Workshop #2: Menswear

This second workshop was so much fun. We met at Angela's house to rework some men's shirts a la Kara Maria. I was able to pick up some men's tops in fun colors along with some vests that we could add fun elements to add to its brightness and playfulness that is key to Kara's artwork and as rumor has it....men are looking for in their clothes!

So, as is the typical format for our workshops we start off by hanging up a certain number of Kara's paintings and start playing with adding to the garments different elements of fabric paint, fabric pens, fabric swatches that we cut into special shapes, and went to town.

It reminded me of the craft table at daycare where materials were abundant and we were told to go crazy and create. I played the role of the counselor who encouraged everyone to keep going, keep adding. Like many of Kara's paintings, it is about layering and layering again. Adding to a certain aspect of excess or as I see it, abundance.

What I love about these workshops are the techniques you learn. For instance, Alix had an idea of cutting up a potato to use as a stamp. She ended up creating a very neat gun stamp from the root that worked out really nice.

Then Angela had a brilliant idea of using an eraser as a way to embellish shapes into thicker fabric like a velvet vest we had on hand. She cut out a star design of an eraser then to place the eraser design under the right side of the fabric, and press it with a hot iron for 3-5 seconds. The end result is an "imprint" of the design in the fabric. It looks great.

Overall, the things we produced were really fun and it got all our juices flowing for the next few weeks of producing before the big show. Time is ticking and we have a lot more creating to to do in the meantime which also bring me to the point of.....tixs are now on sale so get yours while they are still available....it will be a show you won't want to miss!