Underwater Fantasy Photo Shoot: Astrological Signs - The First Six

It has been a long while since I have posted and I am about to show you why.

Not only did we travel to Scotland for 2 weeks in June this year, and all of my kids had large birthday parties, but I was also apart of a collaboration with local artists.

My friend, Maegan Hall of Maegan Hall Photography, approached me and asked me what I thought about designing costumes fro this idea she had. She had a vision of doing an underwater photo shoot with the theme of the 12 astrological signs. She asked if I would design and create the costumes for the shoot. of course I jumped on that. Not only do I just adore Maegan but the opportunity to be involved with such a creative collaboration was right up my alley.

I waited until after our Scotland trip, more about that later, I started designing and sewing. When Maegan first approached me about it my wheels started turning, so when it came time to actually sit down and sketch, it didn't take long. I spent most of my effort on researching the different Zodiac signs, their glyphs, colors associated with them, and personality traits.

I hadn't sketched all of my ideas before I started on the costumes themselves. At this point, the pool had been found, generously donated time by my brother-in-law, and booked for August 25th and 26th, and most of the models found. I had 2 months to get all 12 costumes finished. And I made it, barely.

I didn't create the costumes in order. But I will list them in order by sign.

CAPRICORN

I had this idea of channeling Grace Jones for Capricorn. Fierce and empowered. I think the model and I both nailed it.

 

Model Crystal R. China

AQUARIUS

Aquarius is a masculine sign, which, before this shoot I had no idea that the signs were masculine or feminine, but I digress...
Though he ended up with hardly any clothing, Aquarius was a difficult sign to interpret, along with Gemini. I knew I wanted to use blue and give a vibe of fun and independent, some of the signs traits typically. So, a loin cloth it was. The model, Ryan, was easy going and a trouper. He had no ide until he showed up what he was wearing, or not wearing. We has to weight the fabric down to keep it from floating too much underwater. I used fishing weights to accomplish this and later Maegan took them out post process.

Model Ryan Pugh

PISCES

Well, this costume was a serious labor of love. Over 1000 beads. All hand stitched. The idea was inspired by a 2013 gown by The Blonds. I started with an aqua color gown. I wanted an ombre look to the beading so I used fabric dye to dye a portion of the bodice the coral color accent and then fabric paint for the white. I then began to bead. For days. And days. 5 days total and many of those days were 8 hours of beading. I love how it turned out though. I learned so much through this gown. I want to do another one now that I know what I need to do and not do. I was ver inspired despite all of the hours and beads involved.

Model Atiya Rahman

ARIES

Aries wasn't hard, it was just time consuming. I knew what I wanted to do I just had to find time to mold and shape all of the armor pieces. Fortunately, one of the team members has a business doing 3D printing. 8Bit Cosplay to the rescue. They 3D printed the spikes I had sculpted out of clay. It was amazing and fast. All I had to do was paint them and attach them to the EVA foam armor.

Originally I wanted gold and a deep, almost maroon red. Like an ox blood red, but my budget was running thin so I had to go with a red I had. It worked. Especially adding black pants and shirt as a base.

Model Ross Muhlenberg

TAURUS

Taurus was probably the easiest one for me to come up with and make. I used techniques I use all the time in my designs so it was kind of a no brainer. I have made real tree bark belts and waist cinchers in the past. And I have made numerous head pieces over the years. So again, easy.

Model Laura Muhlenberg

GEMINI

Gemini, Gemini was the other sign that was difficult. Initially we had twin models, unfortunately, that fell through, which changed what I was envisioning. Which workout, so it wasn't a big deal. Being flexible is a good thing. Gemini was also the last sign I designed. Which again, worked since the model situation changed. I decided to go with the theater masks to represent the Gemini's glyph, twins and the duality that tends to be a thing with Gemini's. One was cool tones and one warm. I used vintage silks and ribbons. I also used a metalic wax to color the masks and to help seal them. Remember these need to withstand being underwater for a few hours.

As I was writing this post I realized it was super long. So, I'm breaking it up into two separate posts. You can find the second half here.
And you can read about the photography side of the project here (link coming soon). I will have these costumes for sale in my Etsy shop in 2019.  Follow my blog to keep up with all the new things coming in 2019!!!

Underwater Fantasy Shoot: Astrological Signs Highlight from Boutwell Productions on Vimeo.

Starting Over In Georgia

If you haven't heard already, we have moved back to the Atlanta area. Since we have moved lots has been going on and things have been busy with personal things like doing some remodeling in our new home, birthdays, and getting ready for the next school year at new schools.

As for business and creativity, well, it has been crazy there as well. 

I have been photographing random things to practice my editing skills, since my studio isn't up and running yet. I have been working on trying to get it in order as soon as possible becasue busy season is coming soon.

 

I have been working with digital add-ons, overlays and textures for my photography. I think I still like to make the actual items for my photo shoots, but I know if I can't get it in real life I can add it later.  

Digital wings added

Now onto the good stuff. Here is this fantastic, vintage, bookcase? Shelving unit? Whatever it is, it is fabulous. I know it is at least as old as I am because it was in my closet when I was a child. My mom was an extreme couponer before it was a thing. We are talking the 1970's couponing here people. She had boxes FULL of proofs of purchase from all kinds of food items, to send in for coupons. Every cubby had a box and every box was full, and organized. I told her if she ever wanted to get rid of the bookcase, I would take it off her hands. Now I will use it in my studio. But before I use it I wanted to fix it up some.

 

The piece has several coats of brown paint on it, several layers of dirt and dust (from being in a garage for 25 years, after being in my closet for 10), and several screws and nails in it. I patched up the holes and cleaned up the dirt and dust. 

  

I really didn't want to paint the entire piece and I wanted to keep some of the original color so I decided to dry brush a medium to dark grey over the entire piece to blend the browns and hole fixes. I also added some bun feet to get it off the floor for easy cleaning of the floor. This is how it came out. I love it and it goes perfectly in my new studio. Which, by the way I will do a post on my studio reveal when it is finished. 

 

Beautiful, right? I put a coat of clear furniture wax to seal and protect the finish. I have several pieces I am repurposing. The next piece I am working on is this amazing piece. I found it at a local antique market while shopping with a friend. I had started pulling out all of the little drawers when I remembered I needed to take a "before" picture. There are drawers that fill the entire piece. I'll be posting soon on what I did with this piece and the fun things I found inside some of the drawers.

   

I am also happy to say that I have some space at Woodstock Antiques. Located in the metro-Atlanta area Woodstock Antiques and Consignment has some great finds that now include my Lily Mairi line of jewelry. I have other exciting news that will come later too! Follow my blog and like my Facebook pages Lily Mairi on Facebook and Jennifer Griffin Fine Art Photography on Facebook to keep up with all of the new adventures and projects happening.

 

Selling Our Home

It is official, our home is for sale. After 8 years and a crazy amount of renovations, we are leaving. If you know anyone that wants to live in the metro-Atlanta area, this is a great house!

Here are some of the renovations we did.

Living Room & Fireplace Before

Living Room Before

Living room after (still need to put photos in that frame)

Living Room -Front Door

I have actually changed the colors twice since we renovated. I can't help it, I like change I guess. My husband and I did 95% of the interior work ourselves.

Before of the Dinning Room

I believe this is a wall in the kitchen.

After of the Dinning Room

The kitchen was the last project because some other things came up, like the roof needing to be replaced sooner than we anticipated. But when it was done, it was worth the wait and not having an oven for 3 years. (It was a wall oven and it broke and since we weren't going to go with a wall oven in the new kitchen, we didn't want to waste our money on replacing it.)

Ta-Da!

Where the hood to the oven is used to be where the black microwave is in the picture above this one. It's that same wall in the kitchen.

Here is a work in progress shot showing the new drywall

We renovated pretty much the entire house. Even new HVAC, new roof, new plumbing, wiring, security system. You name it we did it all except the flooring, it is original. 

Lots of work and love in every square inch of the home.