Entry tags:

scrapbooking wank, in LAT form.
Kristina Contes, once beloved by the avant-garde scrapbooking community, is now despised like crazy. Comments about her include "I guess her response is 'dignified' if you live in the same trailer park as she does." and "doesn't have a moral bone in her body."

Her crime? Inadvertently breaking a competition rule by including a photo she didn't take herself.

edit: Kristina's blog is invite-only, but here's some context:

Newsweek
Kristina's response, resposted
Responses to Kristina on the CK forum
"Creating Keepsakes will never again get my support!"
ScrapSmack archives (where the "trailer park" comment comes from); includes bonus wank about photography styles
ScrapSmack's response to the LA Times article
CK's disqualification
Scrapbooking Obsession's posts (with losts of backstory): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

edit 2: Kristina's new blog, which doesn't mention anything about the scandal (I think).

edit 3: Lee Golberg's sisters weighs in:

I do find it interesting that some people seemed really irked that Kristina was using- hold on to your hats people- pictures of HERSELF, things she LIKED (fashion!), and non-archival quality items in her scrapbook pages. I am also really surprised that in a hobby/lifestyle/whatever you want to call it all about preserving memories and all the little good moments in life, some people are so judgmental about how other people do things. Why does it matter that she used pictures of herself in her OWN SCRAP BOOK PAGES? WHO CARES?

ScrapSmack commenters are "Disappointed" - "oh, they seemed like very smart ladies, what a shame!". Also, Kristina Contes is not a persecuted artist. It's FAVOURITISM AND JUDGE FIXING OMG.

edit 3.5: Winningest comment, from the Journal Revolution blog:

Okay, a question. If all materials in the scrapbook had to be produced by the artist, as the article and apparently the rules state, where does this leave collages, magazine clippings and pics, special paper. . .or any paper for that matter? If rubber stamps were used, did they have to make their own? Did they have to use beet juice for paint, and if so who grew the beet?

edit 4: Man, this wank just keeps on giving:

Finial thoughts on previous subject... it's old news, people that don't scrap aren't aware of the importance of HOF or the influence it can have on a designer's career and will never understand why there was so much stink about it at the time. They don't realize the effect this had on the whole industry and the ethics involved. To them it will always look like a bunch of women fighting over the paper and glue. They don't know the background of the story, and really don't care to learn it. It's easier to just form quick opinions of the whole affair based on the words of those who were caught. They like to poke fun at it and dismiss all of the people who were upset by it as crazy women banishing deco-edge scissors at the poor girl who made a mistake.

Methinks someone found this post.

edit 5: a little bit of poetry (scroll down):

Jewelery Making School dropout,
No graduation day for you.
Jewelery Making Schhool dropout,
Missed your midterms and flunked clasping
Well at least you could have taken time, to wash and clean
your label whore clothes up,
After spending all that dough to have the doctor fix your nose
up!

And of course, The LA Times is a pinko commie newspaper.

edit 6: After a whole bunch of "scrapbooking is for gay ugly lusers" spam, as well as a lot of "if you are not against KC you are ~~with~~ her!", someone else claims that we are behind this mess:

FYI - we are being spammed and monitored by the wanker people...I have told our leader..

wank to all of you here's the link:

http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/587727.html

You are all actually sadder than us, because you have to borrow wank from others for your amusement.

Oh my, watch me make a scrap page of me quivering in my ~~non-existent~~ boots.

edit 7: Jezebel gets into the action, labels it "Careful With That Exacto".

edit 8: Metafilter picks up the story, and Scrapbook Obsession neatly gives us all the backstory through links. For the record, she doesn't hate Kristina.

From the MeFi post: Kristina's Flickr page (mostly layouts); her group Effer Dares, which is on a hiatus right now from the "madness". maybe I should take a hiatus too, considering JUST HOW MASSIVE this wank is growing and growing and growing; The KC Hate Thread on Two Peas.

edit 9: The moment you all have been waiting for: Livejournal Scrapbooking Wank.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

	mireille 2008-01-13 08:03 am UTC (link)
	I can believe it. That stuff adds up like you would not believe. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

julian_black
2008-01-13 11:10 am UTC (link)

No kidding--I went browsing through a scrapbooking community a couple of weeks ago and every page I saw had at least three or four different papers, plus grommets, plus die-cut letters, plus ribbon, plus pre-printed and die-cut words, phrases, and design elements. Some of them also had sveral buttons attached, or silk flowers. Not to mention the hardware involved--specialized scissors to cut patterned edges, punches to make shapes with, and grommet setters. And I know I haven't covered everything that was involved in making those.

There are some things that are obviously expensive--such as the multi-use die-cutting/embossing tools. But the rest of it is two dollars here, five or ten or maybe thirty dollars there, and I can see where it's one of those hobbies where it's easy to impulse-buy or "stock up" on stuff because there's just so damn much of it.

And I've met a few women who justified spending a small fortune on scrapbooking supplies because they were going to use them to make Christmas gifts, or because they thought they were making something special their kids and grandkids whould cherish one day. Which makes me (cynic that I am) imagine antique stores 50-100 years in the future, glutted with old scrapbooks...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

mireille
2008-01-13 02:57 pm UTC (link)

My cousins are into scrapbooking, and while they're on a budget, still, some of their books, when I look at all the materials that went into it, they probably spent $100-$200, not counting the things like scissors and punches. But they didn't spend it all at once--they'd buy the special papers and design elements for one section of a book, and do those pages, and then a few weeks later they'd buy more stuff--and you just don't *notice* that suddenly, this project has cost you $100 in paper and stickers and lace and whatever else.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

nekoneko
2008-01-13 05:36 pm UTC (link)

I wouldn't be surprised. My mother started scrapbooking by high school years while I was still in high school... she hasn't finished yet, I'm graduating college this May, and I think either 10th or 11th grade alone took up two books.

And she'll probably want me to keep them. Where the hell will I put these things? What if she actually gets to elementary school, which she has been threatening to do when she finishes high school? Ugh.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-13 06:44 pm UTC (link)
	My mom makes greeting cards. This is far more practical. And apparently less wanky. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nekoneko 2008-01-14 04:30 am UTC (link)
	I wouldn't say that. I know the Stamping Up stuff my mother went to could get a bit nuts. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-19 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	True. (Reply to this)(Parent)

missm
2008-01-14 01:50 am UTC (link)

Apparently all kids should have a competition-quality scrapbook of their lives ready to show at their high school graduation party. I did not know or care, and, in any case, I am That Mother, the one who does not do crafts. So my daughter made her own in about three hours, and apparently felt so shamed by it, she's trying to make a more impressive one in time for her sister's graduation. I'm going to send her a link to this wank as a dire warning. She needs to stick to her studies of war and nation-building. Something safer.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	mydemand 2008-01-14 05:57 am UTC (link)
	What I don't understand is why very few scrapbookers (of this wank's variety) ever used recycled material or old stuff. Aren't scrapbooks meant for scraps? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

julian_black
2008-01-14 01:25 pm UTC (link)

[laughs] That's a dangerous question to ask an artist who used to spend a lot of time digging through archives (as a history major) and who now does collage. I'm a paper geek. And I tend to teal deer. Watch me do it now, in fact:

One of scrapbookers' pet obsessions (or at least one that's heavily marketed to them) is preserving their photos for generations to come. Supposedly, all these insanely overdecorated layouts aren't just something done for fun and relaxation; they're meant to be family treasures passed on to children and grandchildren.

Anyway, a lot of wood pulp-based papers--especially cheap ones, like newsprint--contain lignin. Lignin is a chemical found in wood; it bonds the cellulose fibers together, which makes for stronger paper that takes ink better. However, over time the lignin breaks down and releases acids, which cause the paper to yellow and grow brittle. Those acids can also damage other kinds of paper that come in contact with it, and it can cause color photographs to fade.

For a lot of scrapbookers, using bits of gift wrap, takeout menus, clothing tags, postcards, and other ephemera--you know, scraps--is a Bad Thing because who knows how the paper will age? Will it ruin their photos? Will it yellow, making the layout look ugly and thus ruining this family heirloom for their great-great-grandkids? Horrors! So all the papers, adhesives, acetate sleeves, backing boards, stickers, rub-on lettering and other materials marketed to scrapbookers are "archival" or "acid free." Either there is no lignin in the paper, or it's been "buffered" by adding alkaline substances to the paper.

The truth is that most "scraps" will hold up just fine for an individual's lifetime, and at least another century beyond that, especially if it's in a scrapbook with acid-free pages inside archival Mylar sleeves (as most of these scrapbooks are). But what's really most important is that it's kept dry and away from direct sunlight. Newsprint will go to shit no matter what you do, but better grades of paper and heavier stock hold up pretty well.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

eleutheria
2008-01-16 07:18 am UTC (link)

And there's a racket in it, too. (Surprise, surprise.) Most "photo storage" boxes found at scrapbooking stores aren't acid-and-lignin free. I inherited my grandmother's photos this summer, including the only photo of my great-grandmother that anyone in my family has ever seen. They were half ripped, shoved in a box, and I'm going to be hours in Photoshop trying to fix some of them. I went looking for a way to store them so the ones that aren't degraded weren't further lost, and was really surprised to see how little safe storage seems to exist in a hobby that's about that.

(But I'm also the complete moron that thought Scrapbooking seemed like a fun paper craft that would give me a challenge that "oops"-deleting layers that don't work in Photoshop doesn't. Several hundred dollars later, I still haven't finished a fucking scrapbook, I just put myself in the poorhouse. This is, whether most folks believe it or not, one of the most expensive crafts out there to start in. Especially if you get into rubber stamping too. I'm kinda glad people here see it as a kid hobby-- better for the wallet that way.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	lovelyzelda 2008-01-14 07:42 am UTC (link)
	What I don't get about some of those layouts is that they only use one or two pictures. Isn't the whole point to remember stuff you did, not what neato paper you saw at Michael's one day? (and I say this as someone who occasionally scrapbooks.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

queencallipygos
2008-01-14 03:30 pm UTC (link)

THANK YOU! I have been baffled by the "scrapbooking" as a hobby ever since I heard about it because I always thought of a scrapbook as, like, storage.

Yes, the pretty layouts are pretty, but hell, the "heirloom" scrapbook that my family has is something we think is neato-keen because of WHAT THEY SAVED and WHO THEY ARE, and we don't give two shits about the fact that it's got no artistic design element to the layout whatsoever. They just pasted shit in a book.

(...To be fair, the people who owned the scrapbook were General Tom Thumb and his wife, and it's a scrapbook of some of their press clippings, but still.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -