Dress Up October: Here is your Challenge!

Victorious Victorian....
October's dress-up challenge is to create a dress with a Victorian Flair - whether it be a steam-punk mix-it-up or a true-to-the-era reproduction, you will be creating a piece near and dear to my heart.

If I could have any job or do only one thing before I die, it would be to work in research and restoration of Victorian era extant costume.

I look forward to all the fantastic submissions with great anticipation!

Here is a perfect place to start: The Victoria and Albert Museum Fashion Section

Type "Steampunk Fashion" into your search engine and view the results in "images" and feast on all the creative combinations!

Have fun and leave your links below!

All the best,

Liza

September Dress-Up: Submission

Anything Goes!

Here is my submittal for September.... please check out all the other lovely creations at this link:  September Dress-Up Challenge

I used this cute little girl paper doll from the Graphics Fairy and collaged a Mother Nature-as-an-Artist costume around her.

There are some details of her dress below:

 Have a great end to your weekend!

Liza

Tending to the Pilot Light Image Transfers

IMAGE TRANSFERS GALORE!!!

We played with CitraSolv... Concentrate... don't be fooled by any substitutes, nor by the nice looking cleaning solution in a spray bottle, you must use the Concentrate, and boy-howdy, does it ever transfer images with clarity and precision!

Check out their website for ideas and information on creative uses of this product:

Artists Page

In the Tuesday Tending to the Pilot Light Session, we had one student working on covering an entire coffee dyed t-shirt with toner based images:

She has since purchased her own bottle of Citrasolv and is working away on even more projects... We will hopefully see some photos of the finished products, or maybe even treated to a show and tell one of these days!

Another student experimented with transfers to tissue and handmade paper - she even got this gorgeous print to stick to the rose petal embedded in the paper fibres:

She then moved onto a more complex piece that finished up with application of paint and gold leaf:

You can see the multiple layers of images, from a bull fight to musical bars to the wrought iron deco motif underneath it all.  The red, gold and dark black are acrylic paint details added at the end.  Remember that for text or music, the copy must be made backwards.... many copy machines have an automatic reversal function on their control panels.

While my students were transferring and transferring, I experimented with different mediums:

This was a picture cut out of a National Geographic magazine.  The grey "frame" around the image was the result of the ink melting and bleeding off the edge of the picture as I applied the Citrasolv to the back of the picture.

This image contains both stamped and transferred images (Toner-based copies and a 1976 newspaper) augmented with magic markers... there did not seem to be any clarity or adhesion issues with layering transfer images.

This piece has a toner based image transferred to tissue paper and then the ghost image of the gal in the sailor shirt applied twice more.  I would have tried for a third ghost, but the back of the paper was pretty much shredded from the burnishing.

On Thursday, we created a couple more complex pieces:

Look at the details of these winged creatures! They look absolutely real, and they transferred beautifully onto the uneven surface of multi layers of handmade and tissue paper

This is one of mine... once again, I can not resist the black frame of a record album

This is another piece I made, starting with a sheet of paper I had saved from an intaglio printing session, the blue scrappy bits were the residue of ink left on the bottom of the plate - random and beautiful.  Next I transferred a picture of two turn of the century butchers, then re transferred the right hand brother onto blue tissue paper since his face did not come out (I used too much citrasolv and melted the ink into a black blot)  I was unhappy with the tissue paper result so just tore the tissue off in bits, then transferred bunches of faces into the dark area on the right and added some of my new favorite: Pearl Ex powdered paint just to add some mystery.  The frame is made with bits of encyclopedia text glued down with gel medium.

All in all, I think this is a remarkable process and can not wait to work with it again!

Have a great week!

Take care,

Liza

September Dress Up Challenge has its first Submittal from Brazil!!

Please take a moment to view this amazing construction from a Dress Up 2011 Challenge participant.  Our first submission has been posted and by the looks of it, the bar has been set pretty high!

Sneak Peak below:

Here is the link to Maria's blog:
http://bimartsatelie.blogspot.com/2011/09/mini-atelie-dress.html

ttfn
Liza

June Dress-Up (Catch-Up): Submission

My participation in the Dress-up challenge has been spotty this summer, and I am determined to "Get back on Track"!

Here is my submission for the June, yes... I know...the June Dress Up Challenge whose theme was Asian Inspired artwork. Since I make it a habit of not looking at the other participant's submissions until AFTER I complete my piece, and it has been such a long time since June, I remembered the challenge as "Japanese Inspired".

With that in mind, and since I was in an obsessed jag of making dress compositions on record albums, I researched origami dress shapes and created this school girl's uniform layered on japanese prints and an actual mini Japanese parasol from an old mobile. (Have I mentioned that I never throw anything away?!)

Here are some of the other pieces I made during the same long session...

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, and be sure to take a look at all the other June Submissions at Sew Loquacious

Note: Beginning in September, MacKomics Studio will be hosting the 2011 Dress Up Challenge while Angela of Sew Loquacious recovers from knee surgery.  See this post for September's challenge and check back often to see all the "Anything Goes" submissions.

Summer is Ending at MacKomics Studio

What a great summer this has been! So many great people have participated in my evening art classes and their enthusiasm and talent has inspired me to create even more.  Many INCREDIBLE donations of supplies, craft, fine art, beading and fabric; have kept me busy as well.

Time, that elusive constant, however, has grown tighter.... what with a new part time job (Hurray for the Lawrence Public Library!), Bikram Yoga, and some custom pieces I've been working on, the days just fly by.

Never-the-less, I am excited to announce that I will be hosting the remainder of the Dress Up 2011 Challenge!  Our intrepid hostess, Angela of Sew Loquacious, will be undergoing a lengthy recovery from knee surgery in the near future and has requested assistance.  Although I could never fill her dainty glass slippers... I will endeavor to provide nearly as lovely a forum for this delightful activity as she has all this year.

My biggest challenge will be to KEEP UP with you all!! I just finished a fill-in dress for June and am still behind for August so look for some frenzied dress-related art activity in the near future.

So... here is Angela's original post -


I am proud to announce the Dress Up 2011 artist theme for September is......



ANYTHING GOES!

I've decided all the themes up till now. Now it's your turn! You decide on an artist, an art movement, a color, or even a Broadway show (ah, the photo above)! It's all up to you! Just remember to keep it family friendly...You'll find the Simply Link tool at the bottom of this post!

and here is the Simply Link tool:

I am very excited to see all of the free-choice "Anything Goes" dresses you create this month - have fun and enjoy the beginning of autumn.

Best,
Liza