What do you want for Christmas?

If your answer is more time, world peace or true love, well, mine too. But I don’t think I can do a whole lot to get them, so I have a few other ideas for gifts that might do a tiny bit of good in this world. Since I’d almost prefer being run over by a Hummer (at least it’s quick) to having to brave the mall on a Saturday, I’ve come up with a different list. This is a tough Christmas for a lot of people, and an awful lot of businesses, too, and I’d like to see people who put out a creative and useful product stay afloat.

My first suggestion is, shop locally. No, I don’t mean your local Ann Taylor or Coldwater Creek (okay, please shop at Coldwater Creek—I have stock in them and it stinks lately), I mean creative, single store merchants that have a personal vision and are selling something unique—the individual clothing shop, the local antiques merchant, the floral or plant store. People that own and run these stores are doing it as much for love as money, and they’ll be willing to talk over your problem giftees and help you come up with something. Shop there before all individuality is eaten alive by mega-corporation homogenization.

Second idea is, how about donating to a charity that has a nifty premium for a gift? National Wildlife Federation has a lot of adorable plushies and great magazines for adults and kids. Ditto World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, etc. I admit I don’t get a real gift thrill out of just making a donation, but these organizations have figured out that it’s a lot more fun if you have something to wrap up, or a nifty magazine.

While we’re on the subject of magazines, most of them are struggling. You can find a magazine for nearly anyone on your list—New Moon is terrific for tweens, and Carus publications has a ton for different age brackets (literary, social sciences and science). For adults, too—go to your local (preferably independent) bookseller, look through the racks and racks, pick one out, mail one of the hundreds of blown-in subscription cards and wrap up the sample. Me, I love Somerset Studio, Belle Armoire, Threads, The Washington Monthly, Marie-Claire Idées, Poets & Writers, Piano, and an armload of others (hint, hint).

A more unusual variation of the magazine gift is the literary journal subscription. In my book these have some distinct advantages: they don’t publish as frequently, hence they don’t remind me of the kind of machine that keeps spitting tennis balls at you, and I don’t add to my six foot bedside stack; and they’re smaller and you can stuff them in a pocket or purse more easily. Ones that I really like or have liked in the past include Alimentum, Granta, Glimmer Train, The Believer, and The Sun. I’ll be reviewing these in more depth one of these days.

If you’re really broke and live near a major city, I have three ideas. Do a search of second hand stores and library used book sales. The stuff at second hand stores can be unbelievable—recent finds include an Irish fisherman handknit sweater for $5, a sequined top for $1 and a Kenneth Cole dress for $5. Call it “vintage” not used and add instant chic. The Nikipedia is the queen of finds, but it really just takes a little browsing, particularly if you can find one that specializes in upscale second hand. Library book sales are amazing—it just makes me heartsick to see books for which I’ve paid $29.95 (still unread) going for $1. A lot of libraries in our area have permanent for-sale shelves or even for-sale rooms. You can come up with a nice armload of mysteries or historicals or biographies, wrap it in a big box and give a huge present for $10, while helping the library. Cheaper than the fines some of us pay, ahem.

Those same libraries, or nearby universities, have concert series for no or very low cost. How about making up a schedule and buying tickets, or designing some fake ones and provide the transportation and companionship to go with them. Me, I’d be delighted to have a friend make a commitment to attend a free series with me—so often I don’t go if I don’t have someone to go with me. And wouldn’t it be fun to have a regular “date” with a friend to do such a fun thing? Or if you’re going to purchase tickets for someone, how about favoring small theater groups, new music or early music ensembles, or student performances? These people can really use support in building an audience, and you’ll be giving something a lot more original than a gift card to the local megaplex.

Finally, don’t buy jewelry as gifts until you check out your local crafts fair or bead store. To my intense aggravation when I’m a seller, people at craft fairs often price jewelry ridiculously low, and have said to me that they just want to get their materials costs back so they can make some more. Grrrgh, but it’s great if you’re the buyer. Also, if you have the slightest jewelry making skills, at a bead store you can put together a nice gemstone bead necklace (often with loaner tools on the premises and the help of the owner) for a fraction of the department store cost. One of the bead stores in my town used to display pictures from the Sundance catalog next to nearly identical beads that you could use to make your own for about 25% of the cost. Also, take a look at the stuff on Etsy.com. My New Year’s resolution is to put stuff in my own “store” there, but in the meantime, there’s plenty of nifty things to buy, all made by highly creative kitchen table entrepreneurs.

Now, do I get an award as Santa’s little helper?

Jewelry: art, craft, whatever

I must be stuck on jewelry making this week, because I keep coming across ideas that reel me in. I’m so taken with the artistry that is put into craft these days that I often wonder why we even bother to make a distinction between craft and art. Well, sure, I can tell the difference between a crocheted toilet paper cover and the Mona Lisa, but I also see a lot of jewelry and artwear that easily belongs in a frame.

I like gems and precious metals as well as the next rapacious female, but I tend to like big and bold. (As an aside, can someone tell me why huge ladies seem to love teensy gold chains just long enough to let the charm dangle on top of their amazing shelves? Like mom used to say, a peanut on a watermelon.) Anyway, I’m not little and I like jewelry that can be seen across the room. It’s supposed to attract attention, right? So far no one has offered to give me rocks the size of Liz Taylor’s, and I wouldn’t have any place to wear them anyway, so I go for “unusual”.

I’ve just mentioned steampunk, and am really looking forward to Jean Campbell’s upcoming book on it, but in the meantime, I’ve been really intrigued by books showing how to make jewelry from hardware. There are plenty of instructions out there on using hardware, paper, or various recycled materials. Nicole Sherman's got a great one on mixing industrial with beads and precious metals, and there's another one (link below) that is more "purist" in just using hardware--and it comes with a spiral binding so you can actually follow the instructions rather than wrestling the book. After spending a lot of time being awestruck by these folks’ creativity (still am), it finally hit me that the key to selecting and using such materials is shape, not actual object. If you take traditional bead shapes (cylinders, spheres, cubes, tubes) and check out what objects from (anywhere) might be the approximate similar shape, you’re off to the races. And isn’t abstraction of form what all artists do?

Steampunk—what is it?

Unless you have a fifteen year old hanging around your house, you may not have heard of steampunk yet. (I do, aka known as World’s Foremost Authority on Everything. However, she has recently informed me that she prefers the moniker Nikipedia, so WFA will be hereby retired from this blog. But I digress…) I felt that perhaps I had qualified as a true cool artsy, though adult, type when even some of the jewelry artists at the recent American Craft Exhibition had not heard of “steampunk”.

It’s interesting and weird, and you might keep your eye out for examples. Right now the term seems to refer mostly to jewelry and clothing designs. As near as I can fathom it (lots of pointing to items and being told, no that’s not steampunk), it’s a combination of Victorian filigree and lacy looking objects combined with industrial components like wire, gears, and clock parts. Almost as if you were punk styling but lived in the 19th century. There’s some good examples of jewelry on www.etsy.com (where apparently it is one of the most searched terms) and Wikipedia has an entry on it, also, detailing its roots in science fiction and fantasy.

I like the style a lot—it’s off kilter and abstract and not easily mass produced—just my kind of look (or at least I try…)

American Craft Exposition--the real bling

For the last weekend in August, Evanston becomes the center of the crafts universe, when the American Craft Exposition runs at Northwestern University. If you have the slightest interest in artful objects for every day use—clothing, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, baskets, you get the idea—this is a not to be missed date, up there with tax day (and for that, you can get an extension.) Yeah, this is a late post, but if you weren’t there, it’s too late anyway. Mark your calendars and be there next August.

This year, my impression is that the crowds were a little thinner and there were fewer exhibitors, but it may just have been that I was there on closing day. There were the usual plethora of women d’une certaine âge, and thankfully I’m still a little younger than that âge. However, most of them were in black, and didn’t hesitate to try stuff on (which I do, knowing I’m not going to buy). After watching a few modeling sessions, though, I can confidently say a lot of stuff that doesn’t look so hot in the case looks AMAZING on, so it’s definitely worth trying and watching other people, and if you can’t be beautiful, be rich.

Art clothing has changed a lot over the years, and though you still see a lot of Asian themes and shapes, the formless kimono jackets have been supplanted by much more body conscious cuts, and coats of many colors were less in evidence. On the other hand, sheer layers seem to be in, with many designers showing chiffon and organza overblouses, jackets, and dresses. I’m not sure exactly what you wear under them, but it probably isn’t your basic Hanes t-shirt.

Why would anyone pay $1,000 for a stupid plastic purse with LV's all over it when they could have John Milligan's work for $300-500? I don't think I could use them, though. These purses are so beautiful they belong in a frame. Ditto Kathleen Dustin, whose polymer clay work I have long admired. There aren't many place where I need to carry an artichoke, but the purses she makes would be startling art objects on a coffee table or a curio cabinet.

In jewelry, it seemed to me that gold was a lot less in evidence. Aaron Macsai, whose work I have loved for many years, showed a lot of well done gold. I particularly liked the gold bead strands, with every bead different, and lots of gemstone beads mixed in. I used to like his incorporation of found objects, but I didn’t see so much of that in his current work. I know Aaron’s mother, an amazing quilter—in fact, the whole family is wearingly creative. When dear daughter was young, I called Gerry Macsai for advice on how to raise creative kids. Aaron well maintains the family tradition.

Some other booth had doorknocker cocktail rings for the impulse buyer at about $28,000. Someone was actually trying them on—when I think that some people might spend that kind of dough on impulse, I become even more of a socialist. If you’ve got that kind of money to flip, the government ought to take it away from you since you obviously don’t know how to spend it in any defensible way.

Is there a way to make gold look cheap and tawdry? Yup, after seeing the booths of Hongsock Lee and Pat Flynn. Both these artists use silver in amazingly restrained but stunning designs. Lee has an stunning feel for shape and line. Flynn creates breathtaking work combining precious metals with black iron—stuff that looks like it came from another planet. I wanted to send him whatever I own (not much) and have him melt it all down or reset it.

When the next book advance comes in (power of positive thinking!) some part of it will be sent to Christina Goodman. She paints the most incredible miniatures on jewelry objects, originals reminiscent of Camille Corot or Italian landscapes. I don’t necessarily want to wear the stuff, I just want to look at it, with my reading glasses on. In a frame. Too good for us mortals.

Once I got away from jewelry I couldn’t afford and clothes I could make (better, faster, cheaper), I was stopped dead in my tracks by the most amazing piece of craft I’ve ever seen. I wanted to remortgage my house, I wanted to sell my car, hey, I offered to trade my only-born child if only I could have the cabinet Anthony Beverly (apparently no website: woodenworks@msn.com) displayed at the show. It looked like Prairie style until you peered inside and saw the gilded dome. Like stepping through a Stargate or, no, worshipping at a shrine. It was a not so stunning-for-furniture $8,500. However, I tore myself away when I realized 1) I have no place in my house to put it and 2) nothing I own is worth displaying in such a space (oh, sure, I have $8,500 lying around just waiting for an impulse to strike). But when I finally bag it all and move to Paris with a 20 year old lover, I’m having that cabinet shipped to me. I’m thinking I’ll fill it with an assortment of antique Japanese tea ceremony cups, none of which I own at present.

While at the show I ran into Virgil Robinson, with whom I studied metal casting. Virgil makes some pretty amazing jewelry himself, but was just there, as he said, taking notes. I talked to three other artsy-craftsy people I know over the course of the last week, and in each case I asked, “Buy anything?” No, just taking notes. As was I. And drawing pictures. Now, none of us have ever exactly reproduced what we’ve seen, and the AmCraft is a potent source of inspiration. But my aim next year is to go with SOME money. The amazing artistry offered to us deserves our support. And if you have any interest at all in supporting, making, or educating yourself about what fine, non-production line work is really about, do not miss the Exposition next year. Forget the manufactured bling and go for the real thing.