the loos, Plushtastrophe LA

More "loo loo" madness, but an older generation and larger. My plush contribution to the Plushtastrophe LA show at BLK/MRKT Gallery. These are "the loos" -- grandmother of all uni-looloos on the planet. They are many and one all at once and they live to love. The larger loos are perfect for hugging in bed, the smaller ones can be placed in your bag to squeeze during scary movies. Juxtapose them in a casual arrangement, or break them off into separate gangs.

Made of mostly recycled materials: blue cotton velvet, pink chintz, green twill, sheet cottons, 80's palm print jersey poly/cotton, aqua sport/mesh stretch cotton, illustrated eye detail, googly-eyes and fakey jewels. They come fashioned with striped & satin ribbon tails.

PLUSHTASTROPHE Grand Finale BLK/MRKT Gallery, LA9/10/05 - 10/8/05

Aaaa, the last leg of the North American tour of the Plushtastrophe show. Remember the Puffy Marshmallow dude in Ghostbusters that terrorized Manhattan with his soft, sticky goodness and chubby-cheeked horror? Plushtastrophe has grown by similar puffy leaps and bounds. The grand finale stops in LA, at the very cool, and lovely space, BLK/MRKT Gallery.

SoCal'ers, come by the opening Sat, 9/10/05, and help us celebrate the night with a little squeeze & cuddle. See you! xxoo caramimi

show runs 9/10/05 - 10/8/05

BLK/MRKT GALLERY
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310 837 1989
HOURS: Tuesday - Saturday 11-6pm
www.blkmrktgallery.com


// participating artists //

Caroline Hwang, Amy Marks, Miriam, Dora Drimalas, Soft Baked Goods, Bwana Spoons, Saelee Oh, Koji Harmon, Hazel Mandujano, Uglydolls, Sun-Min, Shawnimals, Furilla, Jen Rarey, Jill Bliss, Wonder Farms, Anthony Lecy-Siewert, Jing Bentley, Kate Sutton, Friends With You, Souther Salazar, Lark Pien and Jane Pien, Mark Nagata, Trish Grantham, Heather Q, Ian Lynam, Adam Arnold, Lisa De John, Nicole Mueller, Marc Willwerth, Katie Aaberg, Brent Johnson Brenthallamew, Molly Anderson, Midori, Abby DansigervChris Hutchinson, Mark Giglio, Cupco, Apak, Koadzn, Gonzo, Scatha Allison, NoMe Edonna, Jayme Yen, Ciriaco Sayco, Mikas Mogo, Caramimi, Mark Arcenal, Natalie Cartwright, Greg Galinski, Patrick Ma, Erin Shafkind, Courtney Ryals, Pushpurix, Silver Warner, Pollynation, Karina Santos, Rita, Julian, Ryan Bubnis, Donut Hoes Paige Gratland and Rayne Baron, Megan Tucker, Andrice Arp, Laura Granlund, Cody Thompson, Muju Muju, Magmo The Destroyer, Gary Baseman

uniloo-loo 2, 'Soda vs. Pop' show - Rocket World Gallery

image by Rocket World Gallery

The creative & adventurous Patrick Ma, celebrated the opening of his fantastic (and huge) shop space/gallery, with the art opening Pop vs. Soda -- a collection of 2d & 3d works by various illustrators, artists and craft creators moving in the current cute-pop-culture.

I was asked to contribute a piece, and created the second generation of unilooloos -- unilooloo 2. This piece is on a similar plane as unilooloo 1, but made with a tighter grip. The louder, cheeky version of the unilooloo series, thus far. This piece can be unraveled and arranged in various configurations. Bunch it as a bouquet shown here, or wrap it across your chest like a strap of bullets (well -- soft, googly-eyed bullets).

unilooloo 2 is made of mostly recycled materials: calico, chintz, twills, vintage linen & cotton prints, felt tongues, illustrated eye detail and readymade googly-eyes. They wear handmade pompons and satin ribbon; and are lovingly constructed with a wink and a pinch.

>> available to purchase at Rocket World Gallery - $65.00.



image by Rocket World Gallery

Hucksters Boutique @ Club 222

Mikas and I showed our wares at the monthly "Huckster's Boutique", organized by the very talented designer, Savannah. This event was at Club 222, a beer & wine bar in the Tenderloin.


Mikas brought her dolman sleeved tops and muy-cool spray painted bags, and I brought my wrist cuffs of vintage fabric and a few brooches & belts. Here are our colorful offerings of the night.



Mikas puts on finishing touches to her cool spray painted canvas bags. She wears an orange tank designed by eStar wih a fluffy golden brooch. Her Portuguese "flash" is by Rosa Pomar.



Leanne is a colorist at the fabulous Cowboys & Angels salon, and more importantly my first customer. Leanne rocks a black & white wrist cuff w/green d-rings. Thank you Leanne!



I believe this is Mehgan, a very cute girl with a great attitude and a penchant for wrist wear. She bought one of my orange/pink vintage cotton wrist cuffs with a big purple O buckle. Perfect for chuggin an ice cold one and having some fun.



miss velvet cream gets down in one of her new creations w/signature hood. You can see hints of her ruffle detail on the front of jacket. If you could stroke this, it would feel like your favorite teddy bear.



The talented & elusive Savannah, the Huckster's Boutique organizer. She designs basics with surprising details (note the duo color twisted halter) - very well thought out design. That slice of pink round her waist is one of my vintage cuffs.

uni-looloo 1, Plushtastrophe Chicago - Rotofugi Gallery

My plush contribution to the Plushtastrophe Chicago show at Rotofugi Gallery. Show opened this week, so hopefully my soft babies had some fun. You know... gettin' their swerve on and whatnots. The uni-looloo's are the 1st offspring of my uni-loo piece shown at Plushtastrophe SF & Toronto. This piece can be unraveled and arranged in various configurations. You can even wrap it round your waist if you like.

Made of mostly recycled materials: calico, chintz, twills, sheet cottons, linen-blend prints, felt tongues, illustrated eye detail and readymade googly-eyes. They wear a handmade pompon and satin ribbon.

Plushtastrophe - Chicago

Ahoy Ahoy! The soft friends make their way to Chicago. This time Rotofugi plays host. Hurray Plushtastrophe!! www.rotofugi.com

Hot "Penguin on penguin action" Sketchel

Photo by magicmikas

My Sketchel for Design Is Kinky's Semi-Permanent 2005 exhibition in Sydney. Curated by the fabulous design force, Jeremyville. You see a trace of the stitching detail on the penguins and the connecting threads. I've always been fascinated by penguins and wanted to give homage to these bumbling birds.

Denim cotton base; red, plum and florals from silk kimono fabric, neon pink & striped cottons. All recycled materials.

Petal drip applique

I bought this roomy black tote several years ago for about $7 at Big Apple grocery in Nob Hill. It has since served me quite well: worked through my moves, accompanied thrifting jaunts and successfully snuck in many snick-snacks at the movies. Recently, the original straps started fraying aggressively and the cherry, glitter iron-on looked more ho-hum than intended. I replaced the straps with wider webbing and added this petalish, drippy applique of various cottons. Now I'm all fancy-like and can be spotted carrying a bag full of butterflies.

Renewed tote, cotton webbing from safety straps, applique of recycled fabric: red & white cotton chintz, wine/pink cotton calico, accent of hot pink cotton & red ultrasuede.

Cloud-camo applique

Since my tri-color applique number, I've done a few customizations for friends. Here's the result of an custom job I did on Mario's Ben Davis shirt. He requested something cloudy and I came up with this number. As I sifted through my fabric, I found a forgotten blue camo (is there such a thing in the military?) jersey. I decided to incorporate it with the other fabrics and suprisingly the whole shebang turned into a cloud camoflauge of its own design. Hoppy hoppy cloudy ho!

Model's Ben Davis shirt, applique of recycled fabric: multi-printed cotton, blue camo cotton jersey, blue cotton-velvet, and plum silk. model: Mario, location: Lower Haight, SF.

el STRANGEco

photo by McCarty PhotoWorks

In the Summer of 2003, I was working with STRANGEco furiously preparing for our first San Diego Comic-Con. In the buzz of activity -- pressing Mini Treehouse buttons, printing press kits and the like -- I created these customized t-shirts of lucha-ish character, el STRANGEco. We ordered those nice, slim-cut cotton tees from American Apparel and put the iron and scissors to work. I made a variety of masks with different materials and color combos, all on a navy tshirts.

In retrospect, I realize this design was a combined influenced from my years living in National City, San Diego, and my brief stint in the 80's in an all-girl breakdancing crew. Ha! Funny story, the latter one, which I won't get into. The connecting thread being the heavy influence of Chicano styling: the lowriders, neatly pressed chino'ed guys with plaid shirts buttoned at the collar, heavy eyeliner and those handmade shirts bearing our crew name on the back and our "nickname" down the sleeve. Throw in an iron-on, glitter rose and bandana and you were ready to rock that body.

100% navy cotton, sweatshop-free American Apparel tee, 2-color applique of recycled cotton/jersey/tweed/twill, purchased gold Olde English letters added for whomp. torso: Brian McCarty, location: Los Angeles.

Stay Alive in 2005

Happy New Year Everyone! More love, more success, more peace.....