paint, plants, and other tiny particles: setting up shop!

here we are. the first real week of shop key in hand.
ash came for a visit and we scoured the thrift stores for good finds. namely a nice dresser which we plan on using as a fixture in the shop. we saw a lot of fancy ones we loved and then made our way out to the furniture warehouse of the salvation army. wow.

we found one we just loved (and had a mirror "i bet it's the old kind" ash gushed.. and it was)
the guy working there gave us a great deal and voile..it was ours. we headed back with a truckload of goodies for the shop and a pocketfull of dreams.
tune in later this week for painting 101: moseyhandmade.
*after much deliberation we picked "sea-cove" a lovely robins eggshell blue and "hawthorn yellow".

psssst...

see more here.

through the looking glass window.

i was just reminded of this, spring is coming, today.

so i took a much needed long drive out to my parents property to investigate and reacquaint myself with "the looking glass studio".
originally built as a green house by my dad and i-- and made almost entirely of salvaged windows and glass doors.
the roof is courragated tin and fiberglass from an old chicken coop and the floor is equal parts cobblestone and slate. the slate was purchased from a local quarry and the cobblestone was salvaged from a cobblestone street they tore up in downtown portland. my dad is a pretty resourceful guy and i like to indulge myself in thinking i've picked up a bit of that from him.
the windows we found mostly at the town dump and a few on curbs. many of the large windows were from the old post office building in town.
we used it as a green house for a few years and then i started using it as my studio. there was at one time a honeybee's hive under the eave of the roof facing the east side.
they hummed and i worked.
tonight i just snapped some pictures.
oh- and yes, the royal typewriter was a dumpster dive find too.
see my flickr for more on the looking glass studio.

mosey is imortalized in cotton and wool!

dear denise made these bunch of dolls styled after our group of waldorf inspired and natural toy crafters!
here i am and i couldn't be happier!
i just have a minute but wanted to post my little me!

the first wash.

there is nothing-nothing- like handknit socks. fancy, plain, scalloped, fuzzy, angora, worsted...i don't care. any will do. if you have not the occasion to wear a pair, i highly suggest it. and if you are not much of a knitter-- i still encourage you to get down to work. there is a great 'classic sock' patters available in most yarn stores. and i'm not a strong knitter but was able to fashion alexander these brown and red cuties in last year. i was lucky enough to have a dear friend show me how to turn a heel but other than that things went pretty smoothly. the small red socks on the left were knit up by my friend jill and given to me for christmas. oh the coziness. as soon as i put them on i never wanted to take them off. having knitted for others, i myself, had never had anything knit for me before (see the hats post for more of jill's lovely work). i have hardly ever felt so pampered as when i first put those ruby slippers right on!
well - as you can imagine i wore them. a lot. and so this week they had their very first handwashing. i threw in alex's for good measure.
now our cozies are all fresh and new again!

all hail handmade coziness!

green-pop today!

we couldn't be more excited for SPRING - be sure to check our table out at poppytalk handmade's virtual market!

shelf life

i have always always been picking things up on the side of the road. when i traded in my old jeep for a more eco-friendly car..well boy was i missing the space. you know not "the back" but " the WAY back". i could tool around town and pick up just about anything. but alas- the toyota can only hold a trunk full of sweaters, a few old suitcases and maybe a lamp or two. but we make do.
our neighbors down the street where cleaning their old barn out and had put this outside on the curb for pick up. and we did just that. thanks to my brother for cleaning of the worst parts(slugs, spiders, and the like) and thanks to my dad for always taking me junking and giving me the thrifting itch! and by the way spring means FLEA MARKETS. they should be reopening any day now!

the birds- all sewn up!

and available in my etsy shop!

diy madness

our design*sponge entry for the diy contest.
karen from brownmouse and jared of jrusten furniture and i put our heads and hands together on this one. wish us luck!

about the project:
"the bi-coastal"

my oldest and dearest friends jared and karen rusten and i have been
itching to work on a project together. karen and i both spied the diy
contest as soon as it was posted and began conspiring at once!
jared is a modern by hand furniture maker (jrusten.com) and his wife
karen is a photographer(brownmousephoto.com), and me i'm always up for
a project esp. if it includes sewing-- see also (www.mosey.etsy.com).
so jared had this old box spring that he had found on the street in
brooklyn last summer. and actually when the two relocated to the bay
area this fall the box spring came all the way across the country with
them (much to alls dismay) .
jared loves working with reclaimed wood...think calls in wee hours of
the morning pleading for helping hands to haul off giant slabs of
walnut that were on there way to the chipper!
the woods used (amapola and cedar) to make the frame were also
reclaimed wood scraps from his work at the macri park bar in
williamsburg,ny .
so jared got to work and built a wood frame. he then cut up and
covered the ye old box spring with a bit of foam (picked up from canal
street in nyc). we topped it off with unbleached canvas.
we had gotten some fabric from mood back in the new york days and so
we went right to work.
we covered buttons, sewed french seams, and pinched and pulled until
the whole thing was a glorious piece of modern furniture.
the luxe-y green is just right for spring and their new live work space.
what i loved about the project was working together and also being
able to incorporate and reuse something that had been discarded.
it's very comfy and the wooden back piece comes right off for use as a
bed so it is multi functional- and perfect for there petite living
space.

for the birds.

these WILL be incredibly soft and luxe-y bird mobiles! (i hope soon) and are inspired by the little mobile that hangs above my bed (came over on the boat from tibet).
i love using recycled sweaters. i have always been a thrifter and it feels so good to put "the old" to new use and send it back out into the world.