What making something from scratch really means

The Toaster Project

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 8, 2012


My new hero is Thomas Thwaites, who built a toaster from scratch in nine months, and wrote a delightful yet weighty little book called “The Toaster Project” about the process. Thwaites begins by purchasing the cheapest toaster he can find (about $6.95) and disassembling it into 404 discrete bits. He then tries to identify the raw materials of the bits, and, without getting into precise chemical analysis, comes up with roughly17 metals, 18 plastics, 2 minerals, and one that’s “just weird.”

Thwaites’ book is not an instructional manual per se, but it does get you thinking about the debt you owe modern technology. Thwaites—a design student in London—first travels to an ancient iron mine turned tourist attraction, near South Wales, for a suitcase full of rock containing iron. He then constructs a trash can furnace for extracting the metal, based on a 16^th century woodcut diagram. His first attempt at smelting is a hilarious disaster, but he is eventually successful after using his mother’s microwave oven running at full power for half an hour.

And so it goes as he travels to Britain’s remotest locations in an often comic pursuit of nickel, copper, mica and plastic with varying degrees of success. The completed toaster looks more like “what happened?” than a finished product. But Thwaites is an inspiring maker, as he embraces his failures, recalibrates the “rules” as necessary (using a high-tech piece of machinery like a microwave, for example, was not part of the original plan), and sees the project through to the end. The finished product is not pretty and barely functional. And it cost 250 times more to make than the price of the store-bought version. But he did it.

Of course Thwaites’ toaster project is a testament to the complexity and ambiguity of our industrialized society. “My attempt to make a toaster has shown me just how reliant we all are on everyone else in the world,” he reflects at the end of the book. “It also has brought into sharp focus the amount of history, struggle, thought, energy, and material that go into even something as mundane as a toaster.”

He’s also aware of how deceptively cheap a $6.95 appliance can be. “The real ‘cost’ of products is hidden,” he writes. “We don’t see (or smell) the pollution emitted when iron is smelted or plastics are made. If all the costs associated with their production were captured, well, toasters would cost a bit more, and perhaps we wouldn’t buy and discard them so often, and of course not so many people would be able to afford them...”

But he also sees building a toaster as an important life lesson that might help slow the hasty manufacture/consume/throwaway cycle. He says he’ll never throw his toaster away, “because (to put it cornily) it embodies so many memories. Maybe when we’re in school each of us should assemble our own toaster, or own kettle our own microwave or something, then perhaps we’d be more likely to keep these thing for longer, and repair and look after them. This would mean these products would be more than things that just come ‘from the shops.’”

Maker Faire Report

My friend, Sally Diggory, shows off the blinky LED broach she made at the
Radio Shack tent using a soldering iron.

Despite the crowds, this year’s Maker Faire (May 19-20) seemed to have more opportunities for making things than ever before. In one day my friend Sally Diggory and I managed to solder blinky LED broaches; snap together plastic rockets; fold the best paper airplanes; roll poppy seed bombs; and make kinetic sculpture earrings. A feast for the eyes and intellect, there were numerous 3D printers extruding plastic, as well as robots, tesla coils, el-wire art, and huge works of mechanized art.

Kids watch Presley Martin's snails making art
by eating through multiple layers of colored
paper in the Show Barn.

I loved Michael LaGrasta’s LED glass-top desk that doubled as a web server. I brought home instructions for installing a penny and resin countertop, and a pen loaded with electrically conductive paint. But my favorite idea-guy was Presley Martin of Seaside, who builds cages for garden snails in which he layers one wall with brightly colored paper. The snails eat through the paper layers and create amazingly beautiful designs. Could my worst garden nemesis actually become a partner in art?

Back yard rug

A recent article in a gardening magazine inspired me to paint a rug on my concrete patio. We’re talking about a 25-year-old, roughly finished, stained from who knows what, and generally unattractive garden patio. I chose a garden theme to my rug, and designed it around flower stencils I bought at a craft store.

What you need

1 gallon white porch and floor paint

Large paint brush

2-ounce bottles of acrylic craft paint in a variety of colors

Stencils

Stencil brushes

Blue painter’s tape

Tape measure

1 gallon clear concrete sealer

Large paint roller

1 audio book

Painting a concrete rug is a great opportunity to read a book. Borrow or download a good long book that you can listen to while painting. (I chose “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”) Start by cleaning the concrete with a pressure washer or garden hose. I also scrubbed the concrete with a brush and concrete cleaner (unless it’s a “green” version, keep this chemical away from plants and soil), although I’m not sure it made a big difference.

Tape off the perimeter of the rug with painter’s tape, keeping the sides straight and the corners square using a tape measure and L-square. A perfect rectangle will have matching diagonal measurements, but close is good enough. Paint inside the tape with two coats of white porch paint using a brush or roller, following the manufacturer’s directions for drying times.

Sketch out the overall design of the rug on a piece of paper, keeping in mind the relative dimensions of the stencils you will be using. Use bands of colors around the outsides, and blocks of color in the center section.

My concrete rug really brightens up an otherwise
drab concrete patio in my backyard.

Using blue painter’s tape, mark the borders of each color as you go. I used the edges of the stencils as guides to keep the tape lines straight and equidistant from the edges. Start on the outer edges and work towards the center. The tape can be removed after you paint a band or block, but allow paint to dry fully before taping over it for another section.

Use the stencils to paint designs in the center of bands or blocks, dabbing color in with a stencil brush. Pour a small amount of paint into a plastic container and load paint brush sparingly for best results. Of course you also have the option of painting freehand. Don’t be too much of a perfectionist when painting on concrete—it’s impossible on this irregular surface. The overall effect will still be striking.

  

Cover your rug to protect it from dirt and critters between painting sessions. Finish the rug with two coats of clear concrete sealer applied with a paint roller at a windless time of day. Then stand back and admire your patio upgrade.

(Step by step instructions with photos can be found at http://www.instructables.com/id/Concrete-Rug/)

Life is too short for beige

Three ways to add color to your garden
 Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 21, 2012

Sunset magazine once featured a garden with only two colors: green (a given) and white. It was like a bad- dream wedding where only the bride shows up--no groom, no bridesmaids, no family, no guests. By contrast, my garden is more of a circus parade. I’ve got orange, pink, purple and yellow flowers, blue chairs and red seat cushions. I think I was scarred long ago from a painting incident involving a beige bathroom. Ever since then I’ve decorated my home in bold (some would say garish) colors—and my garden is no exception.

When asked to participate in this year’s Aromas Country Garden Tour (Saturday, May 12) I decided mine would be the DIY color garden. Maybe I’m not the best (or even the 151st best) gardener in town, but at least I can show people how to make colorful accents for their garden—the splashy throw pillows on the otherwise monotone sofa.

So, here is a preview of three new additions to my garden. These projects are especially good for a rainy weekend when you can’t really get out and dig or prune, but you can move the space heater to your garage and create something for your garden. If you don’t have a workbench, set up two saw horses with a piece of plywood covered with plastic garbage bags (like I did) and you’re ready to go.

ROLLING PLANT CADDY

A rolling plant-caddy enables you to move large, heavy pots around with ease. A change of location might be good for the plant, and can also help prevent stains or discoloration from a pot sitting too long in one place. A caddy will also allow greater access when harvesting tomatoes or cutting flowers grown in pots against a wall. They’re easy to make, and, best of all, can be painted in fabulous colors.

What you need:

Saw

Scrap plywood

Four 2-inch hard rubber swivel plate casters with 1/2-inch screws

Screwdriver

Acrylic paint

Paint brush

Clear shellac

What you do: 

Cut plywood in squares that are an inch or two larger in diameter than the plant saucer. Paint the plywood top and bottom in whatever colors and patterns you choose, then add shellac to protect the wood. Attach casters to the bottom at the four corners and you’re ready to spin your plant until it’s dizzy.

CIRCLE STEPPING STONES

Santa Cruz concrete artist Terri Ryan has the easiest technique for making colorful round stepping stones. Without a mold, she simply adds a thin layer of concrete to the top of a purchased concrete stepping stone and stamps a circle or two into the concrete before it sets. She then uses stain for concrete floors—which comes in small bottles and bright colors—to paint her stones.  

You can find round concrete stepping stones at Central Home Supply in Santa Cruz for about $2 each. Or, if you want to make them from scratch, one $4 bag of sand and one $8 bag of Portland cement will produce six or seven 12-inch stepping stones, with lots of cement left over.

What you need:

94 lb. bag Portland cement

50 lb. bag masonry sand

12-inch plant saucers or stepping stone molds

Plastic bucket or trough

Cans from the recycling bin, various sizes

Long stake for stirring and leveling, scrap plywood

Petroleum jelly or cooking spray

Rubber gloves, towels

Cement stain (Smith’s Color Floor at Central Home Supply), brushes, distilled water

Metal file (optional)

1 yard of ½-inch hardware wire and wire cutters (optional)

Dust mask

Apply cooking spray or Vaseline to the bottom and sides of the saucers.  Using a dust mask, mix six 14-oz cans of sand with two cans of Portland cement. Stir with a stake or gloved hand until sand and cement are completely combined. Add 2 cans of water and stir until well blended. Add additional water until concrete is like a thick batter, somewhere between crumbly and runny. Press concrete into corners of mold and fill to the top. (For greater strength, cut ½-inch hardware cloth to fit inside mold without touching the sides, and add to the mold when it is half full of concrete.) To eliminate air bubbles, tap the mold against the table several times, or set on a running washing machine. Level off the top with the edge of the stake, moving it in a side to side sawing motion as it sweeps excess from the top of the concrete. Use paper towels to absorb excess water that floats to the top.

After an hour the concrete should be firm enough to imprint circles about 1/4-inch deep with the cans. After about 6 to 12 hours (depending on the weather), place a board or tray on top of the mold, invert each stone onto the board, and carefully remove the saucer. Cover with plastic for 24 hours, then round the edges of the stone with a file. Cover stones again in plastic to keep moist for five days to cure. Remove from plastic, mix stain with distilled water and apply with a brush to color in areas of the stone. Always keep concrete out of direct sun while it’s curing.

My husband says my fish look like swimming ties, which I kind of like better. I somewhat followed the birdbath pattern given in “Garden Mosaics: 19 Beautiful Mosaic Projects for your Garden” by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. It took me about three weekends to complete this mosaic birdbath using a terracotta plant saucer and vitreous glass tiles.

MOSAIC GLASS TILE BIRD BATH

This project comes from a wonderful book, “Garden Mosaics,” by British authors Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. Many of the projects use vitreous glass tiles, which are lighter than ceramic tiles and come in a wide range of colors. You can buy them in small mixed bags at craft stores, or more economically, in sheets of 225 ¾-inch tiles from www.mosaictilesupplies.com or other online sources. Cutting the tiles is done fairly easily with tile nippers or double-wheel nippers. There is some waste, since the tiles do not always snap in the intended direction, so I highly recommend buying the tiles in $5 sheets. You’ll have plenty left over for another mosaic project.

BIRDBATH PHOTOS BY PATRICIA PETRAT

The bowl of the birdbath is an 18-inch terracotta plant saucer (Probuild in Santa Cruz has them) and the tiles are attached with fortified thin-set mortar and sanded grout. For the stand to hold the bowl, use three inverted terracotta pots (12-inch, 14-inch and 16-inch), which can also be painted in bright colors (halleluiah). You’ll find photos and directions by Patricia Petrat at www.patriciaspots.com.           

March fashion and art/business events

Two great March events: An inspiring student-run fashion show and the business side of selling art

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel March 10, 2012

SLVHS Fashion Show—Wear the Wild Things Are, March 22-25

“What you wear says a lot about who you are.”—Taylor Friend

One designer’s collection from the 2008 SLVHS fashion show.

A posted flyer inviting student designers to participate in the very first San Lorenzo Valley High School Fashion Show, actually pre-dated by one year, the premier of Project Runway on December 1, 2004—the TV show which initially turned the fashion spotlight from the runway to the workroom. “If you are interested in fashion design, we want you,” the flyer said. “Your designs could be modeled in a runway show! All designers will be sewing and creating their own visions to be revealed to fashionable eyes.”

Of course fashion has always been about trend-setting. But what began as a testing-the-waters call for designers, has become a full-blown, expertly produced runway show, with lighting, sound, sets, refreshments, advertising, models and clothing designs, all provided or created by SLV high school students. The ninth installment of this ambitious annual project, “Wear the Wild Things Are,” will feature eight designers and six collections.

Taylor Friend’s sketchbook shows one of her
 designs for the show: a two-piece bathing suit
 and cover-up, the halter top of which
 has already been completed.

Twin sisters Mary and Christina LoFranco are collaborating for a collection inspired by prep schools and country clubs. “It’s really fun working with a partner,” said Mary LoFranco when I visited her and two other designers one Sunday morning in February as they cut, draped, ironed and sewed at the Felton home of one of the designers. “It’s like twice the creativity,” said LoFranco while working on a lavender corduroy romper.  “And you feed off of each other,” added designer and club president Taylor Friend.

Since sewing is no longer taught in school, LoFranco and Friend said they were both taught to sew by their mothers. “It all started with doll clothes,” said Friend. But they’ve taken a big creative leap forward that their mothers may never have considered by designing their own patterns. “I like the creative process of making a pattern,” said Friend. “So if I use a [purchased] pattern, I change it drastically.”

Friend says her collection was inspired by the power of the San Andreas Fault. She has a sketch and idea book with photos of red rock formations and jagged rips through the earth. But she says that the Santa Cruz “street vibe” is even more influential in her designs. “The fashion mix of Santa Cruz is indie, beachy. Everyone is trying to do something different.”  Mary LoFranco added, “I think we’d all agree that our habitat is influential above all.”

(from left to right) Designers Taylor Friend, Nicole Bullock
 and Mary LoFranco convene at Friend’s home one
 Sunday morning in February to work on their designs.

Another designer, Nicole Bullock, has embraced an earth-friend repurposing theme in her collection. “I do a lot of shopping at thrift stores,” she said while draping and pinning a dress form with black crocheted fabric for a beach cover-up. “My line is really economical. For instance, I’m using a runner from around my mom’s vanity. I don’t like spending a lot of money and I don’t like consuming too much and my line reflects that.”

The Fashion Club—about 12 students—started meeting and planning at the beginning of the school year, but had trouble finding adult advisors—a school requirement. Finally, they found Debbie Wambaugh, the parent of a SLVHS senior and fiber artist, who has helped with the fashion show for several years. “In mid-October I heard there wasn’t going to a fashion show, so I stepped up,” said Wambaugh. In January, Valerie Friend, a parent and teacher, also volunteered.

Wambaugh said her role as parent advisor is to guide and inspire them. “I’ve been trying to give them a guideline and a calendar. But when they say ‘student run’ they mean student run. Even the house manager is a student for the first time.”

The audience applauds a colorfully lined jacket
 at the 2008 SLVHS fashion show.

Even though most of this year’s designers are seniors, none aspire to become professional fashion designers after graduation. Taylor Friend, who plans to major in fine art at San Francisco State, explained, “I don’t like the fashion industry—the consumerism, the attitude. I like the art part. And that what you wear says a lot about who you are.”

Wear the Wild Things Are

Student Fashion Show 2012

Thurs-Sat, March 22, 23, 24 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, March 25 at 2 p.m.

San Lorenzo Valley High School

Performing Arts Center

7105 Highway 9, Felton

(831) 335-4425

Tickets: $5, $7, and $10

For advance tickets and information:

billefriend@hotmail.com

The Business of Art…from Passion to Profitability

“If you’re not making money you’ve got a hobby”—Keith Holtaway

If you’re a struggling-to-make-ends-meet artist pouring your passion and precious resources into your art without receiving much in return, it may be time for some serious (and inexpensive) soul searching. For just $25 per seminar you can attend the “The Business of Art Seminar Series” offered over the next three months through Cabrillo College Extension, and find out what it takes to establish a true business selling your art.

The lead-off seminar in the series, held last month, “The Business of Art 101,” was led by SBDC Certified Business Advisor, artist and co-founder of Pizza My Heart, Keith Holtaway. “Nothing enhances creativity more than not having to worry about money,” he told the sold-out crowd. Holtaway is a proponent of the one-page business plan, which can clarify a business concept in a short, concise way, by answering five questions:  What are you building? Why does this business exist? What results will you measure? How will you build this company? What is the work to be done?

Holtaway said there is a commonly held stereotype about the artist mindset, which is, “I’m an artist and I don’t need to know about business.” He coached the audience to get rid of unprofessional tags and treat their art like a business by adopting successful business practices such as monitoring and planning. He emphasized that hiring a professional bookkeeper is a key element to any profitable business, as well as setting-up a separate business account and keeping a clear paper trail. “The whole process is about measurement and having good data,” he said. “You can’t make good choices based on bad information.”

Some inexpensive resources Holtaway recommended were:

• A free weekly business newsletter available at www.artistswhothrive.com
• Jim Horan’s book, “The One Page Business Plan”
• Squareup.com—a way to accept credit cards on your mobile phone
• Creativesandbusiness.com—a step by step approach to starting a creative business

The next seminar in the series, “Pricing Your Art,” will be a panel discussion led by the very successful local muralist and artist, James Aschbacher. This is an invaluable opportunity to not only learn from the vast experience of four local artists who are actively making and selling their work, but to get your specific questions answered by experts. “There’s nothing like real life experience to learn from, so you don’t make the mistakes we all made starting out on our careers,” James wrote to me about the seminar. “And the real fun begins starts when we open up the floor to questions. That’s where the students learn the most.”

For more information:

Business of Art Seminar Services

From Passion to Profitability

Cabrillo College, VAPA Lection Hall, room 101

6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos

Registration: www.cabrillo.edu/services/extension/bus_arts.html

Cost per seminar: $25

Seminar #2: Pricing Your Art—led by James Aschbacher, local muralist and artist

Saturday, March 31, 2012, 10 a.m. to noon

Seminar #3: Get Your Art Out There! Solid Marketing Principles—led by Aletta de Wal, artist, educator and entrepreneur

Saturday, April 28, 2012, 10 a.m. to noon

Seminar #4: Leveraging Social Media for your Art—led by Susan Tenby, Online Community Manager for TechSoup

Saturday, May 19, 2012, 10 a.m. to noon

From passion to profession

Louise Coombes’ studio room accommodates
 her bulky longarm quilting machine—an
 expensive investment that enables her to quilt
 all the layers together in a variety of patterns.
 She uses EQ7 software to help design quilts
 and to show her clients what the final piece
 will look like before she begins sewing.

Working from home, doing what you love, and getting paid for it

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Feb. 4, 2012

Although I tend to be more of a speed dater when it comes to crafts, lately I just want to move in and try living with Mr. Right—who, for the moment seems to be quilting. For me, quilting has all the attributes of the ideal partner: it’s challenging and complex, not afraid of bold patterns and colors, and warm and cozy at night. Although I’ve dabbled with quilting in the past, I decided it was time to get more serious and make a commitment.

To that end, I decided my quilting skills needed some work. So I took a beginning quilting class at Judy’s Sewing Center in Capitola; I learned to use the longarm quilting machine at the TechShop in San Jose (as a member you have access to all their specialized sewing machines); I read books on quilting history and studied images of quilts in big picture books; and I got some helpful advice from one of the best quilters I know, Louise Coombes, whom I met through Aromas Hills Artisans.

Not only is Coombes a highly inventive and accomplished quilter, she actually makes a living at quilting through commissioned work—a testament to the high quality of her quilts and her willingness to tackle challenging assignments. She works two days a week at a local quilt shop, and the rest of the time quilts for her clients. It can be tough for anyone to turn a hobby into a living, and although Coombes attributes the creation and growth of her business more to happenstance than any great effort on her part, there’s really much more to it than that.

Quilting for Fun

"Carp-e Diem" features fish throughout.

In 2005 Louise Coombes’ life was radically altered in just about every way possible. That was the year she gave up her chiropractic practice in England, said goodbye to her friends and family, and moved to America to get married. She also made her first completed quilt in 2005—a birthday gift for her new husband, David.

Coombes had already been an avid seamstress, making a lot of her own clothes as a teenager. When she left her sewing machine behind in England, she said, “I felt like my right arm was missing without it.” As a wedding present, David bought her a top of the line embroidery machine. “I was blown away,” she said. “I didn’t have a clue how this machine worked.” But she figured it out quickly since she had five bridesmaid dresses to alter.

Coombes uses a flannel quilt design wall to preview of the finished
 quilt top. On the right is her nearly completed “Ribbon Quilt” which
 features 180 fair ribbons earned by an avid 4Her who showed
  rabbits, pigs, sheep and horses at county fairs while growing up.

She was introduced to quilting when she and David attended a quilt show in Morgan Hill, where they first lived. “That was my first wee spin around a quilt show and I was just like agog,” she said. She bought a how-to book on quilting and read it cover to cover. “I went down to the quilt shop finally and bought some little fat quarters not knowing any better at the time and just started cutting them up and making my own thing.” Coombes took classes at the shop, Quilts and Things in Morgan Hill, where she would later be hired as a clerk and instructor by the owner, Laurie Perez. “They couldn’t believe how prolific I was.  Laurie couldn’t believe I was designing stuff before I even knew what I was doing,” she said.

Quilting for Clients

Perez gave Coombes one of her first referrals when a woman came to the shop looking for someone to make a quilt from tee shirts. “I seem to be the kind of person that is not afraid to take on a challenge,” said Coombes. “I’ll look at something and go ‘Oh okay, I can do that’ and most people seem shocked and say ‘You will?’ I take what a lot of other people are too cautious about,” she said.

Coombes’ willingness to take on demanding projects and her ability to magically transform just about anything made from fabric into a gorgeous family heirloom, make her unique among quilters. “The average age of a quilter is 59,” said Coombes.  “They don’t want the hassle of making quilts for other people, while I’m young enough and stupid enough to take it on I suppose.” The tee shirt quilt was a success and the commissions kept on coming. She is now referred by five or six local quilt shops, and has a steady stream of commission work.

David describes his wife as a ‘perennial over-achiever.’ “You’d win the gold medal in over-achieving,” he said. Amazingly, she completed seven commissioned quilts in the two months prior to Christmas, including three made from cut up pieces of one woman’s clothing, intended as memorial gifts for her children. “I’ve got more work than I know what to do with,” she said.

A client brought Coombes a large box of her
 father’s clothing—everything from casual
 Hawaiian shirts to silk ties to flannel bathrobes
 to suit pants—to use in making a memorial quilt.
  The challenge was to work this wide variety of
  fabrics, colors and patterns into one cohesive design.

Coombes describes herself as fastidious. “I am very much detail orientated,” she said. “I’m always emailing the client keeping them in touch with what I’m doing and to ask them different questions, ‘Do you want it this way or that way?’ you know.” 

Clients become Friends

In the process, Coombes has developed a personal relationship with many of her clients, often keeping in touch with them long after their quilts are finished. “’Memories of Grandpa’ was one of my earliest commissions, and it’s one of my fondest memories,” she said. A woman came to Coombes with her deceased father’s clothing in a big box. “Well I looked through all this stuff, and there was just this random array of clothing—there’s handkerchiefs, neckties, work shirts, work pants, Hawaiian shirts, all sorts of different colors of shirts from the wild and whacky to the tame and boring, you know. And she said ‘can you do anything with this?’  She spent some time with me talking about her dad. She was obviously very, very close because she was almost in tears talking about him.”

Fair Ribbon Quilt

In 2012 Coombes plans to continue her commission work—including a quilt made from a huge collection of ties—but also hopes to have time to do some personal projects and teach. “I want to teach what I’m creating, my own thing, a new slant,” she said. She’d also like to introduce a new gadget or pattern, “something that will revolutionize the industry.”

For photos of all Louise Coombes quilts, items for sale, helpful tips for quilters, and contact information go to her website, Joyousquilter.com.

Apply Creativity to Marketing

Sussy Flanigan, Fins Coffee, Recycling and Local Charities All Join Hands in Selling Imaginative Crafts

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 7, 2012

Santa Cruz County finished 2011 with dispiriting job news: a 10.6 percent unemployment rate persisted in November—2 percent higher than the national average—which means there are about 11,000 people looking for work.

Amazingly though, 2011 was also the year that Santa Cruz/Watsonville was ranked 5^th on a Most Artistic Cities in America list by The Atlantic Magazine. Our small metro area was rated comparable to major metropolitan areas such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles because The Atlantic rating took the number of artists relative to population into account. The only small population that ranked higher was Santa Fe.

So what does this say about the resilience and creativity of our artists, who continue to survive in remarkable numbers despite a depressed economy? Equally significant, what does our ranking say about the loyalty of a community who supports the arts, even in tough times?

Flanigan shows some of her embellished aprons for sale at Fins Coffee. 

What follows is the of story of one such resilient Santa Cruz artist, struggling to do what she truly loves in a creative and resourceful new way. Her idea has the potential to benefit many others besides herself in the 5^th most artistic city in America.

Sew Sweet-N-Simple, Santa Cruz, CA


Sussy Flanigan has always kept her hand in crafts, even when job and family seemed to be leading her in many other directions. While raising her three children in San Jose and operating a medical records retrieval and management service in Almaden Valley, she set up a retail vintage clothing boutique—selling her own designs—on the street side of her office space. When she sold the medical business to renovate and run a bed and breakfast, the Dutch Flat Hotel, in Placer County, she opened a gift shop at the B&B to sell her handmade items and also hosted art retreats.

Flanigan moved to Santa Cruz in 2005 so her daughter and husband could be closer to the ocean and surfing, and loves it here. “Every time I walk to the Marina it never ceases to fill me with a sense of joy just to be able to live here,” she says. “I grew up in Indiana, and I’d always see California and the ocean on television. After college I bought a one-way ticket to California.”

For almost nine years, Flanigan has divided her time between Santa Cruz and her B&B in the Gold Country. She now intends to turn her attentions away from weekend innkeeping and occasional professional opera singing, to fulltime crafting.

“I make a lot of cards and I love glitter,”
 says vintage crafter Sussy Flanigan.
 She also sells “Emergency Glitter”
 at craft fairs “in case of sudden onset
 of melancholy,” she says.

“My bed and breakfast is on the market and I’m no longer going to be running it,” she says. “The economy just killed me so I decided to go back to what I truly love and I always end up going back to, which is sewing and crafting and try to make actual money. I’ll probably make more money than I did at the bed and breakfast,” she says laughing.

Flanigan describes herself as an “ADD crafter.” “I’m all over the place,” she says. “In fact, my girlfriend told me the other day, ‘Girl, you need to focus on one thing.’ And I thought, if I focus on one thing, I’m going to miss so much stuff.”

Her crafting style and product line also attest to her “all over the place” approach. She designs and repurposes vintage clothing; sews and decorates cuffs, shirts, hats and aprons; sells banners, cards, scrapbook supplies, glitter and antique photographs; and creates mixed media collage. And everything she makes is embellished with lace, buttons, rick rack, and embroidery—large quantities of which she stores on shelves, racks, bins and tables in her small, upstairs studio space in the Old Sash Mill. “This pretty much is my life’s collection in here,” she explains. “I’m an organized hoarder.”

Flanigan sells her creations at craft fairs but says she does better in large wholesale venues such as the California Gift Show. “A lot of time when you go to these art and wine festivals, they’re there to drink or just walk around and look,” she says. “I do well at a big gift show like in Los Angeles because there are a lot of people [wholesalers] and they’re there to buy stuff. They feature a vintage section and I now have stores that actually look for me.”

Nearly everything Flanigan makes is embellished with lace, buttons, rick rack, and embroidery—large quantities
 of which she stores on shelves, racks, bins and tables in her small, upstairs studio space in the Old Sash Mill. 
“This pretty much is my life’s collection in here,” she explains. “I’m an organized hoarder.”

To start selling more products locally she’s just developed a project called “The Shirt Off Your Back,” with Fins Coffee on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz as her first venue. Flanigan has placed a box and posted a sign inside the restaurant entrance, asking customers to donate used shirts. She then cuts up the shirts to make beautiful embellished aprons, which Fins sells for $25 each. From the proceeds both she and Fins each donate a dollar to a local charity, such as Ride AWave–which  hosts beach camps for kids with special needs. Starting the project just ten days before Christmas, they’ve sold 13 aprons.

Flanigan also makes and sells coffee “cuffs”
with Fins’ logo at the register, for keeping
 coffee cups warm.

Flanigan envisions her business providing jobs to many others in the future. “My goal is to create several jobs with this project because it’s a process, you know,” she says. “You make the apron, they buy it, then I have to hire people to help me because I’m so busy.” Her seamstress friend Melanie Vizzusi, owner of Free Form Fashions in Santa Cruz, is helping Flanigan produce the aprons and her other clothing designs. “Like this tunic. I give her a design, she makes me a pattern and then sews it for me. Then I bring out all my beautiful adornments and I tack everything on.” says Flanigan.

She says if the apron project is successful at Fins, she’d like to get in to other local venues like Santa Cruz Diner or Seabright Café. “And, I am trying to get Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown to donate shirts to help jumpstart the project,” she emails to me after our interview. But she’s very grateful to Fins Coffee owner Brian Neuschwander for giving her a start. “He’s one of those people that have the compassionate mentality that says ‘I’m going to give someone a chance,’ which is very rare these days. Because if there are people out there creating their own jobs, which a lot of people are trying to do, they can’t do that without someone giving them a chance.”  

Finding inspiration where you least expect it

Seeking inspiration: Take the “Work of Art” challenge

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, December 3, 2011

“La Fille aux Yeux Verts” by Henri Matisse

There are things about Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” that really annoy me—like mentor Simon de Pury’s forced enthusiasm (Be bold! Be amazing! Go for it!), host China Chow’s icy goodbye send-offs (“It’s time for you to go.”), and petty clashes between the contestants. But, on the whole, I’m fascinated by the weekly challenge to create museum-quality pieces in a relatively limited amount of time and space.

Typically the hosts take the remaining group of young artists somewhere in New York City, to a location or experience that will generate inspiration for their work of art. This season, their inspiration has come from some pretty diverse sources: kitsch, creative movement called Parkour, children’s art, pop art, newspaper headlines, a brick wall in Brooklyn, and a disassembled Fiat 500.

Although the source of artistic inspiration can be just about anything, I’m intrigued by the notion of an imposed source of inspiration. A group of etsy.com artists are actually playing along each week with “Work of Art,” taking the same challenges and posting their results at etsymetal.blogspot.com. (What will these metal artists do with a brick wall in Brooklyn?)

In the same spirit, I decided to seek my own artistic inspiration from some unlikely sources. I chose three new books as my point of departure, and created three crafty projects. Here are the books—all of which I highly recommend—and the results:

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."—Pablo Picasso

Book #1: PARIS PORTRAITS by Harriet Lane Levy

When she died in 1950, Levy left the San Francisco Museum
 of Modern Art a trove of art, including La Fille aux Yeux
 Verts (The Girl with Green Eyes) which she bought from
 Matisse in 1908. I used Web images of this painting and several
 others to create Matisse-inspired pendants on Scrabble tiles
or in small frames.

My favorite movie of 2011 is Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” in which Owen Wilson’s character is magically transported back 100 years to a romanticized Paris where he meets and hangs out with the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Degas, Dali and many other artistic giants of the era. San Francisco native Harriet Lane Levy had her own real-life close encounters with Matisse, Picasso and other legendary artists when she and Alice B. Toklas, joined their friend Sarah Stein in Paris in the summer of 1908. Levy recalls her 2-year Paris adventure in, “Paris Portraits: Stories of Picasso, Matisse, Gertrude Stein, and Their Circle,” a beautiful little memoir that has not been published in its entirety until now. In it, she recalls the eccentricities of her Paris friends, her regret at not buying a $50 Picasso from Sarah Stein, and learning to love modern art—Henri Matisse’s paintings in particular. Like Woody Allen’s movie, “Paris Portraits” is an enchanted portal to a time of unequaled charm and luminosity

Project #1: An audacious pendant

When Harriet Lane Levy died in 1950, she left the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art a trove of art, including “La Fille aux Yeux Verts” (The Girl with Green Eyes) which, when her friends declined it, she bought from Matisse in 1908 while in Paris. Like Harriet Levy, I didn’t initially take to Matisse’s modernist style; but the joyous, audacious color in his portraits of women gradually won me over. So, I made pendants using printed images from Matisse and Matisse-inspired paintings, reduced to a size tiny enough to fit on the back of a Scrabble tile. There are several websites and YouTube tutorials that show you how. Just Google “Scrabble tile pendant” or “resin jewelry” for instructions.

"The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Book #2: JUST MY TYPE: A BOOK ABOUT FONTS by Simon Garfield

Simon Garfield likes to tackle topics that make people wrinkle up their nose and ask, “How could that be a good book?” Among other historical topics, he’s written about postage stamp collecting and the color mauve. Reading his latest book “Just My Type: A Book About Fonts,” I found myself unexpectedly absorbed in the history and evolution of the ampersand, the controversial switch by Ikea from Futura to Verdana, and a typeface called Gotham, that has been embraced by both President Obama and Sarah Palin. Fonts carry a wide range of subliminal messages that go way beyond mere words, and Garfield has wisely included lots of visual examples to demonstrate the subtle powers of type.

“Retrofonts” by Gregory Stawinski is a good follow-up that allows you to simply bask in the lovely inventiveness of over 400 classic 19^th and 20^th century fonts. It includes a CD with 222 featured fonts, although many of these can be downloaded for free from the internet.

I used “Retrofonts” to find the distinctive font “Renold Art Deco”
 which had great Fs, Is, Es and Ss, and downloaded it onto my
 computer using www.azfonts.net. I then created stencils so I could
 spray-paint the letters for my address along the driveway fence.

Project #2: A distinctive address

To make your address more distinctive, spell out your numbers with letters in a distinctive font. Flip through “Retrofonts” to find fonts with good capitalized letters occurring in your address. Use www.azfonts.net to downloaded your font, then enlarge and print to the desired size, taping pieces of paper together if necessary.

Create a stencil by taping each large letter to poster board and cutting through paper and board using a craft knife. (If you have an “O” or “R” or any other letter with an island in the middle, leave narrow connecting bridges to hold the center of the “O” or “R” in place.) Tape or tack the letters to your fence or wall and add newsprint extensions to catch any overspray. Apply three layers of spray paint for good coverage.

"Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, there is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks."—Johann Gottfried Von Herder

After an afternoon of cutting and folding two
 2011 calendars, I had created three sets of
 origami earrings and several origami gift boxes. 

Book #3: TRASH ORIGAMI: 25 PAPER FOLDING PROJECTS REUSING EVERYDAY MATERIALS by Michael G. LaFosse and Richard Alexander

Origami can be complex and intimidating at times, but the projects in this book are refreshingly simple and practical. The authors show you how to make useful objects such as boxes, checkers sets, photo cubes, bowls and envelopes out of found papers. At a time of year when calendars, catalogs, gift wrap and greeting cards are quickly filling up your recycling bin, Trash Origami offers these paper products—and just about any other kind of waste paper—a great second life.

Project #3: The gift is origami

Use the instructions in “Trash Origami” or search origami-instructions.com to make gift boxes with lids from 2011 calendars, used gift wrap, or other colorful, not-too-thick source of paper. Take “Trash Origami” one step further by also folding a gift to go inside the box. Search the Web for instructions on making an origami pendant or earrings. Use shredded paper as fluff inside the box and fold an origami decoration for the top and you’ll have a completely upcycled, handmade gift.

"When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration."—Robert Bresson 

4 Ways to Feel Good About Sewing Again

Originally published November 5, 2011 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

My completed duct tape dress form.

This column is for those of you who, like me, used to sew clothes. But somewhere along the way you became disenchanted with the process due to one or more of the following:

1) lack of style in commercial patterns

2) low quality of readily available fabrics

3) bad fit of clothes you made, which always looked like you had made them

4) high cost of patterns and fabrics.

Mrs. Woods taught me to sew in her home economics class in junior high and I made lots of my own clothes throughout my teens and 20s. In college, I distinctly remember the dank basement sewing room in the girls’ dorm, where I spent Saturday nights sewing and listening to Elton John sing about a much crazier kind of Saturday Night. When I graduated from college, my parents bought me a really nice, indestructible Necchi sewing machine—which I still use to hem pants and occasionally make quilts.

My husband applies the 3 layers of duct tape.

But gradually my enthusiasm faded as I realized that I could buy clothes for less than I could make them, in fabrics and styles that were trendy. And I didn’t have to buy anything that didn’t fit right—or at least could be easily altered when I got home. So, this summer when I got a fabric store coupon for five patterns for $5, and I needed a cocktail dress for a wedding reception, and I didn’t want to spend a lot for a potential one-use dress, I decided to flip through the pattern books and roam through the fabric aisles, like I used to.

I did end up buying five Simplicity patterns for $1 each (I saved $80?!), but no fabric. When I got home, I put the patterns away for another day, and borrowed an appropriate dress from a friend for the wedding. Sewing still seemed like it had too much potential for disappointment.

But I am reminded of how much I used to love sewing every time I watch Project Runway. As a devoted fan and fantasy-league fashion designer, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a bulging envelope of money to spend at a high-rise New York City fabric emporium? (How challenging it must be to spend $500 just to make one dress!) Wouldn’t it be dreamy to drape fabric on a dress form, to lay-out and cut fabric on a huge table in a spacious workroom, and sew on a powerful machine like an 8-spool serger? The spin-off show I would love to see--“Project Sewing Secrets”—would, unfortunately, lack the interpersonal drama demanded for prime time.

Perhaps due to the popularity of Project Runway, there has been a renewed interest in sewing and clothing design. In September, the annual runway event, Santa Cruz FashionArt, thrilled a sold-out crowd at the Civic Auditorium, debuting avant-garde fashions for both men and women. Nationally, applications for fashion design colleges have increased steadily over the last ten years. And, as further proof, a burst of books on repurposing, fitting, and sewing techniques have displaced some of the abundant knitting and quilting books on the shelves of libraries and bookshops.

This renewed interest in clothing design has prompted remarkable improvements in the home sewing realm as well. For example, commercial patterns have become more customizable, each one including four or more sizes. And even if Butterick or McCalls don’t have the style you’d like, many patterns now include tips on fitting which make it much easier to modify a pattern and make improvements. In addition, books on sewing techniques are now available on very specific topics, such as fit, adapting patterns, and couture design. And the internet—which didn’t exist when I first learned to sew—is full of free sewing tips and products, including printable patterns and YouTube sewing tutorials. The Web also provides unlimited sources for finding the fabric you want at a price that’s affordable. (You can even bid on fabric on eBay.)

Here are a few more reasons to feel good about sewing again:

1. A new line of dress patterns created by Simplicity called “Amazing Fit,” actually walks you through the process of altering a pattern to make it fit your own unique body, step by step. The process involves taking accurate measurements of your body and using those to select individual pattern pieces before cutting fabric. Seam allowances are larger and machine basted until there is enough dress to try on and check for fit. Once adjustments are made, seams are permanently sewn and trimmed to 5/8-inch. It’s a longer process, but by the end you will know your body dimensions and exactly how future patterns need to be adjusted before cutting and sewing.

2. There are lots of books about making clothes that fit and flatter. One that I found easy to follow is, “How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns” by Lee Hollahan, which walks you through altering commercial patterns and designing your own patterns. I learned useful techniques such as how to line up the grain correctly, how to download patterns and print them on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, and how to measure a body accurately. This book also names and discusses body shapes and what styles complement a “top-heavy triangle, a circle, an oval, a narrow rectangle, an hourglass, or a bottom-heavy triangle” body type.

3. Websites can also offer sewing tips and free patterns. Check out:

http://diyfashion.about.com – for free printable patterns for classic styles http://www.threadsmagazine.com – for instructions on making a duct tape dress-form (also papier-mâché or paper tape)

http://www.thunderlily.com  - for styling practice by dragging and dropping a variety of separates and fabrics to a model to see how they look together. The monthly blog also contains fashion design tools for making or selecting clothes that flatter different body types.

4. “Little Green Dresses” by Tina Sparkles, offers a new take on fashion repurposing. Instead of being another book on how to turn jeans into skirts or tee-shirts into shrugs, this one is about actually drafting new patterns and creating very polished finished pieces of clothing. It encourages the use of thrift store and garage sale clothes and linens that will have the yardage necessary to completely remake them into something very wearable. After roaming the aisles of Jo-Ann Fabrics and seeing lots of Prop 65 signs warning about the formaldehyde content in an unspecified number of their fabrics, I’m more sold than ever on reusing thrift shop apparel that may have already been washed a number of times. (You’ll be relieved to know that I haven’t seen these warnings signs at any of the fabric stores in Santa Cruz County.) There’s also a good chance you’ll find higher quality fabrics at a very reasonable price at the thrift shop. I recently purchased nine long dresses with enough fabric to sew nine tops, for about $30 at Salvation Army.

 So dust off the ol’ Singer and give sewing another try.  Dank basement and Elton John are optional.