My grandfather did some enameling and had an oven and supplies in his shop. Now that he’s gone, no one knows how to use it! So, I signed up for a class at the OSU craft center. I’m mostly planning on enameling things for costumes and props etc.
I enjoyed cutting the copper out most, but the enameling is fun. I only finished one thing, but we’re getting together next weekend and I’ll post finished pictures afterwards.
All cut out!
Adding texture to trees
I may have decided NOT to hack my servo. After doing more reading, I’ve learned that when you hack it, you can’t specify how many degrees it turns. You can only change the rate with which it turns and in what direction. I’m not sure if that will work well. I can imagine getting it to turn very slowly over a 15 minute time period and by adjusting the gears, change how far the dispenser is turned. OR, keeping the ability to specify how many degrees it turns. I figure the next thing I need to do is get a way to start attaching gears and actually try it out. That, and buy an appliance timer.
So, tonight I used some very sophisticated and high-tech materials and tools to start that process. First, a very important thing I realized I should share with you all: my thinking head band.
Its a sparkly yellow flower!
Ok, then onto the working! Here is a very sophisticated and high tech material for the grasping part of my turning gizmo.
Check out my precision measuring and marking skillz!
My very sophisticated and high tech precision tools. I actually love my tin snips – they cut everything! … I wonder if they ever get dull?
I learned two things cutting these notches out: 1) the pvc pipe cutter breaks the plastic all the way to the end and 2) the tin snips work well, but don’t snip it closed at the end – you’ll get a small break. Here is the notched graspy thingy!
Look! It fits! At first I thought I was going to drill a hole and glue in a shaft to which a gear would be attached, but now I think I’ll just find a big gear and just glue it to the bottom. I’m all about function here…
Actually… I am harboring fantasies of rebuilding the cat feeder when I know it works using brass and aluminum and the Steampunk aesthetic! Yay!
I am generally not interested in celebrities. I’ve gone to a couple shows or conventions and have only been somewhat entertained by the ones I’ve seen, yet not interested in meeting them or anything.
Today, I went and visited a friend from the now defunct Portland TechShop, Kathy, and we were catching up on random sewing and life news. Just as I was leaving, I mentioned that I was still working on my steampunk script and amature movie with the intention of sewing many Victorian costumes and cool steampunk gadgets and she says to me “You should go see my friends work. Her name is Paloma….” and my entire torso spasms in a visceral reaction that I was not at all prepared for. “No, Kathy, you don’t know Paloma…” and we say in near unison “Soledad.” FRITO!!
I confess to Kathy that I LOVE her work. I had known that she worked on Coraline, but I figured she’d only be staying up here for a while and then going back to California, but Kathy says she lives here in town and described her living room and shoe collection. How can that be? I found it particularly funny, because a major reason why I started going to the TechShop was to be able to use the machines to make costumes as elaborate and multi-media as hers… sculpting wooden blocks for leather forming, metal bending/cutting/casting tools, the hack space for electrified parts and pieces… And to only now find out that Kathy knows her? Wow! But, I immediately begin to talk down to myself. “She’s so creative and actually paid for her creative work and pretty, what would you possible have in common with her to maintain more than one, awkward conversation?” I rally, and defend myself: “I’m creative, too, in my own way! And I am really nice!”, but really… neither parts of my brain were convinced.
I discovered Ms. Soledad’s work through Dr. Steel’s website where I bookmarked her last June and check in on her webpage every once in a while, wistfully prodding myself to do GET TO WORK!
So, this is uber exciting for me! After I finished the outline, Warren created a wiki page where we’re putting up lots of information about the story. 7 people have already volunteered to write episodes (only 4 left!) and one has already finished hers! Yay!
I’ve been researching cloths and taking a hat making class so I can make some super cool hats. I’d originally set the story in 1874-ish, (just because there was a cool dress that was the height of fashion then that I wanted to make), but the later 1890’s hats are OUTRAGEOUS! They’re called “Titanic” because they are so huge and ornate. That is appealing to me… 😀 I’m going to finish my little hat this weekend and will post pictures of the process and the finished product.
I picked a really pretty, fresh green corduroy to start with and am going to put a small, off center brim on the oval pillbox. I’m not sure how I’ll decorate it… I’m thinking of some brown velevet ribbons and some yellow/orange roses (to go with the roses I’m making for my wool coat – also to be finished this weekend! By golly!) but, I’ll have to wait and see… Since I’m taking this class at PCC I’ll get a 10% discount at the Button (and Ribbon) Emporium – one of the greatest stores IN THE WORLD!! They don’t have a webpage, so I can’t link you to it. 🙁
And, in related news to the Steampunk movie, Alex has started working on a robot costume, but has been delayed due to lots of work. I’m going to try to work on THAT this weekend, too… check out his progress so far!
A somewhat unrelated question for readers: I’ve noticed that the pictures I’ve put in the blog are very small and I had decided not to link them to my picasa. What would you prefer? Bigger pics? Links? Or are the little pictures enough to convey what I’m doing right now?
So, I have finished it! yay!
The outline for my steampunk video series ended up being 9 single spaced pages with 11 Chapters. I’ve asked my friends to pick a chapter and write the script for it. So far I have three people who’ve committed to it and I hope several others will volunteer soon.
Tomorrow, at my weekly craft-night, I’ll be making ribbon roses to cover the moth holes on a sweet retro wool jacket I bought a couple weeks ago. I need to get this done soon because there’s maybe only a month left of 3/4 length, wool jacket wearing weather… I also plan to work on my life timeline as well as the MAME, so we’ll see how much I actually get done. I will take pictures and share them, things are getting too text heavy here!
I am SO looking forward to a three day weekend at home… I plan to not get dressed much and do lots of projects!
During a conversation with a friend about projects, I decided to try to reduce my focus. Instead of having 20 projects going on at once, I’d narrow it down to just a few and focus on those.
Obviously, the first thing I’m going to work on is the steampunk script. I’ve got to finish that so I can shoot the stuff my roommate is going to be in before she moves to Japan.
Oh, yeah, and I need to finish those 5 skirts I started – I’m running out of things to wear! So far I’ve sewn in all the darts and side seams and have finally put in 2.5 zippers. I just have to do the other 2.5 zippers and finish the hem and waist.
BUT! I’ve got to finish the camp box before my woodshop class is over.
And, the MAME is just sitting there and can’t even be used yet, so I should totally focus on THAT.
Plus, I just bought a nice vintage wool coat that actually fits me. There are a few moth holes, so I’m going to sew some ribbon embroidery over them and I want to get that done soon because it’s not going to be wool-coat-weather much longer.
And the quilts…
And the Lolita dress I REALLY want to sew….
It would be so cool if I could just quit going to this thing that takes up so much of my time!! That would be bad, though, because money helps me live and stuff.
Ack! So much going on… I’ve commited to completing four things by the end of the year:
1) Steampunk miniseries script. I finished typing out my outline last night and have asked a couple of people to review it for gapping plot holes. I’m kind of afraid it’ll be really boring for them, but it seems interesting to me. Sadly, I can see myself reflected in the main character and I’ve always found that annoying in other people’s writing. I’m hoping by encouraging more collaboration among friends that we’ll remove that blatant reflection and turn her into her own person. After I hear back from them and make changes, I’ll have to turn it into an actual script.
2) Business Plan. I’m nearly finished with my primary rough draft based on a magazine article I read a few months ago. Then I’ll go through it referencing a book that I’ve found usefull and add anything else that seems helpful.
3) Reference photos for web page and Steampunk miniseries. I enjoy this athestic and am going to base my webpage on this anachronistic style. Warren needs some photos to help him see what I’m thinking of so he can build the page. He also suggested I provide photos to the group as they work on the script so they can get an idea of the mood that I’m shooting for in the series.
4) Red dress photo shoot. This is a fun 1950’s era dress that I made for myself. It’s the first dress I fitted using my duct-tape body double and it turned out so nice! I actually like it and wear it! But now we need to take some pictures for the web page and in preparation for a rainy-day project I’d like to do soon…
SPEAKING of other projects… Here are some other things that I want to do:
5) Crochet gauntlets and hooded scarf. I bought a bunch of yarn and need to get these made – it’s cold enough!
6) Rainy-day project. My friend is going to dress in a 1950’s milk-man’s outfit and carry a crate with single-serve milk boxes while I wear my red dress and we pass out home-made cookies to people on the MAX. Covert photos to document the memory and/or arrest. I won’t be SELLING anthying, so I’m hoping that doesn’t happen…
7) A friend’s bride’s maid dress. The wedding is January 1st. She (the bride’s maid) is pregnant and getting bigger, so I’m putting the sewing off as long as possible before the wedding… a tight balance!
8) Pattern drafting. I have drafted a lovely hip-block that I’m using to make perfectly fitted garments. Skirts are good for me right now because they are simple and are easier to refit since I’m loosing so much weight (50 pounds so far!). I need to hurry and draft a pants pattern based on it before I loose much more weight, though, to make sure I know how the process works. I’ll have to do the whole thing over again when I reach my goal, but I figure a couple pairs of pants will be nice, since all of my pants are falling off!
Phew – lots to do!