DIY- The Slice

It might be crazy but I am thinking of more and more DIY items to do for myself and my bestfriend's wedding.  When I went to visit her last week I brought along on my of my new favorite craft toys "the slice" by making memories.  It is this handy little die cut machine.  Some people want to nay say it for the fact that you can only do one pattern at a time and not entire phrases unless it is a pre-made phrase.  personally I enjoy that because then I can choose what and where.  Honestly if you practice with it enough then you have no worries and it is very easy to use.  Just like any new insturment or tool you need to practice with it.

Some innovative things we did were cutting from vinyl sheets and shinky dinks!  Making tags with the Shrinky Dinks worked out really well.  If we had more colors I'm sure we could of made some really fabulous stuff.  I actually picked up the ones we used at the local Joann Fabrics in the kids craft section.  you can get sheets of it to cut into whatever shapes you want in several different colors.

I've been using the slice of late to make my Mother's day Cards and they turned out wonderfully, wish I had remembered to take a picture of them.  I also ordered with some of my recent Birthday money a new design card set called Vintage Findings.

Other lovely things that I like about it is that it is not just a die-cut machine.  You can change the tips to make it emboss paper, there are marker tips to draw out the patterns instead of cutting them out and then you can cut fabric out of it also.  Putting on a two way fusible facing onto the fabric first you can make ready cut out patches.  Which is the real reason why I bought it in the first place.



**Double Posted- to Muse on Wedding and Torn Angel**

Book Review- Sustainable Fashion and Textiles

*please excuse the poor photos, my camera is kapoot*

This Book is quite remakrable reading.  Not just for fashion but for those of the greenier persuasion.  It is super informative while not boring and gives you cold hard facts that were surprisingly candid.  I think this is a must read for anyone interested in textiles as well.  It is a bit lengthy, in fact if I were a college fashion instructor I would probably make this a mandatory text book.  I think it really opens the eyes up to the industry as well as basic fabric knowledge.  It is of course on my Amazon wishlist.  Someday I will own it, but until then I've been borrowing it from the local Library.

 

Not only is is jam packed with information but it has some great graphics to keep your eyes fresh and examples of other fashion designers and how they use Sustainable Materials.

The biggest downside for this, is that even though it is a paperback it is still a $30 something book on Amazon.  For that price I have some other books on my list to collect such as some hardcover craft or knitting books.  Not that I don't want it but it can wait and I can still borrow it from the Library.

To Dye For

Recently with my work on my Hand and Lock submission I had trouble finding those colors so I had opted to buy dyes from Dharma Trading company .

They worked BEAUTIFULLY!  With some pointers from my friend Miss Megan Mac I was able to come out quite successful with my dye baths.  This not a clean process at all.  First you have all these  loose powders not just they dye powder but the soda ash and other preparation chemicals and loads of salt.  Also the first rule is not to wear white and not to wear anything that you particularly like because most likely it will get a splash or so of whatever color dye you are working with.  Also GLOVES you must remember to wear gloves unless you don't mind the unnatural colored hands, whilst most people will avoid making contact with your hands till it fades.  Also must remember to use pots, buckets that are clean but that you don't mind ruining.  Once a dye bucket always a dye bucket in my opinion.  I bought a cheap 20 quart stock pot off of Target to do both cold and boiling dye baths. 

I had to get the appropriate dyes to go with the fabrics I was working with.  Even though it said that Fiber Reactive dyes would work for my silk organza the Acid Dyes were said to work better.  I saved the Fiber Reactive dyes for my cotton yarns and cotton jersey.  I got a bit of Indigo pre-reduced which is the only one I have yet to try out.

The spoils of my Birthday!

Just for the curious.
Andy took me to a lovely dinner at the New Indian Restaraunt down the Stree from us called AAB.
He also got me all four books I posted previously in "Candy Kisses and Birthday wishes"

I got copious amounts of cash from several family memebers as well as from Andy's family.
With that money I got myself Final Fantasy 13 and the limited edition hardcover strategy guide.

Also will be getting myself a few things off of Amazon.com such as two new design cards for my "Slice" die-cut machine by making memories and GTO vol. 2

Even though he was gone Saturday and Sunday I got to sleep in with my kitty like this everynight.  No respect at all for my DS or reading.

It was a wonderful Weekend!

This weekend was quite lovely.  It was not only my birthday but a myriad of events and Mother's day!
I was actually born on Mother's day in 1981, what a gift that was eh?  My mom said it really wasn't bad.  I was her last child and thus she was well prepared for me.  I also was not a long labor.  Enough with the TMI though!  I'm sure you want to know what else happened.

Such as the CCAD Origins Fashion show.  It was very interesting this year.  A lot more ready to wear pieces with really good tailoring.  The jackets and pants the kids presented blew all the dresses out of the water.  I saw very little knitwear which was sad but not the fault of the kids.  If only CCAD offered some sort of fiber class.  I think knitwear not only because I'm enthralled with it but in general is a very important clothing essential.  It is one of the more historical methods of clothes to be produced the world over.  Functional, creative, artistic and natural.  Anyways back to the show!
Origins was based on different cities that the students chose to inspire their collections.  We had the old world represented in Milan and then the new modern Las Vegas.  It is hard to see a students intentions for the collection with only two pieces being presented.  Most of the time a third look is worn by the designer themselves during the final walk through.  Below are a few measly pictures I snapped and I dumped the rest onto my Flickr account.

Afterwards I headed back home to redress into something more warm.  On the way I stopped at my friends place to drop her off and to check out another friend's yard sale participation in the Grandview Heights open Yard/Garage sale day.  Picked up two lovely wooden shelves and this nice gentleman gave me Sex and the City Trivia Pursuit when he heard I was a fan!  How sweet is that?  I love to live in a small community.

Following that little jaunt was the "Handmade Nation" screening and Crafty Cotillion trunk Show.  I am always surprised by what people buy that I am not expecting.  I made all these new fabric flower pins and then it turned out all my Cat's Bane Yarn Guards were the things I sold the most of.  I don't think I made even $30 on this event but it was a fun way to spend my day.  Immediately after the show my oldest brother and his wife came late to greet me and check out the crafts.  We stayed and watched Iron Man 2.

After the Movie we headed to meet the rest of the Family for a Birthday Dinner.  My family pretty much all failed on the presents end and gave me Cash instead.  Which really isn't a bad thing since I am going to put that towards getting my DSLR camera, looks like it will be the Nikon3000 series.  I also wanted japanese food and we ended up at the usual Korean BBQ joint, Kaya.

To end my long day I met some friends and we hopped over to Dave and Buster's for some video game fun and old school games such as Squeeball and rifle shooting range.  Of course we had to win tickets and get some stupid pointless prizes such as a small wooden bat and giant Pixie Sticks.  Only to be followed by me playing Final Fantasy 13 FINALLY till about 2am at home alone with the cat.

Mother's day was an easy day almost like another birthday.  I woke up early and read my book "The Gathering Storm" in bed of several hours then lesuirely got dressed and headed up to meet my parent's and second brother for brunch at the Country Club.  Did some facebook stalking with my dad to see what our relatives in Canada were up to.  Then I came home and waited for Andy to return from TOSRV and played more Final Fantasy 13 and watched two movies "Sisterhood of Traveling Pants 2" and "Zombie Strippers".  I know really random!

That was my weekend......... this week expect a little dye bath post and more in depth view of the Documentary "Handmade Nation"

It never hurts to try

Honestly what's the worse that can happen?  Someone says no?  OH well move on!
Some of you know what I was up to earlier this week and some of you do not.

Just a little filler.  I was a semi-finalist for casting for a fashion design tv show and that's all I'll say.
It was an awesome experience and no I did not get on but I am not upset at all.  I am happy about it.  I did it, I went out and tried to do something and then I found out it wasn't what I really wanted for myself.  I will now never have that doubt or inkling in the back of my head.  I did exactly what I tell everyone else to do, I jumped into the deep end.  Also there was no way to prepare for what I did.  I think I did as best as I could with the information given to me.  With what I learned from this time I have no doubts that I could get onto the show if I decided to go for it again.  I won't be doing it again though.  It just isn't the right fit for me.  I was happy to meet someone on my bucket list and get a hug from them.  His Initials are TG.

Even better while I was away my donation to the Uniform Project got some major press thanks to an AOL article in the Stylelist.  On the bottom is a little album and I made #14 of 15 when you flip through it.

Off of that article I got about 4 inquiries on purchasing the pants.  I had only made one pair for the project and just today I put up an Etsy listing for 5 of the pants to be made to order.  So that was a pretty spectacular little present while I was away.

I'm also starting to get kids e.mailing me through my website asking if they can shadow me!  It's so cute.  I remember when I used to shadow in school.  I did Byzantium back when it was on King Ave and also a Goldsmith over on Lane Ave.  They were definitely influential into the things I do now and how I have an interest in the arts and sculpture.  I know it seems like we do nothing as adults in our art forms but kids look up to you.  I realized this like a truck hitting me as I started to teach for the SMAC (Saturday Morning Art Classes) at CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design).  Those kids see me as some great wonder even though most days I feel a little like a nobody.  I always try to glam it up and behave as if I am as great as they think I am.  Nothing is worse then seeing the people you look up to in failed ruins.  You gotta give those kids something to strive for.

I feel extremely accomplished and I'm not even done yet!
This weekend I have the Handmade Nation Screening at Studio 35 with the Crafty Cotillion Trunk show.  I'll be selling some new items I have been working on. 

I also need to get my butt working on my Hand and Lock  submission.  I've dyed my yarns to make cording and made the pattern for the base of my outfit.  Now I need to finish the vest pattern and make the pants as well.  The sleeves are GINORMOUS!  That's what I get for wanting to smock everything.

From Drop Box