Steampunk Refashion

Something that has been close to my heart for about... forever has been thrifting. I was married very young and we had to make do with what we had or make a trip to the second hand shop. 19 years later it is still the same. Only now, my refashioning/repurposing/upcycling skills have been refined a bit more.
Now the point is to not create more waste. Now I don't want anything to go to waste. At least as much as possible anyway.
Most of the items and fabrics used in my work and products are repurposed and salvaged. Everything from fabrics to beads to jewelry findings to entire pieces of clothing.

Take this for example. I was an artist in a RAW Artist- Atlanta show last month (I'll post on that later). I was told I could have a couple of models wearing my pieces to help draw people to my booth. I chose to go with steampunk and woodland, my two most popular generas. And I only had 2 models to work with.

After thinking about it for a long while I decided I did want them walking around in just whatever wearing my pieces, so I made outfits for each of them. The woodland character has been mulling around in my brain for a while. I've been wanting to do a photo shoot with this character for quite sometime. But more on that later.

With the steampunk, I wanted people to see everyday steampunk. Things one might wear for normal occasions and not just festivals, cons, or themed weddings.

I started out with this, a grey plaid a-line skirt and a sheer black blouse.

With the skirt, I added a corset/lace up back by sewing large jump rings to the skirt and lacing black satin ribbon through the rings. When tightened it gathers the skirt and acts almost like a small bustle.

 

In the front of the skirt I sewed 2 pick ups and placed black sating bows at each of the gathering spots. 

For the blouse, I cut off the sleeves and used the material, along with some chiffon ribbon to add to the ruffles around the neck. I also added some lace and rhinestones around the neck. I wanted it to look reminiscent of the collars seen in women's clothing during the Victorian era.

Here is how the outfit turned out. Unfortunately and fortunately both the blouse, corset and skirt sold right away so these are the only images I got of the entire outfit. Which was on the day and location of the RAW Artist Atlanta event. Next time I will be sure and do a full photo shoot before advertising the pieces.

 As of November 8th, 2015 the fasciantor and veil are still available. They can be purchased here in my Etsy shop.
Not bad for some second hand shop finds, eh?

First Sculpture Ever

Now that things have sort of settled from the move. I am going to hopefully keep up with this blog thing.

I have been wanting to do a post about my first sculpture piece. many of you may know that I love the woods. I am a forest nymph at heart. I love moss and bark and twigs and the sort.
This piece, untitled as of yet, was inspired by a my love of the woodland things.

Here is some of the process. It took me a long time as I have had no formal training and I was just kind of winging it.

 

 

She is a paper mache, wood and L200 foam base frame, sculpted with air dry paper clay then painted with acrylic paint. I did not use any sort of mold for this sculpture. It is sculpted by hand.

 

I'll be posting some of my older work sometime. I have some 3D wall pieces and some mixed media wall pieces I'd like to share.

Artist Showcase

Things have really gotten away from me with the whirlwind of Halloween orders, making costumes for mu kids, finishing unpacking and other business happenings.
One of those happenings is Reformation Brewery's Artist Showcase.  You can red there more about what the showcase is. But for those that cannot attend here are some images and the story of my piece for you to enjoy.

When I heard about the artist showcase I knew right away what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do a mixed media sculpture. Sculpting is not a strong-suit for me as I have only sculpted a face one other time and I have had no training. I am completely self taught. With this piece I wanted to do a larger face and bust, then add some natural elements.

I started with a wreath table stand since it had a heavy base to hold the weight of the piece. I sprayed it black, as it was gold and gold wouldn't work.

I added a round floral foam ball so the piece wouldn't weigh so much and so the piece wasn't solid clay. Otherwise it would never dry since I am using natural stone, air dry clay.  I used heavy gauge wire and foil to form the framing for the shoulders and bust. I then sculpted the clay over the foam/wire/foil base. I did not use any molds, this is sculpted entirely by hand.

Then there was a little accident involving a 3 year old and the floor. Let's just say that those two things are not good for wet clay and I had to resculpt her face.

After many hours of work and a few tears, I was able to finish her on time for the installation.

I used as many natural items as possible. I used natural stone clay, natural tree bark collect from my back yard, natural sheet moss and reindeer moss, natural Spanish moss, natural preserved hops flowers, and preserved greens. I added some high quality silk greens and moss covered wire for filling in. I used acrylics and Faber-Castell gelatos to paint her face and bust.

The title of this piece is, Uncontrived

 

 

  

Natural preserved hops flowers

She's not perfect and I have a long way to go in refining my sculpting techniques and abilities, especially a face, but I love how she turned out. If you are local, come by Reformation Brewery's Keeping Room to view this piece and 16 other artists pieces November 6th through November 22nd 2015 at their artist showcase.

Vintage Redo

Remember the last post of this fantastic find from Queen of Hearts Antiques and Interiors? I finished it and it is fantastic I must say.

It was covered in rust and some paint splotches, which I was fine with. I like the old rusty look. However, the rust was getting on my hands when I touched it and messed with the drawers.

 

I took all of the drawers out. 99 of them to be exact, 10 rows of 10. I pulled out the crusty papers that were in some of them and started cleaning up the dirt and some of the rust. As I pulled drawers out to clean them I found some interesting things.

I found some jewelry molds from the 1930's. Most of them are unusable as they are dried out and not flexible anymore. But a fun find non-the-less.

I even found a jewelry key that had the date on it. Which is how I knew what era they come from.

Some of the drawers had some major damage from the rust. The rust had eaten away at some of the metal leaving "lesion" type marks over the entire front of some of the drawers. So I had to come up with a way to cover the bad damage without covering the entire piece in paint. What about a checkerboard pattern? I fell in love with the idea becasue it would be a reminder of my LOVE for Alice in Wonderland.

I didn't want to have to go buy more product to finish this piece. I am on a budget. So I went through the paint I had and decided to use the grey paint I used on the cubby bookshelf piece from my last post.
I sorted through the drawers to pulled the ones with the worst damage and dry brushed the paint on. After the paint dried I put a layer of sealant over every drawer and the shelving that houses the drawers.

Here it is finished and in place, in my almost finished studio. It was missing 1 drawer when I purchased it. Which is probably why I got such a great deal on it. I figure I could have a drawer made, find one in an antique shop, or make one out of wood myself and paint it to match. Either way this piece is fabulous and I just adore it. I will use it to hold all of my bits and bobs for my art and jewelry.

I am now one step closer to having my studio done. I have 2 more furniture pieces to finish and then I can unload all of my boxes and fill my little drawers and shelves.

In my next post I will show how I used gel stain to update a 1980s handmade hutch from a honey oak to an espresso finish.

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.