Search results (tags) for: "new orleans"

Mardi Gras: Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?

2009-02-24T16:15:00-05:00

August 29, 2005 was the start of another Labor Day weekend. I was heading to Connecticut to meet up with some friends. Saturday morning when we woke up, we turned on the television and saw the devastation of New Orleans from the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina. We watched in silence, mouths agape, appalled as the hordes of people walked into the Superdome and the Convention Center. What was going on? How could this be happening? We tried to enjoy the rest of our weekend, but the TV stayed on as things just got worse and worse. After I returned home, I continued to watch the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, watching two hours a night of Anderson Cooper as he roamed through the Lower Ninth in his blue Prada shirts and khakis. I read all the magazines and had a pit in my stomach, not understanding how this could be happening in our country, but as the months passed and the TV coverage died down, I too, started to forget.

In February 2006, I received an email with a call for volunteers to go on a service trip to New Orleans. I once again felt that pit in my stomach: this was something I had to do. Without even asking my supervisor for the time off I quickly replied, yes, and bought my plane ticket. This was my spot; I wasn’t losing the chance to go again.

In the weeks before arriving in New Orleans I was nervous: nervous about the trip (I’d never done something like this before), nervous about the people I would be spending the next week with and nervous about what we would find once arriving.

On April 21st, I arrived at MSY airport. The plane was fairly full, but the airport was pretty quiet. I met my group and we said our polite hellos, everyone a little uneasy about this adventure we were about to take. We headed out from the airport, everyone pretty quiet, nervous to be with a group of strangers, and absorbing our surroundings. As we drove down the highway, we could see the damage: stores with blown-out windows and holes in their roofs, blue tarps littering the horizon, the markings spray painted on every house, the water lines running along every building – the bathtub ring around the city. We got off the highway and were amazed by all the abandoned cars under the overpasses. They were caked in mud, missing windows and tires. Where are we? What have we gotten ourselves into?

The first few days were interesting. There were barely any street signs. None of the fast food restaurants were open; most were missing their pole signs and had boarded up windows, and the only things that seemed to be thriving were Wal-Mart and Home Depot. We went to a gospel mass on Sunday morning at St. Peter Claver Church. I was moved to tears by the music and the love you could feel in the room. This was only the second week that St. Peter Claver had been open since Katrina, and many people were reuniting after being apart for the last nine months. After mass we spent the afternoon in the French Quarter visiting a few watering holes. Everywhere we went the bartender or the waitress asked us where we were from and thanked us for coming down. It was a great feeling, The Big Easy, I could get used to this.

Monday morning we started our first day of work on a house that had gotten about 5 feet of water, which — in comparison to other areas of the city — was not too bad. It was a rental unit where the tenants grabbed what they could fit in their cars and left, never returning after Katrina.

Opening the door to the house, the smell was overwhelming. Mushrooms were growing out of the waterlogged couch…boxes and boxes of a comic book collection covered the floor…a set of weights and work out videos were scattered about. We didn’t know what to do, where to start. This was someone’s whole life in this rotting, moldy house. Where were they? Why hadn’t they been back in the last nine months to gather their belongings? Did they make it out of the city ok?

After soaking it in for a few minutes we began unloading – grabbing what we could and hauling it out to the street. Hours passed and it seemed we had barely made a dent, plus it was so hot and humid. Our masks were sweaty, it was hard to breathe beneath them, and we had to keep changing them to protect ourselves from the mold. By the end of day one, we had that house empty and began the demo. We were a group of individuals with no construction experience, not quite sure what we were doing, but we picked up our flat bars and hammers and learned as we went.

In the evenings we got to know each other more and experienced the city. We frequented the French Quarter and often chatted with the locals. Everywhere you turned there was another character ready to tell his story, but there really weren’t many people out on the town. This wasn’t the New Orleans I had seen on the TV in the past with people crowding Bourbon Street, hanging off the balconies and throwing beads. The city was still in mourning.

My week in New Orleans moved me and I thought of it all the time when I returned to Boston. I shared my photos with my friends and told my story to everyone who would listen. I continued to read NOLA.com daily to keep up on the local news. I dreamt about when I could return to the Big Easy. As Labor Day approached and the one-year anniversary loomed, New Orleans was in the front of my thoughts. I watched the programs recounting the anniversary of the storm and Spike Lee’s documentary. New Orleans had become a part of me. A piece of me was still there and I couldn’t shake it.

As the months passed and our group from the service trip continued to stay in touch over email, we decided to plan a return trip, with nine of the twelve from the year before planning to return. I anxiously awaited for April 20th, to be on that plane headed back to the magical city of New Orleans. Stepping off the plane, I felt like I was home. Driving through the city things were looking better. There were more cars on the road, shopping plazas were full of people and there were many more signs of life. I was so happy to be back.

When my second visit was over, I knew I wasn’t done with New Orleans. I boarded the plane to return to Boston, sad to be leaving this city, not looking forward to returning to my desk job. My desire to be in NOLA was much more real now, it was something that I felt I needed to do, and just spending a week a year was not enough for me. I wanted to help these people and work on their behalf to get them back to the homes they love, to the city they love and to rebuild New Orleans for all the world to embrace and return to.

January 5, 2008 I arrived in New Orleans for what was to be a 3-month volunteering position with Catholic Charities. I ended up staying for 6 months and wish I could have stayed longer. I arrived at the start of Carnival season, which culminates with Mardi Gras. I quickly became swept up in the culture and traditions of the season, attending every parade that I could. There are over 50, sometimes up to three a night.

The parades are not about debauchery, as many assume; these parades are family events, full of elaborate costumes, huge dramatic floats, unique collectible throws (beads, doubloons, Frisbees, etc), and the hardest working high school bands and dance crews of all ages.

Mardi Gras is a true celebration of life, love and music. It is a chance for people to forget about their worries and celebrate the jovial and welcoming nature of the city of New Orleans. It's a place unlike anywhere else I have ever traveled in the world, a city so open and welcoming to all walks of life, where it doesn’t matter the color of your skin, what your occupation is, or if you are wearing the latest trendy clothes. New Orleans is about acceptance: it’s about being true to yourself and about loving life.

As I sit here in the Northeast, each day I think of New Orleans and wish I were there to celebrate Mardi Gras this year and hope to be there again one day in the near future. I pray that I will never be faced with the hardships that the city of New Orleans has faced and I know that there is hope that one house at a time, New Orleans will be rebuilt, back to its glory, stronger than it was before Katrina.

Further Resources:
http://www.nola.com
http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com
http://volunteerneworleans.com
http://www.ccano.org/operation_helping_hands.htm

Mardi Gras Posts | Search for Items Tagged "Mardi Gras"

Etsy Finds: Dress to Excess, It's Fat Tuesday!

2009-02-24T10:26:00-05:00

Get out the glitter, ice the king cake and strap on your best set of beads — it's Fat Tuesday! Mardi Gras festivities are an amazing sight to see. This raucous celebration of fun, frivolity and bacchanalia wouldn't be complete without handmade costume ingenuity. Even if you can't be in New Orleans or Rio, you can make the party come to you with the wide variety of Mardi Gras gaiety available right here on Etsy. Mask up, get in a parade line and start dancing!

Mardi Gras Monster Hoodie

By avantegarb, $30.

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Crocheted Children's Triple Jester Hat

By barblinoel, $28.

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Fun on a stick..... crazy butterfly mask

By livn2cre8, $27.

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Blue Hawaiian braided dreadlock Wig. by hair nurse Lana Guerra AOA

By CrudeThings, $150.

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QUEEN OF CARNIVAL Mardi gras dog dress

By MaterialMutt, $19.

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Fruity and Fabulous -- Sweet Plume Dress -- Custom Sizes 12 mo - 8 child

By sweetplume, $89.

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Mardi Gras Hat by Ann Marie Popko, Soft Orange Felt and Sequin Party Hat

By superduper, $50.

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Chanticleer Mask

By artisanmaskers, $25.

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Glamarita TIE ME UP TIE ME DOWN Scientifically Recommended Ballgown in Red and Black Size Small

By glamarita, $175.

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Some of these items were voted upon in our Carnivalesque Poll. See the winners here. Get your vote on in this week's round and help us find best bets for Bath and Beauty items!

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Celebrate Carnival around the World with Pearlswirl

2009-02-23T15:30:00-05:00

For hundreds of years, Catholics around the world have celebrated the days before Ash Wednesday with bright, colorful outfits, delicious, sweet treats, music and festivals. These joyous celebrations were intended to mentally prepare Catholics for the forty days of fasting and solemn behavior known as Lent that followed and led up to Easter.

Today, in Catholic countries around the world, many of these celebrations have turned into fabulous carnivals, parades, and festivals that attract tourists from all ends of the globe. Some of the best-known celebrations take place in New Orleans, Venice, Mainz, and Rio de Janeiro.

Last week, I had the incredible chance to go to Venice at the height of Carnevale season with friends. The experience was mind-boggling. Down every little alley we turned, we saw costumes and masks more fantastic than the last. The spirit of celebration was everywhere, and it was such a feel-good experience!

Many of the costumes we saw were handmade, and it was incredible to see people from all over the world come and participate in something as gorgeous and atmospheric as Carnevale di Venezia. I’ve included some of my photos to convey just how beautiful the costumes are, and just how much attention there is to detail.

In many cities in France, and in the formerly French territory of New Orleans, Mardi Gras celebrations include street parades with fantastic shows of gorgeous costumes, bands playing in the streets, and some seriously delicious fried food like beignets, crepes, and king cakes.

Anonymity and secrecy are key in celebrating during Carnevale di Venezia. In this beautiful and mysterious city, it’s all about creating a sense of adventure and thrill by staying disguised and revealing yourself at the opportune moment!

This is a journey of discovery into some of these fascinating places, their traditions, and as always, the fantastic Etsy items they’ve inspired:

ballons

Get into the celebratory mood with this fantastic vintage-style fine art digital photo and painting print. Those balloons just make me happy! By labokoff, $26.

patchwork faery dress

While each country or city has its own traditions, all of the celebrations have beautiful, elaborate, often handmade costumes in common. This delectable creation is beautifully crafted and whimsical enough to be a street parade costume with character! By larimeloom, $2000.

All Year's Carnival

This fantastic necklace and earring set perfectly conveys the “anything goes” attitude of beautiful street festivals and parades in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Feathers, tinsel, masks! It sparkles and it’s fun! What’s not to love about a carefree attitude like this?! By staroftheeast, $75.

Mardi Gras King Cake (limited edition) Blended Creme Soap

Here is a perfectly delicious example of one-such Mardi Gras treat! These King Cake Soaps look and smell just like the real cakes that Alex, the maker, knows and loves. And I’m glad they’re just soaps anyways because if they were real, they’d look too delicious to eat! By SoapalayaSoaps, $8.50.

Smile...It's Mardi Gras Day - Signed Fine Art Photograph

This fine art photography print from DarrylGlade perfectly captures the essence of celebration and happiness that Mardi Gras brings to everyone! Just look at those bright, vivid colors! In Darryl’s shop you will find other idyllic Louisiana scenes and gorgeous images of the South. By DarrylGlade, $20.

Fasching in Coburg - 8x8 Print

Fasching is the German name for the celebration. In many large cities, including Cologne and Mainz, children have the week off school and get all dressed up in clown, witch, or princess costumes and whimsical wigs to walk through the streets. This fine art painting print by artichokey depicts this tradition with charm and light-heartedness. By artichokey, $27.

Maschera

This stunning fine art photography print by YHPhotos keeps a hint of excitement and mystique around all year long. The strikingly vivid color combination is sure to catch attention. It was snapped in a Venice mask-maker’s window, and, as Yash puts it, it’s a challenge to anybody brave enough to wear it! By YHPhotos, $20.

Happy Mardi Gras, Fasching, Carnevale… Oh, happy day!

Thanks to pearlswirl for the amazing picks, and for sharing her beautiful Venice photographs with us! Take a peek at her blog here.

Carnivalesque Gift Guide | Search for Masks | Etsy World Tours

Etsy Finds: Journey Down to the Bayou

2009-02-23T10:30:00-05:00

Even though I've never had the opportunity to venture through the streets of New Orleans' French Quarter, I find this cultural city to be a great inspiration in fashion and home décor, with its historical architecture, sounds of jazz, and smells of Creole cooking. New Orleans is on the top of my list of places to visit this spring, but in the meantime, here are some great Etsy Finds inspired by the many sights and activities I hope to experience along my journey.

Fleur De Lis -- Elegant Sterling Silver Ring

This elegant silver ring features a fleur de lis, which is a French symbol that has come to represent the influences of French culture on the city of New Orleans. By gurlygirl, $42.

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Live In the Moment

This print by Steve Haskamp perfectly captures the spirit of jazz. By pictorialboom, $15.

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Linen Cotton Napkins Black Natural Striped Jazz, set of 4, 720

Enjoying a spicy bowl of gumbo? Then you might need one of these jazzy napkins. By LinenMe, $14.99.

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Parlor chair

Turn your entranceway into a gorgeous Victorian-inspired parlor with this reupholstered metal chair. By summerland, $175.

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Handmade Park Bench Cushion

Add a touch of New Orleans to a couch or window seat with these incredibly detailed embroidered cushions. By bridgetdavies, $165.

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80s Open Back Asian Inspired Sheath Dress S/M

Look your best while dancing to a live jazz band and enjoying a night out on the town. From RedoRedux, $24.

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ironwork

Planning a picnic down near the Mississippi river? This French Quarter-inspired backpack is the perfect accessory to carry your lunch. By vella, $56.

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613 Saint Philip Street

Sean Finocchio's photographs beautifully capture moments throughout the streets of the French Quarter. By 33stewartavenue, $15.

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Summer Strawberry Notebook

This hand bound journal is the perfect place to jot down your thoughts and memories of your travels. By RedOtter, $22.50.

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About Us: Erin aka ErinHaldrup

2008-07-30T12:00:00-05:00

Erin aka ErinHaldrup works on the Support Team and was one of the first Etsy employees after Matt and Emily joined the founders. She hails from Indiana originally and went to painting school here in New York City.

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As a New Orleans enthusiast, Erin did a number of Storque posts with videos about her trips there post-Katrina, her visits with some Big Easy Etsy sellers, and her time living there before the hurricane.

Erin is very passionate about Etsy. She's a painter herself and spends her free time in the studio, and she's a huge advocate for fine art on Etsy, as Anda pointed out. Her sensitive soul always prompts her to think about customer support issues from the artist's perspective.

Erin Fun Facts:

Erin and Tim were dramatically evicted (along with everyone else in the building) after only having lived in their Bushwick apartment for three days. After that experience, Erin vowed to never rent again and bought an apartment.
She likes tie-dye.
Tim and Erin have been friends since high school.
Erin once dined with her hero, Lou Reed.
She went to the Super Bowl in 2002 to see another one of her heroes, Bono.
During Pet week, Erin brought her budgie birds, Elvis and Priscilla, into the office.
Her favorite painter is Max Beckmann.
She is an amateur ballerina.
As quite the jetsetter, she has been to Japan, England, Italy, and even attended a wedding in India.
Erin got really mad at me (Vanessa) when I added a joke to her cloth maxi pad Etsy Find.
According to Jim, she has possibly the loudest cell phone ring in the office.

As you can see, she was an equestrienne in middle school:

Adorable babe:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We are posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy admin (and since many of us work remotely, for the admin to get to know each other!). You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it. For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Below you will find some of Erin's favorites.

Handmade Weddings: Custom Rings from a Jeweler's Perspective

2008-03-24T12:40:00-05:00

Many Handmade Wedding Series readers want to break the mold with that very meaningful item — the ring. As a jeweler who has done many custom rings, Monique Leon aka gurlygirl brings her experience to the jewelry bench — er table — with this how-to for buyers. She also offers custom orders through her Alchemy.

Custom designing jewelry is exciting and challenging for the customer as well as the producer. Wedding or commitment jewelry is extra special because the piece will reside with the wearer for a lifetime. Bridal head pieces, tiaras, combs, groomsmen and bridesmaid’s gifts can also all be custom designed and created to coordinate with the vision of the client. Here are a few suggestions to help you collaborate with your designer.

RESEARCH:
A lot of times I'm approached by potential clients who desire a custom made item/rings and they really aren't sure as to how to articulate their ideas to me. Seeing this, I ask them to do a little homework before we meet to discuss.

One thing I recommend is to try to find some pictures on the internet or in magazines, catalogs or library books, such as these Italian-style iron gates which were used to inspire the design of the ruby engagement ring pictured above. The more descriptive photos or adjectives they can provide, the easier it will be to come up with a sketch. Write down your ideas or keywords to help convey your vision.

Use words to describe what you like: “thin, wide, bold, matte finish, textured, shiny, smooth, sparkly, detailed, fancy, cheerful, swirly, infinity, harmony, geometric, ancient, floral…” You can also choose time periods to better explain styles you like: "Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Celtic, Victorian, Modern, Egyptian, Retro, etc."

One customer decided on a theme of the beach as inspiration, sea foam and bubbles...The diamonds being the bubbles, and the form of the ring would represent the water/waves washing ashore. The stones were chosen and the drawings worked around the combination of different sizes diamonds.

DESIGN:
Your designer will create a composite drawing of the elements you have shown or described to them. When most people approach a designer, they know his or her capabilities but ask to see his/her portfolio anyways. You can get a greater sense of what your designer has done in the past and you can use that guide them towards your custom piece. For me, this is one of the most fun parts of the process: I love to help the customer to see what is possible as a result of our collaboration.

BUDGET:
Pricing depends on the difficulty of design, the materials used and the production schedule. As a customer, discuss your budget with the artist so they will be able to design and produce a piece within your parameters. If you are doing an Alchemy request, check out other rings to get a ball-park range of prices. Most sellers will bid on your request based on a fair price.

A deposit is often required for custom pieces. Market price/cost of materials needs to be considered when a designer gives you a quote. “Market price" refers to the current cost of metal or precious stones, and these prices fluctuate up and down like gasoline prices. Your designer can offer options to scale down your design if the materials are too costly, such as using fewer or different grade or kind stones or a less expensive metal, while still maintaining the integrity of your design.

Traditionally, wedding jewelry has been made more or less of gold or platinum. But today there are so many more options: silver, titanium, steel. These lesser costly metals offer a break from the high prices of gold and the even higher price for platinum.

The same may be said for the use of stones in jewelry. Diamonds alone are no longer the norm. Customers are choosing colorful gem stones of all kinds (precious and semi-precious) for their wedding sets. These additional choices tend to allow the customer to feel they are personalizing their jewelry, not just merely "downgrading" because of price.

If you are in a hurry, expect your order to cost a bit more. Custom work demands extra attention, and if an artist needs to rush-order supplies for your design or must rush-ship your completed order, then they must pass these costs along to you. Planning as far in advance is best, to allow for the design process (back and forth between client and designer), production and shipping.

PRODUCTION:

Your designer can explain their production process, as each design has its own way of coming to life, depending on the techniques required. Some pieces will be carved from wax (as shown in the blue pieces here) for the original model to then be cast into metal. Others begin straight within the metal, working it into shape by hammering and soldering, drilling, stamping, grinding, etc. All pieces are then finished in a variety of ways: polishing/burnishing, patina, setting of stones or plating. This is my favorite time, getting into the meat of the project, building it. I love planning out how I'm going to execute the design and taking it all the way to the finished piece.

For this lion bracelet, the customer provided this image he drew himself. Each of the two sides were slightly different to reflect 'the male and the female.' The raw blue form is the beginnings of the wax carving. Then we see the carved blue wax for the mold.

This was a collaborative process from start to finish!

Collaboration is an organic process, a transformation of ideas and materials into a unique new object. With the proper research and communication between client and designer, your custom jewelry can become something even better then you had ever imagined!

Please comment below with questions. If you've had a ring custom made by an Etsy seller, comment below or convo Vanessa. For more rings, see TeenAngster's picks in Spotlight!

Wedding Gift Guide | Wedding Category | Wedding Showcase | Handmade Wedding Series

Etsy Finds: Show Us Your...

2008-02-05T11:00:00-05:00

T-T-Ti...BEADS!

Today is Mardi Gras! If you aren't able to make it out to the celebration, you can let loose in your own special way by wearing your boldest beads! I recommend this one of a kind necklace with big, bright felted balls by 3FUN. It can be worn as both a necklace and a bracelet, so switch it up and have some FUN!

What are you doing for Mardi Gras? Leave it in the comments!

Mardi Gras Costumes from the Locals

2008-02-04T15:01:00-05:00

When Etsy admin ErinHaldrup went to New Orleans last year, we had the pleasure of taking a peak at gurlygirl's jeweler's bench, as part of Erin's series on New Orleans-based sellers, post-Katrina. This year, we decided to touch base with gurlygirl again, this time to revel in some of the amazing Mardi Gras costumes she's seen while living down there. It's pretty grey and well, while we are pretty interesting dressers here at the Etsy Labs, the ensembles below are guaranteed to blow your mind. Are any of you readers making a costume? Post in the comments below!

It's Carnival Season again in New Orleans! Grand ballroom celebrations, parades with floats, and lots of parties! Mardi Gras is technically only one day, but Carnival Season begins much earlier. The revelry heats up about 2 weeks before Mardi Gras day (which falls the day before "Ash Wednesday," a Christian holiday; this year it's February 5th).

Maybe you've heard a little bit about it? Bourbon Street, people with beads, "Girls Gone without T-shirts"? That's not the real fun.

Although, this little Dandy is my lovely sister Ann Marie (superduper.etsy.com), who is a local whose quite bold and well placed suspenders miraculously remained in place!

Simplicity was the name of this costume. The fake bananas, in this Josephine Baker tribute costume, were made of hand cut and painted foam.

Found objects created this mountain of a bizarre idea. This costume had a very tactile quality and just asked to be touched.

Locals have celebrations all during Carnival season and these aren't just your garden variety beer keg blow out...They span from elegant formal balls to the frivolous costume parties.

Families join in the fun on Mardi Gras day. This group costume was mesmerizing.

Sometimes these costume parties are themed "Come as your favorite cocktail" or "Pirates" or "Love" or "Voo Doo."

These guys are dressed as traditional Voo doo dolls in the St. Ann's parade Mardi Gras morning.

The creativity to fulfill the theme (or get close to it, or even ignore it entirely) is astounding. People build a new costume for most of these events but they bring out their finest creations on Mardi Gras day. Sometimes the ideas are simple, other times they are complex plans that took weeks or months to construct.

Talk about RECYCLING! This spectacular creation was composed of drinking straws.

I love the ingenuity people have. I spend most of my day on Mardi Gras gasping in wonder and giggling like a school girl at what someone will build for just one day's outing.

During the time leading up to Mardi Gras you will hear conversations about people's inventions: "My costume is gonna be..." "or "I'm not telling anybody what it is!" or " I haven't started my costume yet!" can be overheard in a grocery check out lane.

Everyday objects turned into artful costumes.

Pan himself made an appearance at Carnival!

When the day finally arrives, it's an explosion of color and glitter and everywhere you look there's another reason to Ooo and ah over somebody's interesting take on a costume.

See Etsy admin ErinHaldrup's posts from last year's celebrations in New Orleans. Here's a post with a photo of gurlygirl dressed up and ready for Versailles. Erin also bumped into gurlygirl at a party and then made plans to visit her jewelry studio (see video in this post)!

Are you dressing up for Mardi Gras? Have links to photos of your costumes to share? International folks, how does your country celebrate "Fat Tuesday"? Comment below!

Fundraising for Dawn's Boys

2008-01-02T13:01:00-05:00

A group of Etsians have banded together to raise money for two Louisiana Boys , 8 and 10 years old, who just lost their hard working and wonderful artist Mom in a motorcycle accident a few days before Christmas. Dawn Habisreitinger was an artist with a shop on Etsy.com called JewelrybyDawn.etsy.com. She had been doing well enough on Etsy and eBay to make a living from her art. Now, this group of Etsy artists from all over the world are fundraising for her boys through this blog post and by listing items for sale through Etsy. Search for "Dawns Boys" on Etsy and you'll see all the items listed.

You might buy something from the list or donate straight to the fund via paypal link provided through this blog post. This young 30 year old single Mom had just restored her Slidell, Louisiana home after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She had just graduated from college and was rebuilding her jewelry business. The Etsy Community will miss Dawn greatly and we encourage Etsians to help her sons.

Erin from Etsy: New Orleans Trip (Part 4)

2007-09-28T15:42:00-05:00

Four years ago, I spent a year in New Orleans. This past February, since I had begun working at Etsy, I decided to try to meet all the Etsy sellers of New Orleans, and see how they were spending their Mardis Gras. It was great to be back there to see how the city was doing. I hadn't been back there since Katrina, and now, just after the anniversary of the storm, I've revisited some of my New Orleans video footage. I'll be sharing those here on The Storque as a series. You can catch up on my trip by viewing and Part 3 in The Storque.

Kerri Fitts (rustchic & bayousalvage) and Heather Mattingly (nolasalvage) met me on the Algiers side of the Mississippi river with their bicycles. On the way to their house we rode by some of the characteristic spots of Algiers, including a voodoo shop and a warehouse full of floats being stored for Mardis Gras.

Their house has quintessential southern charm. A basket of brightly colored fruit on the table, and a sprawling collection of antiques and thrift store acquisitions completed the décor. Fruit on the table quickly became fresh squeezed juice in the hands of the hostess, and we all sat on the porch to have refreshments and talk about how we would proceed with the interview.

The home studio in the back yard had been hit hard by the storm. Heather gave me a tour and talked about her plans to rebuild it. In the meantime they both moved the studios necessary for their thriving crafts business into their home. They have both had shops on Etsy for some time, but the emphasis of their crafts has changed since Hurricane Katrina. While they have always enjoyed thrifting as a way to find materials, they now get most of what they use from debris.

Kerri had this to say about her new inspiration, “Seeing your city in ruin day after day and the beauty and awfulness of it all has changed our aesthetic. Somehow it reflects the exterior and interior of our lives. Most of my materials are either from the streets or from salvage yards and junk shops in the area. We just dragged so many things home from debris piles. Such good stuff like table legs and chairs and peely paint goodness." What they both make and sell now are sculptures, little relics, that include a past romance and present reality about the city. For example, Kerri has made several abstract Angel forms out of things that once meant something to other people and were used daily in homes. She explains what she does well in this sentence from one of the Angel’s descriptions, “Her body is a cypress baluster, wings are made from vintage linoleum, her head is a rusty old oil can and she is adorned with a vintage garden tool.” Heather makes little shotgun houses from the parts of real shotgun houses that were strewn on the street. She sands the paint away carefully to reveal all the layers underneath."

Heather and Kerri, like most of the citizens of New Orleans, are very active in helping with its recovery. They have been able to donate a lot of the money they make to Habitat for Humanity and the restoration of City Park in New Orleans. Kerri has a blog where she keeps people up to date on the goings on in the city. Take a look. Maybe you'd like to get involved!

I just found out from Kerri's blog that Brad Pitt (see LA Times article) is doing what he can to help the city too. He is an architecture enthusiast and is leading a project to build 150 affordable and architecturally appropriate homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward. I saw him and the fam in a coffee shop when I was there and I thought they might be up to something interesting! It’s good to know that two years after the hurricane, individuals with the money, the time and desire are still working in tandem with Kerri, Heather and others to revive the city. To rebuild properly, it is going to take this kind of dedication both from within and outside the city for years to come.

Recommended Blogs: Handmade Family

2007-09-27T09:47:00-05:00

One of the first projects I ever made (a stuffed, checkered doll) was with my Mom, an intrepid seamstress who could whip up a Halloween costume or party dress in a day. Belonging to a time when home ec was a requirement for those looking to graduate from high school, many women from my mother's generation learned their way around a sewing machine at a young age. Micha Mae Melancon (BakingwithMedusa) has recently created an ode and chronicle of her family's crafting and sewing skills: http://handmadefamily.blogspot.com/, and is urging those with crafty families to participate by contributing their own photos and memories.

"(My Mother) made a fair amount of the clothes my sister and i wore when we were younger. seems like she was always making something. i've been very fortunate to grow up in a handmade household. i've learned so much from my mom over the years." — Micha Mae Melancon

So dust off those photos of your Aunt Janet in her handsewn velvet pantsuit and share your stories with Micha!

Further Resources:

Erin interviewed Micha in her studio in New Orleans. See the video and article here.

Erin from Etsy: New Orleans Trip (Pt 3)

2007-09-21T13:23:00-05:00

When I lived in New Orleans, I thought the signs on the businesses’ doors that said "Closed, due to Parades" were so funny! I found out they should be heeded - nothing much gets done during Mardis Gras that isn't directly related to the celebration.

One day, on my way to Micha's studo (aka BakingwithMedusa), I was thwarted by a very popular parade called Endymion. It turned a corner that blocked me on two sides and the river took care of the third side. There was nothing to do but turn around and go home until the next day.

The next day, when I finally did get to Micha's studio, I found it was well-worth the wait. The ambience there was parade-like - as if the whole operation were storing their things in her little space. Everything was well organized. The flowers, glitter, trinkets, colorful fabric scraps, egg crates and Micha's creations all seemed to be competing for a place in the roughly 12 foot square room. Micha doesn't throw anything away - other people's discards become charming and useful in her hands. As an art student, she studied printmaking. She still makes woodblock prints of Bette Davis and other old Hollywood folks, but now she also uses her studio to make costumes (such as the bride of Frankenstein featured in this video), purses and the occasional Russian Music box ferris wheel sculpture.

Micha and her family have a long history in Louisiana.

She told me a lovely story about the origins of her creativity. Her mother and aunts all sewed as they were growing up. During her parent’s generation, teenagers wanted to buy store bought clothes, but her grandfather had a different idea. He wanted his daughters to be self-sufficient and not to lose traditions that had been passed on before. He told his girls that if they would make their own clothes, he would buy them all the beautiful fabrics they wanted. So they did. Now today, a generation later, Micha makes costumes and clothes and the very well crafted purses that she sells in her Etsy shop.

To highlight all the do-it-your-self endeavors in her family’s history, Micha is soliciting for stories about other families with a handmade history on her blog, Handmade Family. If you’re interested, take a look!

Erin from Etsy: New Orleans Trip (Pt 2)

2007-09-14T06:30:00-05:00

Watch the Video

I was in touch via email with Monique Leon from gurlygirl.etsy.com before my trip, but she missed our first face-to-face meet-up at the coffee shop. Later that night, at a circus-themed party, she overheard me talking about Etsy and we found each other! Luckily I had my video camera and I interviewed her right on the spot.

The next day I went to visit her at her home studio in the Bywater neighborhood, which is adjacent to the 9th Ward. In fact, Bywater used to be called the Upper 9th Ward until residents decided it needed a more specific name. They borrowed the telephone company’s designation, Bywater (by-the-water), and it has been known that way since the 1940s. It’s a special neighborhood situated right on the curve of the river between the Marigny and the Industrial Canal. The houses are all charming and close together. Stepping out onto the porch in the Bywater guarantees conversation with neighbors. When Monique came out to say hello to me, she saw several people she knew walking by, and they stopped to talk. We all shared a laugh about the skywriting overhead that protested the fact that people were having too much fun in the French Quarter!

The first thing I noticed about Monique’s home was the color. The outside of the house is painted bright lavender. People in New Orleans love to paint their houses in bright colors (not unlike Burano, one of the islands of Venice). A hot orange house with bright blue trim won’t turn a head. It just complements the turquoise house next door, whose bushes and trees are strewn with glittering beads, built up from past years’ Mardi Gras.

Monique’s home is a shotgun and it’s set up with her studio in the front room. Her jeweler’s bench takes up the majority of the space and her polishing station is nearby. She has all of the tools a professional jeweler needs and the enviroment of her studio is cheerful and inspiring! There was a striking hot pink Georgian era wig on the wall. Her television was gilded in gold from a previous experement just to see how it might look. Pretty amazing, it turns out! Her closet was stuffed with costumes. All the boas and sequins mixed unassumingly with her everyday clothes.

You'll find that her jewelery has a similar character to her home. Superb, traditional craftsmanship meets the whimsy of a costume ball, like in these "stearling heart fluff earrings".

I bought this ring from Monique -- and would you believe it, I ran in to a guy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn last week wearing the same ring! I think gurlygirl is catching on.....

Erin from Etsy: New Orleans Trip (Pt 1)

2007-09-06T20:00:00-05:00

Four years ago I spent a year in New Orleans. I became attached to the city during my time there and I try to go back when I can. This past February, since I had begun working at Etsy, I decided to try to meet all the Etsy sellers of New Orleans, and see how they were spending their Mardis Gras. Before heading down, I put up a blog post to announce the meeting of New Orleans Etsians. Vanessa gave me a few tips about the camera and Matt loaded my suitcase with t-shirts, buttons and tote bags, and I was off. I stayed for two weeks and met a lot of lovely, creative people. First we all had coffee and got to know each other, and then I made plans to go to each of their studios and interview them about what they make and their experience with Etsy. I met with artbymags, bakingwithmedusa, greenkangaroo, dismantled, gurlygirl, bellaroo, rustchic, bayousalvage, antelucandaisy, and nolasalvage.

It was great to be back there to see how the city was doing. I hadn't been back there since Katrina, and now, just after the anniversary of the storm, I've revisited some of my New Orleans video footage. I'll be sharing those here on The Storque as a series.

Watch the Video

Before I moved to New Orleans I knew next to nothing about it. I had spent the majority of my life much further north. All I knew was that it was a place way down south and that parades there were frequent. My friend Kenny and I moved there to see another part of the country – we could have moved anywhere, but we chose New Orleans.

The very first night there, just after unloading all our mini van’s possessions into a hot pink double shotgun, we heard music down the street and sensed a buzz in the neighborhood. It was the Decadence Ball. The Ball was a spontaneous all night party on the bank of the Mississippi. There were jazz bands, of course, and everyone was dressed up in costume. It was all new and foreign to me and I was enchanted by it. The combination of the heat and the music, the friendly welcoming attitude of the people, the colors and the sparkling costumes and lights reflecting on the river —it was all very magical, like the scene of the Capulet’s Ball from Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The rest of the year included many similar nights and days. As a painter, I was constantly inspired by people and my surroundings.

We lived right around the corner from the center of the neighborhood’s artistic activity, a place called the ARC. The ARC was a place in New Orleans much like the Etsy Labs, and was a part of the reason our community was so close knit. I took life drawing classes there every week. I had the opportunity to draw a pregnant model and then later her and her baby….that’s pretty unusual. A trapeze artist hoisted ropes to the ceiling and practiced there. Fantastic bands, both traveling and local, performed at the ARC. The communal room served as a gallery and there were always paintings on the walls. There were book clubs that met there. Plays were put on by amateur directors, actors and set designers who worked just for the love of it. There was even a circus that performed there! It was the home of the Bike Project, a bustling workshop for fixing flats, getting new parts or creating new bikes from spare parts. Children from the neighborhood could earn a bike in exchange for logging in hours working there. My friend Kenny and I spent time with two friends who ran the place, Wes and Kelly. Money was a problem and so was meeting code, but the sheer will of the neighborhood seemed to keep the place going.

Food Not Bombs met at the ARC as well. People from the neighborhood would gather and cook on hot plates, and then bring the food to Jackson Square for anyone who wanted it. A lot of transient people live in New Orleans. Some do so by choice and others because of a run of bad luck. In either case, there isn’t a stigma attached to needing a free meal like there might be in some other cities. I remember one of those nights we spent talking to a portentous character who held everyone spellbound by his stories. The man knew New Orleans intimately. He predicted, eerily, that everything would change soon and that it would affect everyone, but homeless people in particular. He thought that the city was due for a major hurricane.

Things have changed in New Orleans post-Katrina, but not quite in the way the media projects. I often meet people who say “You’re lucky you lived there, I wish I’d have made it down there.” But the city is still there. The spirit of the place hasn’t changed at all. The ARC’s building is still there. There isn’t anyone running it right now, but that could change soon. People are coming back to the city they love and some people are moving there for the first time to renovate houses. According to my impression from my friends and the Etsy members I interviewed, the overall attitude is one of regeneration and optimism. Of course, I’m not there day to day anymore… and I know it’s not easy.

Etsy Contest: Interviews with Upcycling Winners

2007-09-03T16:00:00-05:00

The Upcycling contest revealed Etsy to be a place where people can go full throttle into new creative territory. We had over a thousand entries! It quickly became clear that we had to raise the bar with our judging process, so we started poring through the items in search of something truly remarkable.

The winners spoke to us on many levels. Of course, there's the environmentally-friendly aspect of upcycling, but we were also looking for a unique vision and a creative process that would tell a story and have a social impact.

1st Place: JackRabbit

The first place winner, JackRabbit's "Wiener Bench," caught our eye because of its striking design. Christine Domanic (aka JackRabbit) posted a description detailing her creative efforts that was both hilarious (picking through the Philly trash for bits of furniture) and socially collaborative (posting a call for dumpster-bound sweaters on Craigslist). The Wiener Bench took materials headed for the trash and transforms them into something completely unexpected — a strange cross between furniture and art installation that emerged from interactions with strangers and their discarded waste. After she finished the piece, Christine got in touch with the sweater donors to show them the full-circle metamorphosis of their redyed yarn into 369 pink wieners.

The Wiener Bench is truly an amusing curiosity. It wasn't until we spoke with Christine that we got the full picture. The inquiring minds here at Etsy HQ had to ask the question everyone was wondering: "Are the 369 wieners REALLY, as your tagline reads, 'rock hard?'" ...To which she replied, "No, they're soft to sit on, and the bench is really comfortable!" So form and function can coincide!

As a student at the Philadelphia University of the Arts, Christine's work utilizes a "childlike sense of humor" to play with the status quo. Christine reveals the ridiculous in our culture's day-to-day acceptance of sexual exploitation and violence by means of a Third Wave Feminist twist. As Chrstine put it, "I like to take a taboo topic and bring it out in the open in a fun kind of way in order to get people talking about issues that really shouldn’t be any big deal to discuss at all."

Inspired by the crassness of back-of-the-newpaper sex worker ads, Christine "advertised" her Wiener Bench around school, posting strange and vaguely illicit flyers around campus. "Everyone is curious about sex and what goes on in those ads in the back of the city’s papers. Would my ads pique people’s curiosity enough to check out my work, and once they saw it, how would it meet their expectations?"

However, the school's interest was not adequately piqued, so to say. "I was postering for the Wiener Bench really obnoxiously. The school kept taking them down!"

If the campus powers-that-be weren't amused, Etsians have been laughing up a storm. "Making people laugh" was Christine's intention in the first place, but sometimes it's an unsettled laughter. Her other work includes a series of crocheted coffee mugs with the faces of sexual predators living in her city and handguns coated with hand-woven, brightly colored fabrics. Like the jackalope emblem Christine uses, her work is simultaneously lighthearted and disturbing.

Making people laugh and reminding them of the absurdity of modern life is a great way to use Etsy as a source of social commentary. Christine used to operate a brick and mortar store in Pittsburgh before returning to school to finish her degree in crafts (focusing on fibers and mixed media). The shop doubled as a gallery on Fridays, providing a convenient forum to sell her handmade items. However, since going back to a university setting, Christine has forged a community in school and on Etsy, where there's "an open critique." Since it took Christine 6-8 hours a day for a month to make the Wiener Bench, much of the advice she got from other Etsians centered on how to make more benches efficiently. However, Christine isn't interested in making more of the famous Wiener Bench — she simply wants to keep trying out new ideas. At the Bazaar Bizarre, she brought her show-stopper: a crocheted Atari Pitfall system.

2nd Place: Thimblescratch

Thimblescratch's Technofabulous PLASTICOAT TRASHION won second place in the Upcycling contest. We immediately coveted her jacket.

Tammy Lyons, aka Thimblescratch, discovered a new and revolutionary technique when she heat-fused the trash bags onto an old white blanket ("cigarette burns and all!"). The heat melted the plastic giving it a cool, semi-translucent watercolor effect.

At the time, Tammy was working as a SysAdmin, and pined about juggling a day job and sewing clothing, "you have to save up a bunch of money so can make the junk!" But she has since quit her dayjob to work fulltime on her designs.

Based out of Columbus, IN, Tammy designs and sews all handmade clothing, often with recycled materials and repurposed garments. She describes her living room/workspace as "totally trashed" during her preparation and production for the Upcycling contest. Tammy's coworkers were willing helpers for her Upcycling project, donating their trash for weeks as material for her undertaking. Tammy's home quickly filled up with what some might regard as garbage — but her cats enjoyed as their personal playground.

While having such lively cats is great companionship, Tammy sometimes feels alone in her area because she doesn't "know anybody around here who sews." On the other hand, space is relatively cheap and Tammy and a friend dream about "finding an abandoned factory and starting a workshop." For now, Etsy serves as a place where Tammy can seek out like-minded individuals. However, she'd also like to get the message out to mainstream America. She auditioned for Project Runway, a reality television show in which fashion designers compete for the chance to start their own clothing lines. She was not chosen [note: we are trying to get her to write a piece for The Storque about the experience!]

Because Tammy couldn't sew faster than she can sell and still find time to prepare for Project Runway, she graciously decided to donate her prize, a free booth at the Bazaar Bizarre, to the third place winner.

3rd Place: dismantled

Mallory, aka dismantled, won third place for her Fema dress. Based in New Orleans, Mallory made her first blue tarp dress for a post-Katrina charity event to raise awareness and funds for American wetlands. She says that a year ago "you would see blue tarps everywhere," which translated into an eye-catching and memorable theme for the fashion show portion of the charity. Mallory's offering was a Gone with the Wind-inspired blue tarp dress, which was auctioned off. One of Mallory's day jobs is working at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans, and "ever since the charity show, the curators started asking me to make another blue tarp dress" for an upcoming Katrina exhibit.

The Upcycling contest dress is made from an actual Fema tarp given to Mallory with a bundle of others after the charity show. "At first it took some time to figure out how to sew tarp material," she states. A self-taught seamstress, Mallory usually "just deconstruct[s] stuff. I like it when I can have rough edges."

Mallory pooled resources with the rest of the New Orleans Craft Mafia in order to attend the Bazaar Bizarre in May. "In the past, the members of the New Orleans Craft Mafia have talked about applying for out-of-town shows as a group and sending one or two representatives to set up. They'd bring along selected goods from each of the interested members, as well as their own products, of course."

While talking to some members of the New Orleans Craft Mafia, we came to understand that more than anything — more than money or supplies or equipment — the crafters, makers and artists of New Orleans need to get their message out. In a way, Mallory and the New Orleans Craft Mafia's presence at the Bazaar Bizarre could be "a mini-boutique bringing NOLA art to these out-of-town events ... We've been talking about how to get the word out about the NOCM to people in other areas, and this could be a good way to do it."

As Mallory explained, "a year and a half after Katrina, a lot of people in other parts of the country still have a really skewed vision of what things are like down here, both in NOLA and along the Gulf Coast (I'm originally from Gulfport, MS, which was also hit very hard by Katrina). The thing is, when I hear stories about people in other parts of the country, it seems like most people think either one of two things about the way things are down here now: that either everything is still completely and utterly decimated, in every part of the city and throughout this area, that we're not getting anywhere with rebuilding, etc, or they think that all of the work is over and things are back to normal. The reality is somewhere in between, and the amount of work left to be done really varies greatly from area to area, neighborhood to neighborhood. I think many of us though, myself included, are past the point of wanting or needing charity for charity's sake. Small business loans or grants and the like are fine, but I'm not sure that I want to encourage people just sending supplies as charity handouts and thinking that is all it takes to help this area's recovery (or even just the recovery of the artists in this area). I think most of us have recovered or replaced whatever supplies were lost and were immediately needed during the last year or so. I think now we're at the point where what we really need down here is the economic recovery that will be brought on in large part by the return of more tourism and more people patronizing locally owned businesses."

Honorable Mention: Inklude

We gave an honorable mention to Inklude for their cardboard chair. According to their Etsy shop description, Inklude Studio is a division of Little Friends, Inc. — currently operating as a side project of ColorBurst Screen Printing.

We spoke with April, a manager at Inklude, who explained that the studio provides an outlet for intuitive artists who are developmentally disabled. The artists work at ColorBurst filling orders for clients, and at Inklude, they turn their focus to their own creative projects. The artists collected leaves from outside and designed the pattern in order to screen print the Upholstered Cardboard Chair's white fabric with a green foliage design. The cushions are made from an old table cloth.

(photo from Nomadic Classroom credit: Michael Cataldi)

Rosten Woo, one of our guest judges who voted for the Upholstered Cardboard Chair, remarked, "I like that it's a replicable design." Hopefully, the Upholstered Cardboard Chair will inspire others to give cardboard a shot as a material. Rosten, an educator at the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), works with students to develops programs and exhibits for kids to learn about "places and how they change." One of CUP's projects was the Nomadic Classroom, an innovative project where students from the Academy for Urban Planning to design and construct "components of a classroom that could be assembled, disassembled, and re-assembled to 'house' the students anywhere they wanted to go. The furniture was made entirely of salvaged materials, manipulated with basic tools, and attached with simple mechanical connections."

For another project, "Garbage Problems," CUP worked with New York youth to design and exhibit their research and video documentary — an examination of New York City's waste management system after the closing of Fresh Kills Landfill. Check out the website for more info.

Above all else, the Upcycling contest winners and all of the entrants have inspired the Etsy community — as well as those who helped collect trash, who blogged about their favorite items and read about the contest in other press. As Tammy from Thimblescratch said, "The fact that you can buy non-sweatshop clothing" (and handmade just-about-anything-else, we might add) is the very thing we need "to educate the public about." We just need to let the world know there's a better way.

Further Resources:
CurrentTV piece on trashion

Trashion Street Team