Tag Archives: crafts

I’m not poor… right?

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First off, good news: I put up my new zines in my Etsy shop earlier this week and a couple days later, I had my first sales! I couldn’t be more excited! AND I listed the first HellaScarf for sale today with more to come. What’s a HellaScarf? Well, you’d better go find out!

Also, Flickr!

ALSO, today, my chiropractor told me that my back is stable and I can start ramping up my exercise towards dancing again! Huzzah!

The not so good news: If only I could afford dance classes! But I’m on the hunt for more work and am hopeful. Things might be tight financially, but my life is rich in so many other ways.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to “be poor.” I have a childhood memory of standing in my parents’ bedroom, in front of my Dad’s tall, dark wood dresser, and asking, “Daddy, are we poor?” I don’t really remember why I asked. Maybe I was beginning to notice things like my Mom writing down every expense, or how some of my friends’ houses were a lot bigger than ours… I don’t remember feeling ashamed of this idea of “being poor” – I was just curious as to what it meant. I think Dad said something like, “No, but maybe we’re lower middle class.” Which kind of makes me laugh, now.

Now that I know more about the world, I realize what a privileged childhood I had and what amazing parents I have. I’ve always been in awe of how they paid for my education. I often ask myself, “How did they do it?” I’m not totally certain, but I’m pretty sure they’re not rolling in dough. What I think now is: they were careful.

I’m trying to be careful. Trying my darnedest by darning my socks and hoarding quarters for laundry. I budget. I make art and crafts to sell. I don’t have a car (thank goodness). I keep track of my debt because I WILL pay it off.

And I really don’t think I’m POOR. I see too many people on the streets of this city every day to even joke about it. But sometimes I look at my bank account and feel poor. Like most things in life, is “wealth” a state of mind? Money seems so concrete. And I don’t want to be RICH. I’d just like to get by – pay bills and buy groceries. And I realize now how much I’ve wasted on ridiculous things, or buying too much, when I didn’t need to – when I wasn’t so worried about money. Hindsight, you know… But hopefully the challenge is teaching me some very important lessons. And I can embrace a good challenge, right? Like my friend MB said recently, we yearn for stability, but there’s a lot to be said for embracing chaos.

No one likes talking about money, and I feel like that’s all I’ve been talking about lately with folks. I know I’ve been worrying about it a lot lately. But I’m also trying to not get depressed. Asking for help helps. And knowing that I’m driven and will figure it out somehow.

And remembering how much I do have. All the ways I am rich: family, friends, health, creativity, and this city. Oh, this city… I’m glad I’m here!

Oh geez, SFZF is only 3 weeks away!!!

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In 3 glorious weeks, my BFF from CO, the righteous MQ, will be in SF and we will be getting our DIY on at the SFZF or San Francisco Zine Fest (that’s a lot of initials/acronyms in one sentence)! And this weekend felt like a Zine Fest preview weekend for me.

Yesterday, Saturday, I took a walk and checked out the Market SF artist fair at the Blue Macaw in the Mission and met some lovely artists. Melinda Mae and I gushed about how much we love the physical textures of fabrics and how we can’t resist touching them! We also discussed the best places to buy fabrics (Japan & NYC are at the top of the list, just in case you’re curious. I learned later that LA is also great). I really wish I could buy Melinda’s handbags – they’re so beautiful! Hopefully one day soon.

I also lusted after Creek Van Houten’s amazing steampunk jewelry and trinkets. Leyna Lightman gave me a cookie and told me about dyeing lace and the lace she bought in Turkey. I bought fun envelopes from Meleta Buckstaff and I LOVE her bracelet cuffs made from old men’s ties. Brilliant! I didn’t get to talk with them, but I really liked Monkey and Seal’s crafts too! Lastly, I spent a long time talking with Stephanie Cortes of nerdJerk whose blog I’ve just started to read, but whom I already have an ENORMOUS craft crush on. She’s also a member of the SF Bay Area Etsy Street Team. I bought her zine and she gave me a button. Huzzah! There were lots of other lovely artists at the fair, but unfortunately I didn’t get to talk with them all.

Today, Sunday, I took an early morning bike ride through the Mission to Ocean Beach. On the way back through Golden Gate Park, I stopped at the County Fair Building (the same venue as the SFZF) and checked out the Vintage Paper Expo. I had no idea people were so hardcore about vintage paper goods! I’ve also never seen so many boxes of postcards in one place. In order not to get overwhelmed/spend any money I didn’t spend a ton of time there, but I looked lots and I did buy a couple vintage postcards for friends. I want to save my pennies and hopefully buy some original, turn of the century fashion plates next year!

And to top it all off, I visited a friend who went to Comic Con in San Diego this year and brought back a little present for me – a signed copy of Amy Martin’s The Girls are Mighty Fine, which I was planning on buying at SFZF! Oh, glory!

So I’m all inspired and close to getting my own projects finished for the SFZF in a few short weeks! I’m putting out a collection of 10 years of my poetry, and my first ever comic book! I couldn’t be more excited. I’m also stoked to work on my Etsy shop and make it better.

Don’t forget, kids! Come to the San Francisco Zine Fest! Sept. 4 & 5 at the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park!

All of my friends are so nice!

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I didn’t quite understand this comic by my friend Amy until today.

I woke up emotional and exhausted. Lately, I’ve been having these nights where I sleep deeply, but I have these crazy dreams that are so intense I wake up feeling like I’ve run a marathon. My brain isn’t resting even when it’s supposed to! Last night was vampires + ice skating + university graduation… WTF? Less amusing, my lower back and hips have been hurting a lot again in the last week. Towards the end of the day I’ll start feeling really sore and tight and then by the time I lie down, it’s painful.

Of course, all of this whining is following a really good Monday yesterday, when I got a TON done, saw friends, got ear acupuncture, so I feel bad for complaining.

Anyway, I went to my chiropractic appointment and almost burst into tears describing my chiropractor how my back and legs were feeling. Luckily, I have the BEST CHIROPRACTOR IN THE WORLD, and he really helped me talk it out, calmed me down, adjusted my spine and my soul, and sent me back into the world feeling so much better.

He reminded me that when I started treatments with him, I was injured and overly emotional about that. I’ve been doing so much better the last couple months really allowing myself to rest, which is hard for a dancer/athlete, but I AM healing. But now I’m on the other end of the spectrum – I’m going through a lot of changes which is emotionally difficult and now my body is reacting to that, asking me to continue to take it easy and be kind to myself. Why is that always the hardest thing to do? Why do I always run myself ragged?

When I got back from my appointment, my new roomie, M, asked me if I wanted to go get a torta with him down on 24th. It was a really simple gesture, but today, it meant a lot. And it was my first torta in the Mission and it was AMAZING. I definitely want to try all the torta places near our place now! Which means I will get increasingly chubby, but it will be sooooooo worth it…

Also, I picked up some flowers for the apartment, to brighten our kitchen. I’ve been missing sunny Colorado a lot these days, and sunflowers always remind me of Bear Creek Canyon in late summer/early fall, bright against that brilliant CO sky…

Maybe the CO vibe somehow inspired my CO BFF to contact me today… a long chat with the MQ is always a life saver!

Lastly, I’m quite pleased with how a new project is turning out… more to come, but here’s a little preview pic…

Now if only I could escape to a nearby mountain for a good hike, I would feel right as rain… hopefully soon! But until then, I really am grateful for the good people I have in my life.

Featured Project #5: Fabric Accessories & MB’s Cuff Bracelet

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There are several projects I’ve completed over the last couple months that I’d like to showcase. So I’ve decided to write about one every day for the rest of the week until they’re all up. This is the last one!

At Currents, my coworker friends and I would always talk about products we wanted to make. They had or were discovering their niches. I was realizing how much I love sewing and working with fabric. I really love the big scarf look (to the extreme!) – all that fabric, texture, and color, surrounding a person. I decided I wanted to try and make fabric accessories based on that idea.

I’ve always been hesitant about making art “for sale” and wondered how professional artists balance the ideas they want to create with making art that sells.

So I chose a path I’ve naturally chosen in the path – making art a gift. My friend MB’s birthday was coming up (in April), so I decided to make my first trial fabric accessory piece for her. I made a mock up version out of muslin to kind of figure out the ins and outs of the look I wanted. I was going for full and fancy! I think of this bracelet as the mama of the ones I’ve made since. And it still holds a lot of inspiration for me. Lately, I’ve been leaning more towards simpler, and smaller, bracelets, but I think there’s still a lot of richness for me in the “full and fancy” that I should delve into.

Anyway, I’ll let the product speak for itself:

For more fabric cuff bracelets I’ve made, please check out my Etsy shop!

P.S. In making things “for sale,” I’ve been able to find an answer to my question. I realized that the only distinction for me when making art “for me” vs. “for sale” is simply a feeling that what I’m making is FOR SOMEONE – an individual. Who they are, I don’t know, but they’re out there and this is for them. And from research that I’ve done and other artists I’ve talked to, what I know now is that I should continue listening to my art, my heart, and making what I love, what calls to me, what I’m passionate about – and people will naturally be drawn to that, and want that in their lives as well. It’s useless trying to gear towards and guess what you think people will buy. If I make high quality art that I love, others will love it too.

Yes!

Featured Project #1: The Blue Tattoo Shirt

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There are several projects I’ve completed over the last couple months that I’d like to showcase. So I’ve decided to write about one every day for the rest of the week until they’re all up.

Back in Boulder, I think it was sometime during the school year of 05-06, I was seized with this plan to get a back tattoo, but when I did the design, it was so huge I knew I was never actually going to get it. But to satisfy the urge, I went and bought a white cotton long sleeve shirt and fabric markers. I drew the design on the shirt in pale blue. The only problem was, I loved the design, but the shirt was never quite the fit I wanted.

Earlier this year, I was going through my clothes and realized that this shirt had become very stretched out and bedraggled looking, the white cotton becoming gray along the hems. But I still loved the design. So I went hunting for a long sleeve shirt that matched the blue of the design and this time was actually a fit I liked. I found the perfect shirt at a thrift store in the Mission. I then cut out the design from the old shirt and using light blue embroidery thread, cross stitched the design onto the new shirt. It took about a month in between other projects and moving, but I finished it and am incredibly pleased with it. It’s now one of my favorite pieces of clothing.

I really love fabric painting and dye work and I want to do more. Plus the cross stitching adds a really cool affect. Adding designs like this to other pieces of clothing or accessories would be a really easy way to customize and up-cycle items. I’d really like to customize a messenger bag or tote in this style.

Pictures!