Shaving, Mexico, and Other Defining Moments

Recently (like every Wednesday for the past two months) I've been catching this online talk radio show. It's called NY Brand Lab Radio and its hosted by Mary van de Wiel. This week's episode was about tapping into your creative beast by recognizing your defining moments in life. Listening to this show was great. Not only was it inspirational, but it made sense. Recognizing the events in your life that helped shape you (for good or bad) will help you have a better understanding of who you are and what you're capable of. And in my case, can help me understand this small business (of sewing scarves and being creative) that I am trying to grow and maintain. I enjoyed it so much I decided to give myself the challenge. My results are summarized below. (I'm sorry, but I spent so much time working it out, that I had to put it somewhere for at least one other person to read.) I encourage you to have a listen to the show and try it yourself. You'll be surprised by what you come up with.

Once I actually sat down and put the pen to the paper the writing wouldn't quit. Memories just began pouring out of my pen. Places... events... people... I couldn't stop. Once I had over twenty I forced myself to stop because the tripping down memory lane was causing me to use decreasing amounts intelligence in my selection of moments. Life gets long when you start to recount it. As much as I was enjoying the process, the purpose was getting clouded. (Be wary of this if you attempt the project.)

So I discarded 75% of the list and here are the first five I thought of:

  

Yearly trips to Mexico with my mom and sister.

This began when I was eleven and continued until I was 17. These trips were in lieu of any Christmas presents. My sister and I always had the option, and we always chose Mexico. Who wouldn't? If I wrote out all the parts of my life influenced by these vacations we'd be here through next Friday. So If I can't say it all, I won't say anything. (except that I love Spanish music, beer, tequila, tile floors, sail boats, hammocks, swimming with fish....sorry I said I wasn't going to do that)

I learned how to celebrate life and appreciate culture.

Thrill seeking with Uncle Dan.

Most memories I have of time spent with my uncle are fun and ridiculous. It is with him that I rode my first roller coaster. He took me skiing for the first time, and all the times that followed. He taught me how to jump and clear the railing at my grandparent's house. Oh, and he always used to force me to watch Saturday morning wrestling. We would wrestle during the commercials until my grandpa got mad and yelled because we were shaking everything on the living room shelves.

I developed a love for sports and activity, but in a non competitive way.

I wasn't allowed to shave my legs until I was 16.

Growing up this was really devastating, as any female could imagine. Now that I am thirty I can appreciate why my mom did that. Incidentally, I also had to wait until I was 16 to die my hair.

The same time I was granted this ability to explore my femininity through soft, smooth legs, I was also given permission to chop all my hair off and dye it bleach blond. Doing both was a bit of a contradiction of actions. This is definitely a theme I carried my entire life. I can spend a long time doing my hair and make up to then let it go to waste by putting on baggy shorts and a t-shirt.

I love anything that is an opposite, contradiction, or contrast. Nothing too aggressive, of course.

My grandmother.

I'm sorry because this is a person and not an event. But so many things that I am, are because of her. We lived with my grandparents for the greater part of my childhood. I didn't play with any kids in the neighborhood. So a lot of my early childhood memories are just of kickin' it with Gram. Again, I could go on forever here. I consider myself quite fortunate for having the opportunity to build such a great relationship with her, and my grand pop. Such things are a rarity in modern America.

Be thrifty. Sacrifice yourself for those you love. Never leave the house without looking your best.

Getting Married.

This is the absolute last thing in the world I ever thought I was going to do. My mom's never been married. Why bother? I've never really liked (or trusted) anyone else that much. It was my husband's idea. For some reason, when he asked it struck me as a great idea. I'll never know why. He thought for sure I was going to say no. I said yes and we've both been incredibly happy ever since. Obviously marriage has ups and downs. (like life) But there isn't any other place I would have rather been these last six years than with Phil. He's the man.

P.S. our six year anniversary is this Saturday.

Through marriage I've learned to think about someone else other than myself. It has taught me consideration, confidence, and responsibility.

It would be such a perfect world if all the traits I've written here are expressed through my art. This year that Phil and I have spent in Alabama is the first year I haven't had a "real job" since I was 15. It is an uncomfortable, and exciting, thought. Our time here has afforded me the ability to learn about myself and what I want. I have also had time to work on my skills and get better at my crafts. The next chapter in our lives will soon be unfolding. It will definitely be a huge career jump for Phil. I hope it turns out the same for me.

Thanks for reading through this whole post. (Even if you only read the highlighted words. That's what they were there for.) It was my intent that it be informative, slightly entertaining, and motivating for you, to in turn, focus on yourself. Sometime soon :) 

Just When You Think No One Cares

So I've got a friend who takes great pictures. Her name is Jen Jones. I met Jen when I lived in St. Augustine. We hit it off, hung out twice, and then we both moved. Since we have a lot in common we've stayed in touch. This time last year Jen was going to Argentina with some friends. They were going to be there to ride snowboards, run a girls-only snowboard camp, encourage recycling, and build a green house. Despite this heavy itinerary Jen brought some Florida Scarves for her friends and they took some great pictures. Cool (for me) huh?

But the point is that I wanted to share with you what these girls are involved in. They use their talents and skills to live incredible lives, inspiring girls (and boys), and bring awareness to important causes through shredding. Basically I think they prove that it is cool to care, about yourslef, your community, and your environment. There is plenty of room in this world for us all to be exactly who we want to be, and do what we want to do, without it becoming a detriment to our neighbor. Here's the video from their project last summer. (Yea, there's a couple of hoodie hats in some shots :)

As you can see by this video, all of these people have dedicated their free time to caring about our world. There are many projects for good, started by people like this everyday. If this inspires you, do some research and join a project of your own. There were a couple of websites that go up at the end of this video. They are definitely noteworthy, so here they are again:
www.thisisonelife.com
www.keepabreast.org
www.protectourwinters.org (I'm nt sure if this one was listed, but it is mondo-important)

And now if you don't mind I'd like to share the rest of Jen's photos for Florida Scarf:

That's Jen.

On a personal note, going back through these pictures and video is getting me real pumped for this winter :) You didn't know I was a shredder, did you?



Regeneration Clayworks Studio

A trip to New Jersey isn't complete for me without a trip to my mom's place. She is fortunate enough to live and work on creek front property. Many Flo Sca fans are familiar with my clay buttons, which come from collaborations between her and I in her studio.

 I love creating art with her in this space. It is full of, not just work to be completed, but also works from our past.



Like this number, shown above. What the heck was I thinking? What the heck is my mom thinking, to still have it hanging? At least it matches the paper lantern :)



This is something my mom is working on for me currently. (By currently I mean for the past couple of years. I guess it isn't that pressing to finish.) It is a Geze ski binding. By now you could probably say it's an antique. A while back a friend mounted it to some MDF for me. The binding doubles as a beer bottle opener. Cool, huh? My mom thought it would be much cooler as the center piece in a mosaic. I agree. Some of the tiles she's using are awesome, like the black/red heart that Frankie made.

Anyway, on this trip home I decided to grab some extra shots of my mother's wonderland to introduce you to the source of much of her inspiration. Something to find joy in if you have a scarf with some of her buttons, or one of her tiles, or boxes, or mosaics.

If these shots inspire you to take a trip to my shop, please do.

If these shots inspire you to take a trip to my mom's shop, please do too.

Treasure Buttons

Today is my first day in NJ visiting my mom. She found some new cool buttons for my scarves. I'm excited to get home and use them. The first bunch are these crazy, heavy, bronze casted masks from the other side of the world. She bought them at Earth Tones in Merchantville, NJ. The second set are handmade of clay. The woman that made them is Marcia Hovland, and you can find more from her at her etsy shop.

Thanks Mom!

Hello Bluebird

Unless you live in the Reading, Pennsylvania area, you may have thought the title of this post was suggestive of a great retro adventure I just had full of meriment, and song, and pretty dresses, and guys, and dolls......

And in a way this is correct. I just had a visit with my friend Alex at her boutique on Penn Avenue, in West Reading. For those unfamiliar it is a wonderful shop full of colorful treats and magnificent gifts. I am fortunate enough that Hello Bluebird adds Florida Scarf to its collection in the Fall and Winter.

I have found that when you are small business, that moves a lot, retailers for your work come and go. I am thankful that with all the changes, Florida Scarf has been able to maintain a wonderful business relationship with Hello Bluebird for three years. Also, there is a mutual admiration between Alex and I, for style, creativity, saavy, and ethics. The relationship that we have established is a rarity in this industry.

When you think of a bluebird, images that come to mind are that of a petite bird, of pleasing color, and cheerful song. These are the exact same images that greet you upon entering Alex's shop. If my scarves were birds they would definitely not all be bluebirds. Some are bluebirds, and some are also close relatives, but others can be cardinals, or as vastly different as, say, a parrot. Dare I even suggest some are crows. Because of this I enjoy setting up a meeting with Alex and letting her comb through a large majority of my collection to choose what's right for her business. Fortunately/unfortunately for Alex our meeting yesterday took three hours. Yikes, right? I say fortunately because it gave us a nice amount of time to catch up, as we haven't seen one another in over a year. It is also fortunate because she really put a lot of effort in choosing the Flo Sca collection that embodies her ideals. But "unfortunately" because it was probably exhausting, and like any shop owner she had, like, 8 million other things to do that day. To top it off I was snaping shots for this blog post. I do appreciate all her effort and appreciation for what I do. I use my relationship with her as a standard for how I function with all of my retail accounts. She doesn't make me feel like she is anymore important than me, and that is so important. If life outside of internet selling was always this wonderful I think I'd throw my computer out a window :)

Anyway. There is a wonderful Florida Scarf collection (with some new surprises) at Hello Bluebird for this season. In addition to the brick & mortar located at 609 Penn Ave, you can also find the shop at http://www.blluebird.net/

If you ever get there, tell Alex I said , "hello."

You Never Know What You're Gonna Get

So this is a photograph of the bottom half of a dress that I picked up at a thrift shop. I absolutely loved the print. The bottom half was obviously pleated so I thought I could make a cute skirt out of it. I am showing it with the chunk of sweater because somehow I would like to turn that into the waste band. (I just have no idea how. Send me an email if you've got any ideas for me.) This dress also caught my eye because it had matching covered buttons. And Flo Sca always needs new and cool buttons.

The colors in this print are just perfect I think.

I got right home and got to work with this fabric. I have made a couple of scarves with them already.

Here's one.

I sewed this one in my new, bigger style. I really like it with the hanging flap. It'll be great to pull this up over your face when it's cold and windy. It also makes a nice neck  line when worn down.

I used the covered buttons here too.

In sewing this piece, something from the dress's tag cuaght my eye. I don't know why, I never do this, but I decided to google the garment's brand.

LESLIE FAY

 A clothing business founded by Fred Pomerantz. In 1942, Fred Pomerantz began making uniforms for the women in the US armed services. The government had done a study of statistic concerning the measurements of the typical female figure, and this information was provided to Pomerantz in order to help him make uniforms that properly fit.

After the war ended, Pomerantz decided to produce a line of women’s clothing using the same sizing as he had used during the war. In 1947 he founded Leslie Fay, which he named after his daughter. Leslie Fay became a major maker of affordable and attractive dresses and sportswear marketed toward the middle aged.......

I thought this was quite interesting on a few levels. It kinda-cracked me up that the history behind this brand was not ordinary. I have looked up the brand names of some of my other pieces since, and not all are this interesting. Oh well.

And stay tuned to see if I ever get around to sewing that skirt :)

La Femme au Chapeau

Isn't this classic? When you create a self portrait while reading you will look more scholarly if your shirt matches the color of the book.

Seriously though, I am reading this book I found at the library. The title and author are of little consequence. More importantly I am reading it because I liked the way it looked. Is that shallow?

It is small, and red, the copyright date is 1933, and the word Paris is on the first page. Now do you think I'm shallow?

As luck would have it I'm enjoying the book. It's been a couple of weeks since I've picked up a book. I've been focused on other things. It happens. But it isn't until I (randomly) go back to doing something I enjoy, that I remember how much I enjoy doing it.

Here is my favorite quote so far:

"I like a view, but I like to sit with my back to it."

I think this quote can mean different things to different people. For me it means that we all have different ways of enjoying how we live (the same) life.

There is also a great story in the book. (if you are an artist)

I'll give you the short.

 It's about Matisse and how he and his family were in such despair when Gertrude Stein, and her brother, purchased La Femme au Chapeau. It was during the first autumn salon in Paris. As Stein writes, "There were a number of attractive pictures there, but there was one that was not attractive. It infuriated the public. they tried to scratch the paint off."

For whatever reason, Gertrude Stein loved it, this painting of a woman with a hat, and wanted to buy it. She recalls it was five hundred francs. In making the deal the purchase secretary explained that you never gave the artist their asking price. The secretary advised her to offer four hundred francs. She did, and Matisse refused. Not knowing why she agreed to the five hundred francs. She loved the painting so much, despite the public's hatred toward it. After this situation the Steins and the Matisses became great friends. What Gertrude didn't know until later was how much that purchase meant to the Matisses.

So the Matisses were on hard times. He was supposed to be in Paris studying Pharmacy, but started painting instead. He had some small early successes. (beginner's luck :) What followed thereafter would be known as a "starving artist" scenario. Then came that first autumn salon. His La Femme au Chapeau was accepted, hung, derided and attacked, and sold. (this is an all too familiar roller coaster for most of us) Matisse was so distraught over the public opinion of the painting that he would have jumped on the offer of four hundred francs, but his wife said no. This was due to the fact that they needed the money for food, rent, and winter clothes for their children. The reason I enjoy the story is because Madame Matisse argued, "if the buyers like it enough to make an offer, then they like it enough to pay full price."

As an artist this is something you know, but need to be reminded of.

And Matisse goes on to have a successful enough career and become a but of a collector himself.

On another note. Here is a painting I found. I love it. It is the craziest painting of the beach I have ever seen. As a matter of fact, I think it is rather Fauve. Don't you?

For records sake, I did not paint this, and do not know who did.

Later!