Spindle in every color of the crayola, baby

45 Insert 1, Spin, 2012

I love 45 record inserts.

WIP: 45 Insert 2, Hum.

My favorite pendant is a 45 record insert in sterling silver. I wear it constantly. The design is so clean, simple, dated. People constantly comment on it, excitedly telling me that they know what it is, that they are old enough to remember using an insert to play a 45 on their turntable.

Boom. Self portrait with pendant.

I admire the insert as a 20th Century object, a echo of the golden age of vinyl. As a reminder of my own childhood, spinning records on my record player. Of the time before my experience of music was so computerized.

Vinyl in the world.

But I also love the design of it. And I love the different styles of inserts.

All three pieces.

Very late one night I was buying wine at the grocery store and this older, cool cat next to me started laughing in this chuckle that somehow sounded like free form jazz.

45 Insert 2, Hum, 2012.

"I love your spindle, baby," he said, and we struck up a conversation. He told me he was a DJ in the 1970s and still owned over 10,000 vinyl records. "Every kinda groove, baby. I ain't prejudiced. But mostly funk, blues and you know, soul music." His sister's kids were always trying to break into his stash, he said. But he wasn't going to let the fools mess up his collection.

45 Insert 3, Boom, 2012.

"I collect 45 spindles. I have hundreds, baby, in every color of the crayola. I'll show them to you someday, baby." And this point, he lost his balance and gripped onto the shelf to steady himself. I blame the wine, baby.

Vintage spindle on my lap.

Damn, I would love to see his collection. The colors, the designs of the inserts.

WIP: 45 Insert 1, Spin.

The idea of the cool cat's collection inspired these 5"x5" stitched pieces, made for my squeeze, who is a music master and collector of tunes himself. And the same vintage as me, so to speak. Who appreciates the 45 insert as an object from our collective past, as an example of fabulous design and as a something to play with.

45 Insert 1, Spin, 2012

Each piece has a word in morse code stitched into it. I love morse code... another visitor from the past.

They say: Spin. Hum. Boom.