10/28/09

wing dress update: chasing the mirage (ver. #1 completed)

for those who just popped by
for the first time:

this is a blog about my project "wing dress" which began in may '07, been documenting the making of process since on this blog.
earlier this year however, i noticed few "fatal errors" on the first piece i had been working on until then, so decided to re-do the whole thing over.
today's post is about the completing of the first ("flawed", the perfectionist says) piece.

and yes, i punctuate all wrong and ignore caps.
(((smile)))



as a nice lady i would like to
start out by talking about
changing seasons

see
it's autumn here
the leaves are doing
what they do so well and...



and
in a similar hue
i am doing what i am inclined to do

...and what is that?



those are silk fabrics dyed in
subtly varying shades of red

(i mixed red with blue black
in varying degrees of tinybitness)


since the red will be used for
trimming the neck line of the
pale cream dress
the first thing to do was the bleed test

below:
creating the worst case scenario
-chosen two hang-dried,
drenched wet with red above white



so, any bleeding?
nil...nice



below:
that's where the red goes
first, choose one or the other
yes yes, there really is a difference



...then the width
decisions came
quick and hunchy



below:
one of the important points

since the fabric is very thin
seams are better be cut pretty or
will become too attention-catching

a lot of work really



below:
i wanted to say "done" but
there was a nag in my gut
nagging in knot



why is that?

well, when i was trying to decide
the width of the hem
by eye- and hand-measuring it

over and over,
i picked "12cm" as the optimum width
it was really pretty amazing
how accurate your senses "measure"


then i went ahead and ignored it
and made it about 0.7cm wider

please don't ask why




since i am training myself out of perfectionism
i tried pretty hard to ignore the nagging
but the gnawing sense won in the end

yeah yeah i re-did the darn thing


below:
the right is the 12cm opti-hemmed
can you tell the difference?

oh yes, there really is a difference
i know, because when it was done,
it stopped the nagging and
turned it into a warm glow

the mirage-like feeling i've been after
forever and ever...



but really, there is only a very thin line
between perfectionism and hunch-driven detailism
i tried to force-fit that cool "sloppy" approach on myself but
can't really fight your natural inclination, can you?


can i be in-the-groove dynamo and remain detailed?
accommodating the two in one person,
such tightrope balancing may be
the thrill, the chase, the carrot...

(nice lady trying at the cup half full sentiment)


below:
stitching on the final hem
done pretty prrfectly



this post ends
of course with the season talk
whichever the ones you are having
on this round planet
i wish you a beautiful _____



thank you for your visit!!

10/17/09

wing dress in progress: the end of the pencil stage

dye design for the
revised version of my 2+yr old project
the wing dress

is now completed
on a pencil-on-paper model

come to think of it
almost exactly a year ago
i was at the same place as i stand today
with the wing dress version #1

which is almost complete and
looking mighty pretty in silk

more on that in a little while

for today
let me share with you the pictures of
the version#2 in paper form










i've come to my senses at last minute and
recorded the tail end bit of this pencil stage
so please have a look

additional note to the mobile visitors:
somehow the tube is determined not to make this one video viewable on cells and teles, my syndication setting keeps switching back to "unavailable on tele/cell", so that's why it doesn't show.




thank you for your visit

10/2/09

evolving into chiqueness

some insects evolve
style-conscious

i'm so very serious


form-function talk
just cannot explain
why someone like this
look the way he does

i mean
really



perfectly-tailored
iridescent head and shoulders
appeared to be not of this planet...



for the sake of functionality, yes
but
aesthetic appeal surely was on their mind


and they didn't slack on details neither


please please please
take a moment and see



i've talked about it in the past
a year ago today in fact
about how they all seem to choose
my doorstep as the last stop before departure

below:
another guy like that here
and he's a great pretender
modest at first glance but
look...

really...look



peaking into front face and found
furry and shy buffalo-look



below:
scary flashy cool
i guess he'd blend in just fine, if given the right circumstance
that's what they all are supposedly trying to do

right?



so why oh why do you
look the way you do
and why is it that you all
express your individuality as a group

the spaceman don't say

9/12/09

wing dress update: does this insect dream of swallow?

i've taken a lengthy break from
my beloved, neglected project, the wing dress

i was on vacation
vacating from....me, so
those of you who interacted with me this summer
that wasn't me you were talking to

more on that later


i was concentrating on this entity
one of the very few who gets away with
being so inconsistent

see?




but i didn't totally abandon my project
for example
this is what i've been seeing
the first thing in the morning

look



notice a panel tacked right behind the bodice
that's the "alternate" front panel

invasion of alternate ideas...
that's what happens
when you sit on something long enough

below:
that's me, back from vacation
putting on the paper model of the dress
showing off the "done" side



now, please look at the below photo

the left, the current version, versus
the right (see the darkest line drawn with curve heavier than the left),
the new idea

r "flows" more with ease with the rest
but l shows the feeling of hesitation,
"feeling the pull but..." feel

feel it?


so what's the biggie, you may say
well,
although i like the new idea
if i change the stride on front,
i may have to speed up the rest as well

see,
i could keep revising the paper model
and remain in a loop, or
just make one and get speedy later if i prefer

hence
the
decision time...



putting it on would give me some idea
now,
i've used some models in the past
but it didn't go too well
for none of them were "one of us"
but most of all, were just too...weird

so i opted for suiting myself up

wha? my "do"?
no that's not do they're antennae
i've been an insect all this summer
buzzing, singing, flying but mostly
dreaming of gliding like swallow
going so fast
further out of harm's way
slashing atmosphere in half...

below:
see me dreaming?



just to add one more visual assault
here's a new video log on the matter



thanks for your visit!!

p.s.
thankyu eve for the bug inspiration ;^]

8/17/09

scenes from the sea, summer 2009

as a reclusive people-person,
i cannot not crawl out of my hiding place
and hang out and about on the nearby beach
that is almost all mine year-round
except for a short while in mid summer

summer is short here in
north end of the central-east japan

people are out
letting it almost all hang out
and i am hanging with my camera
shooting it away in shore break

look
with a jumbo drop on a lens cover



considerable mass of jello
about to swallow beach-side homes



caught him in the
pure expression of terror



guy on the right is doing alright
while the left's about to get
knocked over...



well, look who's gotten knocked over
a moment after the click



safe in daddy's arms-
a day to remember



this is as crowded as it gets
snapping while on a boogie board



associating with the clean, crisp water here
made me a lover of the color teal...



that's all for this summer
thanks for viewing!