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.

WSVW?

WSVW= What Should Venus Wear?

Venus is the name of my armless mannequin. (Incredibly obvious name, I know.) Anyway, I use Venus to show off Three Stone Steps' bags, so that buyers can get a sense of their size and how to wear them. However, she is naked. This never bothered me before. In fact, I thought that usually a mannequin was much less alienating than using a live model, since, well, since live models can sometimes be intimidating because, well, who looks like that? (Of course, Venus has the same ridiculous dimensions as a Barbie doll, so that theory has more than a few holes.) Anyway, I just shot some more photos, and realized that this nudity is not good. It's time to dress Venus.
But, What should Venus wear?

I'd love your suggestions!

Naked Venus models an abaca shoulder bag, with recycled flour sack lining, with little abaca flower brooch.



Naked Venus is carrying the mint green color of the Luna Shoulder Bag, in repurposed mosquito netting. (It's on sale, by the way.)

Even More Test Shots

It was a perfect overcast day for photography with my little point and shoot camera, so I decided to try out more photos in context.

All these items are from the Philippines, and should--fingers crossed, diety of your choice willing--will be here at Three Stone Steps by next week.

(This cute lime green bag is made from abaca, and lined with a used industrial plastic sack. The very sweet abaca flower is sold separately.)

Dangles made with bamboo, coconut bead, and some seed. They'll be available in many hip and fun colors.


I'm least happy with this photo, although not with the product, which is a cute, summery clutch made out of seagrass, and line with recycled flour sacks.

Well, there you have it. Some new products shot in some new context. We'll see just what I'll end up doing with these photos when I get ready to load them to my site.

Photos with Backgrounds: A Little Test

While I'm waiting for my brand spankin' new products to arrive, maybe tomorrow, from Vietnam, and the very great, very unique items from the Philippines sometime next week, I thought I'd experiment a bit with shooting the products with a bit more flair, and just not, as a friend described, floating out there.

I've done a little test with my lovely fake grass. I shot a sample of my new little purses, made with raw silk, and decorated with a mod flower. Here it is:

I can't wait to get them. I'll also have these amazingly cute and oh so affordable purses in black with gray flowers, and yellow with purple flowers, but thought I'd start my test with just one.

So, what do you think?

Krakow, Phnom Penh, and Remembrance: A difficult post

I returned on Sunday from a two week, unexpected, free, and non-Three Stone Steps related trip to Poland. I've never had much desire to go to that Central/Eastern Europe nation, but my partner's provenance is, as he likes to say, 100 percent pure Polish, and, well, free airline tickets are hard to resist.

Poland, especially the area around Krakow--a lovely, if overly touristy city--was, during World War II, the epicenter of the Nazi atrocities. And, certain Krakovians are oh so cleverly taking advantage of this fact, opening "Jewish style" restaurants, offering tours to Schindler's factory, the Jewish ghetto, and, above all, to Auschwitz. It was all very disturbing, this overt marketing of a lost Jewish community in a Disneyland kind of way, and this marketing of a genocide. But, maybe some people need to be reminded, or worse yet, even learn what happened. Ok, and also disturbing is that no one running the tours, or really awful restaurants were actually Jewish. There was this mythologized version of it all; as if there was some really colorful people and past that is now gone. It's all well, it's too bad, but we'll play loads of uplifting Klezmer music anyway!





So, what does this have to do with Three Stone Steps' silk scarves, bags, and other fine fashion accessories? Well, they are from Cambodia, a nation with a much more recent genocide. I've been to Cambodia, specifically Phnom Penh, often. My first time there, I visited the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide, a chilling experience since it's left pretty much it was when abandoned by the Khmer Rouge in 1979. It's very respectful, and the staff actually consists of actual Cambodians. I've met Cambodians over 35. Lovely people, as soon as they have some time alone with you, they talk and talk about life under the Khmer Rouge, still trying to make sense of the horrors.

So, it was with some dismay that today I read a New York Times article titled, "Pain of Khmer Rouge Era Lost on Cambodian Youth." It's all really chilling. As horrific as it is to remember the atrocities, it's even more horrific to forget.

I'm sure marketing gurus would tell me not to publish this post. Who wants to hear about genocide when purchasing a messenger bag? But, Cambodians still live in Cambodia. I work with one producer who has told me about life under the Khmer Rouge. All the people she hires are her age or older, and are mostly polio and landmine victims. Cambodia may the land of the amazing Angkor Wat, and incredibly beautiful silk products, but scratch the surface, and you'll find people still trying to make sense of the not too distant past.

Now that this post is finished, I promise that my next one will be more uplifting.