Let me tell you about my love/hate relationship with the Valencia Street Swing. I love how elegant it is, and hate that I didn’t think of it first. A few weeks ago, some folks hung this swing from a tree branch across the street from Summit Cafe and it somehow managed to survive until late this afternoon.

I always seemed to see folks enjoying the swing, and was often happy to make eye contact or share a smile with them. Sometimes people would even ask for a push. It was awesome. When walking, I’d often go a block or two out of my way just to see folks on it. As a matter of fact, I even spent my New Years morning hanging by the swing taking pictures and chatting with strangers, it was great.

I’m bummed to see it go, but wanted to share some of my favorite iPhone shots of the swing. I also wanted to remind folks that art doesn’t have to be complicated to connect with people. Thanks to the artists who put this swing up and hopefully you’ve inspired other acts of guerrilla goodness!

A few years ago I became a tailor for Self Edge denim in San Francisco. Through my experience there I learned to appreciate high quality shuttle loom denim that was coming out of Japan. Through working this intimately with denim I learned to ditch polysynthetics and embrace cotton, wool, and leather. Not only do these materials breath better, but leather and cotton have the bonus of getting better looking with age.

I guess all of this is a roundabout way to say that I’ve never really had much interest in fashion, but have finally come to realize the functionality that can come along with some particular fashions. I went from total thrift store shopping to mostly thrift store shopping with the occasional high end jeans purchase. It wasn’t until recently that this interest in clothes really branched out beyond jeans and boots. I remember stumbling upon a post on the BoingBoinghole about a $75 merino wool tee shirt. Most folks who read about the shirt probably thought it was ridiculous amount to pay for an undershirt, but I was fascinated with it. $80 bucks for a shirt may seem ridiculous, but I used to think $300 for jeans was crazy.

After a few months of thinking about it, I started digging through Outlier‘s website for more details about this “wundershirt” when I found their “pivot sleeved” button shirts. These shirts were based on the classic men’s long sleeve button shirt, but the cut was specifically designed for bicyclists. The shirts are cotton with a stain resistant stain… and hella sharp. After trying one at the newly opened Mission Workshop, I fell in love. I love the way they fit, and really digging the pivot design for just plain everyday use. I’ve bought 4. Also: I blogged about this shirt a while ago and referred to it as my Zombie Shirt because of the way the shirt stays tucked in even when arms are outstretched.

BTW, I finally bought one of those merino wool shirts (after 8 months of thinking about it) and it’s become one of the best clothing investments I’ve ever made. They breath fantastically and can be worn several days without washing. So one shirt can be stretched out between washes if needed. Despite being wool, these shirts are knit very finely and feel just like a super soft and light cotton.

I’ve recently completed my “bicycle fashion” with a pair of Quoc Pham “Tourers” shoes. These classic leather shoes have a hard sole with a space for bike cleats. They are designed in London and manufactured in Vietnam. I’ve spent a few days riding in them and they feel better with each ride. I went for a tighter fit and the leather is stretching out nicely.

Until these last few years, I’ve never really given a damn about clothing manufacturers. Even as a teen, I used to rub the labels off of my shoes and clothes, but now I’ve finally found some clothes I can be passionately about. Flathead Jeans, Mr. Freedom, Outlier, and Quoc Pham make great shit… I’m glad I finally came out of my “anti-fashion” shell and found the stuff that works for me. I don’t even think of this as an interest in fashion, to me I’m just geeking out on design/construction/material just like I would geek out on a nice calligraphy pen or bicycle part.

My superpal Meredith was featured on one of MakeZine’s “Meet The Makers” videos. It’s a charming video with some scenes shot inside of Noisebridge. You may have seen some of Mer’s Scarf-A-Day Project here or on other blogholes as well.

Just a quick note to say that Unwoman and I will be playing a set together next Friday, December 10th, as part of the Mission Block Party. We’ll be performing in front of (or inside) Mission Comics and Art around 7pm. It’ll be one of the rare chances to hear my iPad music with live cello in the background (and Unwoman’s Cello music with my bleeps and bloops layered on top of it).

It’ll probably be something similar to our most recent iPad/cello set at Mission Comics:

Last November, I saw this guy using a magnifying glass to burn letters on to pieces of drift wood. I did a brief interview with him, but never got around to editing it until now. Check it out on the youtubehole. All I know is that his name is Ted. Anyone else know anything about him or magnifying glass art?

Apparently, the CC members have been pondering change lately, so the next meeting (Thursday January 28th) will be at the brand new Borderlands Cafe on Valencia Street. I’m really excited that the CC may be coming back to the Mission, but I also happen to be a big fan of Borderlands Cafe. In fact, a few of the cartoonists that were at the very first meeting and I have been meeting at Borderlands on Sunday mornings for informal drawing and chatting time.

If you are interested in joining us, come to Borderlands Cafe on 870 Valencia St and look for the group of cartoonists. Please introduce yourself, I promise we are a friendly group. The meeting will be from 6:30 till 9pm.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Scrap Life project, so I thought it was about time I shared a new one. The Scrap Life projects first started when I took some of the scrap leftover from my Love Life bag and made a wallet out of it, and this project is somewhat similar.

I don’t have a lot of Love Life scrap left, so I also used pieces of scrap from high end selvage denim that had been tailored.

The design is based on a wallet that [redacted] made and gave to me a few years ago. I simplified it a little, but the basic idea of a wallet that folds into itself as show in the pictures was his. When working with the denim I wanted to make sure that the selvage line would be worked into the design.

I had mentioned these denim wallets before, but I’ve been making some really swell ones lately. Check out this one I made from scraps of leather and Samurai Jeans.

I was really surprised at how easy it was to work with leather. It was the perfect size piece, I didn’t even need a special needle, just the same one I’ve been using on denim. My next goal is to learn how to create a tool to brand my logo onto the leather.

Fuckin’ beautiful, aint it? The wallet design itself is largely based on simplicity. The wallets are stripped down to their barest necessity and that helps keep them really thin and comfortable.

The denim is high quality raw denim, as it breaks in it becomes form to fit. Check this out, as the wallet breaks in it gets easier to use and softer and thinner. Closing the lip when tucking in the edge of the wallet can be tough at first, but as it gets used it really breaks in nicely.

Here are some pics of more wallets I made. For these I used bits of mens neckties, upholstry sample swatches, and even some that are all denim. Notice that some of them have selvage lines on the the lip and also have a line at the card holder.