Design Book Arrival

Remember when I told you the good news about a AvA Publishing wanting to include lovely Lorraine in it? Well, I received my copy of PRODUCT DESIGN: IDEA SEARCHING in November, but I just now posted this draft. It is a beautiful, slick-looking book. I am quoted with words of wisdom (ha). This was a really big deal for me.

Artswalk wrap up III

What a wet evening! It rained cats and dogs and not as many people braved the weather, but for those of you who came to 'a girl's backyard' and saw Come and Go, thank you! It was so much fun to have live theatre available for people to see and enjoy. If you ever get a chance to see a Samuel Beckett play, go. And remember not to take it too seriously. The guy had a wonderful, dark Irish sense of humor. No wonder I like his writing. tee hee

Ru, Vi, and Flo from Come and Go

On the visual art side, I sold half my show! It was great fun to see people react to my art and have it dislodge childhood memories. I heard wonderful stories of reading books on rooftops and that I wan't alone wondering what it looked like down the chimney. Several people declared, 'Me too" to my "I Wished I'd had a Sister" piece which tickled me very much. I tried some new ideas with photo reproduction and had art available for $5 and was a hit. I'll make sure and do that again.

I have photo reproductions still available in my store for $5. First class shipping will make the total $5.42.

Chimney Dreams

Paperdoll

Come to Artswalk!

Getting Ready for Artswalk I

Beads and beads
Bugle beads, Gold
And a few purple seed beads
All on oilcloth, which you know I love.
Nylon thread that mucks up my machine is now used to bead bead bead. It takes a while to do this process, but it is amazing.
super thin needle, beads, sample, and scissors. i luv scissors. july

Birthday Cakes and Wishes

One thing I love to make more than anything is fake food. Past creations include a layered cake out of spray foam, cured hams from Sculpey and paint, bread, and mini tea cakes. This rather large cupcake is more fantasy-Pee-Wee's-Playhouse-like, made out of styrofoam, fabric, oilcloth, beads, thread and a lot of straight pins. I first told you about it in April. Many eyes saw it at the Tacoma Art Museum's 5th Birthday Party along with other amazing art cakes. Follow this link to see good pics on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacomaartmuseum/tags/birthday/

It is a little terrifying to make something and then let it out in public. Thoughts creep in, insecurities...will people like it? Will they say sh*t about it? Will it make them smile? Honestly, I was surprised my small stack of cards disappeared and one nice person actually took the time to email me and told me to "keep going" with my art, which was very cool. ty

Make a wish and blow out the candle...I did...and do you know what I wished for? Is it bad luck to share your wish? I'll tell you later.

Ode to buyolympia...

bobbins and spools, circular blades and kenmore, time and lots of time where all my bags are loved...

Because of my affiliation with your wonderful website, i (dos chicas, rather) have received lots of attention and had money come my way which is always fun. millions saw my work. many fans and purchases kept rolling in. yet i stayed anonymous.

late nights and seinfeld, too much coffee, and 5 minute naps helped the production line keep going for deadlines. hundreds made by hand, one at a time. the quiet revolution no one saw coming...

I thank you pat and aaron for the initial risk you took with me. Our first meeting was positive and you were good with giving my bags a shot, even though none of us knew if they would even sell. How surprised we all were!

miles and miles of thread and football fields filled with oilcloth i've unrolled in my tiny studio...

Because of you i was flattered with attention from numerous magazines like SELF, ORGANIC STYLE, TU CIUDAD, SEATTLE MAGAZINE, and SOUTH SOUND WOMAN, and numerous blogs and websites like THIS NEXT, YUMSUGAR, WIST, POLYVORE, and APARTMENT THERAPY. all those people are very nice, too.

How can I thank you? The words just aren't enough. I am sooo sad you aren't in olympia anymore...I won't ride my bike downtown and drop off my inventory anymore...I won't see your smiles anymore... i hope portland treats you well and helps make your dreams come true.

an army of lorraines and tillys now grace the planet thanks to your little website. i hope people's smiles carry with them afterall, that is why i make the things i do.

all my best to you...xo

Once every three years...

One very important responsibility bestowed on me three years ago was organizing my mom's family reunion. It was a lot of work, but is there a better thing to spend your time on than family?

Usually we have 3-5 day gatherings, which is hardly enough time to do and see everything. Today is the last day and we had so much fun eating, visiting, and being outside in our glorious summer. I love getting reaquainted with everyone and catching up. I love the hugs, the laughs, the stories and being entertained by my crazy uncles.

I always get sad the last day because everyone heads off on their separate ways, but I feel so honored that these people traveled as far as they have to come up and see this part of the country. Thanks everyone for being the awesome people that you are. See you in Little Rock (oh-ten)! ha

picture credit to Uncle Florida

Well, hello July.

Once again I am here to briefly let you know what I have been up to in the way of art, besides working full-time. I started Metal Class again so I can get reaquainted with Oxy-acetylene welding and TIG. I have a show I need to get ready for in October and I am looking to put metal and oilcloth together. What? Yes, sounds crazy I know. Don't ask me what the heck these things are going to look like, because I have no idea yet.

Dos Chicas' Barbara was in L.A.'s Tu Ciudad Magazine, which was super cool. Unfortunately, that publication has ceased to exist...

My studio is a pig-sty. Neglect will do that to things. I am going to put my mom to the task with her gold medal organizing skills! I need more shelves or something. You've seen the pictures.

The job is going fine. This project is almost half done and crunch time has begun. Stress levels have increased, and I am refusing to subject myself to that garbage.

Have a wonderful summer. We are enjoying the hot weather and need to go dip our bodies into the Sound. Kisses...

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

Hello! I suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, you say? You are right. I had been searching for work in March and April and got assigned a long-term temp job with the state of Washington. I am currently doing data entry and QC for their Corporations Backfile Scanning Project through the Secretary of State's Office, affectionately acronymed, OSOS. Office of the Secretary of State-Washington

It's fun. So that is where I have been; adjusting to full-time work again and not making much art. (sad face). My sewing machine is currently awaiting repair because something is just not right with it and a dear friend has let me borrow hers, but I want to get it returned. My studio is an utter disaster and I am seriously burned out on Dos Chicas. Leave me love notes. I miss you and am checking in when I grab a few free moments.

I'm showing at the Tacoma Art Museum!

(TAM) Tacoma Art Museum moved into their new building 5 years ago. They are having a public birthday party on May 3 and there will be an original Ay Artbag on display. If you are in western Washington, come on by!

Tacoma Art Museum's Birthday Bash

Next!

Okay, so I went to a great forum last Wednesday night. It was put on by the City of Olympia's Park and Recreation Dept. and was filmed live for later broadcast on our local TCTV. A lawyer who volunteers with The Washington Lawyers for the Arts spoke to us about Copyright issues.

The copyright on any "works in a tangible medium" is the life of the artist + 70 years. It was a great two hours and a lot of interesting scenarios were shared by some of the artists. One lady is a calligrapher and she uses quotes from literary works. Under the current law, she is infringing on the copyright owner. She was told that she should seek permission from the author or publisher before using any quotes from works where the creator is still alive.

I make, actully made, political collages out of magazine images. This I will cease doing because I am infringing on the intellectual property of the photographer. I had no idea....I suggest you do some research before you take an existing image and incorporate it into your own work.

Library of Congress (then Copyright Office)

Why am I so weird?

I wonder if my tendancy to do things later in life than everybody else has something to do with the two really nice people who let me live in their house while I was growing up. I completely blame them for encouraging my weirdness by letting me be a kid and not rush me to grow up. Most things I would declare they got right, but once in awhile something went terribly wrong, like being dressed in an outfit that should have been burned. Let me expound. Hang around.

Okay, all of you kids who were elementary school age in the 70's will know exactly what I'm talking about. We didn't care how we looked; too groovy striped bell bottoms, mismatched colors, and Bad News Bears tossled hair-do's. All we wanted to do was go outside and play. For me, add homemade clothes into the mix. Now my mom made me some really cool beautiful clothes that I got to help pick fabrics and trims for on occasion and I did like most of them. My aunts and grandma on my dad's side made and still make their own clothes, afterall. I didn't realize how unusual that was. It was very normal to me.

But there was a gem of a garment that just didn't need to be created in the first place. Enter the white colored cordorouy with red patterned mystery fabric. Mom decides I just had to have a dress out of this crap. It was just wrong, wrong, wrong. I never liked wearing it and it very well was because I was in 5th or 6th grade by this time and all the kids were starting to care how they looked, but not me. I would wear it anyway and the daily fight at school would happen where I would punch or kick some wiseacre for saying anything about that stupid dress. whatever. I was not embarassed by my fashion, I just simply did not care. I was too busy dreaming and coloring and playing tetherball.

And then there were the godaweful polyestermess that were two pairs of identical pants that I wore on a regular basis in 7th grade at Lake Jr. High School. Knowing full well that I would get teased mercilessly that day, I wore them anyway. I did not care, I could take it. That is how much I would rather play with my Barbies or do other things. By the way, I think I was the last to stop playing with toys at 17. And the list of my delayed human activities continues.

I sucked my thumb until I was 8, but only at night, and I remember declaring triumphantly to my teacher Mrs. Jones when I had stopped. I sometimes wonder what she really thought when all she said was, "Oh, good for you." In 6th grade I didn't want to start wearing a bra, but my body forced me to and so I succumbed to that over the shoulder boulder holder that I've always hated. I didn't date in high school because boys scared the tar out of me. I didn't drink or party like so many of my classmates did. I'd rather play with our dog or eat pizza with my friends. I had my first kiss at 16 at a stupid birthday party. Remember "spin the bottle"? Yea, it was that bad. I never liked or did the whole "club scene" for dating and would rather watch movies or play board games at home. I got married at 33, well past the age of all my other friends who had started families in their 20's.

Look what you did to me! My weirdness is all your fault because you incubated me in homemade clothes, homemade school lunches, nightly dinners and reading, and popcorn Fridays. Geez Mom and Dad, you are totally to blame.

Handbag History

Anna Johnson's The Power of the Purse is my bible. This little book is glorious with color photos of hundreds of bags and describes the evolution of the "pouch" from a small drawstring, 5th century, to modern purses/clutches/bags. It is inspiring and one of the first purchases Dos Chicas ever made.

Our American Heritage: Yesterday on our local TCTV, there aired a program about the Plateau People of the Columbia River, Washington-Oregon Territories. I learned about "Sally Bags" being water-tight containers that people traded or stored dried seeds/grains for winter. These are cylindrical in shape and are still made today. Online there are links to other bag pictures: Lewis & Clark Expedition (scroll down to the bottom of the page), and University of Oregon.

Another Sally Bag style is shaped more like what you would think of as a purse with repeated patterns: People of the River. Beading was added when trade brought them to the area. I couldn't find any pictures of these, but they were beautiful.

Brown-bagging it? Here's Lunch Help by Angelina Chica

My lovely Lorraine is the most popular design I sell. I have happily found a lot of blogs that are linked to her, so I thought adding lunch ideas for those of you who carry her would be fun to start compiling. I'm tinkering with the idea of creating recipe cards with my own lunchtime favs that got me through the crappiest work years of my life. Stay tuned.

Fit Sugar
SELF Magazine Lunch Article-March '08
Team Sugar one and two

Lorraine on New York City TV!

"Not Your Dad's Old Lunchbox Anymore"

CW11 Morning News Blog-NYC

Follow the link and watch the video segment. Oh my, they did a really nice job. Thanks, Erin Hobday and Patricia del Rio! You both look beautiful!

Too Fun.

Olympia Loves

I love this crazy little town. Check out this new website: http://www.everydayolympia.com/. Get yourself involved in a free listing and paid advertisment. Brought to you by the owners of a very cool store, 'einmaleins' - Downtown Olympia.


Danke Mathias und Trixy!

More fun News about Dos Chicas' Lorraine Adventure!

I received an email asking me to send another Lorraine Lunchbag back to NYC. This time, she is accompanying the Diet & Nutrition editor at SELF magazine on a morning tv show Monday! She will talk about the lunch article that was published in the March issue. When I find a link, or some videos, I will post to share. I was really excited about this happening, too. Anyone who sees this broadcast in NYC, tell me how it goes.

Thanks to everyone at SELF!

My Great Oilcloth Study-Experiment A

Hypothesis 1: It is possible to attach matte board to oilcoth using adhesive. Outcome: true. Problem: the only adhesive that works is Gorilla Glue, but it expands, becomes uneven underneath the material, and makes it look bumpy and unattractive. Otherwise, I LOVE Gorilla Glue for so many reasons!


Hypothesis 2: It is possible to machine sew matte board directly to the oilcloth. Outcome: true. Problem: material shifts and "walks" creating uneven edges. The inside of this isn't nearly as pretty as I'd like.

This cute little "gift box" is from Simplicity Pattern #4320, "D" Shirley Botsford Designs. I made it as a purse, but I cannot legally sell it; to honor the copyright of the designer.

This was a tedious project, as is most of the work I do. Problems were solved and I may revisit this again in the future.

from "My Great Oilcloth Study" Fall Artwalk 2007, Inside Vintage, Downtown Olympia, oilcloth, matte board, thread, beads

Pacific Ocean

Pacific City, OR. February twothousandandeight ---this is for you, Aunt Bertie! ;)

My Great Oilcloth Study-Experiment B

Hypothesis: It is possible to create a functional drawstring bag out of oilcloth.
Outcome: false. Problem: Oilcloth is bulky, therefore unable to close tightly with itself.
from "My Great Oilcloth Study Fall 2007", Olympia Artwalk at Inside Vintage
oilcloth, thread, beads, batting

Andy Manchesta, you are God! Unsolicited download warning and how to fix it...

You loser-punk-ass people who create malicious software and trojans need a serious reality check...GET A LIFE!

Hey kids---I was infected with a very aggressive trojan-worm unwelcomed-download to my laptop today. It slowed all the processes so much I couldn't work offline on my website. Warning pop-ups kept trying to get me to click on them every 10 seconds.

There was nothing in the Add/Remove Programs. Very sneaky. Stay away from this website---www dot the rental wizard dot com. They can tag what you Google Search so it comes up in the list. Very tricky. This evil website locked my Task Manager and would not allow me to close any programs! As I was looking for the problem files which I could not find, there appeared 3 new icons on my desktop: "protect files" with a sword and shield (bluish in color), "spyware" a square shape (orangish in color), and the other was redish in color, I forgot the name. When I found them in C:/ and hovered over with my mouse this website came up: www dot virus web protect dot com / shandler dot php.

I used our desktop computer to search for this website. Here is a link to what helped me with this issue: www.computing net Read the thread and follow the link to Andy Manchesta's website to battle trojan ilk.

After I completed the fix, my virus software detected this: Adware:Win32/Vapsup. I quarantined it, not knowing if it was safe or not. Then I read this: www.microsoft.com Adware is a relatively new virus. Just wanted you to know---this is my cyber holding-hands-while-we-cross-the-street together. Remember being encouraged to do that when we were young?

Thank you Andy and Computer.net folks! You are cool people.

(Addendum, next morning)--Please note the website that the trojan was trying to open is: www dot ultimate cleaner dot com. That was in the address window. The address that showed up in my tab list was: www dot soft ware referral dot com / jump dot php ? wmid = 6010 & mid = MjI60jg5 & li It defaulted one of my tab homepages and was right there when I opened Explorer today. I deleted the tab.

***All the address in bold do not have spaces. I did not want to link to these creeps.

It's Okay to Bump into Other People's Auras

I was told on Thursday about the huge "Sew Expo" in Puyallup, Wa. It is a 4-day extravaganza of what I fathomed had lots of material, quilts, people from other states, and a few surprises. I decided to attend on Saturday. Turns out I was right, except that I was pleasantly surprised more than a few times.

You know what it's like to attend an event where thousands of people are: bumping into the one you didn't see, "Oh sorry!", slowly moving forward with the sideways head, what we like to call "tourist pace" when we attend our local Farmer's Market every week; we know what we want, how to get there with the shortest trajectory, but visitors, who we are glad want to visit Olympia, slow us down with our game of getting in and out of there in record speed. I was a turtle, too, don't get me wrong. There were things I saw that made my jaw drop; beautiful pieced quilts that painted pictures of a jazz musician and a ballerina, how to machine embroidery flowers with the smallest of ribbon, adorable hanging cottages in pumpkin shapes, soft sculpture dragons and elephant purses, glorious glorious East Indian fabrics with gold and shimmer in deep, deep shades of pinks, purples, and greens, hand beaded ribbons that almost made me faint (ha), and amazing Japanese fabrics with swans and chubby faces.

I talked to many nice people, saw a few seminars, had a Gyro and Mr. Pibb at 10:30am and it was delicious, walked at least 3 miles, and was the only one carrying an oilcloth bag. I even heard a bag seminar person say she doesn't like oilcloth, 'it's too hard'. *sigh*

I saw; a fun fashion show from Simplicity patterns inspired by my favorite "Project Runway", those same patterns were $5 at their booth so I bought a few, I bought a beautiful brown knit fabric which I had put back on the shelf twice because I wasn't sure it would work with my pattern to make a tunic, a really nice sales lady helped me with that question, a lady got in line behind me to buy from the same bolt because she loved it, too, there was a cute teenage girl deciding which knit fabric to get and she chose a purple and black which was gorgeous and I winked and gave her a thumbs up and she smiled the biggest smile, and her mother had asked to borrow my pattern for a bit when I was talking to the sales lady.

I am so jazzed about new ideas that I can't wait to try, I saw feeding frenzies (after product demos-Quick! Buy it now at this incredible price!), miserable, bored husbands which always make me laugh, booth after booth of cotton swatches, an amazing quilt with African face profiles embellished with shells and hoops from a vendor from Alabama, I met another Yoder from Florida, lots of mothers and daughters together which made me wish that my mom had been with me, matte board cutters, irons, many software booths to make your own patterns for those fancy machines which I do not own, and six hours of other memories I can't remember.

It was very inspiring and I am so glad I went. I didn't see anyone doing what I am, working in oilcloth. I am trail blazing on my own path. And that is alright.

Thanks for reading.

America's Wal-Mart Mentality, or Sticking Up for All Artists Everywhere

*steps onto soapbox* ---'cause I tell ya, I've had it...

You all know what I mean; get it the cheapest that you can without caring where it comes from. This method of consumerism sucks for people like me; artistic, creative, mindful, with original ideas, and with excellent craftsperson skills that deserve to be compensated. This mentality is part of the reason our economy is in shambles...we lost a lot of manufacturing jobs which inturn means, Americans have lost ways to take care of their families. I'm sitting here creating my own job, but I can't make a living if I don't sell bags.

Too often have I heard "your bags are so expensive". What? Oh, really?

What am I supposed to do with that? Why in the hell would someone say that in the first place? So, am I supposed to lower my prices so you can feel good about getting "a deal" and I get the shaft from earning a living? No way, man. That is not about me. My skills have value. The creation of a bag design takes hours. Should I be doing that for free? Would you tell an architect or a lawyer to give away their time for free? I don't think so.

All of this is about values. What do you value? Let's do a little 5th grade math, shall we:

A bag made in another country that looks like 2000 others where the person(s) doing the sewing are paid a $2 (which goes VERY far in other economies, mind you) gets bought for $4 wholesale say, and is marked up above the usual 50% retail, and sells to you in an American store for $11. Wow, what a deal.

Let's take my lunchbag: There are less than 600 Lorraines floating around the world. I know, I've sewn EVERY single one over the last 4 years. I make $8.33 on each one. Add materials and overhead and I can't even sell my bag at wholesale for under $20. Then the retail markup is 50% which puts the bag at it's current $40. 600 bags x $8.33 = $4,998. Divide that by 4 years = $1,249.50 per year I've made sewing lunchbags. Now I ask you...How far does that get me in our ecomony?

So, now here we are; You-with your $11 bag, feeling all smug and superior, the Other Country seamstresses who make $2 a bag are feeling pretty good because where they live $10 a week is excellent money, and Me-who makes less than $9 per lunchbag (when one sells). Care to rethink why my bags are "so expensive"?

I work harder than anyone has any idea about. Rarely do I get compensated for the hours and hours and weeks and weeks that I have put into my art. That is going to change here pretty darn soon. I know there are people out there that care about where they spend their money and who they buy from. I hope they find me. I have Faith about my abilities earning me an honest, well-deserved living. It has been my American Dream for as long as I can remember.

Do yourself a favor---the next time you have the urge to ask an indie-artist-creative type why there "such and such" costs so much, don't. Value their work and the time it took them to make it. And maybe take a little time to think about whether it matters to you where your items come from, or how they are made.

*steps off soapbox* ;)

Purple Lorraine in SELF Magazine!

Well...here it is. That beautiful Dos Chicas bag is in a national magazine. It looks great, only problem is that they gave the wrong website address to buy her. No wonder I wasn't getting more web traffic.

I was reeaaallly upset for a day about this...I had expectations of course...Kelly Ripa is on the cover, so for sure I would have liked for her to visit my website. Doubt that will happen now.

Oh well. Hi Kelly.

Hang in there...Spring's a comin'!

I saw my first yellow crocus' of the year on a walk around the neighborhood!

WooHooo---Just wanted to share. have a good day.

I'm my own Valentine

The last few weeks have been busy. Spending most of my days in my tiny studio, which is slowly getting too small. As the bags are born and new ideas hatch, I have less room and constantly have to move one unfinished project if I feel inspired to work on another. I had been feeling sorry for myself; crowded, I don't have big work spaces like some of my artist friends, I have a recessed (can) light bulb out that needs to be changed, and blah blah blah.

Today I got over myself. I looked at my messy space and fell in love. Piles of oilcloth sit ready for being created into something, my new daytimer is still waiting to be transitioned into with all the piles of notes, addresses from christmas card envelopes, two address books, and business cards, storage is sparce, my portfolio lies in pieces and piles waiting to be brought together into one book.

The gift I gave myself is that I noticed these manifestations of what's been in my brain now sprawled and spilled all over the four corners of this little place where I would rather be than anywhere else on Earth. And it is good...

Happy Black History Month!

My mother-in-law gave me a cookbook written by Maya Angelou last year, "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table". Not only is it filled with recipes, she has stories surrounding the recipes; social engagements where she first tasted them, her own cooking experiences, or her family's culinary heritage. The stories are marvelous and magical. The recipes are an added bonus. I have made a few of them and we like them very much. My favorite for now is 'Suffocated Chicken'.

My favorite story is called, "Independence Forever". If there is a better story about American entrepreneurialship, a brilliant woman, and tenacity please, someone let me know.

Single Mother.
Kiddies to feed.
Idea,
Action.
Business savvy.
I want to be that brave.

Every Day is like Saturday

I wrapped up '07 with two huge opportunities that knocked on my perveribal door: A Swiss publishing company asked permission to reproduce an image of my Lorraine Lunch Bag for an upcoming student design book! I am always skeptical of these approaches at first; thanks to my childhood that had me ready to put up my dukes at any time. So, being the thinker that I am, I took a day to mull it over and decided yes, I would accomodate, on one condition; the copyright symbol would appear after or near Dos Chicas. They agreed. We signed the contract. Expect a report later this year as the book is slated for publication in August. I get a copy. woooooweeeeee

The second amazing thing was a surprise phone call from SELF magazine in NYC. They were doing an article about healthy lunches and wanted to have a few "samples" of the Lorraine for a photo shoot. !!! Again, I had a day to think it through, and decided yes. I had one day to get them made and shipped to make the deadline. Done. Look for that beautiful bag in the March issue coming up here pretty soon. Very Cool.

I am ordering oilcloth and cutting and sewing to get ahead for what I hope will be a lot of orders. Wish me well and send me good energy vibs. Maybe I should go have coffee with my cousin!