New Display

A few months ago I bought a new rack for my show display. It needs my attention and I'm finally able to work on it with Milo's help. Milo cut four shelves for me, each six feet wide. In order the stay on the rack without sliding around, I need tracks to keep them in place. Milo cut 16 pieces for me in about three minutes! My next job is to cover the wood shelves with fabric with batting underneath and a staple gun. Then Milo and I will glue the tracks into place, plus he'll nail-gun them for me. I can't wait to get started! Maybe this weekend. I'll be using the new display at Talmadge Art Show on November 22.

Staying Cool

Everything takes time! The fan is in, but the recessed lights are not. They'll be put in tomorrow (I think).

Before you know it, I'll be sewing again. I'm sure itching to, that's for sure.

Invisible Magnet Wall

I know, isn't it cool? You can't even see the black primer anymore. And the magnets stick with a decent pull too. My new floor is being installed.

Hi, remember me?

The sewing room remodel is still going on. The intended color, White Solitude, which went onto the walls of the studio was beautiful, but I ended up asking the painter to go over it with Bleached Sand instead. It a little bit warmer and you can see the difference in contrast to the closet.

I have a small collection of Chinese sewing baskets. They were made during the early part of 1900s and were meant for the export market. It's appropriate that I collect them, being American-born Chinese and a seamstress, but also because I'm the granddaughter of immigrants who made the crossing during that period. I found this little basket in an antique store in Solana Beach. It's the tiniest one I have at about 5" across. I love the Peking glass beads too.

Magnetic Bulletin Board / Wall

UPDATE 10/6/09
SEVEN coats from one quart of primer -- that's pretty thin paint. Again, the primer went onto a section 18" x 10'4" and magnets do adhere. A final update to come once the painting is complete. BTW, if you're going to do this, don't rinse your roller in the sink -- who knows what happens after all those particles go down your drain. Buy a disposable roller and throw it away at the end. In between coats, keep the wet roller in a plastic bag. This assumes you will paint every day.

UPDATE 10/1/09:
After SIX coats of magnetic primer, a fairly strong magnet adhered with the kind of strength I hoped for, although it will never be like the fridge. For each coat of paint, I generously loaded the "wienie roller" -- I did not skimp. There is a bit of paint remaining in the can, so it will be the seventh layer. The black will be topcoated with White Solitude, so my next worry is, will the magnets stick? I hope so. I want my fabric swatches, photos and magazine tearouts on this wall.

UPDATE 9/28/09:
After three coats of magnetic primer, a low-strength magnet barely adhered. I've got enough primer in the can for a total of five layers. Don't try this until I report results! One disappointed person is enough. :-(

ORIGINAL POST 9/27/09
I just painted an 1.5' x 10' portion of my studio wall with primer. This primer is metallic, that is, it has metal in it. After three layers of primer, it will be top-coated in a color called White Solitude, and magnets will stick. How's that for a bulletin board/inspiration wall?! Pretty neat stuff! Here's a discussion thread. Seems the only health hazard is the potential for little kids to swallow magnets.

BEWARE: Rust-Oleum's website says light grey, however, the primer color is more like nearly black.

Coming Along

The studio renovation is slowly taking shape. The ceiling has holes for four recessed lights and a ceiling fan. The rectangular holes were for running wires and will be covered and patched.

Meanwhile, more chemotherapy caps have been embellished with stars.

Stars in My Eyes

I don't have a lot to show for myself except these crochet'd stars on chemotherapy caps. They're fun to make and esp useful for scraps. Instructions for "light blue starflowers" are here.

Show Notice

I just registered for The Talmadge Art Show to be held on November 22, 2009. While remodeling the sewing room, I wasn't going to do any shows, but why not?! I have plenty of inventory available. Stay tuned!

This Made Me Feel Sad

The very first time I wore my new jewelry, I had a quality control issue: one of the pendants fell off and I lost it. Next time I will do a better job when making earrings.

The stones were part of a mixed strand of beads that came from Khan el-Kalili market in Cairo. They were the best beads of the entire strand.

"Desires of the Heart"

Desires of the Heart was my bridal accessories business in San Francisco. Everything was made-to-order, hence the name. Primarily, it was headpieces and veils. You might imagine how I loved this work with all the necessary handstitching, details and design work. Cloud-like veil samples hung on a blue wall. It was beautiful and I wish I had a picture to share. I learned a lot about myself with this business and closed it when pressures I put on myself outweighed the pleasure.

I used this Butterick pattern like crazy. Before laying out the pieces, I had to iron the tissue on low so it would lay flat on tulle. Now that I'm purging the sewing room closet, I'm feeling nostalgic about this pattern. I don't feel the same about the two Vogue patterns that got little use.