Still here!

Ah, the incredibly languishing blog. Looking for time and for inspiration for something to post, but have just been--and this is no excuse at all--very busy.

So, let me tell you a bit what I've been doing:

I've been peddling my wares at local weekly markets. If you're in the Baltimore-area, I can be found most Sundays at the Baltimore Bazaar section of the wonderful under the JFX farmers market. (The Baltimore Bazaar is not in the same place as all the wonderful produce and prepared foods, but across the street.

On Tuesdays, I've been at a sweet, small-ish community market. The Hamilton-Lauraville Market runs from 4-8pm and is on Harford Road across from Safeway.

I've also been busy deciding what's doing well of my new items for re-order. The answer is that people have really taken to almost all of the new products from the Phlippines, especially the abaca bags and the trash purses. Of course these are not yet on my site, which brings me to another reason I've been distracted:

I'm planning a major rehaul of my website.

And, lots go along with that.

But, no more excuses.

I'll write a wonderfully insightful, and funny blog post soon. Promise. (Ok. Maybe not wonderfully insightful and funny, but will definitely post.)

Taking the Easy Way Out: Mothers'/Mother's Day Post from 2008

For this Mother's Day, I thought it best to re-post my Mother's Day/Mothers' Day post from last year, since nothing really has changed in the history between 2008 and 2009.

Happy Mothers' Day & Enjoy!


Ah, the apostrophe! Where would we be without it?

In my never ending quest to blog about holidays, I found Mothers' Day (with the apostrophe after the "s" ) to be much more to my liking. It's a communal thing: you know, collective action versus taking your mother out to brunch with free flowing mimosas and signing your name to a Hallmark card.

As with most things, there's some great background here, background that those marking Mother's Day eating out and shopping tend to forget. This first little bit is minimally edited from a website on West Virginia culture:


It started with Ann Marie Jarvis who organized a series of Mothers' Day Work Clubs in West Virginia to improve health and sanitary conditions. Among other services, the clubs raised money for medicine, hired women to work for families in which the mothers suffered from tuberculosis, and inspected bottled milk and food. In 1860, local doctors supported the formation of clubs in other towns.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made a county in West Virginia a strategic site during the Civil War. Ann Jarvis urged the Mothers' Day Work Clubs to declare their neutrality and provide relief to both Union and Confederate soldiers. The clubs treated the wounded and regularly fed and clothed soldiers stationed in the area. Jarvis also managed to preserve an element of peace in a community being torn apart by political differences. During the war, she worked tirelessly despite the personal tragedy of losing four of her children to disease. In all, eight of her twelve children died before reaching adulthood.

But, that's not all. Julia Ward Howell, of Battle Hymn of the Republic fame, as well as an advocate for suffrage and a pacifist also envision Mothers' Day as an "s" apostrophe holiday. In fact, she wrote a poetic proclamation:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

How the holiday morphed from one promoting the great and general interests of peace to one promoting (unfairly traded) floral bouquets and canned sentiment is far beyond the scope of this blog, and perhaps my somewhat rusty research skills. But, with that said, Happy Mothers' Day to all!

Just in time for Mother's Day: A Trunk Show!

Please join me at Alexa Webb Artisan Jewelry, on May 7, from 6 to 8 pm for a Three Stone Steps trunk show, where we'll be unveiling brand new items from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Pictured left is a great new travel set, a cosmetic case and jewelry pouch, made of jacquard silk from Vietnam. The set costs $25, or $15 each piece.




And, to the right, we have a cute, perfect for that summer event clutch fairly made in the Philippines of seagrass. If seagrass isn't eco-chic enough for you, the lining is made from recycled flour sacks. And, you can carry this this incredibly sweet bag for a sweet price. It's a mere $23!


Oh, and there's so much more! New hand loomed silk scarves from Cambodia. New colors of the very popular silk screen on cotton messenger bag, more colors and styles of the lovely Angkor bag, complete with matching silk wallets, and purses made from recycled junk food wrappers.

We'll be serving some light refreshments, and hope that you'll join us.

Alexa Webb Artisan Jewelry is in Federal Hill, at 1028 S. Charles Street.

And, why do you think they call it the "Manila envelope?"

I received a shipment from the Philippines last week. Three Stone Steps now has brand new colors and designs of messenger bags and other personal accessories. Very exciting. But what's actually blogworthy is that these bags come in rarely seen in the U.S. fibers. So, in addition to mosquito netting, recycled metal, silk, and cotton, Three Stone Steps now boasts such fibers as recycled tetra pack (think those little juice boxes where you poke a hole with a straw) and used (but clean) junk food wrappers, bamboo (made into hip jewelry), seagrass, and abaca. Of all these wonderful fibers, I must admit to having somewhat of a mini-obsession with abaca. Plus "abaca" is just such a magical sounding word.

I've posted photos of my abaca products before on this blog--in the should Venus, the mannequin, be naked post--but it's time to do it again so you can see just what I'm talking about:


Cute, huh?

Anyway, without getting all Latin plant name on you, abaca is the fiber from a tree that looks exactly like a banana tree, just without the fruit. The fiber is harvested from the outer sheaths of the trunk, a process done by hand that doesn't harm the tree at all. In fact, in a couple of years, the same outer sheath grows back. And, while abaca is grown in various parts of the world, it's said to be indigenous to the Philippines, and the Philippines leads the world in its production. Ok. End of botany lesson.

Abaca is generally considered to be the strongest natural fiber available. In fact, cordage, especially for ships' ropes, is among its most notable use. And, not only is its strength legendary, abaca is incredibly lightweight. Talk about having it all.

But wait, there's more. Abaca, this friendliest of eco-friendly fibers is, at least in the Philippines, grown by small farmers, working maybe five or ten hectares. So, we're not talking some big multinational paying workers peanuts to harvest this fiber on plantations, this fiber comes from real small farmers. And, once it's in fiber form, it's taken to another small producer to dye and weave. All this is done by hand, too. And, then the producer I work with, on the big southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and I figure out how to design this woven fiber into bags you will love.

These bags have other special, eco-friendly features like lining made from recycled flour sacks, but I'll leave the inside of the bag for another post.

Oh, and the Manila envelope trivia question thing? Abaca is sometimes called Manila hemp. And, envelopes used to be made out of it, hence the Manila envelope. And, now you know.

Energizing Earth Day Post

Happy Earth Day.

I have a little dog named Fellini. (Yes, I named the Fellini Pannolini bag after a little stray found in Patterson Park over five years ago.)

If you don't know him, well, here's a photo:


And, his brother, Mingus, (who coincidentally has a bag named after him) is in the background. since it wouldn't be fair to leave him out.

But, back to Earth Day and energy. Fellini is a high energy dog. Maybe the highest energy dog ever. He's a wonderful, funny, loving animal, but he's difficult to tire out. And, I often look at him in amazement and think, why can't I harness this energy?

I think if there was some way to hook him up, ethically and humanely, mind you, his energy could, at the very least, power my house and, at most, the entire eastern seaboard. I used to think that Fellini alone had enough energy to rid us of the need for coal fired power plants, but, you know, Fellini is now pushing six, and he can't have this energy forever.

I've been mulling this over when watching him. I think about it when I see people run or bike around the same park. All this energy, and why isn't it harnessed?

Then, I watched a video on a sustainable dance floor:



I watch this and think, hey! that's my idea! A case of great minds thinking alike, and all that. I think this is just the beginning.

And, if anyone has an idea for how I can hook up Fellini to a nice, safe generator, please let me know.

Shooting in Outerspace. Booblehead Not Included.

I'm on the seemingly never ending journey of shooting my new products (many of which aren't even here now, but I have samples. And, they should be here soon. Fingers crossed.)

Anyway, most of the photos are just suspended in outer space. You know, white background. A focus on the product. And, the photos end up looking like this:


Actually, these are lovely (and, in stock, although not on the Three Stone Steps site yet). I mean, who wouldn't love a cute jacquard silk cosmetic bag and jewelry pouch set, fairly traded from Vietnam?

But, you know, shooting photos like this doesn't exactly scratch one's creative itch. (Ok. I did use my little light box outside, instead of inside with a lot of lamps. Chalk that up to my concern with my carbon footprint, my desire not to give our dastardly gas & electric company, BGE, one more cent, and wanting to be outside on a gorgeous day. And, that did provide some challenges, although not exactly of the creative kind.)

So, I moved on to shooting my very eco-chic bamboo earrings, which should be here Friday. At this point, I'm pretty much just testing. And, in a moment of incredible inspiration some weeks ago, I decided to name these the Let's Go O's earrings. (And, yes, they will be available in O's orange.) And, what could be better than O's earrings, than pairing them up with Cal Ripken?


I don't really know if a photo like this will make it to the website, but, we'll see. Bobblehead not included.

Blue Skies Smiling at Me

For the first time, in what seems like forever, the sun is shining and the sky is blue here in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, home of the worldwide headquarters of Three Stone Steps.

And, with this weather, my thoughts turn to this weekend, specifically for Saturday, when the weather is supposed to be even more glorious, and Three Stone Steps will be in Druid Hill Park to take part in, for the second time, Baltimore's EcoFest.

Last year, EcoFest was terrific fun and incredibly inspiring (almost, but not quite as inspiring as everyone's new favorite singer, Susan Boyle--ha!-trying to figure out a way to get Susan Boyle in this post, and I did!) If you're interested in what I thought about this wonderful event last year, I did blog about it in 2008, and it can be found right here.

And, if you're hoping for a sneak peak on what Three Stone Steps will have on tap, well, our famous repurposed mosquito netting items will have some special (read low) pricing, and, with hope--praise deity of your choice and fingers crossed--some brand spankin' new items from the Philippines. But, don't hold your breath.

If you make it there, please stop by and say hi.