Some Rethinking

An inspiring image from Wunderkammer

I think recent events in my creative life have left me yearning for a rest. not a complete rest from art, mind you, but I suppose i just want to be able to create without deadlines, and without the pressure of a deadline. I love making collections, since it is many sides of an idea, but perhaps mini collections... for the purpose of photoshoots rather than fashion shows.. it lasts longer anyway. For instance: why can't I make a dress based on a dollhouse? Time, thats why!

And maybe, If I simply create, without rushing, then by the end of the year, I will have a huge collection, of things that I put lots of care and effort into! Imagine that! Not rushing for a show!

Canadian Shennanigans...

So... the shennanigans that happened in Canada were of the pessimistic sort...

There are times in life, when everything decides to take a left turn whenever you think you are on track. This was one of those trips.

I left my car in Brooklyn the day before leaving to go north, in order to go to work, and my drivers side window got smashed in, and my GPS, or beloved LadyTron, as I call her, was stolen.

Ok, fine, brush it off, Stephen Stuart (videographer) and I called a repairman, and he was all set to bring a window, and repair it in an hour. He shows up, brought the wrong window, and we ended up duct taping some plastic sheets on, and away we went, snow, ice, and all.

We get to the border. Apparently, even if you are doing a fashion show at someone's house, and helping them for free, it is considered "work" that is being taken from Canadians. Hence, we were put through a stressful interrogation, and turned away, after being told to procure more paperwork.

We get the proper paperwork, go back the next day, and were told (albeit by a much nicer customs officer) that it would just be best if we went home, and trying to get through the border multiple times looks suspicious.

So, after some well deserved duty free alcohol was purchased and consumed, we decided to just have a small vacation in Niagara, NY, since we came all that way, and didn't want to have it all be a waste. After all, we have a jeep full of costumes, what better place to photograph than Niagara?

Long story short, we get snowed in to our hotel, making it difficult to go anywhere, and were even stranded at a Rite-Aid for 3 hours when the car broke down, and couldn't be jumped back into action. Eventually, after we stocked up on food items, as though the apocalypse came early, an emergency road employee came to our rescue and revived my poor frayed car battery with magic, witchery, or what have you, but at least we got to leave the Rite-Aid without being towed.

Finally, on the day we were due to come home, we wake up to a foot of snow outside, that wasn't there the previous evening, and it was a full out blizzard. We still had not utilized the costumes in the Jeep yet either. So we bit the bullet, and went out to Three Sisters Island, and had a photo and video shoot (in -3 degree weather) because by glory I was not going to leave this place after being completely unproductive!

Frozen, and at least feeling like we got something done, we headed home, through a blizzard, at 20 miles an hour.

Phew. I still haven't felt like I've had a break, and have been drained by the experience. Though I am very glad I got to see Niagara falls, and I came to some realizations about my work and myself, that I might not have otherwise.

For instance, though I have a couple shows a month from now till October, I think I need to focus more on having good shoots, selling my work, and expanding the way in which I think about costume. I feel a lack in fine art in my life lately, so new costumes might be more like wearable paintings or sculptures, in order to fill that void.

Ok, that was a longer more pessimistic post than my usual, but hopefully I will have some pictures to show from my trip soon! There were some good points, which I shall talk about when I can show pictures of them!

New Years Show in Barrie!

I am having a fashion show in Barrie Ontario, on New Years eve! I will be showing twenty-something designs (about 5 or 6 brand new things) based on the themes of Snow, and Party! Consequently, my jeep will be packed with lots of party dresses, and white floofy things! I will also be doing a feature shoot for Imago Magazine, which I am very excited about! Some examples of things to be shown:

In other news, because of the hype around the new Alice movie, lots of conventions and venues will be doing Wonderland themed events in the upcoming months. I have been writing a film based around the characters and setting of "Alice and Wonderland" for some years now, so I will be attempting to make some of the costumes in my concept folders for these shows. The writing of my film, however, I've put on hold, as no one in their right mind would make an Alice film at a time when Mister Burton is doing the same thing, but with a few more zeros in his budget.

Anyway, more on my future shows and the address of this one later! I hope everyone has a very happy holiday, full of family, warmth, and robotic starfish!

Seamonstery Afoot...

I have many things coming up, but for now, since I am tired, and must summon energy to find all those things in my calendar, let us just say that there are seamonsters on the brain... and in the sketchbook... and on the dress form...

More Seamonster Pictures!!

I was really lucky on this project to be working with many very talented people. I had 4 professional dancers, who not only looked great and danced spectacularly, but helped coach the non-dancers in being really expressive with their movement. I also was able to work with some great photographers, and of course the wonderful Shien Lee, who puts the Dances of Vice events together.

This photo is by Celine Gaille, a lovely photographer whom I am going to be working with a lot more in the future.

The following photos are by Michael Gwilliam.

Dancer Emily Edwards, who I first met that day, and was more amazing than I could have expected.

Me in my Nautilus costume, which at some point will probably have a new paintjob

Djahari Clark and Zahra Hashemian, dancers from Desert Sin

Renata Bergen, also of Desert Sin

Grant Newton, a ship enthusiast.

Seamonster Pictures!

MY Seamonster Show came and went, and it was a fantabulous night! My crew of seamonsters and ships danced and swam and intimidated each other, and I'm happy to say that I think the spectacle was worth it. It will take a while to knock this experience off the top.

Below are some photos from my friend Voon Wai, who is always a really great supporter of my work, and may soon be modeling for me!

Andy Jordan and I. He was a fish boy, and I was a nautilus creature.

A very entertaining picture of Voon himself with the lovely Sara Bender

Marc Robinson and I, Dancing together

Olivia Gagne and Sara Bender

Andy Jordan and Matthew Rogers

More pictures in a bit!

Seamonsters and Swhipwrecks!

I will be doing a show about seamonsters and shipwrecks at this event! It will occur around 11pm on Saturday the 21st. Everyone stick around for the show! the event itself will be marvelous as well!

More info on this event HERE.

Aftermath of Brooklyn Indie Market

No time for a real entry, so here is some feedback the event and I got from various blogs and websites. No news yet of anything in print. Pictures from my personal camera soon.

Model: Olivia Gagne

These are from Tor.com, and are super awesome because they credited the designers. And there's video! Go see it! (model:Genevieve Cerri)

THIS site also credited me! Wooo! (model: Patrick Harrington)

This one comes from HERE. This lady was taking pictures from behind a fence, while 3 other photographers where taking pictures of Olivia. It was surreal. (also note, a new unweildy dress is on the way... its about 2/3rds of the way done... this one will be grey and purple and brown)

Another photographer's Blog

And of course Metromix

and some VIDEO coverage

ONLINE SHOP!

Visit my ONLINE SHOP!

Brooklyn Indie Market show today! Steampunkery is afoot! Bring your zeppelins and your very best rayguns and exploring gear! And most of all, enjoy the show!

Soon I will have a permanent link on my blog leading directly to my shop, but for now, (10 minutes before I have to leave!) this will do.

New Stuff on Etsy!

Click HERE to see my new stock in my Etsy store! I will be posting about 9 or 10 new items before the week is out, including painted corsets, beaded bags, and beaded Medieval dresses. So tell your friends! Tell your grandmas! Tell your friends' grandmas!

My shop is now actually a shop! No longer am I just posting one or two items as a placeholder! From this day forth, my reasoning for having fashion shows is to publicize my shop! (Imagine all this being stated as I stand atop a wooden box in a town square, shaking my fists vehemently at the moon.)

Huzzah!

And in other news, after my Brooklyn Indie Market Show this weekend, I am going to start work on many nautical themed things. Sea monster mermaids for Desert Sin, shipwreck costumes for the Dances of Vice Festival (and for a ballet I am writing as well). And just yesterday I met a really interesting script writer named John who would love to have a mermaid tail that is realistic and can be used in the sea. And I would love to make it for him.

NEW SHOW!!!

Details HERE! No time for a real entry!

October 24th, 4 pm, Brooklyn!

Brooklyn Indie Market Show: Oct. 24th!

So I was googling Victorian and Steampunk costumery, to get my head in gear for what I have to bring to the Brooklyn Indie Market show this year, and low and behold, on the first page of images, I find images of my costumes from last year! Well, I guess thats a good thing, though it means I have to be extra resourceful in finding inspiration! I can do that, I take joy in such things. Come to the show, and see how it all plays out!

So in the past few weeks, a few things have happened.

1. I had surgery to get my mutinous gallbladder removed, (which put a damper on my creative urges, let me tell you. Difficult to make 40 pound corset dresses when it hurts to stand up! and that pesky weight restriction...)

2. While this bodily mutiny is going on, I had been feverishly finishing up the costumes for Desert Sin's performance, Twitchers, which closes this weekend. (Go see it! I heard from people who ventured to see it that it was splendiforous!) Luckily, I decided to put lots of beads on the costumes, and at least that is sitting-down work.

3. After I finished the Desert Sin costumes, (2 days before my surgery) I started making stock for my booth at the Medieval Festival at the Cloisters, up at Fort Tryon Park. At this point, I was finally becoming exhausted. I stressed about not having enough dresses, not having enough bags, the fact that some of my corsets weren't lined... oh how I stressed. Faire day came, and no one seemed to want any dresses. However, lined or not, I sold all but 2 of the corsets I brought. Well, this being my first vending experience, and certainly my first Medieval/Renaissance Faire used as a commercial prospect, I didn't know what to expect. I now know, I should just stick to corsetry, which is my first love, in costume terms. It was an overall good experience, and I intend to vend again. Hopefully with more corsets, with different sizes, and ALL of them will be lined.

I shall keep everyone posted about the Brooklyn Indie Market Show, pictures from Twitchers, and future vending endeavors. And perhaps even paintings of my surgery aftermath, since I dig that kind of thing.

Mermaid Skirt I made!

I made this skirt with Andy Jordan, and hand stitched those coins to a spandex base. Claire Aquila and Ananda Keator also helped us, especially at crunch time, right before it had to be picked up. I also had made a big tail fin, which took many hours, though true to form, isn't even depicted in the ad. I made this when I was working with Izquierdo Studios, which does many awesome projects like this.

We also like to try things on sometimes before we send the out, and you can see a picture of my beloved Andy trying on this tail HERE.

Corset inspiration

So, I got myself good and sick, and the doctors said I had to take a day off from work, so I have been researching other corset makers and wearers, and it brought me to THIS. A gallery of fun and inspiring corsets!

I will soon be trying to bring my love of making corsets to a more profitable level, and have been attempting to vend at various renaissance fairs and vend in fetish stores. More news on that when I have more to report. I am going to focus on painted corsetry, since it gives me a chance to paint more, and less people are doing it, so I presume it stands out a bit more. we shall see what the future has in store.

Funny thing is, I worked on a film a few months ago, (I can't say which one it was for contractual reasons) I was just starting to paint pictures on corsets, when one of the main actresses walked by in her costume, and she was wearing a corset with an old looking (and very lovely) painting on it. It was one of those "every time I have a good idea, someone else has already done it!" moments.

Oh well. Hopefully I can make something that will stand out and perhaps actually make me some money!

Twitchers!

I am doing some of the costumes for this performance! Everyone come out and see it! Also, go peruse the dance company's site HERE.

Steampunk Show for NHK

Though I take quite a few liberties on the steampunk theme, I think the show went very well. HERE is an article from Time Out New York, featuring many of my costumes, though I'm not credited at all.

See if you can find the new costume! (Hint: It is on a lovely blonde model named Anna Boman) I also wore a new pair of latex pants that I made, my first foray into the world of rubber clothing. They need some adjustments, and it was an interesting experience to say the least, but I am certain that there is more to come in the near future.

Next on my to do list, another steampunk wind up toy costume for next Saturday's Dances of Vice, and some bird costumes for Desert Sin dance troupe.

Sneak Peek #1

New Wind Up Toys collection:

A Review of FAT

HERE is a rather humorous review that made quite a few allusions to my pieces in the Imago Zine collection at the FAT show in Toronto. It made me laugh anyway.  It was a crazy show indeed.

Latex!!

I have my first few yards of latex coming to me in the mail, and they should be here by Monday!!!  I am very much looking forward to playing with them, and experimenting with the material. I already have plans to make leggings to go with one of my Wind Up Toy costumes.

The colors I ordered (because remnants of them were on clearance) are black and pearlescent purple. I'm so excited!

Updates and Inspirations

I have been very inspired as of late, and have my hands in many different pies. And hence, no one else really wants to eat the pies anymore, since my hands have been squishing them around, but that is just fine by me.

Here are some photos that have been inspiring me!

This is the model Elva, shot by the talented Nadya Lev. Unfortunately, I do not know the designer's name.

These two are looks from the House of Bias.

The reason photos such as these have been inspiring me is I have decided I want to try out a new medium for costume making: Latex! I have found a few suppliers of sheeting I am interested in, and once I can save up enough to procure a decent amount, I will be trying this stretchy material in many different ways. It also makes sense to me in a business sense, because it is more acceptable for latex clothing to be handmade, and then sold. I particularly like the idea of creating the things I sell, rather than outsourcing.

I may even use latex to accessorize my NEW COLLECTION! Hooray! I feel my break since my Red Riding Hood collection has lasted long enough! My new collection is based around the concept of wind-up toys, leaning heavily in a steampunk direction. Currently, I am almost done with the first costume, and will soon have a photo shoot with it, so it can be a preview for the 10 looks to come.

Also, I may be part of a steampunk documentary for NHK, Japan's public television, and hopefully will be collaborating with the very talented dance group, Desert Sin.

Also, Dances of Vice is having an event at Company XIV's space! I hope to see everyone there!

More news to come, when I know more about my collaborations!