Quote of the Week
July 20 2022
“Faites des lignes. Faites beaucoup de lignes.” *
-Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
*“Draw lines – draw a lot of lines”
Get your DOODLES & STUFF Sketchbook here
Essays And Yarns
World Changing Inventions
May 26 2022
Here is a list of World Changing Inventions that continue to benefit humanity. We suspect you’ve used several modern forms of these things today and encountered the others recently.
B. Paper Bag
C. Telephone
E. Battery
(Linocut illustration courtesy Molloy Historical Society)
Quote of the Week
May 21 2022
“Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours.”*
*A picture is worth a thousand words.
Copper Rivet Day 2022
May 20 2022
Happy Copper Rivet Day 2022! As time marches on, one hundred forty-nine years ago, on May 20, 1873, the copper rivet was patented. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis collaborated to bring about the manufacture and implementation of what is an indispensable and iconic feature found on every pair of denim jeans. The copper rivet has been a fascinating part of everyday life and is barely noticed and often under-appreciated. Actually, without the humble little rivet, we may not even have the denim jean as we know them today. As a side note, what we refer to commonly as a ‘jean rivet’ is called a ‘pocket burr’ in the garment industry.
Mr. Strauss designed and manufactured denim work pants and found that the pants would rip and tear at critical points of stress during use. He needed a solution to strengthen them, and this he found in the little rivet invention of Jacob Davis. Like so many other things in life that go so well together, the copper rivet will be forever united with the clothes and things we love to wear and use. Check out our ‘Key to the Highway’ denim key ring here.
Read more about Levi Strauss, Jacob Davis, and the ubiquitous copper rivet and the History of Jeans and Denim here.
Quote of the Week*
April 15 2022
“Judging from the record of the past interglacial ages, the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end . . . leading into the next glacial age.”
– 1972 National Science Board
*We know little about the artwork accompanying this ‘Quote of the Week’ entry. It is suspected that the image was originally drawn for an article discussing variations in weather and the hysteria surrounding changes in world climate, possibly for the Utne Reader. It was most probably created by our Marketing Director, Jack Molloy, here at ELVIS SWIFT Dry Goods & Supply, in that his former occupation was as an illustrator. We have entrusted our future fortunes to his ability to predict future trends for our product designs, but we are not confident he is up to the task based on the attached image.
