pumpkins
S & S had a fun pumpkin carving party at their place last night.
Mine has a bee on one side and a "bzz" on the other. Steve's has a super cute tiger.
collared ruffles end
All done. The ruffles took quite a while.
Previous posts on this project [1 | 2 | 3]
We have horrible lighting for photos inside, but I don't like using a flash because of the harsh glares and shadows it casts. Below is the original color of the picture. Isn't Photoshop great?
ooh, pretty
In the fashion department at Canada, they sometimes have free fabric available, donated by random people or businesses. Tonight, they had a box full of the prettiest brocades scraps. I pawed through it and grabbed a few pieces.
I thought maybe they could be turned into rugs or fancy furniture for momoko some day, but the pattern might be a little too big. So, instead, maybe they could turn into decorative pieces of something for me (strip on bag? little coin purse? border on jacket?).
momoko's hand compared to fabric patterns
poufy skirt
This is the first assignment for fashion illustration, due tomorrow. So much for trying to ignore the fashion proportions dictated by class ... she has abnormally long arms and legs.
I have to turn it in as a big ink drawing, so no using photoshop to fix mistakes :p. It's a rendering of an outfit I was thinking of making for momoko some day, for the Asian-inspired theme -- a Korean-esque silhouette. Click for bigger image.
return of momoko
AUGH!!!!
newspaper article from postpet (with pictures)
petworks announcement
Sekiguchi is going to take over making new momoko's in spring 2005! In large quantities! Retailing at about $80! I'm so happy.
My favorites are the 3rd from the left and the one on the far right in the picture from the article. What about you?
today i saw
A black squirrel
skip across an autumn graveyard
to perch on a tiny tombstone
muscle chinnies, collar
We tested the silkscreens this weekend on tshirts from Costco. This is the only photo where I managed to get both elbows in the frame ... for all the other ones, I was laughing too hard. Ha ha ha!
I also made a collar for my shirt. It is surprisingly smooth and crisp, given how my class sample collar turned out.
silk screen
Photos & descriptions of our nice shiny silkscreens. Just quick summaries, since Steve will be documenting in more detail about the process.
Drawings in notebook, scanned at 300dpi and finished in Photoshop, then printed onto transparencies. Frames made from 2x2, silkscreen fabric, screws, and duct tape.
Thin film of photo emulsion (green stuff) applied with squeegee to front & back, left to dry in box in closet. Transparency placed on top, sandwiched under sheet of plexi, exposed under 150 watt bulb for 45 minutes. Light bulb has been cropped out because of dirty laundry in background, ha. A good rinsing in the tub, and tada!
50 entries, 100 comments
This marks the 50th entry, and the 100th comment. What lovely round numbers.
Anyway, random project updates ...
sewing class shirt: All the darts are in, and the back is attached to the two front pieces. And... I made buttonholes, and they look ok! Next up is the collar (ugh), then sleeves, then ruffles, then buttons.
chinnie tote: I ordered various colored inks from the online art store Dick Blick to replace that huge bottle of red stuff, so that we can get a more accurate color (Speedball ink company says you can mix them.) We've (Steve) are at the image transfer stage in the silkscreen creation, and I've begun cutting out the fabric pieces.
dress up: Doll mag and momoko clothes on hold until chinnie totes are more done. And until I can make up my mind on a (free) font.
pushpin blog: I am starting to get all bothered over how my archives are organized. It's a project blog, so normally you'd think that it should be organized by project (sewing class shirt). But, some projects aren't that big, and should really just be shown in a category with other little things (gardening). Does that mean I need some sort of hierarchy? Would people rather just read it by date? What about projects that can be assigned more than one category (doll clothes = dolls + sewing)? Or projects that are different categories at different times, but never two at the same time (chinnie totes = design or sewing)? Augh!
The real problem is that it's tied to a keyword classification system, and I am letting that architecture show through too much. I'll need to think about it some more. I also think that I am the only one who cares :p
tote supplies
Today was a busy sort of day.
First stop was to USBank in San Carlos to set up their free checking business account for Kokoso, and since there was an art fair going on, we ate all sorts of bad-for-you fried food.
Then, we went to Britex downtown to see their fabric selection -- it was my first time there, and the store is an amazing 4 floors chock full of bolts from floor to ceiling. We ended up going with a bright light blue cotton canvas vs. a cotton sateen for durability. I don't think I'll go too often since the fabrics are pretty expensive; it's more a place for fancy fabric projects like dresses and jackets. Walked around and ended up wandering through Chinatown, ate more snacks, and bought buns and zhong-zi for dinner.
After that we drove all the way down Access Art in Palo Alto for silkscreening supplies (his domain) and then Jo-ann's for the lining fabric (plain maroon cotton) and other sewing supplies like pinking shears for labels, and rotary cutter to make cutting easier. Silkscreening inks don't come in that many colors, so this was the best we could do -- we'll see how it turns out.
Next was home, dinner, and a nice long nap to recover from all the greasy food :)
Woke up and mocked up a muslin of the tote bag tonight to check out the dimensions. Originally, I was thinking of a 12"x14"x4" bag, but the weight of things inside pulls the extra depth into width and height, making the bag look too big. 12"x14"x2" should be better -- or should I make it even smaller?
