i almost forgot! so sorry! merry christmas and happy new year! here is the third annual valerian xmas card. we were so busy and frazzled this year that we almost didn’t make one and honestly thought our idea of making a wreath of stuff was somewhat uninspired, but we ended up feeling rather proud of the finished product.
a harbinger of happiness to come in 2008? i hope so!
and wish it for you as well.
ian gave me a new digital camera for christmas–a sony t70. it’s black with a fancy pants touch screen and yes, it takes photos and it’s small and so portable and awesome but, but (!!!) most importantly (!!!) it can capture *moving images* as they move! with sound! yes! video! the quality is maybe not the greatest, but it’s a tiny camera. give me a break! so yes, i am enthused! to say the least. here is a small video i made this morning as we drove back home to brooklyn, where the air is painful and the new neighbor’s cigarette smoke has infiltrated our smoke-free apartment (ahem)…a video of our last glimpse of clean air! for the time being…
hope your xmas was merry and all!
have you seen the article on etsy in the nyt magazine? the timing seems perfectly tuned to my current mode as, in considering the various outlets for my re-entry into le monde du handmade, etsy has been on my mind more and more. i have to admit that aside from perusing the wares of makers i’m already familiar with and pondering their decision to build etsy shops when (it would seem) that they’re already quite successful on their own (the small object, for instance) i’ve not much experience with etsy; the only item i’ve purchased from the site was a set of soaps to benefit katrina victims. something about the process (at the time it seemed counter-intuitive, but i’m assuming it’s been honed since?) was clunky and off-putting. i also didn’t appreciate the third party aspect, but part of that may have been the fact that the items donated for the fund-raiser were collected from the makers by an organizer and *then* posted to etsy, which makes total sense for the project, but nonetheless soured me on the experience.
i suppose it’s time to further investigate why i’m holding on to that initial less-than-positive reaction, which when revisted, seems pretty lame. it would seem though, that it’s important to remain a little skeptical about the whole operation, but again, i’m not entirely sure how to explain why. anyway, i have a day to spend some time exploring etsy–i’ll report back as to my findings/discoveries, if any new light is shed on my confusion.
what is your take on the etsy phenomenon? is it completely awesome and inspiring that an online marketplace has the power to call a wider attention to the burgeoning craft scene? is etsy our handmade savior? or is it off-putting and depressing that now in order to be taken seriously within that community (or communities), one feels obligated to do business within this third party entity? i’ve seen etsy-emblazoned merchandise for sale by supposedly independent makers on etsy. what does that mean??
UPDATE: i just ordered soap (i dunno! i panicked! soap is always good, right?) from etsy and the process was way way more streamlined and intuitive than my previous encounter. come to think of it, etsy must have been brand new, a tiny baby of a thing back when i ordered before. etsy: 1 valerie: 0
so much has happened in the past six and a half months, i can’t even begin to properly convey my sense of upside-down-edness: i moved to a new city, worked new jobs, met new people, fought with my car, ditched my car (omg!), felt totally discombobulated and learned to be somewhat at peace with that and now, NOW i’ve quit working for Le Homme (hopefully permanently) *and* for friends (though it’s been totally awesome and i will still be at sodafine two days a week) and have (gasp) decided to really truly work for myself and give dear birthday the dedicated time it needs to be up and running again. i’m really excited about this and finally feel like i’m in an ideal nook of time and place to work this out and give it my all. hooray!
if you’ve been reading along, you know i’m prone to flights of fancy and hopeful declarations, but now i’ve set myself up so that i really have no choice but to get to work. so! here i go. this is my first week, filled with paperwork and planning. my space needs a thorough cleaning and organizing and therefore i’ve only done a small amount of sewing, but i have dropped off some scrap-leather headbands at sodafine! more are in the works and i’ll photograph them soon. i intend to update the site with a few smallish things at the beginning of the new year and would like to launch a true spring update in february. i’m so nervous and excited! seems like a really bad time to be trying to do such things, with everyone talking about imminent fiscal collapse and whatnot, but hey, my horoscope says the time is now, and i’d rather believe in such wifty (thanks erika!) notions than in reality anyway. well. yeah, anyway.
so! aside from dear birthday/valerie news, there is this:
i will only be able to attend for the first hour before i head over to sodafine, but i’m super excited. have you done your holiday gift-squaring-away yet? i’ve not even begun! it’s shameful. but! the lineup for the gift on grand (on kent! hehe) looks awesome and i think i can probably cross off quite a few of those not-yet-written names on my not-yet-extant list. yessss!
ok, that is all. more soon!
dear birthday 