asheville etsy street team

i'm a member!

i just added a few asheville etsy street team links under the "link list."

check it out. the "buy handmade" blog is also worth spending some time on.

i looked in the mirror today and was startled by the image of myself. my hair hasn't been this long in 4 or 5 years, and before that, it had only been long once. hair is a strange thing; the way people use it to say something about themselves, or to cauterize grief, or to initiate some life change...

i have always loved cutting my hair, like shedding old skin: translucent, reptilian layers, seeing little extensions of myself falling to the floor. my version of a power cleanse. whenever i felt bad, i cut a little away, and whatever ailed me seemed to get cut away too, or at least swept away. i see myself differently now, as i really am, without the conflict and shame that comes with adolescence.

maybe it's just the weather, but i'm feeling pretty good.

i found a feather in a book of short fiction. it's been in there for months. i was walking to class one day and there they were, feathers everywhere. so i tucked one away and forgot about it until i flipped through the book today.

origami

new earrings at hip replacements made from origami paper, hand-made and silk-screened aqua paper, and random photographs.

new vintage-inspired feminine lariet necklace.

picture to come in a few hours!

jewelry now at elementality!

the items posted earlier today can now be found at elementality, in the asheville mall.
come see!

power tool.

i bought my first power tool last night. a dremel. so that i can power through stones to expand my jewelry-making abilities to fit my visions.

i had a set in mind that i wanted to make, but knew i needed to drill, and, here it is:





and these sweet little things are being sold at hip replacements for $16 and $18. as soon as i make some more up, they will be at custom, and hopefull at elementality as well! they're made from wire thin metal frames, with sterling silver ear-wire and headpins, and a variety of paper: origami paper, hand silk-screened pulp paper, and pieces from gift bags (the bright pink), which are sentimental. the ones with the type are hand-stamped.

level up

taking jewelry to the next level.
buying a drill tonight so i can drill through some dreamy creamypeach agate. pictures to come.

tonight is looking bright!

today i...

-brought new jewelry to hip replacements and custom this afternoon, and will be taking some to elementality in the coming week as well.
-bought new beads and findings at chevron trading co. on lexington ave. for some up-coming projects. i am thinking classyfemininevintageluxury...
-learned how to tune-up my bike all by myself!
-bought an incredible 3-record joanna newsom set and am listening right now
-made veggies for dinner
-thought about romance

itinerary:

-finish dinner
-edit fiction short stories
-go to vintage jewelry trunk show at custom from 7-9
-go see 'the rubber cushions' at broadways (kip's band, y'all!)
-see you

greener grass

why can't i ever be happy with what i have when i have it?
it's rare that i realize the potential for happiness in a situation until i have rejected the possibility, grown older and wiser, moved forward, and realized how good i had it. or do i just romanticize the past? maybe these lost people and places weren't as great as i remember. why do i romanticize the past in order to be unhappy with the present? i am writing specifically about relationships. i compare, and it's completely unrealistic, because i am so far now from who i was then, and they, i am sure, are also different. and how many times can a person fuck up love before love goes somewhere else?

mixes by a friend:

mix1: (this is what i'm listening to right now, and typing instead of studying for a midterm)

feel.love.thinking.of/faunts
run in the morning sun/lady & bird
black magic (magic love and dreams...
because/the bird and the bee
you may be blue/vetiver
golden cage/the whitest boy alive
borders/the whitest boy alive
cheerleader/grizzly bear
in ear park/department of eagles
this must be it/royksopp
happy up here/royksopp
happy up here/royksopp
it's all true/tracey thorn
o.n.e./yeasayer
so light is in her footfall/air
song for/earlimart
my moon my man
angel echoes/fourtet
look/solillaquists of sound

mix 2

bang bang/sara schiralli
easier/grizzly bear
wait for summer/yeasayer
summertime/jesca hoop
paper aeroplane/angus and julia stone
down the line/jose gonzalez
daffodils/charlene soraia
now, now/st. vincent
this is the thing/fink
don't bring me down/sia
children of the grounds/midlake
tenuousness/andrew bird
pagan angel and a borrowed car
set free/katie gray
how often?/lex land
woods/bon iver
rose and vine/matt bauer
angeles/elliot smith
do what i do/lady & bird

two years.

after being at unc-a for two years, i finally decided to submit to our creative-arts magazine. the deadline had been closed for new submissions until the fall. that's just like me. i have to start working on my 60-page project soon! novel? series of short stories? i just can't wait until i am out of school so i can really work on writing.

crazy

i'm sure that i'm crazy, but i just submitted a poem called "the inaccuracy of memory" to the new yorker.

my aspirations are high.

mother of sorrows

a book i'm reading.

"...she had a way of speaking of attention that made even the slightest desire for it seem suspect and pernicious. Attention? What a joke! What a ridiculous thing to want! Who in his right mind would ever admit to wanting something the world simply wasn't prepared to give?"

cut.

i am officially "tangle." says the register of deeds.
courthouses are strange places. i've never been inside one for doing anything wrong, but even going to register my business name was intimidating. it felt like everybody knew where to go, or what to say, but me.
and, oh my! the polished wood! mahogony or something. and huge leather-bound books. and antique-looking, teller-like windows from the banks in old movies.
it was like walking onto a scene in a movie made long before i was ever born. a scene, after which, a terribly exciting car chase would take place.

donedonedone

completed...
going to the courthouse= i'm legitimate!

and here are several things i am taking to 'custom' to submit for consignment this evening:









completed...
going to the courthouse= i'm legitimate!

and here are several things i am taking to 'custom' to submit for consignment this evening:

to do:

go to the courthouse to...
register my business name
get tax id #
get business license!

then...
post pictures of my submission to 'custom' in west-asheville
make tags for the jewelry
go to custom

and after...
make dinner for a friend

firsts

my first record purchase. shep & me from harvest records. i just love those block-prints and deliciously saturated greens and yellows.



my first custompurchase: blue jean pencil skirt and hand-appliqued (in the shop) racer tank.

a best friend...

for a friend.

reconnected with a friend just last week. a dear one to me. we didn't really spend much time together, or for long, but our interactions were shaping.

i made this for tie for him--the first one i've tried with fabric (from a vintage silk scarf). of course, i'm modeling it here...

distractions.

we had a snow day earlier in the week, which prohibited me from taking my 3 midterms. of course, i welcomed the opportunity for more relaxed study time and postponed exams, but for the majority of the morning, i learned paper-crane folding.





i watched the video three times and then started folding with a frenzy that i couldn't seem to stop until all the pretty origami paper i'd bought two years ago and saved for just such an occasion was all used up. there was something deeply gratifying sitting alone at the sturdy wooden table in our kitchen, with the heat blowing, staring out of the plastic-covered window onto sheets of white show, folding tiny little pieces of paper into beautiful things while the snow continued to fall.

news at hip replacements.

i know it's cold out, but come on.
we have so many new pieces by effie's heart.
and also, lots of sale items.
lots.
lots.
lots.

effie's heart...

the back door.

john korn