Monday, November 29, 2010

Pleated Leather

Did you know that instead of ironing leather, you hammer creases into it? I did not until last week when I made some intricately folded leather frills for my 1776 mules.

Here are the pictures of the leather pieces wrapped around my foot. They are surprisingly close to the original sketches. I am very pleased with how they are turning out even though they are a different color than I had anticipated.

More Fortunes

This is what I do when I get bored in class, I make fortune cookies  out of horse belly. They are just very cute, and they smell like leather.
They are made the same way that I make my other cookies, with a circle of flexible material and a bit of heat. Very cute and realistic. So realistic that they keep fooling me. I see edible cookies instead of leather charms.

Monday, November 15, 2010

There was a party with shoes and vegan cupcakes

Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur, Olsenhaus' Elizabeth Olsen and Russell Simmons, a famous dude who I have not heard of before. Photo: Getty.
There was a party on November 11th which featured the shoes of Pratt students which were designed for the OlsenHaus global shoe competition.  There were famous people there,  like Russell Simmons and Moby and there was also a lot of vegan food.

My shoes, my real name is actually Alexandra. 
Photo: Emma Grady
The view from the sky lounge of the Atelier was pretty cool, though you cannot tell from the pictures that I took at the event. They seem to light these events in a way which discourages amateur photography. I therefore refer you to the writeup over on TreeHugger, they took some good pictures of the student work. They even took a picture of my shoes, which feature a platform made of recycled tires and a big purple spat.

This is the first pair of heels that I have ever made. Their realness amazes me.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Can you spot me?

This is a picture of my midterm presentation for Making Meaning, my senior studio class.

I have not really been following the progression of my project because not a lot was happening up to the midterm. So far I think this project has taught me more about time management than anything else. This project is unique from other things which I have done before in so many ways that it was overwhelming at first. Writing my own brief was difficult because though the outcome is unknown, it must be defined. My partner and I were completely unprepared for the initial organization of such a large project. At the time of the midterm, we were weeks behind schedule.
Though there are two of us, the work does not seem to go faster just because we have more brain power. Working with a partner is difficult for reasons that I had not anticipated. There are few times when we have disagreements which cause tension. The problem with working as a team is that we are slow to move forward. When there is always someone to bounce ideas off of, ideas keep bouncing and decisions are never permanent.
I wonder whether this is a problem for other people.
The project is now progressing a lot faster, and bu the time the final is due, there will be something to build. I hope it stands up.

Monday, November 8, 2010

This lovely new background

This lovely new background is a picture of the Brooklyn skyline. I hope you like the view from here.

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