ZimZum

Art on canvas has risen up to be the new phenomena during the last few years, primarily thanks to the availability of canvas printers, dirt cheap canvas and stretcher bars and a chronic need for people to express themselves in a very personised way.

These days it’s possible to go to a print shop carrying a camera, and roughly an hour or so later leave the shop in possession of a big canvas print of your selected photo. The possibilities are limitless of what you can grace your living space with : holiday photos, family photos, your own artwork represented as a canvas print, other artist’s works, street scenes, graffiti prints, nature scenes, famous landmarks etc. Basically, it’s possible to select what you wish on the canvas itself nowadays, instead of simply be limited to a particular amount of canvas prints.

So is this a DIY art movement? That’s not really the case, not if you want a respectable print embellishing your living space. You’re better going to a dedicated canvas shop - they ought to be utilizing the best canvas, robust stretcher bars, will be accomplished in stretching and clipping canvas, and be in possession of top-grade software and printers to make it happen. In addition, they have the experience to know how to adjust your photos in order to produce the best resulting print.

Numerous canvas print shops are selling their canvas service online. Merely enter a keyphrase into a search engine like modern art canvas prints and you will discover numerous sellers where you can buy these sorts of canvas prints from.

If you attempt to make chocolate candies by hand, you’ll not be allowed a single moment of distraction because it’s not an easy task as presumed by many, although it does appear easy at first glance.

First, you’ll need to prepare utensils and ingredients that are ubiquitous in the kitchen: chocolates (any type - dark, semi-sweet or white; a thermometer that can go as low as 80F, spatula, double boiler and cookie sheets/cutters or candy molds.

To jump right in with making confectioneries, melt some chocolate chips on a double boiler; taking precautions in not burning the chocolate by continuously stirring the contents during melting. After this submerge some fruits into the molten chocolate to make fruit-filled candies. If your desire is to showcase candies of different shapes, the melted chocolate must be poured onto cookie sheets and cut with cookie cutters or into candy molds with varying shapes. You can store the candy in the chiller for a while to set it or let it cool down on the counter-top.

For some chocolatiers, making chocolate candies can be an engaging process simply because of the need to temper chocolates. For one, you’ll need to maintain the tempering temperatures throughout; but it doesn’t mean you can skip the step of tempering because without doing it, you deny yourself the satisfaction of creating shiny and snappy chocolate candies. There’s also the fact that chocolates bloom, a condition where the crystals of cocoa butter appear as whitish streaks on the chocolates’ surfaces to make them most unsightly. If your business is selling these candies, you must temper your chocolates because customers will be disappointed such unappetizing chocolates.

You temper because chocolate loses its shine and snap as soon as you start melting it. During tempering, the fatty acids of the cocoa butter form into several types of crystal structures and each multiplies rapidly at exact temperatures. It’s the Type V crystal structure that you’re after, as it’s the one that results in a firm, shiny chocolate. But you should take care to maintain various tempering temperatures for every type of chocolate because type V crystals form at different temperatures in milk, semi-sweet and dark chocolates.

Since you should maintain the right tempering temperatures, you’ll need a reliable thermometer, which means it’s calibrated regularly. But thanks to the magic of computer chips, the really difficult process of maintaining right temperatures is done away with. The computer chips in them take care of this hassle as well as ensure that you’re producing only type V crystals every time you temper. You now have a lot of time at your disposal and you can seriously concentrate on improving your skills and plan to enhance the quality of your products.

For those of you who are conscious of wish lanterns and have applied them umpteen times on other occassions, you’ll have been that in the last month or so our fund of wish lanterns at our Wimbledon warehouses fell to nothing. We were made to disappoint many an customers awaiting to buy wish lanterns in volume for a wedding or party, because we quite simply didn’t have any to hand. This was not a result of ill organisation on the part of the wish lantern team, nor due to an inexpert and sub par supplier. We got into this situation simply because everyoneadores wish lanterns so much. Due to unprecedented demand, the team found themselves changing over wish lanterns quicker than they could box them up. While this was very sweet for business, it was not so good for clients when we eventually reached the point where there were no longer any lanterns left to sell. We had to disappoint many people wanting to buy lanterns in bulk for their wedding or for parties, because there were simply none to spare. Thankfully this is no longer the case. partners no longer have to put their weddings on hold for the sake of a lantern. We now, finally have them in stock again in their thousands, so get purchasing!

What was Allen about? Everyone is about something. Allen was about a person with a confused mind, (writing things from outer space: where he lived)

Yet knowing very little about what he was writing about (so I do believe); to be blunt, I doubt he cared one way or another what it was all about, as long as he got his bows in!

The old man, at 71, shit in his pants, perhaps had too much fat and salt in his diet; screwed too many young boys in the buttocks; perhaps it caused his heart and liver and lungs to weaken.

He wrote many things, poetry he called it, “Howl,” dramatic it was, but poetry it was not; perhaps just a bunch of howling, negative thoughts.

He wrote “Empty Mirrors,” poetry that was poetry, to any listening ears (when he was very young).

On his death bed (1997), he called all his friends, not sure what he had to say to them, perhaps, a simply “Goodbye, farewell;” he did believe he was his own god, and so I’m sure he built his own heaven, somewhere in hell.

During those last days, he was populoushe couldn’t jack-off anymore, it was limp, a limp prick…! That is what he left the living: live by the sword, die by the sword.

I wonder if he’d like to live in the slime he wrote, if so, it will coke him to death in haven…! In Hell, it will do well….

#1251 2/27/06

Note: What you have read is the surface of my feelings towards a poet’s poetry; but the problem of his poetry goes deeper (I am not trying to diminish any respectable reader’s pleasure in Ginsberg’s work ): but I do believe Ginsberg is by far the founder of Babel, incomprehensible, and his poetry meaningless. His poem Kaddish, like so many of his poems, is a piece of prose of assertions of the author being possessed; an obsession, confession, and he keeps talking as if he wants to build up a power house of excitment. I fear if that is what he thinks it takes to get the horse moving, it isn’t much. This kind of writng allows you to go on forever saying nothing, line after line after stanza. Sounds like a woodpicker. Because the poet says it’s true, doesn’t make it so.

See Dennis’ web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

Ballerina Music Boxes, inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, cylinder music boxes, and antique music boxes are delicate and beautiful. As most music box and antique collectors know, in order to preserve them, sometimes repair and restoration is needed. For this special work, it is important to choose a company that is reputable and an expert in this area. With a little research, these companies usually can be found no matter what part of the world you are in. One such company and expert is Mr. Jim Weir.

Jim does all kinds of antique musical box repairs and restoration. His work includes comb repairs, releading and tuning, dampering, cylinder repairing, and organ bridge work. Jim also offers all manner of musical box work on disc and cylinder music boxes.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Jim about his musical box repair and restoration business, which, by the way, is operated out of Scotland. Let’s discover more about Jim; his hopes, and get an in depth look as to what it is like to operate a music box repair and restoration business.

Jim started off with saying this about himself:

“What can I tell you about myself? Well, I’m 56 and have been working on musical boxes for the best part of 30 years. My wife and I live in Scotland with our two daughters; one’s at school and one’s at University. Depending on workload my wife and both daughters help with pinning cylinders; I guess it’s a family business really?”

1. Could you describe your online and offline business operations, your services and/or products in detail?

“I’ve used the Internet to find workshop supplies, including the machine I use for grinding and finishing repined music box cylinders. Other than that, my business is primarily offline. Most of it comes to me from people who already know me, although I’ve recently started advertising in the MBSI Journal. I hardly ever buy and sell musical boxes; I have a good workshop but not a retail shop or display counter. I have checked out potential purchases for customers, telling them what level of repair work they are likely to get into before they buy a specific musical box, and where a customer is looking for a particular type of box I’ve sometimes been able to find one, but other than that my main business is repair work, everything from full restoration to part jobs, particularly comb and cylinder work. I’ve got a very good team of pinners (the people who put the new pins into the cylinders for me to finish) and after advertising in the MBSI Journal, I’m beginning to pick up new individual work from customers in the USA as well as my regular trade work.”

2. What made you decide to start a business specializing in antique musical box repairs and restoration? What was your inspiration or motivation?

“I trained as a clock repairer. One day a customer brought in a 15.1/2″ Polyphon and asked me to `fix it’. That’s where it started.”

3. What have been your major challenges/obstacles over the years? How did you overcome them? “

To reverse your question, I’m still trying to figure out how to overcome them. My worst problem, or `obstacle’ if you like has been myself. Some of the work I’ve done has been fairly intense; taking it on as if it were some kind of personal challenge has not perhaps been the wisest thing to do. I’m largely self-taught, and I’m not a good teacher, or a particularly good pupil come to that.”

4. What specific types of online or offline marketing tools are you using successfully?

“I’m not sure how successful it will be; it’s early days yet but I’ve just started to advertise in the MBSI Journal. I’ve picked up a couple of jobs that way. I don’t advertise anywhere else, and I don’t use any online marketing tools.”

5. Have you always envisioned yourselves doing what you are doing now? Has it always been a passion? What did you “want to be when you grew up?

“No I’ve not. When I was at school, I wanted to be a train driver. Musical box work has become a passion though; trying to get the best possible sound out of a musical box is part of what drives me.”

JIm will continue to give us an inside peek of the music box repair and restoration world in part 2 of this article series.

I’d like to personally thank Jim for taking the time to share with us this valuable information about his business as well as letting us get a sneak peak into the world of music box repairs and restoration. Jim Weir can be reached at combwork@aol.com or by telephone/fax at 01144-1575-572647.

Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins

Established in May of 2005, http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Owner Monique Hawkins is also the author of the blog “What You Never Knew About Music” http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com, and owner of the eBay store “Monique’s Music Box” at: http://stores.ebay.com/Moniques-Music-Box Monique can be contacted at (540) 858-2885.

Old skin, once held tight
Against her skeleton
Rose no more, just draped
Loosely over unpadded flesh;
Un-tightened muscles, and tissue,
Lost its courage, no-fortitude,
Gone are the days and years
That stood against the
Indomitable elements;
The skeleton, now a landmark
Hidden under flesh and blood
Guts and moral fiber, backbone…
Collapsed from drudgery
Time, time: cascading inside.
Bones now leaving impressions
Accepting fate
Like tarnished silver!…
Hands look like autumn leaves
Fallen from a tree
Winter’s around the corner
The door of time is closing
Like an old wood pile
Being burnet up
Hard to open things
Hard to do anything
Precariously balanced
Painfully slow…

She hears my feet
Cross the roomher pale
Sweet blue eyes, flicker
Like butterflies…

Tilting her face
To catch her breath
She says:
“Who wants to live like this?”

#793 [8/11/05]

Notes by the author: “I think of myself as an old wood pile you might say, and so I use that analogy here: in my poem “An Old Wood Pile,” not out of disrespect. My mother had her mission, I was part of it. She was part of mine. I think I have learned to do one thing, if anything, in life, which is to examine it; otherwise, for me it would not be worth living. For this is where the truth of the matter is. Why do we do what we do; my mother said, “Who wants to live like this…?” and I had to make a choice for her, after she made her choice. We live in a world where most people, willing or unwilling live in a pretense, when my mother said want she said, there was no more deception for her, if there ever was any. She wanted to go to the next level, and said goodbye in her own way. As we will in time.”

Dennis Siluk see his books at http://www.bn.com or http://www.abe.com