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Variations on a Theme II

April 30th, 2008

Daniel Pontius

I have a fondness for carved wood frames to the extent that when I was living in London I interviewed with City & Guilds for their carving program. Instead, I moved to NYC. Cardboard is my material of choice. Just today I finished a cardboard console. Images coming. Lamps are also on their way. Typically the frames I make are finished in gold or aluminium leaf–but I’m experimenting with leaving them natural like these posted here.

Notes on Frames & Cardboard

1. Fitzwilliam Museum has a wonderful collection of English Rococo Frames.

2. Framesworks: Form, Function and Ornament in European Frames is really THE book on the subject of carved frames.

3. The Musée du Cartonnage et de l’Imprimerie in Valréas, France traces the history of cardboard box making in the region. I must go.

Needlework

April 28th, 2008

Daniel Pontius

“I began with an enormous rug; it’s that bell-pull by the fire place,” said Auntie Mame.

I’ve never sat by a loom for hours, but I have considered it. I started to do needlework several years ago. I immediately purchased a large free standing hoop. I never got beyond a stitch of what I think is called “cushioning” and I’ve never used proper wool; always cotton, which I think gives it a chic but naive feel.

The first piece I did (bottom pic–double click to enlarge) is a quote by Nancy Mitford taken from The Sun King done on linen. It was going to be a pillow but just kept getting bigger so it’s now tossed over a new chair.

The pillows in raw silk were done for a client. Quotes: Dante and Eddy, respectively. Although Eddy is misquoted because really, she just wanted to get some.

Variations of a Theme

April 25th, 2008

Daniel Pontius

The carved white gold leaf octopus frame, is a great take off of a sunburst theme–designed by a great shop on Beverly Blvd. The others from an antiques shops in Chinatown, NYC & Solana Beach. I thought it was Frank O’ Hara who wrote the poem, Variations on a Theme, but it was Kenneth Koch.

1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

2
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

3
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the
next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

Amy Vanderbilt’s Cell Phone

April 18th, 2008

Daniel Pontius

I am fond of etiquette books. I am in love with Amy Vanderbilt’s Etiquette, 1971. 8th edition. Although Amy Vanderbilt was not related to the Vanderbilt family, she writes in the preface to the original edition of her book, 1952: “My own line of descent [was] from the first Vanderbilt to settle in America –Jan Aoertsen van der bilt, who had a farm near Flatbush, Long Island…My great great grandfather …was one of the founders of the Bank of Manhattan Company…he seems to have owned a number of “shoe manufactures,” and I do not doubt that he could apply a sole with the same expertness that he used in some of the fine mahogany furniture he made for his family and which I still use.” (Ah, WASPS)

“I believe that knowledge of the rules of living in our society makes us more comfortable even though our particular circumstances may permit us to elide them somewhat…some of the rudest and most objectionable people I have ever known have been technically the most “correct.”Some of the warmest, most lovable, have had little more than an innate feeling of what is right toward others…Only a great fool or a great genius is likely to flout all social grace with impunity, and neither one, doing so, makes the most comfortable companion.”

I love the last line. Only a great fool or a great genius is likely to flout all social grace with impunity, and neither one, doing so, makes the most comfortable companion.

Etiquette, I find a comforting context from which to view the world. It simplifies things:

Bachelor on the Phone

A bachelor answering his home phone merely says, “Hello.” If he has a servant or servants, they answer, “Mr. Robinson’s residence.” even though it may be an apartment. Any friends answering for him in his absence merely say, “Hello” as he does. They do not use the phrase a servant would use” (p.237).

Some may ask, “Pontius, how does this apply to me and my life? It is not 1952 nor even 1972!” So I say, let’s look:

Bibelots Cell Phone Etiquette

First off, one does not need to answer their phone saying their name. (I have been known to do this at times and it utterly annoys me when I do. That which is suppose to provide certainty to a caller, really is only an attempt to validate ones self worth. It certainly doesn’t expedite a call–a simple, Hello will do. Let the caller respond. *

If you are answering another’s cell phone. Which is highly unusual, as it is simple enough to turn off the ringer if a phone is left unattended. This would be the better response if one is in a public place. Nonetheless, a simple Hello will also suffice unless a servant/assistant is answering a phone at which point answer, “Mr. Robinson’s Phone.”

Caller ID

It is a great misuse of Caller ID to call some one back that you can not identify from their number and then say, “This is Mr. Robinson, someone just called me from this number.” It points to self-aggrandizing. If the caller did not leave a message, it is probably a wrong number or they will return your call if necessary. See note.*

In Cars

General etiquette; turn off the phone. Just because one can do something; it doesn’t mean one should. If you must talk in the car, and no one is with you, use a hands free device. **

Phone calls in cars with others present. Do not take them. Two exceptions: If it pertains to pertinent information to the trip at hand.*** Second exception, a work related call in a car is acceptable with another work related person in the car.

Dates

Do not take a phone call in a dining room at a table. EVER. It just makes you look like at ass. If you are expecting a very important call. Check your messages in the restroom when appropriate.

Restaurants

Dinner: See Dates above.

Taking a quick call (less than a minute) at breakfast or lunch, if casual, is acceptable, but not appreciated–be as inconspicuous as possible. If urgent, excuse yourself and take it away from the table out of your companions view i.e. to the lobby, restroom, or outside.

Bars

Answering one’s cell in bar is acceptable if it pertains to the evening at hand, but it should be kept to a minimum. People aren’t going to think you more interesting or popular if your phone keeps ringing. It doesn’t make you less lonely to be sitting at a bar by yourself talking on the phone. If you must have a phone conversation in a bar see above.****

Summary

Etiquette gives us a clear answer to what’s appropriate or expected. And inside of that one can think of it as providing good service to another. Being polite and appropriate is always a way to provide good service. You can read here for my example of not good service.

Vanderbilt’s book is a gem–some illustrations done by Andy Warhol– I’ve always been fond of champagne glass #22 as the bubbles fizzle faster and one must drink accordingly.

—————————————————————————————-

* As Nancy Mitford thought, It is bourgeois to be in a hurry.

**Hands free devices, need to be left in the car. Walking down a sidewalk with a HFD while having a conversation just makes you look like a crazy person, which is not interesting, no matter what you think.

***Meaning making plans and getting directions to where you are going. On going chatty conversations about the day etc. are not appropriate. Wait until you are alone; have a conversation with your companion. If you are bored with your mate; consider getting a new mate. Or, try some self examination as to why you are so bored. Consider the following, Bored = Boring

****It is the behavior of the emotional exhibitionist to have a full out argument in a restroom on a phone with many others around. As well, it is never acceptable (flushing anyone?) to be having a business call in the middle of –ah hem–you know who you are, JFK September 14, 2007.

Ranunculous II

April 15th, 2008

Daniel Pontius

Driving around on Friday afternoon, I was so hungry that I couldn’t decide where to go. I was lost in San Diego then suddenly there was a Greek Restaurant on the right. A lamb burger sounded delicious. After some tricky parking maneuvers, I was inside. It was painted the colors of the Greek flag, so I sat outside. I wanted a lamb burger like I used to get in Seattle; uninspired gyros instead–sometimes you can’t wait. I used to go to the Greek in Seattle because it took me back to Greektown, Chicago. The mnemonics of place. The restaurant in Chicago was blue and white as well.

Flowers in Carlsbad were a hope of something new. I have seen masses of flowerbeds. At the time they seemed like masses–a huge geranium bed my grandfather grew for cuttings. His greenhouses would be full up during Flower Season. But Carlsbad became more a reminder, of noisy trips in grade school. There were no greenhouses to report, I did at least once smell the musty fragrance of wet dirt.

Objects of Desire: The Lives of Antiques and Those who Pursue Them. Is a brilliant book. (Brill if I were a Mitford). The whole book is about beauty and how it develops, and as with many things through time and money.

Highlights:
1. Fine Points of Furniture, 1950 which created a code of beauty. The book diagrammed pieces into: Good or Better or Best which helped to develop a whole new code of beauty in Early American Furniture–revolutionary really.

2. The Palladian Architect, Robert Adams was said to have said that what is important is the idea of a chair, not the chair itself.

3. The idea of an object rising to “an appropriate level” in the market.

PS. The photo of me chasing the Peacock was at Kedleston hall, I think, but I could be confusing the possiblity of peakcocks on that property with the Lady Curzon Durbar’s Peakcock Dress–which would mean that photo was taken at some other English Country House. Where ever it was, I recall there was a tea shop.