Concrete and clothes

totes totes

I am really into making totes with leather straps right now...

check out my etsy shop for further evidence.

it's time for custom sandals

trading post post

if i were a dealer...

antiques dealer, card dealer, drug dealer...

basically, if i had any cash money...

i would have been bidding up a storm at the Hubble Trading Post auction...

and its not just new rugs, its old rugs and things that aren't even rugs...

lots of proceeds go to good causes and to Navajo weavers keeping traditions up and making their art...

volunteering and being a part of it was just as satisfying as buying a nice rug because materialism does not bring happiness....

but weavers need to get paid for their craft and someday i hope i can support my local weaver by buying a rug. 

lamp rewire

Step 1: find an old lamp with a sketchy electrical cord
Step 2: go to a hardware store and buy a lamp cord and possibly a connector socket--see the old porcelain one on the right and the new set on the left...the new one came with a pull on/off switch because i dont know how to connect the original on/off knob
Step 3: unscrew the old wiring, probably with a long flat head, and pull the wiring out the bottom
Step 4: insert new wiring, which is a little tricky on this tall lamp, and put the exposed ends under the two screws on the bottom of the new socket, and screw down tight
Step 5: put in lightbulb, plug in, and turn on lamp.

Step 2

Step 4

its not rocket science, or even anything beyond late 19th century science, but hopefully this will inspire you to go out and find an old lamp to give a new life to, rather than buying some crap from China at Target...oh damn, i bought the lamp shade at Target...well..its hard to find used lamp shades in good condition and it was my first time to set foot in a Target in over a year!!! living in a city is full of evil temptations. im going to walk to the grocery store now and buy some ice cream for lunch. 

500 square feet-ish with an industrial machine

The forced purging of anything unnecessary as we squeeze into a half of a house is frustrating and liberating...

http://www.nytimes.com/

if we had bags of cash with dollar signs on them, we would definitely steal some ideas from this guy, and his blog is pretty neat...

instead of building a new house in an admirable way, we are trying to maintain and old house in an acceptable way, even though the driveway looks like an impound lot and our yard is not going to win any neighborhood awards ANY time soon, its slowly starting to feel like home...

especially now that my pre-war PFAFF is working and taking up 40% of the living room, major thanks to the archive of old manuals online.

Ahhhh!

so, our computer crashed after the move and i cant find a cord for my camera, which is limiting my posts, but this is a lamp i just finished refurbishing and i am going to post a HOW TO REWIRE a LAMP soon...

i stuck little fabric things in the holes where other lights were because my capacity to rewire into the little lamp projections does not exist, just like the hard drive to my computer.