On Saturday I attended Jell-o Takes New York, a jell-o mold competition at the Gowanus Studio Space in Brooklyn. Who is interested in Jell-o molds these days, you ask? All of these people, that’s who.

The strange new forms that gelatin and agar were taking in this room boggled the mind. They included Jell-o “shots”…

And a Jell-o piano that could actually be played because of electric fields or something crazy like that.

Jell-o was being projected on a wall…

And there were TWO entries of Jell-o breakfast, one of which I photographed.

Many of the Jell-o artists, it turns out, used 3D printing technology to make their molds, which added an intriguing layer of technology to the competition. And did I mention you could sample all of the Jell-o? It was an interesting mixture of extremely beautiful and stomach-turning presentation, and I only ended up trying three, two of which were delicious (coffee/caramel/cinnamon and lemon meringue pie).

As it was a competition, there were winners, which are listed on the Gowanus Studio Space website.

The event did not disappoint as far as wacky “new Brooklyn” events go—I can’t say I feel any more or less inclined to eat jell-o than usual, but the whole thing was fun and inspiring!

My souvenir from Berlin just arrived! It came beautifully wrapped…

…and inside was a framed illustration by Rilla Alexander!

It came from her exhibition that was happening in Berlin at the same time as mine, as part of the Pictoplasma Festival. (Rilla is an Australian artist who lives in Berlin.) The adorable character is Sozi, Rilla’s alter-ego who also stars in a new picture book called Her Idea. Highly recommended for those who love beautiful illustrations and stories about creativity!

John is a big fan of cake, so that’s why the illustration is perfect for us. Can’t wait to hang it near my desk!

Thank you for all the great Tiny Jelly Bean captions! We’ll choose a winner later today, so if you haven’t left yours yet, there’s still time.

Yesterday’s big Easter candy event for me was the unwrapping of this jumbo Kinder Egg that I had saved from my trip to Berlin. Look how big it is!

If you’re not familiar with Kinder Eggs, they are delightful hollow chocolate eggs that are available in a many countries. But they aren’t sold in the US because they contain a toy inside that often is made of many tiny pieces to assemble. It’s the complex toys, often with moving parts, that make Kinder Eggs so cool.

But not all Kinder Eggs are created equal! The ones from Germany are definitely made of the best chocolate and contain the coolest toys. I had never seen one so big, so I was excited to bring this one back from my trip. Now let’s see what’s inside!

It’s a really big capsule egg! Somehow I didn’t expect it to be this big.

And inside… many little parts! That’s always a good sign.

I love how clear the assembly instructions always are.

And here is the assembled toy. The rubber band at the bottom that lets you wind up Mr. Froggie so he can boat around in the sink.

My husband tried it and it works! The chocolate was delicious too.

As I’ve mentioned, my show in Berlin last week was part of the annual Pictoplasma Festival, which is an amazing five days of gallery shows, talks, workshops, and more all about character art. It was incredible fun to see how people from around the world were approaching the art of “reduced figuration,” as smart people call it.

My sister-in-law Jenna and I took in a number of the shows, which were all so different from one another. Here were some of our favorites…

London-based French artist McBess was doing a live painting on the opening day of his show. He also performed with his band later the same day, but we had to be at the “Mochimochi Worlds” opening, so we missed it…

Matt JOnes specializes in a cute character named Lunartik who sits in a cup of tea (that’s him crossed out in the sign, not a camera), and he enlisted a bunch of other artists to make amazing customizations. You can see (and buy) the original series from Matt’s website. We also heard Matt talk about how his process for producing and distributing his toys. (It was a looooong process and made me realize that you have to be super patient and super committed to making it happen.)

Ryan Quincy is the head animator at South Park, and he’s also done some very cool animations of his own. We loved his series of paintings that were on exhibit in Berlin. This one was my favorite and I was pretty tempted to buy it for my living room. (Hoping my husband sees this and agrees!)

Inkygoodness produces shows and other projects with artists, and their contribution was a show of totems customized by a variety of artists. The results were very kooky and fun!

Rilla Alexander from Australia was one of our favorite talks and shows. I even bought an original illustration from her! You can get her new (and very special) children’s book Her Idea from Amazon.

There were many more gallery exhibits, all of which were open to the public. It was so much fun, and now I just have to figure out how to go back next year!