Cosplay Craftin' - Project InuYasha

It has been such a busy last few months. I'm currently in the Brussels airport where I get to enjoy a five hour layover on my way to Vienna... at least the wifi is strong! Figured I'd share the "craft" project I focused on last month.

I went to Sakura-Con for the first time last month, which is Seattle's anime con! All of my middle/high school years, I watched anime and read a lot of manga, so it's a bit nostalgic even though I'm not up on the recent world of anime/manga. Since it was a nostalgic comicon for me, I decided to go with my all time favorite character - Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi, which was the very first manga I read too. A lovable, but grumpy dog demon from feudal Japan!

I'm not very skilled with the sewing machine and this literal red robe took me HOURS, and I finally realized how helpful having a dress form is. I made this kimono top (hardest part was the armpits and slits in the top shoulders) without a pattern... so I learned that next time I'm going to seek out a pattern to give me reference.

Double layered cotton - kimono robe top! 

Outside of the sewing of the robe, I made the necklace with polymer clay, modified a layered wig with a cheap amazon wig, 12 extensions and some clip on bangs, and wore inch long press on claw nails! (And, picked up some ears / kids samurai sword / red harem pants to complete the look). Not as in depth as a lot of cosplay and comicon fanatics, but it was my first full costume. Got a lot of pictures taken of me and a lot of "SIT BOY!" references from the show, so I was happy! :) 

Below are a couple of shots of all three of my cosplays: Catwoman, Alana from Saga, and Inuyasha - all compiled by me with minimal sewing until Inuyasha. 

I call Catwoman my closet cosplay, because I had everything except the whip and cat mask in my closet already, so it was my perfect first cosplay. Little did I know, that day I would meet Stan Lee and I was wearing a DC cosplay... Shame. 

This was my second cosplay from my favorite recent graphic novel, Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. My first sewing project ever was the cape!

And, finally - Inuyasha :) I think I captured his signature guard pose pretty well!

Much Ado About Busy

I often offend more distant friends when I say I've been busy... I don't intend to leave a text unread for over two weeks or... a month. I've found that my most true friends are just as busy as me and no matter how much time has passed, our connection is the same. Once reunited, there's just so much more to talk about. I've also been lucky to have have a great circle of like minded women from work. The engineering field and all the amazing people who support the engineering group in the City have made my professional network a personal one as well. For the friends who make an effort to pester me, thank you for knowing who you're dealing with. I appreciate you. <3

2019 has been a BUSY year so far. I started a new job as a Construction Manager for drinking water, which was big change from working in sewer construction since I've been out of school. As someone who is incredibly process oriented, it's been difficult to adjust to the idea that 'there's a million ways to skin a cat - and  - there's a million ways to manage a project.'

I've also been getting a lot of publicity for work I did with my old bureau, which was showcased on NBC, Time for Kids, and my alma mater. As an introvert (trained/performing extrovert due to necessity), these commitments to talk for even an hour, often drain me. The way I self care is crafting alone with my fur kids, shopping a far out estate sale, or SLEEPING a lot... However, a personal goal of mine is to get more women and communities of color in science and engineering, which is why I often talk about my career in public settings. My newest project is working on a book, meant to be the WOC's version of Lean In - after finding out that there are practically no books on being a female minority working in STEM.

Outside of career outreach, 2019 has been keeping my weekends busy with volunteer work:

• City African American Network (CAAN) - we put on some amazing public / city oriented events for Black History Month 
• Good in the Hood Planning Committee - please help and sign up to volunteer for a shift this summer (June 21 - 23)
• Judging Scholarship essays for the Al Forthan Scholarships by Volunteers for America
• Continued work on STEM outreach / curriculum creation for kids.

And, I'm trying to reignite the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Oregon, which has got me networking at various events around the Portland/outer metro areas. 

This last month, I started a ceramics class with a good friend, and it has been amazing to learn a new medium. I am terrible at throwing pots, but I am having so much fun. Painted my first piece last week and am hoping it survives the kiln this week. Kudos to instagram pottery accounts for providing SO much inspiration. 

I'm still running two spaces at Found on Fremont - Blind Cat Vintage is still kicking and our cat themed shelf is routinely stocked. Come get your cat themed kitschy goodness at 4743 NE Fremont, Portland, OR. 

 

A quick craft/upcyle of vintage items that have been doing really well in the space have been my curating of vintage illustrations. I love framing 1960's illustrations from old books / collage materials. They are the perfect accent to the items in the shop. 

Notice that most of the illustrations I'm drawn to are cats... 

In order to clean out my art room, I've also started refurbishing furniture again and a few pieces are in the shop now. Latest project is my dining table - a mid century gem I drove an hour to McMinville to get. Pictures will be posted if it survives a minor staining, gloss varnish, and reupholstering. 

Not going to share more pieces, because I was a little obsessed with this cloth and it was used on way too many items...

I've also gotten really into beading / making jewelry again. I've even started buying strands of beads, which I never used to do. Usually just inherited beads my mom was tired of looking at. Brass tones and natural materials are still my jam though. I've ended up keeping most of my earrings for my personal collection too - which is a first! Fellow jewelry makers know that we often don't wear our craft! Jewelry is a fun instant satisfaction craft and doesn't take as much muscle as my furniture projects.

SO - this is probably the longest post I've done in a while and I still haven't covered the hours I've spent planning the next months ahead. Trips abroad, comicon, classes, and big exams are to be had and I'm both excited and tired already. :) 

T'was a Decent December

Figured I'd try to get one more blog post in for 2018. Per usual, I haven't been crafting or making anything new outside of jewelry... but life has been busy. I aged another year and spent it in Hawaii! Such a beautiful place! It was my first trip that I didn't want to come home from. Truly paradise and I'm already plotting my return.

Beautiful Hawaii - where I got my first sunburn in DECEMBER!

I never really used to get excited about Christmas because I'm more of a Hallow-queen, but my space partner and I really went all out this year. We dedicated an entire space to it this year and I loved how it turned out. I even ended up decorating my house with more than just a Christmas tree! 

Red & Green Bonanza (plus white because I'm a magpie for milkglass)  

I've been continuing to fill/merchandise two spaces at Found on Fremont, manage two etsy shops, and a clothing resale storefront on Poshmark. The 'side hussle' is real. I remember starting these side businesses while I was in college as a way to pay my way through. It's funny that it's become such a FUN hobby nowadays. It's also a perk that it brings in a little income too. I love hitting the flea market and checking out thrift stores in obscure locations. I literally drove twenty minutes in Hawaii just to find their Goodwill in hopes of finding some unique vintage loot.  

Obviously, I enjoy my 'side hussle' vintage resale, crafty goodness, etc., but it's also been a busy month for my 9-5 career too. Last week I started a new job with the Water Bureau, doing more of the same with construction management . It's exciting to move onto clean water after spending my first years out of college with wastewater. Going to have to get some new 'dad jokes' for clean water at some point... help? ;)

Texas Visit and Awaiting Fall (Basically just Halloween)

Took some time to visit family in Texas over the Labor Day weekend. I hadn't been in almost ten years and it was long overdue. My dad's family - going back to my great-great-great grandma is from Daingerfield, Texas. A small town about 2.5 hours driving from Dallas.

Proof that I didn't spell the town wrong. :) 

I thought I was going to spend a lot of time studying for my upcoming Professional Engineering (PE) exam, given that there is hardly any phone service/wifi connection out in remote parts of Texas. Instead, found myself spending most of the trip talking and learning about my family's history, which is truly fascinating. No crafting, no studying, no thrifting for vintage goods - just good old family history and bonding. Couldn't be happier.

Also - going to share this picture of my family's church. Out in Daingerfield, there's a small, but active community that still meets here. Church built and originated by my family on their farm.

I have to give kudos to sweet Texas for the Southern charm. Everyone was SO nice. 

Upon returning home, I was glad to see that the weather in Portland has returned to a lovely 70 degrees with some chances of rain. Fall is coming and I'm excited for my favorite season. Actually, more excited for my favorite holiday. My halloween decorations are already up around my house and I was stoked to see my vending partner at Found on Fremont is just as ready for Halloween as I am. Came back to restock and saw this lovely display of spooky vintage goodness!

Rats, owls, apothecary bottles, doll parts and Stephen King. Halloween spread is on point this year. 

Summer Thriftin' and Life Updates

Oh look, it's been about 6 months since my last blog post.

Life has been busy. I've been actively working on my 2018 goals. I know - most people's new year's resolutions fall short by about now, but at least the only one I've completely failed at is blogging more. I've been going to the gym routinely, eating gluten free, traveling, and have began the arduous journey towards getting my P.E (Professional Engineering) license. 

I visited Philly to visit the Mutter Museum, but couldn't take pictures inside, so here's Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, which showcase local artist, Isaiah Zagar's mosaic work. Beautiful!

I've been spending a lot of time thrifting and enjoying estate sale season. I even went to my first traveling antique show, which was more for personal shopping than for business. Was great to see so many true antiques and talk to some of the vendors. I could definitely see my retirement hobby as being a traveling antique vendor. Reminds me a lot of the jewelry vending I used to do when I was a teenager. 

In regards to the vintage business - my space partner and I have expanded and now have two spaces at Found on Fremont. We've added a separate shelf that we've jam packed with goods. Helps spread things out from our main space and has proved to be a good investment! 

Outside of thrifting and restocking Found every weekend, I've been crafting a bit more. Hosted my first "Crafternoon" with work friends and now I think we may have a semi-monthly rotation planned. Did I mention how lucky I am to have such a creative bunch of women engineers at my job? :) 

There's still a small niche market in my bug jewelry and now that it's summer I've been gifted lots of ethically found bugs for my jewelry. I haven't delved into any new projects lately, but last weekend I picked up some fun furniture finds - given the space they take up, I'm hoping I'll be motivated to start painting/reupholstering soon. 

Supply shot - jars of bug love for my projects. 

That's all for now - fingers crossed I'll post again soon! 

I still have garden and construction work things to share later. :) 

New Years: Leather Earrings and my Inner Spider

One of my new years resolutions is to create more, and hopefully in creating more, I'll also blog more. I spent a lot of time last year working on keeping my vintage space in Found on Fremont well stocked. My space partner and I have a pretty distinct style in how we merchandise, and after next month - it will have been 2 years together in our space! Hard to believe so much time has passed. I'm planning to focus more on my creativity this year, since it's always been my favorite form of self care.

Post Christmas display - retro blues/groovy oranges

One of the constantly restocked handmade items that I routinely sell at Found are my leather earrings. After the Christmas rush, I was pleasantly surprised to find out almost half of my sales were entirely from my handmade jewelry! Recycled leather earrings in simple, rustic and leafy designs seem to be quite popular and it amazes me that I've been working with same leather scraps/colors for over 5 years now.

Along with making more jewelry lately, I've started weaving again. I learned to weave when I was 9 years old and I was at one time the youngest member of the Portland Handweaver's Guild. It's something I've been considering joining again if only I wasn't so bitter about the trendiness of weaving these days... (Yes, over/under on a frame loom is technically "weaving" - but it's also the same technique I taught kindergarteners and there are MANY weaving methods/looms in existence). I taught weaving for about 7 years to children at an elementary school, which always kept me weaving in my spare time. During college, I started weaving less and less, mostly because it is incredibly time consuming. My inner spider (nature's weaver) has been motivated to weave again, particularly while Netflix binging. :) It's only January and I've already finished two new pieces!

Outside of my crafting endeavors, my job takes a lot of my time. Between the commute, meetings, post work networking events, and studying for licensure exams - the weekends never seem to be long enough! Crafting and my vintage resale hobby definitely make for a good way to decompress after long weeks.

Old things and wastewater engineering. Sometimes my job is perfectly in tune to my interests.
Portland's 1920's Ankeny Pump Station. I'm looking forward to managing the ventilation upgrade soon.

A Year Passed and Seasons were 'Found'

Not going to apologize for almost a year of not blogging...

During this lapse of internet presence, I have been to San Fran to visit the Keane museum (eventually I'll post about this fabulous place and all that it means to me), traveled to England/Ireland/Scotland, am officially an Engineer-in-Training, been promoted to a Construction Manager, and have actively engaged in an alternative institution, called the Flying University, with some amazing colleagues of mine.

Crafting landmarks have included - teaching myself to use my sewing machine, completing two cosplays (Catwoman / Alana from Saga), purchasing my first dress form, and falling back in love with making jewelry! I have a lot to learn with sewing and I'm hoping to break out some vintage patterns soon, but I am so excited to have a new craft.

All the while, I've been running a small vintage business with my fellow vending partner - Blind Cat Vintage. Lots of etsy listings, long weekends thrifting, and constant redecorating has left our space looking pretty snazzy through the seasons. Thought I'd share our booth's seasons at 'Found on Fremont'... Check us out on instagram: @blindcatvintage

Halloween is our thing - this display was out at the beginning of September and lasted until nearly Thanksgiving. Creepy clown dolls, kitschy halloween books, and jack-o-lantern anything is super fun to shop for. This display would have been better if I hadn't hoarded the goods to decorate my own house.

Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day - We agreed 70's power colors and any bird seemed festive enough for this holiday. 

I've been told our space looks like Christmas "threw up" on it, but I like to take that as an endearing compliment. For two grinches, my space partner and I, really went all out for Christmas. Shop local this season!