Fun with mold and dye

Lagunatics needed some mold props for their show which opens this weekend.  The show was going to take place last October, but black mold was discovered in the theater, so they had to postpone while cleanup was done.  So of course they are doing a song about it, Blackmold, to the tune of Blackbird, by the Beatles.

Here's the mold:

I also made another pair of goat pants, and blinged a bunch of ruby slippers for the goats, who sing and dance to the tune of "If I Only Had a Heart" ("If I Only Didn't Fart").

Lastly, I am dying some vintage flannel shirts for Twig.  This one will have an ombre effect.  It's interesting how green separates into purple as the dye creeps up the shirt.

End of the year wrap-up 2013

This is the end of our second year!  David and I have learned a lot from the retail business during this time, as well as life, art, people, the economy, and business in general.  The best part has been meeting a lot of interesting people--many of whom come into the store from nearby and faraway places, and many of whom we meet at trade shows, antique stores, flea markets, showrooms etc.  I especially have loved meeting the really creative people who I didn't know existed until we started this thing.  There are thousands of people in the area collecting crazy old stuff, and sometimes making something new out of it, as well as people who make jewelry, candles, signs, t-shirts, decoupage, paper things, silk screening, letterpress, ceramics, oragami and more.  I absolutely love this part.  There are so many people that I have met that inspire me.  I was going to list them, but it's impossible.

There have been a couple of things that David and I made earlier this year that I want to add to this blog, too.  We have been helping to make costumes and props for No Square Theater for several years.  This is a skirt that Hannah, our piano teacher's daughter wore for "Lucky Stiff."  It's a roulette wheel skirt that she wore for a casino number.

In the same number a cast member dressed like the painting of Mona Lisa.  We cut out holes for her face and hands.

Then there were the things we made for "Lagunatics" which was scheduled to take place in October, but had to be postponed due to mold found in the theater.  It has been re-scheduled for January.  There is one number where the performers sing about the San Onofre power plant, which was taken offline years ago, but still can be seen when driving down PCH.  We made the replicas out of chicken wire and paper mache.

And then the actors wear these on their heads.

Lastly we made these head pieces that get worn again and again in various numbers about traffic, parking, etc that always seems to be a topic in Lagunatics.  The hole is for the character's face.

Vintage flatware

I am getting more and more obsessed with vintage silver plated flatware.  My friend Martha has be teaching me what to look for, where to find it, how to clean it, etc.  She also recently bought me several hundred pieces that I will sell at Twig.

Here is as sample.  And these are just the serving forks!

80's dresses and other inspirations.

The 80's weren't that long ago, right?  Except they were.  Remember big hair and shoulder pads?...yikes.  I have been collecting dresses from flea markets and updating them by throwing away the shoulder pads (far far away), making them shorter, and cutting out the backs in some cases.  Then, I remembered I had the centers from the lace vintage skirts, which I turned into HEARTS, and appliqued to the backs of the 80's dresses.  Turned out pretty cute, and I sold them both in no time.

Recently, Laguna Beach High School did and amazing production of "Hello Dolly."  David and I were called upon to make a FAKE TURKEY for a funny scene in a restaurant.  David got out the chicken wire, and I got out the newspaper, glue, and acrylic paint, and this is what we came up with.

We also made this banner for the parade scene, "Before the Parade Passes By."

Finally, I had this circa 1970's stretchy knit fabric with a fun, colorful print, that I made into this pull on skirt.  I LOVE it.  It's so retro.  You don't see fabric like this anymore.

Costumes, goats, shorts

I have a bunch of miscellaneous projects going on right now.  I re-made some goat horns for Lagunatics (a local show that's a musical spoof about our town) and I dyed some shorts.

Goat horns and jewelry.  (Goats have to be blingy, like everything in Lagunatics.)

This is a nude statue costume.  You strap it on and it looks like you're a kneeling statue.  This was worn in Lagunatics by 3 women who sang "In the Nude" to the tune of "In the Mood."

Carpet dying and skirt sewing

It's been a while since I posted, and I failed to memorialize several projects in the time I have been off line, so here goes.  I decided to try another carpet, and this one was huge.  I think it was about 9'x13' and I am pretty sure it's wool.  David told me it was nuts to do this, because of the work involved and the possibility of the results being disastrous.  Well, it was a ton of work, but it actually turned out pretty well.  Too bad about the lawn though, which unfortunately has died.

Before:

After:

Here are some skirts I made out of round table cloths.  They look really cute on.

And here's a swivel chair that I fixed up and recovered, with help from David.

Eventually, everything connects. --Charles Eames

David and I put together this chair, and I think it turned out pretty cool.  It's sort of like something you'd see at Anthropologie, except two people spent about a month making it.  Originally it came from my sister Kathy, and it was pretty beat up with no upholstery.  Just a shell.  I think it was my mom's before that.  David cut wood for the seat and back, and I covered it with foam and the needlepoint and old Mexican blankets. 

We're working on several other chairs.  The hard part is finding the right fabric, which is CRUCIAL.  Bad fabric means bad chair. I am on the hunt for some 50s fun stuff right now.

I'm also working on dying a couple more rugs.  This one belongs to a friend of a friend.  She didn't like the color, and she like the other rug I dyed, so I am doing this one for her.  It's huge.  It's also wool instead of silk, so that could change things a lot.  We decided to go with indigo blue and emerald green, so it should be interesting.   Notice how the lawn is dead in the back yard...that's the only way this kind of thing can be done.

Finally, in this last paragraph I am going to do some philosophising.  For the last last 4 months we have had a gift shop.  Much of what is in the shop we have either made, found, fixed, or a combination of the above, and it's been a lot of fun.  Some things have worked out really well, like the chairs and the dyed carpet and the boho jewelry, and some haven't worked out well, like the big, colorful 40s-looking jewelry.  I definitely want to make more of the things that are popular, so I am adapting.  What has really been fun has been learning that all these random skills that I have acquired over this lifetime have all come together to do these things.  I learned how to dye and sew and staple and glue from making costumes over the years.  And it has all come together to make this stuff that we are selling at Twig.  I have even become somewhat of a lamp person--with a lot of help.  I have learned a lot from Mickey, our "lamp guy" and from David, who successfully fixed an old switch on a very cool lamp. 

I watched a movie about Charles Eames on Netflix, which is where I got the quote, "Eventually, everything connects."  That's exactly what I have been realizing lately.  You just keep trying things, learning things, making things, and after about 50 or so years it ALL CONNECTS.  Too bad it has to take so long, and maybe for other people they will get there quicker.

I was also going to write about how you have to persevere when it seems like a lot of things are dragging you down, but meh, maybe another day.