Lost Nation Road

stretching in the moonlight- the far hazy forest is Lost Nation

So we've moved. It almost killed me- never again will I move house and wood shop at the same time. I've taken some time away from the blog....but I've started feeling guilty about not writing anything, I am moving into the wood shop next Wednesday so I can start putting creations up again but in the meantime I will tell a little story. It's the story of the inspiration of the name Lost Nation.

the lake from my cottage deck

My cottage is a very sacred place. My dad built it in 1973 with a handsaw and a chainsaw. I love my cottage very very deeply and I have a deep magnetic pull to it. We used to run like wild children up there and my sister and I would always go on huge excursions that would take most of the day. When we were 15/16 we decided to take the canoe and go rock climbing at the far end of the lake and my younger cousin came along for the adventure. Of course when we got to the top of the rock face Annika and I decided to investigate the woods and we found a logging road that we just had to go down. We ended up walking for ages and to our surprise we ended up on Lost Nation Road. A road that we wanted to go up for ages but we only knew how to get to it from the main road. We were so excited to be there but quickly sobered up because we realised we were miles away from home and our canoe was tucked into the trees half-way up the lake. We also had trudged through loads of private property but only realised when we got to link roads. So we decided we couldn't go back so we went forward (we'd been adventuring for quite a few hours and my cousin was tired and he was getting really pissed at us). Anyways Annika and I swam a kilometer back to our canoe laughing all the way and my cousin walked/stomped along the road to the boat landing where we picked him up with the canoe. It was such an amazing adventure and we did it almost every year. We called it The Lost Nation Pilgrimage. Many special people have done it with us and it has always been a symbol to me of absolute freedom and beautiful, wild, pristine nature.

I got Lost Nation tattooed on my arm last year because what it means to me and calling the business Lost Nation just made sense.

of course all the knotty buoys have anchor tattoos and the birds are there because I love them

Knotty Buoys

diana: Paul Ruddering the boat, natalie: copping a feel (as per usual) , alison: looking for her lost compass, me: searching for land

I'm going to Canada for August for a little holiday and I can't wait. I got so homesick last month because I really wanted to see a few very special gals...and now I'm counting down the weeks before we are reunited. We call ourselves the Knotty Buoys, a name that stemmed from a boat I was going to buy that me and my little Natalie were going to live on (which didn't happen in the end). But everything happens for a reason and our stars aligned and through amazing circumstance we all ended up moving in together. So we called our house the Knotty Buoy in honour of the boat and we became the Knotty Buoys.

Soggy Day

At long last my Humane Antlers are finished. However, I'm working on a new set that is going to be a bit tighter looking and slightly more realistic. It's been raining all day and I've found it really hard to get motivated to do anything substantial. I'm in the mood to sketch tonight so I might go and make some soup and build a fire and get cozy for the evening. My bird of the moment is the Jackdaw. My god are they ever nice to watch. So I think that Mr. Jackdaw is going to be my evening sketching project.

Nice 'stache Fella

moustache on a stick...my newest and favouritest invention

My best sister friend Annika is visiting me this week and we've been blessed with amazing hot sunny weather. We've been creating a whole bunch of things which has been a blast, my favourite I gotta say is moustache on a stick. I'm working on more as we speak. We've been going on long walks with Alan in the evening and Annika has met all my animal friends (including Potatoes who is still an angel).

New York, Gina and George Nakashima

the conoid chair

I'm about 1 week away from the two year anniversary of a decision that changed my life and I have this glorious chair to thank.

I was in New York visiting my girlfriend Gina and she was busy with her last week of school. I did the classic touristy things (galleries, museums and shopping) during the day and we'd meet up in the evenings and hang out and chat (mainly on her fire escape with a pack of camel cigarettes-back when I used to smoke)

I remember I was in The MET and I'd been walking for hours in shoes that were really hurting my feet. I ended up in a quiet section with a huge wooden slab coffee table with some chairs around it. I sat in one of the chairs and lost all ability to move. This was the most comfortable chair I'd ever sat in. I felt deeply moved and had the urge to tell someone about it. I turned around and said to the nearest employee "this is the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in." She looked at me and said really quite dryly "it's a George Nakashima." Now of course at the time I'd never heard of George Nakashima and I had no idea what she meant by this. All I could think was whoever made this chair understood the human form. I'd never imagined sitting so low to the ground would feel so right. When I finally got up after close to 5 minutes sitting in the chair I looked at it and thought what a glorious piece of woodwork it was.

I left the museum and the chair and continued my day of New York tourism but a little seed had been planted in me. I wanted to make furniture like that too. I wanted to use my hands, work with wood and make nice honest designs. I was too scared to tell any of my family and friends that I wanted to make furniture because I thought they'd think I was being flakey but I can't keep a secret and within 2 weeks everyone knew. Within 5 weeks of that trip to visit Gina in New York I had my first job working with a furniture maker in Etobicoke. Now almost 2 years later I've got my own business. Lost Nation is my little sappling and it's slowly growing and it's thrilling and terrifying and exciting and I love it.

http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/

Box of Goodies

look at these two! what a bunch of sweet peas

I can't even talk about this one (single tear leaking from my eye)

I think that's Mussolini on the stamp. Don't tell me if I'm wrong
(I like to pretend I have a postcard with a dic...tator on it)



She made me sad so I adopted her

James came over yesterday and read us the first 21 chapters of his book. It isn't finished yet and the publishers haven't even looked at it so it felt like a real treat. We had the fire going and the house was all cozy and warm. Ahhhhhhh it was so nice. He'd been at an auction before he came to our house and he bought (amongst other things) a box of 1000 vintage postcards and photos. He took a handful but left the rest with us. Now the house is covered in old black and white photos and amazing postcards with sweet notes on them. They all have that amazing musty paper smell that makes me high. There are really too many gems to show here, soooo if anyone wants an old postcard in the mail...email me your address and I'll send you one. These are my favourite ones and I already have a sentimental attachment so don't expect to receive them. But that's my only clause.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Pauline

completely unrelated to Pauline...but what a little foxy angel

Back in 2007 I had a shitty little contract job at Hatley in Toronto. I was making spec sheets and organizing pantone colours. I got the job because my friend Dee worked there. The technical designer was this awesome girl named Pauline. I worked with her for a month and then she came in one day and rather abruptly handed in her 2 weeks notice-she and her lover were moving to Vancouver. She said it was kind of unplanned and they just decided to move...but I always had my reservations (am I right Pauline? How long had you been planning your escape?) Anyways Pauline left and Hatley stopped being a fun place to work. They ran out of stuff for me to do so they let me go soon after. (Which is the best thing that ever happened to me because I had 1 month unemployment and decided to change my life and start making furniture.)

Anyways what the hell ever happened to Pauline? Well let me tell you. Pauline still lives in Vancouver has started an amazing clothing company called flora & fauna. This is the type of clothing company that I whole-heartedly support. flora & fauna clothing is produced locally, ethically and sustainably. If that isn't good enough for you Pauline is obsessed with all animals especially kitty cats, she is very good at making avocado pits sprout and she has named all her pieces in her Spring 2009 collection after animals. Cute! Go and have a goosey gander at her website and blog and see what sorts of cool and inspiring things she is doing.

http://floraandfauna.ca/index.php





http://floraandfaunablog.blogspot.com/

The Etsy Resolution

Enfield

Soooooo, we have a little problem with our jointer right now. It's fixable but it requires a tool that we don't have. We are going to go into town to buy it this afternoon. I've decided that this morning is the perfect time to start making things to sell on ETSY. I have made an internal resolution that my Etsy shop is going to be opened on February 14. It's an easy day to remember and it's soon so I have to stop procrastinating. I stumbled on Etsy over christmas doing a random online search I can't believe I didn't know it existed until then. Etsy is absolutely inspired. It's an online marketplace where people can buy and sell handmade things. I think there are over 170 000 shops. There are so many frickin’ talented creative people in the world I can’t even handle it. Go and look at Etsy (www.etsy.com) and do it when you have some free time because it’s addictive.

Today's picture is what I see when I look out the study window. That thatched house is called Enfield and the big tree is just beyond our local pub.

Beach Collecting and the Shark

This is the coolest thing I've ever found on a beach

Yes! I needed a new set of fabric scissors

The Good News:
I went to the best beach yesterday. I visited it back at the end of August when I first moved here and I have been wet dreaming about it ever since. It's amazing! There is one part along the shore line that apparently had a mud slide last may and it has uncovered all sorts of treasures. I think that once upon a time there must have been an old dump there because there are all types of broken crockery, old glass bottles and rusting metal. I've decided it is my duty to re home as much of this treasure as I possibly can. I love this beach, it makes my heart beat a bit faster when I think about it. I went with Alan (Paddy hasn't stuck) and I think it is fair to say we both had an amazing time.

The Bad News:
(This part of the story is a bit sad because the day began with a bit of a tragedy)

As soon as we got to the beach Alan found a dogfish that had been stranded on the beach when the tide went down. The fishy wasn't doing to well because it had been out of water for a very long time. I love all animals but am really scared of touching things without legs. I knew that I had to save him and that took a lot of pep talking. I finally managed to pick him up in my bag and I took him down to the water. I kept yelling 'Come on fishies, we can do it!' Sadly by the time we got to the water the situation had worsened and fishy was dead. It broke my heart because I kept trying to get him to swim away. I was saying ''Go on fishies, swim away'' but he didn't. I tried my hardest and I couldn't save him. It was really sad.

I told Hazzy about the dogfish tragedy and he told me that they are small sharks. So the fact that I couldn't save him meant that other little fishies live because the dogfish would have eaten them. I am glad I didn't know I was picking up a shark because I don't think I would have been able to move him if I had known he had sharp teeth.