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Sunday, April 20, 2008

dusty vs. rusty.

do you have one of those friends who is good at all the things everyone needs? in my experience, these people generally know how to fix bikes and fix computers along with a couple other assorted useful skills. but bikes and computers go together. my friend dusty is one of those people. and his 'assorted' skill set includes photography. he's done almost all the promo shots for my comedy duo and has yet to ask us to stand on train tracks or under power lines, so we've been pretty impressed. dusty even fixed my printer once. my printer! nobody fixes printers.


with a public transit strike looming, dusty came over for a few hours yesterday to help me get my dilapidated bike operating again. i have to admit, i left it out all winter and had been riding without brakes for most of the fall. he never makes me feel bad about how irresponsible i am when it comes to green lightning (my bike's name that has never quite stuck). so, thank you, dusty.

it's also impossible to repay favours to these multi-talented people. there's only so much beer he can drink (it is an impressive amount, though, in dusty's case). the closest i've come to repayment is posing for him as he tries to generate a portrait portfolio. so far i've stood around on a blistering hot tarmac and in a swamp. i guess that feels like work but it doesn't take skill. although, standing still for five minutes for pinhole camera pictures was a challenge. by the way, why does someone as talented as dusty have the time to hang out with me? smarten up, big photographers of toronto; hire dusty to assist you. and it wouldn't hurt if a few of you magazines gave him photo spreads, either.



in other news, i went to a vintage sale yesterday and bought a ripped up dress from the 30's because i fell in love with the fabric and wanted to use it for something. as it turns out, the fabric is as brittle as tissue paper and now i'm scared to put it into my quilt for fear that it will deteriorate. does anyone have any clever ideas as to what i could do with it? i don't want to feel like i've been had by my own aesthetic impulses. the best idea i've come up with so far is to make some assemblage that will end up under glass. what else? could i lacquer it? you guys are smart; let me know.

9 comments:

shannongerard said...

could you make book covers?

or recreate the pattern in photoshop and make screen prints of the material on paper-- then you could use the paper version for all sorts of things...

sweetie pie press said...

oh, book covers. good idea. i will consult leah when she gets back. she might even inherit the stuff.

i do plan on making scans of it - i forgot to mention that. but it's using the actual stuff that concerns me most now.

i should talk to you about how to lacquer things onto wood. i'm dumb about basic things sometimes. or worried i will forget something simple and mess them up.

shannongerard said...

Ssome of the birdie panels I'm bringing to the trunk show are made from paper fake lacquered (using gel) to wooden panels-- it looks really nice wrapped all the way around the panel. They're like the one you have but the bird is the negative space instead of the papered space like in yours. You could do something like that with the material, but then it would be inaccessible under the lacquer...

...like it was frozen in carbonite!

sweetie pie press said...

yeah! frozen in carbonite! that might be what i need. some parts are super rotten and falling apart. that might be nice under gel.

clearly, i need to be schooled.

shannongerard said...

oh geez--- what was the name of the finishing school that was sister to Macdonald Hall in the Gordon Korman books??

Since I have the worst google skills ever, this is going to keep me up...

shannongerard said...

oh, so now I feel like a google wizard (Owl level):

Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies!

I am either a google wizard or a blog commenting moron.

sweetie pie press said...

i'm glad to have comments. it make me feel less alone. that is, until my blog makes me so famous that all its readers just see me as a ghost in the machine and start being pointlessly cruel. i noticed this when reading my friend carl's blog. some of these anonymous readers are so tactless in their commentary that it kind of made me want to keep my mouth shut forever.

regardless of that, though, i don't know what you are talking about. i'm not familiar with these books. but i do think that miss shannon should have a finishing school for young girls of all ages. or an undoing school, at the very least.

shannongerard said...

reeeeally!?? Did you go to elementary school in Ontario? Gordon Korman was the leading author (for popularity) in the Scholastic Book Club. Before I got wise to the early onset consumer brainwashing, I was Scholastic Book Club Class Secretary! So exciting to crack the boxes and distribute everyone's books on the day they arrived in the classroom. Sigh.

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! Beware the Fish! Bugs Potter!! Oh Becky...How much you've missed (not really).

sweetie pie press said...

such is the curse of a french immersion student from vancouver. i do remember the j'aime lire readers, though. my favoirte was this one where some kids snuck into an old cave and found treasures.