Tibbe.Smith

Am printing and can't stop

2012-02-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

Am currently taking a course in Illustrator, Photoshop and PadSystems. The course is intended for people working in fashion, so it's all about making technical drawings and patterns for printing fabric. On the school they have this textile printer, and let me say it is fabulous. (something that I don't usually say, but really, it is!) It is only money that keeps me from printing and printing and printing.
(For those of you who don't realize it, I want to point your attention to the fact that our clothes are usually not printed in this way, but in the old school silk-screen-printing way like Andy Warhol's images. It is not a printer but a person, - just the more reason to be impressed and apprecciate the work.)

I made this print, the first one that I finished, which you see being printed as the picture was taken.

The inspiration is from water crystals, microscopic constellations in water which shape is decided depending on which thoughts are directed toward the water. You can see on the crystals how positive thoughts create completely different constellations that negative thoughts. (so be good to yourself, you are mostly water)
After a long designproces where I basically dissected pictures of water crystals I finally decided on this print.

It will soon become a dress - well actually I plan on making two dresses, one in a sharp clean and minimalistic cut with a deep back and one to wear on top, if you feel like more adventure, which will be a much more extravagant, flowing draped dress.

More of

2012-01-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

The post card I made for the event that was held for our bachelor projects.

Front and back side, with text about my project on the back.

Let's make it work, Let's spread sustainability

2012-01-06T08:43:00.000-08:00

Some time has passed since we handed in and presented our bachelor thesis and product, and the date of our exhibition event is approaching.

My focus throughout my degree has been the fashion industry, primarily on design and pattern making. With my strong interest in sustainability, it felt natural that my bachelor should concern sustainability in the fashion industry. I decided to create a garment that was designed to convey a message of sustainability. This was also the starting point for the written part of the project. To explore how to convey this message through clothing, it was necessary to explore what sustainability in the fashion industry really entails. In addition, I have a sociological angle on how we consume and on how we carry symbols of who we are through our clothes.

There is no specific definition of sustainability, but there are many theories that deal with how we can change our ways to produce and consume. I can conclude that there are so many ways to work with sustainability in the fashion industry that you can not work with all at once. I can mention organically produced materials, minimization of transportation, recycling, fair trade and focus on working conditions, information regarding environmentally friendly maintenance, zero-waste (this means that there is not created any waste material by pattern construction but that everything is being used in the clothing piece), multi-functional design and much more. For the same reason it is also almost impossible to call a product 100% sustainable. However, one should use as many methods as possible and make a genuine effort to protect the environment and create good working conditions.

Like Kate Flecther writes:

Business as usual, or more to the point,

fashion as usual, is not an option.

As a fashion company I believe it important to consider sustainability but of course also the customer. The most important thing for the consumer is design, price and availability. If you want to sell sustainable products, they must therefore be attractive and beautiful. Consumers today are using clothing as part of their self-realization process and it is therefore not surprising that the design is essential when shopping.

With the dress I have made I sought to communicate a sustainable message. But based on my research, I came to realize that it is not certain that such a message would be welcomed by a buyer. There is also the possibility that symbolic value loses its deeper meaning when used in clothing context.

Later I'll put up pics with me in the dress. It does suit me better.

bachelor under a glass bowl

2011-11-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

Finally the paper is finished, printed and sewn in Japanese book binding style and the last chance of changing anything is up. (Which leaves me a nerve wreck, goddamn perfectiosnism)

 
I look up and though I'm not yet done (there's still a dress to be sewn and a presentation to prepare for) I can for a short while take a look at the world around me. I have been almost isolated with my project for the past months not spending my time doing much else but the daily yoga.

I will later on write more thouroughly about my project, which I hope you'll find interesting. For now, here's a picture of the actual paper. 

Sustainable fashion

2011-10-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

Sustainable fashion, to change the whole way the industy works has within the past year or so become my major passion. I just started to write my bachelors paper and obviously this is what it is about. Though as you might know the subject of sustainable fashion/clothing is huge and extremely complex. In my paper I choose to focus on making my suggestion of what sustainability in the industry means - since it's a widely discussed topic and there are tons of different definitons of the concept. Also I am writing about what the concept means to the consumer today and how you can communicate a sustainable concept through a garment. I will of course tell you much more about it all, but this was a short introduction.
As part of my examination of the subject I have created a short questionnaire I'd love for you to answer and send to your friends. Find it here.

shadows

2011-08-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

shirts og light

2011-07-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

so pure and sweet

2011-07-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

IVANAhelsinki

2011-07-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

IVANAhelsinki has this summer a sailor theme going, very well put together collection. I found these two pieces the coolest. The black one has embroidered loose chains sewed onto it, and this white one abve is made entirely of rope, I'd assume it's more a show piece than something to wear since it's very heavy.
I also love the logo, though I don't think it matches so well with this collection as the logo represents something closer to nature than red/white and blue/white stripes sailor style.

A trees memories from the roskilde festival

2011-07-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

Think..

2011-07-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Another part of the theme reduce, reuse, recycle. These necklaces are made of old bike tires. Unfortunetly I can't say the same about the chains used.

idle...

2011-07-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Picture from a random street in Bruxelles. I love the big letters. 

I have been quite idle on this blog for quite a while now. Have no specific reason why that is, it has just not been on my mind to post whenever I had the time. Even if I do have pics to share on this space. Probably, I can say, that it won't be long til' the next one..

Floors of Bruxelles

2011-04-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

(And I don't care that the correct English way of spelling Bruxelles is Brussels, Bruxelles is just much better)
I've just come home from an absolutely wonderful trip to Bruxelles and London. And I believe I've especially fallen in love with Bruxelles.

These floors are part of the impression of a style I found inspiring. Every place you walk into has it's own unique floor decorations, all seem inspired from something like a mix of old greek history and l'art nouveau. Simply marvellous!
I fell in love with these floors as I did in the architecture of the little streets filled with history and memories from hundreds of people living there or walking the streets through history.
I think it's the perfect mixture of old meticulously made buildings, decay, and new subcultures being embraced (charming in spite of or maybe because of the occasional and unpleasant smeel of pee from street corners). Maybe that impression is what I get after just being in Bruxelles for only five days, maybe it would also be what I'd get if I lived there for a longer period. Who knows.

Trapped Balloons

2011-04-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

Walls of Stockholm

2011-03-31T01:33:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in Östermalm you might come across this beautiful wall full of personality. I wish they did it like that today...

Paper sewing kit

2011-03-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know if doing this as preparation for making a sewing bag to sit on a belt is normal or if it is procrastination, when I should be working on this project, that I actually find really interesting, since I've planned it myself...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2011-03-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Slow Living is the name of an exhibit at Ekoteket, Kulturhuset in Stockholm which also offers nights of debates and lectures on the matter of organic and sustainable living. Check Ekoteket here, and the frontpage of Kulturhuset here.

I love the furniture exhibited and is even more inspired than before to use the materials that are normally concidered trash.

With the development of the world, consumerism and consumption I find it increasingly important to live sustainable with thought of the environment and nature and advocate this kind of awareness. 

The stuff you see in the book case, Box on, are paint, brush and other painting tools that are also sustainable.

It will come some day - Live purposefully and enjoy every day you have

2011-03-28T02:33:00.000-07:00

Pattern Magic

2011-03-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

What have I been doing these last two weeks? (three, maybe)... 

I have been playing with the Japanese Pattern Magic books (in Japanese)  - on amazon here, now in English.

During my internship at Camilla Norrback, I found how I LOOOVE making patterns. It's like i enter this other world while I'm doing it, maybe similar to meditation.
(check out camilla norrback here)

I did pattern for two dresses, but only had time to finish one.It was very time consuming but so much fun to work on.

: This is the result, my love : 

reflections and light - adding to it

2011-03-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Mystery solved. The masters of this project reflections and light, which I covered in the last post, are Gabomilla Nielsen and Ebba Nielsen from Sweden.

See www.lyks.se here.

reflections and light

2011-03-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

Exhibit at Urban Outfitters, Copenhagen. (designer and photographer unknown)

The fashion photography translates the fragileness and transparency of the feather-light garments in a delicate unique way and pictures and clothes reflect and complete eachother perfectly.

Andy's Street Art - Stockholm

2011-02-26T01:39:00.000-08:00

Stockholm T-bana exhibits

2011-02-25T01:34:00.000-08:00

uh huh her

2011-02-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ishmael

2011-02-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

I've just finished reading the novel Ishmael by the writer Daniel Quinn. It has become maybe the most important book I've read, as I think it has to many other readers. I won't reveal much of what it's about but what it reads on the cover.

I feel like Daniel Quinn with this book, manages to put words to feelings and thoughts I've had all my life, but wasn't able to articulate myself or to really fully understand.

Reading it has put to mind millions of thoughts, and I am thinking too about how I can translate the perspective on life into other medias, my medias; fashion and art.

Read more about Ishmael and Daniel Quinn here.

Dreaming of a workshop

2011-02-13T03:37:00.000-08:00

And a real one where you can do all sorts of stuff without limits and working with any material imaginable. Clay, metal, papier maché, mosaic, felt and alternative materials. I'd be in heaven!

(The artists are unknown, but students from Pædagoguddannelsen Sydhavn)

Interprofessional project

2011-02-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Currently at school we're having a three week project. Not an interdisciplinary but an interprofessional project.

My school is under an umbrella of educations called University College Campus (yeah it sounds a bit silly). UCC contains some different educations besides mine; Nurses, occupational therapists, sign language interpreters, teachers and pedagogs (I know it's not called that anywhere else but in Scandinavia, because they split it up in (preschool) teachers, social workers fx. but I'm happy to live in a some what socialistic country where this is a pedagog and it's about bringing up happy and reflective independent human beings and not about peformance perfomane performance. We also have equal paternity/maternity leave, it's outrageus ;-) )
And then there's my education. If you have read my blog, you might have a clue about what I study, -for you who hasn't, read on, I'll will enlighten you on that subject later in this post.

UCC decided that the different educations that are situated all over Copenhagen, should try and mingle and find out how we can co-operate/collaborate with eachother, so they arranged some different interprofessional projects that us students could choose from. I chose one called Creative and Innovative Processes. It happens that only teachers, pedagogs and students from my school have chosen this. I guess it doesn't have a huge appeal to fx nurses..

As an introduction we were to first make a illustrative personal profile on ourselves by only using packing, wrapping, containers etc. Here are some of them.

The day after we made them, we were to present ourselves using these profiles in little groups of three to five. A really interesting way to answer the question who are you, and start and lead the conversation in a completely different way than it otherwise would have been.

My selfportrait

Since I of course have a huge brain the paper brain had to be huge too, right?! :-)
It might be a bit hard to read it, and of course it is also written in Danish, so for some impossible to understand even if readable.
I guess the brain is red to express passion. Of course not because I didn't want my brain to be grey boring cardboard. Words written are fx Litterature, estethiques, to create, vegetarian, climbing, yoga, music, expression, identity, secondhand, sustainability, the people I love, travelling, empathy and compassion, organic, love, cities, nature, and uncertainty about what the future will hold...

After having done that, we got the same assignment but as groups and a full size profile to define our profession, what our eductaion teaches us.
They look like this. (Guess which is which)

It's interesting to look at how the three different professions are expressed. I am freely analysing the shapes of them;

1st is two profiles on the pedagog - round shapes, many arms to express the many qualifications and competences they have to contain the different people they meet in their job.
2nd is the teacher - a square representing the education they are in charge of gicing the kids to prepare them for the real world and give them the tools to think and relfect for themselves.
3rd is my education. A Bachelor in textile handicraft and education/comunication. Very feminine decorated with a necklace possibly homemade embroidered and in a dress which could also be homemade..

Well, about that Bachelor in textile handicraft and education/comunication.
The classes we have are seperated in three top categories; Clothing, culture and communication.

Clothing:
The making of clothes (Pattern construction, sewing toiles, fitting, and sewing an actual product)
Embroidery
Textile printing

Cutlure:
History of clothing, analysing clothing, ethnically traditions in clothing, design, fashion illustration, flats and colour theory.

Communication:
Educational communication (teaching adults, didactics, pedagogical theories)
Other cultural communication (theater, museum/galleries, journalistics, theory of science)

And the long list of jobs a Bachelor in textilehanducraft and educations/communication might work in:

At museums or galleries
Teacher (In different situations fx. kids, teenagers, adults in school or offering courses)
Entrepeneur (own fashion label or other projects)
Costumier
Editor or journalist at fashion or craft magazines
Writer
Researcher (fashion and style, materials)
Designer, product assistent, sales assistent (and more depending on the last long specialising internship)
Pattern constructor
Tailor
Textile print designer/printer
Embroiderer
Illustrator
Artist
Creative coatch
Project manager
Social economic projects fx with NGOs
Lecturer

Dishevelled?

2011-02-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

Or trying to find the right shelf. 

But does it have to be a shelf? Does it have to be a box? 

Should it be outside the box? 

And who ever decided that it is shelfs and boxes? 

I think I'm gonna put myself  in the sky where there are no shelfs or boxes or anything else that puts you in one or the other place. 

I'm gonna put myself in the sky where I can fly free and just be. 

I just don't really feel like conforming to the life society wants us to live...

So... About Thailand

2011-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

Thailand was as great as it could be. We had the best experience we could wish for.
We have explored our own minds as well as another culture, and fed the urge to travel more.

While this is not a travel blog, I don't feel it's the scene to elaborate our experience it is a part of my life now, so it felt right to post a few pictures from the trip.

I have been quite absent from this blog the past half year (and already written about this absense too much). I don't quite know what the future will bring, but I am now again in a position with possibilities to create, which I strongly plan on doing.
I am also at a point where all the thoughts I've previously talked about are more clear and organised in my mind, and I will share them with you soon.

These next days though, my focus will be moving to Vesterbro, my new home - wonderful is the word for that.

//

Embraced by the jungle

2011-01-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

A shot of the pants I designed and made just before christmas and our journey to Thailand. My version of harem pants, with safari print.

The shoes are a cheap treasure found in the local vintage shop in Skælskør yesterday and the top is Camilla Norrback from this Fall/Winter 10.

Oh, and my new tattoo is finally revealed on the internet with this picture.

In Thailand we spent 4 weeks, - Christmas and New Years in the North and the South, in Bangkok and in the jungles, on beaches climbing and in the water swimming. With the trip in mind, I felt like I needed some suitable pants, so these rose from my imagination.

I had barely ended my internship at Camilla Norrback, and I was inspired to over the top and felt much more like sewing than writing the report about my experience at Camilla Norrback.

Walking the distance

2010-12-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Reminiscence
San Diego, Summer 2010, Operation Awesome Summer/road trip.

http://www.operationawesomesummer.blogspot.com/

No Budget Performance

2010-12-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, the 3rd of December my friend Han (a Belgium girl,who is also doing an intership at Camilla Norrback) I was at this art exhibit in Stockholm, Södermalm. Students from Kungliga Konsthögskola presented their sculptures, paintings or performances, making us reflect on human behavior and the relations between people.

In the beginning I only took a short look at the girl making ice-cookies, who was standing right by the cold entrance. It didn't really speak to me - or so I thought. When we came back later and stood looking at her for a little while, seeing how cold she was, and despite that fact how persistently and stubbornly she went on doing her self-torturing performance, it became the most important piece to me.

I interpret it as a sort of illustration of how we love.

She is standing there in her little kitchen with all the housewife cliches making little cookies out of snow. She marks each and every one with a little red spot representing a heart. Then she puts them on the ground where they melt away - disappear.

The eternal falling in love, the love dies away, you get hurt - melt, but next time it's the same over and over again. You keep going for love, even when it seems as there will be no happy ending, and you get colder and colder..

As hard it is to put words to art I tried to express what I felt when experiencing this one. I am not sure if this was what she wanted, since we didn't find a brief description on the different pieces. Maybe she wanted the viewer to find out for themselves.

I'll probably never know, but it's not that important anyway, because this one really touched me, and I think that is what art aims to do.

See time pass

2010-11-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Kaviar Gauche dress

A picture taken a while ago, actually just when I recieved my camera. A new camera that is, when after too long Best Buy decided to give me a new one instead of getting the old one fixed. But well now I have it back.

In the folds of fabric

2010-11-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

Draped collar. It was a present for a friend of mine who recently had a birthday.

The nothingness of the moment / Status Quo

2010-09-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

As everyone who occasionally likes to read this blog knows, nothing is really going on at the moment. I'd say more than just a moment, but for a while now.
I could apologize, but am not going to. Explain though, that's something I will do.

This vacuum in action and the publishing of posts are due to a couple of reasons.
First of all, like most might have read, I have no camera. Hopefully, a new one will be sent soon and arrive in my vacant, sad hands, ready to do a lot of shooting.
Furthermore, my computer is out of space and not very willing to communicate with my newly purchased hard drive. And I need help to that sort of stuff, and my helping hand is very busy with studies. (Don't die on me now beloved computer).
I am also deep in a lot of different and sometimes confusing and certainly very preoccupying thinking about life choices in generel. Thoughts that are not yet ready to enter paper or for that matter puplic net until they have gone through a lot more ... shaping, I think I'll call it. This is not sad thoughts at all, it is a very welcome development that follows new life experiences, new friendships and having an open and independent mind (if I may say so myself). I am in a process of gaining knowledge about myself, my values and the world.
And then the last reason, though I have a lot of ideas for posts, I would myself find them, well, not as capturing without pictures as they would with pictures. And I am also not one who can post and post and post about smaller things. I need to take my time and I need to feel that what I am posting can give something to someone out there. (Hope I actually accomplish this, when I do make a post).

I have learned from other bloggers, that to establish and maintain readers interest, you have to post often, if possible, once a day. I can now note, after having blogged for about a year, very randomly, that I am not gonna be that type of blogger. I blog when I have something to share, and when I have the time, energy and desire to do so. In periods this happens often, in periods (like this current one) I'm very absent.
So whoever enjoys reading my blog, is probably a person who values quality over quantity, and that's how I want it to be.

Having said all this, I can't wait to get my camera again, and start sharing beautiful Stockholm and my life here with you.

Maybe I'll be catching some good flees..

2010-09-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

After a busy week I'm about to leave my kille in our little apartment in Kista, to go to Uppsala on a flee spree with a couple of girls, who also intern at Camilla Norrback. I wish I could take pictures with my camera, but all I have is the one on my little Sony Ericsson phone, so that will do.

Besides I should give an update on a couple of things I bought so far, being in lovely Stockholm. A Camilla Norrback skirt from the spring/summer 10 collection and a pair of Scorett shoes. And who knows if I'll find something cool today at the Uppsala flee market or in the thrift shops.
Another thing I should also share is some pics of our apartment; our tiny pre-furnished apartment that we made into our cosy warm home.

After two weeks in Stockholm with busy days and completely unpredictable weather I love it! We still have so much exploring to do, wich will not in the future include the English Pub situated below our apartment in the mall, Kista Galleria which we visited yesterday, since the liqueur store close at 7pm (3pm on Saturday..). Tomorrow our plan is to go sailing on the boats that take you around Stockholm, the city that is also called Scandinavia's Venice. The sun should be out and it should be wonderful.

The big picture

2010-08-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here comes something to look at while I am kinda gone, hiding, in the dark og something like that..
The big picture - Russia in color, a century ago.
This is an article about colour photo before man was able to take colour photo, and this is why these pictures can give you an insight nothing else can.

Looking at the colours, the light, the clarity of the photographs it's hard to believe that they are not taken with an excellent DSLR-camera in our time, but with a specialised camera using red, green and blue filters between 1909 and 1912.

Give yourself a treat and check out old Russia with velvet and water, beautiful intense portraits and mezmerising landscapes.

A little treat while I'm pretty absent, not having my beloved camera to capture my days at camilla norrback. You don't have to be all in the dark though. At Marit's blog, my fellow intern, you can read some of what 's going on.

So.. What's next? What's on you mind, what's in your head?

2010-08-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am back from the road trip (the unfinished road trip blog). Hey, I'm even back from the US, back in Denmark. At least 'till Saturday, when I'll be leaving here again to go to Stockholm.
In Stockholm where I'll be doing an internship at the Swedish label Camilla Norrback - check it out here. I simply cannot wait to start!

But I am back without my camera. The zoom broke, and screwed from a rip off waranty, they didn't wanna give me a new one, so I am currently waiting for it to be repared and shipped to the store, picked up from the store and shipped to Sweden. Could't take a while.
So all I have now is the pencil in my hand. And until Saturday I have my parents scanner next to me. That will just have to do for now I guess.

Sign me

2010-07-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I have alot, and then I didn't have time to post because we have been getting the car ready for an epic road trip and packing for that, and in that time also managed to go hiking and climbing in Rumney, New Hampshire.

Tomorrow morning we're taking of - first stop New York City, where we're gonna pick up a friend, Jon, who is also coming.

If you wanna see what's going on in the next two intense weeks, where we're gonna be on the road, you can follow the trip on the blog Operation awesome summer.

I probably won't get much posting done in the following two weeks of road trip, so here's a little of what I planned to post.

Take my breath away

2010-07-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I went to the ICA in Boston to see the Exhibit with Dr. Lakra, an artist and tattooist from Oaxaca, Mexico. His name can be translated to something like Dr. Delinquent. I have a thing for tattoos and old school, kinda 50's style art, and Dr. Lakra uses both in his art besides from mixing a whole lot of symbols from cultures worldwide.

Picture from the visual art guide Art Splash

Little did I know that another exhibit there, would blow me away completely.

Do you know the feeling when your heart starts to beat faster, and you feel kinda out of breath. Similar to being in love, the moment he sends you a smile, or maybe a text, or he invites you out..

Well, that's how I felt walking around looking at these incredible art pieces. Of course it's because of what I do. I sew. I embroider. I'm nerdy about it. I love it. And I appreciate the difficulties and how much work it is.

I am talking about the artist Charles LeDray and his work.

He makes everything himself. Only three found objects. No assistants. His mom taught him to sew and embroider from he was four years old and he is so talented!

His exhibit called workworkworkworkwork at the ICA contains a number of smaller or miniature sized suits and outfits, alot of them connected with even smaller ones. A tiny suit made of and attached to a small suit. A small jacket with an unknown number of clothes inside. A blanket of little garments. Jackets and suits with embroidered labels on.

First LeDray picture from the Telegraph. Other pictures are from the website Sperone Westwater.

Concrete Images

2010-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Window Decorations

2010-07-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

I have a whole bunch of posts on my mind, so hopefully and probably a whole bunch of posts will be posted in near near future.

A window decorated with vintage sewing machines...

It's the English chain AllSaints. Check it out here.

The art of excessive belts

2010-07-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

I bought this big 80's belt in a vintage shop when I was walking around on Newbury St. And it's a vintage shop, not a thrift shop. All the things there were pretty expensive and really picked with care to meet the rich taste of rich people. But this was almost affordable, and too cool to let go, I thought.

It's very big and will easily dominate an outfit. I think it looks best with more simpel things and it will be perfect for a black dress to a party.

International Poster Gallery

2010-07-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I planned to visit the Judi Rotenberg Gallery, but unfortunately it turned out to be closed. Instead I wandered around on Newbury St. and came across this cool shop with original vintage poster prints. Just wish I had a huge house and lots of money.

The front of the shop, from Newbury st.com.

The shop inside.

And they also sell these charming old travelling labels for your suitcase. Oh, how I wanted one of those for my brown suitcase, but I didn't feel I could spend 25-50 $ on something that is kinda redundant..

I would love to have one of the beautiful posters hanging on my wall.
Read about the posters here.

Cherries and steam

2010-07-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

My most recent purchase to add to my collection of dresses is this cherry dress from Urban Outfitters. I wore it to a party on Friday with the steam punk ring that had just arrived and a nail paint called thinking of blue.

Boxes and cases

2010-07-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am aware that this also might be some kind of an addiction.

On pictures in earlier posts, you will be able t see my beloved vintage suitcases.

Now against all reason, I bought this box. Ignoring the issue of how to get it to Denmark/Sweden from Boston. Things will work out in some way, I know that.

It caught my eyes one day of innocent shopping in Goodwill at Central Square and what are you supposed to do for 10$?! I immediately fell in love. Wouldn't you?!

The Barrette for Etsy.com

2010-07-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

This piece (though already posted on my blog) is now for sale in my Etsy shop.

A thing for steam punk

2010-07-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

I think I have a thing for steam punk. I guess it started when I saw the movie La Cité Des Enfants Perdus, in English The City of Lost Children.
An amazing movie with an amazing universe, with all it's creepiness and the feeling of being lost that reeks from the movie. It is truly fantastic.

That might be the reason why I fell in love and bought this ring from St Joshua on Etsy. I can't wait for it to arrive.

Disclaiming rights. The pictures above do not belong to me. They are only used for commenting reasons.

Veggie Planet

2010-07-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night my boyfriend and I went to Veggie Planet at Harvard Square for dinner and it was delicious! Peanut curry with broccoli on pizza and portobello mushrooms with red pepper pesto and feta on pizza. Veggie Planet is part of Cambridge Local First, a network of locally owned, independently run, businesses that share a commitment to building a strong local economy and a vibrant, distinct community. It's a vegetarian and vegan restaurant with affordable prices and a friendly and cosy environment.

A picture taken on the way there.

Etsy.com

2010-07-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

And the time came, when I got my first item listed on Etsy.com. More items will follow.

Check out my etsy shop on http://www.etsy.com/shop/tibbesmith.

I also link to the on the right side of this blog, right under the about me section

See you there.

The Garment District

2010-07-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Garment District is a great thrift shop between Kendall Square and Central Square, 200 Broadway. In one half of the shop upstairs, they have sorted their garments in centuries, so for instance 80's pants for women, 70's jackets for men and so on. This is also where I found the black leather dress I redesigned.
Another part of the shop is just vintage in general and they also sell new clothes. On the first floor they have this deal where you pay 1.50$ a pound. You literally walk on the clothes that is spread all over the floor and can just pick whatever you find pretty. Worth a stop if you're ever in Boston.

Nateva Festival

2010-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

I came back yesterday from an amazing and very hot weekend at the Nateva Festival in Maine.

Living in Denmark the festival you go to is Roskilde Festival, which was what I could compare this experience to.

These festivals are very alike but there are differences between the two. Nateva is a whole lot smaller though, and the music is a little more folk rock and funk, but a lot of the bands could easily be playing at Roskilde festival.

As I have mentioned in a post once, I am not a fan of taking pictures at shows because it is hard to get good shots. However, I did take some at a few concerts at this festival.

A couple of years ago The Flaming Lips played at Roskilde but unfortunatly I missed it, which I have been regretting ever since, but this time I got a new chance and the show was amazing! (See the bobbel picture here from Flaming Lips here.)

Mesmerizing Zooey Deschanel from the band She and Him. I think a lot of people, at least the guys, came to look at her, but their music and their show was definitely great and worth seeing.

If you want you can check out more pictures of the concerts at Nateva's website.

At Nateva you camp with you car next to the tent at the camp site (which to me was kinda strange to see). Not that many young people in Denmark have a car and the public transportation is pretty good so you don't need it. Notice the Nateva sign in the background of the second picture taken of the festival site.

At festivals people in general use intoxicants of some kind. At the Roskilde Festival most people get drunk and some smoke weed. At Nateva though, it seems more common for people to do drugs like taking acid or mushrooms.

And why not also look at the fashion part. At Roskilde you see a good mix of punks, rock'n'roll style, hippies and hipsters. At Nateva it is mainly hippies and often in long tie-dye dresses. Uh, and people dressed up in extreme costumes.

And no festival without arts and craft. This lamp I find really cool.

And some random festival shots...

Water Fire

2010-07-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday my boyfriend and I went to see Water Fire in Providence, Rhode Island.

What you find on River Street

2010-06-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

These pictures represent a little mystery to me.

Is it a little shop that is never open? Is it just used for storage? Who owns it?

For me this little shop is object of great fascination.

With all the weird things, which for most people would be nothing but junk, it reminds me a lot of Mr. Charrington's little shop in George Orwell's novel 1984.

New York Sky

2010-06-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Manhattan seen early morning from the airplane on my way to Boston.

Beautiful, though a bit foggy!

Should I care

2010-06-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

First picture is taken by Hanne Hjort, second is taken by Erik Tonning, both in Kongens Have in Copenhagen the day i finished my last exam.

Last days in Copenhagen

2010-06-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Boston last Thursday after a way too long time of travelling due to flight delay. Before I left Denmark, I met up with my amazing friend and ex-roomie Camilla (maybeliever).

Taking a walk around Vesterbro, where Camilla lives now, and we felt like ice cream an d stopped at Paradis Is at Vesterbro Torv, where I was adventurous and tried a delicious basil ice cream.

My next posts will probably mainly cover my experiences in the US, since I won't have much time to create and don't have a sewing machine here.

Newcomer

2010-06-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

New piece on the street

2010-06-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

In the zipper family a new member has arrived. This barrette is handmade from a zipper and is unique like the bracelets.

(picture taken by Hanne Hjort)

On Wednesday I finished my exam with good result, and I am now working on new pieces whenever I have time.
These next days are also gonna be busy. We are celebrating my dad's birthday tomorrow, and I am leaving for Boston on Wednesday the 23rd, so I also have to pack for that.

But I have now gottten a profile on Etsy and some of my pieces will be presented there soon.

When that happens check it out on www.tibbesmith.etsy.com.

How the lights hit

2010-06-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Under the sea / From the Deep

2010-06-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Knitted art inspired by life under sea. Fra Dybet (From The Deep) is an exhibit by the knitting artist Marianne Johnstad-Møller, that took place at Officinet. Officinet is courated by The Danish Arts and Crafts Association.

I think this shows how many possibilties textile crafts holds and how much respect it deserves.

Addiction you might call it

2010-06-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

I recently said I have a little obsession with dresses at the moment.

I can't get enough. And I simply had to buy this one too.

It's Kate Moss for Topshop.

I love how the lace is attached to the black fabric, and there are these wonderful details: buttons on the sleeves and down the back. I have wanted to make something like this for such a long time, but just haven't gotten around to it. And I don't expect it to happen soon either, so buying this seemed like the thing to do.

A night in the light

2010-06-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Because of the rainy weather on yesterday, my friend and I thought we'd go to the movies instead of the festival at Vesterbro. But the beers we had with dinner changed our plans.

I am not a great fan of taking pictures at concerts, because the flash can disturb the artist, my camera is not good enough and my skills as a photographer are not good enough.

So no pictures of the shows we saw.

We went without having had time to check out which bands, we wanted to see, so we just went with what our guts told us. Kinda "uh, this band has a cool name." And it was good.

I love to be at festivals like this with a lot of unknown bands, where you can get to know new music, broaden your horizon.

Pictures of the beautiful fireworks table...

And beer drinking me and amazing Anna looking great in red.

A couple of days of freedom

2010-06-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my paper, that is due tomorrow am now ready for a couple of days in Copenhagen before I have to prepare for my oral exam. These next days there are a festival on Vesterbro, Start Festival, and that's where I'll be Thursday. Then who knows what will happen next.

Hopefully I'll soon be able to show you some new interesting stuff from my hand. And getting that Etsy.com account made.

When the zipper stole my heart

2010-06-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

A while ago I made a bracelet of a black zipper. But it wasn't just any zipper. The zipper on my boyfriend's jacket was broken and kept unzipping itself, which was a bit unfortunate in winter weather. So I changed it with a new one, and from the broken one I made the bracelet. Which I have now lost. I suspect I have pushed it from my table into the trash can by mistake (that is not hard to do by accident with a messy table like mine). With all the tidying up and cleaning and packing, because I was moving, I have gone through everything I own, and in my search it still didn't turn up.

Since I made it, I have made one in blue for my mom (she wanted one in green, but I haven't yet found the right zipper for that), one in white with silver teeth for my friend, Soffie Viemose (she's an awesome musician, check it out here) and just the other day I finally made a new one for myself in white with brass teeth. And am about to make an aubergine coloured one.

They are all unique and made by hand.

Here pictures of the the white one I made the other day, and of my mom's.

I plan on getting an etsy.com account, so I can sell the bracelets and other things I am making. For now, leave me a comment if you're interested in purchasing one.

A little bit of narcissism

2010-06-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pics of me with a vintage skirt used as a dress. I need to do the sewing alterations before it's really wearable though, but you can't tell on the pictures.

In the past months I have been purchasing a ton of dresses and have severel sewing plans. It seems I just can't get enough of dresses recently.

Breaking duties

2010-06-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after a long day of working fairly concentrated on my paper, I was in great need of a break doing something completely different. I spent my drawing these.

I also did a third one, but that one isn't finished yet, so you'll have to wait.

A mixture does the trick

2010-05-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

Got back from a couples of days in Copenhagen, wich I have spent seeing a few of my friends.

Saturday night was spent with great people watching Eurovision - Eurovision turned into a drinking game, because that is what Icelandic people do and the were an Icelandic couple present.

I've never before cared much for this song contest filled with trivial singers and unnecesaray stage shows - It is just a little too much. I ussually don't enjoy it, 'cause I just get annoyed with what it is and what it represents of bad taste.

Turning the absurdities into a fun and funny drinking game I can relate to, though. Is it a slutty dress? yes, so take a sip, are there fireworks on stage? yes, so take a sip, and so on.

What really surprised me, was that Germany won. It was the song I liked the best, but the last one I expected to win. It is really unlike common Eurovision songs, both Lena's way of singing and the simplicity of the show.

I am anticipating the warmer weather promised to start from Wednesday, and when it does I wil wear this dress. It is an old dress of my mom's, wich I made a little shorter.

And why not also share with you thos necklace I just recieved from Uncommon Creatures.

Talking about absurdities earlier, I bet some will find this absurd, but this is the kind of absurdities I find interesting.

Spotting Creativity

2010-05-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

The concept of creativity. What does it actually mean? How can it be described? How can you describe a creative person? What does such a person look like? What makes a person creative?

This is what I am currently reading about and discussing in my paper and I am curious to hear your thoughts and oppinion on the issue.

Comment this post and/or answer my survey questions on the right side of my blog.

Thank you for your help.

Nothing new under the blue sky

2010-05-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been spending the past days in Copenhagen seeing friends, and had also a meeting with my teacher. It seems kinda like things are on hold at the moment. Nothing much is happening and my actions primarily elvolves around reading and writing. Or at least trying not to procrastinate too much.

But just to keep things going on the blog side of things I will post another narcissistic picture of another outfit.

Tomorrow I am off to Copenhagen again. Coffee with a friend I haven't seen for way too long, and Saturday night will be spent with classmates watching Euro Visions wich is gonna be turned into some kind of drinking game that our Icelandic freind will teach us.

Zip it up, Bow Tie

2010-05-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

The jeans are finally done. I made them a bit shorter and slimmer and put in the zipper with a bow tie in the top. The idea with the bow tie is from a pair of vintage jeans from a friend of mine.

Here comes some pictures.

That Monster Grape Will Look After You

2010-05-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

My niece Nana turns 1 year today and for her birthday I made her this cute little monster, wich is obviously a grape. En Vindrue. I hope she'll love it.

It's made of purple baby corduroy with leather application. The eyes are buttons and the wings and back finne are made of thin white fabric with dots.

Fabricaholic

2010-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

I was wearing the dress I recently bought in Wasteland today, when my mom and I went to this huge fabric store, Stof og Stil, located in Roskilde. The purpose was to find zippers for that pair of jeans I have mentioned before. No luck.

But I simply can't find myself in a fabric store without buying something. That is obvious if you look at the three huge moving boxes I have filled with fabric. "Uh that would make a beautiful dress. Uh that too. And that for a skirt", and so on.

So here I am again, with this white thin cotton fabric with small black dots. For a cute little dress. And the black jaquard weavered fabric for tote bags.

I wish flowers could save lives

2010-05-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Creativity, a mess

2010-05-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read an article about the connection between being creative and being messy in the Danish daily free newspaper Urban. The article claims that it's a myth that being messy comes with great creativity. Talking to different experts and psychologists they kill that myth and brings an example with the artist Tal R, who appearently is not messy.

I don't know if I quite agree with their statement. I am dissapointed with the examples of mess they bring in the article, since it's not really mess. They talk about piles of dishes, that never get washed, piles of laundry and dirt in every where.

I see myself as a creative person. I create things. And I flatter myself by believing that I have great creative imagination and ideas. I also see myself as a messy person. After tidying up and cleaning my room it gets messy again almost immediately. (It's a great excuse though; "I'm messy because I'm a creative person.")

But in my opnion messy is not the same as dirty. What do you think?

The current situation in the corner of my room.

Copenhagen Air

2010-05-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Copenhagen, to my school, for a meeting with my teacher about the reading and writing I have done so far on the exam project. It seems like I'm moving in the right direction.

After the short meeting, I had planned on redesigning a pair of jeans, since I was going to work later in the evening and for that reason had time to pass. I just needed two zippers. Unfortunately, today the shop didn't have the kind I needed. Black or dark blue with silver teeth, length 25 cm. How hard can that be? Appearently pretty hard. So instead of being productive, I had time to get bored, even though I still managed to draw a little, put on a new logo on my blog and went looking for a new pair of jeans that I shouldn't buy.

State of present and a little bit of candy floss

2010-05-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am trying to get started reading and writing for my exam. What I am finishing now is the class education. I am instead gonna specialize in other cultural communiation.

What I am going to write about is online education and I have chosen to focus on the website Fashion Students Online, wich I think is a great idea for an open forum, where everyone interested can share their knowledge and ideas with others.

I have a lot of reading to do as preparation wich unfortunately gives me less time to be creative myself and actually do something about all the ideas and projects knocking on my door.

But I will share with you a picture of what I redesigned a little while ago. Believe it or not, this was a hat. A little cute round hat, and even though it was incredibly charming, I knew, I would never wear it. But is was simply too cute not to buy and even before I did that I came up with idea for a purse. I just put in the zipper after folding the hat flat.

Now it reminds me of a little poodle or a candy floss with all the light pink tulle. Do you like it?

A day in May

2010-05-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

The other day I met up with my friend Tippe (Yes her name is Tippe and mine is Tibbe) for lunch at Kalasset and an unplanned trip to the thrift shop Wasteland in Copenhagen. I really wasn't supposed to buy anything, but it's dangerous for me to enter shops like these, when you don't feel like you're broke, even though you actually are. So I came out with a long tank top printed with the girl from the cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s record Green Mind and a cute little denim dress. Of course pictures will follow. Tippe bought these cool sunglasses.

1800s Jacket

2010-05-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

As part of a school project about the Arts and Craft Movement or in France, Art Nouveau we were to drape a jacket from the late 1800 hundreds. I teamed up with Emi Flejsborg (on the pictures) and chose this jacket shown below.

For most people in my class, it was our first time draping, so this was a great exercise. It was actually surprisingly difficult to make those folds on the back, but everything turned out pretty good, and it looks perfect on Emi, who it was also draped for. There are not yet bottons on it.

The Danish Museum of Art and Design in Copenhagen

2010-05-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Because of my homeless situation, it has been a while since I last posted anything. I'd like to get better at making a few posts, when I have the time and possibility, so that I can publish on a more regular basis.

Recently we visited The Danish Museum of Art and Design in Copenhagen with my school, where we among other things looked at these fantastic embroidery pieces.

This one is especially great.

It's all embroidery. It can be hard to see unless you're very close and it's simply one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. To shape the muscles of the animals and create a relief they used cork or wook and then embroidered over that.

It's like a little cupboard with doors and drawers from China.

This one is also made with small pieces of wood under the silver thread to make a relief. It almost looks llike it's actually pieces of silver on it. I'd love to something like that for a belt.

This is embroidery and application on tulle made in the end of the 1800s.

Notice the animals. It's such a cute idea for a collar.

Next are a couple of pieces of newer embroidery. I love the dandelion.

It's easy to forget how much inspiration you can draw from older designs and techniques. I really think these pieces prove how many ways you can use historic items creating new ideas.

What goes around comes around..

2010-04-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

Most of my shit is already at my parent's house and I feel the thrills of spartan living. My matres is on the floor and even though I used sleep like that once, now it just seems like a shitty way to sleep. Most of my stuff is in boxes and plastic bags. All this with the knowledge that it's not gonna change for 3 months. A strange feeling of not belonging - being without a base - a home...

While packing down and ending an era I found a necklace I forgot all about. I had accidently hidden it from myself. Part of why it's cool is because it's actually a jumping jack piece.

Today I wore this. Black in black since it is my favorite colour.

Thursday in fashionable, creative Copenhagen

2010-04-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

The past week was stuffed with press days at the different PR companies and Thursday I unintentionally and for the first time found myself at one at Star Public Relation. I had met up with a friend who did an internship at this company, she wanted to drop in to say hi and see the FW10 collections and she knew I'd find it interesting.

I especially fell in love with these necklaces from Gem Kingdom.

They are all really cool, I think this one is my favorite. So, another thing just got added to the many things I need to safe up money for.

After this press experience another friend asked if I wanted to join her seeing a talk/discussion on the subject, the difference between design and art, wich took place at the museum of contemporary art Luisiana and of course I'm not one to put down a chance of gaining knowledge about art and design. Present was a furniture design team Salto & Sigsgaard, a textile designer, Margrethe Odgaard, and a craftsman Louise Hindsgavl, so all sides were represented.

Salto & Sigsgaard represented the more generic design and had a very matter-of-fact attitude to the process, wich was really interesting to hear about. They begin with research and make a list of criteria before even thinking about what the product should look like. Their target are wide and with the risk of sounding harsh I'd say their design is kinda dull.

Margrethe Odgaard's design is in the middle of the different types, design, arts and craft. She explores and challenge the general idea of textiles and has fx made this huge oversized napkin. She takes everyday life and moves expectations a little.

Louise Hindsgavl is more an artist than a designer; very intuitive in her way of work and with her attitude towards the process. She doesn't aim to make something for a certain group of people opposed to designers.

My friend and I came to the conclusion that, that is the main difference between art and design. Design has a target group and criteria to live up to. The designer can argue for every little choice taken in the process; -why this shape, why this colour, why this light bulb and so on. The artist works intuitively and the work is an expression, not something meant to sell. That is just a benefit. An artist asks questions and provokes. And can't argue why it's this shape, this material.

It was all in all a great day.

After the fiftes

2010-04-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

So after a little while of many things, I got some pictures taken of the jacket I made for that old school project I last posted.

Some might be able to recognize the label in the jacket.

When things show up

2010-04-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

I found this magazine while packing some shit today. It's an old school project from when I was studying tailoring. You might think it didn't have much to do with tailoring, and that is just what I thought too. But none the less a fun project. Inspired by a time period (in my case the fifties) we had to make a magazine of some kind, design a small collection also inspired by this certain time period, and sew one of the designs.

These are some of the more interesting pages from the magazine.

I sewed the jacket I drawed, on the left page, dark grey with red lining.

I'll post a picture in near future.

And of course a movie review - Cry Baby. Such, a recommendation from me.

Is it summer yet..?

2010-04-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

It snowed today. It's April - it's alsmost May. And it's supposed to be spring going on summer. So here are some narcissistic photos of the dream from a girl who loves her summers...

The torture of moving to somewhere in everywhere

2010-04-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am moving out from my beloved apartment in two weeks. I am not moving to anywhere in partucular. Actually I'm gonna be kinda homeless. I'm moving all my shit back to my parents. My clothes, my closet, my accesories, my couch, my sound system, all my chairs, the beer cases I use as bookcases my lamps, my magazines and books, my posters. Everything. But I'm not moving in with my parents. I'm gonna partly sleep there and sleep at friendly friends' houses. In two months I'm going to Boston and staying there for a month with my boyfriend. After that we're going to Stockholm together. He's doing his masters. I'm gonna stay there for half a year doing my internship. And then I'm gonna come back to Copenhagen, being able to live with all my precious things again. For a while at least.

I guess I am a material girl. With a passion for visual treasures, I find it hard not to be. I just love my shit, and it's gonna be hard not to have it around...

The new version of the little black dress

2010-04-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

When I was in Boston over Easter, I found this fantastic black leather dress in the vintage shop The Garment District.

I immediately fell in love with the geometric closing in the front and the dress fit me perfectly. The sleeves with their 80's bat style and the length made it look very heavy, but with the changes I made, I think it's really cool. A new kind of little black dress.

oh my, oh why

2010-04-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

After finishing my exam I decided (after a very short talk with my roommate) that I could buy a new pair of shoes for myself. I knew exactly wich I wanted. These from Shoebiz.

I know I have small feet. But turns out I am the "lucky" owner of two too small feet. This pair doesn't even in my size. With boots and shoes you tie, I can pull it off, but I have to let this wonderful pair go and get over it. Damn!

Free again

2010-04-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

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Done. With my exam. After two weeks of hard work the project was due today and I turned in the result at noon. I don't know if it went well or not. One moment I have a really good feeling about it and the next I think it's shit. We'll see in... hmm June I think.

I lowered my expectations to myself and the 24 hour day; it will never become any longer than 24 hours, not even if I want it to.

Maybe I should explain a little bit about an assignment like this. (I chose to take my exam in testile printing; finishing this course in stead of embroidery) From a given theme we had to create an idea which should work as decoration on clothing. Then make alot of samples (not a finished product) and in the assignment we argue, with the hypothetical product in mind, why one sample is better than another based on knowledge of materials, colours and techniques and showing the samples next to the text.

So the "sub"-theme is a sea anenome, nothing more nothing less. I've already posted pics of my ornament, so here comes some pics of the process and samples and and..

The kind of print I thought worked best with my ornament is iris print. Above is a picture of how to put the colours on the silkscreen - It's hard to see, though, because of the colours I've been using (remazol), they're kinda transparent.

Above is an illustration of how I imagine the summerdress the fabric is hypothetically meant for. I wish I had time to actually make it.

My finished project. I can't take credit for the great accordion-inspired idea of how to put it together, but a friend from my school, Elisabet Flejsborg.
This way you can choose to look through it like a book or open it up if you need to look at four pages at once.

Wear your hat

2010-04-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

Going food shopping. So many things I can do to distract myself from my exam, should be writing and writing and writing. But suddenly it seems like there's a million things I can do in stead, so many displacement activities.

To be or not to be ... a Freak?

2010-04-10T02:42:00.000-07:00

When are you a freak? What does it take for people to regard others as freaks? Is it when you are everything surroundings expect you to be, when you are depressed or if you look different?

That is the subject for these drawings and others to follow.

Examinating Sea Life

2010-04-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

I am at the moment in the middle of my textile print exam. The course I chose to end and instead get in touch with my inner embroiderress.

The subject of this exam is "life of the sea" - Some find that this is full of inspration other find it kind of unambiguous. I had high expectations and ambitious, extensive ideas, wich I think I'll have shelf. I wanted to print a coralreef with lots of life and then somehow illustrate how trawling destroys these beautiful reefs and killing hundreds of spieces. I still don't know how I can possibly do that, and for the record I have until next Friday to make samples and write an assignment arguing why I choose this sample over that one. Might sound easy, but it take much longer to put together an assignment like that with samples and inspiration.

So far I have made the screen ready for two prints. It will become an print; an anenomone (Nemo-reference) In two layers though. Can't decide if I should go further with the idea from before, or leave it at this.. Though choice. And what about time...

The ornament I'm printing - Imagine it woth two colors.

Inspiration pics will follow and I'll post pictures of the results.

Screen print project

2010-04-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

This is my last project from school. We learned some new techniques in textile printing, wich I completely feel in love with. Both were very popular in the 90's and have since been forgotten. Now, though, it seems they are making a come back along with velvet.

I will start by saying that these fabrics were ice white to begin with.

With this piece of fabric I plan on creating a jacket.

And this may become a pillow some day, nothing is yet decided...

Using certain chemicals that only destroy the vegetable fiber, you can make the ornament you print on the fabric transparent. This is especially suitable for velvet, but you can also use it on lighter fabrics such as voile or satin when the right fibers are mixed.

The other technique is preferably used with the previous mentioned technique. With that one you can see the top of the fabric wich is a vegetable fiber and where the chemicals have destroyed this fiber, you can see the base of the fabric fx silk. Now, with this technique you can color the vegetable fiber in one color and the animal fiber another. It's all chemicals that bind one color to one fiber. Didn't know I liked playing with chemicals before being able to create beautiful fabrics with it.

Screen printing with - yes another chemical - not a new technique for us, though. This one withdraws the color from the fiber so it almost becomes white, depending on wich kind of colors you ahve used for the fabric.

These fabrics are all velvet so you can see the pink colored silk fiber under the viscose fiber.

And the (quick) design process.

When just seeing the ornament it could be anything, depending on who you are. Guess it's like looking at the clouds and seeing different animals...

I looked through some books and magazines and just knowing that I wanted to use feathers in some way. I ended up also being inspired by a gas mask though.

Wedding Dress >> Christening Gown

2010-03-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

In December I got an assignment to redesign and transform a wedding dress into a christening gown. The parents thought it was a shame to keep the dress packed away. "But you're not gonna wear it again - you don't want just anyone to wear it - you can't expect that your daughter would want to wear it at her possible future wedding". So they decided it should become the christening gown for their little daughter.

The cut is inspired by the cut of the wedding dress so its origin is recognizable.

And the finished gown.

This last picture is taken by my brother, photographer T. Kaare Smith.

A couple of fashion illustrations

2010-03-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

The Jacket

2010-03-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Recently we had a big project in school, where we made a jacket. There was certain demands; the inspiration should come from one or more secondhand products made from wool, leather or fur. This detail should in some way be incorporated in the design of the jacket. The jacket should be made of wool, have lining and a collar or hood.

Many thougths and ideas emerged but were thrown away again. We talked about different possibilities in my class and when the conversation hit gloves I knew what to use. I already had a few pairs of vintage gloves at home that I wanted to use somehow but didn't know in wich way. I made some designs for the jacket with the gloves used in different ways and found pictures for inspiration.

After many expressions and designs with a glove on the back or the side or used as decoration on a pocket I decided to put the gloves on the shoulders.

The shape of the jacket, with the collar and the diagonal zipper, is inspired from the classic biker jacket. But it still has a sharp look like a military jacket wich is emphasized by the gloves, though the dangling fingers creates a contrast to this sharp look.

I played with the look of the sleeves wich is divided into two parts and with another colored fabric I put in a box pleat. The color of this box pleat matches the lining wich is black with little blue/green squares. To match the sharp look I made jetted pockets and the lining peep from the opening.

With the design of jacket I hope to challenges the general conception of clothin and things original purpose.

Random Summer Pics

2010-02-13T15:46:00.000-08:00

In all this snow I think it's kinda comforting to look back on the summer and be reminded that the spring will come soon, bringing us long sunny days to spent lying in the grass eating ice cream or drinking beers with friends. So here comes a few random summer pics - From New York, Berlin, Copenhagen and Roskilde Festival.

BLESS

2010-02-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

While everybody is going on about Fashion Week in Copenhagen I wanna show a few pics from the little shop Bless Shop Berlin - one of their flagship stores wich at the moment is "in motion" as it says on their website. Check it out here www.bless-service.de/

They have a way of turning everything upside down and inside out, making the most beautiful designs, playing with conventions and the presumption of the prupose of the products. Their things can't really be put in a box, but exists somewhere between art and design being innovative and pushing your imagination over the limit.

Bruises

2010-02-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

Copenhagen Culture Night takes place every year in October and my school are one of the contributers. Third semester creates dresses inspired by a certain theme. The project lasts 2 month and culminates with a fashionshow.

In 2009 the theme was the body and my class was the creators.

There are so many things to be inspired by from the body; cells, illnesses deformations... all of wich can seem gross but can be turned into something beautiful. On this site you can click on a name and see the inspiration and the result. http://tekstilformidler.ucc.dk/Hvadskerder/kulturnat/

My inspiration came from bruises and Egon Schiele's perception of the female body.

Exercises in fashion illustrations

2010-01-17T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil in my hand and I took drawing and art classes when I was a kid. Back then I drew and painted almost anything - what ever was on my mind; objects, architecture, animals, nude drawing and portraits, but later the theme of my drawings changed to being more fashion illustrations and that's mainly what I still do.

Last year I took a class in fashion illustration and actually learned techniques behind it. I found it difficult to follow the teacher's advice because I was more comfortable with my self-taught techniques. But I stopped resisting the instructions and learned a lot from it.

These are some of the drawings made in that class.

These drawings all represent very different techniques. The first was a dress just hangning there. The second was drawing a live model (one of the other girls in the class) which was done without lifting the pencil from the paper. The third one was different pieces of clothes draped on a mannequin and we really had to make it realistic. The last one was started by spashing watercolour on the paper and seeing how it could grow to be a fashion illustration.

I found that I really like being very meticulous and taking my time - it's almost like meditaion for me, which I never realised before because I'm also very impatient.

I don't feel that secure using colors and the result is always either very good or very bad, but those that come out very good like this last one, I really love.