difficult - cutting and stitching in weightlessness makes everything very different!

I hope that you're having a marvellous day,

Oh! And p.s., my DIY circle skirt dress tutorial is now up on curious.com! It's super useful if you're watching the video while you MAKE the dress, because it's been broken up into segments for each step! Check it out ;)

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Unicorns & Collars / How to Slow Down Time

Dress is thrifted | Handmade unicorn pin c/o Ginger Pickle | socks and bag are thrifted | sock cuffs are DIY

I am thoroughly fed-up with what has seemed to be the longest summer ever here in Australia, because it's prevented me from being able to wear patterned tights and layer up with cute cardigans (which, if you have been following my blog for a while, you will know that these are my "things" when it comes to clothing!) So I've been having to find ways to make my outfit more interesting, while still wearing as little as possible to deal with the heat. One solution I have found for this has been to wear interesting brooches/pins, like this unicorn pin from Ginger Pickle! Ginger Pickle is one of the stores that I listed on my Ethical Fashion Directory back in September last year, so I'm pleased to now be collaborating with them on my blog; they're a store that I really believe in and want to support! They also stock the CUTEST STUFF - go and check them out, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Today I have a video from Discovery News (presented by the wonderful Laci Green) about ways in which you can both alter, and have altered, your perception of time! Enjoy.

I'm also going to add that my perception of summer being the longest ever has totally been affected by not being able to wear patterned tights. Somehow. Yes. So scientific.

Have a great day, guys!