Thursday, October 25, 2007

If the Shoe Fits.....

Paint it!!!

Ok, a bit corny, I know.....and almost inaccurate since the shoe just baaarely does fit. My feet are a 10 and the shoes have 10 printed on the inside, but they're snug as ever. That's not uncommon for me, though, given how wide my feet are. They'll give eventually.

"Gotta break 'em in,"....as the manfriend suggested. Dontcha just love that phrase, "break 'em in"?

Anyway, I've got these new shoes that are rather plain. It's cool because I tend to like plain stuff, but today I said to myself, "T...you should paint those shoes." So that's the intention.



I sometimes like for my zapatos to have a few different colors in them for the variety when it comes to what they'll be worn with. They'll probably end up in various shades of browns and greens since earth tones are my thing. And I'm feelin' that whimsical print inside the shoes, so I think something similar would be cool for the outside as well....minus the circles. It'll work well when I'm decked out in solid colored garments, which is often the case.

Painting and stenciling are both activities I enjoy doing as evidenced in my more fun, more 'artistic' etsy shop among what's listed and what's sold. There were days in the past when I spent a lot of time on stencilrevolution.com seeing what was what and getting tips and ideas. These days my stenciling has been minimal, but I'm gonna get back into it. People often suggest screen printing for some of my garments, but I prefer doing it by hand...the tedious way (and man, it can get tedious). Still, there are several ideas in my head for tshirts where screen printing would most likely be employed.

Oh. back to the shoes.

Who knows when this'll get done. It's getting cold outside and aside from these, there's only one other pair of 'winter time', non-flip flop, non-open toe shoes in my closet....well that I'm likely to wear anyway. So these will probably see the outside world before the paint hits 'em. Perhaps, though, I'll rock 'em before completion. That should be interesting.

Stay tuned...

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Well Whatdoyaknow...

There appears to be a theme song to go along with the whole 'country girl' thing addressed in my previous post:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d89e6w405sc

Could be old, but I tend to be late on things.

That's pretty interesting.

Aside from that I really don't have much else to say. Earlier I had an idea for a blog post but didn't get around to taking the pics. What needs to be happening is that I need to be tryna get ready for a style show that's taking place reeeaaaaal soon.

Need models, (more) clothing to show, and most importantly, an idea.

*siiiiigh* Eventually it'll come together. I swear...sometimes this song by cree summer resonates so much with me on so many levels...."make yourself."

Anyway, since I like to include a picture in every post, here's one I took the other day:


Dontcha just love it?? (and yes...the cat is very much alive in this photo.)

Oh well. I'm off to listen to my song.

peace.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

"The Wind is Pink. Grass is Black."

It's all a matter of perception, I suppose....


Well, today my interview was published in the paper. :-D

To read it go here: http://timesofacadiana.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071010/NEWS01/710100311/1002/NEWS01.

In the hard copy, there's another picture of me, the link to my etsy shop, as well as pics of Deborah's work. Really cool. I've been looking forward to having it published, so I'm pleased.

But since this is a blog, and I am free to express whatever feelings, ideas, issues I may have with whatever, that's just what I'm gonna do. Accuracy is a big deal for me, so I just wanna clear up some things where the article is concerned. I realize that every single word that's relayed during interviews most likely will not make it into print. Also, words that were spoken are many times paraphrased in the name of time and space restrictions. With that being said....

Contrary to what the article states, the great majority of my garments are made from scratch from vintage materials as well as fabric from stores such as Joann's...one of my favorite hang out spots :-). When I first read, "Neither peruses fabric stores, studying bolts of material," my first thought was related to all the great folk at Joann's who are so helpful and see me in there all.the.time. I love fabric stores and many times come up with designs based on a cool pieces of fabric found there. I do a lot less clothing reconstruction than I did when I first started out. Still, I really enjoy the process and admire revamped wears, it's just not my primary technique. Deborah, the other lady mentioned, makes a lot of really nice reconstructed garments. Judging from the article, it seems as though we both basically have the same approach to clothing design, which isn't the case.

As far as the thrift store rummaging, I mainly get t-shirts from there as well as garments that I revamp for myself. Some good fabric can occasionally be found there as well.

What else....? Oh. My guy says he doesn't like, "I'm just a country girl." I think it's hilarious. While I don't think those were my exact words, most likely something similar to that did come out of my mouth. As far as New York, I was there for 3 days this past summer...Queens and Brooklyn to be exact (and had a good time.) Didn't even see the fashion district. I never lived there, which is sorta what the article implies. For me, it's a place to visit and that's the extent of it.

And yes. I am radical when it comes to being self-sufficient and self-employed. As far as the support from the parents, that's referring to the fact that they support what I do. They never pressured me to be or do something that I have no interest in. Read in the context of the article, it seems like the support is financial. That would be nice. And while I'm sure they're there when I need them, I'm continuously on the grind trying to create my own financial path.

Oh yeah. My guy friend also doesn't like the whole, "I've sold to people all over the United States and Hawaii..." He says it makes it seem like I don't know that Hawaii is part of the US. Well, I think that's funny too, since I personally prefer to consider Hawaii as its own country. I tend to recreate geography/history on my own terms, ha ha! No, but I feel where he's coming from. But everything said in person doesn't translate well to print.

That pretty much clears up everything.
This is lengthy, but I just had to put it out there. So many times in the media we hear things that aren't exactly accurate, and the ones who are being quoted don't always get a chance to tell their side. So dangit!! In the name of all the misrepresented people out there, I submit this blog. :-D

peace