Belatedly ...

... I really should mention that the Southern steampunk cons, Upstate Steampunk and AnachroCon, are well worth the trip.  I was a vendor at Upstate Steampunk at the beginning of the month.  It was a delight to meet so many fans of such vastly varying ages -- including many of my and M's colleagues, hers at Clemson and mine at the tech college!  This included Gypsey Teague, a lovely lady who makes killer chainmaille weaponry and who organizes the event with her partner.  Overall, the con was small but profitable and with superb gaming, and despite a giggling militant vegetarian who thought she was a pagan but didn't know what a solstice was at the next vendor table, I was delighted to meet a number of other vendors of clothing, jewelry, embroidery, fine art, etc. who were simply a pleasure.

I also had the great fortune of seeing some delightfully colorful steampunk outfits, including a young authoress who had assembled a brilliant bustled tatterpunk outfit in animal print.  It worked beautifully.

M and I did some fun multicultural stuff, including (for me) a Scottish-inspired pseudo-military ensemble with a vintage woman's kilt, a wool beret, and rendundant eyewear; and (for both of us) Anglicized/Orientalized North African outfits.  Me as warrior, M as harem girl.  She pulled it off with her usual aplomb.

Please, Southern steampunks: plan for AnachroCon in Atlanta at the end of winter and Upstate Steampunk next fall.  I can staunchly assure you that you won't regret it.


Available here.

It's my birthday and I'll talk about buttons if I want to

Yes, in fact it is.  My age is a palindrome for the first time in eleven years!  And until midnight M and I are only 8 years apart!

The buttons from the necklace I posted last week came from the single best deal I've ever gotten on vintage buttons.  Here's another made from buttons from the same lot:

 
Available here.

It was at a yard sale, and the guy selling them had sorted them into jars by color and clearly knew they were of value, but some jars had a horrifically foul-smelling mold in them, so he gave me a price cut on all of them if I was willing to clean them myself.  It turned out that only one jar had the mold, and the smell in the others was merely the natural consequence of putting lots and lots of Lucite in an airtight glass jar for a couple of months (Lucite stinks a little; it contains some kind of acid whose name escapes me at the moment).  I scrubbed them all with toothbrushes and buried them all in coffee grounds, and only ended up losing the one jar; the rest smell just fine, and there wasn't a single junk button.  All primo vintage stock.

Consequently, I can afford to do a special offer on stuff from that lot.  So here it is.  Buy two items, at least one containing buttons (look here), and get 20% off on the lower-priced item when you check out with the code "Lucite always kinda smells if you seal it in a glass jar for a month."  Spelling doesn't count.  Add the code to the Note to Seller when you buy and I'll give you the discount within 24 hours through PayPal.  Offer lasts until11:59 PM on September 30.

Instant Vintage

Available here.

What is it about this color combination that screams "vintage"?

I mean, naturally the color of the large plastic/resin buttons is very vintage -- I generally refer to that shade as "60's peachy pink," though from a quick consultation of that ever-handy resource, Wikipedia's list of colors by shade, I suppose technically it's coral.  (Random side note -- I'm that weird genetic anomaly, a colorblind female, so I can't actually distinguish a strong orange from a true red.  I have to ask M for a judgment of harmony if I'm designing in reds or greens, and it's made putting together the Mixed Media Packs for Ballet Llama something of an adventure.)

Anyway.  It's not the muted coral hue I'm referring to, but the combination of it with black.  Pink with black always looks either vintage awesome or modern tweeny "rock star" bleh to me, but this is a particular combination that M and some of my coworkers reacted to in the same manner.  Maybe it's the blue-black jet hue of the blacks that's doing it; that's also a very vintage-feeling color.

This, incidentally, is also one where I bit the bullet and included a photo on black, which may or may not have actually been a good idea:


But it looked too bizarre with black at the edges and white in the middle, and this gives a truer idea of the variation among the buttons, so this was the only way to make the contrast work.

In general, these aren't great photos. I'll need to rework the cropping, I think, and try for a deeper focus.

But hey, check out those great 1960s flapper-style rose beads!

A glut of history lately? Now, necklaces!

I expect the two weeks of Oh Hai Super Intellectual are probably wearing on everyone by now, so a light post of pretty stuff today!

Observe the evolution of the steampunk button necklaces.  From this:


Available here, and okay, it's not actually steampunk.

To this:


Sold!

To this:


Available here.

I need to work on getting back to the relatively simple, found-object assemblage style in the middle of the process -- while I like the multi-buttons, especially with the very unified rope-and-flower motifs, I think the cleaner lines and simpler contrasts were a different look and got better reactions.

Treasury Wednesday: Just like last time, only with a color scheme

I did a previous treasury that was all button designs, but I used such a general color scheme -- "earth tones" can be just about anything -- that while it went together quickly, I wasn't totally satisfied with it.

I've noticed that Etsy really likes neutrals for the homepage, though. There are variations -- Valentine's Day takes the cake for the most dedicated treasuries I've seen, and there was a Japan Relief treasury on the front page on March 17 that made me get all warm and teary -- but by and large, while you occasionally get a strong seasonal color, white and black/navy and cream and grey and mocha brown turn up a lot.

This is definitely part of the Etsy "look," though. White or strong solid-color backgrounds, hero shots or close-cropped style shots, and very bright, crisp high-contrast photos. And of course, it's all unrelentingly hipstermod, but I don't get to complain about that because I too emphasize photo quality over the item's nature. These are the treasuries that make the front page: Very "classy," very unified color. This is also the trend of the Etsy Finds Get the Look Decor emails, but these emphasize strong contrast and primaries to the point that they're sometimes garish.

Anyway, now that I've established that, this isn't it.

'Pushing Our Buttons Again' by tangopig

A further tribute to the humble button, featuring both well-established sellers and some brand-new ones.

Fabric brooch badge... butterbadges $10.00	Blue Button Journal jhalbleib $25.00	The big top, A set ... hodgepodgearts $15.00	Handy Dandy Yo Yo F... PiccalilliPatc... $10.00
Spring colored vint... ravennagirls $28.00	The Compass Clutch ... CottageCarries $29.99	Condom pouches SuenoLoco $7.00	primary color flowe... mccormickhelen $5.00
FELIZ Cumpleanos Ca... SacredQuest $3.25	Upcycled Hand Embro... salvagedmutiny $12.50	Orbital ring heartshapedpud... $8.00	NEW SKIRT... Warm R... twirlaway $18.00
Avocado Green, Sky ... rosyposydesign... $30.00	VINTAGE LEDGER - Se... chocolatecupca... $4.75	Blue Handsewn Felt ... lovabbly $23.00	Dindin -------- Cot... AnnaLela $78.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Jewelry Sets and Busy-ness

I've become a lot bolder about listing coordinating items separately of late.  My bridal jewelry all links to the rest of the collection in the listing, since those are intended to be sort of infinitely mix-and-match.  Lately, I also listed this set:



Available here and here. Sold!

That ... is a weird piece.  I have to say it.  It's really odd.  Even more disparate materials than I usually combine, which, with me, is saying something.  It would be awesome to layer with a longer piece, though, a pendant on a very long cord maybe?  I haven't done a lot of A.) chokers or B.) multistrand before, though I've done a good few of the latter lately.

And I'm fond of the earring photo; I think I managed the depth of field and dimensionality, what with turning the pot that the earrings hang in toward the light and away from the camera, which makes them a little more interesting.  Not sure it's visible at the teaser size, though.  Hmm.

Also, since I originally wrote this post, the set has sold.  Obviously I'm not the only one who likes it!

I always consider jewelry sets to be an excellent gift -- coordinating necklace-earrings, bracelet-pendant, pendant-earrings-bracelet or what-have-you vastly increases the perceived value.  However, I'm getting more confident about breaking up jewelry sets listing-wise because I often sell them that way in person, with someone wanting just the necklace but not having pierced ears, preferring studs, or not caring for the pendant but liking the color combination and so purchasing the matching bracelet alone.  Things like that.  It's only twenty cents more for me, and it takes my customers to the Priority-shipping upgrade faster, so I think this is actually better.  Thoughts from the reader pool?

On another note, we've just finished out the semester at the tech college, and in the sudden glut of free time and M-is-home time I've had a couple of stupidly productive days.  We're still decorating the house, the garden flourishes, and I made hamburgers with homegrown spinach on them last night.  The Japanese maple looks like the Japanese maple.  The English primrose and daisies are not terribly happy, which is not unexpected, but my Oscar milkweed, liatris, and (shockingly) trout lilies are all remarkably happy.  The Jack-in-the-pulpit died but it's been the only thing to croak out of season so far.  More topically, I've made approximately a thousand charm bracelets, two with bits of miniature tea set and three with buttons, including my weird but somehow trademark combination of plastic buttons with pearls. We're discussing having all our work friends over for traditional British tea and jewelry-showing sometime next month. 

For those interested, I'm selling off much of my collection of vintage hematite in the Ballet Llama storefront.  There are also some nice hard-to-find charms there.  Get 'em while the getting's good!

It's hot, but life is nice right now.

"Asian Inspired" and its moral implications, or, Why Orientalism is Bad, Kids

So I just realized that my setup in this photo makes it look like the charms are sliding over a cliff to their certain doom.



That's okay; it sold last November.  Anyhow.

It occasionally troubles me to create Asian-inspired designs.  However, the following things always and without fail suggest Asia to me:

• peonies/ranunculus/large floral patterns
• cloisonne
• fish
• jade
• strong black/red, blue/red, or black/green color palettes

The problem?  Anthropological training has made me a little overly sensitive to cultural appropriation.  Mind you, this doesn't trouble me nearly as much as "tribal."  And yet ... who decides that something looks Asian?  Is it okay for me to use the term "Asian-inspired" when I in fact mean, "This, to me, resembles Western culture's idea of the motifs of Asia"?




The thing is -- I took Art History with a global emphasis and Artists in Traditional China in school -- the latter in seminar under Cheng-chi Hsü, one of the world's foremost experts on Chinese painters and their relationships with art connoisseurs.  I spent that class reading the UCR library's entire extensive section about Yangzhou courtesans so I could roleplay a courtesan novelist for the final project.  And this was after I abandoned, as beyond me without the ability to read Chinese script, a paper about the transgressive gender presentation of the painter-poet.  I am as educated on the matter of Asian art as most amateurs can claim to be.  Why do I always have this guilty feeling when I'm as qualified as most Westerners to identify Asian motifs?

 But that requires me to think of myself as a Westerner, which is a problem in and of itself, and it goes back to that old linguistic problem of the Orient and the Occident.


Available here.

Basically, the word "Oriental" means "from somewhere else."  It means, basically, "Them."  "Those people."  "The others."  To refer to someone as an Oriental is literally to say "the person who is deeply unlike me."  (This is why, in the Age of Steam, North Africans and Gypsies were called "orientals," though the term is usually specific to the continent of Asia today).

To call oneself a Westerner or Occidental assumes a geographical position; it says, "Of course this is the West and that the East.  Anyone who matters is standing right here, where it's true."


So true, Mr. Munroe.  So true.

So for the moment, I continue to soothe my conscience by using the terms "Asian" and "tribal," but being specific in descriptions ("motifs taken from Chinese scrolls," "suggested by the shapes of West African hunting trophies") and tagging with "asian inspired" and "tribal inspired."  The butterfly necklace up above is called "Papillon Orientaliste" -- the Orientalist butterfly, not the Oriental -- because I am trying to suggest an item created with elements that construct a reflection of a worldview of "the exotic" (there's an unwieldy construction), not that there actually is an Other to refer to by this term.

Possibly this is still morally corrupt, but it keeps me feeling honest, and I still think that's important.

I feel vaguely obligated to do a Valentine's day post ...

... but I remember being single and how much Valentine's Day always depressed me, since I inevitably broke up with my boyfriends before it and I was never a particularly sociable teenager, preferring the company of adults and butterflying from one social group to another, which was lonely but relatively drama-free.

Yet Valentine's Day is a big jewelry occasion.  So it relates.

Kind of.

Let me see if I have a single picture of jewelry with a heart on it to post ...

Nope!  I had something at Christmas, but it's very Christmassy.  Well, who cares.

See?  That button at the very back is heart-shaped.  No, I promise.

I wonder what went so wrong in taking this photo ... I might have tried to take it indoors.  That's never good.

Last Valentine's day, Megan and I went to the Living Desert zoo so I could do fieldwork for one of my anthropology papers, "Conservation and the Narrative of Stewardship."  Afterward, we lugged our sunburnt selves around Palm Desert for an hour trying to find a place with room not at the bar since I was not yet of drinking age, and not with $30 entrees and mandatory valet parking, and we wound up in a Coco's with all the other gay couples who live in the Palm Springs area, and we ordered a fruit-and-cheese appetizer platter but it was the first day it had been available so they didn't know how to cook it and it took three tries to get the Brie baked properly, so we were in the restaurant for well over two hours grazing on improperly cooked cheeses and talking about the White Man's Burden savior narrative and the conflation of the animal body with the exoticized body.

This is one of my best and most treasured "couple memories," and it involves no chocolates, no jewelry, no expensive tickets, no dressing up nicely, no Valentiney things at all.

Conclusion: I'm obviously really bad at this, and I'm okay with that.

The Buttons of Arizona

On the drive home, we stopped for gas in Quartzsite, Arizona -- a bizarre little town where you can't see the town, only the business loop where evidently the owners of the shops and gas stations sleep under the counters -- and in a strange little Quonset-hut store, we bought a bunch of cool vintage buttons.

Some of them are here.  A few seem to have been (rather ineptly) made into jewelry components at one point; many will suit very well for those vaguely-steampunk found object necklaces I've been doing lately.

The big hibiscus flower in the middle is a good example of why I try to avoid metallized plastic, but the wear and tear on the button has given it an awesome weird patina -- the orange is under the silver -- I'm tempted to do a tongue-in-cheek vintage-Aloha-shirt bracelet with it.  It's quite large; for scale, that orange enamel waffle-weave button on the lower left is a bit bigger than a nickel.  The one on the far right appears to be hemp fiber or burlap in a metal frame, which would be cool for a softer mixed-media piece.

The items focused on in the top photo are some little things purchased from the same weird, shivery shop: elderly bolts, it seems, which may have been buried or left in water.  They have a nice pale, grainy bone look, which I expect will be awesome for a steampunk assemblage piece; I'm hoping I can ream the longer ones to restore the holes through the center, but the Phillip's-head still has a clear hole and is a sure bet for being awesome in ... something!

This also functioned as an experiment; that's the same place I'll be taking my shop photos from now on, though on the jersey knit rather than right on our little glass-topped table.  The lighting is a touch cold, but warming photos isn't hard.  We've actually discussed painting a water-colored Tiffany streak on the underside of the glass to go with our aqua pots and green and purple flowers, which could conceivably make a superb stage for style shots, but ... we'll see!

Custom order hinge plate necklace

The first version:


And the second:


The only major change is that the embellished clay bead from version one was replaced with the cool mustardy button in version two. It lies better and I think the one pop of bright yellow-gold balances nicely with the two more mellow brushed golds on the other side. I'm especially happy with how subtly the metal tones of the findings (new) and the chains (one new, one vintage) complement one another. It's also really long, which is different for me -- 28 inches and adjustable down. So it's now off to Australia. Great fun!

If I were a rich man ...

... I would use a lot more of the following.

1.  Cloisonne.  I love cloisonne.  I've recently discovered that this is a passion I share with my maternal grandfather.

Available here.

2.  Ruby.  I've discovered how much I adore this stone.  It can be purply or deep true blood red or pink and has the whole range of opacity.

Available here.

3.  24k gold.  I love to use copper and brass in my jewelry, but I'd love to occasionally use real gold just because it's so hard to find in unique handcrafted pieces, being much more common in traditional fine-jewelry designs.

Available here.

4.  Vintage buttons.  They're so beautiful ... and often so pricey.


Available here.

This, of course, is the nice thing about custom orders; I know the initial outlay for such fine materials will pay off.  Which is so nice.  *sighs wistfully*

Contemplating ethnic identity ... plus a pic

Actually, in the opposite order.  Here's the pic: first version of a necklace based on the Castellan Necklace for a custom order.  Vintage hinge plate, new and vintage brass chain, vintage buttons and an embellished clay bead.

 
Purty!  But rather weird.  I normally don't go that asymmetrical, largely because M doesn't like it.  I'm actually going to switch out the bead for a button that pulls the nice brassy yellow over to that side of the necklace.  Great customer, by the way; when I asked if she wanted any specific colors she said brownish metallics with possibly some rust, mustard or maybe green.  That is an awesome way to commission a piece.  Tells me exactly what sort of corroded metal tone is being asked for, there are just SO many shades of it, but here I knew what she had in mind ...  Hooray!  I can't get a photo that shows how cool that jeweled button above the hinge is: it's got this lovely smoky silver depth ...

Now for the contemplation.  Last week I got confirmation of something I've suspected for a long time: I have Native American ancestry.  Specifically, I'm part Dakota Sioux.

See, I learned in one of my archaeology classes that one of the ways to identify what cline (which is a little like race but more biologically based and less socially monolithic) human remains represent is to check the shape of the incisor teeth.  Shovel-shaped incisors indicate either Native American or Asian ancestry.  By the simple expedient of shoving my fingers in my family's mouths, I discovered that my brother Andrew and I, like our father, have the shovel incisors, while Mom doesn't.

I knew my great-great-grandfather, Clifford, was the captain of a Chinese tea clipper and a Civil War blockade runner, so either option was a possibiliy.  Last week I finally got a chance to check my grandparents' teeth and, as it turns out, my paternal grandfather's grandmother was related to one of the followers of Sitting Bull.

Now this is cool.

Conveniently enough, it's also Native American month over at Multiculturalism for Steampunk, which is probably part of what got me thinking more deeply about it.

You see, it's also a little startling because I've never thought of myself as having any Native American blood -- and also because I've read Boas and Sapir and Whorf and to ascribe excessive significance to an ethnicity goes against everything I've been taught for four years at university.

Further ponderings after the jump.

More Steampunk Apologetics

Apparently the blogosphere has decided in the last two weeks that it's tired of steampunk.

Okay.  I can respect that, especially in the "throw a gear on it and it's trendy" atmosphere of late.  But people think they need to justify it.  Some say it's overdone, some say everything steampunk needs to do something or it's not, and others say it's elitist and over-focused on pith-helmeted Brits and their teacups.

That last -- yes.  Yes it is.  And I have two links on the subject.

Link the First.  Once something becomes stereotyped it is time to parody it.  I've taken to watching this guy daily.  It makes my life happier.  Ladies, gentlemen, people of uncertain and indetectable gender: Professor Elemental.

Link the Second.  Once something becomes stereotyped it is time to freshen it up.  Ladies, gentlemen, children in undistinguished frocks: Multiculturalism for Steampunk.

Link the Third.  Yes, I know I said two.  Anyway, there's a great post on Tea with the Squash God about it.  As usual, Ursula Vernon says it better than me.

Link the Fourth.  Yes, I know I said three.  Have an Etsy Treasury of multicultural steampunk with not a pith helmet in sight: I'll Show You the World Beyond the Park.

On a similar note, I made the front page again (it really is the obsessive treasury-making that's doing it) and this piece got wonderfully, squee-inducingly ridiculous amounts of attention:

Sold!

I like how it's rusty/industrial but still feminine with the stylized florals.  I'm currently working on a similar one for a custom order.  It's got an old hinge plate in.  I'll post photos when done, but this will probably be a couple weeks since my grandparents are visiting which, due to seniority-based room-shuffling, puts my brother sleeping in the craft room which serves as my studio.  Whoops!

So yeah.  Steampunk: I still think it's cool, and still has a lot of growth potential as a genre once it crests the novelty wave.

Ahahahaha!  I just saw this.  Link the Fifth.  The Beautiful Necessity has a post about Steampunk Pre-Raphaelites.  Unlike the author, I think the Steampunk PRB would be awesome in that awesomely unmatching-pairs awesome way.

New Special Offer through March 1

For the remainder of the month of February, when you buy one wire-wrapped pendant or ring, you'll get a free adjustable wire ring to keep it company.


Available here.

The above is one of the beautiful adjustable rings -- click the link to see how dramatic these look on the hand! I have a good-sized stockpile of them and am using them as free samples for this offer.

To claim your ring, use the discount code "peanut butter" in the "Notes to Seller" section.

Joy oh joy!

I have a new laptop! Another HP Pavilion, because I've been impressed with their repair speed (M's Fujitsu once took three months to get a repair). This one is black and silver with a fun bubble pattern. More importantly, it has 4GB of memory and a 12-cell battery.

I'm going to have to replace a lot of item photos, but I'm happy to have a computer again.

... and now to try to get my Sims 2 neighborhood to transfer to a new computer. :p

But on a much more relevant note, M and I were yard-saling over the weekend and we dropped in on a lovely lesbian couple who were selling some fun stuff we could repaint for our hand-altered Halloween village. And also, a big five-dollar bag of fun-looking shiny stuff.

Eeeeheeheehee.

Have a look at some of it:



You're seeing:

-over 50 silver-plated pendant-style cab mounts
-8 traditional coral-and-white plastic portrait cameos
-more than a dozen vintage cab-mount link bracelets in various styles
-5 of same in their original packaging
-a few other, larger cameos; roses and cupids and courting couples
-two painted porcelain half-inch cabs
-fourteen gold-plated giraffe brooches with snap-in cameo mounts
-sixteen goldtone teddy bear brooches with prong-style cab mounts
-various-size pinbacks
-two hinged cab-mount bracelets
-various other bits and pieces in various conditions

You're not seeing:

-about fifty owl brooches with glue-in mounts
-fourteen silvertone butterfly brooches with prong mounts
-some very odd cab-mount hardware (bottle openers and gag tie clips)
-over one hundred vintage screw-back clip-on earring findings
-and a load of other stuff

What a find! Five dollars for all this. I can't say this enough times. Five dollars. I've never worked much with cabochons, but what an excuse to start! I have so many wonderful ideas -- how about buttons in one of the link bracelets, embellished with the polymer and metal flowers you see on the upper right of the tray? -- and can't wait to get paid in November so I can order the other supplies.

New offer through July 12

From now through 11:59 PM, Pacific time, on Sunday July 12, get a free stretch bracelet in coordinating colors with any purchase of a charm bracelet. I often do this for my mother; she likes to layer them.

To claim your bracelet, enter the discount code "no more june bugs" in the "Notes to Seller" box at checkout. To find all the charm bracelets, use the search box at the top of the shop home: select "tangopig's shop" from the pulldown menu and use the search term (this will be a surprise) "charm bracelets."

This one is tied for first in favorite charm bracelets I've made. I had no idea how I was going to use the very large fan button, since I bought it for the rest of the set, but given some jump rings and a couple of vintage beads it came together. I've been "test driving" it to the grocery store, and the fan catches much less than you'd expect and sits straighter than I thought it would.

Available here.

There will be more charm bracelets posted over the course of the coming week, including a really cool one made of vintage buttons and baroque pearls, so keep an eye on the shop! The offer also applies to custom orders if you had a theme in mind.

Potter jewelry proceeds apace. I neglected my tally long enough to wind up with more Hufflepuff stuff than I needed, so now I get to play catch-up with the other three Houses.

Button bracelets are go!

Finally found the camera! As such, the button bracelets are going live on Etsy. The promised photos:


Available here.


Available here.

Another advantage of this technique? It finally gives me an excuse to buy colored wire. I use nylon-coated stainless-steel wire in my jewelry and while I've previously stuck to silver, gold, bronze and black, it comes in many many colors - even non-specific craft stores generally carry red and blue wire, and more colors can be bought as well. The wire doesn't show in most of my designs, but it's gorgeous in the button-weave bracelets.

Button Frenzy!

To start things off, let's skip straight past the beads and wire and findings and talk about BUTTONS!

I love buttons. I always have. I used to play in my mother's button collection while she sewed. I could wander through the button aisle at the craft store for hours. But, until recently, I didn't know how to sew (my partner, M, is a quilter and costumer and is remedying that deficiency). Even now it's not a particular skill - I just follow the seams and do what M tells me. So what do I have to put buttons on?

Oh, wow, have I found a way to use buttons.

The bracelets I'm working on right now can use two-hole, four-hole OR shank buttons, so I'm not limited by style, AND I can incorporate beads! Only certain sizes work, but I'm thinking of trying some different techniques to make this style a bit more versatile (little delicate button bracelets? Big cufflike button bracelets? Yes please!).

Of course, there's always the option of threading a large jump ring through one hole of a button to make a dangle. I've seen whole chains of buttons made that way - my mother-in-law-to-be, S, has quite a long one in gold jump-ring chain with orange and purple plastic buttons. But I have this horror of doing something that's been done too often - an obsession, if you will, with being different (I've always been like that. Ask my mom). So I limit that to charm bracelets and bobbin necklaces.

I think I'll call what I'm doing "wire weaving." I'll post pictures once I find the dang camera.

I hope this isn't a technique everybody else already knows about and I'm getting excited. That would be embarrassing.