Yet another very belated blog post! This spring I went with my mother and grandmother to the Vernon Sheep and Wool Festival! It far exceeded my expectations, some of that may be because I had no idea what to expect. It was a bustling (and cold!) day of various wool-related products and activities. They had sheep dog demonstrations, sheep shearing, booths with everything from uncarded wool to finished woven products made from local animals. It was so neat to see every piece of the process represented, it made me really appreciate all my woven sweaters! I was so wrapped up that I decided this was the universe telling me it was really time to learn how to knit. I bought the most basic kit I could find. It included hand-spun yarn (locally sourced of course) and a knit-purl pattern that increased and decreased as well as had a built-in fringe. I had previously never purled before, only basic knit stitch, and this was a good way to segue into the next level. It was a nice learning experience, I probably restarted 5-6 times, but I didn't want the beginning to be TOO ugly compared to the rest of the shawl. All said and done the beginning is still a little fiddly compared to the rest of it but I'm thrilled to have finished my first ever *real* knitting project. Here is the finished shawl in front of my blooming azalea bush (that's how you know this picture is old). Now I just have to wait for it to get cold again to wear it.
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I photographed this piece a while back but then the end of the school year hit like a ton of bricks and I didn't get around to posting about it until just now. This jacket and pants are all about creativity. Artists are at the forefront of mankind's creative endeavors, always leading us culturally forwards as a species. This jacket showcases a combination of runes. This bandrunar combines Eihwaz (gateway), Mannaz (humanity), and Ansuz (expression). Together they empower the wearer to create and lead humanity forwards. The upcycled jeans were distressed and then embroidered. This was inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pieces are made more beautiful by repairing them with gold, just like artists fill the cracks in society with beauty and fresh life. My amazing model is a fellow artist I met while in grad school. She is the perfect example of the courageous artist, her work is powerful and filled with truths humanity needs to hear. You can find her work here:We photographed in Vernon and Manchester. Some photos were taken behind the VIP in Vernon in an abandoned building and others were shot behind Adam's Mill Restaurant in Manchester in a dilapidated building once associated with the railway. I chose these spots because they frequently become the spaces inhabited by artists. Enjoy!
I'm so fortunate to have such wonderful friends! This weekend I went down to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison CT to take photos of a dress I made over the winter. My friend Shauna is a wonderful model as well as seamstress herself and she graciously braved temperatures that were lower than ideal for a beach outing. Our friend Faith joined as well and was an invaluable assistant during the process. You can see pictures of my friend Faith in the Othila coat-dress, also on this site. The dress Shauna was wearing for this shoot was ice-dyed and strips of fabric on the front of the dress are tacked to the bodice in the shape of the Laguz rune, which kind of looks like a backwards 7 if the top was pointed at a downward angle instead of horizontal. The dress also sports a modified butterfly bustle and a tulle train of various colors. We started on the main beach by the nature center but the wind was too fierce so a friendly passer-by advised us to head down the road to another beach in the park. Her advice was spot on and we had much better luck on this sheltered beach covered in rocks.
This weekend I got back together with the amazing Maytae to photograph a piece I made inspired by the Solwilo rune. This rune helps the wearer focus their inner light and channel the power of the sun... and holy crap it actually worked! We did this shoot in MARCH. In case you don't live around here, March is usually freakin COLD. However, Maytae and I had the perfect day complete with 60 degrees and sunshine. We shot in a few different locations around Old Saybrook. We started at the town dock at North Cove, headed over to Knollwood beach, and then finally finished up at the DEP Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme. Maytae totally crushed it, per usual, and we had a great time! The highlight of the day was meeting a cute older gentleman and his tiny dog. The dog was super friendly and made a little tinkle on the log Maytae was standing on, it was such a great moment I had to capture it and include it in the album! Anyways, check out the photos below!Today I had the pleasure of shooting with the beautiful Esperanzalety in downtown West Hartford and Blueback Square. She wore the dress I made with the rune Ingwaz which represents sexuality. The idea was to make a little black dress that encourages the wearer to embrace their sexy side and feel confident in themselves. We found a variety of shop-fronts to shoot in and around, it helped that it was a beautiful day! It was sunny and in the mid to high 50s during the shoot, not bad for March! Esperanzately was a delight to work with, she is as sweet as she is gorgeous! I plan to put the photos back in photoshop and take care of the bra straps before the photos go up on the main part of my website but I just couldn't wait to share them here! Check out the photos below.Another before my next scheduled model shoot so here's another round of older photos that I have re-edited. This shoot was with my friend Faith at the Aqua Turf in Southington. I had just recently attended a wedding there and fell in love with their fireplaces. Luckily for me the person who answers the phone in their main office was super nice and accommodating and I was able to bring Faith there before an event and they even lit the fireplace early just for us! Faith was wearing a housecoat I made by quilting my own custom fabric. Inside some of the quilt blocks are hidden the Othila rune for home and Kenaz rune for hearth. Each rune is repeated three times for maximum potency. This piece by far took the most time to make, probably about 50 hours by the time the blocks were quilted, sewn into fabric, cut into pattern pieces, and made into the actual coat. The housecoat is also lined with fleece and faux fur for an extra-luxurious feel. This piece is the conceptual counterpart to the purple and grey loungewear set.
I don't have any more models scheduled for a few weeks so I thought I would use this extra time to re-edit some old photos I took previously. I had just slapped some filters on them in Google Photo (because I was crunched for time) but now that I've had more practice in Lightroom I figured it was time to give them the attention they deserved. These photos were from a shoot I did with my wonderful friend Mary and her three daughters. I rented a studio with a cyclorama wall and showed them pictures of old renaissance paintings of Venus surrounded by her attendants. We had a blast shooting, they were a really fun crew! I made each of the girls' dresses and earrings and they were all inspired by the Berkana rune and feminine symbology. The colors chosen are from the Wicca tradition of white for the maiden, red for the mother, and black for the crone. The three daughters wear red to show that they are in their fertile stage of womanhood and Mary wears all three to symbolize her conquering of all three stages.
This project has been in the back of my mind for a while now... I love dressing up my friends but I also love dressing up my dog Leela! She was rescued as a puppy from Tennessee and she is the sweetest pup that has ever existed. Anyways I designed a custom rune for my baby that combines many different runes together. A friend of mine pointed out that the rune itself even looks like a dog. Anyways I documented the process as well as the final product. I used my old Olympus camera for this shoot and I remember why I usually always try to borrow someone else's camera. It's just old a tired. It seems to think there isn't enough light outside for action shots even when there is snow reflecting light everywhere. So annoying. Anyways, my dog being adorable more than made up for my frustrations with the camera. Also, I had great luck finding absolutely beautiful batiks for this quilted jacket. I chose batiks with gold details because I read in a book once (I wish I could remember which book) that the color gold in the ancient Norse tradition symbolized honor and power. So long story short Leela looked super sharp in her jacket but I think I'm going to take more pictures after it snows again so there is more coverage. I also might add some trim to accentuate the rune but I haven't decided yet.Update!We had more snowfall overnight so I took Leela out for more photos, I also switched up the bottom of the coat so she could move a little more freely. She had so much fun in the snow drifts!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a proper photoshoot of a piece I made for Danbury Fashion Week with my friend Gina! The piece features a bandrunar I created to encourage the wearer to go on an adventure! Here it is on the lovely Liz at the fashion show: You can see how the different runes come together in form and meaning in the blurb below as well. However I wanted to do a real photoshoot like I had done for the other outfits and luckily for me I have a fabulous friend with the right measurements to fit into my creation! We went to Union Station in New Haven, which is a lovely historic train station with lots of variety as far as lighting and locations. Since I've started doing photoshoots more often I'm noticing that as the shoot goes on I get better at noticing what is going on around the model and adjusting accordingly. Some of my favorite shots were near the end of the shoot where I was able to frame Gina's head with the lit up arch like a byzantine painting. Also, not having any equipment really forces me to pay attention to my surroundings, many times I had to prop the camera on the ground or brace it on furniture because I don't have a tripod or a nice flash and I was getting camera shake from lack of light. Also, thank goodness Connecticut has so many beautiful and historic locations. It has been pretty easy so far to find a great variety of locations for shoot without driving more than 45 minutes in any direction!
I made this project a while back but it is something I'm very proud of so I wanted to document it here in my blog and not just throw up a photo in the craft section of my site. This quilt was made for a very good friend of mine who was pregnant at the time. This friend was instrumental in shaping the person I am today and she holds a special place in my heart so I wanted to make her something truly special. Usually my go-to present for expecting friends is a strip quilt because they are fun and easy to make, however I wanted to go bigger and better this time. When I asked my friend if her baby had a theme she said something along the lines of "we want them to like the same stuff we do, aka nerd stuff." So, I had an idea. I went to the fabric store and rattled off all the different nerd fabric options for her and made her rank them from favorite to least favorite. Then I drew up a pattern for an all-triangle quilt so that I could arrange the nerd fabric into tri-forces... This way the fabric is nerdy AND the design is nerdy! Sewing the triangles was a little tricky but well worth the effort! |
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