Made With Molecules Newsletter - November 2009
Raven Hanna
Things in MWM-central are busy and exciting. I've made some new
products, as you will see below. I flew down to LA to participate in a
film being made about a non-stereotypical scientist, called "Losing
Control." We've been working hard on the Science Tarot deck
(http://sciencetarot.com) and seeing some amazing progress on the
artwork. And orders seem to be gearing up for the holidays.
In this newsletter:
1. holiday deadlines
2. *new* zingerone ornament for 2008
3. *new* DMT Necklace
4. *new* different serotonin design
5. *new* solstice cards
6. *new* caffeine lapel pins and tie tacks
7. see me at the Crucible! Dec 12&13, Oakland
8. in the news
1. holiday deadlines
You may think it is a bit early to start thinking about the holidays.
I would tend to agree, were not the problem of shipping involved.
Also, I wanted to warn you that, like last year, I'm going to take a
break from custom amino acid jewelry and the ethanol glassware during
the heaviest part of the holiday season. Here's a guide to some
holiday deadlines for your convenience.
Nov 15: deadline to order holiday cards with a custom message
Nov 20: deadline to order custom amino acid jewelry until January
Nov 20: deadline to order ethanol glasses until January
Nov 30: soft deadline for international mail to arrive for the
holidays (not guaranteed, but likely)
Dec 19 - deadline to order via regular mail for Dec 24 US delivery
Dec 22 - deadline to order via express mail for Dec 24 US delivery
(I'd like to mention how truly delighted and honored I am to have my
molecules part of your
holidays and I will do my best to get things made, packaged, and
delivered in time!)
2. *new* zingerone ornament for 2009
Each year I make a different holiday ornament, adding a little more
science (and molecular magic) to the holidays. Regular readers of my
newsletter may remember how fond I am of rich, dark gingerbread. To
pay homage to that, this year I made gingerone ornaments. Ginger
contains gingerol, a pungent, spicy-tasting molecule that is a
chemical relative to capsaicin, the spicy-hot molecule from chili
peppers. When you cook ginger, gingerol transforms into the milder
flavored molecule zingerone, a relative of vanillin from vanilla and
eugenol from clove. A tuber of a tropical plant, ginger has been
cultivated by people for its culinary and medicinal properties for
five thousand years. I had so much fun designing a little pouch in
which to store your ornament. It's made of recycled cotton, printed
with my zingerone design, and sewn with love and skill by my mom.
(Thank you, Mom!) I should mention: these are limited edition, and may
sell out. You can find the zingerone ornament here:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/ornamentzingerone.html
3. *new* DMT Necklace
Dimethyltryptamine is involved in how our brains process alternative
realities, like dreaming and spiritual experiences, and probably
reality itself. I hesitated to make DMT because there is still so much
we don't know about it. When I realized that the unknown is one of the
reasons I love science, I thought this may be a nice symbol of that.
This molecule hints that there is so much left for us to discover and
understand! (And it's interactions in our brains will probably help us
do that.) It's so new, it isn't even on my website, yet! I did add it
to my Etsy site, though. here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34224624
Or you can add it to your shopping cart on my madewithmolecules.com
site using this link:
http://tinyurl.com/yazub2c
4. *new* different serotonin design
This new serotonin necklace design is a bit larger than the classic
one and is only strung on one side. On the black cotton, adjustable
cord, I think it looks very urban and could easily be worn by both
guys and gals. You can see it here:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/serotoninnecklace1S.html
5. *new* solstice cards
I love the solstice holidays because they are not arbitrary days, but
determined by the natural world. The winter solstice is the moment
when our hemisphere is tilted the furthest away from the sun. This
occurrence was important to many ancient cultures who were necessarily
more observant of the cycles of nature. My solstice cards fold out to
display the moon, Earth, and Sun overlapping. This gives the sense of
these bodies in space. I hope it spurs reflections on our relationship
to our planet, the solar system, and the Universe. Also, it looks
great displayed with other holiday cards on a shelf or mantle! They
are a bit more expensive, but probably also more charming, than my
other cards because they are hand-made. (I also feel the need to
apologize to the Southern Hemisphere folks on the blatant use of the
word "winter" - perhaps you could send them in June?) You can see
them here:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/solsticecard.html
6. *new* caffeine lapel pins and tie tacks
I'm starting to add to my pewter lapel pin and tie tack collection.
Joining serotonin and dopamine is caffeine. I don't quite have the
caffeine options on my website, yet, but you can order them using the
links below. The caffeine is similar to the serotonin and dopamine
shown here:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/pins.html
And if you already know you want one, you can order it using one of these links:
lapel pin: http://tinyurl.com/ycznnng
tie tack: http://tinyurl.com/yc8asst
7. see me at the Crucible! Dec 12&13, Oakland
I'm only participating in one holiday show this year. The Crucible's
Gifty show is a fabulous event that brings together inspired and
inspiring artists in a place where they work and learn. And it's free.
If you are around the SF Bay Area, come see me!
http://thecrucible.org/events/open-house/304
8. in the news
I recently had a short interview on the Canadian radio program
Skeptically Speaking. It's about 7 minutes at the start of this
program:
http://skepticallyspeaking.com/episodes/29-getting-noticed
The San Francisco Chronicle should be running a story about my stuff
this month. The photographer came over last week; I don't think I've
ever had a camera lens so close to my face before! I'm email the link
after it's out.
I hope you all enjoy the fall* season and holiday preparations. I wish
you much happiness!
.raven..
Raven Hanna, PhD
Made With Molecules | Art In Science | San Francisco
website: http://www.madewithmolecules.com
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/molecularmuse
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/madewithmolecules
*spring for you S-Hemispherers, of course!