blog.awsumgal.com

Weeellll, I would have posted sooner but my hard drive was so full I couldn’t off load anymore pics from my camera. So full in fact that I couldn’t even write my archive-able info to discs without the use of an external drive! Why oh why do I let my computer get so very full?!?

Two solid days of clearing stuff off of my hard drive, but now there is some space again, for as long as that lasts, lol!

Now I can finally blog about the progress on The Deep!

K, so first off I worked on the silk fiber bodice. After placing the silk fibers where I wanted, I added some beading, a pearl and some glass beads. It looks cool, but it’s too long I think and there is just a little too much of it at the bottom.

So I tamed it a little. Took some of the volume away. I don’t want it to overshadow the skirt….

Ah yes, the skirt ) I have been working on this as well. It’s all very Zen to sit in a sea of custom dyed silk and cotton in lovely shades of blues and greens and everything in between, and deciding what colours and beads should go where….

More beads, more silk, more cotton, yummy!! I’ve added some little custom silk rosettes with bead centers too.

Next time you see this gown, it will be the final studio shots )

Thanks for reading )

~awsumgal

Hi all

This fashion is coming together really nicely now. First, here are the fruits of my labours with the dye pots…

Well let’s get this party started!

It’s taking shape and I like where it’s going. It needs more work of course….. like beads

Here’s how the back is coming along

Ooooh! I love this is. It looks wavelike and swirly watery! Here’s the front so far…

It’s a big skirt, but I like it like that!

I’ve added little silk bead centered rosettes in different colours, blue pearl beads and a random assortment of other pretty beads too. I’ll be adding still more to the skirt. More silk/cotton, more beading and silk fibres too!

Until next time, have a great day!

~awsumgal

What fun I’m having in the studio today! I’ve turned into a mad scientist complete with crazy hair and maniacal laugh, but that is another story ha ha!

Seriously though, I decided after fooling about with the skirt ideas, none of which I liked, that I needed to take another approach entirely. I found the fabrics I wanted and decided to dye them to my concept. I bought three different colours of dye. Two greens and a blue….

I have a lovely silk and cotton blend, in white and off white, so floaty, so light, wonderful! Also some white cotton gauze that will gather up beautifully

I’ve prepped my fabric into smallish pieces so that I can have a bunch of different intensities of colours and blending options!

I’ve even decided to blend a blue and green dye because they really didn’t have a straight up Teal hue in this range of dyes.

Sacrilege! I’m not measuring and I’m mixing dry dye powder! There is also salt in there as per the directions (I choose carefully which rules to break, lol!)

Then hot water and let the fun begin!!

The green in the middle is my ow mix What a blast! I pre-wet some pieces and not others, I wadded up tightly some pieces and not others. There was even some co-mingling in and out of various dye pots. Despite the fact that my hands are a sickening shade of blue-green, I am really happy with the results and can’t wait ’til they’re dry!

~I feel a deep seated need to batik in my future! (In my future, though because I am far too busy right now ;o)~

Here are the results as they are drying….

You see why I can’t wait? Aren’t the colours terrific?!? I will be pressing all of these pieces, the heat will help set the colours. Now I have to find something else to do while I wait……

Later doll folks Thanks for reading!

~awsumgal

I worked on this pretty silk blue and green water inspired project today and I love the bodice. I’m still waffling around though on the bottom of the outfit. I have a vision but I can’t quite decide how to execute on the idea. I tried a bunch of different approaches but none of them really feel right. When I’m a little stuck on something I find it’s best to step back and allow myself to think about it in the background while I’m doing something else and the answer or inspiration will come to me. I feel like it’s there, the answer, just under the surface. I just need to give it a minute and it will reveal itself….

I drew a sketch to help nail down what I was hoping to achieve here.

So I’m Jonesing for a skirt that has an animated and light feel to it. I’d like it to be full of curves and soft edges and lots of sea colours. I know I can rock this and make it work……but how?

Well here’s where I was mid day… I’m loving the bodice and the skirt base. It is just a base though, there will be more happening there. And I feel quite confident in saying that there will be beads!

I tried (and ruled out, lol!) a few things today. Here’s a recap, a sort of a blooper reel, if you will. OK it’s not that bad, I’m just joking and I might combine some ideas and techniques in the end, but suffice to say I have not yet nailed this down!

I started off thinking I could use many pieces of several different fabrics in the colourway and gather the bottom edges and they would look like little cresting waves …….

They didn’t.

There is nothing wrong with this, in principle, but there is nothing right about this for this particular dress!

Then I thought, the shape is reasonable, maybe if I give it some three dimensionality by spot gathering instead of gathering along the bottom edge. It’s better, but still isn’t really making me go woo hoo baby or anything…..

So here’s where I was when I decided it was time to ponder something else for a while, which is to say, not much further ahead, but having learned at least about what don’t want. You can see the third attempt on the olive green silk satin, which also is not to my liking. I do hope the dear lady for whom this is destined concurs )

I may try some chiffon or mesh fullness next, or possibly find some more silk fibres and ribbon……silken floss maybe…..

Until tomorrow, have a terrific night and thanks as always for reading!

~awsumgal

Good Monday!

I have started a new project for the diminutive ladies. It will be inspired by the ocean and the colours of the sea. Blues and greens. The bodice will be silk fiber in a mix of those colours and the skirt will be full and reminiscent of water and waves. I have a most lovely bit of pale silk reclaimed from a vintage piece of Japanese clothing that matches my silk fibers perfectly

Here are the beginnings of the silk fiber bodice…..

And here is the colour palate I’ll be using. Isn’t it yummy? I’ll be adding some beading and some other embellishments here and there as well, but this is a start!

There’s a lovely olive-y silk satin and the gorgeous matte pale teal blue silk. I’ve got a silver embossed teal knit in there and a darker blue random pattern chiffon….. This is going to be fun! Pippa looks happy, lol!

The bodice is already going nicely and I can’t wait to start on the skirt. I’m going to go and get to work now

Thanks for reading,

~awsumgal