what: faraway treasures. where: in my new home. why: they’re pretty

I’ve only a few more boxes to unpack. phew.

xx

PS if you like, you can click on the image above to see a bigger version with captions.

…it’s adorable. I found this pretty embroidered silk number in a little vintage boutique earlier this year, in a sweet seaside town outside of Sydney where my dear friend Jenni lives. We saw it together, both fell in love with it and spent the following moments passing it from one to another “no you have it”, “no you saw it first, you should have it” “no no, you have it”. Jenni insisted I take it, so I did. And now it lives with me here in Amsterdam. It’s a lovely summer bag, and even though I don’t get to use it much here in the north, I have it hanging on a hook in my bedroom where I can see it everyday and think of my dear friend.

For the past few weeks I’ve been looking into the best way to scan some negatives which I brought back with me from Sydney at the beginning of the year – just a small bunch of old and somewhat recent film,  images that I’d like to include in my upcoming book (commonly referred to as the book). First I asked all my photographer friends here if they had a neg scanner  – I figured at least one of them would have one since they all used to shoot film back in the day. But alas, no! Which was interesting. Then I looked online to see if any of my local photography shops scanned negs, but I also checked out the prices of neg scanners while I was at it.  Long story short, after getting a hefty quote for scanning a few negs I thought it worth investing in a neg scanner of my own as I’d like to start shooting film again soon. Yesterday the neg scanner arrived in the mail and even though it took a while to set up, I soon got the hang of it by scanning a few random negatives from my neg folders.  What is no doubt much more interesting to you though, is what I found among those random negatives: a spoon.

This spoon is possibly my favourite spoon of all time. I haven’t seen it for years, and I’m not even sure if it still exists. I think – I hope -  it is in my storage unit back in Sydney. It has a history which probably dates back to before my ownership of it, but its history with me is special: I bought it about ten years ago , possibly at a flea market,  when I had my store. And then when I opened the teahouse I put it on display there, behind the counter, resting on a little nail in the wall. However one of the staff knocked it unfortunately, and it broke. But I loved it too much to get rid of it. So I bound the two broken pieces rather crudely with some metal wire (time was of the essence back then) and over the years it fused together with rust. I must have taken a photo of it at some point in the last decade with my canon ae-1 and now, all the way over here in my home away from home, I have been reunited with my spoon again via this photo. Today, thanks to this spoon, this photograph,  I am inspired.

xx

PS This is the original photo scanned straight from negative, untouched, unaltered. I just love it. I might have to find a place for this photo in the book I think.

PPS I still think about opening another teahouse one day. I know it’s crazy since the last one nearly killed me, but I do think I’d do it soooo much better this time and really, how many cafés out there know how to make a proper chai these days? I need to bring back the chai.

PPPS I want to say thank you to everyone who has been leaving such luscious compliments about my writing of late. I can’t tell you how much that means to me since the book is filled with such writings, and your encouragement inspires me everyday. So, thank you.

xx

PS and happy weekend! I thought I might get a chance to squeeze one more post in before the weekend but alas, it will have to wait until Monday. Still so many things to share with you…

Yesterday I said I would show you my first origami crane, and here it is! When I say my first I mean my first ‘pretty’ one, there are of course a table full of not so perfect ones. Now that I know how to make them, I’m a little addicted. It’s rather meditative, and I find it’s a really nice way to take a little moment in the day to unwind. It’s certainly a day enhancing activity, that is for sure.

I made my origami crane from this photo featured in Paris: Made By Hand, which I printed onto recycled paper…