Splash!

Today's post is something you may think you've seen before, but not like this:

Heinz Meier is an amateur photographer (took it up less than a year ago) doing this in his spare time (he's a factory worker). He plays in this sort-of-familiar "frozen droplet" style, using food coloring, colored strobes and adding some gum to the water to add texture. The images he gets are really striking; they look kind of like intricate drawings. Page thru a bunch of these: HERE.
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Today's creation(s) are three prototypes for a possible pop-up insert to this year's Christmas Card (our 10th year!). I'm leaning toward the taller one at left.

My wife Kristin and I collaborate on each card: I do the design and imagery, and she does beautiful calligraphy for the message inside. At this point, I'm happy with the front image and layout, but trying to finalize the message and tie it all together is dragging. We have "creative differences" every year - often pretty loud ones - but we always settle into a heart-felt card that we both love. Let the differences proceed!

I've been wanting to do something like a pop-up for a few years, but whenever I do something different (a vellum overlay, an insert, or something like this) it turns out to be WAAAY more work and production hassle than I anticipate. I don't know what the final will be, but it'll likely be a pain to actually make (glue, X-Acto knife, a folding bone, rulers, two kinds of paper stock, X 185 cards = recipe for disaster?)
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I think this blog deal is going to do what I'd hoped: forcing me to make something every day. I did clutch for a few minutes early this morning, but it passed. So far, so good ...