Last year Jessie and I pulled an all-nighter right before the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, getting our costumes together. Typically the Mermaid Parade is an excuse for folks to done themselves with body paint and little else. However, that’s not really my style so Jess and I usually like to create full garments and pass on the pasties.

This year, we’re being a little more proactive (key word in this sentence is “little”). We came up with our theme months ago and are just now in the actual costume planning stages. After several gChat discussions and countless text messages, I think we’ve come up with a design… maybe.

This process has involved a ridiculous amount of time on the internet, which has proven to both be productive and… not so much. During my quest for the perfect wigs and makeup, I just so happened to come across these:

Now, catching me in high heels is quite the rare occurrence, so there’s no way you’ll ever see me in these High Tide Heels by Belgian artist Paul Schietekat (I’ll probably end up with silver spray-painted chucks.) I keep having flashes of walking like a bird to try and not trip over the flipper end while still staying balanced on the stiletto heel.

Hopefully after tomorrow’s fabric shopping trip we’ll have it all more solidified. However, I still expect another pizza-filled all-nighter in June, followed by a sleepy walk down the Coney Island boardwalk while waving at photographers.

Please pardon the horrible photo above. It was taken with my phone moments before the box was closed and handed over.

Work has consumed most of my life this holiday season, however I was able to squeeze out a present that I was actually proud to give away this weekend–my first attempt at making a man’s dress shirt.

I was a bit nervous about the project when I first decided to do it, but the boy’s obsession with snap-front shirts was too powerful to ignore. To get over my fear of making a man’s shirt from scratch (I even drafted the pattern), I checked out a couple of old VHS tapes from the Threads research library at work that were recommended to me by a coworker called Shirts, Etc!

(Yes, I still have a VCR. However, I’m still cool because it’s also a DVD player in one. Although you’d think my Venture Bros. DVDs were stuck in there permanently lately.)
The purple, teal, and pink graphics on the tapes sort of reminded me of the packaging from a game I had when I was in elementary school called Mall Madness. Now, these tapes were made in 1988 and were a bit hilarious at times from being so out-of-date (it looked like she ripped the antennae off her jambox to use as a pointer). However, I actually learned quite a bit from Ms. Margaret Islander.

I followed the tapes almost to the letter and Michael’s shirt came out flawlessly. Margaret covered lots of industry shortcuts and tricks that seemed so obvious once she demonstrated them on screen, but I would never have figured out myself. The only things I did differently were that I sewed real flat fell seams at the armhole and sideseams instead of following her shortcuts.

It turns out that these tapes are now available on DVD here. It also looks like they stepped up their cover graphics a bit… Wise move, Ms. Islander.

Happy Friday!

The band Architecture in Helsinki has been one of my iPod regulars lately (especially given my long commute to work). I was in love with their quirky style before, but now my interest has been put on high alert.

Check out their new music video here to Like It or Not (it’s not their finest song, but you can get the gist of their style by listening). The video is made entirely from embroidery and fabric–the perfect marriage of craft and music. It was directed by Josh Logue @ Mathematics, and I must say, bravo!

I wonder how long it took to create such a thing… I tried to embed the video, but I’m not having much luck with my CSS. Follow the link here to find the video on YouTube. YouTube to the rescue!

Once upon a time, I had a happy memory stick. Last time I went to Texas, I brought said memory stick along for the ride. Unfortunately, he didn’t weather the trip so well thanks to a small tote bag and my mother not realizing he was plugged into his laptop girlfriend. Needless to say… how awesome is this!!? Ian Hampton over at Instructables has come up with the perfect solution. Follow the link to learn more and create your own. Now if only I can tear my little bro away from his old Legos…

Awesome news: printmaker extraordinaire and author, Lotta Jansdotter, is inviting you to come and print along with her. She has two events planned (one in San Fran, the other in Brooklyn), where you can hang out with the talented lady herself and get crafty. You know I’ll be there with fabric paint in-hand.

Both events are on our calendar in the events tab, so check it out to easily add them to your iCalendar or Outlook.

The San Francisco event will be on Saturday June 7th, 5-8 pm at the Craft Gym at 1452 Bush Street (between Van Ness & Polk). The Brooklyn event will actually be at Lotta’s personal studio at 119 8th Street , #215 in Brooklyn on Friday the 13th (scary!) from 5-8.

***if you haven’t checked out Lotta’s new book, Lotta Prints (Chronicle ‘08) yet, take a look here. It’s full of projects that emulate her simple yet uber-cool style***

From Lotta:

I would like to invite you to join me and my friends to do some fabric printing together.

I have carved out some of my designs in rubber and potato stamps and it would be lovely if you wanted to join in and try them out. I will share some simple techniques and together we will print on cotton fabric swatches.

There will also be wine, plenty of inks and stencils and happy music to get inspired by.

- it would be great if you can come!

Ooohhh California. My knee is still healing.

Officially, I was in California for Maker Faire to help man the CraftStylish booth for work. Little did I know, the weekend was also a time to catch up with friends in the Bay Area. (You can see my wrap-up of the event at the CraftStylish website here. And you can check out some more of my pics of the event here).
As we were setting up our booth and trying to get everything in order, I noticed one of the only other people who seemed to be setting up ahead of time across the hall. To my surprise, it was my friend Erika of My Imaginary Boyfriend (Erika and I were in NYC Craft Mafia together until she moved to Bakersfield, CA). She had chopped all of her hair off so I barely recognized her as I walked by (sorry Erika! The haircut is awesome).

Make didn’t provide a list of vendors, so I had no way of knowing who would be at the event and who wouldn’t. I seemed to run into people that I knew by sheer luck (like Erika) or because I was stationed near them. I was finally able to meet several people in person that I have worked with in the past via email and phone, which was great (including Cathy Cano-Murillo and Nicole of QueenPuffPuff). It’s so weird to work in publishing and know all sorts of bloggers and crafters from afar and then finally get to meet them in the flesh. Twice (both at CHA) I have actually heard a voice I recognized from the phone to look up and see the person standing in front of me for the first time. So strange.

I was also able to meet Pleo, which is a small robot that looks like a baby dinosaur I have been wanting since I read about him in a Make article a little over a year ago. Unfortunately, I totally missed ALL of the robot wars, which was something I was REALLY looking forward to since I was manning the booth. But, you can bet your sheet metal that I will definitely be in the front row in Austin, though (on my BIRTHDAY!!)

The night before I left Cali, I also roamed around San Francisco with my friend Aaron and found a slide recommended by our friend Bob. Now, given my natural ability to harm myself in a padded room and Aaron’s natural instinct to always cause a ruckus, we were totally in for it.

These slides were solid cement and SUPER slick. And as it turned out… they were also covered in macaroni & cheese. Yes… mac & cheese. I suspect someone did that to deter people like Aaron and me from making noise at night, but it didn’t work. After a LOT of scooping, one of the slides was ready for ridin’, and then after much ridicule from Aaron, I rode the slide. And I’m pretty sure I hurt my knee in the process because it’s been sore for DAYS.

So thanks Cali for the lovely time and the cheese-covered kicks.

After a bit of Googling, I found that the slides are called the Seward Slides. Here’s some pics and battle stories from past riders.

Whoa. Also found a video here, but it looks like she rides the “slower side.”