Thriftcapades

What It's All About

There are few things in life as exciting as finding great thrift store furniture. I mean, the potential...the possibilities...it makes me giddy. And what about crafting--how much fun is that? Me, I mosaic, crochet, collage, take on little sewing projects, pick up a paint brush from time to time. Am I producing masterpieces? Not even close. But I hang some of my projects on the walls or place them on other surfaces in my apartment because I get a lot of pleasure from looking at them. I like them. They’re cool. And they’re mine. And that brings me to the real thrill of all of this—creating a space that’s one-of-a-kind and personal. Because somewhere along the way I figured out that there’s no such thing as a perfect home, only an imperfect home that’s perfect for me.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Champagne Wishes and Sweet Fabric Dreams

I may not be living the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (remember that show), but thanks to a great Groupon offer I snapped up last night, I will be enjoying a crafty gal's

extravagance. For $49 I got a series of three, two-hour classes in textile design at California School of Professional Fabric Design in Berkeley. The closest I've ever come to designing textiles was painting some dog portraits on fabric once, but I don't think that counts. Still the Groupon "come on" assured me that all I needed was "artistic passion," so I said "Sign me up!" Plus, I once took a Textiles class at Art Institute of California, and it was great. We got to burn fibers to try and figure out their content and to practice (unsuccessfully) spinning wool on a spinning wheel. Cool.

This new class will cover the basics of global textile production, include a tour of a professional textile-design gallery, share info on a career as a fabric designer and, most importantly, allow participants will create their own designs. I am already dreaming up ideas and counting down the days to June 25 when my class begins. Stay tuned for a full report.