Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Craftwerk 2008

I had an amazing time at the show...I'm sure in this case, photos will be better than me raving on about it =).

Enjoy!

I decided to stencil my own monkey silhouette on the brown paper bags that the monkeys would be packed in if someone bought 'em. Heheh..



Trial run...making sure all 24 monkeys would fit into my plastic box.



Monkey photoshoot on the morning of the sale....



One more for the album...



Here I am in the dress i decided to wear on the day..



Me and my stall!



Me and my stall mate Kristin who i met on the day!



Will tell you more soon my lovelies!

xxxxx
Deb

Friday, 15 February 2008

It's all go...

12 hours before the exhibition...

I'm excited...but pretty tired too...going to have an awesome sleep tonight!! So lucky that Craftwerk starts in the afternoon...and that my sister's giving me a ride there...

Sock monkey total...24. =)



Yep...every single one of 'em...

Yawn...better catch some Zzzz's while i can...

Goodnight y'all...

Sunday, 10 February 2008

Sock it to me!

Hello babies!!

I've finally got a spare minute to post so i'm gonna jump straight in okay?!

So...

Since the last post...the plushy epidemic has worsen heheh!! For those of you who don't know what plushies are...basically they're soft toys but way way cooler. Here are some examples of seriously awesome plushies.
Those are only a handful of plushies...other types include really old school crafts like toys your grandma would make for ya but with a seriously cool contemporary twist. A good example of this is the sock monkey. Yes, i can see that puzzled look on your face...it is in fact literal...a monkey plushie made out of a pair of socks. (Thus far, that is all the information you need to continue reading this post hehehe)

Right, now that you have all the vital basic knowledge i will begin the story.

About a month ago, when my mum was still visiting, i came across a pattern for a sock monkey in this really cool book called Bizzare Bazaar. Yeah, it's hard to explain what possessed me to pick that book up but i'm odd like that..haha

Anyhoo...i really wanted to make a sock monkey 'cos i thought they were adorable so i enlisted the help of super seamstress mummy hehe. I wanted him to be pretty kickass so i took a while finding the perfect pair of socks. After years of searching hehehe maybe just hours, i embellish a little, it is my story after all heheh...i found the perfect pair on Trademe. This girl was selling all sorts of really cool gothic/emo gear and one of which was this gorgeous pair of red, white and black knee high socks that had a picture of a syringe down the sides. I know this is difficult to imagine so here you go...this is my baby...my first and most treasured piece...Nightshift Nurse Sock Monkey:

Hahah...yes, seriously...i made him...

So anyway, once i'd done it, i thought the girl i bought the socks from would like to see what i'd done with them so i sent her a photo. I didn't realize that she actually has an online boutique selling all sorts of gothic/emo stuff and she asked if i'd be interested in selling my plushies there!! I know...i couldn't stop jumping up and down when i got that e-mail. Had to even bug my friend Gareth in the middle of his working day to tell him hahaha!

That's not the end of the story though...hahah...yeah...BUT WAIT...there's more..

Her response to my first sock monkey sort of made me think...if i did really start my label, how would i go about it etc. Meanwhile, my sister told me about this craft show called Craftwerk that is held annually in Auckland. I was just super keen to go and have a look at first 'cos i'm a massive fan of indie stuff but a week or so after finding out about it, my sister suggested i join. Now, you can't just join up...you actually have to apply...you send them photos of your work and wait to be selected. Well guess what...I GOT ACCEPTED!! I just got the news like half an hour ago!! I'm so stoked. So now you understand why this post is sort of scattered and rambly...it's exactly how i'm feeling hahah...

So i've started sewing monkey parts like crazy...

And spent a whole day turning all 30 inside out...


Hahahah...
I've made 5 monkeys so far and have the rest of the week to do 25 more. I ran out of stuffing today so i'm just waiting for more ..that's the only reason why i'm typing right now and not sewing like a crazy person hehe.

I got some labels made too...my own label...scream!!!...it's what i've always wanted...my actual brand is called 'SOCK IT TO ME!' and below that is an email address in case people want to get a hold of me - sockmonkeyhq@gmail.com. I promise to post photos of 'em when they arrive.I've also gotten some cute brown paper bags which i'm gonna stencil 'top secret monkey business' on so it'll look super cool when people buy from me hehehe...

Anyway...I'll leave you with a few more photos of my lovelies..hehe






Let me know what you think about 'em and thanks for stopping by!!

xoxoxxo
Deb