The witching hour has hit the server again. Please try shopping tomorrow, or perhaps, later tonight. Cached pages will load, but the database seems to be down. Very sorry. Hope you got the e-mail we sent out yesterday and today! I still haven't heard one thing from MDS since I opened the trouble ticked on Friday. Now that is service! We are looking for a new Web host this week.

L to R: molded milk glass female on black glass background; Medusa defeated, material unknown; floral cameo on shell background; Art Nouveau style woman's profile in sardonyx [photos from the Web]

Two weekends ago when I was doing the Market NYC, I overheard one shopper ask,

"Do you have any cameos? I collect them. I buy them at antique stores mostly. My favorites are the cameos made out of 'jet' which come from Victorian England in the 19th century."

I must admit, in that moment I wanted to become an expert on cameo jewelry. It would be fun party conversation, if nothing else. I learned that 'jet' is fossilized coal mined in Whitby, England, and used in mourning jewelry in the Victorian era (1837-1901). Fascinating! Here is a bit more of what I learned.


The precursor to the cameo was the intaglio, a piece that was carved below the surface. First used to make an impression in hot wax to seal documents, the intaglio was later worn as jewelry. The cameo is created also by carving but in relief (not bas or below), using a contrasting material as the background. Some popular materials used to make cameos include shell (worn for day), lava, coral, stone and gemstones (worn at the most formal occasions). Cameos have been produced in ancient Greece and Rome, and revived in England, Italy and Germany, from the early Renaissance to the Victorian era to today. Subjects have varied from pastoral scenes, floral motifs to Greek gods, to the most recognizable: the bust portrait of a woman in profile.

I found the following to be an interesting tidbit on dating cameos:

"The long Roman nose denotes that the piece was originated before 1850. If the nose is slightly upturned, it can be dated after the mid-nineteenth century. A pert nose is indicative of the turn of the century. An upswept hairstyle indicates a late Victorian cameo, while shorter curls are indicative of the 20th century." [source: victorianbazaar.com, "The Historical Cameo"]

I include some various examples of cameos for you to peruse. They are really quite beautiful when you slow down and consider each piece. Here is a wonderful site to see many variations of cameo jewelry. And then do check out our new Cameo Tops, which are loosely based on the form. Ours are decidedly East-meets-West-meets-Victorian. Quite a permutation.

Let the sesame seeds fall where they may.


I like to eat at home, if only to contemplate the empty plate after I have completed a meal. It lets my brain know what I have just accomplished. I like that feeling of accomplishment, don't you?

I would like to offer a comment to certain restaurant New York waitstaff. Stop whisking away what you consider to be my empty plate before my fork is even cold. I might want to eat that sesame seed, after all. Or at least meditate on the empty plate for 2 seconds. Haven't you ever been to a Japanese tea ceremony, for heaven's sake? I mean really. Stop trying to minimize my maximalism. It's just not what I am about, you know?


Elaine Perlov is future author of the future best-seller, Stop Messing with My Enlightenment! The Urban-Dweller's Guide to Self-Reflection

As I walk over to the computer to gobble down my lunch, catch up on blog reading and web research, I stop, turn around, and bring my lunch back to the table. There I can eat comfortably, sip coffee, and meditate on my pretty napkin.

Multi-tasking at mealtime multi-tasks my stomach and mind right past that feeling of satisfaction, fullness and calm. Multi-tasking is for the birds. Let the birds have stress. I want reflection. Sorry birds, it's just an expression. (I am very pro-bird, for the record.)

This was my pre-show breakfast this morning. Today was my last day at the Market NYC for a little long while. I came for market research, I got my information, and now it's back to the Web for me. The good old Web. (subtext: shop online)

Notice how the sun's raking angle highlights the placemat's faux woodgrain and earthy texture of the Portuguese corn bread...


so much
depends upon

the Portuguese corn bread,
toasted slightly to my liking,

glazed with fresh-ground all-
natural peanut butter,

beside the coffee with a hint of hazelnut and cinnamon
in a melamine 'Modern Design' cup by BROOKPARK,
sans saucer.



A breakfast haiku of sorts.

I had a glorious 'maintanence day' today. I heard that on TV last night on a show I am too embarassed to admit I watched. I thought, what a great idea! I want a pampering 'maintanence day' too! So after doing a bunch of work this morning, I struck out to find a new haircutter. My last haircut went a little awry and I had to fix it with my thread scissors in the locker room one day before a swim...

I had been going to this place across the street from the Y in my neighborhood where none of the cutters speak English -- only Polish. So I had my haircuts translated through the receptionist who spoke English. And it always worked out well. But on that one particular day, the receptionist was a new girl, and a very uncharacteristically cheeky one at that. When she translated my desires for "no razor, no thinning sheers, because it makes my curly hair frizz, only scissors please," I saw my haircutter, Kasia's face change to disgruntled. What the heck did she say to her? I knew I was in for it.

So suffice it to say, I tried a new place today, called BIOMASK. Ominous, no? But the place was painted chartreuse, and I am strangely attracted to chartreuse. What can go wrong in a place that is painted chartreuse? Despite my trepidation, I got another translated haircut. My stylist, Maria, was amazing! The way she sectioned my whole head with clips and cut each hair (only scissors, no problem this time), I knew she was a true artist. And then I untensed my entire body and enjoyed the pampering.

The blowdry was included in the $25.00 price, so I went for the works. (I haven't put a blow dryer to my curly hair since I had the Dorothy Hamill haircut in 3rd grade. Yes, that cut did not work on curly hair, but I loved ice skating and Dorothy Hamill.) She asked, "Blow dry?" and I said, "A little," and she said "?" with her eyes, and I said, "Yes, a little," and she turned on the blow dryer and took out the big round brush. Rather than say, "What? A brusssh? You didn't mention a brush! Could you please put that brush away!?" I said nothing and watched in amazement while she straightened my hair and styled it like Dorothy Hamill. She made my hair so volumetric at one point that my eyes popped out of my head a little, and the girl next to me said in envy, "Wow, you have a lot of hair!" People always say that to me at the salon, and I kind of like it. I am very hair-centric.

So I took the back streets home with my new Dorothy Hamill blow out. And then I realized I had to get milk on the main street. I imagined everyone looking at me, saying, "WOW, look at all that hair!" or "Hmm, isn't that an interesting choice for a hairstyle," or "Didn't she used to have that cute curly flapper-style hair?" and things of that nature.

Then I got bolder (because the new hair bounced a lot and felt strange in a good way) and took myself and my hair to Williamsburg to return an umbrella to a friend. And then I took myself and my new hair straight down Bedford, and boldly onto the L train, and to the McBurney Y on 14th Street and 6th Avenue right straight in the front door and downstairs to the locker room and into the center lane of the pool and changed my hair back to curly. I must say, it is looking very curly and stylish right now.

This week, I am going to look for a English-Polish dictionary and learn key haircutting vocabulary. All the dictionaries in my neighborhood go the wrong way for me: Polish-English. I know how to say, "Please help me!" (Prosze mi pomoc) and "I don't speak Polish" (Nie mowie po polsku) and "Please write that down" (Prosze to napisac). But those phrases don't really come up in haircuts.


Question for you: Would you chance a translated haircut? Do tell.

Funny, when I was just posting to blogger about the site being fixed, it was posting "with errors;" i.e., not posting at all.* And the other day, when all the server issues started, Blogger was not working at all, and so I had to paste my whole article I wrote about Cameos into my email and save it as a draft. But all my links would be lost! So I pasted the HTML version into my email and saved that too. Now I am in the process of redoing the links, decoding them from my 2 emails.

Some days, when there is computer issue after unfixable computer issue, it hardly seems worth it. With computer issues, you have to wait, and wait for the issue to fix. Or open a trouble ticket and get ignored. What is the moral of the story?

I don't know yet.

We all live in flux so get used to it.

There is no good service in the world anymore.

Patience is a virtue.

Step away from the machine.

I just don't know. Anyway, coming soon, the Cameo post.



*Here was the Blogger error message, which led my to this paranoid thought: What if a giant Java script-eating worm infected my whole computer, also devouring my emails, including the 300 spam emails (because worms are not picky in that way) and my SQL Server for my site?

Yes, for now I am going with, "Step Away from the Machine."

There were errors. (Hide details ...)

001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection refusedblog/20/2/10/elaineperlov/archives/2006_10_01_elaineperlov_archive.html

As of 10:30 am, elaineperlov.com is back online!! I have heard nothing from MDS as to why the site was down for this long. It has been 26 hours since I opened the trouble ticket. In the meantime, I called the support line and left a few messages. No one called me back! I would like some answers, and I will pursue that today.

In the meantime, you can place orders and email me with no problems. Do it fast! I am not really trusting them at the moment, you know what I mean? I did find a new lead on a new web host from the owner of Sodafine. Have you been to her new store on Grand Street yet? I am very fond of the crocheted pieces she designs: earrings, hats, belts, and collars. Anyway, her host sounds good. I will have to do more research this week.

Please resend your emails if you haven't heard from me. I have only received 30% of emails since the server trouble. I hope you are reading this blog. Please bookmark the blog so you can get the latest updates.

If you cannot see a photo in the header above, that pretty much means that my website is down again, as that photo and certain photos along the left margin are stored on my website,If you are trying to access our Website, elaineperlov.com, right now, you may read one of these message:

Service Unavailable

or

Server not found

Our e-mail has been intermittent too, so the best way to inquire about products for now, until the problem is fixed by our Web host, MDS-HOST, will be to write to me in the comments section of this blog, or call us directly.

I wanted to let you know that I am fully aware of these problems. I have opened many trouble tickets with them in the past 3 days, and the issues remain unsolved. I finally spoke with a person on the phone last night who did not simply close the ticket and tell me everything was fine, but was going to attempt to get the bottom of these matters.

I just opened a new trouble ticket this morning at 7:55. Let's see how long they take to fix the problem or even respond. I will start looking for a new Web host early next week.

If you would like to let MDS-HOST know that my website is down, please click Live Support Chat and let them know. Thanks. I hope we get this solved today.

***

UPDATE: The website was back up and fully functioning at 8:26am, only to be down again in by 10am, where it remains down as of 11:19. I have received no response from them, as my email is down too. They have not called me to answer any of my questions either.

Click to view
SPARKLE CAMEO TOP
and Outfit Combo




Click to view
LACE CAMEO TOP
and Outfit Combo

Make a special 'cameo appearance' in our new extra long blousey CAMEO TOPS. It is easy to look cute and fancy-casual in this new shape. Adding a belt is twice as nice! The curved 'portrait' inset frames your face, making you the lovely beauty in the Cameo frame. How nice. You complete the art.

This lovely Italian Cameo depicts an Autumn beauty
[image from Wikipedia]

I love the grand e-mail you receive when you get a feature on Stylehive. Click on the photo above. It scrolls to the right so much, I couldn't fit it on the page to show you. Well let me tell you, I felt important when I got back to the computer the other day to read that my "The Lovers" Necklace was chosen by someone on this Web 2.0 social networking fashion site.

CLICK TO VIEW "THE LOVERS" Necklace, Limited Edition, laser-cut plexi & Sterling silver, and put it on your own wishlist. Or better yet, put it on your own neck. Yes!

Karl and Tommy, at play

It seems that Dog #1, we'll call him Karl Lagerfeld, was swallowed up by Dog #2, we'll call him Tommy Hilfiger, who in turn was swallowed up recently by junk-yard dog (the most aggressive of this creature) Dog #3, whom we'll call 'a private equity fund,' and pulled the plug on Dog #1. In my opinion, Dog #1 is really the Top Dog and Dog #3 wouldn't know a Top Dog if he bit him in his bottom line. All I can say is good luck to you Justin Timberlake. I hope the Toys 'R Us font will work for you little puppy.

Once a designer commits the ultimate act of self-parody by scaling down his vision for the masses, as Karl Lagerfeld did earlier this year in an ill-fated diffusion line, it becomes harder to see the value in what he differentiates as high concept. So he creates a new identity, as Mr. Lagerfeld did on Wednesday morning with a signature collection that was a smash, with one big, covetable idea after another. [...]

There was reason to suspect that Mr. Lagerfeld would retreat from such strong and graphic statements for his signature line, which was sold to the American designer Tommy Hilfiger, and shown in New York in February, with the new lower priced line. The private equity fund that swallowed the Hilfiger company closed most of Lagerfeld's operations and his store here on the Left Bank. But Mr. Lagerfeld is producing this collection in his own atelier, so he was free to show what he wanted. (source: The New York Times, October 5, 2006)

Karl and Tommy in New York
(Given what we know now, the
photo becomes quite poignant,
don't you think?)

Lookie here. You can get an internship with Karl Lagerfeld! Now that would be fun. Karl Lagerfeld is one of my favorite designers. I am always so excited to read any of his interviews. The interviews he gives are the best. That is that. He brushed past me in Paris during the shows, fan, ponytail and dark glasses speeding along. It was thrilling!

Pictured above is his recent runway show in Paris for Chanel (Spring 2007), with the runway design imitating the retail store (and of course poking fun at those that clamor for Chanel, pressing their little noses up to the vitrine). It wouldn't be a Karl Lagerfeld production if he didn't overtly poke fun at his staunch supporters and customers. It's a good thing they miss the references.

Yesterday, I found myself talking with the best friend of one of the recently laid-off designers for Karl Lagerfeld in New York. As a matter of fact, the whole design team was laid off, according to my source. I am wondering if he pulled the plug on his all-black-and-white-line he debuted at New York Fashion Week last year. I must know! I will do some research and be back later with my findings.


***
My suspicions confirmed:

One click and I have my answer. His ill-fated diffusion line. "No matter," according to the best friend. The diffusion line designer "was making such a ridiculous amount of money" that she is spending a month or two in Italy. How nice.

Well color me amused. It seems that Justin Timberlake is a fashion designer now too! Is there no end to his talents? Really, is there? Here he is on the catwalk, taking his bows for his new line, William Rast. Oops, he wrote the R backwards. Poor Justin. (source: Dallas Morning News)

Don't you love this whimsical chair? I found this on ElitAlice, a design blog from what looks like Sweden, language-wise, but stats-wise, might be Hungary. Could anyone help me out on identifying the language? She commented on my musings on the designer portrait post, so I clicked over. Delightful. Check out her blog. It is translated into English. Suitcase chair: John Knott of Bent Fabrication.

Apparently the suitcase chair has been circulated quite a bit around the blog circle, so let me also add one of my own furniture favorites from Bent Fabrication, made of zebra wood, teak, aluminum, polished gel coat over fiberglass and medical supply cases. Now that is an interesting combination of materials! And quite a dramatic piece at 10 feet 4 inches long!




John Knott received his BA in Architecture from the University of Houston in 1991. That makes us the same age. He founded Bent Fabrication in 2002.

A very funny short film. If I had a dollar for all the people that tell me I should apply to Project Runway...

Just two more days until our big Cobble Hill Brooklyn Designer Extravaganza. Aren't you excited? Isn't the park pretty? Here are all the directions for you. The event is this Saturday, October 21, 10am-5pm. Bring lots of friends! It will be sunny.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to websites, I like to keep the photos of myself small and blurry, in the interest of putting the focus on the pieces I design, instead of me. I like to use small and blurry cellphone photos of myself. There is something to be said for low-resolution. Or the Japanese sticker booth pictures. Those are even smaller! Like the one on my ABOUT US page. Now I have to come up with a good clear photo, however, for www.brooklynindiemarket.com. What to do.

Hey, could I use this one? I like this one.
It shows me taking a photo with my
new cellphone camera.


Or how about this one?
Me deeply contemplating the menu in
a hand-drawn noodle restaurant.
The one at the top is me eating the
hand-drawn noodles with a big grin.




And just for your reference,
here are the hand-drawn noodles.
Hey can I use this for my designer
portrait?

My breakfast from the other day. A bialy with tofu cream cheese, tomato and cucumber. On a nice silver tray. With iced coffee. That was a good one. I should go buy more bialys today.

Sometimes you are more like Blah-ger. I wish you were working. Why won't you post my photos? I am not really at bloggerheads, that was just for the funny. I do actually have a bunch of posts all ready to go. All they need is the photo. But the photo tool isn't working! There are a lot of bugs on Blah-ger lately. I know it is free, so what can you do? Complain of course.

In the meantime, I should tell you about the two big shows I am doing this weekend. One is in Cobble Hill in a lovely park! Did you know Cobble Hill has the best biscotti in all of Brooklyn? Well it is true. My dad and I are experts on this topic, and we both agree. Of course, we haven't tried the biscotti in Bensonhurst yet. Anyway, back to the shows I am doing. The Cobble Hill show is on Saturday. I will have my signature ironing board display. Gee. And on Sunday, I will be at The Market NYC. You can see more information in this previous post, and on our WHAT'S NEW page on the site. Hope to see you there, and tell all your friends! The OBI/T-Shirt combo has been popular at the shows. I will have plenty of everything.

I keep going back and forth in my mind about topics of interest. I don't know what to write. I am at bloggerheads.

Is 'docent' a commonly understood word? Do you think of a 'museum guide' when you hear the word 'docent'? I do, but then again, I worked in museums. Well, here is Wikipedia's definition. Do you know the word?

the Marc Jacobs knock-off

Why should Fred Flare get a feature on a Fall Bag Guide for this bag? This bag is an overt exact knock-off of a Marc Jacobs bag from last season. Not styled after, not inspired by, not based on, not a point-of-departure. None of Fred's own flare went into this piece. It is an exact copy for a cheaper price, capitalizing on the desire for Marc, and transferring it to Fred's own pocket.

And why reward a company with a press for a well-known copy? They didn't design it. I don't understand this. Why not feature a bag by Kristen Aronsson instead? She does beautiful work that is all her own.

the real thing by Marc Jacobs


the lovely "Dumpling Bag" by Kristen Aronsson

If you missed the impromptu Fall Fashion Party at Calliope last Friday, you missed a good party. I met a trapeze artist! There were a whole host of interesting people there, including an architect who had very great ideas about life. Suffice it to say, I met lots of interesting people. And yes, the cupcakes were delicious.



So anyway, if you missed that fun event, there are plenty more. More places to catch me and my latest designs in person.

Tomorrow in fact!

I will be at The Market NYC (click image to enlarge). Sunday, 11-7pm. Check out our Events on the What's New page for all updates. In 2 weeks, I will be in Cobble Hill doing a nice little show with 20 designers in a lovely park. They have great biscotti in that neighborhood. I hope I will be able to take a little break and grab a coffee and snack! Here is the invitation for Cobble Hill (click image to enlarge):

The new Accessories pages are up! I am happy to report. There are plenty of new pieces. And now there are 2 glorious pages of Karate Belts, Winter Obis and Silk Obi Sashes for you to click on and enjoy. And 2 new pages of necklaces too. I am particularly pleased about the new detail pop-ups (go here and click 'LARGER VIEW' for example) and the new Silk Obi Sash detail page. They are practically actual size! I am liking the new Karate Belt colors. The gold Karate Belt even has some metallic thread mixed in! Metallic thread is kind of fun. I think I will be experimenting with little sections today.

This could possibly be my most favorite thing ever! (I like hyperbole.) But really, sculptural cacti? Simply beautiful! I will show you lots of pictures and then let your fingers do the clicking. There is a mirrored version too. Why not?

The artist is Eric Carroll. His pieces are available on Unica Home dot com.

I have mouse arm. And mouse neck. And mouse base of my neck. You know the part where it is all numb from mousing too much? Photoshop is a silent killer.

Now they have a new spam out there, "New MySpace Message"

You've got a new song from Terry on MySpace!
Click here to hear your MySpace music:

Why didn't they think of that one before, I wonder. Add that one to the long list of spams including the mean German one that says I am lazy or something, and the Chinese one from "mao" and the one with the subject "Re:HI". That's a brilliant title. And the endless PayPal ones wanting me to confirm my account, and the "all products for your health!" and the "our store is your cureall!" which I always pronouce CURE-EEL everytime I read it, for some reason. Probably because cure-all isn't one word. Duh on them. Or how about the ones that come from my own address back to me. Telling me about luxury watches that could change my life the way it did Tiffany's. Yeah, I love those too.

So my friend told me about SpamCop. I think I am going to sign up, as soon as I figure it out. It is a yearly subscription to their service for about $30. and it will block spam. Sign me up!

I am so tired of responding to unwanted solicitations throughout the day. Like the phonecall that turns out to be a recording of a stuttering friend-like type so you think he's a real live guy. Yeah right. Or the phonecall that beeps fax sounds in my ear. Last week, I started to receive text message spam on my cellphone! The nerve. I didn't even have a text message package. It's a double good thing we got rid of our cellphones.

And then there are the endless catalogues I didn't subscribe to. I read in Apartment Therapy that you should call each unwanted catalogue and unsubscribe yourself. I have called 12 catalogues so far. Sheesh. Apparently you can also request to not receive offers for new credit cards. I get about 12 per week. I must find out about that list too.

Once I unsubscribe myself to all the unwanted mail, catalogues, email, phonecalls, and other unwanted intruders, I figure I will receive only about 3 pieces of mail, 1 phonecall and 4 emails per day. But they will be mine, all mine.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this should tide you over until I am back writing again. A little on the busy(!) side this week....

Wow, I've got a lot of work to do. What am I doing swimming? My arms are still sore from lifting weights last week. I can't believe I have to lift more weights today. I love my new vaccuum. I wonder what I'll make today. I better get home and get to work. It's a definite egg timer day. Yup. I think I'll keep myself on a tight leash and do 20'/15' intervals. Maybe I'll have eggs for lunch.

***
Post Script Post
Does anyone know if Blogger has changed the way it indexes past posts? It seems my past posts don't link. Now that is a big bummer. A great loss to society and all that. I will be back later with the Egg Timer post in question. It's an oldie but a goodie.