Monday, August 13, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Wear it With Pride!
When I'm not feeling fuzzy, I make merit badges. Ok, so they're really just buttons, but made in the majestic spirit of those merit badges earned in boy scouts; proudly displayed on a sash of achievement to tell the world you've mastered making the perfect s'more or the art of playing dead in front of a charging pedo bear!
My badges are for adult life, relationships in specific, and are thus entitled "Boyfriend Badges: Proof You Don't Suck!" Wanna hear my slick sales pitch? Yeah, you do.
"Boyfriend Badges aren't just for boyfriends. They're also for girlfriends, husbands, wives, friends and fuckbuddies...pretty much whoever shares your special moments and compromising situations. reward your significant someone with a badge of honor each time you reach a relationship milestone, or use them as incentives if your sweetie is an achievement whore who MUST COLLECT THEM ALL!"
So, what are these achievements I speak of? Let's have a look at Series 1:
My badges are for adult life, relationships in specific, and are thus entitled "Boyfriend Badges: Proof You Don't Suck!" Wanna hear my slick sales pitch? Yeah, you do.
"Boyfriend Badges aren't just for boyfriends. They're also for girlfriends, husbands, wives, friends and fuckbuddies...pretty much whoever shares your special moments and compromising situations. reward your significant someone with a badge of honor each time you reach a relationship milestone, or use them as incentives if your sweetie is an achievement whore who MUST COLLECT THEM ALL!"
So, what are these achievements I speak of? Let's have a look at Series 1:
Drunk MakeOuts, You've Accepted My Fetish, Breaking the Fart barrier, My Pet Likes You, Meet the Parents, Moral Support While Puking.
If you've conquered these six situations and can still look the person in the eye, they're a keeper!
Now, on to the ladies. Girlfriend Badges are actually a little more difficult to attain, and one in particular requires some ballsiness to brandish in public (obviously, that one is my favorite):
Bro Approved, Menstrual Management, It's OK Baby (erectile dysfunction amnesty badge), Boobs!, Fast food Friendly, and Video Game Tolerance.
An old man once saw my Menstrual management badge and said "Oh! I like your little surfer guy there!" Yes. Surfing. Thanks, dude.
I'll soon be busy punching a bunch of new badges in preparation for Comikaze in Sept., so grab some now before things get nuts! Boyfriend Badges shop
Now for the audience participation portion of the show! I've been approached by a few friends about making a series of Break Up Badges. While I am intrigued and certainly agree that some break up incidents are worth commemorating --whether to remember a hard lesson learned or to laugh at the ridiculousness-- I have to wonder whether they'd sell. Getting dumped via email or text is a common indecency, but is it badge worthy? If I shoot for the more absurd end of the spectrum and go with achievements like "Hit Ex With My Car" (It never happened! I don't care who told you! He's a liar.), they become less universal and possibly punishable by law.
So, I come to you, my readers. All 7 of you! Break up Badges: Good idea, bad idea? Any thoughts on what they should be? Break up anecdotes you'd care to share that walk the line between hilarious and cringeworthy? Holla back here, through FB, or the etsy shop!
Monday, August 6, 2012
You Thought I Wouldn't Notice
Ok, have a look at the link first, then come back. I'll wait.
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/have-a-heart-hot-topic/
The designer, BeatBlack, is a friend of a friend. I'm really disturbed that this seems to be a growing trend with fashion companies. Hot Topic, Urban OutShitters, and I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now. Having experienced this myself, I empathize with how pissed BeatBlack must be, and how helpless she must feel. Hot Topic: Can stealing work (and then ultimately tarnishing the company reputation when you get caught) REALLY be cheaper and easier than hiring the original artist or buying/ licensing the design? Most artists would probably be glad to make a deal if you approached them, and would probably accept far less than they deserve because they don't know any better. However, take away our credit and the internet will bitch slap you sideways! I wish I had known about the YTWWN site a few years ago, and think all artists making merchandise/ fashion would do well to bookmark that site.
Back in March of 2010 I was working with a small apparel company on a line of monster hoodies. Thankfully, I had the forethought to make them significantly different from my Wumpling designs so the lines would remain separate (you'll see why in a bit). Since my client didn't have the resources to send the hoodies into production herself, she felt our best bet was to make a deal with a larger company, who would then also serve as the distributer. She arranged a meeting with none other than Hot Topic.
Now, when I was shopping at Hot Topic in the mid-late 90's, it was still kinda awesome. It was the type of place your parents would be scared to go in, and they'd automatically hate anything you bought there. Perhaps this was all part of their marketing strategy; using rebellion to entice youngsters away from the pleated front comfort of the Gap and Old Navy.
There were also very few store locations, making it something of a treat. We had to drive at least an hour to find the nearest Hot Topic. It was a beacon of all things dark and spikey in the middle of the Iowa cornfields; a consumer haven for the weirdos, metal heads, psuedo goths, confused teenage wiccans, and tiny punk rockers who lived in the middle of nowhere and had no other source for counter culture goods.
These days, you can barely leave the house without stumbling into a Hot Topic. In fact, I think a new one just sprang up in my bathroom as I was writing this. I better go move all my hair extensions before the cashier tries to lodge them into her white girl dreads.
I'm completely unclear as to whether the brand still considers itself counter culture, or "all about the music". They do sell neon colored Nicki Minaj t-shirts, but I feel like that doesn't count. Any time I dare venture in, some 12yr old snot wearing skinny jeans is ordering his mom to buy him stuff while she wades apprehensively through the spray on hair color and Teen Disney corsets. I don't know if that last one exists, but I think it's a mere board room meeting away from reality.
Licensing the shit out of anything that was on tv in the 80's and selling it to kids too young to know the reference has certainly succeeded in making HT a huge corporation, exponentially giving less and less of a shit about what their image and audience are.
Now, back to spring 2010. My client pitched the designs to the buyers at HT, who expressed a very professionally restrained interest. "We like it, but let's wait until the back to school season." Months went by, and the line was pushed back to a christmas release. When Christmas came and went, and our phone calls went unreturned, my client tried to console me by saying that sometimes companies just flake and that even good ideas get tossed by the wayside. She also expressed a complete apathy for the situation, having been through it several times before, and said I could do whatever I wanted with the work but would be doing so on my own. I was bummed that the HT project was dead. However, at least I had the comfort of knowing a dead project where no money had changed hands meant my work was still my own, seeing as I did copyright all the original sketches and had the design files. Right? Right.
Little did I know that the project was not, in fact, dead at all, and that I would be meeting the zombie mass produced version of my creation very soon.
December 2010, killing time at the mall over x-mas break. I saw this on the Hot Topic racks and just about killed everyone in the food court when my mind exploded.
I'm always a little ashamed to admit that I had to buy this to get it. I mentioned to the girl behind the counter that I was the designer and she seemed to believe me, but was unable to offer any kind of employee discount in the situation of freelance/ theft. I spent the next hour composing a professional yet firm letter to their CEO (google has everyone's email address, if you have a little time and a lot of crazy), basically asking "How the FUCK did this happen?"
Their initial response seemed favorable; concise and concerned. Since then, I have found that "This news is very disturbing to us and we will look in the matter as quickly as possible" is more of a stock response, translation: "Oh shit. She found us."
Within a day, I received an email from the designer formally credited with my work. She was also working for a third party, who Hot Topic contracts. To be clear, she may very well have had no idea the design was stolen. She may have been given a few visuals or maybe even a description and simply told to make it happen. It just so happens that what happened ended up looking an awful lot like the drawings of mine that Hot Topic had seen previously. The designer sent me a massive train of design files to support the "natural and coincidental" evolution of her hoodie, though none of them were dated. Her case was that we had arrived at similar things around the same time, entirely independently. We probably could have gone back and forth for a long time about who added what element first, but since she had the support of a company behind her, it didn't seem worth the trouble. Their lawyers would eat my lawyer alive, then use his skin to make screen printed teen apparel.
Once in a while I see a Hot Topic product with a little too much coincidental Ashley monster flavor and it gets my brain churning. Is it derivative? Maybe there's just that much monster stuff out there right now. The sad thing is I'll probably never know, or get paid if I ever find out. While none of these sightings have been similar enough to pursue legally, I take them as reminders to remain vigilant, maintain control of my own designs at all times (no more third party runaround), and declare my copyrights loudly and proudly, for all the web to see. In the interest of that last one, here's the only hoodie design of the original 3 that HT hasn't sourced from yet.
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/have-a-heart-hot-topic/
The designer, BeatBlack, is a friend of a friend. I'm really disturbed that this seems to be a growing trend with fashion companies. Hot Topic, Urban OutShitters, and I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now. Having experienced this myself, I empathize with how pissed BeatBlack must be, and how helpless she must feel. Hot Topic: Can stealing work (and then ultimately tarnishing the company reputation when you get caught) REALLY be cheaper and easier than hiring the original artist or buying/ licensing the design? Most artists would probably be glad to make a deal if you approached them, and would probably accept far less than they deserve because they don't know any better. However, take away our credit and the internet will bitch slap you sideways! I wish I had known about the YTWWN site a few years ago, and think all artists making merchandise/ fashion would do well to bookmark that site.
Back in March of 2010 I was working with a small apparel company on a line of monster hoodies. Thankfully, I had the forethought to make them significantly different from my Wumpling designs so the lines would remain separate (you'll see why in a bit). Since my client didn't have the resources to send the hoodies into production herself, she felt our best bet was to make a deal with a larger company, who would then also serve as the distributer. She arranged a meeting with none other than Hot Topic.
Now, when I was shopping at Hot Topic in the mid-late 90's, it was still kinda awesome. It was the type of place your parents would be scared to go in, and they'd automatically hate anything you bought there. Perhaps this was all part of their marketing strategy; using rebellion to entice youngsters away from the pleated front comfort of the Gap and Old Navy.
There were also very few store locations, making it something of a treat. We had to drive at least an hour to find the nearest Hot Topic. It was a beacon of all things dark and spikey in the middle of the Iowa cornfields; a consumer haven for the weirdos, metal heads, psuedo goths, confused teenage wiccans, and tiny punk rockers who lived in the middle of nowhere and had no other source for counter culture goods.
These days, you can barely leave the house without stumbling into a Hot Topic. In fact, I think a new one just sprang up in my bathroom as I was writing this. I better go move all my hair extensions before the cashier tries to lodge them into her white girl dreads.
I'm completely unclear as to whether the brand still considers itself counter culture, or "all about the music". They do sell neon colored Nicki Minaj t-shirts, but I feel like that doesn't count. Any time I dare venture in, some 12yr old snot wearing skinny jeans is ordering his mom to buy him stuff while she wades apprehensively through the spray on hair color and Teen Disney corsets. I don't know if that last one exists, but I think it's a mere board room meeting away from reality.
Licensing the shit out of anything that was on tv in the 80's and selling it to kids too young to know the reference has certainly succeeded in making HT a huge corporation, exponentially giving less and less of a shit about what their image and audience are.
STOP IT! You were a zygote when this was on. You don't know shit about Scrooge McDuck!
Now, back to spring 2010. My client pitched the designs to the buyers at HT, who expressed a very professionally restrained interest. "We like it, but let's wait until the back to school season." Months went by, and the line was pushed back to a christmas release. When Christmas came and went, and our phone calls went unreturned, my client tried to console me by saying that sometimes companies just flake and that even good ideas get tossed by the wayside. She also expressed a complete apathy for the situation, having been through it several times before, and said I could do whatever I wanted with the work but would be doing so on my own. I was bummed that the HT project was dead. However, at least I had the comfort of knowing a dead project where no money had changed hands meant my work was still my own, seeing as I did copyright all the original sketches and had the design files. Right? Right.
Early file with two color options.
Little did I know that the project was not, in fact, dead at all, and that I would be meeting the zombie mass produced version of my creation very soon.
December 2010, killing time at the mall over x-mas break. I saw this on the Hot Topic racks and just about killed everyone in the food court when my mind exploded.
Look familiar??
I'm always a little ashamed to admit that I had to buy this to get it. I mentioned to the girl behind the counter that I was the designer and she seemed to believe me, but was unable to offer any kind of employee discount in the situation of freelance/ theft. I spent the next hour composing a professional yet firm letter to their CEO (google has everyone's email address, if you have a little time and a lot of crazy), basically asking "How the FUCK did this happen?"
Their initial response seemed favorable; concise and concerned. Since then, I have found that "This news is very disturbing to us and we will look in the matter as quickly as possible" is more of a stock response, translation: "Oh shit. She found us."
Within a day, I received an email from the designer formally credited with my work. She was also working for a third party, who Hot Topic contracts. To be clear, she may very well have had no idea the design was stolen. She may have been given a few visuals or maybe even a description and simply told to make it happen. It just so happens that what happened ended up looking an awful lot like the drawings of mine that Hot Topic had seen previously. The designer sent me a massive train of design files to support the "natural and coincidental" evolution of her hoodie, though none of them were dated. Her case was that we had arrived at similar things around the same time, entirely independently. We probably could have gone back and forth for a long time about who added what element first, but since she had the support of a company behind her, it didn't seem worth the trouble. Their lawyers would eat my lawyer alive, then use his skin to make screen printed teen apparel.
Once in a while I see a Hot Topic product with a little too much coincidental Ashley monster flavor and it gets my brain churning. Is it derivative? Maybe there's just that much monster stuff out there right now. The sad thing is I'll probably never know, or get paid if I ever find out. While none of these sightings have been similar enough to pursue legally, I take them as reminders to remain vigilant, maintain control of my own designs at all times (no more third party runaround), and declare my copyrights loudly and proudly, for all the web to see. In the interest of that last one, here's the only hoodie design of the original 3 that HT hasn't sourced from yet.
Breath in that fresh creativity, HT, and while you're at it, note the date stamp on the image.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Congratulations! It's an Artist!
The public is now half way through the season of Craft Wars, and I find the internet apron deep in reviews and recaps of the episodes. For what purpose, I don't know. If you watched, a recap is useless. If you didn't watch, a recap can really only deliver a mild satisfaction from knowing the outcome, tinted with some author's familiar air of forced cleverness, but without the sense of urgency and disaster that makes even the worst reality show a little irresistibly crack-like. A friend of mine likes The Bachelor, and I'd like to check her in to a 12 step program.
Today while reading a recap written by a fellow Craft Wars veteran, I did stumble upon an interesting factoid: There have only been 2 male contestants so far. Hm. I can only guess that male applicants were scared off by the use of the term "crafting", as it does sort of imply the stuff your grandma used to make with cornhusks and old lace.
Several years ago, I did an interview with an all female owned and operated production company. Their line of questioning practically begged you to respond in a way that would appeal to their young female audience; teenagers who needed to hinge their identities on "girl power" because it was an alternative concept, yet already pioneered by others and thus not scary. One question in particular made me realize something.
"So, Ashley, you're a successful woman working in a male dominated industry. Do you consider yourself a feminist?"
Obviously, they were looking for a 'yes'. They were hoping for war stories about how hard I had to fight to get where I am because I'm a girl; how I wasn't taken seriously or, better, yet, had encountered sexual harassment and persevered! I'd also be able to provide anecdotes about the elder, wise, women who had helped me along the way, giving doe-eyed young women hope that role models DO exist.
Nope. None of that. I am not a feminist.
Seeing the modifer "female" used in relation to a profession bugs me. I'm not an accomplished "female" artist, I'm an accomplished artist. We're all playing on the same field, and I'll take on all you muthafuckas! I don't need to be categorized, nor do I need someone to give me an extra special award because I did all this stuff AND was a girl at the same time. I know it sounds like an awful lot to handle with all the lipstick re-applications and the tampon changing and whatnot, but I assure you it's manageable if you're good at what you do.
To be honest, until they asked me that question I had never really thought of my work in terms of gender at all. Anything I truly want to have, I pursue wholeheartedly and more often then not the hard works pays off. I'm not thinking about whether my chromosomes will help or hurt my chances. When it comes to work and art, I don't think of myself as a "woman"...or a man. I am Ashley Long. Love it, or get the hell out of my way.
As the Craft Wars season moves forward, I hope to see more male contenders in the mix. While my whole genderless artist rant prevents me from being counted as Craft Wars dude #3, I'd like to think I'm a bit more akin to the guys when it comes to my method. We don't look at blog tutorials, we don't have parties. We just are. We work alone in our shops, dig in, and figure shit out guerilla style. Building, designing, stitching, glueing, installing, evil genius-ing, ...making bacon guns and posing like the Terminator when we're bored.
Hmm. Maybe I should look into some genetic testing....
Today while reading a recap written by a fellow Craft Wars veteran, I did stumble upon an interesting factoid: There have only been 2 male contestants so far. Hm. I can only guess that male applicants were scared off by the use of the term "crafting", as it does sort of imply the stuff your grandma used to make with cornhusks and old lace.
Several years ago, I did an interview with an all female owned and operated production company. Their line of questioning practically begged you to respond in a way that would appeal to their young female audience; teenagers who needed to hinge their identities on "girl power" because it was an alternative concept, yet already pioneered by others and thus not scary. One question in particular made me realize something.
"So, Ashley, you're a successful woman working in a male dominated industry. Do you consider yourself a feminist?"
Obviously, they were looking for a 'yes'. They were hoping for war stories about how hard I had to fight to get where I am because I'm a girl; how I wasn't taken seriously or, better, yet, had encountered sexual harassment and persevered! I'd also be able to provide anecdotes about the elder, wise, women who had helped me along the way, giving doe-eyed young women hope that role models DO exist.
Nope. None of that. I am not a feminist.
Seeing the modifer "female" used in relation to a profession bugs me. I'm not an accomplished "female" artist, I'm an accomplished artist. We're all playing on the same field, and I'll take on all you muthafuckas! I don't need to be categorized, nor do I need someone to give me an extra special award because I did all this stuff AND was a girl at the same time. I know it sounds like an awful lot to handle with all the lipstick re-applications and the tampon changing and whatnot, but I assure you it's manageable if you're good at what you do.
To be honest, until they asked me that question I had never really thought of my work in terms of gender at all. Anything I truly want to have, I pursue wholeheartedly and more often then not the hard works pays off. I'm not thinking about whether my chromosomes will help or hurt my chances. When it comes to work and art, I don't think of myself as a "woman"...or a man. I am Ashley Long. Love it, or get the hell out of my way.
As the Craft Wars season moves forward, I hope to see more male contenders in the mix. While my whole genderless artist rant prevents me from being counted as Craft Wars dude #3, I'd like to think I'm a bit more akin to the guys when it comes to my method. We don't look at blog tutorials, we don't have parties. We just are. We work alone in our shops, dig in, and figure shit out guerilla style. Building, designing, stitching, glueing, installing, evil genius-ing, ...making bacon guns and posing like the Terminator when we're bored.
Hmm. Maybe I should look into some genetic testing....
Friday, July 20, 2012
The Id and the Ego
Unemployment is a very introspective time. One has all hours of the day to ponder the big questions; What am I doing with my career? What would I do if I could afford to do whatever I wanted? How long has it been since I washed these pajama pants?
I've been working in tv animation for almost 7 years. Well, until very recently, when I became a vicitm of *DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!*-- budget cuts! That's sort of the end of that story. I just wanted to clarify that I'm unemployed entirely against my will, and not because I'm a worthless bum. I often feel I should explain it to my mail carrier. Every time I hear him open my mailbox and drop off my unemployment check, I feel certain he's shaking his head at the deadbeat in #101. I want to drag him inside and show him my "Sent" email folder, my jumbled files of what studios I called and when; proof that I have been pimping my portfolio all over town and doing everything in my power to become a functioning member of society again!
While I wait for animation to pick up again, I've been considering my three dimensional work as a source of employment. I'd like to start freelancing in the costuming or prop design industries because I've found that I really enjoy building things. Entirely self taught through experimentation with materials, I've found that my art objects provide for me the sense of artistic satisfaction that I think many animators are chasing with their drawing, but will never find in their day job. Even if it's for a show you like, animation is essentially a manufactured product. To be happy in a studio, you must understand this. People who say things like "what I really care about is STORY" need to wake the fuck up and realize you're not going to find it here.
I was always very happy to work on someone else's product by day, because I knew I had limitless fantastical creatures to make by night (and weekend). I particularly enjoy my masks because you can look at them empty and still feel who the character is. Constructing them is very relaxing because there are no rules. I can build as big as I want, as gaudy as I want. There's nobody who knows these characters better than me, and thus nobody who can critique my aesthetic choices. I can abandon all standards, opinions, and other nitpickery one might expereince during their day job as an artist. You know what I say to perspective? BAM! I just glued a sequin on that shit! There's your vanishing point, bitchez!
Building, for me, is a release of the Id.
Plus, how often do you get to deal with fur bikinis in storyboarding. Well, actually, maybe a handful of times. I will truly miss drawing Roger from American Dad...
For a complete portfolio of my masquerade fanciness, visit my newest web presence:
http://www.bleidu.com/ashleyjlong
I've been working in tv animation for almost 7 years. Well, until very recently, when I became a vicitm of *DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!*-- budget cuts! That's sort of the end of that story. I just wanted to clarify that I'm unemployed entirely against my will, and not because I'm a worthless bum. I often feel I should explain it to my mail carrier. Every time I hear him open my mailbox and drop off my unemployment check, I feel certain he's shaking his head at the deadbeat in #101. I want to drag him inside and show him my "Sent" email folder, my jumbled files of what studios I called and when; proof that I have been pimping my portfolio all over town and doing everything in my power to become a functioning member of society again!
While I wait for animation to pick up again, I've been considering my three dimensional work as a source of employment. I'd like to start freelancing in the costuming or prop design industries because I've found that I really enjoy building things. Entirely self taught through experimentation with materials, I've found that my art objects provide for me the sense of artistic satisfaction that I think many animators are chasing with their drawing, but will never find in their day job. Even if it's for a show you like, animation is essentially a manufactured product. To be happy in a studio, you must understand this. People who say things like "what I really care about is STORY" need to wake the fuck up and realize you're not going to find it here.
I was always very happy to work on someone else's product by day, because I knew I had limitless fantastical creatures to make by night (and weekend). I particularly enjoy my masks because you can look at them empty and still feel who the character is. Constructing them is very relaxing because there are no rules. I can build as big as I want, as gaudy as I want. There's nobody who knows these characters better than me, and thus nobody who can critique my aesthetic choices. I can abandon all standards, opinions, and other nitpickery one might expereince during their day job as an artist. You know what I say to perspective? BAM! I just glued a sequin on that shit! There's your vanishing point, bitchez!
Building, for me, is a release of the Id.
Plus, how often do you get to deal with fur bikinis in storyboarding. Well, actually, maybe a handful of times. I will truly miss drawing Roger from American Dad...
For a complete portfolio of my masquerade fanciness, visit my newest web presence:
http://www.bleidu.com/ashleyjlong
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Craft Wars! Impending fame and preparing for stalkers.
I am a woman of many principles, and one of those principles is that I refuse to pay for cable tv. Most of the year, I can boast that I'm not only saving money, but that I'm also a lot more productive because I'm forced to entertain myself.
After 7 yrs without cable, I've finally been struck with a very frustrating downside: I can't watch Craft Wars!
My episode is still several weeks away from airing, but I'm trying to keep up on the previous episodes just so I have some idea of what the flying glittery fuck people are talking about on twitter. Don't even tell me it's on iTunes. I KNOW. One of my other principles is that I'm not paying $1.99 for something that consumed months of my life and forced me to drink dangerous amounts of coffee.
My search for a reliable viewing source continues. However, tonight did yield this gem--a frozen still of Megan and I (I'm on the left), standing in place of a YouTube video that got taken down for copyright infringement. Thank you, dirty web pirate, for making me feel special today <3
After 7 yrs without cable, I've finally been struck with a very frustrating downside: I can't watch Craft Wars!
My episode is still several weeks away from airing, but I'm trying to keep up on the previous episodes just so I have some idea of what the flying glittery fuck people are talking about on twitter. Don't even tell me it's on iTunes. I KNOW. One of my other principles is that I'm not paying $1.99 for something that consumed months of my life and forced me to drink dangerous amounts of coffee.
My search for a reliable viewing source continues. However, tonight did yield this gem--a frozen still of Megan and I (I'm on the left), standing in place of a YouTube video that got taken down for copyright infringement. Thank you, dirty web pirate, for making me feel special today <3
A scientist friend of mine has been on several History channel shows and told me to prepare for stalkers. He says after he was on tv he started getting marriage proposals via email. Maybe now is a good time for me to get a P.O. Box.....
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Turning Trash into Treasure--for realz
I delight in turning trash into treasure. When most people say that, "trash" means a perfectly good chair that needs a new coat of varnish or a re-upholstered seat cover. When I say it, I mean serious muthafuckin' trash. The kind of stuff where you have to chase down the janitor at work and say "Actually, I was saving that" as you lift it gingerly from his cart. It is in this moment that you become aware that you look like a crazy person.
I see potential in discarded and found objects. As a child, I would save treasures I found on the playground or the sidewalk; a broken necklace, a single earring, a token from an arcade that has long been out of business. I felt certain I would find the right purpose for these odd bits. If you look closely at my masquerade costumes, you'll see that many of them finally found their fabulous destiny years later as pieces of a Burlesque Unicorn or Jaguar Priestess.
Last week on Craft Wars, contestants were challenged to make a bird house using bits and pieces from "the junk drawer". I don't have a junk drawer. I have a junk dining room. This seemed like a great opportunity to share the ways I've repurposed junk on a large scale, and a chance to justify to myself why I save all this shit..
2009: TikiLand halloween display! Co-built by Harry Sabin, so is master of lighting and derailing my nervous breakdowns.
Materials used: Astroturf (discard from an old freelance project), black garbage bags and plastic sheeting, broken bamboo blinds, scrap foam core, old party decorations (palm trees), fake flowers from the dollar store, scrap cardboard (tiki statue), foil, paper mache, reflective sheet plastic I got off craigslist for free, cheap Ikea lights, blacklight reflective paint, and Harry's favorite...dry ice.
We made this for our office's annual Halloween decorating contest, but then they cancelled the contest because nobody would even bother competing with us anymore. UNDEFEATED, BITCHEZ!
2008: Haunted Pet Shop. Interior paintings by Harry.
The concept was to build a home for my puppet, the WeoPup. The other pet shop inhabitants are also monsters or mutants. Materials used: trashed cardboard (house facade), plastic table cover, black trash bags, scrap foam core, scrap bin fur, dollar store spider webbing, black light reactive paint, discarded foam inserts from computer boxes.
A peek inside the window:
2007: Space Console for an alien creature themed gallery environment. Probably my crowning achievement as garbage art goes.
Materials used: Scrap cardboard, poster tubes, ribbon, paper plates, foam inserts from computer boxes, dollar store windshield wiper covers, broken memory card, buttons, circuitboards, and wiring from trashed computers (our IT guy let me go to town), sculpey, tinted cellophane, battery powered touch lights, pill bottles, and an old map. I made the custom screensaver using photoshop and after effects.
Close up of some faux gadgets:
We also built space shelving for some of the artwork out of foam and computer pieces. Here are two of my Wumphants doing a balancing act:
So there you have it. All of this awesomeness brought to you by the letters J, for junk, and B, for budget. Glory does not come from pre-packaged materials at the office supply and craft stores (except Michael's, the proud sponsor of Craft Wars). Glory comes from making something out of nothing, and coming up with an impromptu yet convincing explanation when your neighbor finds you digging in the dumpster. Now get on it!
I see potential in discarded and found objects. As a child, I would save treasures I found on the playground or the sidewalk; a broken necklace, a single earring, a token from an arcade that has long been out of business. I felt certain I would find the right purpose for these odd bits. If you look closely at my masquerade costumes, you'll see that many of them finally found their fabulous destiny years later as pieces of a Burlesque Unicorn or Jaguar Priestess.
Last week on Craft Wars, contestants were challenged to make a bird house using bits and pieces from "the junk drawer". I don't have a junk drawer. I have a junk dining room. This seemed like a great opportunity to share the ways I've repurposed junk on a large scale, and a chance to justify to myself why I save all this shit..
2009: TikiLand halloween display! Co-built by Harry Sabin, so is master of lighting and derailing my nervous breakdowns.
2008: Haunted Pet Shop. Interior paintings by Harry.
A peek inside the window:
Close up of some faux gadgets:
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Virgin Blog--making a stand.
This is my very first blog. Anyone who knows me will know that I'm somewhat repelled by the idea of blogging. Say the word out loud to yourself. It sounds like a medical condition involving water retention, or a noise you make while revisiting the too many vodkas you drank the night before. "BLOG". Yuck.
Don't get me started on "bloggers". Many people who would put themselves in this category are spending more hours of the day typing about doing something than actually doing it. I'm from the midwest, and we don't waste words or time. I am a do-er. My first words were "I'll do it!" when my mom wasn't putting together my toy fast enough. Seriously, ask her!
My crusty opinions aside, I'm going to make a good, honest attempt at embracing social media as it pertains to my art. I'll be posting my plush toys, puppets, costumes, and other various entertaining artsy farsty-ness, which I guarantee will make you pee your pants with joy and forget all about my senior citizen-esque attitude toward blogs (uck, that word again). I'll also be keeping you up to date on my impending appearance on TLC's Craft Wars--YAY!
Until next time, I will be in my workshop (*at my coffee table), Doing, Building, Sewing, Gluing, and definitely not posting desperate Instagram photos every half hour.
Peace out, Suckas!
Don't get me started on "bloggers". Many people who would put themselves in this category are spending more hours of the day typing about doing something than actually doing it. I'm from the midwest, and we don't waste words or time. I am a do-er. My first words were "I'll do it!" when my mom wasn't putting together my toy fast enough. Seriously, ask her!
My crusty opinions aside, I'm going to make a good, honest attempt at embracing social media as it pertains to my art. I'll be posting my plush toys, puppets, costumes, and other various entertaining artsy farsty-ness, which I guarantee will make you pee your pants with joy and forget all about my senior citizen-esque attitude toward blogs (uck, that word again). I'll also be keeping you up to date on my impending appearance on TLC's Craft Wars--YAY!
Until next time, I will be in my workshop (*at my coffee table), Doing, Building, Sewing, Gluing, and definitely not posting desperate Instagram photos every half hour.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)