Hurricane Isaac, here it comes

Hurricane Isaac is rolling slowly over the Gulf of Mexico. It's forecasted to hit us early Wednesday morning. Hurricanes spawn smaller thunderstorms as they go, and we'll get a wave of these little stormlets (the opening act, if you will) tomorrow afternoon. If Isaac ramps up to a Category 3, we're planning to evacuate; otherwise, we're staying put. We have candles and canned food and water. This is Eran and my first actual hurricane. There was a nearly-hurricane tropical storm last year, but this is the real deal.

We can already feel it coming. Hurricanes are preceded by several days of odd but pleasant weather. Today is warm and dry and windy--more like an August day in Los Angeles, when the Santa Ana winds are kicking up. The sky is hazy and white. Earlier, I drove up to the grocery store (Mardi Gras Zone, who say they'll be open "as long as possible", bless 'em), and saw people out nailing plywood over their windows. The bald cypresses in our backyard are whipping back and forth in the hot wind.

Back in the 1800s, this unnatural lack of humidity was the only way to know a hurricane was coming. It happens because the hurricane is literally drawing in all the moisture in the air, from way out there in the ocean.

Daisy!

We love Daisy. We have had her for just about a year, and she is the pinnacle of kitty-ness, in my opinion. She usually does not like having her picture taken, but she wandered into my light-box while I was taking pictures of the doll you see above. I managed to capture "the Daisyface" (middle photograph), which is the face Her Nibs makes when she is displeased about something. Causes of Daisy's displeasure include: picking her up or putting her down when she's not into it; stealing the piece of tape she is straight-up trying to eat, and when we go out for dinner and a movie instead of staying home and petting her constantly.

We adopted Daisy from the lovely folks at Animal Rescue New Orleans. They can always use donations and volunteers!

Update on Etsy Boycotts

It worked! Well, sort of. There are still zillions of resellers on Etsy, but the Featured Seller who started the whole kerfluffle, Ecologica Malibu, has closed her shop. Or had it closed by Etsy--it's pretty unclear. Regretsy story here.  And there's been a little bit of improvement in the way Etsy polices resellers. Nevertheless, it's clear Etsy is going in a more commercial, corporate direction, and I'm going to be looking for somewhere else to host my shop... possibly Craft Star.

(The rose is from City Park. I really like wilting flowers.)

Monster High repaints

These little dollies all started life as off-the-shelf Monster High dolls from Mattel. They're ostensibly for children, but seem to mostly be popular with grown-up Goth chicks such as myself. A "repaint" is any mass-produced doll that has had its factory paint removed and new paint applied. Popular subjects include vinyl baby dolls and Barbies. Monster High dolls are petite (about 11") with big heads and skinny, Tim Burton-y proportions, and their arms and legs are removable. These are four of my repaints; I have a few others in the works. All of them have been rehomed except the little skeleton girl, who is on Ebay right now.
I really like repainting Monster Highs because they're so accessible--they cost $12 to $20, instead of the $100+ for a resin ball jointed doll. And I like their weird little body shapes.

Some of my ball-jointed dolls

I seem to keep acquiring these things, despite my reduced circumstances. I was the recipient of unbelievable generosity from the doll community when my dolls got stolen last year. And of course, layaway, baby.

Below: The grandly named Dulcie Bourbon Saturday, in two different looks. Dulcie is a tan-skin vampire Akasha from the Impldoll company--I bought her on layaway from my darling friend Nina, who wasn't bonding with her. She came blank, and I painted her face and made the long brown wig myself.

Below: Jenever, also made by Impldoll (this sculpt is called Antonia). Her facepainting was done by BJD artist Jisatsu and her neck modification is by Catdancer. She was a generous gift from Nina and another friend. I made her dread-lock wig and her clothes.

The Secret of Happiness

OK, not really. But I promise this recipe will make you slightly happier. If you like mayonnaise.
You will need:

A little jar (I used an old pesto jar)
1/2 cup of regular mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
small clove garlic 

Plop that mayonnaise into your little jar. Add curry. Whisk around with a fork until the curry is blended in and mayo is a nice yellow. Crush the garlic in a press (or chop really fine) and mix in. Give it 15-20 minutes in the fridge for the flavors to combine. Boom, curry-garlic mayonnaise! It's the best stuff on earth. Use it anywhere you would regular mayonnaise--on sandwiches, in coleslaw, in salad dressing... it also makes a great dip for steamed vegetables. When I was little, my mom's curry mayo was the only thing that could induce me to eat broccoli.
Curry-garlic mayonnaise is even slightly better for you than regular mayonnaise! It has vitamin C and antioxidants in addition to all that yummy, yummy fat and cholesterol.  You may even find yourself using a little less of it than regular, because it has a stronger flavor. Plus there's that helping-you-eat-healthy-vegetables thing. (It's also delicious on plain white rice, but let's pretend I've never done that.) Truly, curry-garlic mayonnaise is a glorious foodstuff. Go make some.

Etsy Boycotts--support genuine crafters and vintage sellers

I'll be participating in 3 one-day boycotts of Etsy this month. I'm protesting the influx of factory-made goods, and Etsy's disregard for its core of crafters and vintage sellers. A full explanation of the issue is below, in my previous blog post.

The boycotts are:

May 1st--I guess this here is the website for this one, until something better comes along. Started by Etsy seller Liz Hornbrook and myself

May 3rd: http://www.neogami.com/baligate.html

May 10th (this is looking to be the big one. Sign up at http://www.protesty.com/index.php)

A couple of tips:

If you're putting an announcement on your shop, DO NOT mention Ecologica or Etsy by name--this can get your shop permanently closed for "calling out" or "being negative", which are not allowed on Etsy, even when they're pretty well deserved. Say something like "I handmake all the items in my shop. I am closing for a day to show my solidarity with genuine handmade artists and vintage sellers. Buy genuine handmade. I will reopen tomorrow. Thank you for your support."

Please refrain from personal remarks about Mariana Schecter, especially her appearance. It goes to the "calling out" rule listed above, but beyond that, it's sexist. The issue is not that she's pretty or well-dressed; the issue is that she's acting in an unethical way, and Etsy is supporting her. Ecologica is just the tip of the iceberg anyway.

Spread the word! The more people who get involved, the likelier Etsy is to reconsider their policies. They need to see how badly this story is hurting their brand. I am also concerned that if only a few people protest, Etsy will shut down their shops for trumped-up reasons, but they cannot erase thousands of shops.

Most things are mass-produced--Etsy pretends to be different. They should honor their mission statement and stop making excuses for Ecologica and other resellers.