Sometimes Olga and I Make Things

After quite a few samples and test prints, I printed my first yardage print on Olga today! This photo was taken before steaming and washing of course, which means my colors have gotten crazier and brighter. All according to plan.

Olga

Internet, meet Olga. (And please pardon the very candid photo of her.)

I've spent the last week or two learning all about her, and today we finally were able to spend some quality time together, just the two of us (and the lab tech). It was pretty great, and I am completely certain that in 8 weeks time we will be the best of friends. Here's what we made today!

Doing It For Effect

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the 1920's. It's an insightful non-fiction book which explores the character of the flapper and her relation to the dawn of the modern era. Featuring not only brief vignettes into the lives of such celebrities as Zelda & F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and Clara Bow, but also a look into the role of the everyday woman and the reaction of society. The flapper is misunderstood by today's culture. In actuality, she was so much more than short hair and short skirts. She was confident and brazen in breaking social taboos of her parents. Smoking and drinking. Rouging her lips and bobbing her hair. Going about with young men without adult supervision. She did everything in excess and thrived on decadence. She was petulant, ambivalent, and sexy. Most importantly, she was a symbol of independence, earning her own living and leaving the family homestead for the big city, even if wages for women were scarcely enough to live on. I love the flapper. I think she is fascinating, and I could go on and on about how modern society just wouldn't be the same without her. But really, for all that stuff you should just read the book.

The other day I decided to reread this book just for kicks. And about halfway through I read this "People who were in the know...often objected to being labeled flappers, if only to avoid being rigidly compartmentalized." And that seemed awfully familiar. It reminded me of a common stereotype in today's society: hipsters. Like flappers, general society despises hipsters. Even the people who might fit the definition of hipster, despise hipsters. They are the subject of ridicule and the brunt of so many jokes. The hipster is absurd and often times hilarious, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the hipster.

I go to art school. I ride a vintage bike and sometimes wear vintage clothes. I listen to non-mainstream music. I find mustaches amusing. According to some  definitions, that's enough to make me a hipster, and I'm okay with that. While I don't consider myself one, I recognize the influence of the hipster on the culture of my youth. To deny and ridicule the hipster is to do the same to our generation. Because although kin to the flapper, the beatnik, the hippie and the valley girl, the hipster was definitely our own invention and a unique byproduct of today's consumer-driven and technology-oriented civilization. I wonder how much of an impact the hipster will have on our culture? Like the flapper, will historians 100 years from now write books about the importance of the hipster and their impact on society? And while I can't claim to know, or even guess at, the long-term influence of the hipster, knowing that my generation is contributing something makes me feels intrinsically connected to the whole of history. And that feeling is pretty cool... Or I suppose I should say deck?