gizmo

This is Gizmo the Mogwai from the movie "Gremlins"

I was thinking Fievel could be him for Halloween... heeeehee..

 Perfect, right?! Anyway, while looking up pictures, I discovered this insane skirt:

 This gray tweed skirt is made by designer Brian Lichtenberg.. its Gizmo. as a skirt. His ears are working pockets and his eyes have Swarovski crystals. I don't think I need to say anything else.



(I got this photo and info from here)

The Polyamorous Affair

I did makeup for this band The Polyamorous Affair last year. This 'electronic pop' band consists of Eddie Chacon and Sissy Sainte-Marie.. the cutest, sweetest couple. Their newest album, Strange Bedfellows you can get a taste of by clicking on that there link.

First photoshoot I did was photographed by Emma Kathan:

 

Then they asked if i'd do makeup for another shoot by Angel Ceballos:

 (this picture is the header for my blog right now :))

bacon scarf....!

a genius artist from California named Christine Chun made this woolen BACON SCARF.

Christine has thought of other, cheaper ways to make these scarves like knitting or painting but finds her hand felting technique is more realistic looking. It takes about a whole weekend to finish one scarf! I  appreciate her hands-on bacon scarf process because when you spend that much time on a project... it becomes special and more meaningful. Theres a lot of art and soul that goes into the one item.

"I’ve considered adding some kind of artificial bacon smell to make the scarf even more realistic but I understand that’s a little gross.”

-i love her.

She makes other beautiful felted scarves as well which you can buy on etsy. Bacon scarf runs for $120, other scarves range from $25-$45.
I like this one:

:)

Its perfect!! She loved it : ) : )

craft time!

when i go to flea markets, i go to my favorite vendors with the "5 for a dollar" kind of jewelry. i stock up on little treasures no one wants because they are broken or dirty and i turn them into things that can be loved again.

I had found a bronze piece with an "A" on it and saved it to make something for my friend Adeline. I later found a tiger stone pin that used to have something glued onto it but throughout the course of its hard life, whatever that thing was has been lost. Adeline's favorite stone is tiger so I married the two to each other and am quite satisfied with the result.

 I originally wanted to attach the "A" piece to a necklace or zipper pull or something but I liked the contrast on the stone. Also, I took some black thread and wound it to the top to make it look like it had been attached then ripped off of something (I'm into little details..)

 I glued the "A" and reinforced the backing with my favorite craft glue, "SOBO" which is pictured below along with my assistant, Fievel. I use this glue for everything... paper, wood, fabric, leather, fur, etc. It dries clear like its invisible! I discovered it when I was in a set design class and had to make set models out of paper and foam board.

 

I'm going to give her the pin tonight. Hope she likes it!

makes you think..

 

halloweenie

Halloween is almost here! That means costumes and crafts and sewing and pumpkins and cats and candies and awesome. I don't know what i'm going to be for halloween this year..

I was looking through spring 2011 rtw on style.com and discovered this:

                                                Hermès

 
I love it. love the hat, the boots, and most especially that cape. This would be a good idea for a zorro costume but um... been there, done that.. 2008.

I wore pleather pants and knee high boots, silver medallion belt, black linen peasant top, black cape, hat, and I made myself a face mask out of black velvet. Oh, and instead of a sword I carried around a black leather whip. Only a couple people got hurt.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!

The internet at my house has been out for the past couple weeks.. It was kind of nice not to be obsessing over facebook but it was also driving me crazy cuz I was so behind on work.. Thanks to my wonderful brother James who put in many hours into fixing our home Internet... I'm back to life! First stop is this here blogspot, as its in dire need of attention. My apologies for not updating lately but now i'm back on track!

So my brother James... one of the sweetest, raddest guys you'll ever meet. He's the lead singer of Holy Grail which you should most definitely check out. They just finished their new album "Crisis in Utopia" and will be playing at a crazy metal festival in Japan this week. James is an awesome older brother and has been a major influence on  my fashion sense while growing up. This is the guy who wore a plaid suit to his senior prom. He's an excellent shopper and introduced me to all the amazing hidden thrift stores and the wonderful world of ebay.

Now that im older I try to repay him for years of wisdom by being his personal seamstress.. taking in shirts, fixing his pant seams that ripped while jumping around on stage, sewing in band patches. The last project we worked on was a bit more of a challenge. He wanted a custom made stage vest for performing.. He gave me 2 of his favorite vests, told me what he liked about each, and what he wanted differently. I took all this info and created a fresh pattern that was a blend of the 2 vests + some adjustments.

                           Heres the final result:

We chose a pleather for the outside and a satiny fabric for the lining. This was my first time working with pleather and probably my last unless i'm making a bag or something. Even though I have an industrial machine, I went through several needles and my machine made some scary noises. I had shards of needles flown at my face, bleeding fingers, and cried at least once. Then I realized I had been using the wrong size needle... oh how it makes a difference! Trust me, go to downtown LA and stock up on as many different needle sizes as you can so you don't end up hating yourself.

Aside from the needle troubles, the pleather was just plain funky. One of the side seams kept curling up and I couldn't get it to stay down. Also, I was not satisfied with the overall drape of the vest.

Next assignment: Redo the whole vest in REAL leather. I'm thinking a nice soft, pliable leather. It will drape better and look great on stage.

p.s. these buttons are really cool : )

Now, go listen to some Holy Grail <3

“Dress design for Shabby Apple Dresses”

“Dress design for  Shabby Apple Dresses”
My assignment for the last couple weeks was to design a dress to enter into the "Dare to Design" contest for the Company Shabby Apple. If you haven't heard of them, check out the site... they make super cute dresses for reasonable prices. The design for the contest had to follow a few guidelines: dresses need to be with sleeves, a hemline to the knee, and no cleavage. And of course, it should look like something they would actually sell. My teacher decided to step it up a notch and have us use a particular movie to inspire our designs.

(click on the image if you want to enlarge it)

     

                                    I chose the movie "Young Victoria" because I'm a sucker for lace..

    

The fabric is a poly-silk blend and polyester lace. Above are also some inspirations... Couple pictures of the Queen herself

 

 

My final designs, simple yet elegant... yet not too fancy.

 

This is the design I went with. The lace on the neckline with a fitted bodice and flared skirt. I could have gone really overboard with lace but I think this has just the right amount to not look like a halloween costume.