prints found on mens shoes…

Prints of all kinds are being used on mens shoes.  Kind of a fun way for the ordinary guy to spice up his “look”, with out breaking the bank!  Accessorize!!

floral; thorocraft S/S 13, B&W tribal, nike rosh run,landscape digital design;  Y-3 S/S 14, B&W palm print, thorocraft S/S13, mens loafers–HMONG, tan&black palm, vansOTW  shop.vans.com, zebra print on calf, Guiseppe Zanotti, Tribal prints, Vans.com and Nike chevron swoosh, nike.com

 

 

 

Music to start the week: Xavier Rudd

new week, new vibe
new week, new vibe

 

Follow the Sun, by Zavier Rudd

Xavier is one of my favorite musicians… his sound is soothing and moving, he can go to the deep and also keep it light.  When I am starting a new project, or work day… his music is my first choice, it grounds me and sets me up for the creative process to take over.

Xavier Rudd is from Australia, known for his amazing sound, surfing and activism.  check him out;  www.xavierrudd.com

brocade blog post

When I’m feeling my way through fabrics and clothing I often wonder what is a brocade?  Is it embossed, woven, applique, embroidery?

The name , brocade, comes from Italian word broccato, which means “embossed cloth”.

It is a structural reference to when there are groupings of weft strings, along with the structural weft in parts of the design. This was done to give the illusion that the weave was embroidered.

Contemporary “Brocade” has morphed into a trend that is all over the map; it’s very poplular in the home and paper markets and I love the new spin on it in fashion.  It is applied in many different ways ranging from screenpriting to wovens to die cuts.

I love the blurring the lines.

Couch; swankyplanks.com, rug; bronze.rug.nourison.com; bed linnens; Ralph Lauren,

Shibori~

Shibori is everywhere! It has been trending in fashion, Home Products, Paper goods, and doesn’t seem to be going away soon. DIY’ers are going crazy!

Shibori is a Japanese word; a method of creating resists for the dye process using binding, stitching, folding and twisting.

In japan the earliest example of cloth dyed with the shibori technique is from the 8th century. Indigo was the most common dye used with this technique.

Some Terms associated with Shibori are:

Plangi~ a Malay-Indonesian word~the process of gathering and binding cloth.

Bandhani~ and Indian word~ the process of plucking and binding cloth in small points.

Tritik~Malay-Indonesian word~ process of using stitches as a resist.

Arashi~ Japanese word ~the pole wrapping technique.

Itajime~Japanese word~ a shape-resist technique.

credits from top row moving to the right: felt;ecofirstart.com, bedding; Kufrilife.com, ribbons; shiborigirl.wordpress.com, shape resist; flextiles.wordpress.com, shibori dress; stylable.com, accordian resist and thread; filz-indigo.de, indigo resist; japanesetextileworkshops.wordpress.com, tied resist; pinned by pinner, miura shibori, flextiles.wordpress.com

Indigo~

I fell in love with Indigo while mixing dye vats in batik class in High school. Ms. Hall introduced me to my passion; Textiles. I can still smell the dye vat; kind of earthy, a little musty but in a good way. The deep vivid hue swirled  patterns on the water.

Indigo is one of the seven colors in the rainbow.  It sits between blue and violet on the color wheel.  Indigo produces clear blues from light sky blues to deep dark navy.

credits from top row moving right;  porcelain; design label.net, shapes; artpropelled.tumblr.com,dye pigment;easy , dye vat; peccadillocollection.tumblr.com, floral; pinner, hands; brown dresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com, dots; clothandgooods.com, dress; alexander mcQueen pinterest, wallpaper;  trouser.files.wordpress.com, yarn; clothandgoods.com,cloth;  anthro.amnh.org,door;browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com.