my weekend in summary

this weekend was.... in a word.... great. my phone was on the fritz, so i don't have any photos, but it sort of allowed me to fully enjoy the moments that i had.
friday: i took it upon myself to leave work early (*ahem 6:00pm), and go for drinks with a friend. my coworker/friend, Chrissy, and I went to her place, and then we went to a pub in the area for some drinks, and dinner. a low key night, but so needed. to shut the computer at work early, and enjoy the weekend. it's what i most needed.
saturday: woke up late, puttered around, doing work and internship related things, and then headed out for the day. went for lunch at pho phuong with a friend, and then went to home depot and canadian tire. then spent the afternoon carving pumpkins, having drinks, eating wonderfully made dinners, and enjoying time together. it was a great afternoon and night.
sunday: woke up late, and spent the morning in bed - reading, laying, and all of those lazy things that we should all do a little more often. i then grabbed coffee with a friend, and tried to venture to get my phone fixed (to no avail). i enjoyed the last warm-ish moments of the afternoon, outside on my computer in my backyard, until it became too cool. i moved inside, put on 'the curious case of benjamin button', skype-d with my dear friend tyler, and worked feverishly online.
my mind is just overflowing with ideas to change up my apt, since i feel like it's been in a constant state of unrest lately. i just have to wait until next month for money (as most of my money went to various insurance companies, and the government this month - partially ok, because now i owe them nothing), and then i can start building. it's going to be wonderful.
hope everyone enjoyed the amazing and incredible weather.... and had a wonderful weekend!

wilfred, you're my new man.

Maybe it’s because I went to wilfrid laurier. Maybe it’s because I went to the new Wilfred store in the eaton’s centre yesterday. One way or another, I’ve been dreaming of Wilfred. And they’re incredible new collections...here: wilfred, and wilfred free.
wilfred free
wilfred
wilfred
my friend and i walked into the store, and she said, 'wow. this is you. in a store'.
i think we all know why.
i love this stuff.
ps. can you PLEASE check out the photos of this stunning space they have?
i want my house to look like this. all the time.

i like to make things... and so do other people. (part 2)

[Continued from yesterday…] I know, I know. I may be the ONLY person who finds this interesting. Nevertheless…. The final stages of the arts and crafts movement, and what came with that:
“A wish to undo subservience to the machine was agreed on, but the extent to which the machine should be set aside was debated within the Arts and Crafts movement throughout Europe. This conflict was exemplified in the German Arts and Crafts movement, by the clash between two leading figures of the Deutscher Werkbund (DWB), Hermann Muthesius and Henry Van de Velde. Muthesius, also head of design education for German Government, was a champion of standardization. He believed in mass production, in affordable democratic art. Van de Velde, on the other hand, saw mass production as threat to creativity and individuality.”
(this is from Wikipedia, I must admit, but a ton of sources that I found led me to this article – it’s a fantastic and thorough summary. Read more here)
aren't we all concerned about current threats to creativity and individuality? we live in a world where pieces come at us from so many angles - we have reused items, brand new, the daily capacity to create (through computers, and printers)... and yet, we rarely contemplate the fear of redundancy, and streamlining. it's real - the tension between the ideas of affordability (which i've spoken to, in relation to IKEA before), and ideas of the unique, the new, the created, the simple, the only, the individual. who is to say what is better?
people who know me, know that I'm drawn to the vintage aspect of DIY - the recreating of individualized memories in new (previously mass produced) items. I'm sure this has currents in recycling, and my insatiable need to not discard anything ("DON'T throw that out! I can use that… for something"), but it also has to do with memories, craftmanship, intention, and the ability to do it.
Green Jeans Brooklyn has a really good blog entry about the New Craft Movement, that I think we're seeing now.
“I think this has to do with the fact that people (including yours truly) who grew up in the 1970s are coming of age. We are around 30 and coming to a point in our lives when we're starting businesses and finding ways to broadcast our self-expression… [we] share a nostalgia for this era (no matter what their age). I also think this helps to explain the resurgence in craft that is brewing, as well. Those of us who were the kids of more progressively-minded parents in the '70s… grew up surrounded by these homespun handmade things. Nowadays, those of us who were kids then (and therefore not necessarily aware of what was going on) are getting married, starting families, and deciding how we want their lives to look. For a lot of us, this means making things with our hands. Maybe we've been making things consistently since we were young, or maybe we reconnected with handwork after 9/11, or maybe we just recently decided we wanted to sew skirts and knit ponchos for ourselves and our friends. In any case, some of us have gotten quite serious about our work and are now on the alternative craft fair circuit peddling our woodblock screen-printed avocado-colored totes and nappy knitted scarves and modified Vogue pattern aprons. We are literally hand-working through our 1970s nostalgia.”
image from weheartit.com/
as green jeans so eloquently says: “This may not be the whole story, but I'm sure it's part." Let’s be honest. I’ve been going homemade for awhile… but I never made a commitment to it. I still found myself buying things here and there.
Really? I don’t need to buy anything.
so then. the point of this all?
i'm pledging to buy homemade.
i was thrust into the handmade and creative market a couple of years ago, when i started working at the bead store - with the incredible alex, erin, mai-liis, missy, and susan. i do truly believe that this was the beginning of my throws into the creative side of my life. i don't think any of us truly appreciate how much our surroundings impact us - surrounding myself with these women (which i'm proud to say, i still am frequently), was the best thing that my creative side could have ever done. i was motivated to design more, to explore new ideas, and to absorb the creativity that they were sharing. the best part about being near creative people, is that we are all creative in our own ways... and those photographers, beaders, artists, dancers... they all push you into areas of your creativity that you may have never ever known existed. 
image from weheartit.com/
i share company with amazing people, who i am constantly creatively inspired by. and i do this purposfully. i am dedicating my creative process to myself - to finally make a committment to allow myself to try things out for the first time. to actually give myself a chance. and if i fail - that's ok.
with such a great pool of places to purchase handmade online - etsy, big cartel; blog after blog after blog of DIYs (including this one, which i will DEFINITELY be doing - thanks to all my 'research' for this entry), and beautifully handmade crafts; and unlimited resources with which to find inspiration in art, people, places, and writing - tumblr, pinterest, weheartit, ... there's no excuse to shelter ourselves from the creativity that we all have. and we have it. all of us.
and so. when 20 best twenty initiaited this years 'go handmade' and 'handmade for the holidays'... it was my starting off point. the push i needed.
so. we're going handmade. for the year, and for the holidays.
i'm committing to handmade for myself. i'm committing to not buying jewelry, a sofa, or other things... because i'll be making them myself (yes. a sofa. yes. i am crazy). i'll be purchasing/trading all gifts this year... and i made the first step when i made my cood friend 3 sets of re:claim vintage cufflinks for his 30th birthday this year.
it's possible. and i'm doing it. and i challenge you all to do the same. if not all, then most - there is far too much creativity out there to ignore.
(and... just some places i got some thoughts from... again: torontocraftalert.ca/; www.artinfo.com/; greenjeansbrooklyn.blogspot.com/)

i like to make things... and so do other people. (part 1)

Because I have FAR too much in my head about this… I feel as though this should be broken up. Part 2 will be tomorrow.

I've found myself exploring a lot of likes, dislikes, etc. since the start of this (what I have decided to be) glorious new year - and I noticed that my likes have grown closely intertwined with Do-it-myself (DIY) items. Anything that I can create, make with my hands, etc. I've been thinking through possible vendors, etc. and I find my pendulum mind moving between two places - the 'new' arts and crafts movement that appears solidly on the internet - through screen printers, knitters, handsewers, and the like - and my 'hippie' friends - with hairy legs, and lesbian tendencies (no but realy. i'm talking about specific people here; this is NOT a generalization. i actually have these friends). as a sociologist, this intrigues me - what a fantastic dichotomy of where we’re going, where we’ve come from, and how all of these things come together in one space – the virtual.
originally from weheartit.com/
I've explored a lot of the online community that has blossomed - people who respect one another for their craft, and people making their own of a thing that they are passionate about. it takes such courage, and strength to step out, take a chance, and do what you love.

image from weheartit.com/
I can honestly say I haven’t been that brave in a long long time. but it’s starting to be that time… and so, I’ve obviously thought a lot about it recently. being brave, and doing it myself. so. to be introspective, i need research. i need to know that things have worked in the past. and ohhhhhhhh.... did i come up with some goodies.
DIY can be traced back to several main historical moments: the Arts and Craft movement of the 1900’s, the 1970’s craft movement, and third-wave feminism alongside the 80’s punk, zine and Riot Grrrl movements. So really, where we’ve come from, is really not all that far from where we’re going. instead, there are new modes of transportation – such as the internet – to get there. Though, despite being able to pin down where this comes from, figuring out exactly what DIY is and what it looks like is tough – specifically when you incorporate the arts and crafts movements.
Arguably, there are far too many definitions of DIY to solidify one particular and universal agreed upon definition – and yet, fundamentally, it is one of the most simplistic concepts there is: just do it yourself.
I’m about to throw you into a MAD sociological tailspin here…. So bear with me. There is a good and real end to this:
"The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, Australian and American aesthetic movement - Instigated by William Morris in the 1860s and inspired by the writings of John Ruskin, it was at its height between 1880 and 1910. It influenced architecture, the decorative arts, interior design, furniture, textiles, the manufacture of domestic articles, book design and garden design. The Arts and Crafts Movement began primarily as a search for authentic and meaningful styles for the 19th century and as a reaction against the eclectic revival of historic styles of the Victorian era and the "soulless" machine-production of the Industrial Revolution. The appearance of Arts and Crafts objects resulted from the principles involved in their making. One of their hallmarks was simplicity of form, without superfluous decoration, often exposing their construction. Another was truth to material, preserving and emphasizing the qualities of the materials used. Many set up workshops in rural areas and revived old techniques… They also shared a belief in the moral purpose of art.
william morris print - from james eliot taylor's photobucket
The proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement were against the principle of a division of labour, which in some cases could be independent of industrial machinery. They were in favour of the master craftsman, who created all the parts of an item and assembled and finished it, with help from apprentices. This contrasted with the French Manufactories, where everything was oriented towards the fastest production possible. The Arts and Crafts movement sought to have the maker work with his hands at every step of creation. Some, such as Morris, were more than willing to design products for machine production if it did not involve the division of labor or the loss of craft talent. Morris designed numerous carpets for machine production in series.
The decline of rural handicrafts, corresponding to the rise of industrialised society, was a cause for concern for many designers and social reformers, who feared the loss of traditional skills and creativity. For Ruskin, a healthy society depended on skilled and creative workers. Morris and other socialist designers, such as Crane and Ashbee, looked forward to a future society of free craftspeople.
Yet, while the Arts and Crafts movement was in large part a reaction to industrialization, if looked at on the whole, it was neither anti-industrial nor anti-modern. Some of the European factions believed that machines were in fact necessary, but they should only be used to relieve the tedium of mundane, repetitive tasks. At the same time, some Arts and Crafts leaders felt that objects should also be affordable. "
Ok. That’s enough sociology for the day. Tomorrow… I will continue. But I PROMISE there is a reason for all this. Excited? I hope so…….
(and... just some places i got some thoughts from: torontocraftalert.ca/; www.artinfo.com/; greenjeansbrooklyn.blogspot.com/)