"Halloween! Halloween! Oh what funny things are seen!"

Today's title is brought to you by my childhood. Used to sing that song around Halloween when I was a kid and still find myself doing so at age 25...

SO, I'm completely stoked. Halloween is my favorite of all holidays. And I'm in extra Halloween mode right now because I have a killer idea for a costume AND I found the last few pieces of it yesterday at goodwill for $6 total.

I'm going as The Cheshire Cat. I was immediately inspired by this amazing costume I stumbled upon a week or so ago:

http://archaical.tumblr.com/post/28365912001/cheshire-cat-i-just-adored-tim-burtons-concept
(You gotta check out this chick's tumblr--Amazing stuff. )

So I'm putting my own spin on it and here's the progress (that I'm extremely excited about):

<---I found this ruff thing that I guess was on a jacket or something at one point for $2. PERFECT!!! Blue and gray fur.
                                                   
And I got this super cute ruffly --->
shirt dress for $4, it looks good with those tights and my black boots so I can wear it more than for just Halloween! (hand is in the way but...you get the idea)

I've got a very cool blue/lavender wig on it's way from China I think?, found it on Ebay for $9-ish I think and I'm going to be making some cat ears...not sure out of what yet, though. Wish I had some more of that blue fur but, alas. We'll see what I can come up with. I really want to get some cool cat eye contacts for the occasion but I don't know if that will be happening. those things are pretty pricey. I did find these that I like though: 

And they would DEFINITELY complete the look pretty awesomely. I dunno, we shall see. Just kind of depends. Too bad my journal sales have been down otherwise I'd be getting those things for sure. 

I love putting together costumes. Thus the reason Halloween is my super fave. I'm of the opinion every holiday should be celebrated with mandatory putting-together-of-costumes. 

The pup is stylin' now!

Few things in this world make me as happy as making something that is pleasing to the eye AND functional.
My latest project has met both these criteria and I'm extremely happy with the turnout. 

What is this latest project? A new harness for Appa :). 

Her trainer had brought one of these to a session and it fit her perfectly and unlike other mesh harnesses I've seen it didn't have a lining in it so it wasn't hot (she has enough problems with being hot in El Paso as is). I guess you could say I've been on a quest to find the perfect harness. It's pretty hard to outfit a corgi with one, turns out. Their chests are broad and their legs are short, bodies long. Most of them just don't work well. What I liked about this one other than it being cool was that it doesn't pull at the neck at all and it doesn't slide around the body, ending up with the d-ring on the bottom/leash on the side, etc. Anyway, when I went to buy one from the website what stopped me was the $30 price tag (not bad for a good harness but..when you're trying to pinch pennies...well ya know) and the fact that they had no colors I liked. 

So what do I do? Put on my creative cap and say to myself "Hm...I'm pretty sure I can make that." 

I wouldn't say it was complicated so much as time consuming. And maybe part of that was figuring out the how-to of it. At any rate, I plan to make a tutorial for this. I ended up paying $8 (and that was for a yard of the athletic performance fabric--aka sports jersey fabric--and I have a ton left over). Beats $30 and it's a custom fit. 

And yes...it matches the collar I made her--she's oh-so-stylish ;). 

The super great thing is--she's not afraid of it! For whatever reason she freaks out majorly with step-in harnesses, which have worked...eh, ok...for her. This one--she doesn't run away from me/i don't have to chase her down...good stuff all around. Gonna go try it out right now and do some training.

Tutorial soon!

CHRISTMAS!

Ah, I know it's not anywhere near Christmas. But I started pinning ideas for Christmas decorations last night on pinterest...and...now I'm kind of obsessed.

I really like the idea of making a bunch of Christmas decorations myself. I think it makes them way more special, especially in the future. I asked Noah the other night if we could put a tree up before he leaves (mid December). Guess we'll just have to have Christmas a couple weeks early.

Anyway, think I'm going to get started on some decorations soon. I'm really liking the hand sewn felt ones:

Something along these lines.
And if you're not the DIY type, you can buy
these lovelies here:
 

I love this!! Except I'll be making a
 corgi! :D
Found here. 

Twisted Felt Garland

Tutorial here

Those are just a couple of ideas. Plenty more over on my pinterest if you're (p)interested....yeah, i just went there. Don would've appreciated my lame attempt at a joke if he were here. I'll take comfort in that fact. 

Anyway. I also made Appa a dog collar and I intend to work on a harness once the athletic mesh fabric I ordered comes in. (Her trainer had a very cool one for her pup that she tried on Appa and it worked better than any of the ones I've gotten her thus far. I just don't feel like paying $30 for it when a)I know she's going to grow out of it and b)it was so simple i KNOW I can make one. I used this instructable to make the collar, except I just used fabric (I only use her collar to have her tags on her--I think harnesses are way better for dogs to walk with). Pretty simple. And way cute, if I do say so myself :

Yeah, so that's about it. Lots of sewing projects lately. Made new couch pillow covers also but...I feel that I've taken up enough space with photos. I need to do some tutorials on here. Otherwise this thing is purely me rambling and nothing else. 

Needle and Thread

Lately I've been sewing a lot. I took a trip to San Diego with a friend and her aunt had all these lovely quilts she'd handmade. Quilting is something that's been in my family for generations. My grandmother makes fabulous quilts and gave each of her children one specifically made for them. She also gifts all of us grandchildren with our own quilts when we get married. It was one of my favorite wedding gifts, by far. I remember picking out the color and pattern for my quilt--of course green and of course, of course--a star pattern. My grandmother made the first block and said "Please let me start another one." "Why??" I laughed. "I HATE the color." It's just funny to me because I loved the color so much and I wouldn't let her make it any differently than the way she started. It turned out great and I have to say--none of the other grandkids have one similar to mine ;) (ah, always gotta be the black sheep, don't I?).

Anyway, I've been wanting to tackle quilting for a long time. If nothing else just to keep something alive that's been with my family for so long. I'll soon start sewing the blocks together to form the quilt and then put it altogether and start hand quilting it. I've been hand stitching everything so far. I like it better that way...plus I can watch TV and veg out a bit while I do it. If my hands are busy, my  mind is calm. This is good. ;)

I went home to North Carolina for a month while Noah was on a training mission in California. I got a lot of great inspiration while I was there and I have sooo many projects in mind to start! One at a time, Leah, one at a time. <-- I always get too excited and start too many at once and then have trouble finishing any. So...I've gotta finish one and then move to the next this time, I think. Noah's cousin gave me a workbench for building stuff for my birthday! I know that sounds like a weird gift for a girl but...again...black sheep, here. She and I built "portable decks" for the backyard a couple months ago and they turned out great and it was a fun project! I visited Ikea while I was in NC and found a couple of things I really really want to try to make. Not that Ikea is incredibly out of my price range but...I'm cheap, I'll admit it. And I have the skills to make my own things and like to so..why not, right?
I want to make Ikea's LACK shelves, ya know--the "floating" ones that have no braces that are seen and all. Yeah, they look super cool. Andddd I saw them arranged around a TV on the display floor and I think if I can do that it will bring my living room together the way I want. And I'll probably add color...I like the looks of this. And here is how I'm going to build them (only shorter and MORE!)--thanks to Ana White, the goddess of DIY. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog.

When I get the quilt pieced I'll post a picture. And a picture of my other odds and ends of endeavors.

Discoveries

So this lomography thing keeps proving to be very useful to me in that I am reading up on photography processes (experimental and non-experimental) very consistently now. That hasn't happened in a long time. College has a way of sucking all excitement about what you're studying right out of you. Or it did that to me, at least.

Anyway, couple of interesting things I've discovered recently:
Concerning the Recesky DIY Twin Lens Camera Kit--
It seems that lately...or maybe it's just this particular brand of kit...the viewfinders are kind of faulty. They're supposed to be slightly opaque so you can see the reflection from the mirror piece and actually focus. It seems people are getting clear viewfinder screens in their kit for some reason and that makes you see the mirror piece directly--it doesn't work. You can't really see the full image that you'll get and you can't focus at all. This discussion on flicker is what helped me out: Click here to read . The idea to use the post-it note tabs absolutely works. I had my doubts but it works perfectly. That first image is definitely what your viewfinder should look like when you point your camera at a subject...if you're getting a round image...you need to try the post-it note trick.

What else, what else?

Developing my own color film:
I've never really thought it was possible/practical to develop your own color film at home but this video makes it look pretty simple: $18 bucks will develop approximately 8 rolls of film...it would be $18 bucks to get 3 rolls of film developed at say walmart (which is my only option around here, unfortunately). So yeah, that's definitely worth it, I think. Plus, I'm kind of a dark room junkie--I love developing my own film and prints. Been a while but I'd loveeee to get back into it. And developing color would be a brand new experience for me. I guess I figured it would be a lot more expensive than that for chemicals to develop color film. Good to know it's not.

Mad scientist chemical experiments with film (bwahahaha):

I've stumbled across some interesting articles on lomography.com about putting film to the test. It's funny because my photo professor always freaked out about how fragile and precious film was. I guess I get it if you're concerned about proper technicality. But now--I'm a graduate, not a student, and I can do whatevvvvver I want! ;) And it seems that putting your film through a survival test can produce some very cool effects. Here are a couple articles that suggest odd things like overdosing your film with cough syrup and getting it crunk (well..with rubbing alcohol...but hey, maybe someone should give vodka a try and see what happens?). Home developing would probably also give me the option of cross processing which produces this kind of crazy vintage look:

Cross processing is when you take slide film negatives (usually developed with E6 chemicals) and develop them in the chemicals typically used for regular color negatives (C-41). Most people seem to cross process slide film in regular color negative chemistry.  Haven't really looked into E6 chemistry yet/cost/etc.

Soooo I'm still hoping to be able to set up a dark room of sorts when we get to El Paso. I think it will open up a lot of new avenue's for this hobby I've taken up. Haven't really been taking that many pictures, though to tell the truth. I haven't really been anywhere recently that's caught my eye or struck me as picture worthy. But I've been taking a camera with me when I do go places usually so I'm ready if the opportunity comes up. Definitely can't wait for the move! Need a good change of pace and new things for my eyes and camera lens to take in.

Still Figuring Out the Holga

Got a couple rolls of film back from my first Holga shoots.
 There were a few pretty sweet shots and the rest of the rolls were just...nothin'. Or just nothing good (but mostly nothing). 
That's part of Holga cameras and lomography in general (so I've been reading), you never know what you're gonna get. But I can't help feeling that I'm not getting shots I like because I'm sitll not using the Holga "properly". Granted, there is no "properly"...but still.

I think I've determined that one of my main problems is using a low ISO film. Been using Fujifilm 200...and it's just not doing the trick. What I'm reading says you pretty much need 400 or more. I picked up a pack of Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400 today and I've got a roll of lomography 120mm 100 ISO in my Diana F+ right now. We'll see how that turns out.

All the shots I've taken in the dark with the flash have actually turned out pretty good on the Holga. I've just gotta work out the lighting. Something I saw on a Holga tip website today said to take a digital camera and set it at an aperture of  f/8 and f/11 with 1/1000 of a second for the shutter speed and that will emulate what the Holga gives you, more or less. That way I can take some shots in different lighting and see how it looks immediately so I know how to use (or not use) the Holga in that same lighting. Pretty nifty idea. 

So I'm gonna try that and see how it works and I'm also researching films. After I see how this Fujifilm 400 does I want to try some Lomography 35mm 400 and 800 ISO. Now I've just gotta research 120 film and see what I like. Probably going to try the lomography brand 120 400 ISO next (Man, I really wish there was a lomography store around here. Or an Urban Outfitters--I know they sell lomo stuff there). I really hope that roll I have in my Diana turns out nicely.

The only drawback to shooting film is it IS kind of expensive to develop and print. But I guess that could be helped if I stopped snapping my camera at everything I see...although, where's the fun in not trying to capture every moment, eh? Hah, just means I gotta start selling books to support my habit I suppose. ;)

Built it Mah-self! (Twin Lens Reflex Camera)

Nevermind the fact that it took me a whopping 4 hours longer than the box said it would (...partially due to all the breaks I kept taking and the television distracting me and there was an hour and a half stint with the shutter mechanism which I will get into later...) I have successfully put together my very own Twin Lens Reflex Camera!!!

This was my Christmas present from Noah: The DIY Twin Lens Camera Kit. It really did kind of take me all day but I love building stuff so I had a lot of fun putting it together. I've always thought the old school twin lens cameras were pretty cool. Never bought one that I came across because I was always afraid they wouldn't actually work. Hah, so hopefully I did the job right and this one doesn't fail me.

The directions are kind of weird--it's a straight translation from the original Chinese (I think) so it's worded a little strange in some places. The photos are okay...but a little dark so it's hard to see which part they're talking about. (I'm not knocking the kit, don't get me wrong!). I found this website which helped me a lot--clear pictures that helped explain everything better.

The only real problem I had was with the shutter mechanism. First off the directions that come with the kit are misprinted--Spring C is the smaller spring that goes on the "shutter roller" and Spring D is the large one that goes on the "shutter push pole axes". Secondly, the Spring C that I had was too long/the hook and longer part weren't in the right position to fit in the camera like the instructions say. I read (later) that in such a case you should curl the spring on around the axes of the shutter roller so the long side lays along the "isolating plate" or the part separating the shutter and viewfinder areas (for anyone who stumbles on this while trying to put one of these kits together). Anyway, I jumped the gun and cut the spring down. Then had to tweak (and tweak and tweak) it until the spring action worked correctly. Thank God for my relentless persistence when I think I can fix things, hah. I was just about to throw in the towel and order a new kit when I miraculously got it working. This video shows how the shutter should operate.

So yeah, other than that part it was pretty easy. I'm excited to start using it! The end of the instructions talk about different ways to use the "reaming plate" to get different effects with your photos so I'm interested to see how the different options (behind lens, in front of lens, not used at all) affect the results of my photos. 

Gotta get some different kind of film though--the stuff I'm using (and the only stuff available around here...at walmart, unfortunately...) isn't quite cutting it. But that's a story for next time.  

Here's a link to some photos taken with Twin Lens Reflex cameras on lomography.com, check it!