Adventures in T-shirt land:from the workbench

So, maybe adventures in tee shirt land isn't the right title for my workbench post since I do more than make shirts... I dunno.

Just a thought.

Speaking of tee shirts, on Monday I posted a drawing that I turned into a screen. Screen-printing is a different way to convey an image than most of the art I did before I started screen printing. Things can be complex, but are also simplified. Now that I think about it I could surely write a whole post just about this... I always love how something that looks very basic on paper can be really awesome on a shirt. I think my robot is pretty cute :)

I hand dye my tee shirts, which is an interesting and fun process, and I mostly do it so I can offer a wide variety of colors to my customers without keeping a ton of shirts in stock, which I cant afford to do and don't really have the space for. Unfortunately it can be a little messy, and I really need to run to a thrift store one of these days and pick up some cheap pots. Adam snapped this picture of one of the pots I've used recently for printing.

it reminds me of growing salt crystals... and that is pretty much what is happening here since I add salt to the dye bath.

I am working on a couple of dress projects for friends. This is part of the top of a wedding dress I am making for my good friend Missl Command. I couldn't find white leopard print fabric... so I screen-printed it. I am almost out of white ink so I am at a bit of an impasse. I still have to print most of the skirt.

This is the other project I am working on. I these are damas dresses for a quinceanera. I have to make seven of them, and all seven of them are almost to this point and I will be fitting them this weekend. It was fun to make the first one, but I have reached the point that I really am ready for this project to be over.

Besides, I want to be able to work on my own designs.

Most of my time this week has been spent filling current orders and getting ready to hand over a bunch of stuff to Stilo Lifestyle for my consignment section in her store.

I have four sets of coasters that just got sprayed with some stuff that makes the design permanent, which is awesome, but it is also flame retardant. I think the thing I like best though, is that it makes my shiny tiles matte.

This is what my serger looks like right now... totally covered in projects, organized by what color ink I want to use. Right now have pillow sets, bibs, scarves, card holders, arm warmers and a few secret items. Up in the front is my notebook of screens. I use photoez paper for my screens, which I absolutely love, and one of the reasons I love it is that I can keep ALL of my screens in a notebook since they don't have frames. Although, If they had frames I suppose Autumn couldn't flush them down the toilet... (and yes, she has flushed a screen down the toilet. )

and as always, it is nice to have autumn as my helper when I am working, even with screens occasionally getting flushed down the toilet.

See you later!

♥Erica

From the Workbench

I am not sure if it is really clear what is going on in these pictures but...

This dress is on my form right now. I am not sure what I want to do with it now. I usually design on paper so designing directly on my form instead of starting with a sketch and then transferring the idea to my form was a pretty new experience for me. It was fun though, because it was a much more free way to design. Usually by the time I get to my form I already know exactly what I want to make, and any tweaking is made only to make the dress function properly.


What I am running in to at this point is that I don't know where to go from here. I started without any ideas and I like what I came up with, but now I am stuck! I cant decide what I want to use for fabric, or if I want to go with a print or a solid. I know I want a stiff fabric that will hold it's shape, but that could be anything. I thought a polka dot would be adorable, but then an ochre or pink silk dupioni would be beautiful too.

Other than that, I am designing my logo for caustic threads. I know exactly what I want it to look like but so far my sketches have not turned out the way I want. I want a heart dripping on to a hand like in the corrosive symbol:
:

So, it would only be the hand, and instead of the test tube it would be a dripping heart. The hand I am drawing keeps looking too much like a sketch and not graphic enough.



Also, Autumn is starting to talk! She said "cookie" when we walked past the pastries during our last trip to the grocery store, so I decided that she really SHOULD have a cookie. Adam said she didn't need a cookie, which is true, but I am a sucker for her cute face and gave in. We picked a shortbread cookie that had a mound of neon green frosting on it.



Autumn REALLY enjoyed it.

And now I have several pictures that look like my beautiful baby ate Shreck. Priceless.

My new Sewing machine---is AWESOME---

I am sick again. It seems like I am always sick. I keep getting this cold that starts with a heinous ear ache, moves on to my throat and lungs and ends with me hacking out some lovely lung butter.

SO, I haven't put up a post about my new sewing machine yet. Probably because I am too busy sewing to take the time to write anything about it.

This is my machine:


And you may read more about it here. It is nothing fancy, but I love it.

It is SOOOO much nicer than my old machine, which I now know was in much worse shape than I thought it was in. I have made several really silly comments since I got it like "WOW, The pressure foot pulls the fabric STRAIGHT through!"

This sewing machine is computerized and has an automatic button stitch. It also has---GASP--- a zipper foot. It is amazing how much easier it is to sew a zipper with a zipper foot!

I lost my zipper foot on my old machine several moves (across state lines) ago and since it took me a long time to even realize how important it is to IRON while sewing, I didn't think it was that major to sew zippers with a regular sewing machine foot.

---I actually on the deans list at FIDM in spite of ignorance about sewing machines. I was always able to produce a decent outcome. Now I know how hard I was making things---

Any given item takes a fraction of the time to sew on my new machine vs. my old machine, and even the fancy stitches are easy to use.

I am so glad I finally replaced my machine. Another thing I have said several times since I got this new machine is "Adam, you know all of those times you said we could replace my sewing machine? I should have taken you up on that offer much sooner. "

Costumes and preview for CAUSTIC THREADS !

Halloween was fun, and stressful. We had two parties to go to, and relatively little time... and after a while the costumes can get a little uncomfortable.



Adam was the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland


I was Little Bo Peep... and am very happy with how my costume turned out. I started it at about 1:00 on Halloween and had it completed in time to go out- that required making 5 pieces from scratch! ( I also make my own patterns) I DID get a new sewing machine. More on that later.


and Autumn was my adorable little lamb!


also, I am going to start another etsy store called Caustic Threads. I already have the shop, but it is empty and there has been no activity in it yet. This is going to be one of my first items. This picture kinda sucks but it is a t-shirt that has been altered into a small halter top and it has a crow and heart fabric applique.

I have a lot more work to do before I get it up and running, but here is a little sneak peak :)

I am also going to start moving some of my Acrylic and Steel merchandise over there, things like purses.

Unpacking is hard.

We have been in our new house for a little over a month now- and there is still SO MUCH unpacking to do. All of the important things are done so it is really easy to push off what is left for another day... the problem is that the things that are not unpacked yet are all of the good things... art needs to be hung, and my sewing/art/craft room needs to be organized desperately.

This is the current state of my art room. The worst part is that since I have needed to get things from there it is an even bigger disaster!

Adam has started to make some progess in his shop though! this weekend he made and organized this work bench!



Saddly, it is pretty unlikely that I will get my room more organized before the close of august. Fortunately that is because I will be doing something I love-playing roller derby!

I have already been fortunate enough to play in three bouts since I have been here. On monday I returned to Albuquerque from Tucson, where my team- The Munecas Muertas- played the Saddle Tramps. The Tucson Saddle Tramps have long been a personal favorite team, but it still nice to win a game! I felt really good about this game. It was the first time since Autumns birtrh that I have felt like I was playing effectively. It made me sad to see some dramma about strategy conflicts unfold on the bench. Also, I had to walk away from some critisism, because in the middle of a game it was not going to help.

I hope to get some pictures soon.

Next weekend I will be in Taos for a home game, and then we will be in portland to play the Wheels of Justice.

Gloves and Catsuits

Sooo... I have decided that I want to make a pair of kind of gothy vinyl gloves. I am not sure why... I just really wanna. I have a ton of vinyl fabric that a guy gave me. I have already made parts of Halloween costumes with it, and a sweet roller derby skirt for back when I was a doomsdame... you know, before I had a baby and got FAT. I would totally love another skirt, or some sweet vinyl pants but I will wait to make that sort of thing until I lose some more of this baby fat.

I want to make something like this white pair, only in black vinyl, with lace lining the ruffled top part. I would possibly also add a heart or something cute to the top of the hand. The pretty gloves pictured here are from The Victorian Trading Company. Adam and I actually get thier catologue and they have lots of fun stuff, suitable for the Polite Ladies Rollerderby Society, as well as some very cool steampunk accessories. http://www.victorian-gifts.com/index.html

I also think I want to use some of it to make victorian style bolero. Like this one, which is available-just by chance- on etsy. Of course again it would be black vinyl and have probably white lace lining. Mostly because I have a lot of white lace fabric. Though, if I had some red plaid I think that lining it in that would look pretty awesome. Oh, and that shrug is from this store: http://bonzie.etsy.com

Anyway, the bolero is no probley. Easy easy... But I am a bit intimidated by the gloves! I have never made gloves and I am very tempted to buy a comercial pattern... but I am enough of a design snob that I think I should be able to draft a pettern myself... but then there's the thumb. Fucking opposable thumbs. I have no idea how to draft a thumb. I know it will be kind of like drafting sleeve patterns, but I cant drape anything on to my thumb to make sure the fit is right... and how to I slope the curve??? Not only that, but there are surprisingly few resources out there that show you how to make gloves and glove patterns. I did find a pretty good resource. There is a dude that is a catsuit enthusiest. I don't mean that he likes hot women in catsuits, he likes making and wearing catsuits. I have not really figured out his facination. A few of his suits are for cycling, and one of them appears to be a superhero costume, but several of them are Zentai suits. That means they are suits that cover the entire body. I had never heard of Zentai before yesterday so I looked it up. It appears to be both a performance art movement and a strange fetish. I don't know which one the guy at stretchy.org uses his catsuits for, but I am seriously thankful for his efforts because between his youtube tutorial and his several versions of glove pattern drafting instructions I think I may have gained the confidence to try making my first pair of gloves.

Yay for catsuits.

First Post...

So, the first post, I suppose, is an excellent opportunity to tell you a little bit about ourselves. When Broken down to the simplest of terms "We" are a family. My husband and I make cool things, and we sell them on esty. I just had a baby girl in November. Her name is Autumn and she is growing fast! She is only 4 months old and she already weighs 18 lbs 6 oz!

My Husband Adam is a wildlife biologist. He also makes beautiful jewelry and hand forges knives. I have an AA in Fashion design from FIDM in Los Angeles, but am now an artist and stay at home mom. I paint, sew, needle felt... and lots of other miscellaneous crafts. I also play Roller Derby. I started playing in November of 2005 for Duke City Derby. I love talking derby... so I will save that for another post.

Adam and I recently moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Portland, Or- and it has been a little bit of a culture shock for both of us. I grew up in Albuquerque, and while I spent a little time in Los Angeles, Ca and in Savannah, Ga I cant help missing the wide open spaces and vivid sunsets of the desert southwest.