Petticoats, Vintage, and Beautiful Women.

What a ridiculous last couple months! Right now I'm all about appreciating the small things in life that are going amazingly well, completely disregarding what has been a burden to me achieving greatness! An epic sentence, I know, but things have been pretty amazing lately. 

I always look forward to the beginning of the week. They give you a chance to "reset" and a chance to start over on a new foot. Most of the time I actually look forward to them; they are an opportunity to take stock of your environment, your to-dos, and reaffirm your purpose in the world. Unless you have to be up at 6a... that's a whole different thing. 

Sitting at 12p, typing away on my long neglected blog, sipping a cup of coffee with some sweetened condensed milk-- I'm amazingly happy right now and have been on this trajectory for a little while.

Within the span of a week I got to see one of my fashion idols perform her beautiful burlesque show, got to enjoy the opera for the first time in my life, and got to dance down Market Street during one of the most momentous parades in SF history. I'm so incredibly blessed by the universe right now.

Completed Sewing Project: SpringGreen Dress

It's done! Three weeks from my initial posting about this dress, it's finally completed and ready for a day out on the town!

First off, yes, yellow. Yellow was my backup color after hunting high and low for mint green swiss dot fabric. When I found plenty of pale yellow fabric and matching lace... I took it as a sign. Even if it's completely off from my croqui and from my original idea (and the NAME!), I'm still super pleased with it.

Favorite Blogs of the Moment.

For the long commute back and forth to work I have a lovely little RSS feeder installed in my phone. It's awesome because it caches entire posts (including pictures) so while I'm in the tunnels here in SF, I have something to read when the signal cuts out! Regardless of all that, here are the blogs I'm loving right now.

Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

I discovered this blog while trying to figure out how to do a FBA on a pattern top and I absolutely love it. The things she sews and her articles are all extremely interesting and I'm really looking forward to her book coming out in September! Maybe it'll be a birthday present to myself? Also, learning couture sewing techniques will be great if I ever make a Chanel-style jacket! Gotta learn how to quilt a lining!

Madame Guillotine

I think I found this blog looking for images for a report but damn- absolutely love it. The blog owner is a self published historical fiction author and major history buff. I particularly love the posts about random people in history that you may not have known about. The paintings and historical research is absolutely luscious and the posts about costumes and garments are amazing. And a huge Versailles lover-- how can I not adore that?

Sea of Shoes

This blog always has such great fashion eye-candy! A couple semesters ago one of my teachers recommended her fashion site and it's really fun to see all the great posts Jane Aldridge posts about her style, travels, and purchases. I would only wear maybe half of what she does, but I think her posts are fun. I laughed aloud the other day when I was reading an issue of 7x7 and saw Jane as the model for a Barney's New York ad! 

A Future Present

Etsy featured a scarf by Leah Goren in one of their articles and I was intrigued enough by the beautiful textile to look into the artist. The blog is actually a combination of both Leah and her husband(?)/boyfriend Dylan and their life together. The posts are always picture filled and beautiful. It's very inspirational! I wish my boyfriend would want to blog with me!

Cat Versus Human

To be honest, I completely forget how I stumbled on this blog! But it's so fun! The owner lives here in the Bay Area and the cartoons are absolutely hilarious! As a cat lady deprived of a cat, I live vicariously through the different little comic strips she posts. Anyone I show them to always laugh! One of these days when I have a little extra cash, I want to get one of her tote bags to cart all my art supplies in. Probably this one.

Swigglies and Wigglies and All Sorts of Circles.

I had a moment of clarity yesterday that I really need to get on working on my personal collections + portfolio, like... ASAP. Between school things picking up and work taking a crazy turn for me, I just feel like I need to get on it and start producing things at home. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

My goal right now for my portfolio is to create a Spring/Summer 2012 textile collection, due by May 1 (holding myself accountable!) My inspiration is a mixture of Polish pottery as well as Pysany eggs.

I love how bright and geometric everything is! I think they're all very charming and I can't wait to explore these designs and their history!

I've all ready started practicing some of the motifs and drawing some designs.

I probably don't have to watermark... but I figure that maybe I should start getting into the habit. Don't know. Maybe!

My plan of attack is as follows: 

• Look at more pots and more eggs. Haha- yes.
• Draw some more thumbnails
• Finalize said thumbnails
• Make 10x10in paintings of each pattern (watercolor, gauche, marker? Hmph...)
• Get my printing on 

I think I just need to approach this a little more professionally than I have been lately, but I'm confident I can get it together. For a spring/summer collection I'll be looking into linen and light polyesters and ahhhh- I can't wait to get started! Considering how I'm practicing croquis drawings right now, I might be able to do some rendering for how I would like each print used-- and who knows, maybe I can do something with the prints? Don't know. We'll see. 

When it comes down to it, I'm just happy to get started. 

Reference drawings, croquis, and happy with the live model.

So school this semester has been definitely interesting, but I'm happy to say I'm not struggling. The main class that has been more "challenging" of the two has been my croquis class which is very time consuming and cash consuming as well!

Here are some of the things I've worked on for the semester.

Most of the drawings were done from reference but we still get live models from time to time. I really like the model that helps out on a regular basis-- she has fashion figure proportions and is always coming out with very comfortable poses for our purposes. Also helps that she cracks jokes while we draw.

Otherwise, I'm (generally?) happy with my assignments, but I think I should definitely spend more time practicing... but it gets tiring, you know? It's probably a good thing I didn't go with animation as a career-path as I originally intended back when I was in high school! Looking back on it, it seems like a really weird goal for me. I don't think I would be happy in that career right now.

If only I wasn't so busy and didn't have the carpal tunnel!

Here it is the middle of February and I really feel like I've missed out on the tradition of knitting in the winter. It's been about a year since I've taught myself using YouTube videos that I would repeat over and over again until I got the technique down. As for any new techniques? The last thing I learned was lace. Cables? Don't even get me started! I have yet to dive into those things!

Still, not knitting due to being busy again hasn't stopped me from looking through every once in a while at Ravelry and seeing the amazing patterns that get posted. I think I'll try and squeeze in a scarf and maybe some socks in for when it starts raining cats and dogs here in The City... Due to trial and error, I know I need long socks for my new rain boots!

Twisted by Jodie Gordon Lucas @ Ravelry

Cadence Socks by verybusymonkey @ Ravelry

Podster Gloves by Glenna C. @ Ravelry

GAP-tastic Cowl by Jen Geigley @ Ravelry

Strangling Vine Lace Scarf by Nicole Hindes @ Ravelry

Spring Beret by Natalie Larson @ Ravelry

I thought it was a crack, but it's not, so it's cool.

While waiting in the lobby of a hair salon, I curiously browsed through a recent (but tattered) artist magazine (Juxtapoz) which immediately made me lament missing out on an exhibit featured here in the City during the time I've lived here. Makes me want to keep up with artist magazines around here! 

I was introduced to The Old Boy's Club and the awesomeness that is la destitution de la Jeune Fille.

I don't think I'm particularly eloquent enough to be able to talk about this piece in the way that was intended. I do, however, want to express my admiration at the uniqueness of each "monster" and the graphic aspect of each one. I love the bold colors, the simple shapes, and how they're all unique. And all done in gauche! Makes me want to reexamine my relationship with that medium...

Either way, I can't help but draw some sort of comparison between this piece's amazing details (see the Old Boy's Club website for more detailed views of the entire work) and the details in Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

 

Granted, Bosch's piece is considerably more gluttonous and explicit, the insanity of the characters and immense amount of detail in both is downright amazing. Both have address different subjects (Jeune fille with an analogy of a girl vs society spinning out of control, Delights with gluttony and hell), they both employ an amazing level of skill and imagination for being plentiful, not boring and I absolutely love that.

Green work means beautiful origami to me.

Lack of posts definitely doesn't equal lack of creative action, I'm glad to report. I've actually been busy every single day working on projects. I've been inspired by browsing Craftgawker during my breaks at work and combining some of those projects with things I can all ready do. I can't wait to take on more mini projects.

The items that took the longest have been my book paper wreaths. I was inspired by seeing a tutorial at Living with Lindsay and figured I could make one for my room which while cluttered, doesn't have much decoration. 

I received a company book a couple weeks back and really had no intention of reading it. I thought I should re-purpose it into something cool.

This step was actually the most annoying. I all ready dislike styrofoam-- cutting it is even worse! Not only is it messy, but pushing anything through it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Glad I put up with it, though-- a regular styrofoam wreath form costs nearly 6USD; I purchased this flat circle for 1USD.

This step was the most time consuming. I was able to watch the entirety of Gone with the Wind during the rolling and gluing process. And by the entirety, I mean the entire four hours and then some.

I'm actually extremely happy and proud with how these came out! They look amazing on my wall and definitely make the room look lighter. I used the center circle I cut out to make a matching little star wreath; I didn't feel like making waste was a good idea. Plus sixty pages left in the book needed a home.


Also inspired by Living with Lindsay, I made a holder for yarn balls as I knit. I have tons of little tins from the tea I drink and have been struggling to come up with ideas to re-purpose them-- a yarn holder, especially with my current knitting project, was perfect. I used Lindsay's rosette tutorial to create a rosette out of ribbon to decorate my tin.

 

The top of the tin looks a little wacked out but there's really nothing I can do about that... I'm just happy it has a hole in the top that my yarn doesn't get caught to! I have to thank Kyle for being able to drive a nail through it because my weak wrists wouldn't be able to handle it!

Lastly, I went out to the local Goodwill the other day to donate things and also pick up a couple frames. In a continuing effort to decorate my room I figured an inspiration board should probably go up at my desk. I brought the frames home, sanded them down to make them look a bit more vintage, and then proceeded to print out images I love.

Love it! Waiting for Kyle to get home so he can put a nail into the wall for me to hang it. I'd also like to buy some dry erase markers so I can write on the glass. I'm actually very surprised I didn't think of frames before for inspiration boards-- I can take the images out and put new ones in without having to throw out poster board over and over again.

Thai iced tea and digital collages-- how fulfilling.

This past week I (re)joined the Polyvore community which has proved as interesting as I thought it would be. I all ready knew what the website was all about-- user generated graphics, layouts, and collages of fashion items posted all over the internet. If its been photographed, it's more than likely available on the site. From the occasional browsing of Woman's Wear Daily (WWD), I gathered that Polyvore was finally being taken seriously-- and by finally I mean, probably for the past couple years- where have I been??

Anyway, I heard about there being contests with collages so I figured it was worth a shot to join once again. Glad that the interface and I aren't the best of friends or else I could get totally hooked! I still prefer Photoshop for all my graphic needs, of course.

Test #1 by aquavert featuring a fascinator hat

Test #2 by aquavert featuring print dresses

Test #3 by aquavert featuring vintage handbags

The last collage with Dita is obviously my favorite-- I was finally starting to understand the different features of the graphic interface by the time I made it-- knew more of what I was doing. I could probably spend hours browsing and commenting on other people's "sets" but I'm limiting myself to the occasional weekly visit; I have more important things to concentrate on-- and I mean that in the most positive way imaginable.