the silk road - the kvk version

"Your item is out for delivery at 9:51 am on October 05, 2010 in ASHEVILLE, NC 28803."

So here I wait ... hoping that the solution to my quest is in transit to my little studio.  My mail doesn't usually arrive until after 3 at the earliest, so I figured I'd zip out a bit of an update in my silk road saga.

The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions and questions.  One question that seems to stand head and shoulders above all the others is, "Why does it have to be silk?"  Why can't it be nylon, which would be super easy, comes in every color you can imagine, long wearing, 24/7 capabilities and is CHEAP?  Why can't it be linen?  Not quite as easy, but readily available in lots of nice colors, plus it's a natural fiber, very good price ... okay, so it's fuzzy when made into cord, but still.  Or why not bamboo?  That might fit if I wanted to plug in a green or sustainable note.  Colors are not quite as good, but it's also readily available and well priced.  There again, with bamboo, is that "fuzzy problem" in all it's marvelous connotations (thanks mansuetude for the perspective).

I've lost count of all the trips to town in search of potential solutions and have been whining to anyone who'd listen - how tiresome is that!  I've ordered silk from China and New York.  The Chinese silk had great potential.  Thing is, it's embroidery silk and comes in relatively short skeins of insanely fine thread.  Gotta say, it was pretty comical to watch me - first figuring out how the 400 yard bundle was assembled, then carefully separating each little skein, then figuring out how to support it while I wound out what I needed to make a length of cord.  It would catch on my calloused fingers, snag on the side of my worktable and my feet kept getting tangled in the very long pieces I needed to make a decent length.  Basically a beautiful mess.

The silk from NY was lovely, but only comes in three colors and was fairly thick, pretty pricey and, bottom line, just not "it".  Again, why does it have to be silk?

Well, I'm afraid the best answer I've come up with is ... It just does!  It's me, it's what my jewelry represents, it's my customer and it's my look!  Everything else I've tried doesn't come even close to the luxurious qualities that only exist in fine silk.

So what's in the mail today, for which I'm waiting ever so patiently, is what I'm hoping to be my salvation.  That last trip to the local fiber supplier provided the key.  I left with another way to search for the silk I was hoping to find.  When I plugged in the new keywords, it was like finally discovering the secret password. Straight away, top of the list was the online supplier I'd been hoping for - in the U.S., English is their first language, silk made to their specifications in a nice variety of gorgeous colors and several sizes, available in bulk and on spools (for a tiny bit extra) and bulk pricing available.

I'm feeling quite confident and sort of patient ... that Christmas morning kind of anticipation and excitement is threatening to take over.

Deep breaths, less than an hour to go ... I'll keep you posted.

blessings - kvk