Just finished up with a group of 15 and 16 yr old girls gathering here for pizza, rice crispy treats, tea and soda and fashionable recycling. We had an event where everyone brought used teeshirts to recycle and reuse in new configurations. There were all sorts of fashionable things happening from someone making a teeshirt tuxedo to slashing the shirts with a pinned underpinning--in the shapes of hearts etc. There were lots of tube tops, mini skirts and everything in between. The ladies were delightful and thrilled to be together to eat and make stuff. It was a big success--and all involved had a great time. We will have to do it again.
Am in the throes of a project--a dozen illustrations in less than a week--with 5- 6 of them finalized by Monday so as to be applied to crystal blanks. Its terrific to illustrate and design a collection of a dozen hexagonal pictures that need to stand on their own merit, work as a group, are totally analog (only black or white--nothing in between). I sold them on the image ideas along with a book that would accompany the work to tell a secondary/poetic story of why these images, why they are part of the group etc. I am thinking of letterpress (with J. Seppi @Pioneer Press in Lodi)--but we will see. They also want the entire program sketched out...and should it be a go...it will be a sizable illos job along with a base/or two and the book to design and illustrate (and probably produce too). It is exciting to pull together some fairly disparate ideas but treat them in a similar hand...making visual sense to something that doesnt happily hang together. More tomorrow. I have the last of the group due Monday p.m. I have done a tree, a stag, snow, a shell, a fish and the worst is yet to come (hardest, that is)--a sun. it cannot be a sun with a "have a nice day" face, nor can it be entirely "symbolic"--so I founder. We will see what will happen with a bit of cooking while sleeping. I was thinking about how to repurpose the images. I have some ideas--working the black and white images with letters and images that twist the straight up image...and takes it some place.
Need to finalize book two of Memento Mori. The work is done and scanned. Really just need to get it bolted down in the InDesign file. Mostly done. But Mostly is not final. Must make that happen before Feb. 1 as the pictures for book three are happening as we speak. Have met a wonderful and interesting new i-friend who can do machine embroidery. Will be turning 1-2 ilos off to her to create a digitized version for embroidery. I am thinking industrial weight, wool felt with this work--to turn into pillowtops, book covers...whatever. Its a bit of an experiment...but could be cool. Could be part of the final thesis research etc. We will see.
It's late. More later. My head is eyeing the horozontality of this tabletop with ideas.