Etsy user TaMuidBeo featured my Rose and Lava Bead Jumble Necklace in her Etsy Treasury Hot Lava (top row, 2nd from right in photo). I’m loving all the other lava pieces…it’s such a fun, organic material to work with! Thanks TMuidBeo!!
xoxox
Carly
Speaking of Etsy…
A few people have asked me about offering my faux fur tails in different colors, so I’ve spent the last several days making up new ones, in two BRAND NEW colors I just received in the mail. One is a “fox”-like color: cream with orange-tipped fur. The other is a “raccoon”-like color: tan with brown-tipped fur and stripes. (see above)
I also have a one-of-a-kind dip-dye pink-to-white tail (purely accidental, since I was trying to dye the tip black) that I posted for sale.
I’ve also added a couple of “puffball” charms if you prefer something smaller and not so “tail”-like.
I’d love to hear your feedback!
xoxox
Carly
Black-rimmed glasses: Tommy Hilfiger. LS Black Tee: Forever 21. Smock-dress made from 2 men’s shirts: handmade by me. Ball rings: Claire’s. Snaptape and vinyl belt: handmade by me. Charcoal Boots: Doc Martens.
Day 22 in my 30 Days of Outfits Challenge: November 22.
Lil Tot finally seems about 70% better (the fever’s down though he’s still sniffling from allt he drainage from his sinuses), so he’s back to school. And I’m rushing around trying to get done the million things I had to put off while taking care of him last week.
The dress is made from 2 men’s shirts following the instructions in the Japanese book Kakkoii Couture Remake. It was pretty easy, and I’ll have to file the method of making the neckline away in my bag of tricks, as it turned out surprisingly flattering.
I’ll be sharing the how-to on making a smock-style dress from 2 men’s shirts soon!
Yes, the glasses are real – they’re my distance glasses for driving and watching TV. I always forget to wear them, though, and they’ve been gathering dust in a drawer for awhile. Whenever I put them on it’s always a revelation how much I can see while wearing them, and how blind I am without. And then I forget to put them on the next day.
The belt I made as part of a mini-collection to take with me to Fashion Week and sound out the possibilities of producing it as a line. I found with this belt, unless I can source snap tape with the snaps off-set to the right of the tape by 3/4″ (or have the snap tape manufactured for me), it would be impossible to produce quality multiples of this piece. The seam allowance on snap tape is just not enough for edging the belt, alas. Plus I need belting vinyl as well, and I have no idea where to source that. Ah well.
Hub said when I remove the belt I look like a pregnant art teacher in this dress. Hmmmph. It’s loose, easy-to-wear, and comfortable, so whatevs! (I also think it would work great as a nightshirt.)
Happy Monday, everyone!
xoxox
Carly
Day 2 in my 30-Day Closet Challenge: November 2! Election Day!
I turned my ballot in the day before. And for at least 3 weeks prior to this I received no small amount of mail telling me that this candidate did this, or that candidate did that, or who’s lying and who cheated the elderly out of this reform and who was mean to someone’s dog…and after about 2 days I was completely over it. And I had no less than SIX people knock on my door over the past 3 days to ask what candidate I was voting for or to remind me to send in my ballot. Yeesh! Is voter turnout so abysmal people have to be reminded IN PERSON to do it? I get the ballot sent to my house, a booklet explaining all the candidates and their platforms, and detailing all the new measures I’m voting on, return postage is free – and a steady stream of people have to stop by my house, interrrupting dinner or Lil Tot’s bathtime to remind me to vote??
Okay, rant over. Election’s over at lest! (Next year I’m putting a sign on my door “I already voted for xxx. If you bother me, I’m changing my vote to YYY.” or something to that effect.;-)
So this is what I wore.
I saw this beautiful knit dress –second from right– by Risto Bimbiloski (of “that galaxy-print dress/skirt/blouse” fame) in an old issue of Lucky Magazine, and promptly swooned. I wanted a cream zip-front sheath dress too! So I made my own version, out of beautiful cream-colored pique.
I found the fabric was a bit see-through even with a light-colored lining, so I made the inner layer in grey. Plus, I love grey. And I spell it with an “E” (as British junior high in Japan so tenaciously re-educated me to;-).
I designed the dress with the front and back widths and sleeve shape exactly the same – thus, I can wear the dress with the zipper in the front, or in the back (with a high boatneck), if I so choose. I can also zip the zipper down all the way (it’s a separating zipper) and wear it as a layering piece or short-sleeve jacket. Yay for versatility!
I thought this relatively simple look demanded a high-glamour hairstyle, thus my HairDo Clip-In Bangs, and my Priscilla Super-Easy Midi Bun.
Minimal jewelry, thick tights (since it’s super-windy out!), and mid-height heels from Payless completed my look.
And this little dress has another secret…so stay tuned for my next outfit coming up later this evening! (I’m going to try two outfit posts today, so I’m all caught up to the current date…hopefully I’ll be able to…)
xoxox
Carly
Finally I’ve gotten my act together and made some fur tails for my Etsy shop. I currently have both White and Brown-tipped versions, with and without the pewter fox charm. Just like those we’re beginning to see adorning the bags of hipsters, bloggers, and other stylish people (and making their way down the Louis Vuitton Autumn/Winer 2010 RTW runways!), this version is cruelty-free and animal-friendly. I am donating 10% of all sales of this item to the Humane Society (U.S.), who works tirelessly to end the fur trade and educate consumers of fur products. For those of you who expressed interest in these faux fur tails, they are now available here.
I’ve also stocked my Etsy shop with Rock Candy Rings, some more Cross Rings (and a couple new styles added), as well as some Chandelier Earrings and Pendant Necklaces.
I’m still working on some cross-adorned cuffs and trying to source some soft material for some scarves I’ve designed…the cotton gauze I found turned crunchy and evil when washed, so I’ve given up on it. Plus in the coming weeks I’ll be listing many items that you’ve seen my DIY or write tutorials for on this blog, so stay tuned:-)
xoxox
Carly
As some of you may or may not know, I never went to school for Fashion. I actually did my undergraduate degree in Film, and then I went to animation school in Japan for a 2-year program. I also have two Certificates in Animation and Animation Direction.
I was at school in 2000-2002, at a time when the entire animation industry was undergoing a major shift from 2D to 3D animation here in the U.S. In Japan, the system is so incredibly different – and the training given to would-be animators at school is in the basics, giving the kids a solid foundation in art and techniques. Though almost the entire Japanese animation industry now uses a digital paint process after scanning in the drawings, some rare studios still hold fast to the traditional method of using hand-painted cels to create their animations, maintaining that the “look and feel” of hand-painted cels are far more beautiful than drawings colored by computer. (Most notably as of late, Hayao Miyazaki and his full-length feature film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008), which was done entirely in hand-painted cels.)
And it’s totally true! Hand-painted cels have a luminosity and vibrance that digital paint can never replicate – the lines have a solidarity and impart a 3D feel to a flat character. Once you know the telltale differences, you can tell in an instant if you’re looking at an animation made from cels or one with the colors added via computer.
Because producing cels is so much more labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive than digital paint, cels in the animation industry have gone the way of the Dodo. Among animation afficionados and collectors there is a small market for original cels used in the cartoons of yore – as well as for replica cels.
After I graduated animation school and couldn’t find a job in the U.S. because my traditional animation skills were already obsolete (and the U.S. market expects you to be able to create your own animation from start to finish, be able to use a variety of software, and be able to market your skills as a freelancer – whereas the Japanese market preps you to do an entry-level job that has a single function at the very bottom of the studio pecking order), I was spending a lot of my time creating and painting replica cels and selling them online.
I was looking at some of my old work today and remembered how much I loved doing it – the intricacy and painstaking nature of the work; the finished product looking like it was lifted straight from your TV screen. I was thinking about pulling out all my old paints and doing more of it.
So here are some cels that I painted. I kind of gravitated more towards the macho stuff because we got more of those key frames from school and I don’t like working from non-original artwork, but the shoujou manga (well, technically not manga per se) stuff is so fun and cute and uses so many great colors.
For the cels I sold I also did the Key Clean-up and Hand-Traced the lines, which is an extremely obsolete skill given that even the studios that extol the superior nature of cels now just laser-print the lines on the cel acetate and then add the paint. Before laser-printing there was Machine-Tracing, (seen above) which transferred the carbon from your pencil lines on the cleaned-up frame onto the cel acetate. You’d have a real hard time finding one of those old carbon-based Machine Trace machines, though back in 2002 they were still alive and well and being used at my school and in Japan. Clean-Up techniques for cels that will be printed via Machine-Trace are also different from those used for Hand-Tracing; which are again different for the lines on the frames that will be scanned in and colored on the computer. Hand-Tracing is a BE-otch and I’m sooooo glad that it’s not necessary anymore – but it’s a help having those lines on the cel when painting, since the paint used in Hand-Tracing acts as a little wall around the areas you’re painting and prevents the colors from mixing in different areas. I hate Machine-Tracing because it’s so messy and the carbon lines fade over time and with exposure to light – you can see how messy the lines are in the cel above. To see the most horrible messy lines EVER and why Machine-Tracing + Sloppiness in Your Drawing = A BIG MESS check out any Disney animation made before 1988 (like The Aristocats (1970) or the animation in Mary Poppins (1964), for instance. Well, they were drawing 24 frames per second so I guess we’ll have to forgive;-)
xoxox
Carly
Carly J. Cais I am a DIY’er, designer, sewist, maker, and marketer. Chic Creative Life is where I share what I do, and help others bring their unique style into their own lives.
