New York

What a weekend. So Friday afternoon I got a special payment in my paypal. I prepped a very large box of lace and put it in the mail. This morning it should be in New York on its way to a fashion house and quite honestly I am a bundle of nerves. You know the ones...will they like everything once they see it? Will they really use everything? Will it really get seen by all the people I am imagining that it will and will they like it? You see, I think this is one of those, everything on the line, sort of moments. It could mean everything or nothing and I won't know until it happens. As you might have guessed I've been giving this a lot of thought. I'd been keeping the whole thing at arms length, but shipping the package made it real...very real. So a few more details for you then, the show will be held at The Standard Hotel in New York city on the evening of the 13th. I'm still keeping a few details in for now, I guess I am still playing it close to the vest. I don't know whether it will be televised or streamed online, but given past events, there will be pictures soon after and likely YouTube videos as well. So I guess we'll see how it plays.

In other less interesting news, I did make up a few more simple one off over the weekend. I'm almost out of these metal bits I've been working around, but they are no nice for making up something quick and easy. There is another one up made over a tear shape in red as well. I think I am going to be working on getting some stock built up on a few pieces, you know just in case this whole fashion show business does attract a few extra eyeballs.

Then I have new project to work on that was presented to me over the weekend. We had a lovely night out with friends again. I tell you, it's almost as if we have a social life. Anyway, there was a request for an even larger bells and coin piece and I've been working out what base could create the desired silhouette and still hold the weight. I think this might need to be a new design, but first things first, getting that stock made and worrying about things in New York which I cannot control. The next two weeks might as well be months.

Fashion Review?

I have never been known as a "fashionista". No, I have my own sense of self and style that rarely coincides with the current trends. When it does, I tend to buy out the items I like from the trend and wear them long after it has died. Though I also enjoy, let's say extreme pieces, I am usually found in a pair of jeans and comfortable shirt. As a stay at home mother, this is as far as I am willing to dress down though. I refuse to wear sweats or spend the day in pajamas, but I digress.

Through twitter, I have become acquainted with a handful lovely fashion blogging ladies. They are pleasant, fun and above all I would never use the word snob to describe a one of them. I often feel like a bit of a shlub seeing their daily outfit pictures, but that's fine. Though a practice on twitter deemed "followfriday" where people recommend others to follow, my connection with them has expanded to a connection with a few emerging designers. It is through this that I became acquainted with the woman behind Spun. I caught wind of a special sale of her organic cotton fitted tee and I decided that I could always use another black shirt. I shared the link to the sale and had a lovely conversation with her. Days later I participated in a little Earth Day contest she held and won a tank top as well.

Well, the shirt is here and I do adore it. It might look like a simple tee shirt, but it is more than that. It is an affordable, socially responsible, well fitted and comfortable tee shirt from a small company with a heart. So, if you have ever wanted to try and dress a little more "green", but the price outweighed the benefit, check out her line of clothes. They are simple, versatile and of a quality that appears to be far above their price points.

Okay, I know, first a music review, now I'm taking on clothing lines. It might be a little silly coming from me, but I just thought I'd share my findings. I've got a lot of tatting to do for this Maker Faire business, but I hope to get around to trying my newest idea for the shoe jewelry. Since listing the prototype pair, it has gotten very little interest, so maybe I jumped the gun a bit getting excited about the idea. I still want to get it to a final design before I abandon it though. Sometimes I just have to sit on my hands and wait no matter how impatient I am.

Why SteamPunk?

It is a fair bet that you have at least heard or seen the term SteamPunk recently. It seems everyone is talking about it, but if you've missed it, SteamPunk is just the most recent subculture to stray into the mainstream spotlight. I'm not going to try to explain the genre, that is best left to the countless SteamPunk blogs and other web resources. What I would like to do is try to explain why people go steam.

I am no stranger to subcultures, while I've never gone "all in", I've been part of one or another most of my life. All of them have some key elements in common, sure they all have distinctive fashion and style and many have a music genre to call their own, but where they are exactly the same is that they fill an emotional need and that is what draws in the hardcore members. The easy example to go with here is Goth. Most kids have a certain degree of normal teen angst, going Goth allows them to acknowledge and deal with that angst on the surface. Sure many people just like to wear black and listen to dark music, but the true Goth embraces the emotional support of others just like them. Even as they are rebelling, they are finding a place to belong.

So then to SteamPunk, just like Goth, it fills an emotional need to belong. What is different about SteamPunk is that it acknowledges a sense that we do not belong. The core of SteamPunk is a time that does not really exist, a time that is wrong whose elements do not belong together. That melding of past that never happened and a future not likely to exist has created a place where anyone, no matter how much of a social outcast can co-exist. It is not a depressing place like Goth can be, but rather a place of pure fantasy.

Sure, a lot of people have been adopting the SteamPunk aesthetic lately just because it is stylistically appealing. I know that I love the Victorian fashion and it doesn't hurt that my tatting fits right into that. Some people dig on the gears, leather and futurist tech, but like any trend its mainstream popularity will eventually wane. The lasting result will most likely be that when you see that goggle wearing freak on the street, you will know that she's into SteamPunk. The subculture will likely take its place beside Goth as something everyone knows about with goggles and geared jewelry featured in Hot Topic, but not something the masses will all adopt. This is of course just fine with me.

If you'd like to immerse yourself in some more SteamPunk info check out these links I've gathered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk
http://steampunkworkshop.com/
http://www.steampunk.republika.pl/arch/opedia.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1595812/20080929/index.jhtml
http://etsysteamteam.com/