for more work, see my costuming set.
and a portraiture series:
i was interested in documenting people who sew or alter their own clothes. i photographed them wearing something they had sewn in the setting that they sew in. for more portraiture work (not part of the series), click here.
i have been working as an assistant costume designer for an opera production of wagner's die feen (the fairies). the lead costumer hand-dyed a bunch of dresses, and i designed and sewed overlays for them. pictured below are the dresses in progress, and then the results on opening night:
for my last day of tad this year, i compiled a collage of many of my 'things' from february, as well as a photo triptypch with 3 of my favorite photos from the month:
i concentrated mainly on felt plushes and sculpey figurines, along with some photography and other sewing projects. i didn't make as many clothing/clothing reconstructions as i normally do, nor did i do any knitting, crochet, or drawing, but it's ok---hopefully, i'll have a chance to do some of those things in the coming year.
today, i took a drawing that my friend, kevan, drew of me and shaded it usinga wacom tablet in photoshop elements:
i plan to use it as a profile pic/icon on different sites. thank you, kevan!
today, i took the snowpig i made yesterday and incorporated it into a snow globe:
it went smoother than my last snow globe disaster. it's pretty tiny, so there wasn't much room for glitter or anything else, but i probably could've put a little more in. i'll probably keep it at my desk at work, along with the rest of my collection of little things.
i'm going to try another snow globe, but thought i'd try something
much simpler than my previous globe/disaster. i made a snowpig
figurine today and will try to incorporate it into a snow globe tomorrow:
wish me luck!
i am making a sea creature to put in a snow globe:
today, i made and baked sculpey and started so sew some of the pieces
together with fishing line. i'll need to finish sewing the pieces together, then am going to try to assemble everything together in a handmade snow globe. this was more of a proof of concept/experimental thing since i've never made a snow globe before and want to see what one is like with moveable parts. i think i want the parts to be slower moving so want to figure out a way to mix a more viscous medium. any suggestions?
today i revisited the tiger heart plush that i made in honor of valentine's day and chinese new year, year of the tiger, and made a tiger heart sculpey. this time, i added a body: 
original post here.
more colored sculpey work: 
i'm having fun mixing colors.
i ordered some colored sculpey and was happy to be able to try it. i
made miniature food sculptures of egg custard pie, edamame, and shrimp
dumpling (back to the dim sum theme sort of):
they are all less than an inch, on average between 0.25-0.5".
i took richard's idea: http://richardsplanet.posterous.com/gimping-0 and tried to make cartoon versions of myself, but i don't think i was so successful:
i had trouble reducing the color palette in elements. i tried posterizing, and also converting to grayscale, then posterizing, then setting a new color index.
today, i made a pigopus, which is a combination a pig and an octopus, only it's only got 4 leg-tentacles, so it's more like a quadripus:
i was looking at jim woodring's crazy and imperial newts and wanted to go for something along that vein, but it turned out to be more aquatic looking than i envisioned, so i added suckers to the leg-tentacles.
i made a sculpey skull, it's tiny. i don't know the exact
measurements, but the height is probably about 0.75":
this is pre-baked, will bake later today...
this is sort of cheating, but after i posted my pink elephant yesterday, jrmyst pointed out that it looks like an elephant in both directions. so i added eyes to his butt and baked him, and then put it all together in photoshop. here's the result:
i thought my sculpey piggy might need a friend so i made a pink elephant:
i guess it's more like a flesh-colored elephant than a pink one. i
haven't baked him yet, but will do that later today or tomorrow.
after i took the photos, i thought he looked a bit lopsided, so i evened out his legs so that they are less splayed looking. i also shortened the back legs to match the length of the front legs more and flattened all of the feet (made them less rounded).
today, i combined chinese new year and valentine's day into a plush valentine:
happy chinese new year and valentine's day to everyone!
today i sewed a dress: 
i based it off a dress that i own and like, but it's made of a silky material, whereas this one is made from 2 jersey materials. the top is cut from a tshirt, the bottom is the same printed fabric i used the other day for my haramaki project. i'll try to take a picture of me wearing it tomorrow when there is daylight.
my 2nd sculpey project, unbaked and baked (i overcooked it a little
again) versions:
i was trying to make something cute, but with a little more edge,
unlike my usual (cute cute) projects. it will go with my collections
of skulls and piggies.
today, i was going to make another sculpey sculpture, but it was
gorgeous outside, so i went on a walk instead.
i walked through krotona of hollywood and took some photos.
for more photos, check out full flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cignoh/sets/72157623415592762/
for more information about krotona, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krotona/
i have been wanting to try sculpting with sculpey, this is my first project:
it's made of super sculpey, and it measures about 1"x0.75"x0.75". i haven't tried to bake it yet but will do that soon, wish me luck!
update: here is the baked version:
i had thought about putting it into a snow globe, but since it's my first sculpey project, i decided to leave it alone. i added it to a collection of piggies that i have...
today, i made a plush blue velvet cupcake in honor of my husband's bday. happy birthday to jrmyst!
he's not dead, he's just sleeping...
in tad 2008, i made a haramaki, a japanese style belly warmer:
http://cignoh.blogspot.com/2008/02/20080229thingaday.html
i thought i would make more, but never did, but find that i wear the
one i made a lot. so, i made a couple more tonight:
one of them is made from the remaining tshirt material from my day 1 project (bob tshirt pillow), and the other is made from some fabric i bought a while back but haven't done anything with. i normally leave my tshirt creations unfinished so the hems roll up, but the orange jersey fabric i bought is printed, and the back is lighter than the front. i'll either leave it or add some kind of trim at some point.
more photos and original post here
more photos and original post here
this is danta (egg custard pie):
i improvised a bit while making her, shortened her body attached the crust in a different way than i had envisioned. i have other ideas about how i might make another, perhaps it will be another 'thing' this month. or not, who knows?
this is a plush yùtougāo, or taro cake:
i actually like to eat turnip cake better than taro cake, but i wanted to make something more colorful to go along with the existing plush dim sum i made already. i'm planning to make more for the collection, but am giving zhongzi, shumai, and yutougao to my 2 nieces and 1 nephew tomorrow when i see them.
the yutougao has 1 separate cake and 2 cakes that are sewn together. i did this because i ran out of fabric and couldn't make 3 separate ones.
