Currently Reading: ‘Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga’

I am currently reading Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fame. I started reading this book at the perfect time as I have been looking for some inspiration for my next clothing collection I am designing as a personal project. Once I started to read the book the descriptions of the Angels stood out to me as a good jumping point for what I was working on which lead me to the Life archives to find their gallery of  Unpublished photos of the Hells Angels from the mid 60′s shot by Bill Ray.

When browsing these photos I was particularly interested in the ones of the Angels ‘Old Ladies’.  These girls clothing vary between androgynous biker gear mixed with more feminine styles of the day. I love this kind of contrast which kind of reminded me of Patti Smith’s style and since I loved ‘Just Kids’ so much (see my post about the book here) I thought this was a great jumping point to incorporate inspiration from these two great books, time periods, coasts, and people.

Shop Update: January 15

Here are some of the newest items up at Linen and Lace

From the top left clockwise:

Vintage Amber Butterfly Drinking Glasses

Vintage – Soup Mugs with Chicken Design

Vintage W Size 10 Silver Cut Out Heels

Photo Sunday: Asilomar State Beach

Asilomar State Beach, a photo by candissk on Flickr.

Pacific Grove, CA
Shot with Nikon D90
September 1, 2011

The Studio of Linen and Lace

After living at my apartment for over a year I finally almost have the place in shape. I have need an inspiring work area for some time now but that became a necessity as soon as I decided to quit my job to work on some personal projects for a bit.

So follow me for a mini tour of my current studio space (as known as my room) decoration. The picture at top I think best captures what my desk looks like when I am designing with my inspiration and supplies all strewn about.

  To the right is my  awesome shelves above what is currently my media station. On the shelves I have these awesome metal cylinders at the very right and left. I picked them up at the Goodwill Outlet in Portland, OR ( my favorite place to hunt for housewares) years ago and I am glad to finally have a place to put them. Right now they have fake candles inside but I want to pick up some really ones soon.  I also have on display my vintage camera collection, some of my carved Lino blocks, and a various hodgepodge of things I have collected over the years.  You can also see in this photo my awesome Cambridge Satchel Music Bag.  Across from this as you can kind of see in the mirror is another display shelf with more of my stuff.  As you can see I hoard a bunch of kick knacks but as long as I don’t let them get too out of control I am making no apologizes for my collecting!

Linen and Lace Shop Update

I finally got my Etsy Shop Linen and Lace up and running and these are the first items up for sale!

From Left Clockwise:

Vintage Oversized Collared Blouse

Vintage Plaid Shirt Dress

Vintage Maggie Sweet Striped Blouse

Portland Finds

I just returned from a trip to Northern California and Portland Oregon. Every time I make a trip back to Portland I make sure to get some thrifting and shopping in for a few reasons. Reason #1 there is no sales tax which is always good, Reason #2 there are always good thrifting finds I never come back empty handed when thrifting there, Reason #3 not only do the thrift stores have amazing things there are so many of them!

This time I hit the mother load as you can see and got a bunch of great items and accessories. I hit purse heaven and came back with 5 awesome ones! My favorite is this black number with white lattice on it. I also scored a nice fur collar that just needed some lining sewn to it and this awesome wood talismanic necklace. All in all a great trip and great finds.

Etsy Treasuries

Hello blog neglect! While I can’t say I have been too busy in these recent days I can say inspiration and motivation was on a major low. That paired with still adjusting to having to work in front of a computer all day equaled a whole lot of unproductivity. So while I make no promises for this summer I am hoping that a bit of motivation and productivity come back my way!

So on to other news, today I started using the Treasuries feature on Etsy and I have to say I love it! There is nothing I love doing more than curating awesome things and this is a fun great way to do it. Check out my first one Earthy Vibes and check back to my Etsy page for more in the near future.

I have also started a twitter, @linenandlacebk I can’t say how much I will actually use it at the moment but I have now officially entered the land of twitter for the first time ever.

Check back in later this week I do have some branding for my Etsy store to show and I am getting things in order for actually starting that.

Book: Patti Smith ‘Just Kids’

Earlier this week I finally bought Patti Smith’s memoir

Just Kids

and finished reading it last night. I am no where near qualified to write an acceptable book review but I highly recommend it. Before reading it I can’t say I was the biggest Patti Smith fan or even knew that much about her but after reading about the struggles her and Robert Mapplethorpe went through to make it in New York I feel inspired to create, which is always a welcome result of reading anything. It was also interesting to be reading about the area in which I currently work (Chelsea) back in its gritty New York days.
The story is touching and well written, as well as inspiring; I strongly recommend this book to any one who loves art, the written word, or a tale about friendship.

From the Archives: Chinese Tea House

Tea House, a photo by candissk on Flickr.

Portland Oregon
Spring 2006
Tea House in the Chinese Gardens

Weekend Recap: Bronx Zoo

As another special feature, to go along with ‘From the Archives’,for the summer every Monday I am going to be posting a ‘weekend recap’ as mostly photographic documentation of things I did the past weekend. My primary goal in doing this is to force me to take my camera with me and take photos every weekend. This weekend trip was the Bronx Zoo, we saw lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!