Home, Sweet Nomad....

It's that time again. I find myself standing in a partially packed apartment, there are boxes here and there, some full, some waiting to have my possessions carefully sorted and packed away. Yep. I'm moving again. This time, it's not for a job, it's for love.

Mr. Smartguy and I are making the leap. After almost exactly a year, we are moving in, shacking up, kicking the tires, and taking a test-drive. We aren't doing anything legal, just logistical. It's a big step for two grown-ass people to decided to move in and give it a shot, but somehow I'm not concerned. Maybe that's bravado, and maybe it's foolish to think that in this day and age a girl can meet a guy on the Internet and in about a year they can be living together happily, but here I am prepping for my 7th move in as many years, and I think this is the best move I've ever made.

Good luck with all the plastic!

Once in when I was working in the costume shop in Hartford a tour of tweensy children came through our shop. Amongst the eager faces of wannabe theatre professionals was a just barely pre-adolescent boy? kid? mini-dude? who wanted to know everything. What was this made out of? How did we do that? He was especially intrigued by the chorus-girl costumes made of a sparkly leotard that created the illusion of a girlie champagne flute with busty-booby-bubbles (gee I wonder why he was so interested?). The "flute" was made of a molded plastic cup, and he was mesmerized. On the way out of the door the young man proudly wished the shop "GOOD LUCK WITH ALL THE PLASTICS!" Unfortunately the kid had a terrible lisp, and it came out "GHOOD LUHCK WHIHTH ALL THE PHLASTHICS!" To this day, we still wish each other luck with ALL the plastics.

Weak segue, but whatever......

A few people have been asking me if I am still making my re purposed plastic wallets, and the short answer is- well, um no, not really. The reason? DC has enacted a totally-awesome-freakin-love-it-five-cent-bag-tax, and suddenly plastic bags are getting a little difficult to come by. People are bringing their illicit suburban bags into work to give to co-workers who use them for diapers, litter and doggy-duty. The once overflowing bag holder in my kitchen is becoming less and less full and I have to import my kitty bags from my fella's house in suburban Virginia. My once overflowing raw materials supply, is becoming less and less plentiful.
I'm making a few pouches when I find something that tickles my fancy, and I have a few bags left from the mass shipments that used to come in from as far away as Massachusetts and Chicago, but with the prevalence of totes and re-usables, I'm happy to say that this product is almost no longer viable. If I get into Crafty Bastards this year, I think that will be the last hurrah for my re-purposed plastic bags, and I couldn't be happier...

Part Deux

Upping my Crafty-nerd-street-cred-photoshoot-style

This is the second of a multi-post-series detailing my photoshoot with the Tomerlins of Tomerin Photography in preparation for the Crafty Bastards application process.


Once I decided which pieces I wanted to have photographed (of course, most of those pieces where not yet in existence) it was time to get-a-goin’. One piece I want to start selling are totebags. Why totebags? Well, because Washington DC has instituted a bag tax (which I FULLY support) and totebags are now, oh so very now. So I pulled out the YUDU Mr. Smartguy gave me for my birthday, and I took it out for a spin. **This is yet another up-side to dating someone who is interested in what you do, fully committed to gadgetry, and supports the furthering of said craftiness with gadgetry**. I think the results are strong, and graphically pleasing.



If I were to change anything about the YUDU as a product, it would be the horrible cheesy name. Additionally, as someone with limited experience with legit silk screening, (but more than a decade of painting and dyeing experience) I wanted clear and highly technical instructions. Luckily, with the assistance of you tube, some new and vintage books on textile printing, a few dozen websites and a some facebook conversations (hey, I get points for thoroughness) I fulfilled my nerdy needs and realized that although technically a bit complex, the products available on the market simplify the process. Making screens is something that someone with strong attention to detail, a commitment to following process driven instructions and a basic understanding of the importance of patience can do with reasonable success.

When styling the photos we wanted to be sure it looked like the bag was being used. Also, it was important to me to make sure that the scale of the bag, the quality of the screen and the overall image looked “professional”. We ended up stuffing the bag with a handmade lap quilt my mom made; it was a great color to have popping out of the top, and filled out the bag nicely. I’m particularly happy with this image, I think the styling and overall composition are quite pleasing and it is a good example of the quality of product (both for crafty lady and photographers!)