an unnative proclivity

I just read about a woman who has made and sold 14,500 bars of soap since last October. She said she loves cooking so she cooks up bars of soap. Because she is inventive, she makes soap that smells like food. She says she loves making soap and I'm glad she does.

I make handbags. I do not have a native proclivity for handbag making. When I tour handbag sites on ETSY and elsewhere I am perplexed. Why are the bags so large when the object is to carry as few items as possible? Perhaps that's not the object. Perhaps the object is to carry as much as one's back and shoulder and neck will bear so trips to a chiropractor are needed. But, why? It doesn't make sense. It's illogical. It's irrational. Why purposely do something damaging to one's self?

I make handbags because I have a philosophy about them. They should be smart, i.e., not weigh 8 pounds empty. They do not need tassels or enough chrome to enhance the grill of a 1949 Cadillac. They only need to carry one's necessaries and to do so quietly and efficiently. And elegantly - which is very important. I also believe they should feel good to one's hand and body. (Zip-stop nylon has its place, but lacks that comfy quotient.) I am not certain I love making handbags - it's more of a compulsion - so I keep myself entertained with jazz - Pandora. com - and DVDs - and Netflix' Instant Watchers.

I know that one should never do for money what others do for love. It's impossible to compete. I have no desire to compete. I just want to save the world. (At least the backs of the women of the world.)

some words about the process of making a slim bag

It occurred to me that some information on how my bags are constructed might be in order. How do they maintain their shape? Despite some of the detail photos showing the contrary, these bags don't crumple! When I illustrate their interior details I roll their edges back and, once photographed, they return to their natural upright positions. They are neither stiff nor floppy - and for that I credit both the design and the 100% woven cotton interfacing.

My bags consist of an Exterior with two front pockets, and an Interior or lining with two pockets and a pen pocket. There is a strap with a brass ring about 10 inches long that connects to a much longer strap that can be lengthened or shortened using the brass slider. I make the Exterior and Interior separately and both feature the chosen fabric lined with 100% woven cotton fusible interfacing. The strap is usually sewn from the Exterior fabric and is lined with the woven cotton interfacing and a strip of decor bond for substance. I also line the pocket fabric with the woven cotton interfacing.

The design features a reinforced seam running around the perimeter of both the bag Exterior and Interior. This seam also contains the pocket edges; the pockets are not attached later. The powerful magnets are inserted in the tab which is then sewn onto the back of the Exterior. Then the strap and fob are added, the Exterior and Interior are joined with two rows of stitches, and that's it!

Each bag takes most of a day to complete.

in the morning

It's morning and I'm in my studio listening to music - Coleman Hawkins right now - with crows cawing somewhere on the hill. I've been photographing bags, trying to learn how I can best show them in their wonderfulness on a two dimensional surface. (Of course, you could always come over and see them in person!)

Last week I was at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey photographing the detail points on vintage race cars - a much easier task than bags - for a magazine and had, as usual, one of my bags slung across my body and stuffed to the gills with . . . stuff. ((fleece vest, Canon A620, wallet, program schedule, phone, keys, glasses, misc pretty-up necessaries, etc.) After the event, when we went to dinner, I removed the extra track things and had my nice slim bag back, ready for an evening out. On my sites I've tried to capture the capacity of these bags with photo #5, but that's just the everyday stuff. On race days it doubles.

Now, back to the camera and then to the sewing machine. Today something new in black. And then I order some getting-into-autumn linen. Are we really on the cusp of fall? Here in Sonoma County we'll know it when the grape harvest begins and the air is full of grape-y smells. If you're in Sonoma on the last weekend of September I'll have a booth at the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival. Tell me if we met on ETSY.

the voices of small things

Time is moving me closer to midnight than I planned and I didn't think I'd be at my keyboard so late, but it's mid-August and there are small things making noises somewhere beyond my studio. My door is open and I feel the cool air sliding along the floor and landing at my feet. Outside, crickets, maybe. Or small frogs. There was a small frog who lived in our pond for awhile. He was known by his boisterous voice and then he was, I believe, eaten. Herons visit. So do skunks and two feral cats. Any of whom could wolf down a small frog without a second thought.
This 280 square foot room is where I do my stuff. There's an early-Dylan poster at one end that used to inspire me to think new thoughts, but I don't look at it anymore and now he leans with his face to the wall.
Do crickets still rub their legs together to make sound? If they do then they are wearing their parts out, but for what purpose? Rhythmic. Repetitive. Lovely at first and then not unlike tiny pile drivers in the back of one's skull.
A mid-August night in Sonoma County. Five weeks from Autumnal Equinox. Then Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. 2010. This year has spent two thirds of itself, and now what?