Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
1. It’s a weird time to be in the creative industry; I hate how accurate this is.
2. This reminds me of all the best things on the Old Internet: niche subject, obsessive research, just posting for the joy of it: “Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail”
3. A fun scroll: “Little People,” David Gilliver’s miniature photos.
I saw a Retroist newsletter post talking about collecting Wilton Cake Decorating Yearbooks this week and realized I never shared the one I got from my mom. I loved going through this as a kid–they combined cake plus catalog plus a craft project, as Retroist says:
Wilton was showing people what could be done with its products, then providing everything needed to recreate the results at home. Each page served as both inspiration and advertising, though it rarely felt like a hard sell. You were being invited to take on a project.
The Retroist post has a great array of pictures, so click through, but here are some of the cakes I fixated on as a kid going through my mom’s copy:
I’m watering for my friend again. It’s a magical garden with high walls (which helped his fruit trees escape that late frost we had) but it’s a beast to water when the days are 100 degrees. But it’s certainly photogenic!
We’re coming up on Lughnasa, the cross-quarter day marking the last six weeks of summer. This year I started making a list of stuff I want to sew by season, so the minute the epoxy was curing in the garage, I went back into the sewing room. This is what’s left on the “Summer” list, organized by serger thread color:
There’s two pairs of pants in there for me, three undies and a shirt for Doc, a couple Zoom tops, and a pair of hiking shorts for me that I decided to start first:
These will be the Road Trip Pattern Co. Sierra Shorts, aka a Patagonia dupe. I hope the fit works out because I’m in love with those front cargo pockets.
The major parts of the garage are done and we were able to park on the epoxy with no problems yesterday–WHEW. There’s still a list of things to do (hang shelves on those pristine walls, add more lights and an outlet, install the stair treads, and paint the footings to match the floor [regular paint, not epoxy]) but the hardest work is over. ALSO WHEW.
I had fun doing this project (except the ceiling) but I didn’t truly realize how much work it would be. But I got ‘er done! And it looks pretty good, especially in photos.
When I pulled the car inside, I realized I painted the floor to match. Color coordinating custom garage!
1. I will always read something about the heyday of printed catalogs. “Longing” is such a apt word choice here:
As a form of media, mail-order catalogs themselves were a story of longing and aspiration that came to define shopping as an American way of life. What you bought and where you bought it from was a statement about who you were and who you could be. This was as true of the inch-thick catalogs from department stores like Sears (whose holiday-season edition was upgraded from mere catalog to “Wish Book”) as it was of the thousands of specialty retail catalogs, from J. Crew and Tweeds to Swiss Colony and Fingerhut, that followed its lead.
(What I wouldn’t give to have saved the mid-90s J. Crew and Tweeds catalogs!)
2. It’s So Hot That Japan Needs a New Word for It: “kokushobi,” or “cruel heat day,”
3. Now that the floor in the garage is done it’s time to start organizing stuff (and painting the footings, and maybe the door, and then adding more lights). This will be me rearranging the tool cart:
I rolled epoxy on the thoroughly rinsed floor yesterday morning. Last year I tried to fill some low spots in the concrete with two-part epoxy (I was already planning the Great Garage Beautification) but one spot didn’t set up for months, so I was extremely anxious about putting it on an entire floor.
But this time I timed the mixing and set a timer for the pot life and generally followed the instructions as completely as only a person with generalized anxiety disorder can do, and I think it worked! It’s handling foot traffic just fine this morning; tomorrow I’ll try the tool chest on it and then Saturday night it will get the car test.
I understand now why the epoxy garage floor is so popular with suburban dads–it looks so good! Especially with the matching stair treads I found for the unfinished steps (not installed yet, I just had to preview them with the floor color). Maybe I too am a suburban dad…
I usually try to space out the poem posts a little more but I saw this last week and “Take a little ride on my donkey, I love that donkey” has been going around in my head so here you go. Don’t mind if I do.
Goodtime Jesus
by James Tate
Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dreaming so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it? A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled back, skin falling off. But he wasn’t afraid of that. It was a beautiful day. How ’bout some coffee? Don’t mind if I do. Take a little ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody.
Remember those barrel-leg pants I made back in November? They remained very snug; then I saw these RTW pants in the spring, so I remade them in a size up in khaki and now I kind of love big pants?
But the real star here are the EMUS, of course. This is fabric from Doops Designs that I’d been sitting on since 2021 or so. I only had a meter but cropping the Willow Tank by three inches and using commercial bias binding made it work.
If I had a leave-the-house job I’d wear the hell out of these pants with a little top (here I’m dressed up for a therapy appointment, lol). But the EMU TOP will work with any pants on Zoom, so it’s a win-win outfit.
The wall paint in the garage is now 90% finished! (I’m waiting on the door wall/behind the shelves because I didn’t want to move everything off and then back on again to do the floor.)
AND the concrete is etched and rinsed! (And rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed again, and rinsed one more time in the afternoon because this is the step I’m the most nervous about. Hence the dropcloth runway.)
If everything dries over the next few days (it should; it’s going to be 100 degrees today) then I’m going to roll on the floor epoxy Wednesday morning and hope for the best.
In between concrete rinses yesterday we went up to play in the stream, because wow does that garage get hot when you’re working in it. Am I mostly posting this because the light is making me look swole? Yes I am. 