brelli love

brelli ~ the world's 1st bio-umbrella. made of bamboo & a biodegradeable plastic called bioplastic. only $28. i would cover my entire bedroom ceiling with these if i could! :o)



found on shopmodi

paper relics & octavine illustrations

i'd like to introduce you to a very talented oregonian who paints art deco & art nouveau illustrations: octavine illustration. her work is sold on her etsy shop, and she has a very nice blog of the same name.

and along similar lines, i discovered an online shop where you can purchase lovely vintage cards, tags & ephemera: paper relics

studio tango vida

pssst.....

new word on the tango street is,

ney melo & jennifer bratt are opening their own tango studio right here in san francisco!

may 2008, make plans to head on up to pacific & taylor to experience traditional argentine tango with two of america's best tangueros at studio tango vida!

luscious greens

i have an inexplicable newly developed major attraction to the scent, look and feel of freshly cut grass. i can't explain it, but i'm obsessed with it. so here are some of my latest finds to also wish you a late happy st.patrick's day and an early happy easter!
print of an original photograph digitally mixed with painting titled lessay, by labokoff

spring in a can found at dandee designs

spring grass hand cast resin bracelet by resinated

hide-&-seek pillow cover made with original vintage fabric by absoluut


this soap scent sounds divinve ~ sweet grass and orange essential oil mixed into one lovely looking soap bar found at karen's soaps

this 8"x5.5" notebook has 14 pages sewn together as one signature ~ by jambox

this necklace is created from a photo transferred to plastic, the front is then coated with a glossy resin-like material. by ellep

each off-white cardstock tag features fresh spring grass stamped in green ink. sheer spring green with white polka dot ribbon added. found at petite pear

one pack gives you 20 grass fruit forks (approx. 8" long) handmade from bamboo cocktail forks and faux grass in a hip professional package. so awesome! found at eat-your-veggies

missing you

sorry for my blogging absence. i am missing blogging & all my blogiverse friends, but i've had family visiting me and have a ton going on at work so i've had an undesirable blogging break time. hopefully very soon i'll be able to share some more incredible things i've been collecting to show you.

{hand printed etchings found on ray maseman's etsy site}

down by the seashore

{beach sign, miner's lantern and parasol from the uk-based garden trading company}

{deck chairs, seafood signs, striped & sailboat cushions from the uk based re-found objects}

van jones ~ a local hero for america

today i'd like to offer a deviation from my normal subject matter to share the thoughts of a man who has inspired me more than anyone to actually get behind a movement for progress and change. i think it would be irresponsible of me to not share this, actually. that's just how moved i am.

"the chief moral obligation of the 21st century is to build a green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty. those communities that were locked out of the last century's pollution-based economy must be locked into the new, clean and renewable economy.
our youth need green-collar jobs, not jails."

"to me it’s no surprise that the country that has the world’s biggest pollution problem also has the most prisons. we’ve got a disposable mind-set: disposable products, disposable species, disposable people. we don’t see our sisters and brothers, much less all the animal species, as sacred. the failure to honor the sacred is at the root of both problems. "

"for the eco-elites, the idea of energy independence is exciting just by itself. for the person who is dealing with bread-and-butter, grits-and-gravy concerns, that’s all just pie in the sky. nobody is showing people of modest means how they will benefit from green energy. green is the new gold for rich eco-entrepreneurs, but it can be just one more burden for low-income people if they get stuck paying higher rates."

"it’s important from both a moral standpoint and a purely crass political point of view that we create a “new-deal” coalition among green businesspeople, labor, the poor, and people of color. you unite groups by offering immediate, as well as long-term, benefits for each constituency. for poor people, that could take the form of job opportunities, better mass transportation, and free bus passes. obviously, you’ll want to split the business community: the problem makers should get nothing but grief; the problem solvers should get plenty of support. right now the problem makers — the warmongers, the polluters, the clear-cutters, the incarcerators — get all the support they need from the government. the problem solvers — the solar engineers and the people who are growing local and organic produce — get very little support from any level of government. we want to lure the government away from the problem makers and put it back on the side of the problem solvers: give them the tax breaks, the subsidies, and the incentives, and starve those other guys."

"social problems are driving ecological problems, which are feeding back into social problems. you have to deal with both at the same time. if you try to fix poverty with suburban sprawl and pollution-based economic development, you are going to sink the environment. but if you preserve the environment by outlawing development, you then strand poor people and displace workers. they’re not going to starve to death so that you can have trees. they are going to fight for their survival. you have got to come up with economic development that honors the real constraints of the natural world. all roads lead to the same solution: a green-collar-jobs agenda that puts people to work reengineering our production, waste, energy, and water processes."

all quotes from van jones.

i just learned of him from an awe-inspiring interview in my march '08 sun magazine. the whole thing is definitely worth reading: here.

van's website is here.

all photos {except the van photos} from ralf stockmann's flickr site. van jones photos from the full circle fund flickr site.

going up or down?

my dear friend miss.ivy is an excellent photographer. so i'm showing a couple of her lovely shots from a place she recently stayed in paris because they're just so apropos {& she'll know exactly why}.

whether you're spiraling up or spiraling down it's actually quite a similar view. and that's a very good thing to keep in mind. ;o)

have yourselves an adventure-filled weekend!

stal tre hus ~ steel tree house

a couple of years ago in lake tahoe, california, joel sherman of jls design set out to prove it is possible to create modern design that fits into the landscape in that high-end residential market. veering completely from the usual "bear-moose-fish-motif" found in the tahoe mountain setting, joel sherman's decidedly contemporary design lifts the house up into the canopy of surrounding trees. the narrow lot drops away substantially at one end so sherman used this to a great design advantage by creating a plan where vertical plaster towers step down in to the lot supporting the bulk of the residence and elevating it to a treehouse effect.

the largest portion of the 2,500-square-foot residence, the garage, is subtly designed into the program of the house and hidden behind opaque shoji-like doors. at the same level as the garage, a wooden plank leads to the residence's main entrance. once inside, access is available to the lofted master bedroom, master bath, the private porch, as well as the garage. a glass-and-steel enclosed stairwell leads to the level below which houses two bedrooms, a living room, and kitchen and dining area.

the design shows an excellent fusion of indoor and outdoor spaces. from the tasmanian red oak floors to the cherry wood cabinetry to the panels of redwood juxtaposed against the plaster towers on the house’s exterior, the natural woodland theme is reflected continuously. another means of merging interior and exterior spaces is the use of transparency. not only did joel sherman use large panels of glazing and glass-wrapped corners, but he also designed the interior spaces so that the residents would have access to outdoor views from a variety of locations, not just from rooms on the house's perimeter.

another fascinating aspect of stal tre hus is the fact that it's the result of the combined efforts of architect and client. the architect successfully brought a modern design sensibility to the area, while the client, an owner of a wood construction company, actively participated in the building of his dream house. wanting to be as much a part of the construction as possible, the client became certified in welding and personally welded every piece of steel throughout his new home. i really appreciate a symbiotic process like this, and would love to see this house in person some day.

{photos and info from jls design & architectural record}

to covet cameos

sorry for the delay in posting. i hope this visual splendor and luscious research i've done will make-up for my absence.
i have always had a fondness for shells {probably due to being raised on the oregon coast}, and ever since the first time i saw my grandma wearing a cameo necklace and earrings set to church i've been attracted to that style of jewelry.

i am now the proud owner of that set and take it out of its velvet pouch to wear whenever i feel like some nostalgic beauty. after learning as a teenager that the sea shells i so adore are somewhat connected to the cameo jewelry i covet, it became a full-blown infatuation for both of them from then on.

now at all flea markets & estate jewelry shops i swoon over any cameo sets i see. and also as an adult i've had a growing fondness for cameo vessels as well. although these vases are most often made of glass, the concept for how they're produced is very similar and i really appreciate their soft elegance. maybe someday i'll be lucky enough to own one or two?
there are three main materials for cameo carving: shells or agate (called a hardstone cameo), and glass. cameos can be created by one of two processes: by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait, onto a background of a contrasting color, called an assembled cameo. alternately, a cameo can be carved directly out of a material with integral layers or banding, such as (banded) agate or layered glass, where different layers have different colors. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colors but most often the natural hues are plenty.

stone cameos of great artistry were made in greece dating back as far as the 6th century bc. they were very popular in ancient rome, and the technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early renaissance, and again in the 17th & 18th centuries. the renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a mussel or cowrie.
in the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties ~ helmet shells from the west indies and queen conch shells from the bahamas arrived in europe. this sparked a big increase in the number of cameos carved from shells. modern sources for the best quality conch shell are madagascar and south africa.
today's world center for cameo carving in shell is torre del greco, italy. the shells are first marked with a series of ovals in a process called signing, then cut into oval blanks for the cameo carver. the actual cameo is mainly cut with a metal scraping tool, called a bulino {an invention of jewish artisan antonio cimeniello}. a number of metal gravers are used and when the details are completed, the shell is then soaked in olive oil, cleaned with soap and water and selectively polished with a hand brush.

{sources: wikipedia and flickr}