298. Startan

This was the second try of making a suntan star - well actually the negative of a suntan star... and thus actually a negative startan star as the sun is a star... Am I still making any sense? Nevermind...

It still didn't work that well; but if you look really really hard...

I edited it a little and you might be able to discover something remotely star-shaped...

Anyway, the star was there, I'm too exhausted for anything else, so it counts.

297. Tired Star

This is all I could manage yesterday and it expresses exactly how I felt the entire day:

I don't remember the last time I was this tired...

296. Charcoal Star

Oh... Yesterday was one of the very rare occasion when I completely forget about stars for an entire day. So I have to draw on reserves again:

I made this star last week when I found remains from a little campfire down by the river and just scratched a star with charcoal on a stone step. It's actually not that bad to use it for yesterday's star as we had made a little campfire ourselves last night. :)

295. The Vanity of Shoes and Stars - pt. 3

What is sad about these shoes now being worn-out is that I really like the pattern and its velvety touch. So I decided to preserve some of it (maybe for ulteriour use - like patches for holes in my old jeans...?)

294. The Vanity of Shoes and Stars - pt. 2

After having ripped apart my old shoes the day before, I found those shoe laces still lying around and used them for the next star:

Nope, they're not destroyed. But see how they're fading away before this background...

293. The Vanity of Shoes and Stars - pt. 1

Two days ago, I decided to disassemble my old shoes. They were literally falling apart, so I thought why not speed up the process a little? These are pieces from the hard gum part at the back of the shoes:

292. Rose Petal Star

I went on a cycling tour with friends to the castles of Dornburg where the gardens are overflowing with beautiful and fragrant roses. I immediately set about collecting petals off the ground and planted a star on a free spot of one of the rose beds:

291. Bat Star

I spent a very lovely evening with a friend at the riverbank - with banana bread (fresh from the oven, still warm, and incredibly delicious - bananas never tasted THIS good!) and a bottle of red wine - and by the time it was getting dark the birds began to disappear and the bats came out... So many! And larger than the tiny ones I have usually seen. They inspired me to make a bat star:

Unfortunately, my camera is in no way fit to take pictures of bats in flight, so I used one from the internet and just layered five of them on top of each other.

290. Starblocker - sort of...

Finally, a sunny day! The past days have really been far from "summer". (I suppose nature just doesn't care about human calendars...) At least I got to sit in the sun on my balcony today for a few hours while working. To prevent my skin from getting burnt by the intense radiation from our nearest star, I used some of this:

289. Star Quiche

Weeeelllll.... Yes, food.... Honestly, cooking and baking ist just so much more fun at the moment than making stars. So, all I can do to keep these stars going is to combine them with my current food obsession:

A friend camy by for lunch today, and we threw together a truly delicious quiche with goat cheese and lots of fresh herbs:

 

The star was better visible before it went into the oven:

288. Phone App Star

I admit that I made no star yesterday - this is an additional one today.

 

I've got this very stupid paint app on my phone (which cannot even save the pictures unless I buy the full version which I have no desire to do), so I drew some stars there. The easy bit: it's got a function that will automatically draw a star which then only has to be pulled to the right size and position. Well, my patience was already wearing thin, so I kept away from any artsy-fartsy drawing attempts of my own...

Well, one way or other: I finally made my piece of obligatory phone-app-art-thing.

287. Eglish Star Gum

To tell the truth, I am not a huge fan of wine gums. However, the first kind I discovered that I really liked and that didn't make my teeth ache right away were the original English wine gums - delicious!

A few days ago, I bought a package of those (German manufacturer, though...) and they're almost gone by now. I only just managed to find one of every colour:

286. Star Bread Reprise

Did I mention I'm out of energy here? The stars have been running on reserve for the past few weeks and no change in sight so far... Yesterday, I happened to make some stars when I meant to bake bread and I had too much dough for my small loaf pan. So I used my two little star-shaped moulds to make rolls.

I have done that before...

But due to a lack of energy and better ideas, I have to swallow my first pill of meaningless repetition. (There has been repetition before, but that was for important reasons...) - By the way: I could have gone for a different mould which I think I have not yet used on this project... But that's just how my brain works these days, I suppose...

And above all, I forgot to take a picture before I took a bite. So, here is the star hiding its mutilation at the side of a bowl of soup (plus some rather delicious self-made ginger butter):

285. Excel Art Star

I don't think I ever spent that much time on one single day with Excel... And all of it just because somebody else messed up big time, all the while being fascinatingly undiscerning about it. There are moments I want to scream...! Then there are moments when I get another idea for a star.

I started working on it by hand and then realised it would probably take me about a week - which was madeningly frustrating again - so I looked for an easier solution... Here it was:

284. Star on Toast

It's very rare that I have plain toast around - usually only if I need it for a special recipe. So I took this chance to have some personalised toast with my salad today:

283. Knotted "Star"

Oh dear, yesterday's star didn't go well at all... I found a tutorial on how to knot a star and it didn't look too difficult - as long as you use the proper material€, that is. My result rather resembles a deformed flower...

But this shall not have been my last attempt at star knots...!

282. Icing Sugar Star

Yep, a lot of baking lately:

281. Doodle Star

I can hardly believe that I have never so far made a star by just doodling without any particular concept behind it.

I can also hardly believe how tired I am these days, so doodling was a nice way to keep me awake and get me through university today.

280. Star-Cut Sausage

Last night, a friend had invited me over along with some others to eat Chinese hot pot. What a feast! I don't think I've ever had such a huge variety of hitherto unknown food in one night! Probably the most ordinary ingredient were those tiny sausages - cut on one end to pop open in a funny, flower-like way. I added some more cuts to mine and after a minute in the boiling water recieved something resembling a star enough to let it count:

 

I tried to compile a list of everything we threw in there, but I can raise no claims to completeness:

 

Surimi, shrimps, pork, bacon, meat balls, mini sausages, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, cloud ear fungus, radish, potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, tofu, tofu skin, tofu bamboo, crisp tofu balls, rice cake slices, Chinese cabbage, iceberg lettuce, flat crystal noodles…

That might have been it…

It’s all cooked in water spiced with a rather hot (for Germans at least...) paste, tomatoes, and ginger. Then it’s dipped into a fantastic kind of sesame sauce before eaten.

 

It's like the ultimate fondue. I love this! :D

 

279. Moneygami Star

Over the past weeks I collected all five-euro notes that I got and tried not to spend them so I could make this:

Now I can spend them all! ;) I apologise in advance to the people who'll have to handle these folded/cumbled bank notes... It had to be done.

P.S.: The little book I've got on folding bills into interesting shapes actually bears the title "Moneygami" - my crazy mind is not responsible this time...

278. Berry Star Tartelet

What is it with those baked stars lately? They don't seem to want to last...

This time, however, I had taken precautions:

277. Chives Blossom Star

Oh, dear. I don't remember the last time I cared so little about those star... It's probably because that's never been the case so far. But here goes...

Yesterday, I cut the blooming scapes of the chives on my balcony, intending to use them for a salad - but then I didn't get to make the salad, so I made a star instead (using some of the closed flowers as well):

 

Needless to say, I quite like their colour.

276. Folded Bill Star

Yesterday, I met a friend and we had some coffee and cake at the café with the most incredible cake this town has to offer. Today, I found the half-crumpled bill in my purse and put it to some ulterior use:

275. (Faded) Bread Crust Star

Oh dear, today's star has somewhat disappeared...

Well, if you know it's supposed to be there, you might still be able to see it...

I cut a star into the top of the loaf of this "German potato bread" before baking and the bread was supposed to crack open, but it didn't. Still, I made the star (even though it didn't last until after the baking and I forgot to take a picture before) so it counts. :)

274. Morning/Evening Star - Venus Anadyomene

It's been quite a while, but now I've got another star which is - in two ways even - no star:

Probably the most famous portrayal of the so called "Venus Anadyomene" - Venus rising from the sea: This is copied from Sandro Botticelli's painting "Nascita di Venere" (The Birth of Venus).

When the planet Venus is visible in the sky, it is often called "morning star" or "evening star". Obviously, it is no star yet often the brightes object in the morning or evening sky. It is always close to the sun - depending on its position rising shortly before or setting shortly after the sun. I knew I had to pay a tribute to this "star" at some point throughout this project, so here it is now. :)

P.S.: Late post as usual... This is yesterday's star.

273. Hand Cream Star

Even though winter is officially over by now, my fingers don't seem to care - the skin is still rough and torn so I need quite a bit of hand cream these days. That's what gave me the idea for this star last night:

 

As a result, my post is late again, because I didn't exactly want to touch my keyboard with those hands...

272. Wooden T Star

I'm not one for lucky numbers - and especially not the obvious ones - but seeing that 3 seemed to be a good number for star projects today (see the previous one), I decided to make a three-pointed star (and because those are rather rare here...):

They are three of the four pieces of a little puzzle that's lying at the side of my desk. It was a bit tricky to balance them like this, but eventually it lastet long enough for a picture.

271. Shooting Stars

Alright, this is yesterday's star and I admit that I only finished it today. I tried some things yesterday but they didn't work out and I was too tired to try some more (let alone start an entirely new one...).

I was prompted to make a video and this one is a tribute to Gabi, who makes one every day for her year-long project! It's also dedicated to my wonderful sister who came up with this fantastic idea as we were brainstorming on the phone for possible videos. :)

So, here it is now - late, but it worked:

Yes, this is all in one take - no cuts or anything! :D The first two takes were awful, I hit everything but the black hole. But I guess three really is the lucky number today. ;)

270. Wine Corks Star

I went to a cozy little wine bar tonight with some friends who - just before we left - encouraged me to use some of the decoration for a star: There was this huge glass filled with bottle corks in the window and we put together this little shining ensemble:

269. Split Hair-Ends Star

Some hair needed to be cut for various reasons. I used bits of it for a star: