Ubaguito.us

So which is it? Who knew (I surely didn’t) that there are hundreds of page designs/templates out there just waiting to have a blog dropped into them? And poof! you can put on any face that you wish, your own little avatar as it were. You only have to decide who you want to be.

It did take me a while to decide that the flaming red and black she-devil that was my original blog design was simply not who I wanted to be. Besides, it was difficult to read–not good for a blog that is meant to be read. So here I am, a whole new me, with the sunrise over the ocean waves as my wannabe. As I have said before, “there’s something about the ocean!”

One of the things I loved about teaching was that I was constantly learning new things, not only to know what my students didn’t know, but possibly more importantly, to learn what they did know–about their generation, two removed from mine–their films, their music, their art. Retired, I continue to learn, to be daily surprised anew by the things I don’t know–even some things I thought I knew. A case in point. Returning to the theme of names and naming, I had oh, so cleverly named my latest series of bags Indigo & Geisha. With few exceptions the fabrics are traditional Japanese indigos, and the flaps that decorate the front of the bags are beautiful Japanese women’s faces from a series of prints by Kona Bay which are listed as The Geisha Series. I knew, from my own art history, that these were mainly reproductions from early woodblock prints by the 16th century artist, Utamaro, but what I didn’t know was that calling them all Geisha was simply wrong. I guess that Geisha has become a generic word for these women, when, in fact, the generic word should be Bijinga, meaning beautiful woman. According to Merriam-Webster, a Geisha is “a Japanese girl or woman who is trained to provide entertaining and lighthearted company especially for a man or a group of men.” One of Utamaro’s favorite models, and I believe the one pictured above, was a waitress in a tea shop. Still others in the titles of the prints were called Courtesans–a different kind of woman, providing more than entertaining and lighthearted company?–or simply a Geisha by a different name? Maybe a “rose by any other name…” but I think not. Oh, and I also learned that indigo is “ai” in Japanese. So should the series be called Ai & Bijinga?

So I’ve been checking out the web to see what kinds of products there are out there and to figure out just how likely it would be for me to sell my bags. Although I think they’re great, perhaps they are too esoteric for the masses, but then, of course, they are not designed for the masses, but for a particular audience. I only need to find my audience, or perhaps it needs to find me. Even though Google has made that kind of research easy, sorting through the plethora of stuff out there is still daunting–or more daunting because Google finds more stuff. One of the sites that kept repeatedly occurring for all kinds of keywords: bags; handmade; fabric; Japanese fabric and a dozen more was a place with the short but intriguing name of Etsy. I think the name is inspired. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, et cetera/etc./Etsy denotes:

1. A number of unspecified persons or things.
2. etceteras Additional odds and ends; extras

I could go on about naming which, in this age of the web and the thousands (more!) of sites becomes more and more important, but I digress.

Etsy is “an (two-year-old) online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. There are over 300,000 items for sale by 30,000 sellers from around the world.” so, yes, etc. etc. etc.

One day I decided to systematically go through all the pages and items listed on Etsy under bags and purses but never did get through them all. It is truly amazing to me that there are so many young folks doing such amazing work. I say young because Etsy recently did a sort of demographic and the median age of all sellers/artists/craftspersons on the site is less than half my own. Check them out; I’ve been thinking that this is a wonderful source for Christmas gifts. I, for one, have put myself in their hands.

When Gloria Swanson uttered the now infamous line, “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up” in the film, Sunset Boulevard, she imagined herself the glamorous star she had once been–and star she was–in her own private studio, complete with director and cameraman and staircase. A star, indeed–no waiting for recognition, no competition, no auditions. (more…)