A new exhibit at LACMA, Beyond Bling, I really like Jewelry, I even like it when it is unwearable, which most of these pieces are.
This time I went in, took pictures and read nothing, so it’s just images of things I like, without knowing who, what or why. Of course these days I’m not that interested with the verbiage that goes along with art.
A close up of a large breastplate made out of peacock feathers. As oobnoxiousas peacocks are, boy are the feathers amazing.
Here is a good one for Halloween!
I like deer and Elk, since my son’s nickname is Elk. Also, I would wear this pin.
A necklace cut from a china plate isn’t that unusual, but this artist had to work very carefully. The plate is complete except for the holes that were punched out.
I could never wear something this size, but the right woman could.
I just like silver.
Lego as a building block for a neck piece.
Love these little shoes.
This is a ring, I can’t see it on anyone’s hand. Which means it isn’t a ring, it’s just a small sculpture.
Leah
I’ll start with Outlander. No, I haven’t seen the show, I hated the first book and left it at that. But this isn’t about the show itself, it’s about the costumes. I was with my friend Ruth who taught costume design, she thought she was boring me with the details. I loved it. She said the 18th-century silhouette is here and is captured beautifully. As for the embroidery – that is a modern embellishment.
This man’s waistcoat is a sight to behold.
From the embroidered images I’m thinking bad guy? The Designer certainly knows her illuminated manuscripts very well. Both the bird and the bat are straight from medieval European manuscriptsNo one ever saw those teeth on TV, which is why these shows are so wonderful, getting such a close-up view of very well made costumes.
Since Cumberbatch wasn’t part of the show, the only thing we care about is the Deer Stalker hat – that wasn’t in any of the books.
I think this was mid to late 19th century. Of course, for me, it’s about the details.
20’s style dress, great use of bias tape.
Ruth complained about this set, it will look flat on camera she said. She is right, here is my image from my camera and the dresses have no depth, even though they have great detail in real life.
Fantasy shows are always fun (I think this is from Defiance) take the Scottish Highland outfit, kilt and all, but knock it up about ten notches. 
Wool, leather, snakeskin, an amulet from the Himalayas (or a facsimile of one). Once again, a pleasure to see up close.
The joy of Sci-fi is as much in the costumes as in the story.
Someone had a lot of fun working this leather.
Someone else had a blast distressing all of these items of clothing. This I do know is from the Walking Dead. But was it worn by a zombie or someone trying desperately to stay alive?
Killer nails, fake of course but part of the hand, not the glove, the glove has holes at the tips of the nails.
Men’s costumes rarely get the love the ladies receive. So I’m always looking at the details. I’m thinking this would fly off the shelves given half a chance.
Same 18th century embroidered outfit. Style and fashion aren’t new. What tends to survive in the textile world are very high end garments such as these. Probably not worn often either.
A smoking jacket
Made out of silk cigar bands. These smoking jackets were popular in the 19th century.
Nomad caftan looks it’s from the Steppes of Asia.
Another smoking jacket, well the model is smoking, not sure that was it’s original purpose.
Wonderful embroidery.
Much more modern vest, with all kinds of foxes.
These days ties are really where business can show their individuality. These are from the 50s.
And under it all one can be naughty.
I always learn something new. In the late 18th century wealthy young Englishmen went to Italy for the Grand Tour. Before they left home they would have looked like the model on the left – everything changed when they came back. Bright colors, tighter pants, shorter jackets, bigger wigs and all kinds of extra finery, from feathers, cocades, and tassles. They were then called: Macaroni.
I wasn’t paying attention to the names of the designers, but I’ve always liked Viviane Westwood. The accuracy of matching the plaids is incredible. And the shoes, love the shoes. I would love to wear this outfit myself.
Another take on plaid, or actually houndstooth. What grabbed me here isn’t so much the deconstruction but rather the antlers on the deer stalker hat. 
The original Hawaiian shirt was made from the brightest Japanese silk. I can’t get over the deep, deep purple. 
There was a lot of fine detailed embroidery, mostly on court garments. There clearly have been those periods in history when men were just as decked out in finery as the women.
They even had the same kind of undergarments and dressing needs as women. Of course making fun of the Dandy in the 19th century was no different than today. Most of the clothes in this show are very very expensive, but none more so then these
Shoes made from money.
My favorite part of the exhibit was being able to share it with my son and son in law.
For the royal men – bright capes.
For the women, only feathered crowns on their heads.
I don’t know much about this tradition. What I do know is that in tropical climates, with bright feathered birds, humans will use those feathers for decoration. The feathers may be delicate, but the color doesn’t fade.
A Sauce company even had a jackalope as their mascot.
Someone else was selling scary looking horned hybrids. 
I’m seeing that the mounted trophy is popular.
Amirigurumi made it’s appearance.
Along with these cute fellows.
Using old posters of Los Angeles as design elements. An orange label with the Biltmore Hotel and the old Philharmonic Auditorium and the the Title Guarantee building on Pershing Square.
Someone was selling handmade baby quilts. I always admire people who sell quilts, I don’t care how small or simple it is. A quilt is a lot of work.
Succulents were in everywhere. Sometimes real…
…sometimes made of fabric…
… and even felted. The dirt itself is felted, hence the shot glasses.
Someone has taken raffia to a whole new level.
This bird really grabbed my attention.
As did the glass by 
The one booth where I did make a purchase. Driftwood and glass, what could be better in my garden.
Next week there is a local craft fair, one I can simply walk to from my house. I’ll be sharing more impressions from that one as well.
Welcome to Uncommon Threads, a collaborations between four fiber arts groups. 
Members of each guild need to sit in the gallery while it is open to the public. So I met Linda Stone, she has quite a few pieces in the exhibit. Being a member of two of the groups helps. 
This quilt was on display at Paducah a few years ago, Linda does realism very well.
She has been branching out into the modern as well. A sign of a good artist, one who keeps on learning.
It’s a good thing Maureen Cox signed this piece, we were friends years ago but then drifted apart. For a few years now she has been staining fabric with rust and then creating the artwork from there.
I was there the very first day it opened, so not all the artwork had labels yet. While this is clearly a quilt, it is also a from of collage.
By the same artist, Susan Gesundheit, this is a fabric collage, I don’t see any quilting here. Most of the quilts are considered art quilts, if only because they are small and are hanging on the walls.
This artist used vinyl in a very interesting literal way. For me coming to this kind of show is a real pleasure. I see names of people I have known in the past and see how their art has developed. I see new art I’ve never seen before and I get inspired, not to copy or recreate, but simply to enjoy good textile art.
I LOVE weaving, I did learn how to weave on an eight heddle loom. One has to pick and choose, I can’t do everything so I don’t weave, but I really appreciate what goes into it. 
Like here, a ‘simple’ stole, but look at the difference between the front and the back! The colors really change drastically.
Achieving three dimensionality.
Even a display of scarves makes my heart sing. 
Of course I react to bright colors…
…and three dimensional objects like these birds.
Or this wonderful dancing woman.
The quilt is home. My friends were amazed, never have received a hostess gift like this one! Here is it on their couch.
I immediately put it to good use.
It’s final destination is on their bed. They love it so much, I even got a phone call once I got home with another round of thanks. And this is why many of us create things by hand and give them to people we love. 
Sorry the image is fuzzy, I also delivered the wedding dress for their daughters wedding. JCrew for the win. It fits her perfectly! I must say they have great dresses at great prices. This little one in under $400 and is made out of a very good quality silk chiffon. We won’t be going back to this wedding in June, but I am so happy I did my little part.
Back to miscellaneous out in Jerusalem. This installation, decor, I don’t know what you’d call it is at the Cinema City center in Jerusalem. Just enjoying the creativity of it.
This pictures sums up Jerusalem today. This is the old street, Nachlat Sheevah. An old Courtyard nieghborhood in the center of town, today it houses high end creative shops, bars and a few restaurants. The colorful balloons are new to me, I’m guessing they light up at night. The crane is the most ubiquitous sight in the city these days, new construction is going on everywhere.
I snapped this picture from the bus, hence the Streetlamp post right in the middle. I don’t recall seeing this wonderful turret and this building used to be on my daily route. It also used to be part of Bikur Cholim Hospital which is no more. It is now part of another hospital. I think this whole section used to be enclosed and is now reopened and spruced up. Btw, my Armenian neighbor was born right here, she married and moved to Lebanon in 1967, the year my family moved to Israel. In the 1980’s when the troubles started in Lebanon, her family moved to California. Today we are neighbors in Studio City. What a world.
This Falafel stand has been here for 49 years, Falafel Maoz. It opened the same year I moved to Israel. I used to eat here as a child and today the parents who opened it have passed on. The brothers who run it today are my age and their children are also in the business. It is very good falafel, even if it weren’t the best, nostalgia demands I go there. Joel remembers it as well from his stays in the city. He also remembers Richies Pizza which opened next door in the late 1970’s but that is sadly no more.
Another piece of history. Emek Refaim is the main street of the neighborhood known as the German Colony. Last trip I shared pictures from the Christian cemetery that is right on that busy street. This time the gate to the German cemetery was open. I popped in and met a descendant of these Germans who had come from Australia to put a tombstone on her great great grandfathers tomb. If you are interested go to 
Many of the tombstones are new, put up by the descendants but they still use the old Germanic script that I have to concentrate on to read.
And then there is Jerusalem at night. Go read this article about the artist and his 
Some of the murals are of famous people, others are at the request of the stall owner. All of these are painted with permission and a lot of the paint has been donated. No one is getting paid for this project.
I wonder if this is a special request, a butcher, who sells mostly chicken (notice the image on the upper left corner). Here we see eagles and other birds becoming airplanes.
Then there is another kind of art, also on the metal doors of the shops. I saw a number done in this style, much more robotic or techno. They all had a play on words. In this case these are tomatoes, the saying is Tomato or not to be. In Hebrew tomato rhymes with the words To Be. So it’s a play on Shakespeare’s famous saying To Be or Not to Be.
This cat seemed a little surprised to see a large group of people walking outside his window. I love looking at details, here it’s the dried old putty that holds the glass in the frame.
This is the front of the building, industrial Art Deco. Notice the symbol of work/live art space.
We walked into Big Yard Art Lab, also an artist space. Big Yard makes the big installations for events like Cochella or the old Lallapallooza. We never think about who or where things are made. Clearly Los Angeles is the place and these old industrial yards are perfect. This mural was painted by the duo 
I like how one figure is dancing on the wires.
Another figure on the corner of the buildings, don’t know who painted this.
We crossed the Los Angeles River, at this point Steve Grody was our guide. He has written a book about graffiti in Los Angeles, for me it was a little overkill on all the details. But that is often the fun when walking with an expert.
Interesting city lights on the bridge. Facing different directions changes the exposure on my camera! I’m not good enough to know how to compensate, and there is only so much I can correct later. I found this very interesting that this memorial is to an officer who was killed in 1942, the LAPD must replace these memorial signs from time to time.
There was quite an explanation about this graffiti, about the lettering, the style. Either the owner of the building doesn’t care, or it is empty. We went on to the Naud Graffiti yard, which today is fenced in and at one point had vicious guard dogs, the whole area is completely tagged. Clearly the owner had enough, sold the land and the new owners have other plans for the place. 
We are at the very northern edge of Chinatown and property is gaining in value again. We saw new businesses, since many of the buildings are massive warehouses, the owners are commissioning artists to paint. Actually, I don’t know if they are paying them or just giving them the walls. I know the likes of 
This has to be a very old street. While others are looking at the walls, I’m looking down at the ground, some of the original brick road is still visible.
As well as a beautiful old building on Broadway.
This is just a small section of the mural, this is a mural, not graffiti, even if it celebrates graffiti.
What happens when the muralist gets tagged? Notice on the low wall someone tagged the image, at just the right angle it would have blended in with the larger image on the wall. Art school students, who else could figure out these perspectives?
Having the people in for scale.
This building is a huge warehouse made of cinderblocks. 
Unlike this old building that is made of bricks. Probably a large warehouse in it’s day. The textures here are great, the brick, the plywood, the roofline, the weeds and yes, even the mural.
This old bus gets the mural treatment as well.
Looking towards the Broadway bridge over the river, looks like they are working on retrofitting it, something they couldn’t do with the 6th St. bridge. This is once again graffiti. I do like the surprise of the reflection in the puddle. Ah what rain does for us.
This wall was the interior wall of some kind of building that was torn down.
The old railroad ties and debris that are used to shore up the railroad. Yes, this one is very much in use today. Union Station is just down the road.
Walking back to my car, a very different kind of mural – one that advertises the San Antonio winery 2 blocks down.
The front is much lovelier, more industrial Art Deco.
Years ago I visited here, it is an artist colony. So when the opportunity came to visit again, I jumped at the opportunity.
About 30 years ago the owners of the abandoned complex turned it into artists lofts, and it has been one of the largest thriving artist complexes every since. 
This emblem on the building signifies that this is a multiuse building, artists both live and work in here. Of course this symbol is on all the buildings in the brewery and throught the Arts District where it originated. 
The catwalk connects two parts of the actual brewery.
While crossing from one studio to another, I captured this image. The tree top, the shadows.
As we entered the next building, the old stencils remain. The walls of this building are very thick.
The first loft we visited was the artist 
Of the four artists we saw, I loved Dave’s work the most. There is my neighbor, the clown from Circus Liquor. Dave works in a very interesting technique of linocut printing. The fact that he achieves from 7 to 10 or 11 colors from one block in amazing. He also mentioned how most people think of neon as a night time kind of art, but he just loves how the shadows are reflected during the day.
I love the artwork and the mirror on the wall that just reflected the people and the other wall back at me, as well as the old fashioned kind of selfie.
Close up of machinery! You should know by now how much I love this. This is a letterpress, not very useful for Dave’s work, but he just purchased a whole case of movable type, so we’ll see how that informs his art.
This is the actual press he uses, with some of the linoleum blocks on it. I am fascinated by the techinque and his work, who knows, maybe on the spring Artwalk I’ll pay a longer visit to the studio.
I did get these from the artists, so the Girl with the chain saw is Kelly’s art and the wonderful painting that uses the Eastern Columbia building is by the next artist we visited.
Next to the cowboy there is an emormous tire- probably from some massive landcover. For me this image is about all the textures, even if they got somewhat washed out in the bright light.
She has a little outdoor patio and has created her own chandelier tree, which needless to say, I love.
I thought I’d mostly be showing the backs in this post, but I still have a few fronts to share. This is the mirror image and reverse placement of the quilt Luke and I are standing in front of. The one I started the previous post with.
Log Condo with a stronger use of red.
I think I see old fashioned TV screens.
And now for the backs, as you can see here, bright big patches made out of old sheets.
Yoch and Leah were thrilled to find 
If you are buying old sheets, it is no surprise that many of them reference kids shows. I wish I could find this one, my new Grandson will have a space themed room, this would be perfect.
One of the fun things was peeking through the backs of the quilts to the fronts on the other side.
Or through the fronts to this wonderful Disney Sheet, one Aytan and Shira would love to have.
The backs with plain sheets yielded some very interesting information. All the light quilting lines are vertical and the dark ones are horizontal.
This would be a quilt with very few dark stripes.
I had fun with this one trying to find the hearths, since they were always left un-quilted.
The daylight streaming through gives the quilts an etherial look. Luke isn’t known for ironing, one can see the wonky seams inside, so what? 
And here we have a sheet that actually had holes in it, he still used it in a quilt.
It is the backing of the quilt he made in honor of all the people who worked on the project – using their leftover blocks.
Luke has made quilts with his name writ large on the surface. Accuquilt made him this die and using only plaids, he made quite a signature quilt.
Two things, I like how they are affixed on top of the quilting. I also really like how here and there the lines aren’t straight. Even working on a long-arm machine, it is a human who is doing the work, not a robot. Also nice to see the human hand. Did the phone ring, did she get distracted somehow and only notice later? Either way, I love this.