I had a lot of success over the weekend setting up for my big product shoot. I’ve never been the best at lighting techniques or photography so I called on my best friend and fellow Emily Carr grad to give me some tips.

I used three lights, two set up at 45 degree angles to my piece, and one background light. After a lot of playing around Linds and I found the right balance and off I went. I was able to shoot all my pre-existing pieces in a day, and today began the process of colour balancing and editing them. Soon I will be finished my Flora and Fawn collection of botany inspired fascinators, as well as have mastered casting my roe buck antler rubber mold. Stay tuned for more to come next week.

The site is up, business cards are made, I officially head my own soul-proprietorship, – all that’s left is to make some product!

While I’ve been working, writing, organizing, I’ve been dreaming of black and white, crystal and bone, light. I’ll be a tease and not give away all my secrets at once, but I will introduce you to my first experimental project to kick off M I L L I N E S S  for real;

The Crystal Antlers.

At Emily Carr, it was about second year that I took a mold making class. It consisted of projects in plaster, silicone rubber, vacuum forms and the basics of mold making. For my grad project in fourth year I made an ornate frame mold from many layers of silicone rubber and cast about fifteen frames over three weeks. It was one of the most centering experiences I remember having at art school. The process, at first very frustrating and confusing, turned into a rhythmic practice I looked forward to. It wasn’t even just about the frames in the end,  (half of them broke and I actually still have them sitting in a box in my kitchen work space) I just loved the making of them so much.

It occurred to me while writing my business plan that maybe enough time had passed that I was ready to mount the artist challenge again. It hit me, – I know exactly what distinguishes my work from other Milliners, and I’m going to focus on the processes I fell in love with in the most miserable times in my educational journey.

So I went out and bought 10Lbs of pottery plaster,  MoldMax 30, a brick of clay and the most beautiful resin I could find – Crystal Resin.

If all goes well at the end of the week I’ll have a two part silicone mold I can use over and over again, as well as a single beautiful crystal roe buck deer antler.

Maybe I’ll even have resuscitated the artist in me I put to sleep two years ago. Wish me luck,

I will be moving to a new blog address and changing my name shortly, but will be sure to post links to safely transport you to my new home.

Woot!

I felt like a proud mama when I looked across the room and saw a couple with the owner of the gallery all taking turns trying on my piece and turning it over to look at how it was made. I had a lot of complements not only on my piece, but on the new hat I’d created for the night to complement my outfit.

Can’t wait to find out the numbers at the end of the night from Korey tomorrow.