I guess this is the end...

... of an adventure. I enjoyed blogging over here for a while, but as I recently stated, time has not been on my side lately, and this place has suffered from it. I find it hard to motivate myself to maintain two different blogs, and since I've started posting about my costuming adventures here as well, I figured I'd just as well redirect you to oen place where I talk about all my creative endeavours.
Hop over to my regular blog ! I'm still babbling over there !

Danke Cay !

I got an award from the lovely Cay ! wOOt ! Thank you Cay !
Here's the (rough) translation from the award text :
You got and award and want to get it going round ?
Post the "Liebster Blog" (favorite blog) image and the instructions (this text you're reading right now). You should also link to the blog of the one who gave you the award and comment there to tell them you accept the award and give them the link to your award-post. Then thing about 3 to 5 b of your favorite blogs, link them in your post and tell the blog authors about the award as well.
The goal of this action is to give some exposure to good, still not so well-known blogs , so please don't link to blogs that already have 3000 followers, but to the talented beginner bloggers and the one who've already been blogging for awhile but aren't that big in the blogosphere yet.

You know guys, it's hard to choose ! There are so many blogs I love to follow... Some of those already got the award... Hmmm, ok, here's my choice, in different languages.
Femmes en 1900 - come on, drool with me !
Cotumière hystérique - awesome creations !
Etching birds - because I always learn something from there !
Le dressing de Mademoiselle de L'Isle - she's amazingly talented !

And now it's back to sewing.... or to trying to sew, as it appears I lost my bodice pattern - which I needed for the sleeves, frack !

Sewing in progress !

I can has a skirt !
I figured I'd show you the end result of my hem ordeal? Sans closures for now, as I prefer to leave them until the last minute (superstitious me... or lazy me ?), and on a dress dummy without tummy padding - it hangs astonishingly well even without it !

The skirt is one layer of cotton (the yellow bit you see peeping out through the side opening), poly-cotton satin (the grey pleats), wool-silk-poly brocade, home-made toddler zooming past, poly-cotton velvet and a polyester red and purple shot something. And it's *heavy*. Ouch ! I think it's heavier than my green wool bustle skirt - probably due to the giganormous quantity of fabric I draped over the back. Not sure I'll do much dancing in this !

The reason why I'm not a superhero

If I was one, my archnemesis would be called "Hem". I don't think that's very good in terms of merchandising. Besides, I always *flee* before hems. I spent actually a ridiculous amount of time turning on my lappie, logging into blogger and typing this. Instead of hemming my bustle skirt. Which is like, the last thing to do on said skirt - almost. I still need to handsew one pleat in place. Then closueres. I guess Closures could be Hem's sidekick, actually. I've worn some petticoats more than once without a proper closure. I even think one of those petticoats still neither has a button nor a buckle, nor ties.
The hem is done now. It isn't pretty. Everything that could go wrong, did. The weird electrical itch that sometimes happens with TheSphynx (didn't last long, thankfully), the tension tightening itself, the bobbin being empty 20 inches before the end of the (huuuge) hem, the not-purposefully-gathered hem, the escaping pins,... In the end, my good old iron seemed to save the day and make the hem look acceptable. Hopefully it'll still look okay by daylight.

Did I mention wrangling half a ton of fabric over 8 square inches wasn't practical ? This is a picture I took while re-threading the machine... Yup, the fabric was crunched up like that.

Working on it...

Nono, I'm not dead, I've just been engulfed in holiday stuff and general fatigue. Oh, and sewing ! I have sa lot of projects for the new year, my next historical costume is due by the end of the month, then I have some research sewing projects lined up, some pirate stuff, lots of printmaking, a little bit of drawing, and a general website overhaul. And a baby. That's kind of a big programm already, and I expect more to come.

I'm slowly making progress and trying out new techniques at printmaking. Still working on the etching and most of all the wiping processes, I feel like I had found the right thing to do last year and completely forgot it over the summer ! It's soooo frustrating ! I used to be able to get good results with just cloth wiping, now I need to use paper or/AND the hand. I'm not not not proud of myself. And of course it seems like I'm the only one in the course with such an issue. *feels pouty*

(BTW, the upper plate a) looks much better in real life than on the flatbed scanner and b) is a collaborative work with Lady Fi)
So while I was fighting with ink last Tuesday, I granted myself a break and tried out a new-to-me inking process. The plate is an etched zink plate too (I think I posted it while it was in progress), but I only inked the upper part, not the etched ones. I couldn't get a smooth inking due to the plate and the roll not being very even, so I used my smaller roll and went for some intentional marks. I think I'm onto something that might turn out interesting, I just need to practice more...

I'm not putting up anything new in the shop for now. Iaybe later, when I have something I'm more satisfied with...

My creative space...

... is all decked up in holiday cheer !

I recently rearranged my sewing space, due to the holidays, my usual sewing machien needing repairs, the arrival of the serger... amoung other things.

The sewing machine is a 1933 Singer - it only does straight stitch, but it does it well, and for the rest, I have the Babylock. I should get my Pfaff back one of those days but I might stay with the current configuration, it saves space on the big table and I've come to *love* the Singer.

Above the machine on the wall are family photographs and wedding pictures from friends (and ours). I still want to add a few, and I'd love to find my grandparents' wedding picture to add them as well. The little cabinet on the left of the machine is decorated with etched metal plates by my Grandma and holds little sewing and knitting supplies.

In the picture on the far right you can see Karringa (the dress dummy) in my newest corset, and Madame Veto (the styrofoam head) sporting a hat-in-progress

Thankful....

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here but I love the idea of, once in a while, reflecting about all the things that make our lives beautiful and wonderful...
I'm thank-full for my beautiful son. Two years ago I was standing in tears because some doc thought I would never be allowed to have children, and here I am, with a beautiful and charming one-year-old sitting on my lap while I type this, and expecting our second child.
I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, always supportive, inspirationnal, and just as charming as his son. Over the years he's brought out the best part of me.
I'm thankful for all the matvelous friends I've met over the years.

I'm thankful for my hobbies, for the joy and light they bring into my life and the time I'm able to spend with them. I get to spend blissful hurs every week making art and learning about printmaking techniques (wait until I can show you my monotypes ! Monotypes are made of Awesomesauce !). I have an impressive collection of period material I can use as inspiration for my costume creations, and I have recently spent time scanning those pictures.

My creative space...

... has been a little wuiet lately. The printmakig workshop was closed during the holidays, and the whole family has been sick in turns. We're all tired and slowly recovering. But I did manage to sew a teeny tiny bit !

It's not the prettiest t-shirt ever, but it's my first one using my serger/coverlock machine, which I adore ! I'm so happy I actually paid the extra $$$ for the Babylock and the cover stitch... I want to make a lot of things with this but I need pratice first. Lots of practice !

Hop over to Kootoyoo's blog for more creative spaces !

Transparency

This is my latest venture into testing possible etching materials. May I present you : Rhenalon. It's transparent and flewible and very easy to work into with the drypoint. I want to do some tests with superpositions of plates as well. I'm curious about how it will turn out, but won't be able to find out for the next two weeks - the workshop is closed during the school holidays. *sad panda face*

Hop over to Kootoyoo's blog for more creative space !

Grump grump grump...

Today my creative space is grumpy. I have been trying out new materials for drypoint, as working on a shiny mirror kinda hurts my eyes. Yesterday's try-out was a "Schappa" plate. It's a kin d of platic, very soft, very bendable, with one smooth side and one matte side. The engraving was very pleasant, as you can draw in pencil on it and the drypoitn moves easily through the plastic. The printing however, was NOT.

The one problem with the plate is that it is BLACK. And the ink is black as well ! So I never knew how much ink I was applying or wiping off, it was a nightmare. Byt some miracle, the first print I made (the one in the center) is somewhat okay. I want to re-work it a little, spruce it up with a little bit of color. The others ? I almost threw them in the trash right away. I was SO angry. Next week I'm giving the material one more chance : I'll try light colored ink (yellow or white) on a dark background. And I still have to try the matte side of the plate as well... but still, I'm so [censored] that the print didn't work out... I really, really loved the design. In fact, I may re-draw it on another medium.

Hop over to Kootooyoo for more creative spaces !

A fight against the skies...

Today, I tried to defy the obvious celestial will, and I failed miserably. The skies were black an grey from threatening clouds... and I wanted to take pictures - pictures of pictures, in fact. In the end, I gave up and just scanned them. there's not so much room for composition or accessorizing, but there isn't much room for white-balance-hair-pulling either.

This linocut I mentionned previously is now up for grabs ! There will only be one like this !
And below is another print now to be found in our shop. It's an intaglio print (meaning the ink is in the grooves of the plate before pressing). The hand-drawn image was acid-etched on a zinc plate. The picture was printed on an ivory velin paper. On a print, there's always some room left on the paper around the plate. The paper is wet when is is run through the press, to it takes the form of the plate and the area around it stays a little raised after it dries. That's something you will only find on an original print. (Lithography is another story, but don't expect me to talk a lot about it - as I said before, it's not my thing)

Between January and June, I kept most of my work focused on fairy tales. this one is an illustration for a greek tale, "The five times fair". It's similar to Snow White, except there's no evil step-mother, there are two jealous sisters instead. And the one telling them that the youngest sister is the fairest of them all is the Sun.

Tailoring !

Tonight I'm working on a commission for my brother - when the Home Geek and I got married, we made a deal with him : he'd make our wedding cake, I'd make him a "pirate" wardrobe. Shirts, vests, and a coat - or a justeaucorps, as you'd call it in mid-eighteenth century France.
The shirts are done already, as is one vest (Oh dear, it's embarassing, I don't have any picture of the finished product...). The coat, however, is a BIG project for me. It is my first venture into fitted, not sleeveless menswear, and the first one where I actually have to do some tailoring. Luckily, it doesn't need to be either perfectly historically accurate or a Saville-Row. I'm fairly new to tailoring, and I'd like to show you around while I'm learning. It involves padding (placed over the chest in 18th century manner), interfacing, patience and handsewing.
(Don't worry, I'll de-cat-hair it before he gets it !)

Lines and lines of hand-sewn basting stitches... this is what awaits me on my sewing table now (errr... that would actually be the living-room table), and this is what will hold the fashion fabric to the more stable interfacing.

Lack of inspiration

I probably have a weird creative process. I start from an idea of what I want to make, I start drawing and then the picture just creates itself, it tells me what it wants to become. Sometimes though, I get stuck, I lack the starting point. That's when I look at places like Illustration Friday or the weekly European Etsy Street Team for prompts. This time I dug up a challenge theme from a few weeks ago : stripes.

(Hard as hell to photograph, evrything is shiny on this !)
This is a good opportunity to show you a part of the printmaking process. This zinc plate has been polished and covered with a coat of protective varnish. I'm drawing on this with a metal point, scratching of the protective layer. When I put the plate in the the acid bath, the acid will attack the metal in the unprotected areas.
I started doodling and thinking about all the stripes one could see in a picture, about their regulatiry and imperfections, and about how rain is often represented by vertical stripes... This is a work in progress, it may well change again before I print it !

There are a few other things going on in my brain right now - actually, there are so many I couldn't sleep !
There's the sewing, and the writing about the sewing, and there's still this drawing in progress on the desk, and two knitting projects, and I have blogs to update, and at least three different plates I want to prepare before our next printmaking session...

I was totally going to stop here, but on my way to my blog en français, I stumbled upon this beauty by Criska.

I'm not usually blogging that much about other people's product, but this is just... wow ! I can't justify buying it for myself so please, let someone take it to a good home...

More creative spaces at Kootooyoo's blog

My creative space

Long time since I haven't shown you what's going on in here, he ? Let's see what I have...

What's this ? you might ask... This was, in its past incarnation, a 1892 woollen evening cloak, which I wore to a ball many years ago. But I don't like the shape, it's too wide on me to be wearable in everyday life, so into the recycling bin it went, and it is going to be remade into a man's rococo justeaucorps. Quite a change ! Unpicking all those decorative stitches was time-consuming to put it mildly.

This is more familiar... Black ink and colored pencils, we'll see what it morphs into...

A week in pictures...

Or actually, a little more than a week. Im trying for the umpteenth time to follow the 365project bandwagon. I gave up sticking to one picture a day, so some days I play catching up for the days I missed. I have a pretty pretty DSLR now, but I might still toss the old digicam in my pocket if I ever find the charger again.
With comments on FlickR.

Une semaine, ou un peu plus d'une semaine, en images. Pour la ixième fois je reprends le projet 365 (une photo par jour pendant un an). Je sais que je n'arriverai pas toujours à me tenir à prendre une photo par jour, alors certains jours je fais du rattrapage. J'ai un nouveau réflex tout beau tout neuf mais il se peut que je fasse encore appel à mon vieil appareil de temps en temps - si jamais je retrouve son chargeur.
Images commentées sur FlickR.

Some sewing !

I do realize I have neglected this blog for far too long... The kid keeps us both very, veyr busy and I've been working on personal sewing projects like a madwoman. I didn't even get to sort out all the pictures from past costume events yet. But I was relatively efficient following the victorian picnic organised by the Ministère des Modes in Lyon at the end of August. Hence, pictures from my 1872 polonaise !

The dress is a very light cotton print which almost reads like a solid on pictures. The trim is yellow cotton organdi - I normally use it to line my victorian bodices but I happened to find it in this color and I was out of fabric for trimmings. I know ruffles and pleats are more common for this year but I found a few examples of solid stripes applied as decoration as well. I'm wearing it over my black set of victorian undies, my victorian corset, my giant 1872 half-crinoline, and my flounced monstruosity of a petticoat. I patterned the polonaise with some help from Lady Fi and my 1885 bodice pattern, altering it to match period illustrations. One button that holds up the polonaise's skirt got loose on the inside of the skirt on the left side and I only noticed when I looked at the pictures - I'll have to make the ribbon loops smaller.
The hat is a regular straw hat I hacked down, wet and dried in its new shape. Then I added lots of stuff on it and kept adding things until it looked victorian enough.
On the whole, I loved how the dress turned out. I'd have preferred if the fit had been better and if the bustle hadn't had some issues during the day but it looks amazing in pictures and I had a fabulous time wearing it.

Alive and kickin' !

I went a loooong time without updating. There have been an awful lot of things happening left and right and it all boiled down to me reassessing what road I want to take. There has been a shift of focus in things I want to do and this will reflect heavily in what I will put in the Serpentaires blog and shop in the future. But don't panic : there WILL be new things.

I haven't been idle theses past months. I worked my way through dry-point, etching and linocut techniques, discovered I have about zero interest in lithography, and had one of my pieces selected for the art school's exhibition at the end of the year. It's an embossed version of the linocut below. Unfortunately I wasn't able to retrieve it before the school closed for summer - ad I also discovered prints are incredibly hard to scan and photograph. they look much, much better in real life.

There was also a lot of sewing, costuming and pattern-making, and you should expect a lot of that to show in the stuff I add to the shop in the future. There's actually a BIG project brewing and a new crew member in the Serpentaires team. You should go take a look at her work ! In the meantime, there have been a lot of "smaller" projects...

That's just a small part of it, actually. better pictures of two outfits are still waiting in my digicam. But I suspect that will be the content of another post, as it's meal-time for little G.