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gurdymonkeyYou couldn't make me believe the economy is in trouble judging by the crush at IKEA this afternoon. The small wooden corner shelf on the counter next to the kitchen sink had been listing alarmingly due to warping and I decided it was time to find a replacement.
There is a part of my soul that loathes IKEA intensely. The Swedish obsession with organizational doo dads is a bit terrifying to my anarchistic soul. Every time I find a product I actually like (e.g., the Kartotek boxes which were PERFECT for SCA camping) and decide I'd like to go back and get another, they've stopped carrying it. Then there's the time I bought floor cushions for the House of Cheerful Monkeys and they did not have a single cushion cover in the place that would fit the things. Or the simple fact that on your quest for a bag of tea lights and a basket, you have to go up the escalator to the furniture showroom and then come right back down an elevator or a flight of stairs to get to the Marketplace. I did find a steel wire corner shelf thing (in the bath section), a couple of inoffensive and cheap plastic toiletry cases (because zip lock bags work but look tacky) and a pair of cheap plastick book-ends. The Latin band playing live music by the exit was actually quite good (plenty of cowbell!) and made the wait at the checkout less heinous than it could've been.
It was a nice day. I didn't want to go home yet.For some reason, I found myself up on Shattuck north of University and decided to poke my nose into the bead store. Be still my heart, I found some NICE carved skull beads (they also had some cruder ones). They were a bit expensive, but the quality was so good. No sandalwood, but the olivewood beads are pretty close in color to what I wanted so I got a strand of those. I had a handful of cold gemstone strands in one hand, saw a pretty orangy-reddish strand that didn't quite look like carnelian and reached for it. It was warm! Horn from Hong Kong. I loved how they felt in my hand, so I got those. Saionji will have a 27 bead juzu in olivewood with horn gauds (for lack of a better Japanese term) and Jehanne will have a 3 decade memento mori paternoster with bone skull gauds. If the short juzu comes out well and I manage not to destroy it - I have a history of breaking anything I've ever made that was strung on silk and acquired a roll of nylon coated steel bead wire for these projects - I may eventually make a full sized 108 bead one.
And now I am enjoying a photographic tour of Kyoto, courtesy of Baroness Katherine D'Aquitaine. I met her at Pennsic in 2007, at which time I was the beneficiary of a great deal of swag she had hauled all the way from Tokyo (and which none of the rest of the West Kingdom camp seemed to be interested in). After I decided to represent the Far West for the October Crown A&S thingy, we re-connected electronically and have been enjoying a great deal of A&S geekery via email. I am insanely envious of her current Kyoto excursion, as it has included things like fan-making classes, but she's such a rockin' cool chick I can't hate her for it in the slightest.
There is a part of my soul that loathes IKEA intensely. The Swedish obsession with organizational doo dads is a bit terrifying to my anarchistic soul. Every time I find a product I actually like (e.g., the Kartotek boxes which were PERFECT for SCA camping) and decide I'd like to go back and get another, they've stopped carrying it. Then there's the time I bought floor cushions for the House of Cheerful Monkeys and they did not have a single cushion cover in the place that would fit the things. Or the simple fact that on your quest for a bag of tea lights and a basket, you have to go up the escalator to the furniture showroom and then come right back down an elevator or a flight of stairs to get to the Marketplace. I did find a steel wire corner shelf thing (in the bath section), a couple of inoffensive and cheap plastic toiletry cases (because zip lock bags work but look tacky) and a pair of cheap plastick book-ends. The Latin band playing live music by the exit was actually quite good (plenty of cowbell!) and made the wait at the checkout less heinous than it could've been.
It was a nice day. I didn't want to go home yet.For some reason, I found myself up on Shattuck north of University and decided to poke my nose into the bead store. Be still my heart, I found some NICE carved skull beads (they also had some cruder ones). They were a bit expensive, but the quality was so good. No sandalwood, but the olivewood beads are pretty close in color to what I wanted so I got a strand of those. I had a handful of cold gemstone strands in one hand, saw a pretty orangy-reddish strand that didn't quite look like carnelian and reached for it. It was warm! Horn from Hong Kong. I loved how they felt in my hand, so I got those. Saionji will have a 27 bead juzu in olivewood with horn gauds (for lack of a better Japanese term) and Jehanne will have a 3 decade memento mori paternoster with bone skull gauds. If the short juzu comes out well and I manage not to destroy it - I have a history of breaking anything I've ever made that was strung on silk and acquired a roll of nylon coated steel bead wire for these projects - I may eventually make a full sized 108 bead one.
And now I am enjoying a photographic tour of Kyoto, courtesy of Baroness Katherine D'Aquitaine. I met her at Pennsic in 2007, at which time I was the beneficiary of a great deal of swag she had hauled all the way from Tokyo (and which none of the rest of the West Kingdom camp seemed to be interested in). After I decided to represent the Far West for the October Crown A&S thingy, we re-connected electronically and have been enjoying a great deal of A&S geekery via email. I am insanely envious of her current Kyoto excursion, as it has included things like fan-making classes, but she's such a rockin' cool chick I can't hate her for it in the slightest.
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Date: 2008-11-10 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-11 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-11 02:24 am (UTC)