Interview with Thatiana of House of Telsa

Today I am featuring an interview with a talented hat, hairpiece, fabric and fiber artist, Thatiana of House of Telsa.  Thanks Thatiana for taking the time to talk to me!

First, tell everyone a little bit about your history with arts and crafts. How did you first get started? Are there other art forms you have explored?

My love of the arts started at a very young age. My mom was a sample maker who worked closely with designers of women’s clothing and she’d sometimes take me to work with her during the summer breaks. I loved going to work with her. I was so in awe of everything she and the designers and pattern makers did and knew that someday I’d love to be able to make something for myself. Fast forward years later, after my first daughter was born I started making clothes for her and me to wear as well as the hats to coordinate. I loved what I was making, but it was mostly the satisfaction of having made something that I loved because, in all honestly, though they were cute, weren’t my best work. I took a hiatus from making clothing for some years and it wasn’t until after my youngest was born along with the discovery of a well known website where people sold both new and used items. There was an established community of children’s clothing designers there so I thought to myself, “hey, I could do that’. I opened up a shop on the site and started selling my designs there. I found it exhilarating! I was the designer, pattern maker, seamstress, photographer, photo shoot editor and marketing team. My little one was my model and when a design was finished, we’d head off looking for the perfect setting for a photo shoot. Most of my designs were vintage inspired and for the photo shoots I’d make the hair accessories. Sales were not great and listing fees on the site were going up so I started to look into other places to sell my designs. I came across Etsy and fell in love with it, so I decided to open a shop there. I hadn’t offered many designs through Etsy when a friend of mine was scheduling an event at her artsy hair salon to showcase local artists and asked me to be one of them. I didn’t sell anything at the event, but since I had all these pieces already made I decided to photo them and list in my Etsy store. Thankfully my designs got a good reception and they started selling. I was completely taken aback by the response and to this day am totally blown away that women from near and far have chosen my designs be it for every day wear or for something as special as their wedding day.

True Millinery often seems to be a lost art. Most of our hats come from factories. How did you discover and get into this fascinating form of creation?

Oh wow, well, I don’t consider myself a milliner. I haven’t had any formal training and I’m humbled by all the true milliners out there. All my techniques have either been passed on from my mom, who took a few millinery courses in high school in our country of El Salvador; learned from trial and error or from studying millinery techniques on my own. I do hope to take formal classes and expand my ability to make fascinators and head pieces. There are tons of ideas in my head that take flight with each technique I learn, so I know how important it is to grow in whatever art form you’re in.

How does creating hats and accessories vary from other forms of creation?

Other than the actual technique, I would say they’re all basically the same. From a simple inspiration to the construction and final product, it’s a process. Even the most simplest design, takes time to perfect.

The items that you create seem like a lot of precision and method went into them along with your creativity. Is that true?

Believe it or not, there is a method to my madness.

When someone creates items with such clean work that are based on styles and methods of days past, it makes me wonder if perhaps they are a little nerdy. Any nerdy tendencies or hobbies? If so, what are they. If not, what are your hobbies?

Nerdy is as nerdy does, so although I’m sure I am, I couldn’t tell you what nerdy tendencies I have. I’m quirky, for sure, but again, it’s more a state of being rather than anything you do in particular….I think? As for hobbies, I’m blessed to have my hobby be my career so I get to escape a little every day. Though time is limited, I do enjoy a good book…currently reading The Diary of Anne Frank… and learning new forms of art. I taught myself how to crochet a few months ago. I really enjoyed this winter season with the massive amount of scarves that I made for myself and my family…..we sure didn’t go cold this time around… and am taking knitting classes. Yarn is a fabulously fun medium.

What is your favorite work of art?

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci……there is such an eery calm in her eyes that intrigues me.

What is your favorite thing you have ever made?

I really don’t have a favorite. They’re all pieces of me and say something about how I was feeling at the moment they were designed/created.

House of Telsa is a very unique name. Where did it come from?

Thank you for that! I wanted a name that was very personal to me so I combined the initials of my daughters names. T. E. is the eldest while L.S. is the youngest and the A is for our last name…..and House of Telsa was born.

Finally, Where can we find you and your art?

You can find both my shops on Etsy: houseoftelsa.etsy.com and houseoftelsa-Maison.etsy.com
My blog is thehousereport.blogspot.com and you can find me on facebook under house of telsa, too.

I’d like to thank each one of my beautiful customers for their continued support of my small business. Thanks to you, each day is a good day at the “office”.

What I’m Into This Week – Obliterating the minions of evil with flowers and butterflies

Diablo 3 came out last week. Since I installed it, pretty much every waking moment not spent crafting or baking has been spent avenging something or other from the wrongs caused by evil witches or demons or minions of hell or… something.  Blizzard managed to make a very different and unique game while still clinging to the essence of what makes Diablo “Diablo”. They did away with skill trees in favor of a more interchangeable system which still allows you to create a unique character but gives you a huge amount of customize-ability. And the weapons you can find or get on the auction house can be found with an insane variety of stat boosts, which allows you to  kill things in exactly the manner you find most useful. AND, there’s customizable banners, which allow you to this:

I couldn’t be happier…  until next week

What our mothers gave us

Today I wanted to share an article from Geekmom on Wired.com about all the amazing things mothers give us.

I also wanted to talk about what my mother gave me and ask everyone else to share what their mother gave them.

My mother taught me to care about others deeply and help when I can, even those who I don’t know.  My mother has an incredible eye for detail and a drive to do her best always. Sound familiar? My mother answered all of my questions, and when she couldn’t, she taught me how to look them up in the encyclopedia. My mother taught me to ignore those who would nitpick me and be loyal to those who loved me for who I am.  MY mother always valued education, creativity and compassion, three things that are the crux of who I am today. Thank you mom.

Interview with LaBelle Fairy

Today I am featuring an interview from LaBelle Fairy, a talented corsetry and sewing artist.  We would like to thank the artist for taking her time to speak with us!

How did you land at creating corsetry?

T.V.

Crazy but true. I personally have not had a TV in my life since 1988.

A chance visit to a relative caught me up at night on their couch in their living room.

Unable to sleep, I flicked on their TV and there was a documentary called Extreme…something or other…. It featured the women with the smallest waist in the world. (Kathy Jung).

She was wearing a beautiful antique styled corset which I loved.

I determined I needed to have one, unable to find one I decided I would make one.

They’ve come a long way since that one baby!

You say in your shop info that you are in Cranbrook, British Columbia, The Corsetry Capitol of Canada.  Can you tell us a little bit of the history of Cranbrook and how it got that distinction?

Cranbrook is an old Railway town it also features Fort Steele which is a well known heritage site.

I have been involved with both sites making corsets for the re-enactors as well as displays.

The part about it being “The Corset Capitol of Canada” is my own perverse invention.

Kind of a build it and they will come philosophy … It now “officially” comes up under corset capitol, Google it!

 Usually my audience is pretty educated with these types of things, but I wanted to give you a chance to make this point to anyone who might not be… Some people might look at your prices and say “why should I pay $300+” for a corset when I can get one from a random lingerie store for $50?  Whats the difference between an inexpensive, mass produced corset and yours?

Basically this would be like the difference between a pastry bought at 7/11 and one bought at a European Patisserie.

Really no comparison.

A professional corset will contain a fabric known as coutil.

Coutil is a fabric specifically manufactured by small European mills for corsetry.

It is expensive, beautiful and hard to get.

It is stiff, has a particular weave and has little or no stretch. In my opinion no real corset goes without it.

A real corset is a functional garment, it actually works! Real corsets are often made four inches smaller than a natural waist measurement and absolutely must be bomb-proof!

Can you imagine yanking as hard as you could on the lacing on your flimsy cheap corset? Good Luck.

Real corsets also have steel boning and a steel busk. I use expensive German steel from a 200 year old manufacturer!

The cheap corsets one sees at a “random lingerie” store will “maybe” have plastic bones, from my experience these plastic bones last about one wear before they start to bend and flip up.

This alone would be enough to convince most that those $50 “corsets” are maybe not such a bargain.

What about custom fitting?  Not everyone is simply small, medium or large!

A custom corset is made to your exact measurements! It seems quite rare to me that a customer will fit the 34-24-36 type mold exactly.

An expensive corset will also have two-piece metal grommets at the back for strength as well as a steel bone in front of these grommets to support the back of the corset.

The lacing is also particularly made for corsetry, it is very strong and will often have had applied metal tips called aglets.

A custom made corset will be an heirloom garment that will last many years… really the $50 “el cheapo” is a false economy.

It will not reduce your waist and will really not be made to your measurements or to last.

  Those of us who find things like corsetry, period clothing, etc, and are so detailed about it are often at least somewhat geeky.  Do you have any secret (or not so secret) geeky hobbies or interests?

I have a unique and ongoing fascination with Coco Chanel. She died on the exact day, year and month I was born!

She was also infamous for getting woman out of corsets, she quite detested them…

I also love Jean-Paul Gaultier as a designer and was able to attend his show at the Beaux Museum of Art in Montreal last summer!

I am also very interested in comparative religion, Churches and Basilicas, mythology and ancient symbols.

It also may be of interest to your readers that I live and work in a hand-built log cabin in the rural BC Rockies, and that I have a flock of 26 laying hens.

Other than corsetry what’s your favorite item of clothing?

I rarely wear anything other than a black dress.

I have several versions though the most popular is stretchy and cut a lot like a ballet suit.

Scoop necked, ¾ length sleeves and either knee length or A-line.

That’s it.

 What’s your favorite thing you have ever made?

Whatever I am currently working on becomes my new favorite.

I put all my effort into each new corset.

What would you say to someone who wants to learn corsetry and possibly sell it like you do?

Keep on keeping on. Every journey starts with a first step.

I failed both sewing and mathematics in school, now I spend my days zipping along on my industrial machine with a measuring tape around my neck.

Also be inspired by but don’t imitate, don’t sell yourself short. As we are all completely unique individuals we also bring our very own slant and soul to our art.

Finally, where can we find you are your art?

Find me online :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaBelleFairy?ref=si_shop  -  Etsy Shop

http://labellefairy.com/ – Personal Site

https://www.facebook.com/LaBelleFairy – Fan Page

What I’m into this week – Being Made up Like a Star

I’ve mentioned in a couple previous posts, my work on a costume for some upcoming cons.
I am still waiting on a job and, hence, waiting on the money to finish certain parts of the costume… like the wig, which will be expensive and possibly very time consuming… and, at this rate, I will have limited money and maybe a month to finish it.  But of course, just because I don’t have the money to work on the wig, doesn’t mean I didn’t spend money I don’t have to work on the costume, because… well, would I be me if I didn’t? (my husband has perfected the simultaneous sigh/laugh/eye roll at this point).

Because I felt like I was not moving ahead with the project quickly enough (I really would have liked to have made at least one attempt on the wig about a month and a half prior to now), and I was itching to work on it in some way, I spent some more time looking at the descriptions of my chosen character in the book, looking at artists renditions of her, looking at the movie pictures and looking at prior cosplays of her.  While doing so, I found two seemingly minor things that seemed to significantly change the believability of the cosplay.  They weren’t huge huge…like they aren’t the difference between “oh you’re ___” and “who are you? Oh, yeah, I guess I could see that.”, but they’re definitely the difference between “oh, you’re dressed like ___, right?” and “omg, you’re ___!”

If you haven’t figured this out yet: I never do anything halfway… In fact, I infrequently do less than %125 and when I do, I generally consider anything below 90% to be a dismal failure.  So I said, “I have to do those things right”. One of them is a seemingly minor detail that has to do with the wig, so you’ll hear about it later when I finally get to work on my wig.  The other one has to do with skin tone and makeup.  Yes, I said that the skin tone of the character makes a noticeable difference in her believability.  Which is actually kind of funny because her skin tone is not described in the book and not emphasized in any of the art/media, but I promise you, based on her hair/eyes/clothes that there is an answer that looks more believable.  The fun part: I don’t have that skin tone.

I already knew makeup for her was going to be a challenge because I want her to look glowy but not glitzy.  The fun/hard part of the type of characters I like to portray is that they are often something that exists in a natural universe very much like ours and have mostly qualities of normal women, but are somehow naturally larger than life… It’s what made Susan so difficult to portray correctly and it’s what’s making this costume a beast… How DO you portray a human that glows with natural light?  She’s a girl that doesn’t look like a superhero or an alien or an anime character or a glitter princess, but she has a glow about her… AND apparently, it is not a glow the color of my skin.
So, I did a ton of research on how to adjust skin tone using makeup, asked friends on facebook and watched videos on your tube.  I found two that were especially helpful, a Snow White tutorial where she talks about using sunscreen to help white out your face and to help reflect light among a few other helpful techniques, and a Fairy/Angel tutorial where she uses a lot of “luminescent” “glow” and “shimmer” products without a lot of glitter or glitz.  After that I looked up the products they liked/used and eventually came to the conclusion “OMG this is going to cost more than the rest of the costume put together.”  So I did some more research and was able to find some products I thought could do the job for a little over a third of the number I was originally looking at.
So of course, instead of exercising restraint and waiting until I had a little extra pocket change, I went to the store immediately because A. I was bored and B. when I get an idea, I can’t sit still until I can try it out… So, try it out, I did. Here are the results:

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I don’t think the “generic house lighting” and the “mediocre webcam” quite captured exactly what it looks like, but it gives you a general idea.  I have my arm shoved next to my face to show you the difference in skin tone.  I was definitely able to get to a lighter, cooler, more rosy skin tone than my usual light sallow with “so yellow I almost look jaundiced” undertones.  I think it looks pretty good, but I definitely need to practice some more to get used to it.  As much fun as costuming is, I have no desire to spend 90% of the con in my room doing makeup… which means I get to spend time at home obsessively doing makeup for no audience… except you guys.
That’s it for this weeks obsession; hopefully I’ll be into “being employed” soon so I can be into “finishing the rest of the costume” soon (and losing weight so I can fit into the dress my mom is making for it).  See you soon!

Interview with Elizabeth of “The Cusser Knits”

Today I am featuring a long overdue interview from Elizabeth from “The Cusser Knits”.  She is a talented blogger, fiber artist and foodie.  Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Elizabeth!

You knit, you spin, you cuss, what else do you do?

Apart from serve as minion to Chicken-Leg Al the Wonder Cat, you mean? Well, job-wise I’ve done a lot of things, my favourite of which was writing/editing/PA for a university fundraiser (though house-painter was a close second). Last month it became possible to devote myself to design full-time, so I’m going to see how that works out, and look into teaching some knitting classes. In my spare time? I…uh… knit. And spin. And write about knitting and spinning for my blog. I read a lot: lately I’ve been on a Scandinavian/Icelandic murder mystery kick, and I’ve just started the Master and Commander series. I’m also heavily into bread making, something that I’d like to explore more — it’s like doing SCIENCE! This year, I’d like to get back into yoga as a regular thing, and I really, really want to try dyeing yarn and fibre. Oh, and Skyrim. I play a fair bit of Skyrim.

How did all of this get started?

Well, I learned to knit when I was a wee ‘un — my grandmother was an Englishwoman of the WWII generation, and knit all the time. My sister and I stayed with her every summer, and I think she saw it as a way of keeping me quiet on rainy days, as well as a useful skill she could pass on to us. I went through phases of being really into it and then not knitting for years, until I moved to Alabama to live with the guy who is now my husband, and helped him take care of his mother. We had to be home pretty much all the time, and there were long stretches where she didn’t need us to do anything, so I took up the needles again. Then I discovered Ravelry, and the Rav members really helped me improve my skills. Combining internet geekery with knitting turned the whole thing into an obsession, and when Knit Picks started their Independent Designer Program, my mum pushed me to submit something. It was accepted, and I really enjoyed the process, so I submitted more, and then started selling patterns on my own on Ravelry. As well as being a creative outlet, knitwear design really appeals to my mathy side — a lot of the problem-solving in design involves math and geometry. 

I get the inkling that, since you’re so thorough, very articulate and possibly a mite obsessive, perhaps you’re a little geeky. Tell me about your secret (or not so secret) geeky hobbies/obsessions.

 Obsessive? What do you mean by obsessive? I’ve been wondering about that all week! Heh. But thank you for the compliment. Skyrim is my current non-fiber-related geek-out; I could play that for hours. I used to be seriously obsessed with collecting music, particularly punk, industrial, and bebop — just shipping my cd collection down here is going to cost a bomb — and I’m hoping to get back into that. I mentioned breadmaking above: it’s really interesting to explore the chemistry of it; to learn how everything interacts to transform pretty much the same ingredients into so many different forms of bread. My main obsession right now is spinning, particularly learning about the different breeds of sheep and experimenting with the fibre to see what works best for each breed, and for what use each is best suited. That of course leads to reading up on the history, the genetic lines, the structure and properties of different yarn…I could bore you to death on that subject. Oh, and shoes. It’s terribly girly, I know, but I cannot resist some well-designed footwear.

Aside from your geekiness, what is your favorite personality trait and how do you think it affects your art?

 I think creativity, if that doesn’t sound too precious. Knitwear design has taught me that I really do have a creative streak and a strong aesthetic sense. Not that I have exquisite taste or anything (I really don’t), but that there’s a sort of click in my mind when a piece or a colour combination is ‘right’, when it’s what I want it to be, and the whole process of getting there — playing with colours, techniques, textures — and seeing it all come together until I get that ‘click’ is immensely satisfying.

What is your favorite thing you have ever created and why?

 I think it would be the Let it be Spring mittens. They were my first mitten design, and the pattern, combined with the Estonian-style construction, was incredibly mathematically rigorous; much more so than I had expected. The prototypes made several flying trips across the room as I figured out how to make them work, but I’m glad I stuck with them. They’re a satisfying challenge to make — lots of increases and decreases and 2-colour twisted stitches — and the texture that results from that technique with the Malabrigo Sock is so lush, it looks more like brocade than knitting. Now that Malabrigo has come out with a sport-weight yarn, I’m working on updating the pattern with a larger size option, too.

What would you say to other geeky artists out there who are trying to get their start?

 Well, I’m just trying to get my start, too, so I don’t have a lot of sage advice, but one thing that has been most helpful is to seek out people who have made a go of it, and listen to what they have to say. In a forum environment like Ravelry, you can get to know these folks, and they’re often happy to give advice and talk about their experiences; take full advantage of that. For knitwear design, the two most helpful things I’ve done have been to take Shannon Okey (knitgrrl)’s Designing 101 course on design as a business and to join the Ravelry Designers forum.

Also, get to know people who are into what you’re making. The vast majority of my social interaction is online, so of course I’m going to recommend forums again, but whatever works for you. Not only can it be a lot of fun, but you get to know what people like and don’t like about the sorts of things you’re making, and if you’re friends with such a group (by which I mean genuine friends, not ‘here’s a bunch of people I can market to’ friends) and they like your work, they’ll support you and tell others about you. That kind of encouragement can keep you going when you begin to wonder whether you’ve lost your mind by choosing to put so much work into your art, when there are waaay easier and less risky ways to make money. By the same token, support others whose work you like, and tell other people about them. A few of my friendships in the fibre world started with me blogging about something someone made that I thought was amazing.

Finally, where can we find you and your art?

My designs are all for sale on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/stores/elizabeth-elliott-designs, (no membership needed to access that part), and there’s my blog, The Cusser Knits, where I write about knitting and spinning and such in obsessive detail. (Despite the title, it’s cuss-free, promise.) Eventually all of my patterns will be available there, as well.

Sometimes Creativity just needs a little Kickstart

for those of you who are unaware, Kickstarter is a platform where people can pitch their cool indy projects that might otherwise never see the light of day due to lack of corporate backing or lack of enough change in the creator’s pocket and then fans can fund them directly.  Ever heard someone say “if everyone on my facebook page gave $1, we’d have enough money to…”  That’s exactly the principle kickstarter works on.  Someone has an awesome idea; they set up a pitch on kickstarter detailing what the project is, how much money they need, exactly what the money will be spent on, and what people will get out of it; People say “hey that’s cool” and pledge whatever amount they can afford… even if it’s just $1.
That’s the great thing about kickstarter… you can directly affect something cool being made even if you don’t have thousands of dollars in start-up capital to give to someone and someone can make a project without finding a single backer with thousands of dollars.  Not to mention, it gives you more of a connection with projects and the people who make them. And, there’s usually awesome rewards.  Usually if you invest in a company you might get stock options if you don’t lose your shirt.  In the case of kickstarter, people have incentive to want you to donate, so they give you cool things like copies of the things they make from the project or merchandise from the store they’re building or mentions in the video they’re making if you donate at certain levels.  The other great thing is that if a project isn’t fully funded, your money is never taken away from you.  Once you pledge your money, you even have a chance at the end to back out.  Kickstarter is an amazing, virtually risk free way to help independent companies, filmmakers, artists, engineers, game designers, musicians, etc. get awesome things made.  Better yet, for smaller projects, you often are one of the few people to get whatever awesome thing that was created because sometimes kickstarter is the only way these people ever release stuff.

I love kickstarter and wanted to share with you three projects that caught my eye that I think would certainly catch yours.

-Clockwork Couture is an amazing steampunk clothing and accessories website that makes amazingly detailed and high quality items like corsetry, pocket watches and even accessories for your home.  They need a new store and they have all kinds of amazing ideas about what they want to do with the store like having a zeppelin lighting fixture and a full sized Tardis out front and they need your help to do it.  The deadline for funding is next Wednesday and they still need about $5000 so they really need your help fast!

DSS Circuits has a great open source circuit board project that they’re asking for help on!  You should all know about my love of circuitry by now and this guy is creating a board that you could place in your electronics (like an xbox) to see where it goes if it gets stolen.  A small board with GPS tracking capabilities an accelerometer and all kinds of other electronic bells and whistles (including a microcontroller… drool) has amazing possibilities, not just for tracking theft.  He is fully funded, but, creators who have their project over-funded sometimes use that opportunity to make their thing more awesome, and people will have a chance to back out so he may lose some of that money, AND the next 30 days may be your only chance to grab this amazing piece of technology as he does not state that he is planning on mass producing these or selling the designs to a large company.

Unique Dice Towers is using Kickstarter to create beautiful, compact and very portable dice towers.  Yes, I know there are millions of dice towers out there and  you can even make one with supplies you get at any craft mega mart for a handful of dollars.  The one from the craft mega mart… Isn’t nearly as attractive, sturdy, or skillfully made, and it supports the craft mega mart instead of a cool designer with a cool idea.  These are small enough to fit several on a table while playing a game, have a great “stained glass look” design and can fold up into a pretty little box when needed for storage.  Again, he is fully funded, but he doesn’t say anything about mass production so this may be your only chance to snag one of these amazing, gorgeous dice towers.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about these cool indie projects.  Look for a great interview tomorrow and more updates soon!