consolidating....

taking a break from made things and blogging here www.caramimi.blogspot.com

inspiration

inspiration, originally uploaded by special combo.

a mini installation on my wall: a tumbled mess of pleated cotton floral print fabric with woven belt -- i believe this may be central american.

the contrast, textures and colors are my current inspiration.

Element necklaces

I must be lamenting my tropical home, as I made these necklaces with the hot, island beaches in mind. A little white sand, hot sun, golden tan and a straw hat. Ah, what bliss!

I've been rather obsessed with shells, wood, gold and silver. Displayed off a white dress, bikini, tank top and a tan is the right idea. When worn with other gold or silver pieces, these elements could work with in a Fall/Winter context, as well.

This small collection of Element necklaces are a jump-off from this aesthetic. Made of mostly recycled & found materials from my large bead and jewelry collection.

Available to purchase on my Etsy shop www.caramimi.etsy.com

Customized complexgeometries

Originally uploaded by special combo.

Custom sharpie'd asymetrical tshirt dress by complex geometries, a design label based in Canada.

I love this dress and wore it till the hand-dyed garment suffered dinner stains. I proceeded to bury said stains with death by sharpie. Turned out ok for a quick fix, and totally get-down proof.

just right

Originally uploaded by special combo.

during my thrifty adventures, i found a pile of vintage linen squares that looked to be part of a swatch book for a textile maker. in great need of a little lumbar pillow, i made this with two opposing patterned fabrics. if goldilocks came by, she'd say this pillow was "just right."

one-off reversible lumbar pillow made of vintage linen fabric.

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.....

Where do babies come from?

When the kids start asking, you can knit a womb and tell it like it is...

A Makeover Story

 

Like the old classic goes "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." This applies to kitty cats as well. Sometimes a cat just wants to be a bunny -- icognito that is. You know, you've scratched up all the furniture and pooped in your enemies' shoes. The only way to dash out the door is in this get up. 100% hot pink recycled wool.

Rosette & cherry pin

One of the things I love about thrifting is revisiting the old. I cannot recall the many times I've run into a cotton doilly, or an almost finished granny-square afghan. Someone set out to tackle yarn and needles to create this object before me -- now shelved in hopes of making a second life somewheres. Albeit old, forgotton, often ugly and sometimes (lord forbid) smelly, I still appreciate the thoughtful work put into these personal items. I especially love Irish crochet items or bas-relief florals. When the craft is well done, I fall in love with textiles all over again.

With my head in some romantic, ruffled fervor, I set out to make one of those crocheted flowers with a small bit of hot pink, fuzzy yarn. There wasn't much of the stuff to begin with, so I was glad to find some purpose for it. I think it turned out fairly nice, for my first flower project. I added some ultra suede leaves, a cherry button detail, pin backing and I was hitting the streets! I've worn this pin almost every week for the past three years and it always lifts my spirits. I recently added the baby pink satin ribbon, as I'm currently into a "dripping visual" aesthetic. Go figure.... 100% wool, ultra suede, cherry button, satin ribbon. Made from recycled materials.

Tri-color wave applique

I've been toying around w/this great bonding material called "Wonder Under." Peter & I discovered it on a trip to Britex one weekend. We bought the super-strength bond under the hawk-like eyes of the "charming" sales staff ready to make that daily commission. This means you dear shopper....

This bonding wonder has helped me make various iron-on patches from just about any iron-safe material. I literally had a dream of an art-nouveau meets japanese wave art meets "yellow submarine" graphic pattern, and came up w/this ditty. It's an ironed & stitched applique customizing this recently acquired navy hoody. Three materials realize this pattern: royal blue cotton velvet, red & white printed chintz and neon-pink cotton. Machine washable, line-dry preferred please (thank you). model: Roy, hoody: Goody, location: the Mission, SF