little things making

Kemp and I were brainstorming last night on what to do with this little nook that we have above a door in our living area. It has remained empty for the past 3 years (save the time we wanted to prove to ourselves that it would be a cool place to hang) and I really think it's time we get making.

Lights, plants, miniatures, space, string, fractals, projections - that was as far as we got. Kemp joked about making little miniatures of ourselves to live up there and it seems it could one day be a pretty easy project.

These little tinies are 3D printed replicas of real people! Isn't technology amazing?

Here is where I learned about the 3D printing photo booth being exhibited in Japan. Some lucky visitors will be leaving with a miniature likeness of themselves. HOW COOL IS THAT!?

If I am to ever get one of these little guys of my own, it will definitely not be tucked away in that top nook, though. But a miniature of the moon? Yes, that might be worthy of the space.

Stamping ground

After a near year long hiatus, we're back with a new look in the shop!

Our roll of vintage wallpaper was running low, so it was time for something new. Like a stamp!

I wish we could combine the two, but ink doesn't hold well on wallpaper. That's ok, because I forgot how much fun stamps are to use. The coffee slip is my favourite.

Purchase in June and you just might be lucky enough to receive one of these repurposed beauties.

The tags and cards are in preparation for the Trinity Bellwoods yard sale. Come see us in the park this Saturday between 10 am and 5 pm (well, 3 pm since we have to dart out early).

And hey, in honour of combining vintage and Trinity Bellwoods, check out what a gem the park used to be here.

Team Eames

Looking forward to this one! And James Franco is the narrator. Movie date, ladies?

Apfelwein

Blub blub blub. Had a sneaky taste test the other night. Boozey! A few more weeks and I think we'll be ready to bottle.

Store news

I've been finding a ton of sweet stuff that is going to be going up in the store soon. The sort of sweet where I have trouble putting it up for sale because I want to keep it for myself. A couple of pretty day dresses, some amazing, mint condition dark brown leather ankle boots, a vintage fleece-lined Levi's jean jacket, and a pretty good selection of leather purses. Plus wayyyy more. Yeah!

And if that weren't enough, I have an even more exciting piece of news to share. Chisholm Block is growing! Meet our newest employee, Judy:

She's cute, right? And hard working, too. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing less of me and more of her modeling our fine wares in the shop.

Here's a quick preview of a few things that are coming down the pipes for fall in the shop:

Home brewin'

So it's fall. How did that happen so quickly? As sad as it is to see summer go, I love autumn. I love sweaters, and pumpkins and opaque tights and new prime time dramas. I also love apple cider, and have been fantasizing about making my own boozy batch since reading the seemingly simple instructions laid out in the 2007 August/September issue of ReadyMade. Each fall since reading this article, I have pulled the issue off of my bookshelf, flipped to the earmarked recipe, and debated whether or not fermenting a large batch of fruit juice in a small, poorly ventilated apartment, having limited knowledge of sanitation protocols and using crude equipment was a good idea.

This fall, there was no debate. Now that I am older and wiser than I have ever been before, I can see that of course it is a good idea! My home brew is going to be delicious. And potent. And it is going to have a really cool name, printed on a really cool label. Everyone will be very impressed that I made my own moonshine, because it is an impressive thing to do. Just ask a prisoner, or a guy from the 20's.

This year, conveniently, Darryl got a beer making kit for his birthday. (From me). It includes a carboy, a bucket, and all of the necessary nozzles and hoses (do I sound like I know what I'm talking about?) to make beer, wine or CIDER. We're in business!

So this past weekend we went to an orchard outside of the city, bought 40lbs of apples considered to be "seconds," and got to work.

I started by washing each apple very carefully. I filled the sink with baking soda, distilled vinegar and a bit of dish detergent before dropping them in and scrubbing them up. After rinsing the apples well, I started pushing all 40lbs through the mouth of my juicer, an apple at a time. I filled all of the jugs and large pots in our kitchen with fresh apple juice, and set the pulp aside to strain with cheesecloth in order to collect every possible last drop of booze-to-be.

The next step was to kill off any wild yeast that happens to have survived my powerful apple bath, and the frenzied ride through my Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro Juicer. I had a bit of trouble deciding how best to do this. We have a few Campden tablets, which are used in brewing to kill off any bacteria or yeast present in the juice, however I am a bit apprehensive about sulfite use, mainly because of the hangovers they tend to encourage. Pasteurization, on the other hand, does the same job without chemicals, but alters the taste of the juice, and changes the body of the cider.

We went with pasteurizing - a decision I feel OK about right now, but may feel differently about after tasting our final product. We'll see!

This is where we're at now. I'll try to post some updates soon regarding bad smells, funny sounds, accidents, cider-related arguments, etc.

Long Weekend Part Two

Additional highlights from the long weekend include:

Prehistoric turtle hunting:

Picturesque views:

And lastly, apocalyptic storms: