15 January 2005
Fabrics A Through B
I started a textiles class today, at Apparel Arts. When you buy fabrics, especially at discount fabric stores or garment industry suppliers, they're rarely labelled as to fiber content or care. The vendors themselves often can't identify their fabrics; the buyer is expected to know, or else not care. And, different fabrics behave very differently when cut and sewn.
The classroom is fantastic: an airy industrial space with enormous windows overlooking the Central Waterfront. About 20 of us learned about different fibers, weaves, weights, dye processes, and finishes, how to test fabrics, and how to work with fabric vendors. Then we discussed and looked at samples of different types of fabrics, acetate though burn-out. There are two more sessions in this class.
At the same time, I reached the top of the waiting list for their patternmaking and design course. I get to sit in on the evening class next Wednesday, then begin in earnest the following Wednesday. This class will teach me how to design and draft all kinds of garments, like with real skills instead of skills that I just make up in my delusional little head. This will keep me busy for between 18 and 30 months!
I'm not sure what I intend to get out of this yet. I started making my own clothes about three years ago, inspired by a talented designer whose services I could no longer afford. Aside from my mother's basic sewing instruction, I have no fashion education. Consequently, I make a lot of mistakes (some of them serendipitous). At the same time, some of my pieces have turned out really fabulously, and occasionally people ask me to make stuff for them. It would be nice to do more of that, and perhaps less gnawing on the gamy, soul-sucking, undead corpse of the dot com era.
12 January 2005
Buy My Stuff
I have a bunch of furniture that I'm not using, remnants of my former mountain household that don't integrate well with my city habitat. It's time to purge it! Accept no imitations--these are quality products for your well-appointed home! Hurry while this sale lasts!
11 January 2005
Tastybite
As you may know, I'm a fan of certain space foods. One of my long-time favorites is Tastybite. These are Indian and Thai convenience foods with a two-year shelf life. They make convenient microwaveable office-lunches, dinner for an overnight backpacking trip, or in my former life, a staple of my mountain cabin pantry.
At the grocery store, a TastyBite can cost $4 or so. But if you order them directly from tastybite.com, they're only $2.29–$3.29 each, depending on whether they include rice. The Web site also offers Indian breads that generally aren't available at the grocery store.
Incidentally, the last time I ordered a huge load of Tastybites was the first week of September 2001. They sent me an email a couple of weeks later explaining that the office where they coordinate their shipping was in the WTC, all the paperwork had been destroyed, and my order would be delayed. Boo hoo, eh? But I was actually kinda bummed, because at that point I was pretty eager to complete my apocalypse-resistant mountain pantry.
I finally got around to ordering a new cache, and today my 33-pound box of Tastybites arrived. For about $80, I have 24 self-contained space-lunches and 25 pieces of chickpea-flour roti—about $3.33 per lunch with bread.
This time, two things were different since my last order:
- The self-contained space-meals now come with their own disposable Gladware-style plastic boxes. These will soon pile up in my kitchen and on my desk!
- For some reason (the holidays, I suppose), Tastybite sent me a sack of gifts: some ornaments, coasters, placemats, and a set of small thingies that you can float on vegetable oil in wine glasses to form little oil lamps. The coasters and placemats are actually kinda nice. Tastybite loves me!
That's the space food report! What space foods do you eat?
1 January 2005
Stereoview
(Happy New Year!)
I recently inherited a 1901 Underwood & Underwood "Sun Sculpture" stereoviewer. I just bought this lovely stereoview from—where else?—Ebay. It's a scene from Yosemite National Park, probably Glacier Point with Yosemite Falls in the background.
If any of you SF peeps happen to see stereoviews (also called stereographic cards) for sale locally, please let me know. Since the viewer didn't come with any, it would be fun to collect some.
Update: Ebay seduced me again. Now I've bought this stereoview and this one too.
