Painted Over Woven

Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

Making of Chanel tweed
from Fall 2013 Haute
Couture

        Last Christmas, I made a multimedia painting for my brother Phil. My inspiration for the piece were a couple things: tweed woven on fabric, Impressionist Stippling and Jackson Pollock. (Source of tweed weaving photo: http://www.elle.co.za/exclusive-making-chanel-tweed-lesage/)

Convergence, 1952 by Jackson Pollock

   Initially, the piece started out as sample woven embroideries on a plain fabric. As I remembered various tweeds that Maison Lesage has made, I found that they used a variety of threads, yarns and ribbons.

   
     I decided to use sewing threads as opposed to a combination of the latter. Considering that weaving requires a very copious amount of thread I had to pull the threads a very long distance to get the right amount of yardage. To do this, I stabilized the spools of thread on pins then twisted them together and pulled them across my living room. Once I had them at a proper length, I began twisting them in order to form one singular thread.

     As seen by the above photos, each row is comprised of multiple threads. Because each one is made of at least 5 separate threads I used a needle with a large eyelet. As of right now, I don't have a loom or any equipment to weave fabric on it's own. Thus I wove the embroideries on top of a base mock-up fabric.

     After I had finished several samples, I looked through my art/crafts supplies and saw that I had glow-in-the-dark paint. I figured, "why the hell not?" and started painting over the threads. After I painted a light first-coat I realized that the clash of colors was a little reminiscent of Jackson Pollack's splattered paintings. 

     When I thought about paint splattering the work I knew that it would be applied in an organic and thus uncontrolled way. I wanted to create a similar effect but in a controlled manner. The texture of the weave was already 3-dimensional and decided to bring it out by utilizing French Impressionist stippling. 

     I kept the amount of earth tones and monochromatic colors to a minimal but used them next to the embroideries to create a contrast. When I prepared my palette, I didn't mix any of them to create the secondary colors. To my eye, paint loses it's bold/bright quality when mixed together. The threads were already made of bold colors as it is so I wanted to match it with the paint. 

A picture I took of the Chicago
Chanel boutique displaying an outfit
from the Spring 2014 collection.

The top and skirt display the final
product of weaving from Maison Lesage

     As we can see below, the process of weaving is all done by hand. The necessity for a deciphering eye that is able to match up certain lines is eminent. Most weaves form a grid-like pattern. However, sometimes this is not the case. The pattern that is woven below by Maison Lesage is based off of the Middle-Easter Keffiyeh scarf and requires very accurate hand-eye coordination.

             

      

Photos resource: http://blog.bergdorfgoodman.com/womens-style/creating-the-chanel-tweed#ad-image-0

Thank you much for reading and I hope you have a great day!

Tale of the Hump- Part 2: Excerpt

   Recently, I’ve been working on my short epic Tale of the Hump. For those who may not have seen the previous post, I will familiarize you with the premise of the story. 

   Setting- A kingdom during the Medieval period.
   Main characters- The King/Tyrant, Princess/Virgin, Prince/Knight, Beast/Instigator and the Half-born/Martyr.
   Plot- A Beast begins to destroy villages on the outskirts of the Kingdom. When word of  this incident gets to the kingdom, the King orders the death of the giant. However, there were sitings of the Beast’s offspring. There are seven of them and a half-born and the King orders the death of them as well. The Prince develops a curiosity for the half-born and pursues to make contact with it.

   The story utilizes two forms of old dialect: Shakespearean and Broken (mimicking Cavemen) English. There are a plethora of allusions to the Bible, other literature and many philosophies. I’ve also created a lot of repeated themes/quotes. So reading it could be compared to deciphering a work by T.S. Eliot.
   The excerpt I have chosen to post is a conversation between the Prince/Knight and the townsfolk of the kingdom. To give some context: The Prince/Knight has just experienced a supernatural moment with the half-born and he is moved so much that he wants the townsfolk to see the half-born for themselves. He rushes back to the kingdom at the break of dawn and tries to convince the villagers to witness the ‘Holy’ creature for themselves.

            The Sun began it’s journey as the bells chimed six times.

These stonely colored walls slowly regained rejuvenation and this kingdom bled of its greyness.

The Sun bring’th a spectrum of light as it pervades upwards to the Heavens.

Oh! The Heavens! Once more shall they live! Another day! Another glorious wonder! Give us this day of bloddletting so we may see nothing but Jove!

Oh Kingdom Come!

Kingdom come with me to this pervading light!

Yes!

Come’th here my children!

“Kingdom come! I have news of the beast!” the man in the armor announced, “Fear not the offspring of the Ravager, for tis’ of divinity!” The townsfolk congregated at the hark of the Prince. “Mine life, soul, and body was reanimated by the tendrils of It. Had I not seen the light in the cavern I know for certain I would have seen the devious flames in Hell!”

The villagers gazed upon the horsed man with skepticism. They saw the sweat dripping down his brow and watched as the salty droplets crept on to his tongue and in to his eye.

“Bring me three Clergymen, a Virgin, and our King! We shall march to the cavernous bowels with holy intent to shower it with utter praise!”

Not a thing sounded. The silence suspended overhead was of nothing. Not of one thing.

“Do not look at me with dead eyes! Hark the bells in jubilation! Cease your mockery this instant!”

A young boy parted through the gathering and stood before the heralding man, “My noble sir, I mean no insinuate, do we need you to nunnery?”

His mother came to his side and added, “Noble sir, three clergymen is retired, our virgin Princess dead of poisoning, also our King not see sunlight in days.”

His father came behind them and said, “What say you to what said now? Beast killed our families. Beast tear our homes. Beast make mockery of King. Offspring of it is of Beasts’ blood. So it of demonic.”

The Prince was not phased by these disputings. He had made the first contact of the half-born and was perspirating with conviction. The drops of sweat had turned his lips barren. They had slid down his throat and made his voice hoarse. Yet, he continued by saying,

“I care not for these loses. If they are good riddance then I shall take you all to the cavern. The Clergymen, cowards to the truth who know not the ugly yet beautiful face of this Earth! The Princess, an unwise and naïve woman to have mated with all that is feared! My father, a gluttonous bastard who take’th everything and leave nothing for those who are in need! Yet! You all still hath eyes that are untouched by this holy matter. My royal duty is to serve you people and make you wise. Now damnit!” the Knight then forced his sword from its sheath into the sunlight, “Come with me and become enlightened!”

The young boy standing before the Prince contorted his face in un-sureness. He pirouetted to calculate the census of the people but was left with nothing. The elders of the kingdom paced away in apathy. A handful of adults treaded to their respective homes with thoughts of blasphemy. The midsized group that stood around the armored man said nothing, heard nothing and thought nothing as they fixated upon the glimmering sword above.

“I adventure you,” the boy said quietly.

“What?” replied the Prince.

“I adventure you.”

“Dear boy, I know not what you say.”

“I. Adventure. You.”

“I ask of you to speak with sense and intelligence.”

The youngling walked toward the front gate. He then turned around to peer at the man on the horse and the townspeople. The hope of something beyond this stoned walls swelled in their hearts. To adventure far away from this enclosure and be in the presence of a mystical being finally meant the greatest importance.

We hath been here far too long. We know not of the world beyond. Our wits, though they may be sparse, are far outweighed by our desire to know. May we find this in the half-born? The offspring of beast terrible? The offspring of that which ignited our kingdom with fervent betrayal?

We hath been here far too long. 

Now, may we venture to the outskirts of the world and know.

Thanks much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

When Hell Freezes Over

   At the beginning of this this month, I was listening to the 1st Movement of Vivaldi's 'Winter'. When I first heard the piece, I felt the maddening and almost maniacal desperation in many of the notes. The constant bowing of the strings and relentless speed continues to take hold of me.

   So, I decided I should take the craziness to a whole new level...and began to write a Piano Solo transcription >:D

   For those who may not be familiar with the piece, here is a video the work.

   I cannot recall who made the recording I first listened to, but it was much faster than the one in this video. Despite my need for speed, the tempo performed by Daniel Phillips is accurate to the score and the time period this was written.

   Just yesterday I finished writing my transcription (or version of the piece). However, I am currently adding in the fingering notations and writing down what techniques need to be utilized. Keep in mind that I am using a free music composition software (MuseScore) so the audio may be a bit mediocre.
   But without further ado, here's the audio of: Transcription of Vivaldi's Four Seasons- 'Winter': "When Hell Freezes Over" by Justin Schmidt.

On the Forefront of Avant-Garde

   My closet has an very wide range of styles; I switch my style daily and sport styles such as: Dutch Minimalist, American Rocker, French Avant-Garde, American Grunge, British Teddy Boy, Contemporary, Neo-Goth, Scottish, and Russian. Although I often prefer to go out in what's comfortable (sweatpants, tank top, et cetra), dressing in the Avant-Garde mannerism is easy as pie.
   Without further ado, here are some of the outfit and accessories I have made within the style:
        

 First, I'll start with an outfit I'm particularly proud of. The look is comprised of: cropped leather jacket- Rick Owens, oversized T-shirt- Billy Reid, elongated long-sleeve shirt- Rick Owens, gloves- leggings cut to make fingerless gloves, cargo

Source: http://www.style.com/
slideshows/fashion-shows/
fall-2012-menswear/
rick-owens/collection/28

shorts- Levi's, leggings- Underarmor, black socks- Vans, shoes- Puma, wishbone necklace- Forever 21, magnetic horn gauge- made by yours truly from Sculpey, ceramic paint/varnish and neodymium magnets.
   When I received the Rick Owens jacket, I was totally and utterly enthralled. It's a modification of one of the pieces seen in the Rick Owens Fall 2012 Menswear show (as seen in the above right

picture). The quality of the piece is utterly stunning. The leather is an thick calfskin that has been aged for quite a while (the age marks can be seen by the indentations) and the zippers are made of silver. Another testament to the quality of Rick Owens apparel is the tall long-sleeve T-shirt. From a distance, you can see the tattered raw ends of the shirt. This isn't the only gritty aspect of the piece as the fabric has been thoroughly aged as well. This is shown by the below left photo; the transparent quality also lends itself to a super soft touch.

   Considering that the sleeves of the jacket are super slim and the silhouette is completely unique, you have to compensate for the exaggerated crop with a lengthened toro. I did this by layering two oversized shirts and tied them together. This made for an long slim torso. 

Had to have a
PG moment :O

  If you imagine a high-crop tight fitting jacket with a large baggy shirt underneath, it isn't quite flattering (I would provide an example but I'd feel a bit self-conscious, haha!).
  And finally, the accessories. Since the outfit is within shades of black, I wanted to add some contrast and bring out the shine of the silver hardware. So, I went with a silver-tone necklace; I chose a simple pendant with a simple design to tone down the outfit a tiny bit. I also thought that a wishbone would go with the dark appeal.

 To further blacken the aesthetic, I pulled out my magnetic gauge. Oh by the way, if you want to read further into the earpiece you can go to my 'Aesthetics' post and follow a link on how to make them! My philosophy on the way I dress is: I do it for myself, to express my creativity and to make myself feel confident. Despite this, I was a little unsure when I was walking around and heard a couple of gasps from people passing by, whoops!

          

 

     

     Considering the scarcity of avant-garde apparel in mainstream retail, there's been many times where I've had to make my own pieces.

  The "knuckle duster" to the above left is a modification of a chain wrapped   bracelet (which I bought from Hot Topic). I was partially inspired by Alexander McQueen's 'Knuckle Duster' ring (seen below to the right). The ring got it's debut in the Fall 2009 trunk show. As someone who thoroughly enjoys Punk Rock and a smidgen of British Anarchism, this immediately appealed to me.

 

Source: http://marisworld.co.uk/
index.php/2010/12/09/
alexander-
mcqueens-knuckleduster/

 But getting back on topic! To get the feathers into the chains required some thought; feather stems are rather fragile and I needed to find a way to strength them and fit them into the chain openings. I scrounged through my crafts box and finally found what I needed, head pins (see the picture below to the left). To strengthen the feathers, I poked a hole into the feathers stems with a needle and put the

Source: http://www.
gossamerwingsdesigns.
com/Jump-Rings-
Chain-Maille-20-
Findings-4.htm

head pin in the hole. Finally, I had feather sticks (so to say) and all I needed to do was stick them into the bracelet.                                                   And voila! It can be worn as a typical bracelet around the wrist but I prefer to wear it around my hand.

   My friend Josh commissioned me to make an earpiece for him. He said he wanted something flashy but a little Punk-y. Luckily, I had some safety pins left over from one of my projects and armature wire from the hat I made (to see the oversized fur hat go to my 'Carpet Baggers' post).      I fitted the wire to my friends ear and I made sure it would sit properly, considering that the wire would become heavy with embellishments I didn't have to worry too much about it falling off. The next step was

preparing the embellishments before I super glued them on to the frame. You can see this better in the picture to the left, but the top is made of white safety pins, the middle of silver and the bottom of black pins. After I made this dégradé pattern, I put beads in the safety pins and closed them. And finally, I covered the back of the piece with torn up aluminum to give some extra shine.

So, this is just a taste of what I enjoy doing with styling. And I'll end this post with some more pictures in the style.

           

Well I hope you enjoyed this post and feel a little more daring! ;D

Photographic Diary of the Traveler

     

     Though I'm only 21 years old as of now, I have done much traveling in my life. With each experience, I became more enriched and accrued many photos. In this post, I'll be showing the latter along with some descriptions pertaining to the photos.

     Enjoy!

     Naples, Florida

     I took these photos in my early teenage years when I was visiting my grandparents out in Florida. Thankfully, my Dad let me borrow his Nikon D300 camera for the trip; after seeing all the nature and wildlife in their backyard, I knew there'd be some great photos to look at afterwards. 

    Cannes, France

   In high school, we had a week called 'Project Week.' This is when we got to choose from various trips to go on and make a presentation summarizing what we learned. At that time, I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in France. But when I did, I felt like I was in a totally different world. Thanks to the Nikon D300, I was able to capture some amazing photos and memories.

France
(Location names have been forgotten since)

Paris

   When my class and I arrived in Paris, the first thing we did was ride the subway. This took what seemed forever and many of us were asking our teacher, "are we there yet?" as if we were younglings going to Disneyland. However, our teacher had a surprise in store for us. Amidst our whines of anticipation, she kept quiet. 

   We walked up a set of stairs, probably the 7th set we had to go up. She said, "Alright guys we're almost there." We all groaned, but when we reached the top of the stairs we gasped. To our most pleasant surprise, the Eiffel Tower stood in the distance shining above all the other buildings. To be quite honest, I melted a little bit as the shock value made it one of my most memorable experiences ever in traveling. 

Arizona, United States

   I used to live out West in Montana (I'm saving the photos I took there for another post dedicated to my time there). Considering the immense miles of road in between towns, I was in the car an awful lot. As I traveled from town to town (and in the context of this picture, state to state), the bare land was hypnotizing. With absolutely no technology or sign of manmade structures, the mind has no choice but to focus on the universe. 

   Living in the city, I am surrounded by technology and mental stimulation. The human cognition can be overloaded in such a setting, but out in the middle of nowhere the mind is free to wander on it's own accord.

Seattle, Washington

   Much of my fashion has been influenced by grunge; the apathetic and near-aggressive form of self expression has an appeal to the part of me that loves watching UFC (mixed martial arts) and. 

   One of my most favorite bands, The Blood Brothers, originated here. Their music was considered Screamo, but their style and mix of consonance and dissonance completely made them unique. To my dismay, they separated long before my visit to Seattle. Yet the grey clouds above and rusted vintage architecture showed me the origin of the grunge attitude.

 

Wisconsin, United States

   About two years ago, I lived in the Loop in Downtown, Chicago. Back then, I was part of a collegiate community (a group of people comprised of teachers/education majors and college students who room with each other. The purpose of this group is to help each other succeed in academics). During our school break, we planned a camping trip in Wisconsin. As we told scary stories around the campfire, school was the last thing we thought about.

   Just like my travels out West, my mind was free to wander on it's own accord. It wasn't until I got back to Chicago that I totally forgot about an essay that was due in three days...woops!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post!