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.

Male Archer Elf

Boys sometimes get the raw end of the stick when it comes to the fantasy genera in art and photography. At least little boys do. There are all kinds of photographers that do fairy photo shoots but they are super feminine which most boys don't want. Not all but most.  Hence this photo shoot.

I made his tunic, quiver and arrows. The pants were his, the bow I purchased online at Black Bear Haversack Trading Post several years ago. The leather gauntlets I purchased from a fellow Etsy shop Iron Woods Shop.

I have plans for a dragon shoot, a Lost Boys shoot and a tribal shoot this year using some of my tribal pieces out of my Etsy shop.
              

All in all it was a good shoot and everyone was happy. The other masculine shoots coming up, I am  hopefully I can get it all together before fall.

Trying Something New. Again.

Remember how I had posted a few weeks ago about how I had decided to drop a few things? Well, this post is about all of that. Please bear with me on this. I will throw in a few new images I have been working on. Like this one. An old image I finally got around to post processing.

Now, let me just say, I love what I do, all that I do. I have such a huge world in my head that I want to express visually but not the time to do it, and the need to make a little bit of money to live. Because I needed to make some income I decided to start on this journey of owning a small business. Fast forward 8 years later and we have my predicament that has lead me to drop some of the things that I want to do.

As a one woman show, I just can't do everything that is involved with running a business. At least, not anymore. Making my art/products, photographing them, listing them, packaging them when they sell, customer service that's involved, offering photography as a service, photographing those clients, post processing those images, keeping my website up to date, keeping up all of the social media sites 6 of them to be exact, custom orders, magazine articles to write, art shows to vend, keeping up with licensing and insurance, taxes.... the list goes on and on. I have to let something go.

Butterfly Fairy Crown

Boho Gypsy Stacking Bracelets

Black Jewel Crown

2018 Spring Line, Rainbow Roses

Mixed Media Dragonfly Writing Journal

Mixed Media Seahorse Writing Journal

Lion Decanter

I am scaling back just about everything. I am going to wean myself off of making jewelry. Once what I have made has sold, I will not be making any more. I am also going to pull away from steampunk in general. It seems that the trend is fading and that only the original hardcore steampunkers are still steaming on. But the high demand isn't there anymore so it is something I can let go. Again, once my fascinators are gone, I will not be making more to fill my shop.

Steampunk Fairy Necklace

Steampunk Fascinator

I am also not going to be making fascinators in general any longer, even fairy ones. I will be sticking with crowns and headdresses for the fairy folk and gypsies out there.

Blue Gypsy Headdress

Butterfly Queen Crown

And last but not least, with a sad heart, I am going to be pulling back from photography. I will not be offering standard portraiture, family photography, event photography or any service of that nature. If someone wants a fairytale shoot, I will take those clients, but otherwise my photography will be a means to get my art out into the world and not to make money.

I am also not going to be posting on all of my social media outlets. I will be sticking with Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. I am also going to be closing my website, especially since it focuses on photography packages for potential clients. I will use my blog as the main resource for getting info to customers and clients.

I will be doing some different things, like sharing a coop type space here locally. I figured I'd rather store my stuff where people can see it and potentially buy it instead of storing it in a storage space in a box.

I will still be doing my mixed media art as well. When I get a wild hair to do it anyway. I am unsure about doing art shows anymore though. Still on the fence about that. The ones that I think I would do well at are HUGE and the fees are really high. Which cash flow doesn't allow for right now. Which brings me to my next dilemma. 

I know the old saying is true, "You have to spend money to make money." But the one thing I told myself I would never do is dip into personal funds for business. And I have stuck to my guns with that. But my business is at a point that if I want to grow, I will need to hire out some of the work that needs to be done. I am going to be taking on an intern. She starts this week. She just wants to learn, so win win for everyone. I hope that one day I can pay someone for social media help and marketing. And have a sales rep. That would be super helpful a free up so much of my time to do what I need to be doing, which is creating.

So, I leave you with this. I will be posting way more since I don't have a website to keep up with. And hopefully that turns into more art and beautiful images to make the world a happier place.

Snow Fairy Crown