Silk and Cinnabar

Around late Winter I thought I had nothing to say about design. 

If blog is primarily on design, 
then nothing to say = nothing to blog about.

Actually, I have plenty to "say" about design. 
As well as life, gardening, and a thousand other things. 

To "say" is easy. To "write" is not. 

Instagram is infinitely easier than writing.
I can be found at LindaPakravan.

 I took this with my phone on October 1st. We love the Bird Sanctuary walk.
That little white rectangle is a birdhouse.

Then in late May, our daughter graduated from Tufts Veterinary School.

And immediately started a year-long internship with UW Madison. 

The one in Wisconsin.

We helped move daughter, boyfriend, and Pumpkin (my granddog)

halfway across the country.

Here's my three on the patio of their Madison apartment.
That's little Pumpkin in the lower left.

June-July-August I wasn't feeling so hot.

Maybe even grieving (our one and only truly launched and flown the nest, maybe?). 

And fighting off bouts of what I think was stress-induced illness.

The upside of feeling not-so-great are the interesting and sometimes 

useful bits of info I learned while encamped on the couch.

Here's a design example. Something I've wanted forever.

Cinnabar.

Cinnabar bowl. Sold for $900 on EBTH.
This one was beyond my investment parameters.

Technically, Cinnabar is the color.
Carved, Cinnabar-colored lacquer-ware is what I want.

Over time, the term carved-cinnabar-colored-lacquer-ware was shortened to Cinnabar.
Thank you.

To achieve the color Cinnabar, pigment was once made from 

crystallized red mercuric sulfide.
Highly toxic. They use something else now.
Thank you.

*************

September was a good month. I feel great. 

October is firmly ensconced here.

I'm ready to re-start working on my old guest room.

Excellent fodder for design-related writing.
Plus I want it done for Christmas.

That's how it looked when I first did it in what, 1999? 2000? 

Holy cow! 18 years ago.

Lots of silk dupioni.

For my non-designer readers, silk dupioni is a rough slubbed silk fabric 

woven from the threads of double silkmoth cocoons.

For all its beauty and other fabulous qualities, silk has an Achilles' heel.
   

SUN DAMAGE.
 The sun weakens and destroys silk fibers causing them to disintegrate,
more commonly referred to as dry rot.
Fade is a given.

Sun damage is not confined to our face.
Silk will disintegrate when exposed to too much SUN.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading,

Linda Pakravan