collaborating

This comment from Diane got me to thinking that I could add a bit more background on my recent collaboration adventure, "Gilder's paste, who knew? looks great! How did you like the collaboration? Did you find yourself making pieces you might not have conjured without prompting as you melded your style with their requests, and did it blow open some creative doors that might take you down new roads?"

I'd been seeing gilders paste around ... it's amazing on potter's clay - check out Grey Bird Studio on Etsy - and I had seen that it could be used on metal clay on the Cool Tools and Rio Grande sites.  So it was definitely on my radar.  It turned out to be just the ticket for my faux silver jewels.  Like I was saying, there's definitely a learning curve, but I did buy a few different colors from this Etsy seller and I'm hoping I'll have a chance to play with it some more. 

The Cool Tools video how-to suggested using blue under silver for a patinated look, so that's where I started.  Unfortunately, it was not the look I was hoping for.  So I took a closer look at my own pieces, hoping to see the layers of color more clearly. What I ended up using was plain old black under the silver and I'm happy with the look.  If I do this again, I want to try more layering of color, maybe with the Damson and the Iris Blue under the Silver.  BTW, I used Vintaj Glaze to seal the finished pieces. 

As for the actual collaboration ... it was about as perfect as I could hope for.  To start with Fabio and Rebecca are incredibly nice and very accessible.  Next, I love their aesthetic and day to day out of the box thinking.  Seems to me if you're going to collaborate with another artist, the process should uplift everyone involved and the finished work should be greater than the sum of the collaborators ... does that make sense?  The finished work should meld everyone's aesthetic to create something new and unique. 

Working with them challenged me both technically and creatively.  I rarely make work that is referential, not that I haven't, but I just don't go there very often.  So looking for a way to reference a specific object from a particular period and have it still look like my work took some time.  I've gotta say, I do love how the keys turned out!  They are very definitely KVK pieces, but the silhouette is still very Gothic. 

This one's my fave ...

But looking back, I think the biggest challenge was taking the two elements and combining them in a way that immediately said, "lock & key," but looked a bit more interesting then just a plain old lock and key.  There's a ton of steampunk jewelry out there using keys and keyholes, mostly in classic Victorian silhouettes.  The final configurations came to me the morning before one of our Skype calls and I'm still quite pleased with the finished look ... especially that they hang kind of wonky and are far from perfect.

I've no idea if we'll work together again and I'm not sure if or how this experience will affect my own future work or if anything else will come of the pieces that were created.  Will I be compelled to make more keys ... maybe.  Will I refer to ages past for future inspiration ... pretty much a given.  Will I be open to future collaborations ... absolutely.

Whatever follows, all I know is this particular project was near perfect and will be hard to top.

onward .........

l i g a   - kvk

catching up

Hard to believe it's been almost a month.  Actually, my Portland trip seems like such a long time ago ... almost a dream.  The whole adventure was a beautiful lesson and an ongoing reminder about trusting and being my authentic self.

So here's the story ...
I got an FB message from Fabio mid-August.  He and his design partner, Rebecca Diele, wanted to see if I'd be interested in collaborating with them on jewelry and accessories for their Spring/Summer 2014 collection.  After doing a great big happy dance around my studio, I wrote back with a hearty affirmative. 

The collection would be inspired by an avant garde interpretation of Alice in Wonderland with a nod to Gothic/Victorian ornament - that's where I came in.  They wanted my take on locks and keys ... shapes and profiles that referenced the period, but with a KVK spin.  We had several Skype calls, which at first seemed surreal, but were always productive and remarkably easy.  Let's just say that Skype-ing with someone I got to know first on TV is a very strange thing.  I'm really glad Rebecca was there ... I think I would have been much more nervous if it had been just me and Fabio.

They wanted stand-alone pieces but also elements that could be sewn onto the garments.  We started off thinking of using silver, but soon realized the high cost didn't make sense, especially since the price of their garments are a long way from high-end and the budget of their fledgling brand was pretty tight.  They wanted the look of silver, so I decided on using bronze with a faux finish of gilders paste.

Here's the un-gilded bronze pieces ...

 

There was a bit of a learning curve with everything I was doing.  I'd never worked with such large bronze pieces and my initial prototypes didn't fully sinter.  I ended up firing everything twice at higher temps and for twice as long as normal.  Then there was the challenge of learning how to use the gilders paste and then throw in long distance communications and a fast approaching deadline. 

So I had all the components ... now how would I fashion them into jewelry?  They wanted things to connect with long draping chains, which could be crazy expensive.  I found a nice silver plated rolo chain that had a good visual weight and was reasonably priced. 

Here's the direction we decided on ... 

Then it was just a matter of finalizing how we would use the components ... we had five keys and eight locks.  They decided on two necklaces with the lock/key combinations, one with just a key.  One key would be on a 60" length of chain to drape and wrap around a shoulder, one would be on a shorter double chain that would drape from the waist to a pocket, like a watch chain.  The remaining six locks would be stitched as accents onto the garments.  I'd also made a bunch of rectangular rings that would be used as buckles. 

Somewhere in the final call or two, Fabio asked if I was coming to the show ... Huh?  Well, I hadn't really thought about it ... I mean, really.  Portland ... for the weekend ... really?  That's where many of you come in ... THANK YOU for participating in my sale and making this trip possible. 

Hanging out backstage before our runway was a blast.  I sat on the floor sewing on snaps, repairing seams that split after a model tried to squeeze into a dress, stitching up blind hems, wiring a key to the back of one of the men's pieces, eating gorp while chatting with another PR alum, Giordana, watching Seth Aaron put finishing touches on his editorial collection, meeting Season 11 winner Michelle Lezniak, watching other Project Runway designers Michael Costello and Joshua Christensen getting ready to show collections and Becky Ross and Gretchen Jones cruising around and just being part of the chaos and magic that happens backstage before a fashion runway show.   

So here are the finished pieces on the runway of FASHIONxt in Portland, OR.  Images are by Hal Harrison of Rose City Photography and Sara Thompson.  You can see the full collection in Fabio's S/S 2014 FB album here or on this FASHIONxt Galleries page.

 

After the runway, there was a "meet & greet" market hour.  Here I'm helping Rebecca close up this crazy invisible zipper.

 

 

Fabio was grabbing all the necklaces off the models and putting them on.  Add that to the sterling versions I made as gifts for him and Rebecca and you've got some serious layering of KVK jewels ...

 

 

And finally, the best team of collaborators a designer could ever hope for ... Fabio Costa and Rebecca Diele of NotEqual (apologies for crazy lighting and blurry image)

 

 

I am one lucky girl ... blessed beyond measure. 

 

l i g a - kvk