Cleaning Out the House

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I’ve been meaning to destash on beads for ages, but I never seem to get around to taking the photos. But today I finally photographed the first batch and popped them up in my Etsy shop. Only 3,417 sets left to go. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I am seriously buried in beads here.



I found these embossed puff hearts in Paris. Aren’t they fab? I have really fond memories of the Paris bead district. It’s like a treasure chest for us jewelry types. Somehow, though, I just never ended up using these hearts in any designs, so it’s time for them to go. My loss is someone’s gain. Hey, you don’t even have to buy plane tickets to Paris to get these. I’ll mail them right to your house. Just think of the money you’ll save!

Footsies

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I’ve been enjoying the Gypsy Feet blog, so I took a feet shot today to celebrate my own feet. I accidentally overexposed it, but after tinkering with it in Photoshop, I quite like the effect. Hello toes.

For the Love of Totem Poles

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I fell in love with Pacific Northwest Coast Indian art when I lived in Vancouver. The first art history course I ever took covered the art of these tribes, along with Polynesian art from the Hawaiian Islands and Maori art (I promptly fell in love with those, too).

I guess my art education has been pretty non-traditional. I did eventually go back and take some Western and European art history courses, so I could converse intelligently with other artists on the topic. I do love the sculpture of Giacometti and Rodin, not to mention Maria Martins, my favorite sculptor (I admit to loving obscure artists). And I traveled on a dicey subway and walked a mile through a sketchy neighborhood to spend hours in the Frida Kahlo museum in Mexico. But I always go back to tribal arts, particularly Pacific Northwest Coast Indian art. I’m magnetically, irresistibly drawn to it. They have amazing master sculptors.



So how happy was I to be back in a place where I could find totem poles in public places? And the Seattle Art Museum has a collection of native art that is to die for. I spent a couple hours in that section of the museum alone. I would have camped out if they had let me.

Utilikilts

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“So I was heading out to get a chai, and I saw this kinda geeky guy wearing… a kilt!”

“A kilt?” Andy said, sounding surprised. Probably because it was just above freezing in Seattle.

“Oh yeah,” I replied, “A kilt. But not just a kilt, this was a khaki kilt. And not just a khaki kilt. This was a khaki kilt worn down low. You know, like hipsters?”

We decided this kid must be a radical artist type making a statement. So I was even more confused when I spotted a pretty hot, well built guy in a khaki kilt the next morning. And his kilt looked like he’d been doing construction in it. Was there some kind of club? A cult? Of kilt wearers? In Seattle?



Luckily I spotted the Utilikilts store before I spotted the third guy. Apparently kilts are in style at the moment in Seattle. Which is good to know, cos the third guy I saw was a balding, chubby guy in an olive green kilt. Which would have really confused me if I’d seen him first.

Modern Pointillism

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I found this wall in Post Alley near Pike Place Market in Seattle. The entire wall was covered in bubble gum. Some people had even written their names using gum. I just love the texture and the colors. Modern pointillism! Not to mention it’s an incredible DNA repository…

A Real Vacation

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Well, the staycation idea was an abject and utter failure, due to my complete inability to relax while surrounded by things that need to be done. So I decided to run away from home for a few days. And then I realized something really odd - I’ve never been on vacation alone. That’s right, never. As in, not once, ever, in my whole life. I’ve always traveled with someone, or gone to stay with someone. I’ve never just climbed in a car or on a plane and run off with myself. How weird is that?



Given the incredible luxury of planning a vacation all for myself, I decided there were three things I wanted:

1. Travel time of 3 hours or less.
2. Not to have to rent a car. I really hate driving. But I love walking out of my hotel and having a choice of fabulous things to do.
3. A really cool room, so if I decided I didn’t want to go out and see anything I could just chill and read a book. I am a voracious reader, and sitting around reading is my favorite way to relax.



The perfect solution was a trip to Seattle and a stay in the Author’s Suite (complete with a fireplace!) at the Alexis Hotel. The photos are from my suite. There were hundreds of books in there, all signed by the authors. And I had a glorious time browsing through them. Apparently this is where authors stay when they come on books tours to Seattle, and they like to leave signed copies of their books behind. Is this not the perfect room for me?

In case you were worried, I’m happy to report back to you all that I am a marvelous traveling companion. I’ve enjoyed my own company immensely. I admit to being quite relieved. What if I hated myself? How depressing would that have been?

Hammers and Mallets

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And finally, back to the bench. Today is all about forming tools. On the bottom you’ll see my favorite Fretz planishing hammer, which I love dearly. It’s such a showpiece it’s almost a shame to use it, but it’s so well balanced I can’t help myself. On top is my rawhide mallet, which I use for forming metal around mandrels. We’ve spent many quality hours together, that mallet and I. In the background you can see my favorite anvil on top of my bench block.



If all this talk of tools just thrills you to your toes, you can get another fix from my first workbench post, Pliers Central.

The Ultimate Chandelier

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We went out yesterday for a celebratory dinner at our favorite expensive local restaurant, JSix. 1000 sales is worth an expensive dinner, right? Anyway, I love the chandeliers here, which are made by grouping different lights with a similar feel. How fun are they? If I’d seen these before, I would have put one together in our last loft, which had 17’ ceilings. I could stare at this chandelier all day.

All About… Rugby?

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So last Saturday I actually left the house, went out, and watched… rugby. Yes, that would be international rugby, as in Rugby Sevens, which play once a year right next door to me. We ended up buying some tickets from a scalper, which I’ve never actually done before (how square am I?), because the party section was all sold out. And then when we got into the ballpark and looked at them, we realized they were military tickets. That’s right, the military now has their own scalpers.



Now that would be funny enough, but we happened to go with some gay friends. So there we are, me, Andy, and three very gay guys, in the front row of the military section, window shopping for hot rugby players. Well, the four of us were window shopping. Andy was laughing at us. Oh yes, and did I mention that these guys also play rugby? Which made the whole thing twice as entertaining, because they were trying to explain the game to me, but they kept getting all distracted. By the very hot players.

It’s been a while since I’ve window shopped with “the girls”. I’d forgotten how entertaining it can be. I used to end up in these situations much more often when I worked at Warner Bros., as our entire department was made up of women and gay men. Ah, the good old days. Every once in a while I miss that job. I mean, you haven’t lived until you’ve gone out after work with the guys to play drag queen bingo. But that’s a tale for another day…

1000 Sales!

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Oh yeah, I hit 1000 sales today on my Etsy shop. What a nice surprise for a Thursday!