all talk

A-hoy there, bloggy voyeurs!

I have returned from that brief hiatus. My sincerest apologies, especially to those of you that may have been sincerely concerned with my creative productivity and overall artistic health. This past week and a half has been pretty busy- as the rest of my October is becoming. Actually, the rest of the year [holidays!].

Despite my absence, there has NOT been a serious lack of work. After returning from an art-unrelated business trip earlier last week, I spent about two nights working on a Brownie/Girl Scout style jumper [not having access to my own computer or camera at the moment, I had to internets search for a specimen, pictured].


I absolutely LOVE the fit and simple style of this jumper and I wear mine all the time, [the pro of being an overweight 2nd grade dumpling] and figured why not make a whole bunch of them in different colors and fabric patterns??? I decided that this was THE occasion to bust out the yellow and orange butterfly patterned curtains, circa 1978, that I had been saving for all these years since first finding them in one of my mother’s closets when I was in 9th grade. [The same year, incidentally, that I had started my yearly resolution of “making my own clothes”…which has just finally been seen through in this past year.]

So, working diligently for two nights, into the wee hours, using the original brownie jumper as the pattern itself, I created my dream jumper.

And it totally sucks.

I know, I know, it’s part of the working and learning process. It’s just hard when you are so accustomed to drawing and painting coming so easily, and having the control to make the final piece look at least half-decent in the end. I know that I just need to go back and make a new jumper, learning from my mistakes [too tight around the upper thigh region, need to iron the fabric and work VERY slowly on the strap pieces, in order for them to LOOK like actual jumper straps, measure more accurately, etc etc etc..] but it’s hard not to fall victim to desires of instant fashion gratification. Needless to say, I won’t post pictures of the jumper until it is adequate enough for me to wear. So, maybe by next week you’ll get to see what amounts of my sewing skills…

[Also, this project, along with every time I work on altering/creating clothing, reminds me that I should stick to pursuing what I’m really good at- many people can make mediocre clothing, but few people are painting shoes and bags that look like mine…]

And what an appropriate transition into the next bit of project news that consumed the remainder of my week! I spent Thursday night and all day/night Saturday working on a new wallet THAT I AM SOOO FREAKIN EXCITED ABOUT. It is definitely a present to myself, and will never be up for sale, as anyone that even remotely knows me can see why. What spurred me to work on this wallet was the fact that I am currently lacking wallets from my display inventory…



.. And I wanted to have a good display inventory for the 2nd Annual Philly Swap-O-Rama-Rama that took place this past Sunday. It was my 2nd year participating- I think next year I’ll need an assistant- it was soo busy!! I didn’t get to forage the piles and piles of swapped clothes and accessories, but I did help a lot of people make their 2nd hand shoes into something special. If I were more organized for this day, I would have brought my camera to document their projects. There was a lot of picture taking, and I have been able to link to a few people’s personal pics…hopefully the rest will be available tomorrow and Thursday, when Philadelphia Weekly and City Paper put out their next issues. I was also asked to talk about my work on camera, though absentmindedly never asked what the video was for/where I could eventually find it. Hey! There was a lot of excitement going on…..But as soon as I find these artifacts, I’ll be sure to post or link them!

Conducting the workshop at Swap-O-Rama-Rama made me realize that I kind of miss teaching- especially to those that are genuinely interested in learning certain processes or techniques. But I think I’ve went on long enough here, so more on that story as it develops…