In Philly! and...

working on this for titwillo:

Pale pink satin with maroon feathers/lace and white tulle/fringe. Leather lining. 

And this for my love Mosh:

Last week I stopped into NYC for SpinExpo, which was both good and not so good. I wasn't impressed by many of the vendors (boring or outdated yarns/textiles) but the ones I was impressed by blew my mind. 

My hands down favorite was the Japan-based Sato Seni Co. and M. & Kyoko, who are making some extremely interesting and innovative pieces. Think weird fur, knit paisley print, knitted plastic mesh, and swatches that look like they were ripped right off moss-y trees. I was particularly glad to see that they thought of the whole concept- things were hung with hangers made from real branches and others were afixed to traditional Japanese fans. Love it! 

My other favorite had to be Meadowbrook Inventions's Angelina fibers. They are doing something I haven't seen before: metal (copper and aluminum) coated filament yarns! Amazing!! They are beautiful to behold- a basketful of the bright copper ones looks like some weird glob of sparkly space matter. I was immediately inspired by it and I have big plans for combining it with rubber. Stay tuned!

STOLL was also doing some groundbreaking rubber/heat sealed seams that worked perfectly with their current sportswear line. I'd love to learn more about the process and see how it could be done on a more fetish, avant garde level. Moral of the story: I need to go to Japan & Germany STAT!

What I was disappointed by the most was the fashion show. After seeing Giovanni Cavagna's booth I was super excited to see his show, yet it was such a let-down. I don't know who did the art direction for it but they are seriously lacking: the pieces were boring shapes and colors and the heavy, bronzed/dark lip make-up and gaudy gold jewelry were seriously outdated. Let's step it up for next year! 

I also got to meet up with Doe Deere, who I can honestly say is one of the coolest, most solid, and interesting people I've met in a long time. I did a fitting with her (the piece is going to be so sick!) and we had a lovely lunch as well as talked about some crazy make-up ideas that I'll be working on for her. It's gonna be very much a win-win situation. 

After the city I went back to Providence to see friends and screen print, which I'd never done before. First I got a little crazy and did an idea I've had in my head for a while, a bloody hand print dress:

I wound up absolutely hating it but it was fun while I was doing it (the clean-up, not so much). It doesn't feel deliberate, and it's too much, so I think I'll take the dress apart and use it as fabric for something else. We'll see. 

NOTE: I usually don't do gore-y stuff as a rule, as I do not support violence & torture. But I was feeling angry and since the title of the piece is "I was going to stab him just a little bit but got carried away," I think you can figure out why. 

I did like how this came out though:

Baby heads!!!

I bought the organza shirt at a thrift store & loved it but wanted to make it more unique. Jenna & Danielle helped me on it and it looks pretty awesome & creepy (a great combination) if I do say so myself. 

As always, check out my Etsy! New stuff will be added as soon as it's photographed.