this weekend, i went down to machine project with a few friends for the clone home with critter salon plant cloning workshop. i took some cuttings and separated some offshoots from some of my succulents and headed down, prepared to share & trade with friends. they had a great selection of herbs, succulents and house plants to choose from, along with mixed soils for each type of plant. i took a selection of succulents i don’t currently have in my garden, and explained what my tiny specimens would grow into to others. some people made some really cool mini gardens combined in one pot.

one project they’re working on at machine is the conversion of the vent window above the display window into a small green wall. as the summer season approaches, the air conditioner [just behind this guy] runs at most events, dripping a good amount of water off the condenser. they’ve created a gutter to collect this water to feed the succulents that grow in the afternoon sun. i was happy to see cuttings from my own plants that i grew from cuttings myself going into this wall. hopefully it will become a sprawling succulent jungle.

since i have most of the plants people were trading, i decided to try out this contact printing project, using blueprint paper, some plant cuttings, and the sun as an exposure lamp. you chose your arrangement, then set it up quickly on the light-sensitive paper, let it expose for about 3 minutes, and then wash in water to stop the exposure.

at first, the print is this lovely aqua color, but it deepens to bright indigo as it dries.

over the course of the day, several people had made interesting prints using leaves, plant cuttings and other found objects. it made a nice display in the gallery.

after all the plant cloning festivities, we decided it was time to take our plants to el prado for their first happy hour. we also needed to talk about web design and the upcoming 5th of st. robot event at betalevel. and to do this, it was important to have olives, tapenade, cheese, crackers, and drinks. with all these things in place, we got everything sorted out.

el prado is a nice space to talk and drink, especially when it’s early before the crowds. they had a really lovely bouquet set up at our table, so i tried to take a picture. cheers!