Hold up in posts is caused by the fact that as far as I can tell, the camera is well and truly missing. I have a very old one that was scavenged from god knows where, and will probably start using that soon, sadly, the quality of picture is very poor (not that I take great pictures to begin with )and I need to wait on a cord to connect it with. But I am working on two pieces right now, finishing Lireinne's shirt and starting on her cape/coat.

More Pictures than you can shake a stick at.

Upon urging, I've started a Tumblr that will be a dump for my many ridiculously unorganized folders full of reference pictures, inspiration, and other things that get sorted under "stuff I like"

http://havinghorns.tumblr.com

Also, I have some much photos from my rehearsal that show the detail of Leoh's outfit much better, even if I do look dumb in them. Also some shockingly good pictures from the performance itself.


Rehearsal:

Surprisingly enough, people seemed to want the leg pieces to wear themselves more than any other piece.

Hurray! The quilting shows on the black side! All my work was not for nothing~

My head piece is rather twisted--but I think it's interesting that the whole thing still looks rather slim from the back. It also makes me have a weird stance.

Lookin' dumb.


And the actual performance. Which went completely amazingly. No one can stop saying how perfect the model was for the piece, and I agree--thanks Jessica! Fantastic job.




I have the video from the performance as well, but we're having trouble getting it off the DVD with audio intact. I have it without though, and may upload that soon.

Camera is still AWOL...the chances of finding it at this point seem slim. Bummer.

Problematic

Sorry for the lag in posting--My laptop went FUBAR and my digital camera seems to have disappeared, making updating difficult. The laptop will be picked up tomorrow, but the digicam is still gone...so you may be dealing with some Mac Photobooth pictures in the near future.

But for now--I'm taking the photographic images of my work and turning them back into illustrations. It allows me to put them in a context without actually building anything (which I am rapidly concluding I'm not very good at.) It also makes sense that since the work starts as drawings, it should really come back to them eventually. Sadly, my illustration skills have suffered as a result of focusing on fibers, but I'm giving it my best shot.


The original photo.

Sketching out the character.


Sketching out the background. It was helpful to have the perspective in the photograph to work off of--that's my weakest point, I think.


Putting it together, drawing out the lineart. Done on translucent marker layout paper with a plain ol' micron.


I did flat computer colors this time because I'm on a short deadline, I'd like to do one in watercolor soon.

Putting it all together.

It's not too often that I'm stupidly pleased with myself, but I'm stupidly pleased with these sort of 'hidden' pockets in the hexagonal patchwork. I made the pocket pieces out of the left-over hexagons, then backed it with red silk and whip-stitched it in. The joint is just about invisible.


Sewing it in.

The finished pocket! There's one on each side. The only issue is that they're rather hard to access with the coat shut, but oh well. I'm going to keep this idea in the back of my head for later.

I also made a little union-suit to go under The Liar's outfit--It might seem a little bit over-kill to go so far as to make the underwear, but I fee like it's important to not neglect any part of the clothing. Also, the performance that I'm working on involves undressing, so I sort of need it for that.



I joined a pair of army long-johns to a rather strange (also military) woven wool undershirt, and made a button-placket in the shirt to bring up from the pants.

And, of course, I actually got a model for The Liar's outfit so far! It's been totally great (and somewhat surprising) to see all of the pieces together. I was a little scared to see it all on--I didn't exactly y'know, plan it all out, and I wasn't sure how the whole thing was going to work together. I essentially had no idea was the sillouhete was going to look like until I got it all on Jess. It's somewhere between traditional Japanese firefighters, a Moebius character and medieval armor. It was also an incredible relief not to be wearing it myself. I'm not a performer, and having the burden of performance on top of making was a little too much I think. It also helps to be able to see it performed. Many thanks to Jessica!


Starting from the base-layer. This actually fit perfectly, no fixing needed! She reported that it was pretty comfy, even it the upper wool was a little scratchy.


The pants also fit well. I was originally planning on altering the waistband of the pant, and now I'm not sure if I will. It feels a bit like cheating to leave it constructed like that, but it looks good and hey, if it was in good shape when the character recieved it, maybe it didn't need much reconstruction.



After getting the hooded shirt and quilted jacket on.

Opening the jacket a wee bit to see the red.


All together now! The only thing I'm missing is the stockings, and connecting the gloves to the rest.

The quilted jacket is really rigid, you can see it holding it's shape here.


My favorite picture, you can really see all the intersections and different 'colors' of black and textures.

Strappy Legs

Feel like I've been working and working lately, and not getting anywhere--or at least not getting there fast enough. No idea how it's all going to come together before the costume show, especially now that I need a few more pieces to make the performance come together. And I need to find a model! I'll put flyers up tomorrow night, but I'm not sure how I'm going to find one by the rehearsal on Tuesday. A distinct fear of failing wretchedly is beginning to manifest.

Aside from my anxiety, I also finished up my shoes and made some legs.

Just added the buckle, and started to wax the suede.


Giving them a try-on. Pretty comfortable, though they're too big for me.

Cutting out the leg-guard-spat-thingys, and adding the suede straps.

Put a little stretchy gusset area to stretch over the shoe.

Giving it a little try-on over my pants as I was working on it.


Trying on with the shoes and the (unfinished) pants that go with them. They're actually fairly comfortable, and extremely warm.


Not bad to move in, either.

Heroes


"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."


"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

The sense of wonder, and love of science that Carl Sagan inspired in me and so many others is an immeasurable gift.



"One is always considered mad when one perfects something that others cannot grasp."

I cannot help but admire Ed Wood's singular vision and dedication to it. It may have been awful, but it was so earnestly awful that I love him for it.


"If I shout:
Ideal, Ideal, Ideal
Knowledge, Knowledge, Knowledge,
Boomboom, Boomboom, Boomboom
I have recorded fairly accurately Progress, Law, Morals, and all the other magnificent qualities that various very intelligent people have discussed in so many books."


"You'll never know why you exist, but you'll always allow yourselves to be easily persuaded to take life seriously."\

Tristan Tzara seems to have existed as a perfectly exquisite verbal wrecking ball--carving a path of disruption through Europe's academic art world.



"We wanted to work with someone on this role that we knew and could beat the crap out of."


"Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes."

Bruce Cambell reminds me to both take pride and have humor about what I do, no matter what it is.

Napkins and Shoes

Two very different projects in focus this week. Some napkins and placemats for the Crafts Banquet, and attempting some better-crafted shoes.


First, some background on the banquet--it's a...party, of sorts? that the Crafts department puts on. All us students have to make everything to serve the food in or on--cups, bowls, forks, glasses, baskets, ect. We also have to make all the food and bring it in. So I'm not sure exactly who it's a party for, but, I'm not going to get into that. Our theme this year was 'The Brother's Grimm"


So, given that we were encouraged to make things practical for food service, napkins and placemats seemed to be about all I was capable of and had time for. I printed a few yards of fabric with a neat little repeat I drew up of objects seen alot in fairy tales--rings, cups, crowns, coins, ect.


Cutting them into appropriately napkin-and-placemat size.

Sewn into napkins--I made a few sets of green ones with print border, and a few vice-versa. There are placemats to match, though I didn't take a picture of them.

Rolled up and ready to go! I'll bring my camera to the actual banquet and try and get some pictures.

First I carved out the soles--I quickly realized that the leather I had was way, way harder than it was supposed to be, and I did not have any of the correct tools. (I still don't) So this was incredibly painstaking to do with an X-Acto knife.

Uppers cut and starting to be sewn. My terrible assortment of tools on display.

Attaching inside sole to the upper--normally, this would be done with a double needle stitch, but the sole parts holes were just not big enough. So it's not quite as secure as I would like.

Trying it on after I started sewing on the welt.

Sewing the welt in.

I'm now attempting to get to this point with the other shoe--then we'll see.