TCO - True Cost or True Value?

America loves acronyms especially 3 letters ones, so I was not surprised when I was introduced to TCO - Total Cost of Ownership. Total Cost of Ownership or should it be True Cost of Ownership? I had heard of it and was reminded of it just before Christmas when discussing badly manufactured items. Often these items break right away and can't be fixed, creating hassles, loss of time, waste and pollution, plus adding the cost of having to replace them...

Contrast these items with objects made by local artisans. For example a pair of earrings designed and handmade by me. They transcend fads and current fashion so they will last. They are great conversation pieces as they are unique. They are recognizable. If you buy them and the post breaks, for example, I will fix them as I guarantee them. Or if you lose one earring, I will make a matching earring at half the price of a pair if the materials are available. Essentially you get some value for your purchase and service if needed after your purchase. I find this to be true from most of the items purchased from fellow artists.

A Neckpiece's Journey

Last summer I sold this one of a kind neckpiece at a small show in my hometown of Redwood City, CA. (Shown here with rings and spools of C-Lon Bead Cord and Thread SizeD). The newly constructed town square in front of the Old Courthouse had just won a prestigious prize as best new public place in the U.S. A live band was playing on the square. Lots of people were enjoying a late afternoon and early evening listening to music, having their dinner al fresco with a glass of wine or beer and looking at art by local artists, myself among them. The woman who bought the neckpiece seemed very enthusiastic and happy, left my booth wearing her new purchase around her neck.

Many month later I got a call from a woman who said she had bought a piece of mine and since she was not wearing it, she wanted to return it, but she did not want a refund nor to exchange it. She just wanted to donate it back to me as she deemed the piece too beautiful to be donated to Goodwill. She indicated that she was among a group of the population who did not have any problem paying insurance co-payments, so she felt perfectly comfortable donating thing she did not wear. I thought she was add purchased a small bracelet and told that I would donate it as a door prize at my next show in her spirit. She did not think it was such a good idea and kept telling me I should either keep it or resell it as she had never really worn it. We arranged for her to drop it at my studio. Imagine my surprise when I saw the neckpiece back. I was deeply touched and humbled by her thoughtfulness.

On the winter solstice my yoga group got together for an extra long yoga session with a extended meditation and a solstice celebration with a lunch. Several women in the group had asked me to bring some jewelry as they were looking for gifts. I brought many pieces from my collection on trays, no display... And one of the woman in the group immediately got attracted to the neckpiece that had just been returned to me and decided to purchase it. It looks beautiful on her, as if designed just for her. It just needed to be shortened a bit.

Whenever I think of this neckpiece's journey, I smile and wonder... Do pieces choose their owners? Do angels bring us gifts through thoughtful and generous customers?

Election Day

I do not usually write about politics in this forum but today for the first time I voted in a American Presidential election. I immigrated many years ago after falling in love with an American I met in Canada (my one and only husband, Nicolai Larsen). I remained a permanent resident green card holder even though I was eligible to become an American citizen years ago. During the first Bush term I got motivated to become a citizen, to vote him out of office. I became American in mid-November 2004 in a moving swearing-in ceremony but too late to vote in the 2004 election. New citizens from countries around the world were sworn in by country of origin in alphabetical order starting with Afghanistan and ending with Zimbabwe. As each country was called new Americans rose until the full auditorium was standing. The largest group were from China, Mexico, The Philippines and India. By the time Switzerland was called almost everyone was already standing.

I voted for the first time in 2006, than last June in the primary. Voting today was easy in my precinct, no lines at 9:30 am, a voting machine with a paper audit trail clearly seen when voting, 3 chances to double check before casting the vote, so all above board.

Political opinions aside, this run to election has been riveting. I have spent many hours knotting away in my studio listening to the news on my computer. My family and friends in Europe are also incredibly interested in the outcome of this election. Regardless we will get a new president who will restore some of our international standing. As to real change we will see as actual change is a lot harder than rhetorics and so many of the problems facing us have no easy solutions.

Regardless, goodbye imperial style swaggering, goodbye bad elocution and goodbye Bush kleptocracy...

Added on January 9, 2009 - just 11 days before the Inauguration: I just saw a photo of Chaney presiding over the Senate as the election was certified. Was he smirking as the administration he represents is handing out a plate of manure to Obama? I believe the Bush administration thought the economy was not going to fall into shamble until they were well out of office and they got caught by surprise by the timing, not the fact that it was occurring as they continued to plunder the dying beast until the very last minute. Had that occurred, they could even have blamed the whole debacle onto the upcoming administration and repeated it at nauseum until it became a 'truth'. It was the last stand of a dying breed of dinosaurs, a retroactive force - the old economy based purely on profit regardless on any costs to society at large or future generations. And now that all the old structures are collapsing, the need to create new ones is obvious. So we may have hope for the future with the return of actual civil servants to the White House to help us move toward a new economy that is sustainable and less toxic to the planet. Let's just hope the transition will not be too bumpy for each of us as individuals, and let's embrace the future of new possibilities as it is coming anyways.

'Paracas Headband Textiles Revisited' with Rodrick Owen

Rodrick Owen is a leading expert on Pre-Columbian and Japanese braids known for his seminal book 'Braids, 250 Patterns from Japan, Peru and Beyond' published by Interweave Press in 1995.
A friend gave me a hardcover copy when it was published. I browsed through the book, considered some of the techniques, but kept to my methods of braiding at the time. I had discovered braiding through nautical knotting books in the mid 70's and only heard of the term 'kumihimo' in 1978 when I met Jules and Kaethe Kliot while exhibiting at the San Francisco American Craft Council Show. The Kliots had published a booklet on kumihimo the previous year. Jules Kliot owns Lacis in Berkeley.

I have since then revisited Rodrick's book several times when playing with kumihimo at first with a maru dai, then recently when trying out braids with nylon cord, the kumihimo disk and EZ bobs.

It was a great pleasure to meet Rodrick in person last Thursday at his presentation at the Black Sheep Handweavers Guild. He started by tracing the movement the people who came over the Bering land bridge 30,000 years ago and then showing various sites where excavations found signs of civilizations and textiles in burial sites. In the Paracas necropolis, mummies were bound in place by cords and wrapped with many layers of intricate textiles, such as tunics, mantles and headbands.

He took us then on a visual tour of Paracas and Nazca textiles from around 600 BCE to 400 CE, stunning us with braids, weaving and embroideries of such complexity that no one now knows how to reproduce them. Visually, some pieces were like modern art. One textile design depicted abstractions of windows and modern buildings in the style of a Hundertwasser's. Others had interconnected designs precursors of M.C. Esher's tesselations.

We got a chance after the presentation to see some of Roderick's samples of interlaced, fingerwoven braids. Go to Rodrick Owen's website at http://homepage.mac.com/billgreene1/owen/owenhome.html

What a treat to look at ancient textiles and modern creation of forgotten fiber arts!

Tamara Hill in Ornament Magazine

Congratulation to Tamara Hill, for being featured in the current Ornament Magazine. I met Tamara, a designer through my online store. She was looking for thread. When I saw her website, I looked forward to meeting her due to her connection to beads and Buddhism. We have since connected via emails, phone, and in person at shows, Bead Society meetings... Her work features lots of bold one of a kind beads and many crown knots done with various thread and cord, some from my store.




Check her work in the latest Ornament Magazine or on her website.

Tamara Hill Website: http://tamarahillstudio.com/

Ornament Magazine: http://www.ornamentmagazine.com/current.html

Photos of necklaces are by George Post

For the Love of Jewels Interview

I get a lot of emails everyday and make an effort to respond as quickly as I can to questions and requests for information.
Sally Jewett-Bocato contacted me by email: 'I came across your website while looking for artisan jewelry galleries in the SF area....I was blown away by your beautiful work and would like to do a profile about you in my blog which focuses on "the best of the best" of jewelry designers, teachers and suppliers. If you are interested, I send questions via email and publish your responses.'
Her profile on published on the June 23 post at http://fortheloveofjewels.blogspot.com/2008/06/marion-hunziker-larsen-jewels-in-fiber.html

Colors

When do we have enough colors? As an artist, designer and artisan working primarily with Nylon #18/C-Lon Bead Cord type thread, I struggled for many years with a limited color range, unreliable supplies, a lack of quality control, companies going out of business... All of this was of course before to C-Lon got into the thread business.

C-Lon has now 64 colors, Mastex 22 colors, Conso 14, Beadsmith 17 (Beadsmith may no longer produce their Nylon #18, every time I reorder a few more colors have been discontinued). In addition I also use vintage cords, colors produced in the past by companies no longer in business, discontinued colors and old dye lots. Vintage cord is difficult to come by to newcomers in this field. So essentially most of us have about 100 colors to work with if we are willing to mix brands. Is that enough?

While pondering on this question, I decided to take a look at artist colored pencils. I easily found 9 artist quality brand with sets ranging from 12 to 132 colors. All the sets come in numbers such as 12, 24, 36, 49, 72, 96, 120 and 132 (Prismacolor only). In all the sets the colors are arranged chromatically using different logical systems. Keep in mind that color pencils can be layered, thread can only be juxtaposed. Then I looked at the Madeira Rayon thread used for machine embroidery and they boast 356 colors...

... Back to the nylons: Conso has not changed or added colors for 25 years. Mastex has reduced its color range. Oh, I forgot a sub-brand, S-Lon, well it's just a fact simile or exact duplicate of C-Lon in 51 colors. So we can forget about that brand as an option for additional colors. C-Lon is the only company that may be willing to expand their offering. So the main question remains:

Are 64 colors enough? Or do you still dream of more colors...

Grateful to have 64 colors! ~ Marion

Post your feedback on this question...

Added on January 9, 2009: 2008 saw the shrinking of company offering Nylon #18 with Mastex going out of business :(. I am always sorry to see our choices shrinking. On a positive notes C-Lon decided to expand their colors. I was asked to advise as to possible new colors. As of a week ago 8 new colors are on order at the factory expected to be released toward the end of February. So 64 is growing to 72. Hurrah!