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.

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	tephra 2008-01-14 01:14 am UTC (link)
	I live in fear of being burned at the stake for using synthetics. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-14 02:11 am UTC (link)
	I use both. I'm sure there's some kind of hell just for me! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

tephra
2008-01-14 02:43 am UTC (link)

I'm at least somewhat allergic to almost every fur-bearing animal known to man, and I have some sensitivity to lanolin, so animal fibers are on the "not to be trifled with" list. (The doctor told me they didn't bother to test for kangaroos since I'm not likely to get that close to one, but I'd probably be allergic to them too.)

That said, I do plan to play with some eventually and see just how bad things are. I want to play the felting game too, dammit. ;)

Bamboo, soy, corn, and other more interesting fibers are just too pricey for the non-existent budget (and I shudder to think of the cost of a sweater-worth of any of them). I've been looking around at the price of some yarns by the cone rather than the skein because the per yarn price is better (and I could maybe get a close fitting short sleeve garment out of one cone).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

mistressrenet
2008-01-14 02:50 am UTC (link)

Yeah, I had a baby in intensive care. Those 'natural fibers only' people can kiss my ass-- there's several really good places for acrylics.

I just ordered from knitpicks.com, which has pretty good prices-- my friends have had good luck with them. Bernat's come out with some natural/acrylic blends-- soy, bamboo, cashmere-- that are reasonably priced and fun to play with. I did a pair of soy-yarn socks for my hubby for Christmas and they're nice and warm and machine wash.

I want to felt but I have a front-load washing machine, so I've had no luck so far. I did find an article in knitty about felting in a bucket in the tub, so I'm going to try that. Maybe you could try surgical gloves?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	papervolcano 2008-01-14 06:55 am UTC (link)
	I've had very little trouble felting in a front-load machine - that's how I've done all my knit+felt, and everything has come out as expected. What's causing you problems with machine felting? I also do normal felting, and beating the crap out of it is fun, but it's also massively messy and knackering. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-19 09:23 pm UTC (link)
	It's not mushing well. It shrinks but it doesn't get that nice felty texture, and I've tried different yarns so I don't think that's it. And I've thrown in, like, three pairs of jeans with the loads so it'll get the crap beaten out of it, at least in theory. I have my bucket but I've been too lazy to try it yet. (Reply to this)(Parent)

tephra
2008-01-14 09:27 am UTC (link)

I had a 20 year hiatus in my knitting and yarn technology has come a long way since the 80s. :D I spent some time fondling a hank of some yarn I didn't check the name of that was a merino blend and could not get over how soft it was. And no adverse reaction turned up! If I hadn't been on A QUEST for a specific project I might have winced and bought the hank just to play with.

So the current plan is to find a small project and a nice wool and see what happens. If I get a reaction I'll set it aside until it abates and try knitting with surgical gloves. Then I'll have to find someone non-allergic to give the FO to (which means some friend will get it more than likely, the allergies are common in the family).

... Does JF have anything like FandomKnit? We obviously have knitters here. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-19 09:22 pm UTC (link)
	Good luck! Maybe it should be godsmagicpubes. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	queencallipygos 2008-01-14 03:39 pm UTC (link)
	Seconding the Knitpicks love. Their color selection per yarn isn't always the best (and not in the "oh, they don't have the exact shade of red I was looking for" sense, more like, there are some yarns that only come in deep red, pastel blue, and black, and that's it), but the prices are amazing. And their "Shine" cotton yarns are SO incredibly soft. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-01-19 09:21 pm UTC (link)
	I just got their superwash wool and it's pretty damn soft too. Sometimes I think I should get off my lazy ass and learn how to dye. (Reply to this)(Parent)

julesnoctambule
2008-01-14 03:14 am UTC (link)

Funny thing is, I can't wear most animal fibers myself but have no trouble spinning, knitting, crocheting or otherwise handling them. As long as nothing touches the inside of my arm my skin doesn't get irritated and I don't break out into a rash.

Since I don't have an outright allergy, I find that the softer the animal fiber, the more likely it is that I can wear it; I had on a cashmere sweater (go after-Thanksgiving sales!) today with a thin undershirt beneath it and I was all right.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tephra 2008-01-14 09:30 am UTC (link)
	I'm very curious if my allergies to the fur on the the animal carry over to the processed fiber. Dad is very allergic to wool but I've always avoided because of his allergy and general itchiness. I just need the money to buy some test yarns and the time to deal with potential allergic reactions to figure it out. Maybe next month. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

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