Monday's Millinery Musings:

By guest blogger Jennifer

This summer I received an email from a Sonoma photographer, Megan Clouse,  who found me on Etsy. You never know who is following your Etsy shop! Perfect example: Ruth and the New York Times.

Megan asked if she could  photograph my studio for her blog. Now, I must admit, my workroom is an absolute unrelenting shambles every day of the week all year long. Dangerous, teetering piles of what-not threaten anyone who has the courage to enter. So a few things spoke to me about this request: I would be forced to clean up the space, and, it was interesting to imagine how someone else would view the studio, and what would be attention grabbing enough to photograph. So I agreed to it . Reluctantly.

All the photographs included in this post were taken by Megan.

I spent the entire day before Megan's visit digging out the room and moving half of its contents into Dave's office. He was very lovely about that and agreed to remain lovely as long as I moved it all back after the photo shoot. 

It was hard to decide what hat Vivian should wear and in the end Megan decided on the gold metallic rose fascinator.

Vivian

I may not have mentioned Vivian to you before. That is a terrible oversight on my part as she is crucial to my operation. Vivian is the Queen of my Etsy shop. She  models every hat and allows me to photograph her at any time day or night. She is always enthusiastic, never tires, and her hair and makeup are flawless. She is chronically beautiful. Vivian is handmade from a vintage mould of a 1940's department store mannequin. She was made by Deco Eyes, a small family-run business. Did you ever see that wonderful movie, Lars and the Real Girl? It's a bit like that with Vivian and me, although our relationship is strictly professional.

Doesn't this bookshelf look neat? Too bad we don't have before pictures.

Thanks to half  the contents of the room being in Dave's office, it was finally possible to move furniture! When Megan came the space seemed so roomy, inviting, and dare it be said, tidy. This has been a great boon since I had been avoiding the studio for a month. It was too far gone even for me. But it has become a place to dream and work in again. I have so many ideas that need a place to be nurtured and grow into what they are meant to be. The French author Colette has written, "Orderliness cures everything".

All the hats are sewn on my mother-in-law's vintage Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

And so, it is time for me to get back to work. Did I mention that this is my last post? Ruth has been so kind to let me try out my little water wings in the vast cyber sea of blogging, and I haven't drown. Thank you to those who have taken the time to read my posts. Thank you, Ruth, for giving me the chance to blog. It has been so much fun.