Today: Phabric, Phunction and Philosophy.
Wow! What a journey it was trying to choose upholstery fabric! DW is always on the lookout for deals - clearance aisles - you know? (Have you ever tried to correctly spell aisles without spell check? Holy Mackerel Andy!)
A long, long time ago, in a Walmart clearance aisle far, far away, DW bought the ends of two fabric bolts at their clearance prices of $3.00 a yard. "Faux leather" stuff with some sort of petro-chemical (called micro-fiber I think) spread onto a thin canvas-like weave: a black (which we feel won't work on Queeny), and this color in what's called Nubuck (which we chose and chose against, several times, finally settling on "chosen".
Originally more than double that.
And as we looked for fabric online, or at another of the fabric stores in town (brick and mortar stores in OUR area cannot justify the selection available online - but we still try), we found prices generally MUCH higher than either the clearance price we paid, or even its regular price of just under $8 a yard.
And in the last post, I up-sold the online company called Sailrite, even while calling attention to "being careful" about their pricing. Since that post I read this,
first paragraph - a note from Jim Grant, and now I'm fully sold on the site, prices included! Hey - I like the guy! His goal is to "help others".
But pricing is relative. What's the project? How many yards are required? If it's 8 yards (pretty good size chunk), then 8 times $3 is $24. Yeah baby!
Now a higher quality outdoor fabric might come in closer to $25 a yard. 8 times $25 is $200. Is $200 a lot more than $25? Absolutely! Is $200 too much to pay for material to cover a major project? Probably NOT! It's all relative and subjective.
Still, we lean toward cheap! And we like it. Heck we LOVE it!
But, there's always that whole thing "you get what you pay for". I think part of the whole "quality of service and product" these days is driven by the consumer demand of "I want more stuff". And as a society, we try to spread our money around to all those things, expecting cheaper pricing on everything. Perhaps instead, we should be more willing to pay higher prices for fewer things - just what we really want/need - not every little "squirrel" that pops up as we wander through our day. Our society's priorities seem to be unbalanced. And manufacturers are only too happy to try and satiate our demands, with cheap, stupid stuff, that we feel empty about anyway, once we get home with it.
But it ain't that simple either! Like everything in life, we try and over-simplify our world-view. We're all in different economic levels. We're all in different "financial disciple" levels. We're all in different "how do I fit in with MY crowd" levels. And all these things create what's called our "paradigm" - our world-view. Like for example, almost ALL of us believe laws are for others, not us. Even such stupid things as adherence - or not - to turn-signal use.
But then we go too far - in our minds. We conclude that "because how we see it, is the correct way" (or we wouldn't hold that view right? We're not going to hold onto an incorrect view, that would just be stupid), then it is ALSO the correct view for EVERYONE to hold. And when we run across those people who DON'T hold our view, it is our job to correct them. And if they don't come along willingly, then we have the right and the responsibility to force them into submission. What the heck is that?
It seems to me we're getting closer and closer to a full on attitude of "screw others", and "I'll take, take, take". Where did that come from? Society isn't individuals, it's an organism. That organism is made up of millions and billions of individuals, but overall it's an organism. Our organism is in bad shape right now - like its immune system is attacking itself.
Right when I retired, I got Congestive Heart Failure. No, not the regular causes, maybe a virus, maybe just the "luck of the cards". But if it was a virus - and that seems the most likely in my case - here's how that works. Intestinal bug, migrates from there to the heart muscle. The body's immune system recognizes both the heart characteristics and the bug as "one and the same" (similar biologies that I don't understand, but Science does, and I'm okay with that) and the immune system attacks both the bug AND the heart. Next thing you know - Heart Failure.
The Body attacked the Body! (And it was working on Lil' Queeny those first two years that gave me the drive and goal to complete her before the heart problem "rolled me away", and I really thought I was a goner. Oh sure - all stable now. Thanks for asking!
But that's where I fear we are today. The body of society is attacking the body of society. I for one, am not sure I want to live in it anymore - I'm good to go. But that "cop out" attitude brings in another thought I've wondered about too. What if the reason western society doesn't seriously consider the idea of reincarnation, is because if we all really believed we had to "return to this earth" and live again in one or two generations, maybe we would be more concerned about the world we leave behind, and that might disrupt western society's economic model. Selfish motivation "for the now", in other words.
And if society's immune system is attacking itself, we need less "misguidance" (immune system attacking the heart because it resembles the bad-guy bug) and we need more "healthy heart", the "love of mankind" (humankind) that the Man 2000 years ago said we're supposed to have - as have many other special philosophers and teachers over the course of human existence. Love=Heart. Get it?
My neighbor said he's concerned about the world we're leaving our kids. I said, "I'm concerned about the world our kids are setting up for us in our old age". You can tell which generation is in control anytime you want. All you have to do is listen to the current version of "elevator music". If it's your parent's stuff? You aren't yet being asked to contribute your input to the world's problems; maybe the more "enlightened" or "compassionate" of you should start speaking up now anyway! If it's your music in the elevator? Your world choices MATTER! To EVERYONE! If the music you hear bothers you? Not your style, too loud, can't relate? It's likely the generation just younger than you is at the helm, up to bat!
I hope for a world where we can recognize these things. Then maybe we can solve some of these problems, where we currently hate everyone different than ourselves.
Sorry. I forgot where I was. We're not supposed to talk about important things here. Campers, yeah that's what were talking - campers!
Recently, we got this stuff too, what's called Thermolam, for a foam cover on the 1.5" thinner "dinette back-wall" cushion, since it would help the fabric stick to the foam surface (anti-shifting) and act as a little protection where the fabric rolls over the edge of our platform boards.
And all the other fabric considerations? Lots of samples from two different online suppliers. But between fabric stretch in different ways, and colors that may, or may not work, we finally decided to just use what we had, even if the color is a little "bland". It's hard to tell just how it's going to turn out. The camper colors take on one look under the shop lights, and they'll take on another look under full sun. So we'll just keep a good thought.
Also, Lil' Queeny has a certain style to her. She's not really a 4" green and cream vertical striped upholstery" kind of girl. Maybe a more elegant patterned "bronze and cream" or something like that could have worked. Maybe the solid we're choosing will be best due to all of Queeny's OTHER bling. Yeah - maybe we over-thought it all.
One last thing today before I get to work on the first cushion - the recliner lounge tilting thing.
Here's the vision. And it will be easier to fine tune it as we get covers on, so we can sit in here and move around without tearing up the poly cover over the foam pieces. Learn the exact angles needed for our bodies in this setting.
Supports of some sort (I have two or three different ideas), behind and underneath.
Okay, no more putting off. I better get my feet wet.
