lucky stars
June 12, 2007 at 6:44 am | Posted in chatty | 6 CommentsI love stars, and the other day I mentioned that seeing the Maersk star is kind of my good-luck charm. Well, I got such a nice note from Andy at Maersk, which was a cool surprise!
Dear Susan,
Hoping this message brings you plenty of luck, as it is from the source of that Maersk star you described on 6/6/07.
“Behind our name and logo: the story of the seven pointed star
When Captain P.M. Møller took command of his first steamer the s.s. “Laura” in 1886, her black funnel was ringed with a blue band with a white seven-pointed star on each side.
While accompanying her husband on a voyage years earlier, his wife Anna Møller had suffered a serious illness, which left a lasting impression on the deeply religious captain, who felt himself to be responsible. In a letter to his wife in October 1886, he explained the background for the company’s new emblem: “The little star on the funnel is a reminder of the evening I prayed for you so dejectedly and anxiously, asking for the sign that I might see in the grey, overcast sky, a reminder that the Lord hears our prayers”.
The “Laura” kept the star until the ship was sold in 1909 and, when The Steamship Company Svendborg (Aktieselskabet Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg) was founded in 1904, the white seven-pointed star on a sky-blue background also became the funnel emblem for ships of the new company, which acquired a similar house flag.
The star went along when The Steamship Company of 1912 (Dampskibsselskabet af 1912, Aktieselskab) was established and thus became permanently linked to the Maersk fleet. It was therefore natural that, when the new Maersk Line needed a logo for shippers and passengers for its liner trade between the USA and the Far East in 1928, a version of the ship’s funnel with the seven-pointed star was selected.”
Taken from the book about A.P. Møller: “With Constant Care…”, by Ove Hornby
Maker Faire redux and Renegade on the horizon
June 11, 2007 at 2:18 pm | Posted in california, crafty events | 1 CommentI am so pleased that my first post for whipup is officially up! I wrote a recap of the Bay Area Maker Faire and some of my favorite crafty demos, sightings, and workshops over the weekend, from stitch-your-own-Yoda-dolls to a caravan of gigantic cupcakes careening through it all. If you’d like to check it out, it’s over here. I’ll be doing a quick Bazaar Bizarre follow-up this week, too.
I’ve got my heart set on going to Austin in October for the next Maker Faire if I can, at 33 I think it’s high time that I finally visit the great state of Texas. (I really don’t think airports count.)
Speaking of trips — I leave for New York tomorrow, for the Etsy two-year-anniversary party, Renegade and for my brother’s birthday, and my whole family is meeting up with me at the craft fair on Saturday, yay! Julian and I will be on the lookout for fun stuff while I snap pictures for Venuszine.com, so please say hi if you see me hanging out with the cutest almost-six-year-old in the world. I’ll be posting when I can but I’m not sure how much I’ll be online… see you three hours ahead!
PDX Etsy sale tomorrow in the park blocks
June 8, 2007 at 2:49 pm | Posted in crafty events, oregon | 2 CommentsThe Portland Etsy sellers (collectively known as PDXEtsy) are having an Art + Craft sale tomorrow in the SW Park Blocks, right next to the farmer’s market, so you can shop for your vegetables and flowers, plus your Gocco-printed skirts and vintage-inspired jewelry, at the same time! Brilliant. The vendor list is impressive — I’m especially excited about new stuff from CROQ, Bossa Nova Baby, Totinette, and Button Arcade — and it runs all day long, from 8 to 5, so you have plenty of time to browse all the cool handmade things for sale.
I’m planning to go late morning and hopefully meet up with Melissa for a minute — see you there?
Then Saturday afternoon is the movie premiere, and Sunday is Crafty Wonderland, yay. And somewhere in there I hope we get to go hiking in the Gorge!
Birthday: Portland premiere this Saturday
June 7, 2007 at 1:59 pm | Posted in crafty events, oregon | 2 CommentsJust wanted to let you know that a new film starring my husband Andrew is showing this Saturday as part of the Portland Underground Film Festival at Clinton St. Theater.
The Los Angeles premiere, hosted by the director, Christopher Blauvelt a few months ago, was amazing, and I’m excited to see Birthday on the big screen again. Hope to see you if you’re free!
If you go:
Clinton St. Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., Portland
5:00, Saturday June 9
$6
seven things about me
June 6, 2007 at 3:34 pm | Posted in chatty | 3 CommentsLee tagged me for this one: list 7 random things about yourself and then tag 7 more people to do the same… so here goes!
1. I love rain (good thing, living in Portland for the last decade!) — I love how fresh the air feels and as long as it’s not bitterly cold or bitingly windy, I like walking in it, too. I never really got used to the dryness of the desert air in Los Angeles, I missed the rain a lot.
2. I hate salad, and always have (sorry, Mom, I know you tried!). I love vegetables, just not raw lettuce and salad dressing, yuck.
3. The things I miss the most about North Carolina, where I grew up, are: thunderstorms, fireflies, swimming in the ocean, good hushpuppies, and seeing UNC basketball games all the time.
4. My husband and I got married in the Church of Craft at Contemporary Crafts Museum. Can you possibly guess who did all the wedding planning?
5. I’m obsessed with the Missions of California — I’ve visited three so far (San Luis Obispo, San Miguel Arcangel, and San Juan Bautista), and I’m already planning a birthday trip down El Camino Real next year. I want to visit all 21 and make a charm bracelet with the saints’ medals. And strangely, even though I’ve visited San Francisco at least a dozen times I’ve never actually made it to the mission there… next time for sure!
6. I love stars, and I think the Maersk truck with a star on it is my secret good-luck charm — when I see one on the highway, I know I’ll have a good rest of the day.
7. I adore flickr and if I didn’t have work to do, I would hang out there all day long.
I think a bunch of people have already done this one, so I’ll tag Linda, Meredith, Kari, Christina, Diane, Heather, and Marie…
Tiki, anyone?
June 5, 2007 at 3:03 pm | Posted in crafty events, oregon | Leave a commentI just heard that NW Tiki (warning: cool music) is having a fundraiser tonight over at Thatch, which sounds so fun! Unfortunately I already have plans, which is such a bummer. The girls of PDX Super Crafty and I have been wanting to make it over for post-birthday Mai Tais for awhile now, so I know we’ll be stopping in sometime soon…
Half of Thatch’s proceeds for the evening will go towards NW Tiki’s budget for Tiki Kon V: Venture into Darkness, so if you go, be sure to make it a double! And keep an eye on their blog for updates about their annual tiki crawl next month, too.
If you go:
Thatch
2733 NE Broadway
503.281.8454
6:30pm – close
DIY Alert in ReadyMade
June 4, 2007 at 5:22 pm | Posted in books and mags, oregon, vintage crafty, washington | 4 CommentsI just got a copy of the new ReadyMade, and my article on Diane Gilleland‘s website DIY Alert is up front in the Re-View section. I’m so pleased!
The Re-Fashion issue is stellar through and through — I especially love Lisa Congdon‘s vintage fabric patchwork pillow, the charming feature on Alyson Fox‘s house, and the Re-Make craft-room organizing ideas.
In other DIY Alert news, Diane has put together a cool little spin-off: a free Crafter’s Guide to Portland, listing dozens of stores, studios, and all kinds of resources here in town, organized by neighborhood.
You can pick up a copy at the DIY Table at the next Crafty Wonderland on June 10. The featured project is awesome, too: Can Cozies for Father’s Day, taught by Jen Neitzel of DIY Lounge. Don’t miss it!
And in case you were wondering what these oh-so-lovely backgrounds in the first two pictures are, Andrew and I stopped at the thrift store in Centralia on the way home yesterday and I picked up a couple of vintage sheets in the spirit of Jenny‘s Thrifty Tuesdays. I’m thinking some little log cabin baby quilts might be on the horizon — I love these prints, and there’s not a pink princess or a blue sports implement in sight. I’m definitely a child of the 70s… yellow, green and orange are big favorites of mine.
Jacinda Russell’s opening at Reed College
June 1, 2007 at 11:53 am | Posted in art and craft, oregon | 1 CommentPortland artist Jacinda Russell creates exquisitely detailed work as carefully constructed photographs and powerful installations. I first saw her work at the Modern Zoo in Portland, and was immediately drawn to the grand scale and sheer volume of her arresting full-room piece, but her smaller creations are equally compelling.
Her current show, Strange and Mundane Objects, is a collection of 50 boxes, each containing a photographic image reproduced on glazed and textured painter’s canvas. What she’s chosen, arranged, and photographed calls to mind a “chamber of wonder” (wunderkammer) or a chamber of curiosities — ephemera and memories in a skillful balance of darkness, familiarity and fascination. She’s giving an artist talk on Sunday, June 3 at 4 pm, which is open to the public, and her show will be up through July.
The private wunderkammer was the precursor to the public museum; a typical “cabinet” contained eclectic groupings of objects collected for their aesthetic, social and historical value. About this collection, Jacinda says: “All the objects are influential in defining my childhood and adult years, the various places I have called home, and the things that I carry with me, not yet willing to let go.”
Jacinda will be leaving Portland soon for an exciting new project: she’ll be teaching photography at Ball State University in Indiana beginning in the fall. I look forward to seeing how her newest home informs which directions her art takes, but Indiana’s gain is certainly Oregon’s loss. You can see more of her work, past and present, at her artist’s website.
If you go:
Jacinda will give an artist’s talk at 4 pm, Eliot 314, Reed College
Strange and Mundane Objects is up in the Reed Library through July 15
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