History Fixation

Late last week, Missouri sent me a fascinating link to an article about an article on chatelains. I love chatelains and have been wanting to make myself one, though it's become slightly redundant since she made me my wonderful seamstress' assistant for the convention. Personally, working in retail, I would love to see chatelains come back into style. I'm forever wishing a had a notebook and pen, or my chapstick, or some other small item that either won't fit in my pocket or wearing an outfit that doesn't have pockets.

I discovered that the website itself is a dangerous rabbit hole for me. Check out the list of articles in the sidebar; I dare you not to click on one. Here are a few of my favorites:

Everything You Knew About Corsets is False

Really fascinating. I wear corsets not only for steampunk events, but also occasionally when we go out or even to work (usually under my shirt) if my back is bothering me. Like many things, I think corsets are good--as long as they aren't abused.

How Boxers and Briefs got into Mens Pants

It is perhaps a sign that I have spent way too much time folding men's underwear at work that I find this article interesting.

Before Rockwell, a Gay Artist Defined the Perfect American Male

In college, one of my favorite classes was History of Illustration. For starters, it was taught by a hilarious man who reminds me greatly of my late grandfather (they even look alike, besides sharing the same sense of humor). I remember studying Leyendecker in his class; I liked him so much better than Rockwell. This article details many of the reasons why.

BEAR!! (CCAD students know what this means....)

I don't understand the stigma against illustration in the art world. Personally, I prefer illustration over fine art.

Three Female Artists Who Shaped the American Dream Girl
Another article on art history, this one is about the female artists behind some of the most famous pin-up art of the mid-20th century. I love pin-up art. I think it's gorgeous. And the women who created it? Awesome.

 The Great Gatsby still gets Flappers Wrong
If you enjoyed 20s week,  then you need to read this article. The flapper as a feminist movement--it's the the juices churning in my head, let me tell you! So many ideas to work into my 1920s stories....

I hope you enjoy those. I found them to be really interesting reads, and there are a lot of other stories on the website that I didn't link to. In parting, here's a knitting related piece of Leyendecker art:

Catch Up

Once again, I find myself behind in my picture taking. Stupid camera. Always running out of batteries. I need to get one of the fancy ones like my uncle has that uses a cell phone battery that lasts for about two months.

Projects:

Turkish Rib Tank: I'm just getting ready to start the sleeve shaping on the front. It's on hold until I finish my socks though. The socks are eating my soul.

First Ever Socks: I just started the leg of the second sock last night. The foot has a weird striping thing going on, which is funny because I'm using the same ball of yarn from the first sock, but there's absolutely no striping on that one. For some reason, the foot on this sock seems to be slightly shorting, and the heel is coming out weird. I got it to fit, but it's still not 100% identical to the first sock (even without the stripes). But hey, they're my first pair. I'm still playing.

Jeans skirt: I started cutting up a worn out pair of jeans last night. I'd worn a hole through the inside of the thigh, but I'm afraid to throw away my jeans because I don't exactly fit the typical Florentine body type: 4'10" size zero, or 5'11" size zero. And most of the places I've seen with jeans don't have changing rooms (oh, the plight of shopping outdoor markets). So, I tore out the inseams and sewed in some iridescent blue fabric to make a skirt. I'm wearing it as we speak, and I love, love LOVE it.

Hopefully I'll get those pictures up soon. I'm also working on the video for my Rome trip, so you'll be able to see those pictures...Oh, by this weekend, I think. I only have a couple more little cue cards to make, and then I can put it on youtube.

Finals start tomorrow. Not a big deal, because the only final I have is for Art history. I've already got my review sheet, and the review session is going to be tomorrow night. Other than that, I've got a critique in batik, and that's all. My writing teacher is an anarchist, and is opposed to exams. :D

Well, I'm going to go off in our lovely, warms sun, and try to find some fresh air in which to study the Ninja Turtles.

More Art History (sans Pizza)

I actually forgot to post another funny story from my art history class yesterday.

Michelangelo was commissioned to do a larger than lifesize bronze statue of Pope Julius II to put on top of a church in Bologna, which had just been conquered by the Church. Now, this particular building was a great source of pride for the Bolognians, and they were understandably pissed off to have been defeated. When the huge bronze was put attop their beloved church, they tore it down within a matter of weeks, and melted down the bronze to build a cannon--which they named Julius and used to shoot at the soldiers from the Vatican.

I got a good chuckle out of that one when I heard it.

I am in Italy. I am surrounded by Italians. You would think that picking up the language would be pretty simple in this setting, and I have learned a lot about it. But you know you are doing poorly in a class when, after three weeks of struggling, you go to the teacher to ask for help and the first words out of her mouth are, "If you can, just drop it."

So yeah. I dropped Italian this morning. Even after studying for between 15 minutes and hour hour every day, I still cannot seem to wrap my head around the language. I think I'll stick to French. At least I can manage to get around with that one.

Ciao!

Art History, Pass the Pizza, Dude

Right now in Art history, we are going over the Ninja Turtles: Leonardo and Michelangelo, how they were influence by Donatello, and later, how Raphael was influenced by the three of them. Today's lesson was about how Michelangelo's David got Splintered.

This famous statue has suffered decent amounts of man-inflicted damage; three times, in fact. The first was was when it was being transported from Mikey's workshop to Palazzo Vecchio. David has long been a symbol of the Republic and Florintine independence, which didn't go over so well with supporters of the Medici family, who ruled the city on and off for centuries. As they were moving the statue, a group of Medici supporters stoned the sculpture and the people carrying it.

More recently, sometime within the last 25 years, though I don't know exactly when, a crazy man rushed into the museum David was eventually moved to and began pounding away at his feet with a hammer, managing to break off several toes.

My favorite story is from the 1500's, when another Medici supporter got angry at those in power. He came out of meeting on the third floor of Palazzo Vecchio (City Hall), grabbed a bench from the hall, and hurled it out an open window at the statue, breaking off his raised arm and cracking it in two places.

David has, of course, been restored and repaired, and is looking pretty darn good for being over 500 years old.

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A little update on the Peace Project: We have a few new people signed up, and I've also added Scotland and England (as well as Whales, which as already been taken) to the list as separate countries. If you are from Ravelry, I'm hoping to get a group started on there by early next week--I've even got a banner already made. Two of them, actually. I could use some help spreading the word, though. I've posted about this project just about everywhere I can think of. If you know of anyone who might be interested, pass along the message and the link. If there's a website or other forum you think would be interested, please let me know so I can post there.

Cowabungah!!!