Craftside

Photograph Store Windows and Reflections: Idea from Alessandra Cave's Shooting With Soul

Happy Wednesday!

First up, I want to let you know Craftside is going to be moving over to http://www.craftside.net/

It will still be the same fun and fabulous inside peeks into our crafty world, we are just moving!

Please subscribe to our new feed so you don't miss any of our Crafty goodness!

 

Now onto the inside peek, this time from the book Shooting with Soul: 44 Photography Exercises Exploring Life, Beauty and Self-Expression.

We all window shop, right? Why not turn it into a photo op and try taking some interesting shots of store windows and the reflections you can catch using these tips from the book Shooting with Soul.

Instructions

1. When shooting a window display or storefront, you can choose to include or avoid reflections.

2. To avoid reflections, shoot within shadowed areas (even using your own shadow projected onto the glass), shoot at an angle of 45 degrees to the window, shoot through a hole on black cardboard or fabric, or place your camera right against the glass. You can also shoot at night if the window’s interior is well illuminated.

3. When including reflections, make sure they do not compete with the focal point. Use reflections for an artistic look and to highlight or frame your subjects. 

Techniques

Depending on your camera:

• Use a polarizing filter to remove or reduce reflections. Place this magic filter on your lens and slowly rotate the filter until the reflections and glare are gone. The results are astounding!

• Make sure that your flash is off to avoid additional glare. 

Shot Ideas

• Photograph seasonal window decorations.

• Picture a live window display.

• Shoot the front window of a restaurant, bakery, or café.

-----------------------

More about the Quarry photography book:

Shooting with Soul:  44 Photography Exercises Exploring Life, Beauty and Self-Expression - From film to Smartphones, capture images using cameras from yesterday and today.

by Alessandra Cave

Shooting with Soul is glorious and beautiful book for anyone who loves to take pictures. Whether you are an aspirational photographer, artist, creative mom, or blogger, you will enjoy expanding your understanding of this medium by exploring 44 weeks of unique and reflective prompts and exercises aimed to demystify seemingly “techie” topics and enhance your creative self-expression. No matter what camera you own, an SLR, point and shoot, or even a camera phone, this book offers tips and methods for any device that snaps a photo.

 

New technology is making it easier to share photography, and interest in photos is being fueled by the popularity of photo-based apps and social networking sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, Hipstamatic, Flickr, and tumblr blogs. Sharing photos with friends and family has become as easy as pushing a button, however, finding the right photos to take and coming up with creative concepts for jaw-dropping photos remains something that needs to be explored and fostered.

 

Shooting with Soul teaches successful photography methods through an approach that is very much like journaling. By putting deep thought and feeling into the process, and into the exercises, which focus on personal exploration and autobiographical information, you will become able to create images that are infused with soul and that connect you with your viewers more deeply, whether they are friends and family, a professional art audience, or followers of a blog or website. 

  

She currently lives in San Francisco and splits her time between commercial and editorial photography assignments, teaching workshops at creative retreats, and raising her amazing daughter, who is her biggest creative achievement to date.

 

Alessandra holds a Master in Arts degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, but she considers herself completely self-taught when it comes to photography. A former contributor to Shutter Sisters, the widely acclaimed photo-blog celebrating women photographers, Alessandra is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to pick up the camera and follow their creative dreams. Her work has been featured extensively around the world-wide-web, as well as in national and international publications, such as: The Beauty of Different, Nine to Five, Artful Blogging, Somerset Studio and Mingle. You can follow her work and journey at www.alessandracave.com.

Dog Care Safety Tip: Use Round-Tip Scissors for Safe Dog Grooming

Whether you have a mellow dog or a new frisky puppy, keeping you both safe when trimming their fur is always a top priority. To keep from knicking or cutting anyone while grooming, try this tip for choosing round tip scissors from the book DIY Dog Grooming, From Puppy Cuts to Best in Show: Everything You Need to Know, Step by Step.

For inexperienced groomers or when grooming very nervous dogs, round-tip scissors are a smart choice because they offer extra safety in case the dog moves abruptly during grooming. Round-tip scissors are great for trimming the hair around the dog’s face and around the pads.

These shears are pretty inexpensive. Check out some great options here.

More about the Quarry dog care book:

 

DIY Dog Grooming, From Puppy Cuts to Best in Show: Everything You Need to Know, Step by Step

by Jorge Bendersky Foreword by: Cesar Milan

Inside you’ll find:

- Simple, step-by-step instructions for everything from bathing to brushing.

- Practical solutions to common problems like fleas and ticks, dirt and mud.

- Creative suggestions for grooming a picture-perfect dog.

Jorge Bendersky is a celebrity dog groomer in New York City. He grooms Manhattan area dogs and consults on dog grooming. He has been a contestant on the Animal Planet show Groomer Has It, a judge on TLC’s Extreme Poodles, and an expert on Animal Planet’s Dogs 101. He has also appeared on The Today Show, ABC Nightline, CW11, and E! News, and in the New York Post, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and more. http://www.planetjorge.com/

And more fun stuff from my favorite blogs:

Body Mind Beauty Health

A whole bunch of the cool purse designs featured in the book The Art of the Handbag

Quarry SPOON

Recipe for Banana Bread with Pecans

Whole Home News

5 tips for more sustainable lawn care

Rock Paper Ink

Designing Mobility 

Walter Foster

Eye Spy: Behavior modification through typography

Congrats go out to David S. of Santa Ana, CA. He is the winner of the Craftside giveaway that included a copy of The Doll Scene: An International Collection of Crazy, Cool, Custom-Designed Dolls by Louis Bou

Getting Ready for San Diego Comic-Con with a Guest Post by Katherine Gleason, author of Anatomy of Steampunk

Today, I have a special treat. Katherine Gleason author of Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism has written a guest post for Craftside! It is a fun look into her kitty-filled world and her experience making the sleeve garters tutorial from her book.

Thank you, Katherine for sharing the fun you had making on the sleeve garters and your trips through New York City shops (I miss them!)

If you too want to make the sleeve garters you canDownloadthe tutorial from the book Anatomy of Steampunk.

---------

Everyone is getting psyched for Comic-Con in San Diego. Unfortunately I won’t be there, but my book Anatomy of Steampunk will be. Plus, I’m sending two pairs of handmade sleeve garters, made per the directions in the book, to the convention.

You could win a pair of said sleeve garters. Stop by Walter Foster Publishing (booth #1320), enter the drawing, which will be held Saturday afternoon, and you may walk away with some new arm wear! Check it out, and let me know what you think!

I’ll confess that after all the crafting projects I’ve completed, I still have a little sewing anxiety. I worry that I will botch things up, prick my fingers, and sew my crafty item-in-progress to my skirt. (I have done that before!) Also my thread tends to tangle, which I think is because I bought the really cheap stuff. Sigh.

So, I procrastinated a bit on starting this sleeve-garter project. When I finally got myself out the door in search of supplies, though, I got wicked inspired. I had already scored some black and white checked ribbon at a small shop in my neighborhood, when I set off for Pacific Trimming in New York’s Garment District. There, I bought the requisite brass-toned metal slides. I also spent a bit of time looking at the store’s other offerings. So many different kinds of fastener, buttons, zippers, elastic, mysterious notions, and more! I started getting all kinds of new ideas.

After Pacific Trimming, I visited Daytona Trimmings Company where I found the striped ribbon that I used for one set of garters. (I bought three yards—one yard for my Comic Con garters, one for a set that I made for a steampunk event hosted by the fabulous party mavens Gemini & Scorpio, and I have a yard left over.)

Then, I swung by M & J Trimming and was blown away by the huge selection of ribbon. So many colors, patterns, and materials! I felt happy with the striped ribbon I’d picked up at Daytona, but I couldn’t walk out of M & J empty handed! I bought a yard of French grosgrain in a blue and gray stripe. I may need to make myself another pair of sleeve garters! The pair I made for myself back in the fall are a bright blue, and I’m thinking the blue stripes could be good for a more sober mood.

So, I guess the moral of this part of the story is: if you’re feeling stuck or need inspiration, go look at some materials. They’re sure to get your imagination going again.

Once I was back home, I pretty much followed the directions that Noam Berg, the fabulous steampunk, musician, and man about town, wrote for Anatomy of Steampunk. 

The second time I wove the ribbon through the second slide, though, instead of just pulling the ribbon under the top bar of the slide, I passed the ribbon over the top bar, looped the ribbon back, and tucked it through the slide. This way the folded edge of the ribbon comes out inside the garter. While I was working, Luca kitty had to get in on the act. 

With a project involving ribbon, of course he did! There’s nothing like a little feline assistance!

Success!

More about the Race Point book:

Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism

by Katherine Gleason, Forward by K W Jeter, Introduction by Diana M. Pho

From formal outfits to costumes crafted for the stage, from ensembles suited to adventure to casual street styles, steampunk fashion has come to encompass quite a few different looks. But what exactly is steampunk? Originally conceived as a literary genre, the term “steampunk” described stories set in a steam-powered, science fiction-infused, Victorian London. Today steampunk has grown to become an aesthetic that fuels many varied art forms. Steampunk has also widened its cultural scope. Many steampunk practitioners, rather than confining their vision to one European city, imagine steam-driven societies all over the world.

     

Today the vibrance of steampunk inspires a wide range of individuals, including designers of high fashion, home sewers, crafters, and ordinary folks who just want to have fun. Steampunk fashion is not only entertaining, dynamic, and irreverent; it can also be colorful, sexy, and provocative. Most of all, steampunk fashion is accessible to everyone.

    

Illustrated throughout with color photographs of the dazzling creations of numerous steampunk fashion designers, Anatomy of Steampunk is an inspirational sourcebook. In addition to presenting the looks and stories of these creative fashion artists, the book also details ten steampunk projects for the reader to try at home. Allow steam to power your imagination!

Art Prompt: Sketch the Audience in the Metropolitan Opera House - Inspiration from Citysketch New York

Friday Art prompt! We all take little breaks during our day, whether we are at a desk job, or at home wrangling the family. Take a minute to sketch! Use the image below and fill in the remaining areas of the Metropolitan Opera House. 

This page from Melissa Wood's Citysketch New York starts you off and suggests: 

Complete the sketch as if you were onstage looking directly at the audience. Add the sheet music of the musicians in the pit and the plush seats of the orchestra floor, along with the multi-tiered seats in the five other levels. Include lots of sparkly lights on each tier of the fan-shaped auditorium.

More about the fun Race Point travel art prompt sketch book:

Citysketch New York: Nearly 100 Creative Prompts for Sketching the Big Apple

By Melissa Wood

Part aspirational, part creative, and all doodle. Citysketch New York is a compilation of creative prompts geared to immerse you in the marvels of brilliant New York City.  Finish partially created Manhattan skylines, sketch accessories to accompany a chic 5th Ave wardrobe, doodle your own uniquely styled versions of Times Square, and loads more. With guided tips from a New York-based artist on the contours of New York architecture and art, from a fashion designer on the subtleties of New York fashion, and from a cultural expert on the people of New York as well as the food and culture. This is a complete course in Big Apple culture for the enamored. Be inspired. Get creative. After all, drawing a little will help you dream big.

Melissa Wood is an illustrator and architectural planner.  She regularly travels to cities all over America and the world and doodles her way through them.  Her clients include Crate & Barrel, Trader Joe’s, Neiman Marcus Direct, Nordstrom’s, Kate’s Paperie, John Grisham, George Lucas, Nikki Hilton, and Oprah Winfrey.

 

How to Make a Thread Spool Greeting Card - Inspired by the Book, Paper Cut by Owen Gildersleeve

I love to cut things up and let me tell you Paper Cut: An Exploration Into the Contemporary World of Papercraft Art and Illustration is filled with some of the most amazing cut up art! One of my favorite ways to cut things up is with my Sizzix die cutting machine. I just got what has to be the coolest card die cut in the shape of a thread spool.

So, combine a book filled with all sorts of creative cut up paper art, a new thread spool shaped die cut, and my newest addiction, Washi tape, you get this cute little card.

This page from Creative Review was what gave me the idea to wrap the cover half of the thread spool card with washi tape. Artist Chrissie Macdonald used tape to create the details on this cut paper art. I also added a button and some yarn to tie the card closed.

More about the Rockport book:

Paper Cut: An Exploration Into the Contemporary World of Papercraft Art and Illustration

by Owen Gildersleeve

 More and more the design world is turning away from digitization and once again embracing the imperfections of handmade, craft-based practices. Written and collated by noted papercraft illustrator Owen Gildersleeve, Paper Cut offers a unique perspective into this burgeoning field of contemporary illustration. Featuring astonishing works from twenty-five of the world's top papercraft illustrators, this collection also contains in-depth interviews and rarely seen behind-the-scenes photography, which reveal the artists' motivations and working techniques. Contributors include Rob Ryan, Yulia Brodskaya, Jeff Nishinaka, Andersen M Studio, Chrissie Macdonald, and Kyle Bean.

Owen Gildersleeve is an illustrator and designer based in London. His work predominantly focuses on papercraft illustration and over the years he has become highly respected in the field, working with a large array of international clients, as well as collaborating with many other respected artists. In 2009 Owen was awarded the Type Director's Club Award for his work with Fast Company Magazine. Then in 2011 he was awarded the Art Director's Club Young Guns award, which showcases the some of the world's best young talent in the fields of art, design and illustration.

-----

And if you too love thread and sewing over at Goodreads there is a giveaway going on of the soon to be released Tangle Stitches for Quilters and Fabric Artists: Relax, Meditate, and Create with Rhythmic Stitches by Jane Monk

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tangle Stitches for Quilters and Fabric Artists

by Jane Monk

Giveaway ends July 25, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

Enter to win