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| Sunday, May 18th, 2008 |
baba_studio
|
11:40p |
2. Don’t worry about starting in a small, modest and slightly embarrassing way.
"They think you're mad," a friend of mine said when I left London to come here to do... something. I laughed. There was a pause. "No really, they're not saying it in front of you but some of them do think you are mad." I realised he meant mad as in insane. I poured some more wine and took a stiff slug of it.
I used to do consultancy. My clients included Reuters (never ask me about Reuters) the BBC, Diageo, J&B Whiskey (ask me about them any time - lovely clients), BT, British Airways and many more. Now I run a tiny company in a backstreet in Prague and we, as my mother said vaguely recently, "Make handbags or something?" Which of these has proved more exciting, worthwhile and given me a higher sense of esteem and achievement? No contest.
When you leave something "proper" to do something far less proper - and let's face it, most creative endeavours are seen as pretty improper unless you're very established and have a bodyguard and an expensive outfit to prove it - people will be taken aback. Unable to understand it, and perhaps feeling even that it's a bit of a comment on their own very different choices, they will tend to make fun, sneer, and even tell you you're mad. Though with any luck not to your face. If you let this shake or upset you, or to dent your confidence, you'll never get past that first step. You'll quickly be scurrying back saying, as someone else in my family is apt to say whenever she even thinks momentarily about anything vaguely adventurous, "I must have been having a little nervous breakdown."
You're not mad, you're not having a breakdown. You're awake, aware and you just saw a break in the wall and beyond it a beautiful garden with flowers and bees and hedgehogs and ickle fairies and... okay, so you just maybe saw a glimpse of a life in which you didn't have to dread going into work. That's not madness, that's hope - and optimism.
So ignore the laughter - it comes from misunderstanding and maybe a little bit of fear. You may well have to begin with something very modest and it won't look impressive and no, you probably won't be attracting VC funding in your first year (and thank your guardian angel for that). You will most likely have to be content with small achievements to begin with and they may look like next to nothing to outside observers. We hardly even talk about our first project together here (Tarot of Prague was the second one). But building anything involves taking steps. The first ones are tiny, but later they get bigger.
And you know what? If you're at the very beginning and almost embarrassed to show people what you've done so far, enjoy it. I've built businesses twice now (kind of three times) and it's that first crazy, dreamy, "here we go" period at the very beginning that's one of the very most enjoyable. (Almost) anything's possible.
Hints and Tips
Do NOT borrow or in any other way raise money merely in order to make what you're doing look more convincing and of higher status to other people. If you're embarrassed by starting off in your own flat or in a teeny back room somewhere just get over it. Money thrown at glitzy premises that you don't need, or at equipment that won't get used is just money thrown away. The worst of all is money thrown at employees that you won't really be fully employing (employees are, as my accountant once explained to me, THE most serious and scary expense on a company's books - I mean, you can't resell them can you?) If you really can't stop yourself from doing this because your own ego screams for it - get yourself an Alex. One of the first things Alex did when we began working together was ask endlessly, "Do we really need this?" If you don't have a real person asking that then invent an imaginary friend.
Basically, if you don't need it, don't get it. Because every bit of money saved will buy you time - and what a new creative business needs above all else is time. |
cspowers
|
2:27p |
Waiting in DFW airport an my way back home. Plane delayed. Yay for wifi and the interweb to pass the time. |
baba_studio
|
4:08p |
1. Take risks – even big ones. If you're anything like me, you'll have been brought up with a strange mixture of messages about risk. Sometimes parents seem to want to protect you, other times they can seem unbelievably lax. Mine used to constantly tell me that I should not take drugs, yet they let me stay out until 4.am when I was fourteen years old with the interesting advice, from my father, that there was no such thing as rape, and all women had to do was keep their legs together. It all left me extremely cautious and cowardly - by sixteen I really had seen a lot - and at the same time inclined occasionally to take quite large and impulsive risks. The biggest one being, I suppose, to pack up my entire life and work (and identity - more of that later) in London and head to Prague in 2001, where an odd experience had lead me to believe that if I hung around a certain street long enough, I would meet a man with whom I would find the perfect working and living partnership. This crazed conviction turned out to be true. And we now live on that exact street. The moment when you step away from what feels safe and step towards what feels exciting and fulfilling is going to feel impossibly risky. It's that "Fool" moment in tarot when you step blythely off the roof and your guardian angel has a good laugh. Unfortunately, there's no other way. If you want this, you'll have to step out into thin air in the belief that you won't plummet to earth.  Hints and Tips (do add your own)
You are more likely to crash straight downwards if you are carrying that sofa that you saved up for, the teaset that has sentimental memories or even - God help us - the large four-wheeled vehicle that you get such a buzz out of driving. Be prepared to shed "stuff" as part of making your first step towards your true desire. The sofa was just a well-stuffed illusion anyway. |
baba_studio
|
3:33p |
How to be creative and successful Recently I stumbled over a link to Hugh MacLeod's well-read post "How to be Creative" I read it a couple of years back, like many others, but had since forgotten it was there. Rereading it yesterday I found it interesting to see where I agreed and differed from him. It also seemed - at last - to focus all my fretting and faffing about recently on Modernism, Commercialism, Decorativism (is that a word?), where we are going - the usual. And it made me want to talk about this whole "being a full-time artist, or artiste, thing". So - here is my list. It differs from MacLeod's because it's about being creative and successful. I may live in a garret, but it's a very nice garret right beside Prague Castle and I am far from starving. Nor do I believe in that whole mythology (see point 21). I'll expand on each of these. I doubt I'll make one a day, but I'll do my best. Intervene, comment or kick me as or when you'd like to of course. How to be Creative (with a big C) and Survive and be Successful.
- Take risks – even big ones.
- Don’t worry about starting in a small, modest and slightly embarrassing way.
- Accept you’ll be laughed at. Welcome it as a good sign.
- Work hard. Then work harder.
- Forget the “exit strategy”. If exiting is that important to you, maybe you shouldn’t have gone into it in the first place.
- Don’t moan, don’t blame.
- Let some things go - that might include your own sense of your own identity.
- Think. Even a little bit, but regularly.
- Don't cling to your day job. Those shackles are holding you back, not keeping you safe.
- Don’t confuse creativity with novelty.
- Find a few people you trust. Use them mercilessly - and let them use you just as much.
- Avoid all the people who would rather pull you back. If you can't avoid them, hum loudly while they're talking to you.
- Don't believe other people’s hype and spin unless you can see clear evidence.
- It usually takes years – don’t merely accept that, welcome it and love what time brings.
- If you find yourself nodding off while talking about your work – either you’re up far too late or you’re doing the wrong thing.
- Look to the future constantly. But understand that you can’t predict it.
- If it’s cool and fashionable – run from it before it eats you up.
- Don’t worry about what happens after the current project. Long before you get there, you’ll know.
- You remember that silly, unrealistic dream you had when you were twenty-one? Now just might be the time to chase it.
- Get a “feel” for recognising clearly what your best work really is – regardless of what others think.
- Don’t buy (with your few pennies) into the starving artist myth. Unless, that is, you really, really want to starve.
- Talk to people. Listen to customers. Then make your own decision.
- Know that you can do it. You can do it.
|
supergee
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6:25a |
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supergee
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6:05a |
|
bpal_excathedra
[ kebechet ]
|
1:56a |
Carnaval Diabolique Acts IV & V and Dyan Moon are live! Dyan Moon is live at BPAL and BPTP! DYAN MOONQueen and huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair,
State in wonted manner keep:
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess excellently bright.
Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close:
Bless us then with wishèd sight,
Goddess excellently bright.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever;
Thou that mak'st a day of night,
Goddess excellently bright. The essence of the pure, unsullied virgin moon and of the huntress that stalks her prey by the moon's light: amaranth, musk rose, juniper, chaste tree, sweet bay, chamomile, rose mallow, Madonna lily, blue musk, wisteria, and iris. And... whaddya know?! -- Acts IV and V of Carnaval Diabolique are live, too! Praise, love, and adoration for Jennifer Williamson for doodling Act IV and Act IV: the Ladies of the Grindhouse, and to Alicia Dabney for doodling Act V. Thank you, ladies, for helping us bring the Carnaval to life! |
| Saturday, May 17th, 2008 |
advanced_sewing
[ techdragon ]
|
9:43p |
Men's measurements?
According to the internet... men don't have hips.
The idea that you can order a pair of pants with only a waist measurement is ridiculous. What if you have a man-booty? How am I to determine an average waist/hip ration without any good measurements?
Any of you guys out there willing to comment on your waist and hip measurements so I can construct a chart? Any girls willing to ask your men for some numbers?
*comments screened for modesty* |
advanced_sewing
[ deadsilent ]
|
5:14p |
Baby Lock BL3-407
I just got my mom's old overlock machine, a Baby Lock BL3-407. It doesn't seem to have a manual, and even if it did, it might be in Japanese like the box and threading diagram on the machine are (are all of them like this?). Does anyone else have this machine? I would like to do a lettuce edge, but I'm not even sure if it has differential feed.
Thanks! |
advanced_sewing
[ quitereasonable ]
|
6:09p |
Pattern Sale
I just got my Hancock's advertisement and Butterick and McCalls patterns are going to be 88 cents on Memorial day weekend. |
advanced_sewing
[ izzification ]
|
11:43p |
box pleats So, I'm doing a trained, bustled skirt which has double (inverted) box pleats at the back and sides. I tried to press the back one and, well...it looks like ass. What is the best way to press a box pleat? How far down the pleat should one continue pressing? I'm using (a rather stiff, synthetic) taffeta. thanks in advance for your collective knowledge... izzi :) ps - for those that are cursion, you can see from (not great) pictures/the construction diary for the piece here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219710&l=43391&id=36909144 |
clovepod
|
4:02p |
things i didn't know about plaster... ...until i went on the cleveland-holloway home tour:
- it's a better insulator than drywall, so houses with plaster stay cooler in summer (if properly ventilated) and warmer in winter
- it has better acoustical properties than drywall.
i had to miss the preservation durham tour this year, so i was quite pleased to be able to take a tour. C-H was really inspiring. i don't know if j and i will ever be in a position to renovate a house that has to be taken down to the studs (or close), and then there's the fact that i'm kind of lazy and unfocused, but there's still a part of me that would so love to do that. |
baba_studio
|
8:22p |
As the tumble-weed blows through this blog I need to get back into the habit of posting here. I've missed it, but at the same time I'm still obsessed with fixing and improving things on the shop. It's really been a project and I've been very drawn into it. Anyway, there's a lot to catch up on. The way in which it went from winter to hot summer here in five weeks (this always seems to happen). The way in which we're told we're going back to winter - snow is forecast!!! - next week. Weird. My various finds - some of which I was able to buy, some not. Walks in the Petrin Park. Minnie's fear of bagpipes (we now seem to have a piper at the Castle, very close to us - it terrifies her for some reason). New work - we're finally getting back into some serious design again, after a lot of time spent tidying up and expanding what we have, doing fashion shots, developing new products (of which more later) and so on. Okay, so no pictures for this time but I'll throw our new designs all over when we have them ready. Meantime, we do now have more Alice pictures on more bags. A small step but a nice one:  http://baba-store.com/index.php?target=categories&category_id=254 |
supergee
|
11:51a |
|
ozarque
|
7:49a |
Writing science fiction...
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, my first thought was to walk quickly past and pretend that I hadn't seen it.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, my first thought was "Cool! An ET trapped in a storm drain! And when I get to school I'll be able to tell everybody I saw it!"
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I decided to call 911, but then I changed my mind, because you know? It's not safe to call attention to yourself that way. Not any more.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain I bent over and looked into its eyes and saw that it was terrified and in pain, and I thought about the Parable of the Good Samaritan for a minute. But then I thought, "That thing can't possibly be my neighbor," and I hurried away.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, my first thought was that I had to go get it loose from there, fast, but then I thought "If I get it loose, what am I going to do with it?" and I went right on past.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, it struck me that the reason it was trapped was because it had so many arms, and that there was no way it was ever going to get out. Not with all those arms. Or legs. Or whatever they were.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I knew that it was my Christian duty to find some way to get it loose, even if it meant that I would for the rest of my life be under surveillance, and I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt so that it wouldn't get filthy and be ruined, and I headed straight for the drain.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, my first thought was that it was a very good thing that I had fourteen siblings I could call to come help me rescue it, and a good thing that I had the power of life and death over all fourteen of them, so that they couldn't refuse no matter how scared they were.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I was so sorry. "Poor little thing!" I thought. And I immediately set up a Tripod Of Power over the drain and began feeding it energy that would draw the ET gently upward without harming it in any way.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I reached into the drain and gathered the parts of the creature that I could reach into my arms, tenderly, and said to it, "Don't worry; I'll stay with you until help arrives," even though there was no way to know what language it spoke and I wasn't so stupid and ignorant that I expected it to be able to speak or understand English. "Shhhh.... shhhhh," I crooned to it. "Shhhhh... It's going to be all right."
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I reminded myself that there was no way to know whether it was one of the Fallen or not, and I told myself not to be a bloody coward about that, and I called 911 and said, "Hey... there's an ET -- an extraterrestrial -- trapped in a storm drain here on Baize Avenue, and you better come quick!"
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I sat down beside it and began untangling its tentacles one at a time, as gently as I could, because I had no idea how badly it was injured and no idea how fragile it might be, and I was terrified that I might make things worse.
When I saw the ET trapped in the storm drain, I ran as fast as I could to help it, but before I could get to the drain it had slipped away and disappeared, it was just gone, and I started screaming because I didn't know what to do next. |
synecdochic
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4:45a |
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susiebrightfeed
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1:57a |
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| Friday, May 16th, 2008 |
cspowers
|
11:28p |
In Dallas playing video games with the nephews!!! |
tablesaw
|
4:13p |
Back to the Here and Now. So remember that one item on the to-do list that didn't get scratched off? Yeah, doing that now. Caught up on LJ kindasorta. With the new friendings, I have enough to read daily, but I can't keep track of things over a week of no connectivity. If you'd like me to make sure I read your last week of posts, just comment here, and I'll go back. Otherwise, I'm just going to keep going forwarding assuming I'm mostly caught up. |
starcat_jewel
|
10:57a |
Hallelujah! Spam King Alan Ralsky indicted! This is the creep responsible for something like 90% of the non-Nigerian spam that hits your in-box. He's been gaming the system for a long time, but it's finally caught up to him. And his script-kiddie network is freaking out, because they know damn good and well he'll rat them out to save his own sleazy hide. "Honor among thieves," my ass. Me, I have no sympathy whatsoever. Ralsky engaged in massive fraud, theft of services, hijacking of other people's property by means of virus propagation, and who knows what all else. He claimed that what he was doing was legal, when what he really meant was, "You can't prove anything against me, nyah-nyah!" Looks like he was wrong, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving target. And if a bunch of the script-kiddies go down with him, so much the better. Current Mood:  jubilant |
elysesewell
|
8:31p |
consumer reports I got a new camera: Canon IXUS. My third. Aah. I'd been using a Cybershot; slipping back into the Canon operating system was like putting on a comfortable old pair of pants. I also got a new tripod to replace my horrendous "Gorrilapod." Never buy a Gorillapod. It ain't stable, it's hard to aim, it's not big enough, its litlle bubble legs get tangled in the camera strap, and it takes the fun out of autoretratos. No more!  I saw this in a Korean Burger King (just using the bathroom, not hamburgering): dump the leftover liquid into the portal on the left, then the restaurant reuses the cups and throws away the straws and lids. Why in the fuck are fast food emporia worldwide not getting down with this system?  The coolest thing at the Leeum Samsung art museum. Inside: naught but a bunch of wack celadon pottery and, like, Rothkos.  Bibimbap looks so fine through a camera's eye! This one was done right, with a raw egg on top. I get disgruntled when it's a lame fried egg that just breaks into albuminous frags instead of leaking all over and lubricating the components.  In other news, the agency is going to send my bulimic colleague home. She was asking after laxatives the other day and my roomie directed her to the nearest pharmacy. She came back working a couple of pills free of their blister pack and plopped down in front of the TV. A few minutes later, she gurgled, "Are these supposed to be all...waxy like this?" Do I even need to say it? Suppositories. Honey, go home to your mom and get the love you need. |
supergee
|
6:49a |
PZ Myers, who has the unfair advantage of understanding genetics, dissects Michael Medved's concept of the American Herrenvolk. |
supergee
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6:42a |
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supergee
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5:44a |
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tablesaw
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2:18a |
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