The story of O and Jean and me and magic

This is Jean, Jean Thilmany. Doesn't she look great?

Check out that colour combo - red booties, orange bag, green dress, patterned cover-up, with a hint of crazy socks and tie belt. Note too the pink flamingo. Jean has got Style! But Jean is not a style blogger (at least not yet) - I requested the photo from her, which she valiantly had taken by a family member.

I met Jean through my partner O, who met her by way of Bag and a Beret. It's a complicated story but a perfect illustration of how extraordinary and unexpected positive change in your life can come from blogging.

A couple of months ago, out of the blue, Jean sent O an email which precipitated an intense flurry of emails between them. As a highly mature, open-minded, sophisticated, sensible, loving (and modest) partner, and with the aid of some Kobayashi-technique meditation sessions, I was quite happy to let their relationship run its course, and even encourage it BECAUSE -

- Jean is a writer. She stumbled across O's art website after dropping by Bag and Beret (there's a link to his site under my banner) while perusing +40 style blogs. O's art captivated her. She wrote O to ask him if he would be interested in being interviewed for an article in New-York based Mechanical Engineering magazine, where she is Associate Editor. It is published by ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).

Well...Gaaa! After working in relative solitude for years, O and I had been wondering how we could introduce his work to the art world, engineers, and people who enjoy the poetry of small quiet things, which O specializes in. Our jaws dropped when we found out that Jean's focus for the piece would be about the marriage of art and engineering.

Just to give you an idea of the kind of work O does, below are a few of his latest pieces. The first is a solid gold chess set of 18K yellow and white gold on a stainless steel board, 3.8mm X 3.8mm, probably the smallest in the world in its category.

The stainless steel chess board below, 0.95mm X 0.95mm, is barely visible even on the head of a pin. And O is going even smaller... I call it magic. More than skill, if you don't believe you can do it, O tells me, you will definitely fail.

Jean's article, "Artist's Eye ME's Creation," came out in the October issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine, which is viewable online only by ASME members and in print by subscribers, but with Jean's permission we have posted a PDF of the article here. We couldn't have imagined a more perfect and timely public launch.

I contacted Jean after publication to thank her and invite her to take a bow on Bag for the incredible and unexpected positive impact she has made on our lives, knowing she enjoys reading style blogs. Here's what she said about her style in her email to me:

I'm a thrifter, of course. And have a huge collection of stuff thrifted almost since high school. I do cull, but some of it I just can't get rid of. I like to grab the first thing that comes to hand in the morning and then make an outfit around that. I've pretty much been dressing the same way since the time I discovered "grandpa sweaters" in high school. Never went to grunge, but did wear overly big shirts and skirts with too many layers in the 90s. That's about the only thing I've changed.

Here's another shot of Jean, self-portrait. I love that outfit with those shoes and socks. And check out that bling wall and mannequin hanger. At first I thought that was a wonky doorway but it's a mirror.

And that's my story, well, O's story, Jean's story, and my story, or just the beginning of it maybe. It's not my typical blog post, but I wanted to share this major event in my life with you. I was busy for a while updating O's website and my own art website where I have had to go TOTAL CHAOS to re-short my circuits, if that makes sense.

So keep on blogging my friends. You never know where it will lead! But then you already know that...