Friday Finds: Photography Tutorial

Hi friends!

If you're anything like me, technical tips about how to take good photos of your crafts are always welcome. There are a lot of photography tutorials out there, but when I recently ran across this one by Eskimimi Makes I was impressed by it's simplicity and practicality.

Photo courtesy of Eskimimi Makes.

Take a peek when you get a chance.

Cassandra

Friday Finds: Another Time Suck.

So... you thought Pinterest was bad? Obviously, you've never visted Retronaut.co.

The only saving grace to the Retronaut time-suck is that new content is added at a much slower rate so you don't feel quite as compelled to spend multiple hours each day lost in the site. However, on first viewing, at least, expect to lose some seriously time here.

For me, it all started with this series of photos:

Broken out primarily by decade, the site provides an amazing glimpse into our (mostly US) past. I've always been fascinated by the evolution of culture so this site is an absolute treasure trove for me.

One of Cassandra's favorite entries is this one:

‘While preparing for his role as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, De Niro obtained a cab driver’s license, and when on break would pick up a cab and drive around New York for a couple of weeks’

So go. Get lost in the past. And don't expect to come up for air for a quite a while.

I'm sorry and you're welcome.

- Alex 

Use the Skinny Lens, Please.

As many of you are aware (because we've been talking about it incessantly), Cassandra and I were lucky enough to have an original pattern of our design chosen to be in What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit, due to be published in June 2012. The process has been wonderful, frustrating, surreal, and exhilarating. A million thanks to Heather Ordover for seeing something in our pitch and agreeing to take a chance on two people who had never designed anything more complicated than a hat.


One tends to forget, while in the throes of working out a pattern, that there are ancillary things that are required of a "published knitwear designer." For example, we needed a bio of some sort. Fortunately, that wasn't too much of a stretch to create. We also needed a head shot. Wait. What?! You want our photo?? And, potentially, thousands of people are going to see it? Oy... this is my worst nightmare.


When you become a "woman of a certain age", having your photo taken is monumentally stressful. I see every wrinkle, every jowl, every pound of extra weight. And, lest you think that my young(er) friend Cassandra is immune, think again. She despises having her picture taken.


Please don't misunderstand me. We're both perfectly fine looking people. We're not scarred or deformed in any way. Our hair (while a little courser) is pretty nice. We both have nice smiles. We may be a bit thicker in the middle (and the top, and the bottom) but we're fairly normal sized for Midwesterners. It's just that we're not the hotsy-totsy cuties we were back in our 20's.


We called our dear friend Kim, a real-live professional photographer who does AMAZING portraits, and asked if she'd do our photos for us. We decided that we wanted to have fun pictures - not just our two heads smiling at the camera. So, we brainstormed some ideas and settled on a couple that we really loved - tableau's that would show our personality and, hopefully, convey that we were crafty.

Make me look like this!

Then we asked Kim to make sure she used the "skinny lens" in all the pictures. (This is a real thing - ask any photographer. I swear!)


The photo shoot was a blast! Kim took us to an old warehouse studio so we had this gritty wall and old windows to work against. The natural light in the room was incredible and it really made for some interesting lighting in the photos.


For the one scene, Cassandra and I put on temporary tattoos that Cassandra had designed. Her's was heart-shaped with pins and needles coming out of the top and a ribbon that said "Stitch Bitch". Mine was a ball of yarn with two needles sticking through and ribbons that said, "Knit Fast, Die Warm". We borrowed a tattoo gun machine from a friend and made it look like Cassandra was tattooing my arm. The next set of poses are what we call our "engagement pictures". They're probably my least favorite but they're good for cropping if we need just our heads for something. Then, the final set is Cassandra and me, sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of craft materials. In the last set, Kim suggested that we make beatific faces - as though we were on some kind of crafting high. They're hilarious, as long as you understand the context. Otherwise, I think we just look nuts. LOL


Here are a few of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. In a few months, you'll be able to see our pic on the website for What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit in the designers area. Woot!! We're (nearly) famous!

My fave. Cassandra says she has "helmet hair".

This is one we like.

Our "engagement" photo

Seriously, it looks like we took Ecstasy or something...

Adventures with Technology

I am somewhat a technophobe. Oh, I know, you can find me deftly working on a computer all day long. But that's on my mac. The good folks at Apple have made sure that creative folks, like myself, have such a plug and play user experience that your G5 becomes your best friend. But there is other technology lurking out there -technology that's not so user-friendly and requires lots of manuals. You actually have to learn "why" and "how" before you can be successful.

I am not a Luddite like Tasha Tudor, but I'm still pretty bad.

For instance, long ago when I was in art school I took one photography class. I loved the final product but hated the process. Back in dark ages we didn't have digital cameras. I had to learn about f-stops and lenses on my Cannon AE-1 as well as complicated developing/printing. I was bogged down in the technical and I didn't like it.


I regret that I didn't bother to fight the "left-brain vs right-brain" war and power through the technicalities of photography. It would be wonderful to have skill to create the photographs I imagine when I look through the viewfinder.

"So advanced it's simple..." Yeah, right.

The one positive thing that came out of this failure is that I grew from it. I know now, as a grown woman, that if I can get through the yukky learning-curve, I can come out on the other side with mad skills. And this brings me to my latest techno-challenge...my Bernina 820.

I will give Bernina credit. The Bernina 820 has a touch screen and lots of graphics that make it easy to navigate. It is a "sewing computer" - as they like to refer to it in the manual. I'm sure I won't have trouble with the software (seems user-friendly enough), once I figure out the other stuff. And, by "other stuff" I mean the stuff I probably should already know from my basic sewing machine experience. Stuff like thread tensions, feed dogs up, feed dogs down, stitch length, the mystery stitches (other than straight or zigzag). And more. Lots, lots more.


It's amazing how many things I have actually sewn successfully with the limited knowledge I have. But much like cheating in school, it always catches up with you. My new wonderful sewing machine computer asks me questions that make me scratch my head. I have been working on my first small project (car lap quilts for the kids) and everything was going along just fine...until the actual quilting started. I am just quilting squares across the entire thing. I quilted one direction without drama, but the overlapping quilting from the other direction has me stumped. I'm getting a little bunching before the seams that, according to what I've read in my (confusing) Bernina manual, can be mitigated by adjusting the upper thread tension. Huh, wha? You mean monkey around with the standard settings? Yeah, my misspent sewing youth is all coming back on me now.

I will know you in-and-out...I will!

 I'm taking a deep breath and stepping back a few paces. I am going to suck it up and learn the sewing "hard stuff". From the beginning. I really want to use this Bernina to it's full potential. I don't want to miss out like I did with photography. Be prepared, I will be sharing this info as I learn it. I suspect some of you are in my same boat, hopefully we can both learn something here.


–Cassandra

Buried Alive

June is always a really busy month for me with family obligations, travel, house chores, etc. Consequently, I have very limited time to "create." Not having the space to focus on my projects makes me realize how important this part of my life really is. It is my meditation, my way of centering myself. 

Since my time to actually "do" crafts is limited, I am using this fallow time to step back and do some planning. I keep my eyes open when I'm out and about and look for inspiration. During downtime in the car, I can read about possible new projects or surf the web for patterns and ideas. One of my favorite planning activities is finding out-of-the way places to source my materials - cool little online shops or even brick and mortar shops in a town we're passing through. All this research gets me excited about the projects that I have coming down the pike.

I thought I would share with you today some of the places I have been looking...and finding much inspiration....

Vintage Fabric Prints
Children or adult themed patterns from the 1930's have been calling to me. While I love the more modern prints I wrote about here a couple weeks ago, something makes me think that I need to make a project (or two) out of something old school. A quilt perhaps...or maybe just some summer-weight pajamas for little boys. It is possible that the advent of antique fair season is responsible for this inspiration.

I found this little company called Warm Biscuit that carry some really fun vintage kids prints. They don't have a ton, but what they have is intriguing. For instance, their Vintage Italian Alphabet fabric is just stunning.

This might have to become curtains in Little Bear's woodland themed room.

 For more grown-up projects, like quilts or a cute summer shirt for me, I have been peeking at calico. So subtle, so traditional...it harkens back to the depression era sensibility on my mind.

Calicos I found at Moda.

Colors
The world around me is suddenly brimming with color. I live in a valley and the nature surrounding my home is an endless source of ideas for placing unexpected colors together. Green matched with a violet...birds nest brown matched with robin's egg blue. It's all out there, waiting for you to notice it.

Pinks next to greens next to oranges...all in my backyard.

 One of the most wonderful things about the digital cameras is the exposure we now have to photography on the internet. So many people take up a camera and put their work out online for us to see these days. I have friends with formal photography education and thousands of dollars worth of equipment as well as friends with a point-and-shoot camera in their bag and a God-given talent for taking an amazing photo without all the frills. Their images inspire me, the colors especially.

A beauty by my point-and-click photographer friend Troy.

Books and Blogs
One of the things I can sneak in when I have a moment is reading. There is no prep time to dragging out a book or opening my laptop and clicking through to the bookmarks I have to some of my favorite blogs. I can get a lot of inspiration in 15 minutes.

One of my favorite bloggers (Meg McElwee at Sew Liberated) has written another book. I just ordered it yesterday (on the strength of the home-made teepee on the cover) and I can't wait until it comes in the mail! She has great patterns on her site for purchase and her blog is a super resource for sewing tips and tricks.

How could I not order this? I'm sure to be blogging about it soon!

I am a competent seamstress, but recently a very basic beginner's book called Me and My Sewing Machine jumped out at me at the library. This is the best book ever. It goes over the parts of your sewing machine and different sewing techniques (such as zippers or a variety of hems) all in plain English. Even someone like me who has been sewing for 20 (ahem) years can find this useful. It has gone on my must-buy list. This book has really motivated me to sew more often, stretching my comfort zone a bit more each time.

If you noticed, I didn't spend much time talking about knitting today...I guess I have summer fever!

–Cassandra