hello lovely

Happy new year to me. The Fuji Instax camera.

 This will help keep me focused and motivated!

CHEERS

Inspired by..

Andrew Wyeth: Christina's World

Sculptural Photography by: Szymon Ronginski for fashion designer Ania Kuczynska.

Prints by Ah-Yi

Lovely work from Ah Yi, who lives In LA. Her pictures and materials are soft and natural.

These prints were done for a show in Portland Maine last month. The show was called Come Darkness.

She used Sumi ink. She discusses her connection to the ink and it makes me want to learn a lot more about it's origin.

Check out her work and more info on these prints on her blog; here.

Christmas Day

I would love to be here today on Christmas.

I am happy to be home with my family, don't get me wrong. I just love the black exterior with all the snow.

From Remodelista (via Door Sixteen)

Inspiration Boards

All found at the Flickr Inspiration Board Group.

Check out these home photos too. Gorgeous!.

Inspiration Boards

Polymer

I have been in Florida for a week and the weather is pretty bad. Not bad like the rest of the country...but bad all the same. It is cold, cloudy and windy and not really what any of us had hoped for. I would love to have a few beach days but it is looking unlikely. So I have been making things. Trying to keep busy and trying to not just watch TV and read all day. I have seen other people experiment with Polymer so I jumped on the train and made this necklace.

It is really easy to use and bake and the color assortment is pretty great at any craft store.

Here is one picture of the necklace and I will sand and gloss to make it a little more finished.

I made a few more pieces and used the beige color which isn't really the best color because it looks a little to flesh toned and doesn't sit well on my skin.

Other projects I have been working on coming.

Also get to play with my dad's fancy camera which has been very fun.

Can't wait for tonight! Christmas Eve is when we open all our presents after dinner.

Gleaning

My word and idea of how to live for 2010.

g l e a n i n g
to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.
to collect (information, facts, etc.) by patient effort.
to gather from a field after the crop has been reaped.
to learn, discover, or find out, usually little by little or slowly.

that which is collected by a gleaner; a remaining portion.

*** I have decided that It is better to chose a new outlook for the year than to resolve to give things up.

The best gift for me.

I LOVE SIBELLA COURT. She is a stylist and is one of the people I always try to follow and see what she is working on. She opened up her own store last year when she moved back to Sydney and it is ever changing and always ruled by colors and textures. Her apartment in New York is a favorite of all interior magazines, especially her tin ceiling and chinoiserie wallpaper.

I was walking through Anthropologie the other day and saw her new book. It is a must for any kind of designer in any medium. It centers around collecting.

I would love this book for christmas. I noticed it is already sold out at a lot of online retailers like Amazon... going to go back to Anthropologie and hope it is still there!

It also discusses her travels and what she has picked up on them...another reason why I love it. She seeks out new places and new people to discover. She isn't seeking trends..she is making them.

Gift Ideas

Meringue Rings..

Alien Planters

Shower curtain for the Dexter Fans

Really cool and fun ideas at Charles and Marie.

Gift Ideas

Kate Cusak has been doing Zipper Jewelry since 2003 out of Brooklyn. Her work is now appreciated even more as the rest of the fashion world is adding zippers to everything. Her work is so detailed and looks even better on. It also looks really cool on your vanity alone. It is a perfect gift for the girl who loves art and fashion. Find her website here.

Trama Textiles

My sister sent me this link to tell me all about this organization in the mountains of Guatemala. Trama Textiles.

It combines everything I am looking for; helping others, learning a trade, helping develop product and spending time in another country! Oh and I can learn spanish, there are a ton of schools in the area for people to take intensive courses.

At quick glance of some research about the city there are a few hotels and B&B's that are only 100USD for the month. Plane tickets are under $500.. all in all a month there would be 1/3 of my rent- and I would be working with a great women's organization. Three months might be too long in a small small place that is pretty isolated...so I can look into volunteering in Belize, Panama, or go and visit Costa Rica again and surf? ohhh the possibilities.

I posted an add to sublet my apt and have a few solid hits.

Here's to hoping the new year will bring new adventures and new travels. I am ready to get on the road!

Some of the women talk about their work as weavers

For us, the Spanish word TRAMA, “the weft” or “binding thread”, is interchangeable with the word comida, “food¨. Our weavings clothe us, warm our families through highland winters, and carry our babies on our backs. They unite our people from generation to generation and sustain us as much as any food.

The patterns of our textiles differ throughout our communities, varying from village to village, department to department, and from the highlands to the lowlands. Each of our designs and patterns tells a different story, representing the unity of our past histories and present cultures. The ancient textile craft of backstrap loom weaving binds together our families, communities, lands, and the traditions passed down from our ancestors.

We are active members of TRAMA Textiles, the Association of Women for Artisan Development in Backstrap Loom Weaving. We work directly with 17 weaving cooperatives, representing 400 women from five regions in the western highlands of Guatemala: Sololá, Huehuetenango, Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango and Quiché.

A map of the weaving communities.

Mission
Our mission is to create work for fair wages for the women of Guatemala; to honourably support our families and communities; and to preserve and develop our cultural traditions through the maintenance of our textile arts and their histories.

Our History
In 1988, after some of the most devastating years of Guatemala´s civil war, our association was formed. At the beginning our name was CENAT (Centro Nacional de Artesania Textile), but since then we have changed our name to ASOTRAMA (Asociación Trama) and finally just TRAMA Textiles. The civil war was a time when most of the men from our communities: our grandfathers, fathers, brothers and sons, disappeared. Those of us who remained were forced to figure out how to survive and support our households and communities. During those desperate times, we realized the benefits of collaboration. From this union, TRAMA Textiles was formed.

Today our groups proudly weave as they continue the ancient textile art of backstrap loom weaving that has sustained our cultures and communities for over 1,500 years. TRAMA’s backstrap loom weavers utilize traditional technology and designs to create high-quality products both for national and international markets.
Weaving in the intimacy of their homes, our weavers are able to provide additional economic income to their families. By marketing their products through an organization that fights for the dignity, well-being, and ethnic expression of its associates, the continuity of their traditions and work is guaranteed.

Our Practices
TRAMA Textiles is a worker-owned women’s weaving association offering training to weaving cooperatives around Guatemala and enabling them to produce quality fair-trade textile goods. The administrators participate in annual meetings where executive decisions are made and new administrators are elected. Women who participate in these meetings are representatives chosen from each of the 17 groups which make up our association. Because our groups come from a wide variety of places, there is a range of indigenous languages spoken: various dialects of K’iche’, Mam, Kakchiquel, Ixil and Tz’utujil. The representatives are chosen primarily based on their literacy skills in Spanish so that all groups of the association can communicate with each other.

The training we offer to each of our groups combines new and interesting ways to make their crafts more marketable, while keeping their traditional methods, designs and patterns alive. The association buys the products from each group at the wage the group determines. The product are then sold in our retail shop in Quetzaltenango. We also sell products in two other shops in Antigua: Colibri and Ojo Cosmetico, in addition to exporting goods to Europe and the United States.

TRAMA Textiles also relies on its weaving school, La Escuela de Tejido, to help pay for the administrative and promotional costs of the association.

Orange and Pink

Vanessa Bruno S/S 2010. Love the juicy colors. Love the grey and pink and all the different materials in one outfit.

Part of the tribe

Rodarte S/S 2010. I would happily be part of this tribe. The arm band tattoos alone would get me to join. Love the floor, the smoke, the texture and the ripped to shreds look of the collection. It has already been said...but very Mad Max.

now to spring...

Lanvin S/S 2010. Yes Please. I can't wait to see the jewelry pieces up close. They look similar to the Berber pieces I saw but with more stones.. but same size and same shapes. Makes me want to dress up and sparkle!

Snowflakes

Thinking about winter. It is getting brisk here...but still have only turned the heat on once.

Read about the project of capturing these intense pictures of snowflakes and other projects of Mike and Dan Starn in the Nomenus Quarterly.

I have been watching and interested in Erik Hadigan Heck for 2 years now... his concepts are very fresh mixed with the wisdom and history of a very old man. I do not know where he finds the time to do all he does.. being so young maybe?

(His Hitchcock Birds concept for The Row last spring was a favorite. )

What to do on a snow day. Check out Nomenus Quartely archives with a big cup of cocoa and homemade marshmallows. It is hours of inspiration from poems to fashion. Well worth your afternoon.

Marimekko BLOG?!

1972

Kapris Pattern 1985

This will be hours of fun. Marimekko Blog. You can also buy product! I feel like it is hard to find the best pieces in US.

Honeycomb

I saw this on NOTCOT last week and love love love it! I bought something for my sister... not this one...and I won't post incase she reads this.. but her stuff is gorgeous and really great prices! Yvonne Hung is based in San Francisco and sent me a sweet note after I purchased it! The packaging is perfect for gift giving!

There is a sale right now..20% off. Check it out!

Knit wonderful ILEAIYE

ILEAIYE's knit creations.

Soft and stunning. You can ask Cherylline to make from the color swatches that are available. Her style is the ultimate in easy, cool and chic. She worked at Central St Martins and now knits and creates full time. Her pieces are perfect for LA weather and I have asked her to make a few pieces custom and she is more than willing... so I will order from her this week and hope to put some things under the tree for myself! Why is it when shopping for others I always buy for myself! I am very excited.

I can not wait to wear these and start creating what is to become my uniform wardrobe. More to come on that idea...

You can find her and her beautiful creations on ETSY here.

LA

Back in LA. It feels good to be back. It is nice to be in my apartment. I had it cleaned and have started to organize everything again and do a little clutter control. I have been putting together a plan of action...and have a few too many directions I am trying to head at once, so have to be careful not to overwhelm myself with trying to get things done...that won't. Having all this time and a lot of options is more difficult than it sounds, especially if your are a known procrastinator.

I have been very inspired by my friend BB and it is so great to have her back in LA. We have had a lot of talks about doing a collaboration and it has me very excited. There is also a few things to think about, subletting again and living downtown in a loft with BB, working on a portfolio for grad school, going to India or going to Shanghai for an internship??? more to come on that while I am home for Christmas..

I am starting to think about gifts and this year. I already gave my sis everything from Morocco...so she already got most of her presents.

Homemade and Etsy is where my gifts will be coming from..and some prints of my trip?!

I bought a sewing machine today and have already made two pillowcases of fabric my sister sent me from BOLT in portland.

more projects to come!!!

NYC

After 10 days or so in Florida with mom and dad, I flew to NYC. My days in Florida were filled with lots if internet job searches...lots of TV....and not enough beach time. I was in 'home' mode. Something I can not seem to grow out of. Amanda and I refer to it as 'melting'. Just get to Florida..and melt. Go into MOM mode. No matter how old you are it is so nice to be home and just be around your parents. It is nice to have that comfort and security that nothing is bad..the world is safe for a little while. I am planning on going back for Christmas.. but still have not booked a ticket. Hope to do so in next 48 hours.

NYC was great. I had a vision of what I would do while there....and didn't really accomplish all I had hoped. 

It was also great talking about what everyone is up to and working on. Everyone is in a similar place so it was nice to have so many people talking and interested in new ideas.

Thanks ND for everything. You are my best friend, a great listener and a whole lot of fun.

Jake

Grandma Jake. I love you. I am so glad I got to see you and spend a few hours. I am sorry you have no memory of who I am, but I know you feel comfortable around me and that makes me happy. You are a strong, loving, beautiful woman. Thank you for being such a great grandmother and teaching me how to craft. I loved your craft room in the basement of the old house in Ripon. You always let me be creative and I am now trying to develop that side of myself again and have been thinking of you while I am baking, sewing, stamping, painting and working on textiles.

I hope to see you at Christmas.