If you don't ask, you don't get.

I am beginning to mark the days of my unemployment on a calendar. It's not a pretty picture and unemployment doesn't suit me well. I need structure. I'm like a child; I don't do very well without it.
As spring is desperately trying to kick this stubborn, lingering winter to the curb, I am trying to figure out what to do to improve cash flow while I search for a steady gig. And there's my APPEAL #1. I am looking for a job. Anyone know anyone at DIAGEO? If so, email me. Anyone know of any companies looking for a creative that may consider my work valuable? Let me know. I redid my personal website,  The Visual Strategist. It has a lot of my new work, including the Grammy nominated Aimee Mann "Charmer" Vinyl and one of my favorite covers of last year, Jenny Scheinman's Mischief & Mayhem. The website has also has done away with Flash so now you may view it on your phones and tablets.

Thanks to Silo Design for all the programming.

So, in this aforementioned effort to improve cash flow and stave off idle hands (they are the devil's workshop), I started an Etsy store and named it RansomMarlowe.

I wanted to start to "curate" some of the things I've found at yard sales, thrift shops and auctions since I bought the church in Coxsackie. 

I love rusty old things that were made when plastic hadn't yet permeated the world. And when quality, craftsmanship and beautiful design were the cornerstone of American manufacturing. I was particularly happy when photographing them in the natural light of the church. These vintage hard goods look so beautiful to me.
Here are some of the items in my Etsy store.

Tripod, oil cans, block and tackle, and egg grader. Complete with dents, rust and dirt. Just beautiful.
The store went live last night. I made a sale. A woman in Mission Viejo bought this:

I had gotten the tripod in a box lot at auction and the light at my favorite local flea market/ junk store. I put them together and marketed it as "project" since both pieces were pretty beat up and a power source needs to be added. My buyer was looking forward to "making the industrial tripod light of her dreams".
Here is APPEAL #2. Please send any prop stylists, production designers and vintage industrial design or steampunk lovers to my store,  RansomMarlowe. I will be adding new items weekly.

Oh, here's some current shots of the church and my village:

The new stairs to the steeple are pretty steep but it beats a ladder.

And the woodstove has been cranking.

My friend, Deb Parker, came over and helped style the downstairs music area. Since I had brought some old pieces from the 72nd Street apartment (not missing the UES at all, btw), we could create some more useful living/hanging areas. She also helped me flesh out the display shelves in the music/living room. I am vertically challenged and could not reach the top shelves even on tippy toes from the top rung of the step ladder. Deb, who has a good 6" on me, to the rescue.  You can see from those shelves below, I am a collector. 

My blog says I write about music but I almost never do. But now that I don't work in music day in and day out, I can't stop listening to Holly Williams' "The Highway." Dark, beautiful songs sung in an achey breaky voice. I love this record.