Buttons, Buttons everywhere

I'm going to share a neat secret with you. Ready? Shh, don't tell anyone else, we don't want everybody else to know! :) OK: If you go to estate sales, you can get some really great buttons. What? You don't know what an estate sale is? Here: when you go to a "yard sale", "garage sale" or "boot sale", or even a "swap meet" or "flea market", you're shopping through things that people don't want anymore, or have made to sell. An estate sale is usually held when the owner of a house has died, and their family is getting rid of all the things the deceased acquired over a lifetime. That is to say, all the things that the deceased KEPT because they valued them. The good stuff. And since it's generally family members or a third party conducting the sale, they price things low to get rid of the detritus of a life so that they can sell the house and move on. So don't feel bad: you're helping them move on by taking things away. Which leads to buttons. Back in the day (think pre-1980s), people used to save things like buttons when a shirt or coat wore out. Now, we just chuck the whole thing in the trash. Dumb. So old folks tend to have jars of buttons saved. And who wants buttons? Most estate sales will let you take a jar of buttons away for a couple of dollars. Someone gave me these:


Now, as you can see from this picture, most of these are going to be those boring little white dress-shirt buttons. Which are nice to have around, but let's face it: unless you're a tailor, you're never going to need that many of them.

So let's see what we got. Jar 1, on the far left:




Yup. Junk. Oh, but wait.... What's this?













Those are pretty neat. And what've we got in jar #3 (far right)?




Now that's a good pile: looks like some fruit-shaped whimsy buttons, a whole whacking bunch of military (probably off a coat), which are always good for Steampunk accouterments. A neat horseshoe detail, some swirly ones.... Cool.

And then here's a picture of the center jar (which I've sorted previously, and only has stuff I like):

Mostly shiny. :)


So, what the heck am I going to do with all these buttons?









These:

are going to become stitch markers. As you can see, the last time I dumped them out, I accidentally scooped up one of my markers with the buttons. Yay! Free stitch marker! Others will be eyes for stuffed toys. Still others will actually return to use as button closures for garments. So check out estate sales. And remember, don't tell anyone else! We don't want them to get the buttons before us! :)

PS -- here's an artsy photo of my needle jar. I no longer use straight needles, but I like the look, so I put them in my button jar. :)

Acupuncture

I want to talk a little bit about acupuncture. (don't worry, I'll get back to the art debate in a few days -- it's really hard to decide among all the "bad" art!)

A lot of people I know are scared of acupuncture. They cite the "I'm afraid of needles" excuse, which for most people would be valid. But I'm a seamstress. I work in a costume shop, with other stitcher/crafters. So I decided to try and assuage their fear.

First, let me tell you about my job: I mostly sew on sewing machines, both industrial and domestic. A domestic machine is the one your mom has. An industrial is steel, attached to a table, and FAST. You can easily sew through your finger -- we've all done it, and yes, it hurts like a mother. The phrase "it missed the bone" is a really good phrase. I do a lot of hand-sewing, as well as cutting materials with a rotary blade or scissors. I've got crappy scissors for paper and stuff, and really sharp scissors for fabric. I've cut myself with both, and one of my girlfriends cut OFF the tip of her finger with a rotary.

I also knit. A LOT. And I type. A LOT. And I'm very right-handed: I can't even use a fork left-handed. So my right shoulder is chronically injured. As well as both my wrists and thumb joints. I decided that massage wasn't cutting it, and I decided to see an acupuncturist (which, BTW, is usually covered by your insurance!). She worked on my shoulder and wrists (among other things) and within two sessions, I felt fantastic. The other cool thing about acupuncture: with a "normal" doctor, they'll work on one ailment at a time. With acupuncture, you tell them EVERYTHING that's wrong with you, and they keep adding needles, working on all issues at the same time. In the past month, I've been able to quit smoking, my wrists and shoulder are much better, and my allergies have improved ten-fold.

OK, now for all of you who are scared of needles. A visual comparison:


The needle on the top is one I stole from the acupuncture office. The needle on the bottom is my "favorite" needle that I use to sew by hand at work. On average, my "favorite" needle stabs me about 5-10 times per day.

Here are a couple more photos for comparison:


















As you can see in this close-up, my "favorite" needle is a LEAST 3x thicker in diameter than the acu needle. And this isn't a "thick" sewing needle by any means. I tend to like my hand-sewing needles thinner than most of my co-workers.

When the Doc inserts the needles, I can barely feel it. In fact, the only time I can feel it, it's a slight pinching or burning sensation, and that means that she's found a damaged muscle or energy pathway. Don't laugh it off: several years ago, German doctors did extensive studies that involved mapping a human body while the subjects were being... um... stimulated with electricity. Using the same equipment that shows you which parts of the brain "light up" when stimulated, they were able to map the "trigger points" on the body, along with the corresponding "pathways" that they affected. Guess what? They're the exact same points that Ancient Chinese dudes came up with 3000+ years ago for acupuncture. And even if you're not into Eastern Medicine, I don't really see how you can argue with German medical testing. (We don't really want to know how they test things, do we?)

So consider acupuncture. Especially if you're a knitter or crocheter with wrist/elbow/shoulder pain. Your insurance will probably pay for it, and you never know: it might be the answer.

Category 2: Good Art that I Don't Like

OK, if anyone is actually following along, this is the category that will probably cause the greatest amount of people to become incensed. Before I begin, I would like to state that (except for Basquiat and Warhol) my dislike of a particular piece of art does not translate into my dislike for all art by that artist. Again, I'm using very famous examples, because these are pieces that the greatest amount of people will agree are "Good Art." If you would like to see more about a piece of art, or the artist that created it, just click it. Want to debate? Bring it on! :)

1) First, Andy Warhol. I HATE Andy Warhol. I hate "Pop Art." No, really: hate it. I don't care about innovation, I think it's cheap looking, and it sucks. I hate Warhol so much, I'm including two pieces:


That may be a well-executed painting of a can of soup, but it's a damn can of soup!









And I KNOW four-year-olds that could paint these pictures of Marilyn. I don't care if he was the first one to do it, or that it stood the art world on its ear, or opened the door to new pathways for artists. I think Warhol sucks.










2) Jean-Michel Basquiat. This guy was a homeless degenerate. Not that I think that homeless degenerates can't become great artists, but Basquiat didn't. Total garbage. I haven't seen a single piece of his that I enjoyed, and I've been to TWO museums that were hosting tours of his art. Bleaugh!









3) Edgar Degas. Actually, I like most of Degas' paintings. What I don't like are the ballerinas. I don't know why. I just don't like them. Maybe I don't like ballerinas.




4) Claude Monet's Water Lillies. I have never liked this painting. I find it boring. As far as impressionists go, I've never been impressed. Very rarely, I find one particular painting that I like, but it isn't this one. The popularity of this astounds me.








5) OK, I only like half of Vincent van Gogh's art. This is my least favorite. The thing that really annoys me is that I SHOULD like it. I WANT to like it. I just don't. I'm irritated by the swirls in the sky -- they distract me from the really well- done, creepy little village below the scary mountain. Or tree. Or whatever it is -- I can't tell.




It wasn't my intention to pick all dead artists. These were the first pieces of art that I thought of as "good," so that should tell you the level of popularity. All Good. All Art I Don't Like. :)

Category 1: Good Art that I Like

I'm not going to describe or explain any of the following images. I'll just give you the name and artist, and a website if available. You can do the research yourself. Why? Because better educated people with more time and a more extensive vocabulary than myself have already lauded these pieces, and I feel that my contribution would be unnecessary. So I'll just say "thumbs up" and let the pieces speak for themselves. (Oh, on a sidenote: I'm only posting images, since that's easiest for me. I feel that ALL types of art fit into these four categories, including knitting et al.)

If you would like more information on one of the following pieces, or the artist, please click the image. If the artist is living, I've linked to their official webpage. If the artist is deceased, I've linked to the Wikipedia page for more info.



(Uhm.... Don't know if you can tell, but my taste runs toward the gothic and macabre....)

The Great Art Debate

So I'd like to talk a little about art. Not as in "What Makes Great Art?" but how I classify art. David Reidy of the Sticks & String podcast (see sidebar) has mentioned several times that he doesn't consider himself an expert on art, he only knows what he likes. Well, I DO consider myself an expert on art, and here are my qualifications:

My maternal great-grandmother graduated from college with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

My maternal grandmother graduated from college with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and was a member of Phi Mu, an artist sorortity, and was a cartographer during WWII.

My mother worked at the Santa Fe Opera as a costumer, and lived in Berkeley, CA in the late 60s - mid 70s.

My father was an actor in college, lived in Berkley CA (same time), and is a pretty great sketch artist.

My sister is a painter and sculptor, with a BFA in Fine Arts.

My brother is getting his degree in Medical Illustration.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts, concentration in Lighting Design. I am married to a Special Effects Makeup Artist and Theatre carpenter. We lived and worked in LA for almost a decade in the big theatres (Mark Taper Forum, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA Opera, CLOSBC, the Geffen Playhouse, Hermosa Beach Playhouse, among others).

Not to mention having been to the Louvre, Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, the National Gallery in Edinburgh, ALL the museums in the Bay Area, etc. etc.

So. I think I'm qualified to give an opinion about art. After all, I've seen and experienced quite a lot of it. That being said, I am now going to give you a synopsis of the Four Categories of Art. (This is the part that makes my sister want to strangle me until I turn blue. You'll see why in a minute.)

The Categories:
1) Good Art that I Like.
2) Good Art that I Don't Like.
3) Bad Art that I Like.
4) Bad Art that I Don't Like.

That's it. All art fits into one of these categories. If you ask anyone who knows me, no one will be able to say that I'm an indifferent person, or someone who stifles her opinion. So what about art that I'm "meh" about? Well, obviously I don't LIKE it, so it goes into either category 2 or 4.

Now then, you may wonder: "What qualifies art as 'good'?" For the purposes of argument, I'm going to say that Good v. Bad Art has nothing to do with price, popularity or age, and everything to do with talent and technical skill. The next several posts will be examples, and I hope you can join me in mocking categories 2 and 4 whole-heartedly. And category 3, for that matter. :) Don't worry if you don't agree with my assessment -- pretty much everybody I've ever met gets into arguments with me about this. But I have a card that trumps their argument every time: You can't tell me what I like or don't like. All training and experience aside, that belongs to me. :)