Sunday, March 28, 2010

Tribute to my favorite fashion designer


[click on images for enlarged view]

H A P P Y   S P R I N G!
As promised, here are photos of the art deco cross body bag, which turned out incredible. I mader her as a tribute to my favorite designer of the Art Deco era, Erte. She makes a great new addition to any spring/summer wardrobe. The detail is stunning, and this bag was many, many hours in the making from start to finish. Including applique pattern design, cutting out and sewing, my time guesstimate is around 30-40 hours. Since this layered applique is so labor-intensive, I don't think I'll be making very many in this design!

I initially made the strap out of the gold upholstery fabric but was not happy with the results. The brown fauxe suede works best and gives a nice visual frame work for the front flap. I interfaced the strap with heavy sew-in craft stabilizer to give it a nice weight. 

This is the first bag to adorn the new garment label! I ordered these from fellow Etsy seller Jennifer's Jewels. I had her make them square and cut them out in the oval shape myself. I'm quite happy with how they turned out!


With all Glint Gear bags, they are all a labor of love.... I design them all to be my next personal favorite and as something I would be proud to wear daily. This one is truly one of a kind and one I'd be proud to rock! Erte Tribute is now posted on my Etsy shop and ready for adoption.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Super Fun

Rainy Saturday in Austin... The rain is comforting and refreshing. I want to share with you a fun project I did in my free time around the job hunt. Ocean, my sweet and amazingly talented husband, asked me to make a TV dust cover using some Glint.

As I've probabl
y mentioned before, we use our space non-traditionally. We made the living/formal dining our art studio, Liquid Star Base, and made the master bedroom the TV room. I let Ocean have full creative reign on the color/theme for this room, and he chose something totally cool - Iron Man colors! We have only just begun painting one wall in the golden yellow. But when this room is finally done, it will be HOT!

The TV cover had to fit the color scheme, of course! I chose a Glint painted "fabric" in gold and black that Ocean painted himself over a year ago. I was going to just put a simple Glint stripe on black, but had a light bulb "duh" moment that the TV cover should have a superhero theme too. I asked Ocean what symbol he wanted, and he chose one of his favorites. Can you guess who this stands for? ;)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Visual Richness

[click photos to enlarge]

I've always loved the simple beauty and graceful aesthetic of Art Deco. My latest cross body bag is a beautiful tribute to this love. This one has taken quite some time in the making with the incredible detail of the appliques. I'll post pictures of the finished piece, but wanted to share the front flap with you.

In the past, the vision I saw for Glint Gear was comprised of the main aspect of each piece being the
painted canvas portions. I was fearful of having anything take away from the "cool factor" of the painted canvas. In my earlier view, the less of other trims or fabric the better.

My vision is evolving as I allow Glint Gear to breathe life into itself. Lately I have been venturing out to explore more textures in fabric choices. I am finding that exploring more visual and tactile layers takes nothing away from the beautiful painted canvas... it actually enhances it and becomes a rich canvas and framework for the painted pieces.

My current exploration is to play with using upholstery and drapery fabrics to capitalize on their tactile and visual richness. This upholstery (or is it drapery?) remnant I happened upon is the perfect backdrop for the vibrant painted canvas and reminiscent art deco style. The faux distressed brown suede adds yet another level of depth.