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mellific.bsky.social
shannon
@mellific.bsky.social
390 followers 36 following 70 posts
occasionally drawing; often asleep. http://mellific.tumblr.com
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mellific.bsky.social
"catnap", 2025 / digital print

lmao still iterating on this concept a bit i took this book to a fair and reading it is KSDFL ORIENTATIONALLY LOCKED. which like, working as designed but also so so so stupid. anyway it's a book about "experiencing the weather you're already experiencing but smaller"
a long stretch of an accordion book standing upright. light falls through window cutouts in the pages on to the napping cat, who does a little stretch then goes back to sleep. closed accordion book with a window cutout first page of open accordion book. blue and orange window on the left, a cat napping in an armchair on the right
November 24, 2025 at 8:36 PM
mellific.bsky.social
"SEATTLE - BAINBRIDGE", 2025 / digital print of pencil sketch

a little book about taking the ferry
a small accordion book, closed. the cover is a pencil drawing of a ferry window from the interior, with the glass part of the window cut out revealing a sketch of the Seattle skyline on the page behind it interior of the accordion book, a minimalist sketch of the Seattle harbor skyline looking south from downtown skyline continued, crossing Puget sound and showing the outlines of Vashon and Bainbridge islands
November 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
mellific.bsky.social
"2 sq. in. of rain at 9:15 AM on 8/6/2025" / digital print on translucent vellum

i held a sheet of paper in the little drizzle we got a few weeks back & took a slowmo video of the rain hitting it in order to transcribe 2 sq inches of rain from outside my front door to this book :)
a 2 inch by 2 inch book made of translucent paper with a single blue ripple and "6 08 2025" printed in red on the front. faded ripples are visible through the closed pages of the book a spread of the book with ripples visible on both sides through the translucent pages a different spread from within the same book
August 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
mellific.bsky.social
"to shore", 2025 / screenprint, papercraft

a "squash" accordion book with a bunch of different papers glued to it hahaha. happy with this one!
a dark blue accordion book with a gliding paper seagull on the cover reverse cover of the accordion book depicting wet sand and foam using kraft paper unfolded accordion book. pages are screen printed with waves and dotted with seagulls, scattered and then accumulating towards the end of the book the same accordion book laid out in a circle
August 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
mellific.bsky.social
pretty excited by the construction of this, the case is made from the leftover paper of the zine so it can all be printed on a single 8.5x11 sheet!!
May 5, 2025 at 1:36 AM
mellific.bsky.social
i'll have this little turkish map fold zine called "soil survey" at seattle art book fair this upcoming weekend (may 10-11) at washington hall! come by and say hi!
a triangle of folded paper with a repeating sitka valerian pattern. text reads: soil survey. shannon kao. seattle, wa. snack break studio three pinback buttons (a worm, a beetle, and a rolled-up pillbug) on a drawing of ferns an open turkish map fold zine depicting the soil makeup of the stetattle-doubtful-arriva soil complex, with three pinback buttons depicting bugs.
May 5, 2025 at 1:35 AM
mellific.bsky.social
these four-color riso prints will be for sale at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art's Dog Ear Festival this weekend (april 4-6)!! the event schedule looks so fun, come check it out: www.biartmuseum.org/events/dogea...
Photo of a risograph print. A stop sign overgrown by Himalayan blackberry Photo of a risograph print. A "no u-turn" sign on a rainy day Photo of a risograph print. A yellow DEAD END sign against a backdrop of foggy pine trees
March 31, 2025 at 9:04 PM
mellific.bsky.social
i've been talking about making a popup book for ages* (*several months) and i'm really happy with how Urban Adaptations came out!! 7 full-page spreads, digitally printed with saddle stitch binding
a 4x4 book with a kraft paper cover reading URBAN ADAPTATIONS: VOL 1. MOTHS an opened popup book with a brown striped moth perched on similarly striped pine bark popup book spread of a street sign reading "S WASHINGTON" with a teal-and-white street-sign colored moth perched on it popup book spread of a vintage survey map of the olympic peninsula with a popup of a moth with a topographical map across its wings
December 22, 2024 at 7:00 PM
mellific.bsky.social
shark tv
an illustration of two juvenile bull sharks examining an old CRT television half-buried in the sandy salt marsh floor. the TV is still powered on, displaying a grainy picture of the sky
September 16, 2023 at 12:15 AM
mellific.bsky.social
FASCINATE (2/2)
"though infectious fasciation may occasionally spread on contact." A yellow fire hydrant that has been stretched across the grass in smear-like distortion, surrounded by small daisies. An inset panel highlights a fasciated daisy. "In fact, the mutations are often prized --" Two traffic lights conjoined at the top, the top red lights globbed together, while the lower yellow and green lights are separate but stretched. A sewer grate that has stretched out of frame, the metal crumpled where it meets the sidewalk, and the bricks of the street cracked and uneven from being pushed out of place. Daisies sprout from the grass behind it. "A harmmmmmless and unique addition to the landscape", with the 'm' of harmless stretched across the page
August 28, 2023 at 6:57 PM
mellific.bsky.social
FASCINATE (1/2)
"FASCIATION (or cresting) is a form of distortion in an organism, often manifesting in ribbonlike elongation, abnormal extra protrusions, or an increase in weight and volume." A close-up of a redwood tree trunk with a few small healthy sprouts coming out of the side, and one large, almost coral-like, mutated sprout. "Fasciation has a number of causes, including mutation, viral infection, and insect damage -- but (fortunately for home gardeners) genetic fasciation is not contagious" A healthy oxeye daisy next to a fasciated daisy with a distorted, elongated center surrounded by white petals in a field of grass.
August 28, 2023 at 6:55 PM
mellific.bsky.social
i'm bopping around the pnw with boxes of zines over the next couple months! come say hi if you're in the area!
San Francisco Zine Fest 11AM - 5PM Sunday, September 3rd Olympia Zine Fest 11AM - 4PM Sunday, September 10 Portland Zine Symposium 11AM - 5PM Sunday, October 29
August 18, 2023 at 11:11 PM
mellific.bsky.social
hi it's shannon i draw! rocks, fish, right now a lot - like a LOT of cats.......
a large green dumpster, propped open by an explosion of ferns from inside. yellow oyster mushrooms adorn the dumpster and the trash can next to it. a sign on the wall shows decomposers--worms, beetles, and mushrooms a blue mailbox and newspaper box, overgrown with algae & seagrass. small red fish swim past sedate sea urchins. red tentacles curl in the empty newspaper box, in defiance of the "NO OCTOPUS" sign behind an orange phone booth in a dark green swamp. lilypads and branches dripping with spanish moss cover its base, while dragonflies and a snake drape over the top. an overgrown payphone on a purple background, buried in a thicket of wild california poppies and lavender, while bumblebees buzz nearby
July 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM