Worthwhile

Photo from Dr. Elena 

I have quite a few updates to make but I've been a bit flabbergasted by my fantastic meeting yesterday down at Ohio State University with the Department of Art Graduate Head.  In short all my questions were answered and I'm not behind or in a bad place at all with my application process.  They were very excited to meet me and it was good feelings all around.  I don't want to delve too deeply into it but I made a good impression and they are very supportive of me coming into their program.  The funny thing that I had been pondering, was where I fit in and oddly enough with where my work as an artist is heading I'm going to be more aligned with the ideas of the Art and Tech department rather then the Sculpture department.  Not that I will be giving up any of my  fiber and fashion but my approaches to them and new materials and methods make more sense in Art and Tech. 

In other news this weekend was Fantastic!  I sold both my pieces at the OAL One Night Fiction Event which includes the above eight foot long bubble scarf and my Tucked Leather skirt with Swarovski embellishments.  The Live auction was great!  I had never seen a live auction and to have one of my pieces selected was a real treat.  I got some footage of my piece but I have yet to load it.  hopefully tomorrow I can get her on there with some more details of the event.  I took pictures over the week to document the changes in the space and set up.  It is always interesting to me to see the transformation on spaces by other objects. 

From just these two things I am feeling very uplifted as more then just a fashion designer but as an artist where my heart truly lies.  A lot of people don't know this but I feel more comfortable calling myself a sculptor/artist then I do a fashion designer.  I love garments and I love the way they transform the body but not as much as I enjoy the response to those transformations and the ideas and feelings it sets into motion.  I feel like cloth, fiber and pattern were just the materials I have been working with and I am very happy to set out into a brave new world of technology and new materials.

Just from these two events I am feeling pretty worthwhile.  I've been so long outside of artistic conversations and critique I'd felt lost if what I was going was good work or forced art.  Most people at least in Undergrad hate Critique but I enjoy it if nothing else but for some validity on my work and input from an open standpoint.

There was so much more to this weekend but I haven't loaded the photos yet so I'll continue tomorrow!

Rush for the Holidays

If you haven't noticed I have been working hard on updating my Etsy.   It's very hard time of year because after all those craft shows and events you just want to let your guard down and relax.  Unfortunately for me the colder months are my best selling months.
~BUT~
Finally I have finished all my updating on Etsy!  it only took me 3 days including taking photos, editing and posting of over 30 items.   Well worth it though.  Hopefully I will make some last minute sales before the holidays.

The process is longer then I would like but it's a one women show especially when I don't have time for interns when I am scrapping by myself.  I'm very happy with how it turned out and borrowing a Digital SLR made a HUGE difference in the quickness of the updates.  I had much less photo editing to do then I normally do and didn't even need to take a second batch of photos because everything looked brilliant the first time around.  It especially helped that I took my time to practice the week before getting accustomed to the camera's settings and playing with lighting.  Also helpful that my cat was a willing muse.

Uniform Project

If you have never heard of this you need to catch up!
The Uniform Project is this incredibly creative team of ladies who are raising money for children in India to go to school.    This actually was one of the things I had seen floating around the internet that made me want to get back into Blogging myself and put myself out there.

In short, Sheena in the photos is destined to wear one type of dress for 365 days!  She has 6 of the same dress to change around and style but the dress MUST be worn.  I was fortunate enough to take part of this and donate both a monetary and clothing donation to the cause which will later be auctioned off as well to help raise more money!

In this outfit she is wearing a pair of my Striped Military pants and White Bubble Scarf

Also this month if you make a monetary donation Ebay will match it!!!  What better way to give for the less fortunate then double the donation?

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.

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