Details: Let's Play What If....

What if shoes were soled with fur?
Then you would walk softly...

What if collars were lined in maps?
Then the world might know your pulse.

What if corset stays were made of feathers instead of bone?

What if quilting was done with glass rods?
What if I stitched fortune cookie fortunes into pocket tops, collars, cuffs?

What if I wore a picture of my love on my sleeve?
What if thread was elastic?
What if clothes were higher than our heads, wider than our shoulders,
longer than our hands....etc.
What if clothes were only for comfort and not for beauty?
What if a shirt told you exactly what I was thinking?
What if pants truly fit?
What if socks were the gaudiest thing I wore?
What if the reason for wearing clothes was to make the most noise?

More to come....

Details: Idea flows

I've begun a canvas by using Golden Matte Medium to essentially laminate linen canvas to my canvas. It was a canvas that had another idea start on it, one that didn't take. That happens a bit. Oh well! It gave me an interesting surface, with some scattered bumps on it.

Now while it's drying, I want to get an idea flow started. I begin with my inspiration, and dump ideas on it. What can I do with this, how far can I push it? What is the nature of the materials--what can they do and what can't they do? Do I want to use materials other than the traditional fabrics to see what will happen? This is a non-judgmental moment. I don't care if it's been done before, I don't care if it's a stupid idea...it's my process and nobody has done my process before in this present time...they are not me, now. Judgment and editing comes later.

Stays, boning--very interesting to me
edgings
lacing
buttonholes
buttons
hooks, loops, eyes
collar
slashing
cording
quilting
pleats, gathers
pockets
applied decorations.
shoes
sheers
leathers
silk
linen
grosgrain
linen thread
silk thread
silver/gold bullion trim
cotton net


good design
colors--all whites? not sure--like contrast too

Hawaiian shirts and other prints excavated
no people
Just details

like museum display?
Like Audubon drawings but clothes not birds?

set limits
materials
colors

not a fabric experiment, but an art experiment.

nothing to wear.

Shapes,
different size canvasses.
most small--it's details!

I love 12x12
I wonder if the wood ones will work best. check cost

Fabric canvasses will allow me to sew.

Sew before it's assembled? or after--depends on detail

Details:
1. back of stays with tabs
2. buttonhole ground -- useless buttonholes and buttons
3. grosgrain ribbon edges--what's inside?
4. lacing (cris-cross)
5. leather vest manikin
6. sheer pleating
7. linen collars.
8. silk roses.
9. straps with hook and eye closures.
10. Shoe buckle on sheer -- sheer shoes. Incongruity
11. sheer stays--sheer bra
12. velvet ruffle

There's a few ideas. More are allowed!

Lynette Hensley, The Flying Redhead

Details: To Begin a Project Series with Witnesses

I think I'll call it Details, at least as a working title. And the first challenge always, is to simply begin. I have this sign on my office/studio wall: There is always now. Simply begin while you still can. I don't know who said it, it might have even been me.

So we begin. I say "we" because I've offered this up to witnesses. The rules of engagement, should you choose to be witnesses, are these: Offer encouragement, support, and positive feedback, or simply be a witness, silently. I will not take in suggestions for what direction to go, or any negative feedback whatsoever. This is not a critique opportunity. There may be a critique opportunity later--we'll see how the project goes. While this is not the only way I create art work, I've found that having witnesses can add some spark to my work--movement and impetus, some accountability, and as long as I can remain within myself for ideas and direction, the learning that I do in the process is quite valuable.

I often start with books. Ideas come from everywhere of course, but books are not fleeting and so can be used as reference material.

I've gathered materials. The ideas that I have now are that I'd like to do a project with fabrics, and details of historical fashion. I was inspired by the book, Historical Fashion in Detail.

Come along with me? I will go at my own speed--I've done this once before, and really enjoyed the process and the result, and learned mucho!

Feel free to comment on the blog posts, and the pictures along the way, within the parameters of being a witness.

Thanks--talk soon!

Lynette, The Flying Redhead