Big hair never hurt anyone

As I'm waiting for my coffee to brew, I thought I'd just say a little somethin' somethin'.

Today I worked, and then jet set off to take a little test MO State likes to call an Assessment Exam. 

You gotta take it to graduate and it reflects how far you've come since you entered. 

About this morning I started to wonder if this test was going to tell me I've actually lost brain power since my arrival... 

Then I sat down in the class room and realized my shirt was on backwards. Thats right... fashion girl can't even realize when her neckline is too high.. and that's because it's supposed to be in the back. Then I was thankful I put on a clean shirt, otherwise there'd be a chance I'd have food stains in the middle of my back... not that I'm that messy of an eater, but... I considered to do one of the magical put your left arm through the right side and flip really quick maneuvers, but I decided against since I'd never met any of those people before. 

at least it wasn't inside out

I decided to just put my jacket back on. It was chilly in there anyways.. and I like to be warm, cozy and ready for a nap when I take tests that require me to read an over worded paragraph with words I never use and then analyze it. Speaking of run on sentences.... ha take that exit exam!

So, since we all know about my profound writing skills, you can only imagine that I had a blast taking this test. Oh, it included Math too.

Now why can't it just ask me about stitch and seam classifications and why the shirt of the girl sitting next to me doesn't fit her?

I didn't really look at anyone like this... actually there was a guy next to me. This is all hypothetical.

Anyways, my coffee is brewed to where it can brew no more. Time for me to knock out four garments before 2:00 tomorrow. I love last minute. 

Oh yea, and the main reason for this post, is to let you know.. I'm back to big hair. 

Have a glorious evening. 

M

Pieces of Excitement: Eco Edition

Add to: Wish List

These two Eco Smart Fires are so full of awesomeness. Above is what the designers call Fire + Ice Coffee table. If you look close, you can see you can grow grass under the left side.. How Cool!

Below is the portable Igloo fireplace and I think it's just beautiful.

So it might be a blogger no-no to copy this... but I can't explain it better. Aside from their beauty, this is why these fireplaces are so wonderful. From their website,"EcoSmart Fireplaces are fuelled by bio ethanol, a renewable liquid fuel produced from agricultural by-products which burns clean - no smoke, no harmful emissions.bio ethanol is completely composed of plant products resulting in a neutral ecological balance. The combustion of bio ethanol produces Heat Steam and Carbon Dioxide."

So this flying carpet seriously does take me to another place. I'm in love not only with this rug, but Nanimarquina, a company located in Spain. You should watch this awesome video that made me want to become a rug designer for a second... Seriously beautiful work.

As a barista, I always fight with myself to try and find a useful purpose for all of the espresso and coffee grounds that go to waste. There's gotta be something great for this little grounds.. and Raw Studio from the UK has done just that. They also make these super duper hanging chairs.

um, hello you beautiful magazine table made out of recycled paper board. I need.. oh about twenty of these. Officially a fan of Matt Gagnon.

 So glad to share these sustainable designs with you. One last thing... not eco related, but I wanted to show you some of the work I finished in the dark room the other day.

The first two are for a Depth of Field assignment; they're not the best ones I developed, those are turned in, but I still like them. The second set are some of a project I'm working on now which is Up Close in Nature.

Do you have any favorite eco finds? Post em in the comment box.

Thanks for reading! I'm sewing away this weekend. 

M

Tuesday, Shmoozday

Lately, I'm only figuring out the wrong way to do things... I'm hoping for great success tomorrow!

Tonight though, I'm giving it one last shot to bust out some work..

 I've got two looks I'm redesigning with these fabrics

 I need to catch up on my reading material and ripping pages.

I'm listening to some Dave 

and trying to figure out who to trust now that "The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto." Sheesh. 

Get some rest tonight, tomorrow could be the biggest day of your life! 

Your Doll,

Missy

Gillioz Tribute

Alright dolls and gents, just wanted to share a photo I developed earlier today that made me really happy. After I was done doing all that I could of the required assignment, I still had some time to play. I've been wanting to try out this idea I had of exposing the paper to one negative, then switching the negative and exposing a different image over it. I'm positive I'm not the first to try this, but it was a first for me and it made me really excited. Today, the stars aligned and I had the extra time and negatives worthy of this sugary goodness. 

Cool huh? 

So as many of you Springfielder's may know, the Gillioz is in foreclosure. I'm not an expert on the situation but I know they have X amount of days to raise enough money to keep the doors open. And if not, well who knows that will happen. All I know, is it is an absolutely beautiful space and seems to be a major piece of the heart of downtown Springfield. 

I really hope they are able to raise enough money from the Save the Gillioz Fund. And since I don't have enough to donate, I just wanted to help get the awareness out in a small way hoping possibly I could help.

This image has a double purpose. Never a bad thing.

I'm off make some hard fabric decisions (yep I take fabric very seriously), possibly work on some patterns, and then get lost in the two magazines that came in the mail.  I leave you with some pictures Christiano and I took after class today in this delicious weather!

Thank you so so much much for reading!....yea, you're right that was a double "much" for you.

You know, the longer you look at "much" the funnier of a word it becomes.

ps. did you see that sweet bun I was able to get my hair into today? That's the first bun in almost a year...a year. Proud hair day. 

Yo Doll,

Missy

Iris Roots

Yesterday my sweet teacher brought me this grocery sack full of Iris roots! Wooo Hooo! 

Straight from the field, covered in dirt

Gave 'em a good rinse

Put 'em in the pot and let 'em do what they do

hmm not the green I had hoped for...

They're still siting in there.. on the stove.. soaking. Not sure what to do with it. I don't need any more yellow, and I really need a green. I researched last night on greens and well.. there's really not much information on the topic. Bummer.

I did read that I can (possibly) achieve green by doing an indigo dye bath, dry and then another in a yellow bath. I'm considering it, but I'm kinda running out of time. I'm coming to a stand still on my collection until I can get my fabrics nailed down. It would take a week for the indigo to come in the mail and at least two nights to dye.

 What to do? What to do?

Any suggestions?

Aside from dyeing.. today is a B-e-a-utiful day! I have all the windows in the studio open, a fresh pot of coffee, listening to a new pandora station Massive Attack thanks to a suggestion by Miss April, and baking cookies! Whoa! Oh and I'll be in the dark room later today! What a Thursday! 

Hope you're week is going great!

Your Doll,

Missy

Chocolate for Breakfast

Christiano and I celebrated early last night (gotta work tonight) so I thought I'd start this day off right, with more chocolate. 

Last night, we grabbed some sushi and came home to cozy up and watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I've been wanting to see it for a while, and my intuition told me it would be a good one so I just bought it... It was! I'd recommend it if you're looking for a movie at home tonight. 

Not a lovey-dovey film, but defiantly cute.

Happy Valentine's Day!

XO

M

A Good Cry

When's the last time you had a good ol', decent cry?

I've taken quite an interest in photography recently and, well, I'm about to show you some pictures I just felt like taking tonight. I've always loved looking at sad people in pictures for some reason. I hurt for these people without an ounce of knowledge about them or why they're crying. Now I'm not asking you to feel anything for me, this is not like that. I really took them for myself.. can't tell you why. It just happened and I thought I'd share.

Mom and dad if by chance you fall on this one day in your confusing adventures of the world wide web, I'm just fine. I'm doing just fine, promise. 

Sometimes, I think a cry is necessary in a cleansing sense. AND not because you're sad, or you've had a trying day. Just happens sometimes. No? Never to you? Maybe I'm experiencing a sadness I'm not aware of. 

Call me crazy. 

These are real tears. I was able to tap into these emotions I haven't felt for a long time, and I believe in a healthy way. I'm past the experiences I went through and I'm better off, but that doesn't mean I can't remember them. I imagined the camera as the eyes of my experiences. I thought about it, and I want to keep the origins of these feelings from you, to allow you to walk through these photographs and see in them what you will, the same way I do when I place myself in a sad photograph. 

So I ask you again...when's the last time you had A Good Cry? 

On a lighter note...

I'm so excited because I think I might have found my last piece of the puzzle... my last model! *fingers crossed and shaking rapidly! 

Now back to the regular broadcast.

Almost Done! Natural Dyeing

Walnuts

Let these simmer until you reach a pretty dark concentrate

I ended up boiling these down three times to make the ratio of my concentrate to my water more even. It all depends on how dark of a brown you're trying to reach. Walnut hulls are pretty potent, so you can keep boiling them down. I never reached a time where my water was fading...if that makes any sense.

Soak your fabric first (just to dampen) and then drop into the dye bath. 

I let these simmer for about three hours

Results:

1. No mordant-Cotton

2. Alum- Organic Dobby

3. Alum- Organic Dobby

 All simmered for three hours

1 & 2 left to cool in dye bath overnight

Madder Root

Even though I already treated my fabric with an alum mordant, I went ahead and put some more alum directly into my bath for this one ('bout three heaping Tbs) Why? I read some where that using additives will produce colors that lean on the red side and others will lean on the orange side. 

 I made roughly three concentrates for my dye bath.

It was looking really orange, so I stripped most of the roots in the middle of the process because the outer part of the root is what really gives off the yellowish/orangish color. The inside is what I really wanted for red.

Boiled it down again.

I was really thinking I was going to end up with an orange or peach. (A tutorial told me that most madder root dye baths end up orange. So it's still pretty touchy)

Results:

 1. Alum-Soy Organic Cotton Jersey 

2. Alum-Recycled Twill

Both simmered for about four hours. 

What you should know about Madder Root:

-It is Very heat sensitive. Madder should never really be brought to a rapid boil. In Fact... it should be brought to a simmer over the course of two hours...yea, go ahead and find something else to do.

-Should never really go past 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Is a good candidate for solar or cool dyeing.

-The roots should be rinsed first to remove the yellows and oranges from the outer part of the root that usually turn your bath orange.

-After that, let soak, rink and chop up or better yet, blend (in a blender you don't use for food, of course)

....yep I think that about sums it up as far as my knowledge... of course there's more to know, so you should defiantly research some more before doing this, because I obviously didn't do this perfectly.