lavender martini

Ever since I first went to the bar 1022 in Tacoma, I've been obsessed with their lavender martini. I'm super into DIY, so of coarse I had to find a way to make it at home. After a few weeks of tinkering, I think I've got it!


So here it is, and here's what goes in it (serves 2):

1/2 can heavy coconut milk, none of that light crap here
2 tsp lavender extract, recipe here
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 shots absolute citron
simple syrup to taste

Shake with ice, serve garnished with a slice of lemon zest.
Everything here is to taste, I don't measure when I make these. If you like the flavor of one ingredient more than another, add more! Enjoy!

happy birdday ana!

My little sister is 21 years old today! It's a little anti climactic considering we've already gone to bars and brewed beer together, but it's a happy life event all the same.

Happy Birdday, Ana!

red hot and polka dots

Another party from PJ Hummel & Co. This one was for the grand opening of a small Swedish Hospital branch in Mill Creak. This was a family friendly open house with a firefighter theme. Red drape and polka dots on the inside, real firetrucks on the outside. I actually designed this one, and if I had to describe it in one word, it would defiantly be cute!

Here's the front registration desk. The receptionist wanted the decorations to stay up for ever :P

One of the prop vignettes. There were 5 in total, each one a little different. The idea was to make the hospital feel friendly and inviting.

The activity room on the 3rd floor. They had arts & crafts and face painting for the kids in here. This room was actually still under construction when we decorated. We had to cover ever single wall in red drape to make it look like an elegant party space.

Last, the stairwell. Tours of the space were given via the stairs, rather than the elevators, so the stairs needed to look spiffy. I became the bow queen for this occasion. Doesn't it just look precious?

making friends

I'm tired of not knowing anyone in my apartment building, so I made a little poster to put by the mail boxes. Hopefully I will make some new friends. I'm no graphic designer, but I think this is pretty groovy.

website

Announcing the launch of my brand new portfolio website!

www.yuzunelson.com

Check it out!

wine glasses

Getting close, and not a moment too soon. My senior show's in a week and a half. This first photo is for the shows take home cards.

Here's my set of picnic glasses. Only the white wine glass is fully painted, but it's also broken... I'll be fixing it in the next few days.

Here are my aluminum and crystal glasses. The champagne glass is the only one that's been polished, and it's not finished quite yet. The other two have a ways to go.

metal, package, picnic

A little update on the wine glass project! My three stems are back from C-Cast foundry. They're reeeeeeeeally roughm it's going to take all the free time I have in the world to get them ready for the show on the 3rd. Still totally do-able.



I've been working on some packaging concepts as well. These too are really rough, but I like the way they're looking. I'm planning a variation of the one with the window in frosted translucent plastic - that way you can see a silhouette of the glass through the package. Very sexy, yes?



I've also decided to change up the color scheme on my set of picnic glasses. The design is already so feminine, the coral pink color was just a little too much. The new color concept is still coral inspired, just more approachable. I'll create a soft gradient from clear plastic at the top to a luscious light orange at the base (color swatch on the lower right). Beneath the orange is an opaque layer of dove white, so when you look into your glass, you see the color of the wine, instead of orange.

portfolios and cards

I'm in the process of making a custom portfolio case for myself. I've got most of the hardware, but I haven't quite decided on the cover material yet. My portfolio has a teal accent color running throughout it, so I want to incorporate that into the cover.

Lucky for me, my classmate, Justin Lund, makes regular trips to Tap Plastic in Seattle; and he grabbed a couple of acrylic samples for me. They're amazing! The opaque one is a perfect match to my portfolio. The translucent one is tinted the same shade of teal and is frosted on one side. I'm thinking I'll use the translucent acrylic as the front cover and the opaque acrylic on the back. I'm very excited.



I've also been working with my brilliant graphic designer of a boyfriend, Riley, to design a sleek business card. The information section will probably change, but here's what I've got so far:

stemware

After finalizing the design for my aluminum stemware, I created some 3D computer models in Rhinoceros CAD and got them SLAed (3d printed). The result is what you see below.

These models are currently at a foundry, being cast in aluminum. They have a hollow, honeycomb internal structure and are very delicate so that the aluminum can easily fill the cavity. The red portions are foundry wax, which I used to beef up the areas that might have been too thin to cast well.

It's a shame that they're about to be incinerated by molten metal. The wax and translucent plastic were really beautiful.

stemware

My senior project this year is stemware design. The center piece will be a set of 3 glasses - red wine, white wine, and champagne - made of polished aluminum and glass. There will also be a low-end "picnic" set of glasses, made of colorful plastic. Each set of glasses will have a matching tray and package design.

My class's full collection of stemware will be on display at our senior show: June 2nd at Mithun, Seattle.

Here is some of my preliminary work.


the sketch that inspired my collection


technical drawing for plastic


technical drawing for aluminum & glass


studio photo of prototype models


class critique

This project is still in progress. More photos to come!

trip to boeing part 2

I got some really great feedback on my portfolio from the designers at Boeing. Here's one of my projects that went over really well.

This is Pouch. I reusable tote bag made from used grocery bags.