Pop Art in Fashion - Project Runway Week Seven

First, I apologize. My computer was giving me some bad mojo this morning. I ended up doing a system restore late tonight and after chasing and finally recapturing my blog (for a while it insisted I had never had a blog and the 3300+ posts I've made over the years simply didn't exist - argh!). But, after a lot of work and some grey hairs (virtual of course, since I have no hair), I think I've managed to recapture my blog once more. So, here's my delayed post. 

It's a Project Runway night and after last week's "heritage" challenge I think the designers are hoping for something easy this week. Unfortunately, it's a challenge sponsored by Bergdorf Goodman department stores and their current "pet resident" designer, Ashley Longshore - a bold personality artist with a pop culture look ala Andy Warhol (although Warhol did it better, in my opinion). I admit that I'm pleased that Ashley Longshore is the first female artist embraced by Bergdorf's as an artist in residence and that she was the featured artist for New York Fashion Week. Ashley Longshore is anything BUT stodgy. (As usual, the photographs are in alphabetical order of the designer.)  

Brittany Allen is a total fangirl of Ashley
Longshore and put in a lot of touches to make
her garment special and unique for the
artist. It was very appreciated. 

Each designer will be working on a joint collaboration with Ashley Longshore, as she provides an individual print for each designer. The first person to choose a Longshore print was last week's winner, Chelsey, and it went down the ranks, each designer choosing the next one, until the final choice, Sergio. Not difficult to understand that placement - he's managed to alienate almost all of the other designers.

Chelsey Carter's design was OK, but I wasn't
really excited by it. To my eyes it seemed a
standard dress style and I wasn't impressed
by her use of the print. 

After a short design session, they head to Mood with a budget of $175 and 30 minutes to choose additional fabrics and trims for their print challenge. Many designers on Project Runway find it difficult to work with prints, and I suspect this challenge will be no different. It's a two-day challenge, so, let's see what happens.

Dayoung Kim was having health issues again, she
eats like a bird and the stress is getting to her too. I
really loved the dress that she came up with for this
challenge, though. It was clean lines and the
bold side panels really set the print off. 

After Ashley has met individually with each designer, helping them tweak their designs to better meet her aesthetic, she tells the workroom that the bedazzling cart is open and any sparkling things on it are there for the taking. It's a feeding frenzy with glittering do-dads being grabbed and scattered across the floor. After the end of a very full day, the designers move to the workshop patio where they find tacos and alcoholic beverages waiting for them, courtesy of Ashley. Although I might not be fond of her artistic style, she's a generous soul.

Delvin McCray did a nicely wrapped pant suit, but
again it was a bit boring. I would have liked some
more solid panels and a different neckline. 

Dayoung had started the day without energy after having fought a cold throughout the previous challenge. Remember, she was also taken to the hospital for the beginning of Episode 2. She's lacking energy and moving very slowly. She's got most of the workroom worried about her, and several of the other designers ask her if she wants the medic. After a quick meet with medical, she forges on.

It's a good thing Geoffrey Mac decided to belt
the front of his oversized tent dress. Without that
touch his model would have looked like an
Oompah Loomah from Willy Wonka's factory. 

Sergio is trying to make another political statement with his garment. He says that all of his designs must have a political statement at their heart. OK, whatever floats his boat, but I'm not climbing onto the platform at all. He can be a gown designer for 45+ year ole women, or he can be a designer of political statement clothing, but I'm not sure he can be both with success.

Marquise Foster made his white top from cotton, so
no stretch. That didn't serve him well because his
darts didn't line up well and the top was a bit of
a disaster. He didn't do much with the print
either, just let it act like overdone stripes. 

Geoffrey's over-sized coat/dress is burying his model. Christian suggests pulling the front in with belting to make a slimmer silhouette, so he's busy making those changes. (As an aside, I was taken a bit aback by the editing decision to show the nude top of Nancy's model, DD. DD is Trans, but since the show refuses to show the breasts of their female models, why would they think showing the torso of a Trans who was assigned male but responds female would be OK? I think I may have to make a direct comment to the show because this decision was NOT OK. Either show any/all without discrimination, or edit any nude frontal chest shots out entirely.

Nancy had one of my favorite models, DD, and would
have served the fashion better by making the coat more
form fitting, or ditching it completely. The pants were
well done, but the coat was underwhelming. 

Victoria is having serious problems working with the patterned fabric. She prefers single color fabrics so that her style of wrapping can be the star. She's ending up putting Ashley's fabric on the pants of her outfit, and leaving the top plain white. I have a feeling that Ashley won't be happy with the minimal amount of her fabric that's being used in the finished design.

Sergio Guadarrama wanted to have the gown with
its' elaborate back bow appear as if a butterfly
was coming from a cocoon. It didn't work for me,
although he's done gowns I've liked less than this
effort. 

Runway day dawns and Dayoung is feeling better. Two hours before the Runway, the models arrive for final fittings, hair and makeup. The usual panic and potential disasters are ready for viewing by the judges and we're off to the Runway.

Victoria Cocieru seems to be getting into a design
rut. I liked the criss cross the first few times, but
had to agree with whatever judge called it wrapped
bandages for this look. Call me unimpressed. 

Sergio was certain he would win the challenge, but he's merely safe, along with Geoffrey and Chelsey. The other six designers are the top and bottom looks for this challenge. I can hardly wait for the judges comments because right now I'm saying Brittany for the win and Marquise for the loss, but I haven't heard a single comment yet,  so I'm basing this on no empirical data.







SPOILERS BELOW - DON'T SWIM IN THESE WATERS UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND FINDING OUT THE WINNER AND LOSER!





The top three are Dayoung, Delvin and Brittany and any of them could easily win this week. For the bottom looks, Victoria played things too safe with a "cut out bandage-wrapped" top over a sprinkling of the print on the bottom. Marquise failed to show the print to it's best advantage and he failed with technical skills because his blouse darts were badly placed and sewn. The final design on the bottom was Nancy, who actually made DD look lost in her over-sized jacket. Without the jacket DD looked great and if she had just done a top and the pants, Nancy might have been in the top instead of the bottom.

So, who won and who went home? Brittany is the winner of the challenge and she was totally thrilled because she is a total Ashley Longshore fangirl. Marquise is sent home, just barely edging out Nancy who was within an eyelash of being eliminated. Still, poor design decisions won out over poor construction issues yet again, and it makes sense because the garment construction is supposed to be a given for a competition at this level. It's a shame to lose Marquise who was the only self-taught designer in the workroom, but it's a competition and there's someone who will be sent home every week. Did you guess correctly?

Sorry for the day's delay, but I need the Runway photos before I can post. Maybe next week will be more timely, but it's not horrible to wait an extra 24 hours either. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday.

Runway Delayed, So Let's Talk About Owls

Once again Runway pictures are running late, so my Runway Recap will be tomorrow morning and I'm diving into today's blog as unknown territory. That's OK, that's the majority of my mornings anyway. The whole idea of my daily blog is to write a little bit, wake up my brain at a horrific time of the day (or an equally horrific time of the night) and exercise those little brain cells a bit before returning to numbing mediocrity. 

I adore owls and their wide-eyed tufted appearance
has fascinated people through the Ages. 

I'm cold, my brain is cold, and I'm still sitting in front of a computer desk that is hidden by paperwork, memos and miscellaneous crap. Damn. It's like I look out over my tiny little empire and realize that in the years I've been working, I've generated a lot of nothing. It's upsetting, and I'm quite sure it's really the cold talking. 

Owls fly almost silently. Their feathers are made differently
than any other bird, and they barely disturb the air as
they pass through it. Here's an article that explains how
they fly so silently. 

But there's a project that came my way yesterday that really excited me, so I'm possibly setting off on a creative tangent. I love challenge projects - probably one more reason why I love reality TV challenges like Project Runway. But, back to my own reality. The Upper Midwest Bead Society and the International Owl Center (just follow the link if you're interested in more info on the Center) are teaming together for a competition challenge featuring owls. Chosen projects will be on exhibit at the Center's headquarters in August and most will be available for sale. I'm very tempted. 

The Great Horned Owl is one of the largest of
the group and lives in my state. We actually
have a nice variety of owls here in the
Frozen Northlands. 

I've always had a thing for owls since I was a small child. Looking around my study I have an owl wind-chime on my left and an enameled Chinese-made owl on my right. That's just in one small room. I actually think I have at least one owl item in every room of the house. Like I said, I've always loved the bird. When I read the publicity flyer I remembered a hand-carved bone barn owl in flight element I purchased several years ago. It's quite stunning, and I've had it pinned to the front of my shelving in my studio so that it wouldn't break or chip. I carefully packed in into a small container last night, and I'm bringing it to the shop with me today. Time to choose some beads. I want to make this into a finished project for the challenge. 

I'm not sure about the breed of this tiny owl, it wasn't identified
on the photo or accompanying article. It's about the right
size to be a burrow owl, but the Burrow Owls I'm familiar
with live in the desert of the Southwest. That branch isn't
from any desert environment. 

So I'm excited, creatively, once again. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to make, I'm just unsure about whether I have the materials already on hand. I'm really trying to use my own stock at this point in time. The LAST thing I need is to bring additional beads into my studio. I'm not sure if the project will work the way I see it in my head, but I want to try. For the owls. 

Burrowing Owls that I'm familiar with look more like this
little guy. They used to live in small irregular patches
of the desert alongside the rattlesnakes and prairie dogs. 

On that note, I'm plugging in pictures of owls and heading out to the gym. I meet with one of their personal trainers today for instruction on some of their gym equipment, and I'm looking forward to a better understanding of their machines. After five-plus years of looking at the equipment, maybe it's time to dip my toes into the metal waters. Have a great Friday and I'll have Runway photos for you to look at tomorrow morning instead of today. 

Holiday Cards Wrap-up

Unfortunately, my computer desk is still a mess. But I did get a lot done yesterday for my "day off" and one of the things was pulling my holiday cards off the mantle and scanning some of them to share with all of you.

I'm starting out with my dear friend and former roommate's card. This is
Shruti's offering for the 2019 season. Every year she paints or illustrates
a card and composes a poem. She then has them printed into a card and
writes individual greetings and a beautifully addressed envelope for each
of them. She sends almost 500 cards and her cards are always in my
"keep" pile. Shruti lives in India. 

Many years ago I did beta editing work for
my friend Iris who lives in Germany. She has
sent me gifts in the past, and over the last
few years has sent some truly beautiful
cards. I'm always honored to get cards from
her and delighted that we're still friends. 

Per my usual, I made a total of 50 of my Holiday Cards, and sent 49 of them out to a variety of people I know either in real life or in cyber life. Some of the recipients have been friends for years, others were new friends, but I wanted to share a bit of holiday brightness with all of them. I never request or require a physical card in return, or an e-card for that matter. It always brings me joy when I get a physical or e-card though.

An on-line friend from the UK sent this stunning card. It's
Renaissance in feel and I adore the color palette. In prior years
she's sent quite a variety of cards but they're always a treat
to look at and enjoy. 

My "sister" on the Reservation in South Dakota sent this whimsical
card with a Native American Santa Claus in a sleigh pulled by
four buffalo getting ready to deliver gifts to the tipis below. Such
a lovely card and I just had to laugh when I saw it. 

I got 23 physical cards mailed to me this past Solstice/Holiday season and I was thrilled. They stretched completely across my mantle, brightening up the room. I couldn't scan all of them, but I scanned as many as I felt should be shared (I don't scan personal photos, family photos, or the 3-D cards because of privacy and the difficulty of scanning something 3-D).

We received this stunning card from an old college friend
of DH's. I adored the photograph of the small stand
of birch trees very much - just the different textures
coming through in the B/W photo were stunning. 

Here are a couple of cards featuring animals that
I received. The bottom one is a hand-made card and
simply lovely, the top is from a good long-time
friend in the United Kingdom. 

I decided to spend today showing you some of those holiday cards so that your day could be brightened as well. If you sent me a card and you're not seeing it here, I loved getting it and the thoughtfulness of your sending it. I simple couldn't share all of them - too many and too photo heavy for a blog post.

I got some lovely cards featuring birds that I thought I'd
group to share with all of you. Here are two I thought were
a lot of fun! 

Here are three more cards that featured birds and I loved
each and every one of them. The upper right card was
handmade, but they are all a delight. 

Here's a list of the wonderful people who sent cards to me this past Solstice/Holiday season. Thanks to each of you for contributing to the joy of my season. I also received quite a lot of e-cards and had a lot of fun watching each one of them and listening to the musical accompaniment. You've all been thanked individually when I received your e-card, so I'm not going to duplicate that here. You know who you are and I really loved/appreciated your contribution. 

Shruti Dev - Haryana, India
Tinnean - Florida USA
Tom & Mary Neiman - Georgia USA
cmcmck - Shropshire UK
Starlet & Pete Fills the Pipe - South Dakota, USA
Iris Schmidt - Augsberg, Germany
Linda Hoyland - Cheshire, UK
Jenybeth Durand - Minnesota USA
Curious Wombat - Isle of Man, UK
Pam Perry - California, USA
Shirebound - New Jersey, USA
Pam LaVasseur - Colorado USA
Alexcat - North Carolina USA
Cindy Durand - Minnesota USA
Joseph Jorissen - Minnesota USA
Maja Halloway - Washington USA
Susan Aguirre - Minnesota USA
Andrea Van Nest - Colorado USA
Claire Henn - Minnesota USA
Sharon Nastick - Colorado USA
Chris Nelson - Minnesota USA

And on that note, I have to get going. I just got notice that the plows are in service, so we must have gotten some snow. I have to get out there and shovel the driveway before I leave for the gym. Have a wonderful day, and don't forget it's a Project Runway night tonight. If all goes well, I'll have fashion on the Runway for you tomorrow. Have a GREAT day. 

My Day Off and a Seed Bead Explanation

It's my :day off" and my first load of laundry is already washed and ready for the dryer. I looked ahead at the weather forecast (called a forecast because it's never actually accurate, just a best-guess scenario) and today would be the best day to head to the bank. I have some things that have to be handled for the business, and that requires an in-person trip over there, so I'll make sure to do that first thing in the morning as soon as they open. That will at least give me a sense of accomplishment for the day - LOL. 

Although there were a lot of pictures of people against beautiful
skies, I really loved this simple and textured trio as an image
for accomplishment. That jumping for joy feeling is so prevalent
when looking around after conquering a difficult task. 

I have a list of things I have to do, not least of which is pulling my 2019 paid invoices from the "current" file and putting them into order into a "past" file. I'm 2/3 through January and haven't been able to file any of my paid bills for the month yet. It's annoying and I want this completed. I also would love to give my computer desk a thorough clean. DH cleaned his the other day and suddenly I see the surface of his desk! It's really quite shocking. Unfortunately, my desk isn't magically following his good example, so if I have some time this afternoon, I'll dive into my own desk. 

I totally understand this sentiment. Right now, although I might
not be able to immediately put my hands on X, Y or Z, I actually
do know where I will find it. It might be buried down a bit, but
I can put my hands on it relatively quickly. That may not be the
case if I clean the desktop, but it really needs to be done. 

I also have the usual - grocery shopping and misc loads of laundry - and I would like to get a start on the culling of my 11o seed beads. For those who don't know, seed beads (small beads made from glass which are stitched together to make larger projects) come in several different sizes and shapes. The most commonly used size is what's called an 11o - an archaic term that might have been based on the number of beads per inch, but that really holds no relevance today. Other common sizes are 15o (smaller than the 11o) and 8o (larger than the 11o). I have all of these and more. 

I generally use 11o and 15o beads in my projects, but my customers
who do bead knitting will often use the larger 6/0 and even 5/0 sizes.
The 11o size is the most common size, however, and has the
greatest range of available colors. 

The storage system that DH built for me many years ago is extraordinary. It has space for 420 tubes of 11o beads. I probably own closer to 1000 tubes, so I need to lay everything out and decide which beads I want to keep and which ones I want to sell or store. I have minimal room for storage, and seeing the colors are important for my work, so putting the excess away isn't very functional. But decisions have to be made, so I might at least start the thought process on this. 

Not only are seed beads available in a variety of sizes, but they are
also available in a variety of shapes. I think it was a lot easier when
I was painting - I used more than 80 colors of acrylics, but it was a
much smaller playground. 

So my day continues - some cleaning, some cooking, some shopping and some errands. In the long run, everything I do today will have to be repeated again in a week - LOL. Be that as it may, I'm still looking forward to my "day off" and wish each of you a Wonderful Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow. 

The Sad Saga of DSP

I read a lot, and I have a lot of on-line acquaintances who write and publish with Dreamspinner Press. There have been problems - big problems - the cracks of which began appearing last year. Several of the authors I know pulled their libraries and moved either to other publishers or switched over to self-publishing. A lot of words and accusations were thrown back and forth from both sides - those who left were condemned, those who stayed were accused of a variety of crimes, not least that of stupidity. I don't think they were stupid, as much as hopeful and putting a positive spin on the situation, liking the public side of DSP. I also heard comments from some of those who stayed that they simply didn't want to be bothered with the extra workload of self-publishing, or were in the process of ending pending contracts they had with DSP. 

The quality of authors and books published by DSP was always
extremely high. Within the genre of GRL, they were the top
of the top. The mighty are falling now. 

It's not often that a publisher gets publicly scolded and scored in a magazine as distinguished in the field as "Publisher's Weekly", but DSP just reached that high (low) status. On January 17th, the magazine published the story "Dreamspinner Press Restructures as Authors Cry Foul" (just follow the link to read the article in full). There are a lot of people I'm in fairly constant contact with who are getting seriously hurt by this. There are books and authors I've looked for on Barnes & Noble or Amazon websites whose books are suddenly not listed because the authors have pulled their libraries away from DSP and are now in the position of having to re-list their books themselves, or find another publisher for both new and older works. These are people who want to write but who are suddenly pushed into self-publishing in a harsh and difficult world. 

TJ Klune's "The House In the Cerulean Sea" will
be released this year and it's already hitting the lists
as a "must read". He left DSP last year, pulled his
books, and has relisted most of them himself as an
independent. He was signed to a six-figure contract
by Tor last year. This book is the first of six he's
writing for them.  

Some of these people won't make it. Their older library of published works will fade into the sunset. ?Some authors will put current works onto their shelves at home and try to manage getting their books back out there. Suddenly checks will be much less, if they arrive at all. Suddenly finances will become a problem for some prolific authors and that chasm of uncertainty about what to do will loom ahead of them. There are a lot of people whose 2020 just became a lot harder. 

My friend Tinnean, who has 63 books on Goodreads,
had her contract renewal declined from DSP a year
or two ago. She pulled her library from them and has
been self-publishing since. It's looking as if she
might have dodged a bullet. 

Even though there are authors staying with DSP, at least to finish books under contract with them, I wonder how long they'll walk the planks of this sinking ship. In the old days (being within the past decade - so not THAT old), Dreamspinner Press was considered the cream-de-la-cream of publishers in the genre. If an author published with DSP, it was almost a guarantee of a well-written, well-edited and well-promoted book that would be sold and promoted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other venues. Now I'm hearing crickets at their dying hearth and I'm angered and saddened by the plight of many friends. 

On that note, I've got to get going. I'm almost running late! I'll be back tomorrow for my "day off" and I wish all of you a wonderful and successful day. 

Football and Martin Luther King Day

Yesterday was a day of football - the final four team battling it out to see who gets to play in the Super Bowl on February 2nd. In other words, it was the game to determine the Divisional Championship winners. My beloved Denver Broncos play for the AFC, DH's beloved Minnesota Vikings play for the NFC, so we both had "horses" in that race. I was pulling for Kansas City, a talented team and direct Divisional rival, DH was pulling for San Francisco, not a direct rival, but he would NEVER cheer for the Green Bay Packers. The best thing about two outstanding football games was that both our preferred teams won. So, on February 2nd it'll be Kansas City v San Francisco for the Super Bowl win. Outstanding! 

Kansas City will be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. I'm
not a KC fan, but they are an exciting team to watch, and I have
to cheer on the AFC team in the Bit Game. 

The snow ended on Saturday with just a dusting in the latter part of Saturday morning. We ended up with about six inches total, not really bad at all. Of course, once the snow ended, the temperatures started falling again. We're not quite as cold as we were before the storm, but we're still in single digits and I'm cold as I sit at my computer to type this. In fact, I just grabbed the blanket I keep in the computer room to toss over my lap and my legs. Aaaah! Much warmer now - LOL. 

The San Francisco 49ers were victorious for the NFL, and I'm quite
happy about that. I did NOT want Green Bay in the Super Bowl. 

I have a customer in New Orleans who is one hank of beads shy for a project. She's willing to pay Express Mail shipping to get it to her ASAP, so I'll pick up the packaging materials on the way in to work, then phone her after I've made sure I have the beads in stock. If I don't it's a bust. But if I do, I'm happy to send them on to a good home. I suspect she's making something wrapped up in Mardi Gras, but can't say for sure. I'm sure it will look amazing, whatever it is. 

Traditional Mardi Gras colors are green, purple and gold. I have no idea
if my customer is making something for Mardi Gras, but she's been
buying a specific shade of green from me, so it's a possibility. 

Today's Challenge in the 64MillionArtists Challenge is a "Ta-Da List". I thought I might be able to do it quickly here, but the day really has just started and I can't justify more than one or two entries. I'll think about it through the day and see if I can wrap one together. 

Today is Martin Luther King Day in the USA - a Federal holiday. All
federal offices, banks, and the stock market are closed. There's no mail
delivery today either, so my customer's package won't actually be
processed by the postal service until tomorrow. I'll be open
for business, though, as will most businesses. 

So, I'm going to take this little extra time to get a couple of non-posting things wrapped up before I leave for the gym. Have a truly wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow.