Thursday, October 27, 2011

Berkshires mini-Vacation!

Last weekend Jess and I went to visit our friend Leslie in the Berkshires! We went out because there was a sheep and wool festival in New York we wanted to go to. We went out on Friday so we could hang out, and since I'd never driven on the highway before. The highway got very rainy at times, but other than that it was fine.

We got there and took a walk around a lake, which was really pretty!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

King Richard's Faire 2011

King Richard's Faire! 

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! No, actually this is a LIGER. There was also a tiger kitty! So cute!



Ktface was there, with Dragon! the griffin. 

And Corinne, with her friend from school.

This is Jacque the Whipper. He is very funny, and French!

Hawk and an owl! The owl was freaking out a bit...

There is King Richard himself! Parade of nobility through the faire.

We found a certain Doctor among our travels...

We got turkey legs, so we can say we did and never do it again! But we swear, they were actually ham! Whose idea was that???

Arrrrr I'm so determined to defeat this monstrosity!

Towards the end of the day. No costume rentals here!

A peaceful end to an exciting day!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Future Rococo Circuits

Get ready for a pic-heavy post! This week I printed fabric for my future rococo dress. I thought about what types of images people would be into in the future, so I thought that computers seemed futuristic and fun. Again, I know that they'll most likely be outdated by the time this outfit would roll around, but so are cogs and everybody likes steampunk.... 

First! The design. I drew this by hand... Pretty bad I know. But that's why photoshop is awesome!

Just make some fancy grids and get time-saving tips from people who actually understand the program... 


Success! Get photo emulsion and pigment at the store! But DON'T forget the tiny sensitizer bottle if you get this kind because it's necessary and you'll have to go back!


I made the pattern repeated a bit so it would tesselate. Then I printed it to the right size and my friend put baby oil on the paper to make it transparent. Then we put it on the screen which we had photo emulsion on it, that we had put on the day before.



Then we used this magical machine... There were buttons and some sort of suction and a spin-y thingy. 

Soon the dye lab became Frankenstein's lab, since we had to expose the screen. We did that for one minute since the lines were so thin. 




Insert witty Frankenstein joke here.





Running it under cold water and hitting it with a toothbrush...


And voila! A screen drying in the sun.  :)


Here's the first test of the silkscreen and it worked great!


So I measured and pinned threads so I could line up the pattern to tesselate and look continuous... Well worth it, but very time consuming.


It works! Huzzah! 


And this is why I was at school from basically 2:00 pm until midnight Friday night.


I was very tired the next morning and I really didn't want to get up to work and do yesterday all over again. It was partially this guy's fault, as he decided my legs were the perfect place to sleep.



And back Saturday morning to do it all over again! Ngan is my witness, it still took forever to line up the threads again, even though I had marked where to the put them on Friday. I wasn't even dawdling!


Break for lunch! Ngan and I went to Windsor Button to pick up some yarn, (all on sale! Last day today) and then to Chinatown to pick up some lunch. We both got "big buns" and they were so big and cheap and delicious! They're something like steamed pork buns. I Also got a little rice dessert thing, which was fun too. 


Here's a bit of the final pattern! So exciting!


I printed A LOT. It's just under six yards by sixty inches, and I hope that's enough for my project because I'm not going through this whole process again!


But it was definitely worth it.

Yay!

I'm really glad I did this. It was wicked fun! I came to MassArt to become a fibers major because I had such fun sewing and dyeing and silkscreening. When I got here I decided I didn't like it, but I can't really tell you why. That was silly of me and I'd totally do this again, and soon! I guess I do know why, since I know myself. Part of it is that I'm not a huge fan of designing, I'd rather just go! go! go! and do. Also, I'm not so great with the patience sometimes. 

But anyways, I very much enjoyed this and soon you should be seeing a dress made out of this!

Monday, October 3, 2011

City Adventures September 29- October 3

Every so often I actually do things in the city, and this week I had new experiences!

On September 29 I went to my first ever fashion show, in Boston's West End.

"Wild Flower Dance" involved Ashley Rose Custom Designs and JNG Floral Designs. It was really cool and the live flower headdresses were gorgeous. I wish I could go to a fashion show every week! This show made me realize how possible it would be to make a line of my own. 

(it looked sillier without the stars; this is the best picture but someone's hand was in it!)

It was also a great excuse to get out, and I'm so glad my friend Jess invited me! 

On Monday I traversed the city in search of photo emulsion... made the guy at Blick go up on a ladder to get it for me... But the cool part is I had an AC Moore coupon in my purse from yesterday when I tried to buy photo emulsion and pigment (which they no longer sell, what jerks!) and when I got to the register at blick with my $20 emulsion bottle (D-: so expensive!) I asked if they accept competitors' coupons and they do! I was so happy to get $10 off so I felt justified in buying such a big bottle. So remember: if you get other arts/crafts stores' coupons in your mail or email, most other stores will honor them as well, and can save you a lot of money! It's totally worth a try! 

And on the walk home I was pleased to walk through fallen leaves on the sidewalk - just because it's the city doesn't mean you can't find tiny reminders that it's autumn in New England!