patination

Today feels like one of those days where I've inched a bit closer to my core ... does that make sense?  This whole process of reworking my jewelry line and catalog is about shedding layers of artifice, peeling away masks and digging deep.  It's closing in on 4 months now and at this stage, well today anyway, I'm feeling a bit bonzo.  Clear but somewhat distracted.  Taking pictures all day most every day, my relief comes when it's time to recharge the camera battery ... hmmmm, probably a bit of recharging me in there as well.

I've been rediscovering little hidden treasures around the house.  I'd completely forgotten about this little olive oil bottle - one of my favorite pots of all time - and there it was tucked way back into a cupboard.   I love the glazing and especially the handle - bailing wire with a sanded section of a branch.  There's a small chip out of the spout, which is probably why it was in the back of the cupboard.  But I love that it's gotten kind of saturated over the years.  I've washed it out and, after it's good and dry, will refill it later today.

I found my little bottle while digging out the canister of brown basmati rice to fix my breakfast.  I was craving warm rice with toasted almonds and cinnamon and milk, well soy milk.  I always forget how much I love this combination.  Even better with a huge mug of scalding black tea.

So's I can feel productive and still take a break from pictures, I've been working on redoing all of my printed materials.  I had this idea to print my catalog on one of my favorite papers - onionskin.  I love onionskin paper, always have.  It's paper of another era, the long-gone days of airmail and cotton rag content.  Unfortunately, it didn't work for the catalog - at all.  The images were not the least bit clear - kind of a crucial element. 

But what it is working for is my product info / care and feeding cards.  I do love the look of these ...

During my breaks, I've been on a hunt for old fashioned super heavy duty selvedge denim jeans.  I had discovered these - a Japanese company that's whole gig is to make really high quality reproductions of iconic American clothing, like the Buzz Rickson's bomber jacket in Pattern Recognition.  Here's their version of the jeans I'm craving ...

Their version is, with shipping, $350 ... not gonna happen.  What I discovered instead, and much more reasonable although way more than I've ever paid for a pair of jeans, Levi's has brought back their selvedge denim 501's.  They're still a hundred bucks, but I think that's doable.  Funny, I'll pay $350 for a pair of shoes but not jeans - go figure.  What I love is the directions for breaking them in - best not to wash for at least 6 months and don't sit on any white couches.  They'll form to you and become a reflection of the wear patterns in your life.

I'm thinking the battery's ready to go and the sun's come out which should make for better lighting to, hopefully, take the last round of product images.  I'm down to the earrings now.  Then review everything, maybe re-shoot a few, then tag everything and start packing it all up to ship back out west.

As for layers being shed and clarity settling in - for some reason I'm reminded of these lines from Zero History, "Everything they were wearing ... qualified as what she'd call 'iconic,' but had originally become that way through its ability to gracefully patinate.  She was big on patination.  That was how quality wore in... as opposed to out.  Distressing, on the other hand, was the faking of patination, and was actually a way of concealing a lack of quality."  I'm feeling rather well patinated.  I like it.

blessings - kvk