the interconectedness of it all (or, i got a new tin).

yesterday, leah, jen and i all made a plan for a last-ditch meet-up at the st. lawrence antique market before leah takes off to berlin forever. it was pretty fun. i got to eat a cruddy fried breakfast (in the best possible way) and scored a great vintage tin from holland for a dollar. what a deal! i got it from a man named morris who used to run a shop here called fun-o-rama. the shop existed before my time in toronto but it just so happens that he knew the entire rest of the fun family (uncle fun, sister fun, paper boy, sideshow, big fun, fun rockin'...). i am happy to say that this network of novelty shops is very dear to me. they provide a great amount of infrastructure (not to mention fun and friendship) to our touring. we have not met all the folks involved in this network yet (our travels have not yet been to cleveland or new orleans much). but maybe this next time...

i like it when the world seems smaller. i also like deals.

output.

must stop spinning. must pack today's orders.

memorials for the living and the dead.

it is driving me nearly insane that i can't remember/find any information about the artist who makes these disarming plates and installs them around the city. i remember reading something of a "coming out" article about him (wherein he owned up to doing this work) years ago but now can't figure out how to find it or where it was.

i noticed these ones on my way home from the workroom. these memorial plates have been present in my neighbourhood since i moved here. so much so, that i can't remember if these particular ones are very old or very new. i find them haunting, specific and vague all at the same time. their installation is violent, the screws doggedly stripped or filled and yet they fit so smoothly into the greater brick and concrete landscape of parkdale. they probably fit so well because interventions like this are supposed to exist here as testaments to the sorts of things and people that business associations and real estate developers don't have much need for.

i do know this: many of these pieces include the number 13½. that usually means 12 jurors, 1 judge, ½ a chance.

any other information you have about the artist would be much appreciated. i would love to link to his own words if they are out there in cyberspace.

update 03.10.2010: bob wiseman to the rescue - the artist responsible is one rocky dobey. thanks bob!

high fibre diet.

today saw the last meeting of the toronto church of craft in the foreseeable future. leah moves to berlin on tuesday and, as far as i know, nobody has stepped up to carry the gauntlet. but the church went out with a bang, luring the lovely kristyn woodfine away from her home on wolfe island to teach a little drop spindle yarn making.

it was a great workshop. kristyn is very patient and full of tips and information. i had been tooling around with spinning on my own, but made some real breakthroughs with kristyn's tips. watching so many other in action also helped a great deal. now i can't stop.

i also can't think of a much better way to say farewell to a crafty friend. travel safely and with ease, leah. i'll come see you in the fall (but more on that later).

three point turn.

here is a bowl of crocheted triangles in a future terrarium. i currently have 70 out of the 100 triangles i need for this mysterious thing i am making.

i can give you a hint, though. it has something to do with this.

i miss you.

a love letter to the sun - i spent part of this snowy day making new secret message envelopes for the world.

they are up in the etsy shop now.

work begets work.

today, jesjit came over on a collection of businesses. 1) we are finding ways to make free drawings and city of craft work together. 2) he dropped off a roll of prints covered in circles so that i can make a second run his very popular $$ button sets.

it always feels both thrilling and horrifying to cut into the posters he drops off. i can ease my anxieties by reminding myself that these are all ripped, water damaged and/or overstock that we are able to give new life through buttons. also, the resulting sets look extremely bad-ass.

in related news, they did some stock shuffling over at renegade handmade and sent back some of their overstock. included was one remaining set from jesjit's first run with me. it's the only set from that 2007 run that i know of, so i put it up in the etsy shop. enjoy!