Craftstars

My sister and I were talking last night about the craft world...and how we feel like there is this enormous buzz about craft - the organic form of doing something we love and making it into a product- and eventually, taking control of our own lives - working when we want and actually earning a living at it.

"The craft world now has rock stars" said Molly. Rockstars = Craftstars...it's like what happened to models in the late seventies: models became supermodels.

I feel lucky to be able to craft with old materials everyday - which is what French General is all about. To be able to sit and work in one's workspace or even a small corner of the kitchen table and work with one's hands creating something beautiful (and hopefully useful) everyday.

Right now here's what I like working with:

old red fabric that has faded to the shade of cranberry - a color that is so hard to reproduce, just as the color was 300 years ago.
old hemp thread - the kind used to make fishing nets
mother of pearl etched buttons
old embedded wire flowers

My interest now is in the process of old materials: how they were made, who made them, and what kind of stock did they sell that so much of it still exists today. It's all about the process - right?