Happy New Year

Well, this is the first full year I have had this blog running. I dropped out for several months in the middle, so I'm not sure if it counts. I've had this blog since September 2009. I've done less than I set out to do, but more than I expected.  I've completed fewer full projects, but with the help of this blog I have actually finished them, which is a problem I have had in the past.

In 2010, I completed these projects;

 - LoveSac-style foam bag chair and recycled jeans cover

- Upcycled Ikea desk to split-level crimson workstation

 - Summer Sarong Collection

 - Hacked Ikea shelving into awesome platform bed w/storage

 - Klaus Nomi Halloween costume

 - Super Mario Tree

 - Monster Hoodies : "Unicorn" and "Mantle of the Great Red Dragon"

- Repaint Jenns desk/bookcases to more awesomeness.


Looking back, its a lot of stuff that I did, even with the 4 month lapse where neither blog nor projects were worked on.

Unfortunately, there were some setbacks. The Laptop Bag project failed completely. I have some ideas on how to revive or redesign it, but it's on a backburner for now. The Vinyl Mario star project has failed twice now; 2 xmas trees in a row have gone without a proposed mario star. I don't think I will be trying again in 2011.

Additionally, I have a number of projects that have been put on hold, or simply been procrastinated into limbo;

- Aviator hat w/iPod speakers

- Steampunk Coffeetable

- Companion Cube gaming ottoman

- Gaming PC Case Mod : Steampunk R2D2

Most of these fell through due to funds running dry and then being forgotten. I have re-focused on finishing the Companion Cube ottoman and Aviator Hat. The coffee table needs redesign before continuing, and the R2  case mod is postponed indefinitely, as I have no high-end gaming PC to put in it.

This year, my resolutions include making sure I am actively updating this blog and posting new projects and ideas throughout the year. At least twice a week, and more if I can. In addition, I will be adding a new section to my blogging; a Daily sketch blog. Since this blog has helped so much to motivate me to finish projects I start, I will try to utilize that motivation to draw more. I will be uploading daily drawings.  Nothing fancy or rendered, but just something to keep me working on my art.


So that's it. The year in review, and hopes for the coming months. Have a great day everyone.

Monster Hoodies complete

Material purchased, and sketch complete, it's time to get down to work. I have become rather ambitious with this project, but I thought I could get all of it in. With the sketch above I was able to get all the details I listed earlier in one view.  Most can see that it's meant to be a dragon, and D&D nerds should be able to tell that its a chromatic RED dragon.

The belly scales are split into two colors; Yellow for the belly scales proper, and orange for a transition to the rest of the body. The yellow scales I cut out individually, overlapped them, and sewed them on. Fortunately there weren't too many.This way the scales shift just a bit when the wearer moves, but not so much that they're in danger of tearing or anything. I ran a single seam along the scalloped outside edge, securing them to the orange scales.

The orange transition scales are a single piece on either side, with the "scales" drawn in with an embroidery stitch. This process I thought would be faster than cutting out scales like with the yellow scales, but it was actually a lot slower, as my sewing machine stitches in this pattern at a snail's pace.

Next were the horns. there were 16 horns in all; 3 claws on each hand, 1 elbow spike on each arm, 3 small horns on each side of the hood at the neck, and 2 large back-swept horns on the top of the head. These were actually the easiest part. I just sketched out one sample of each size, played with the stitching and curves until I liked it, then cut out the other copies I needed. Sewing them was fast and easy.  Their position on the hoodie was difficult to get the sewing machine situated, so I opted to hand sew them on.

After the horns were attached, all that was left was the spine and tail. The tail itself was easy, using leftover felt from the belly scales. The back spines I thought would be rather complex, and after multiple designs to try to keep the spines plushy and full and the webbing between them thin without too much sewing, Jenn offered he perfect solution. Instead of cutting out each spine and each webbing section, I just drew out the entire spine piece on the fabric. I cut out a single big piece for each side, and ran a stitch along the top; from the first big spine all the way to the tip of the tail, and flipped it and ironed it flat. After that it was a matter of sewing a stitch along the outline of each webbing section; up along one side of a spine, along the top of the webbing edge, and back down along the other spine it connected to. Rinse. Repeat. This left the webbing and spines separated by the seams, which were then stuffed with batting. The end result was Simple and exactly what I was looking for. To finish it off, I bought some fabric markers and added some shading and texture to the webbing, adding contrast between them and the spines and making them more dynamic.

Here's the finished piece. I'm very happy with how it turned out. now to ship it out to Jezebel and see how she likes it. 

New Project : Monster Hoodies

This is more the continuation of a project I completed for Jenn a few weeks ago. Many of my friends in San Diego saw her rocking her "monster" hoodie; a purple unicorn hoodie, complete with spiral silver horn, fetlock cuffs, and a mane ending in tail.

 This project was easier than I thought it would be. It took a little creative problem solving to design and sew the spiral into the silver fabric. The hardest part was figuring out how to attach the horn to the hood without cutting away from the hood or sewing the bottom of the horn flat. After a couple of failed tries, I was able to sew the horn to a separate piece of purple velour, attach that to the velour border of the mane (just a folded strip of white faux fur), then sew the whole thing down the back of the hoodie.

 Jenn, unsurprisingly enough, flipped out when she saw it in its finished form. She loves it, but it's not warm enough to wear in cold weather or rain.

 I had a lot of fun making it, and wanted to do it again, this time actually creating a monster. Jezebel, Mike's daughter, has a birthday coming up, and she seemed to like the unicorn hoodie. I know she's been getting into Dungeons and Dragons recently, so I'm going to make a monster hoodie for her with that as a theme.

Here's my reference and inspiration; The Red Dragon. Classic D&D monster. And since each dragon in the game has it's own look and anatomy, it will be a fun challenge to make the hoodie look like a RED DRAGON, and not just a dragon that happens to be red.

I've boiled down the features I want to include in the hoodie;
 - The large swept back horns
 - The smaller horns along the jawline
 - The light-colored scales along the belly
- The fin-like spines along the back and tail
 - MAYBE: the big ear-fins on the sides of its face. 

I bought the fabric and hoodie already. Now to just sketch out how I want to actually do this. I can't realistically cut out individual scales, and if I stuff the back part too much, the hoodie will be uncomfortable when sitting against a chair or couch. Jenn's suggestion is to use a fabric pen and draw the scales on the lighter fabric, and maybe silk-screen the patches of scales on the sides and back. I think the silk screen is a great idea, but if I can, I would prefer to have a physical separation of the scales on the front belly sales. They're much larger than the sides, so I don't need as many, and they're the part she can see when she's wearing it. Hmm.

Mario Tree Complete

Jenn and I found a tree to start decorating.

Or rather, we found a tree that we can make acceptable to decorate. I'll elaborate. She wanted to shop for a 4 foot tree we can set up in the foyer. Jenn was convinced that the best trees are at a specific tree lot near her parents house, on the other side of town. Knowing that I was going to be enlisted to help (if it involves moving large or heavy things, the default is getting Dameon to move it), I did a little research.

The tree lot  is owned by a company that sets up these lots all over town. All over, apparently, except downtown. On their website was a map showing a ring of lots around the city, leaving a big empty space in the middle. In the center of this space is where we live. Oddly, Joanne's fabrics stores are roughly on this ring as well, and many gaming stores. Wierd.

Anyway, we found a different lot closer to some errands we were running, so decided to try that one. While running errands, Jenn became frustrated because we were running low on time in the day and gave up and decided we're going to Home Depot for the tree after all.

We get to HD, and all but the largest trees are already taken. Jenn is stomping around, muttering about how we should have gone to the other lot by her parent's place, while I was trying to find a more creative solution.

I noticed that there was  cutting station at one end of the lot, where employees will make a fresh cut on the bottom of the tree before wrapping it up in plastic for transportation. I walked up to the guy with the chainsaw (his nametag read Steven), and told him our story. I asked him if it was possible to take one of the larger trees and cut it down to 4 feet. I told him that I know that the taller one's are nearly twice as expensive, but Jenn's heart is set on a small tree and I REALLY didn't want to come out on a second trip in a few days. Steven said he would do it, and just let him know when we had decided on a tree.

I explained my arrangement to Jenn, who immediately chilled the hell out and we went about choosing a tree that could be cut down to size. We found it, and Steven cut it (though not without a considerable amount of extra work on his end), and we went home. Thanks Steven!

So here's the tree, set up in our foyer, bookended by my mannequins.

Next was to finish the myriad ornaments and make a garland.

For the garland, Jenn had the idea of having brick and question blocks running around the tree. I thought it was awesome. We found some small flat-packed card-stock gift boxes and Jenn made the templates for the bricks and question blocks in Illustrator. We printed them out at Kinko's and got to work. The garland however was not fun to make. 100 separate boxes, each needing to be assembled, their individual template cut out, glued to the box, and strung up. It took 2 days, nearly non-stop to complete. It looks awesome, but I wouldn't want to do it again.




  



















The ornaments were fun, but there were a lot of them. Mushrooms, pixel art, shells, etc. Jenn joked on several occasions about giving up and just filling in what space was left with traditional ornaments. I was committed to this project though. So we bought more FunFusion beads, and looked up more power up mushrooms, and painted, and sanded, and cut, and ironed, and glued. For 2 weeks after work and over the last couple weekends.

Finally, this morning, I finished the last of the hanging ornaments. All that's left is the tree-topper.  Jenn made a pixel-art Princess Peach, but just in case I can't get our first idea working.


Here's the tree currently. It's fully decorated, with Peach as a stand in until I can make a lighted Mario star.

Winning Super Mario Bros 1, a reenactment

Lakitu, throwin' down Spinys

 

Bullet Bill, Mario's hat, Bee and Boo shrooms

Oh, I'm sorry, were you in 1st place in Mario Kart? Too bad, eat this Blue Shell.

Aaahh! Chomp Chain!

Tanooki leaf, Beetle, Spring and 1-up shrooms

Super, Poison, Propeller, and Gold Shrooms.

It'sa Luigi time!

Pixel Frog Suit and POW block

Green Shell, Rock Shroom, and Pixel Fire Flower

Boo Mario and Fire Flower

Pixel Peach