Friday, September 7, 2007

Grandma Ben's apron

I guess it probably seems like I'm very influenced by comic strips. It's not really true, but I do have a few favorites. I wanted to post these from Bone because of the full aprons.



This one features a little green leaf-hopper as one of the characters. We have these creatures around where I live. Now, whenever I see one, I think, "Ted!"









The Bone graphic novels by Jeff Smith were my son's first independent reading project, so as the mother of a reluctant reader, I can't help but to be fond of them. But they are a wonderful read regardless; full of humor, friendship, adventure, great characters, and are beautifully drawn and colored. I hope you can read the pages here and then go out and read the books. Jeff Smith started writing them in the early 90's when Riot Grrls were catching the interest of the mainstream. That is, pre- Brittney, Paris, Olsen twins and the like. ("Train wreck girls" - isn't that what they call them now?) Anyway, his female characters are awesome, maybe speaking to the attitudes of the era in which he developed them. They have so much strength and interesting personalities, also mysterious histories. Raising my kids I've been sensitive as to how the genders are portrayed in the media they ingest. I fully approve of Bone for boys and girls.

When I first started selling half aprons people began asking for full ones and Grandma Ben here, on these pages, was my inspiration. She never takes that thing off, and other characters of all kinds don the full apron throughout the story. Gotta love the levitating shoulder straps. I wasn't able to manage that with mine. In fact, I couldn't make the whole straps-down-the-back-meeting-the-waist-tie thing without putting them all the way out of many people's price range. Anyway, Grandma Ben is sweet, old, white-haired (like me), runs a farm, has super-human strength and speed, likes to beat up rat creatures and is in charge. Turns out she is the warrior queen of her kingdom and has been hiding out for 15 years - for good reason. (Sorry to spoil -I won't give any more away!)

Stay tuned - Full aprons by Mountain Ash Design to follow in another post.

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