August 29, 2015

Taylor Swift "Blank Space" Video dress

My daughter and I had tickets to see Taylor Swift for her 1989 Tour at Petco Park in San Diego. We found out that her fans love to dress up as Taylor or fun characters inspired by her lyrics, so my daughter asked if I could make her a version of the floral dress from the "Blank Space" video. First step,  a trip to Goodwill to find a similar dress. I found an adult dress, but knew I could take it using the glue gun. It was easy because we just had to cut the hem shorter and take in the waist.



We ripped apart silk flowers and separated the individual layers to hot glue them onto the dress. We tried to pick colors that were similar to Taylor's dress, but didn't try to copy it exactly.
 

We had an amazing time at the show and everyone complimented her dress. She felt like a princess!


Thanks for the inspiration, Taylor!


August 18, 2015

The Spheres at MacArthur Park

Today I worked with Portraits of Hope at MacArthur Park to help create a massive public art project. The Spheres at MacArthur Park is a massive floating artwork on the lake. Huge floating spheres from 4 to 6 feet in diameter were handprinted by school children and volunteers. 
I was there to help with the installation.


First, I offloaded the spheres, dumped two bottles of water into each to give them a little weight and then inflated them. Once inflated, I helped create weights from river rocks. These were attached to the spheres and they were towed by canoe out onto the lake.


The project was designed by artists Bernie and Ed Massey. It is absolutely gorgeous to see it come together. If you live in the Los Angeles area, please make a trip out to see it. The spheres will be in place through September.



August 2, 2015

Alvarez Paper Mache Clowns

Some people find clowns creepy, but I really love them. I love a lot of creepy things, so maybe that's not too surprising. I'm on vacation in Arkansas visiting family and while I'm here I love going to estate sales. Today, I stumbled upon a collection of vintage paper mache clowns. 
They were signed "Alvarez Mexico".


If they weren't so fragile, I would have taken all of them home. Aren't they great? 
Each one stood from about 12 inches to 18 inches high!


One of my favorites was this little guy with an egg in a frying pan. I told my husband I wanted to take him home and he said, "so he can come to life and kill me in the night?" Now why would anything this sweet want to do something like that? ;)