when it comes to me myself and i--i am messy. it has gotten a little better as i have become an adult, but only marginally so, and out of necessity. despite my messiness i have a very good sense of where everything is and i have a pretty good knack for ordered chaos, it's just my own version of it and wouldn't make much sense to anyone else. an assitant would no doubt make a royal mess of my system, thus i stumble on, a one woman show, as joyfully idiosyncratic as need be.
clothing is no exception. when it comes to work, to silkscreening, you must be very precise and careful. a tiny bit of extra ink on the fingers can mean a ruined product. i have become increasingly hypervigilant about checking my hands for ink, and the action that follows....a quick wipe of the hands on my own clothing, whatever it may be. many a shirt, pair of pants, and formerly nice apron have succumbed to this action. here enters the smock.
i don't remember where i bought this little jumper, but it has served me well. way back before it became ink and paint encrusted, i wore it over a small t shirt and pants to work. i then wore it every time i moved, loving its deep front pockets for their seemingly endless uses. oh i love this piece of clothing. it's a lineny soft type of smock, worn and stretched in all the right places. and now i have it hanging where i can always grab it, saving yet another pair of pants from the great silkscreening ink demise.
the other day nabil came home from work and i was in the midst of some kitchen table screening. i took a break and we walked up the street to the playground with gus where a small family was playing frisbee and enjoying the few moments of sun between the bouts of rain. one of the little girls came bounding over asking if she could pet gus--of course she could! and we talked a little bit about him and how tall he is and soft he is and how fast he can run. she loved him and kissed him. and then she took her eyes off this magnificent creature of ours and considered me for a moment, eyes resting on the ink-stained smock. "are you, a lunch lady or something?" she asked me. um, hm. i had to laugh. nope, not a lunchlady. but the good thing is that if i were a lunch lady, i woudn't even have to wear a hairnet. how bout that.
yeah so i am messy, and i think less about what i am wearing these days than ever before. i work from home. and i love it. but the messiness happens all around the island of hyper-clean piles of shirts and totes. i sacrifice my own clothing for the benefit of my designs. it's worth it.
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and on a sidenote: gus and i have been waking up at 5:10 am this week to join my mum for morning walks. it's been a little bit of a challenge, but gus recovers lickety split after a good 10 hour nap.
