oy!!

Well it has been forever since I blogged here. I am contemplating on making this my only personal Blog because I just can't keep up right now with LJ.

Life has been moving incredibly fast for me. Ever since I went full force quitting my last job and getting into my fashion it has been a blessing. I have more projects then I can shake a stick at. I have a lingerie order from this Boutique called Undone. Interest from several other local boutiques such as Cheesecake Boutique and Collier West. My friend Josh and Nicki at Tigertree are wonderfully helpful and supportive. I am also starting a small tote bag store on Etsy with my Friend Brittany soon.

The end of the year was extremely stressful and unfortunate. My grandfather of 99 years old passed away. He was not related to me by blood as he was my grandma's second husband that she married after she was already in her 50's but he was the only grandfather I have every known and treated just as he did all his other grand children. It was Christmas Eve that we got the news and had to make a hasty trip up to Toronto. Also that same day my cousin Charlie had his second child a son named Jesse.

After the trip to toronto for the memorial and funeral service my mom passed out. Very frightening and it was literally after they had just driven back monday night. She walked into the kitchen from the car felt dizzy and my Dad called 911. She had a case of anemia. She had lost somehow half her blood count from internal bleeding. So that was an eventful and tiring week staying with her as long as i could every day to cheer her up. She is not home safely though and recovering.

Also to keep me busy, the boyfriend and I are moving into our House this week. We have been diligently packing away everything and taking it over several boxes at a time. We hope to have almost everything moved out of the apartment at least by this weekend. It will put a little damper on my sewing though as things will not be set up as soon as I would like and half my tools and materials are now spread out. It will be good though. I can't wait to have all this extra room and a HOUSE!!!!!
It is very exciting

As for Etsy It is on Hiatus also till the house moving is done.  Also I have my line sheets to focus on and get all my paper work together to apply for my vendor's license and all that other good stuff that comes with being "sole proprietor" of my design/clothing business.   I need to get another large photo shoot done and put it all together pretty as can be.

Wish me luck in 2009!!!!

Tiny Canary!

This weekend come see me and all the other wonderful handmade arts at TINY CANARY!!!

Located at Junctionview Studios

889 Williams Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43212

First 100 people to enter each day will get a free goodie bag filled with items from different artists, discounts and other great things! It is definitely worth it to get there early and line up to get these.

This is also a great opportunity to start your Holiday Shopping and commit to buying Handmade to support local artists.

BUY HANDMADE!!!

HIGHBALL MASQUERADE!

I'm not dead yet but nearly there!

I just wanted to post that I am still alive and gearing up for the Highball Friday!  I have 3 models out of 5 confirm and two backups.  Makeup by my friend's Sister Mindy Umbrell and Hair will be done by Phia Aveda Concept Salon.     Almost everything is done now except for the costume and any last minute changes I may need to make for which models go with which garments.  

Please come if you can it will be a FANTASTIC Show!!!!!!

Fashion show starts at 8:30pm on the street by Dr. Mojoe X who also happens 

to be MY SPONSOR!!!! ~woot~  (sorry I am excited)

Highball Halloween Masquerade!

I promise to have fantastic pictures to put up afterwards.  90% of what will be in the show will also be available to purchase at the Tiny Canary art/craft Show I am doing two weeks after that.

Where has the time gone?!

Sorry I took a little Hiatus as I re-organized my life.

First I quit my job at the Family business.

Second I got a Instructor position filling in for pattern drafting/sewing class at CCAD

Third I got into Tiny Canary.

Between all that there is much much more like being in contract for our first house, drama on getting money for the Halloween Highball Sponsorship etc etc.

I am also taking a break from adding anything new on Etsy until after Tiny Canary.  Anything I will be doing for the Highball Fashion show I will have and be selling at Tiny Canary as well.  I will also be selling some items at Kelli Martin's Fashion show at the End of November.

I have been very busy and I'm sorry there are no photos but there will be soon....

Mostly I need to sew and get my butt into gear for this upcoming LONG month.

Sweets

I am taking a slight break from knitting and patterns to delve into some needle felting for some expected upcoming craft show and holidays in general. I like to top my presents every year with something different and identifiable compared to all the "Hallmark" ribbons and cards.

Last year I made all my cards with Botticelli prints on them.
The year before I made my own tags and decorated each one.
This year felted sweet ornaments.

If you couldn't tell they are a strawberry halved, croissant, and Flan with a berry on top. Not bad for beginning but I can do better.

The Halloween Highball I am participating in will have models ~YAH~ provided and they have also added Terri Stevens from Project runway season 5 as well. This will be interesting. Not to be mean but I much prefer Kelli and her and I get a long really well. I might even be able to help her in her upcoming fashion show in November and do some knitwear for it. I prefer her style also. Even though mine is totally different at least we get and appreciate each other.

I did get my butt into gear this week and actually completed my jacket pattern and made myself and new pair of culottes. I also completed fair isle machine knitting two monkey scarves and have started the finishing on them. I truly hate finishing things from the machine. Blocking machine knitting items is a pain as well. Why do I even use the machine at all I wonder.... Oh that's right because it's FABULOUS! Fast knits in a jiff! making my own fabric to drape and wonder. Easy presents, shawls, fun fair isle that I never have to count rows and lose track. I can keep it all on the machine and not worry about anyone touching it because everyone fears the hundreds of sharp hooked needles! ~end rant~

Classical Music and Fashion?!

I know this is not directly related to me but I thought I would share my thoughts. Maybe someday it will be. I hope so because I would love to be more involved in my local community to help inspire.

Here is my spiel from CU (Columbus Underground Forum)


I just had to put this out there with all the hoopla over the Columbus Symphony and with discussions an internet friend has been having here.

http://therapysessions.livejournal.com/230383.html
and here
http://therapysessions.livejournal.com/229577.html

Do you think Classical music can improve it's following if they updated themselves?

I totally think so. not just fashion either. How about performing arts, ballroom dance, ballet, installations, sculpture, Painting, etc etc. There are so many ideas in my head and so many ways to invigorate it. Classical music is not just stuffy and one style there is such a wide range and maybe people don't even think about it when they play a video game, get really into a movie soundtrack but it all has classical roots! Like Video games LIVE! I went to that, enjoyed that and found it wonderful to combine the pop/modern culture with seeing the classical instruments. Maybe I am bias also since I played violin and piano since I was 6.

Think about it........ combine the Columbus Symphony with a Couchfire collaboration where they play music that inspired all the pieces for sale. For a fee allow people who enjoy ballroom the chance to dance to a LIVE Orchestra! Involve and invoke CCAD students to do projects based on an experience from witnessing the orchestra play. Annual fashion shows where each designer is inspired by a piece of classical music to do a 8-10 collection and is displayed as the piece is played or even as they have done for the Nouveau Classical Project
http://www.nouveauclassical.org/

"OHHHH the places you'll go!" and now I will continue to rant this in my LJ.


To follow this up I would say if I had to pick a piece right now to design on it would be the "moldau"

Bubbles all around!

All the glorious bubbles! I updated 3 new colors to my Etsy store today. Winter White, Red and chocolate Brown. I'm in love with how the White turned out. Unfortunately that is all I got done in terms of items for sale. I somehow whittled away my entire day yesterday knitting and Crocheting and DVD watching.

I was invited to come to this fiber festival in yellow Springs Ohio that I do really want to go to. Alas I don't have the time or Money. Because I did nothing productive Wednesday I need to work my butt off Saturday/Sunday to get some muslins done and a jacket pattern made. Hopefully I will have the sense of mind to finish that collar for the striped Blouse and to make something else Full cloth.

There was this great striped denim at the fabric store I eyed. I must be good and wait till I make some more Sales before I invest again.

Did I mention I was on Ravelry? it is pretty awesome all the free patterns for knitting and crocheting that they have on there. I am going to attemp socks again once I get this Extra long Arm warmer under wraps as well as this devlish Stitch Diva Pattern for a "hourglass Jacket". If you are on ravelry you can see my progress as ~tornangel012~

Coming together

Finally after all the craziness of the Hurricane winds off the backhand of Texas, I found time to do some work and updates.

Who would of thought while my internet was down that I would get 3 new Etsy orders?! Which is great because that paid for me to get new fabrics and FINALLY get some of those gorgeous wool colors in my shop for new bubble scarfs and other items.

I picked up a swatch of that gorgeous deep red Thai silk you see pictured here. I am still working on getting approval for another custom order. Tomorrow I plan to make bubbles all morning and get another piece done that I put off due to the custom order. I am going to make a tank type shirt with bubbles at the bottom that is freesized.

Here are more sketches of things I have in mind.

Oh and I did manage to drape an entire jacket last week. I want it to be very Victorian in nature and am using tapestry fabrics. I hope to have it completed before the leaves start turning so I can get some use out of it and possibly grade it for the store.

I found a good use also for those dumb dogs that Victoria Secret gives out sometimes from PINK. I turned mine into a pin cushion and it is actually very easy to use and hold by one of the legs while I work standing up.

I'm hoping to hear by next week when we are going to get those sponsor's for the fashion show costumes. I am really itching to get started on mine before I get bogged down with everything else.

Highball Halloween Masquerade

So it's been a little bit.......
BUT the Main event isn't till Halloween!

I was invited to be one of the designers for this local Event that is going to be HUGE!
We are going to be given $250.00 to go toward making one extravagant costume. I have a good Idea what I am going to do but I don't want to ruin the surprise.
They will be closing down approx 3 blocks of High Street in the Short North District for the entire evening. One end is a stage for bands and the other end will be the Runway stage. There will be Pet costume contests, people costume contests, drag queen/king contests, and the designers contest with fashion show.

In other news Etsy is going and going. I'm happy to say I think I finally have a new Client. It feels good to say I have a client and to talk about my Client because she is a wonderful and talented person herself. Also a big deal in the TV world. Also on etsy I had another scarf sale ~yay~ I think posting for one of the showcases did help my traffic flow some. I noticed more hits and some new people favoriting items as well as "heart"ing me in general which is always a good feeling.

I've added the scarf to the left and decided to try something different. Instead of me scraping around to get the money for the materials and crossing my fingers hoping someone will buy it I put it up as Custom order only in a limited # for the season. Stating that this will be made to order and so that I can collect the money upfront to buy the supplies. It showed one person making it a favorite but a good # of hits.

My client is going to London and wants something with a Union Jack influence. I'll need to get my butt in gear and sketch like made tonight and send her photos. I also need to hit up the Fabric store. ~sigh~ I was supposed to do all this yesterday but I was incredibly sick. Today I am still not on my "A" game.

The past week I was proud to have complete a mutton two piece sleeve pattern and Samurai pants pattern for Women. I also complete tore apart my blouse collar, resize the entire blouse and now I just need to redo the Collar to fit the new body size.

I've also joined "ravelry" so if you are on there look for me "tornangel012" of course........
You can see projects I am working on my yarn stash etc etc. Fun stuff great assortment of free patterns, ideas and charts!

*that harlequin picture isn't mine, I just googled and it came up from this place called "elfwood" btw*

Fencers & Alice

I had forgotten I had photos of my Fencer Shirt & jacket from my old pattern.

So this is something to look forward to me putting into my Etsy shop in the near future.

I just bought some more fabric today but they were stripes. What I really need is some black denim and White Denim. I also need to adjust my sleeve pattern to make it more mutton shaped like my Previous Alice blouse.

Alice is another pattern I will need to remake probably without the intense Smocking....... or maybe with......
I'm not sure. It's a lot of work but it looks so fantastic. Maybe I will find another application that will be better suited for it.

The Pants are easy and I still have that pattern which no one ever see's the bottom but it comes to five points along all the pinstripe lines and seams.

I did just buy two sets of striped fabrics from "stitching post" because they are still having their fantastical sale on fabrics. I'm thinking of also some corset type vests. We'll see what I come up with over the long labor day weekend.

Everything else is sort of depressing so all I want to do is sew right now and knit.

Another Quick Update~!

Finished this week First Etsy Custom order!  I am beyond excited for this because it will 

be the first 

LARGE piece I have sold probably since I lived in Chicago.  I just hope I can get some good exposure for it.

To the left are the full scale pics of my striped Harem pants.  I'm super happy with how they turned out and now I have a great pattern for stretch fabric pants also!  

It was a bit tough to make sure all the stripes matched at the seams but well worth it!  If I had thought a little better they would of made an excellent Jump suit with boob tube top or halter but oh well.  Maybe I will make it still since there is still so much of this fabric left at the store.  I can think of a Million things to do with Stripes!

I did make this awesome Jumpsuit this week with a halter type top modeled after this vintage jumpsuit that I saw Gala Darling wearing in her NYC photos.

The Lakehouse Trip was awesome!  Lot's of good relaxing and I did get a lot of Crochet done.  Nothing I am willing to share this moment since I am still mid project.

Below is a flash photo of the Custom order I did.  You can see my bubbles really well in this photo.  I wish people could touch them though, they really are amazing little things to play with.  It's almost 

like having this HUGE bubble wrap skirt that is soft and never actually pops!

To Top it all off here is a picture of Kilala caught in a rare moment.......... Sleeping in his FISH!

Super Quick update!
TOTALLY scored! I got my first Custom order on Etsy and I got almost all of it done yesterday. I just need to add pockets and do some finishings.

I also made myself a pair of great harem pants with vertical stripes! I will get a better picture later when I set up the Tripod.

Met with Awesome new Friend Amy from "Sweet Stella Designs" We talked about my future in becoming a teacher and it looks promising. Happy though to meet another crafter and make a new friend even more!

Made 3 patterns and finalized 2. Need to make muslins for 2 more. Yes I know the #'s don't add up because I have to adjust one pattern for another muslin and then it will be finished hopefully.

Will be gone all weekend in VIRGINIA to a friend's Lake house where I hope to get TONS of knitting done so I can post some new creations next week on Etsy. I will miss the sewing machine but Swimming in a lake and cooking for 5 boys, making HUGE bonfires and fireworks will be worth it!

To the left is a gorgeous Bunny with EXTRA long floppy ears. He actually got up and posed for this picture at the Ohio State Fair.

Have a GREAT weekend Everyone!

I am terrible at sketching............ But I thought I would put something up that I was thinking of making. I was messaged twice this week inquiring on custom pieces. I have yet to hear back from either of them. I am trying really hard to not get overly excited. I will probably make one of the ones I have sketched here and post it at the price I quoted the one person. We shall see if it will incite them to get it or if it is the wrong size to go through with the Custom order.

I have been busy terrorizing everyone making bubbles. I have small callouses on my fingers from this. It will all be worth it just to make some sales and get something out in the world again. I get a lot of ohh and ahhh's still but that's all. I need to get it together and really get cranking on this collection. My deadline is now Before the end of October to present it to different boutiques in the area. Maybe even only 8 looks is too ambitious, but a lot of the things I have in mind just need to be reshaped from women's or men's into the opposing sex and sizes. As long as the first pattern is done and samples complete then I can grade to larger sizes later.

I put up another couple of knitted copper items on Etsy. Some rings that have always sold really well at the school art sales. They probably had the most traffic of anything else after I had just put it up the night before.

OH last night was terrible. To the left is what I should of looked like, completely passed out with Kilala in my arms but nope......... I had the creative jitters and just had to make more bubbles and work on clearing my space for this weekend to be able to pattern. I very nearly started to pattern the jacket I draped last week but stopped myself. 3AM is NO time to start a several hour draping and truing project.

This weekend nothing is stopping me from staying up all night to get at least ONE sample done which includes pattern and muslin. Maybe even time to alter a pattern from a previous collection into women's wear for this new one.

Yes, I sleep with many stuffed animals and somehow my boyfriend does still have room in the bed unless Kilala decides no one else can sleep in the bed (silly kitty).

Well I did an extremely small update today on Etsy. Just two items. I need to photograph at least 3 more things.

I also have a request on bubbles. Not a custom order but I think if I post something up It will get some attention at the the least. They wanted a Vest or Sleeveless top. I think I can easily handle that. Maybe it will be my weekend project instead of some of the other things I had in mind.

Maybe one day I will invest and get a sketchpad type mouse for my MAC and find a good program to use with it. Doodling on the computer seems more effective them in a sketch pad for me and then I could also easily load everything to Flickr also. I keep forgetting sketch books or leaving them places when I mean to have them with me.

I foresee very little sleep in my up coming weekend. At least I have a good couple of Movies waiting at home for me to keep me busy as I work on knitting and bubbles

These are my Inspiration colors for my fall/winter collection.
Of course White will be included also but I leave that out because there is always white, It is the blank canvas of it all.

Currently I am trying to wrestle up all unfinished projects to post on Etsy and for myself to clear up the basement and get me prepared to work hard and Drape for hours in the next two weeks.

I have high goals for myself. I want to have the fencer jacket re-draped and graded in 2 sizes, Men's sweater pattern for the machine completed, Kimono pants for men's and women's. My current theme Idea is outfitting a blade welding warrior. But I'll have to see where the sketches take me for everything. It will definitely be a more urban feel not so draped pretty, but structured and ready for combat you could say. I need to start to think of a different group to gear towards if I want it to work in Columbus. Not a lot of people are interested in wearing high couture type garments.

Here is a sweater I finally finished for myself, I may make another for etsy, I'm not so sure yet as the yarn is very expensive. It's a felted angora/wool combo.



















Somehow I spent my entire day off at my Knitting Machine and it was great! Got a lot done and started on the sample for the Men's sweater I have in mind for the Collection.

I am going to have another Water color to add to the Etsy this week and it is not a skyline. I also am working on a bunch of small copper rings with pearls all knitted of course, maybe I will make some more sculptural with flowers or leaves or something to stick out.

I accomplished a lot last week and finished the muslin draping. I will be making a fabric sample this week. If all goes well I will make two and put one on Etsy. I hope to make a sale this week so that I have a little cash to put back in to get some buttons for this lace knit collar I made in bright yellow.

I've decided to finally do something a little more creative. With the Start of the new Project Runway I feel invigorated to work on my own small fall/winter collection.

I will be doing 3 men's looks and 5 women's looks. I did some sketches and have the whole Men's line up figured out and I've stared the women's but I get a little stuck on the tops because I want to do knitwear but I don't want it to be super consuming that I can't reproduce it. I want it to be very ready to wear that if needed I can manufacture myself.

I practiced draping the other day and finished a full top, pattern and full muslin but I need to adjust the pattern and I think this weekend I will do fabric. It looks really good. Nothing overly complicated just something that I wanted to do for myself. If I like it enough I will make a winter version because I think it will translate very well.

The Skirt pictured is something I have been working with but need to finish the back bustle. I'm not even sure what it is for anymore. I started it for the Sex and the City Premiere which I ended up not even going to. I think I will finish it up and wear it to one of the local Gallery Hops. it still needs a lot of work on the shape at the bottom to trim and if I am going to finish it with the serger or not.

The basement finally got some of the clutter cleaned out so I could finally hang something as a backdrop. Now I just need to get my lighting set up and work with the tripod more to get the best shot for my small space, pictured to the left with me in it (not so flattering, I look like a retro pinup house mom with the laundry basket and ironing board ~haha~)

Finally I took the time to update my Etsy! Not a lot of new stuff mostly paintings of mine. 2 Water color's and one acrylic. Then this copper cuff i have pictured here which took me longer then I thought it would. I'd never done knitting with copper so wide before. it was fun though but cramped my fingers like crazy. I think I will make another one but load it down with tons of pearls on the top or try to do an entire single row of just pearls vertically would be nice.

Always things to do differently the second time around. One of the watercolors I don't really want to part with but I figured if I like it enough to keep it surely someone else would like it enough to buy it, right?

I am working on another water color at the moment and I'm not sure how it is turning out............ it's better then it's previous forms but still not what I had envisioned. I think I need to move up to larger paper sizes to get the full effect that I want since I can't seem to train myself to paint smaller. I would also really like to do a simple tiny fruit series in water color so that I might be able to fit like 4 mini water colors into a 8x10" frame! I think that would be super nice looking. I also want to take real city skylines and integrate them into my skyline series. I was thinking I won't do the whole recognizable parts. I will do each city in a series of sections so lined up they would be meaningful and do colors to fit the moods and different times. I don't want something simple like dawn to dusk that is SOOO predictable. I like to be different!

I need to focus really hard on getting my clothing photographed for Etsy. I finally figure how to hang a sheet in the basement but it's huge and needs to be ironed. I've completed 3 collars from hairpin lace and am mastering the buttonhole function on the sewing machine still. I am going to attempt it this weekend using some interface between to give it more strength. I have a dark grey, black, yellow and I am going to make a red collar. I think these would be wonderful winter consignment items.

I also made this great variation on the ruffles that makes it more wearable and a little dandy! I will post pictures next week and work on the pattern more. So many patterns to make and so little time!

On a positive note I did have 3 new people Heart me this past week so that is AWESOME! It means there are people out there looking and they like what they see, now if only they would BUY SOMETHING! ~lol~
Oh and PS my hair is now Purple!

This weekend was pretty productive. I finished another knit copper and pearl piece that I need to photograph. I repaired a pair of underwear. I have been practicing both my hairpin lace knitting and using the button hole feature on my sewing machine. I am 1/4 done with a knitting machine project for myself. Many sketches for a suspender accessory I have been dreaming of and finally I got back into painting.

I started both a new acrylic painting and water color. Unfortunately I completely ruined my acrylic painting by somehow mixing up an oil color tube with it. I had thought all my oil colors were gone but unfortunately not the case and now the canvas is ruined ~sigh~ At least my water color is going much better. I need to keep looking for frames to fit my odd sized water colors. The larger size I picked up at Ikea doesn't fit at all.

I need to take things slowly though as I need to create a new pattern for the fencer jacket and I need to also create a new coat pattern for some brocade fabric I have been holding onto. I would ideally like to have a good collection of 6 patterns before the summer is over to present a small fall collection somewhere.

Oh yes I almost forgot! I started my sea anemone collection of crochet creations. I still haven't decided yet if I want to sell them or keep them for myself.
A friend commented recently that my collection is "big on texture".

I've decided that I will make this blog exclusively about things that go along with my art/craft/creative endeavors and maybe put out a little more encouragement to sponsor local Columbus business' and crafts.

I went to this meeting/panel discussion at Wholly Craft this week. It was really good, very interesting and nice to see some of the faces of Columbus Craft. I don't think I can really label myself as a "craft" artist I'm not even sure my work would fit anywhere into a craft fair. Maybe my water colors. ahhh yes Water colors I need to work on those.......

Hmm not quite posted where I wanted but I'm still getting used to this. I've also just for kicks started to use "www.skreened.com" I am once again and always "tornangel012"

Maybe some people wonder on the origin of this tag I have carried for nearly 16 years!
To begin it started with my love of Japanese Manga in particular this series called "Battle Angel Alita" If you ever get the time to read it you should! It is one of the most amazing stories out there about post apocalyptic cyborg life! The heroine is this small cyborg girl with a fully intact Human brain found in the scrapyard. A doctor originally from the city in the sky who now resides in the "Scrapyard" finds her and restores her and finds she has amnesia. She literally has to fight to remember her lost life/identity and the entire thing is poetic, bloody and raw. Besides being a completely awesome Manga I connected with her that she is short, Asian, feisty, her favorite # is 99 which is the year I graduated highschool, She plays the keyboard and I always played Piano, she writes poetry something I've always done also. She really overcomes all odds even with severed limbs! She always compares herself with Fallen Angels and I get it, it means something to me. A big theme is the struggle between what is right/good and what she is commanded to do or what her past tries to define her to be which she no longer is. Reborn from her Amnesia she is completely different person. This bring about the "torn" title I use, as the constant struggle always going on from small to large things in our lives. 012 is derived from Korean pager code because I'm korean (durrrr) and I've always been a little tech geek. 012 translates to "young one ee" which means "forever" THUS!!! "tornangel012" which I always like to spell out in lowercase because it seems more meek and polite.



Aiite Have a good weekend Everyone! I will hopefully be working on the knitting machine!

Where to start? I am actually an LJ blogger but I have this so that I can see some friends and comment on some of my other blogs that I like to read. I think this is also linked to my flickr?

There are just so many different blog types and junk out there it's hard to keep track of it all..........