And Now We Battle.

I Finished the battle axes! Now I am waiting for the rubber to arrive and then it is play time.... In regards to the rubber I know that it is not the best but I am still new at this awesome sport so I figured I would learn to walk before I run, so I went for a good basic.

This was a fun project. Maybe I will do sum more in the future. (?) Only time will tell... and if anyone else actually would want to get one for them selfs.

Now it is time to go break it in!!!


Next up: I will be up in Washington for my brother-in-law's wedding for the next week. And then I am jumping into more tailoring projects and getting the Table Tennis uniforms made.
Also got a few art projects to bust out. So it looks like another busy month in February.

How are your projects coming along?
If you have not started any why not do it now.... Cheers.

A Paddle for Battle.

So this past weekend I worked on building myself my own table tennis blade.
I took a bunch of pics showing the process enjoy.


I have a bit more to do to finish it so I will update when compleate. Till then Cheers!

Chop Chop.

Put'n on the old apron and make'n stuff this weekend. Ties, paddles, and skirts.

Ruff Sketch: RCo. CH.2

I have become madly in love with the game of table tennis! So much so that I have started to play as much as possible and regularly on Wednesday night. Well like most things that I get way stoked on I find that it influences my designing. I have started to put together a little collection for myself that I hope to begin to cut and sew in the very very near future (after I get all the other projects I am rocking right now off my plate) here is a little sample of a few things I have drawn up. But this is just a few ideas, still a work in progress.....


I find that, like most sports, the apparel options are really quite short of style. I know that when playing any sport that it is good to do so in functional apparel but come on do you have to look like a slob in un-fitting baggy clothing. Were is the style? And why does no one really offer any well cut and well fitting sports wear? I think sportswear fell apart after the 1960's if not before.
Anyway, enough ranting. So since I am doing this for myself I plan to do it how I want. Maybe I will not be the best player but I hope to be the best dressed! My big influence comes from the early days of sportswear (early 1900- 20 & 30's) Also form old gentleman's sports clubs and collegiate prep school team uniforms.


Along with the apparel side of things I also am working on making my own bat or paddle.
Here is a layout that I threw together with a paint scheme for the handle and logo prints that I am going to put on the blade (even thought it will be covered with the rubber) Also notice the logo that I came up with that pulls sum of the same elements from the main REDCROW logo I created. Fun times.

And of course I will take heaps of pics along the way so check back often... Till then.

Things to Come.

BBlessing Online Shop.

Oh ya! BBlessing is now doing an online shop. If you not familiar with BBlessing it is a great men's shop in NYC. So stoked they have an online shop now. They carry a bunch of really good brands that have great style. So go check it out.

Here is a pic of the outside of the shop that I took last January (2007) not very good and does no justice but it is all I got...

Let's Get Started.

It has been a while since I put the old apron on... I put it on this weekend and it felt good. Something about an article of clothing or sum sort of object that you use regularly when doing projects or work. Well for me that is my apron. I put it on and I go to work. What makes you stoked to go to work on your projects?

J-Mags.

Wow what a week... it does not really seam like it was much but when you are going to bed late every night and getting up early the next day it really takes a toll. But I think it is worth it to finish a project and know that you are creating something.

I have been wanting to share my favorite Japanese magazines for a while. Japanese magazines are an addiction one that I fill once or twice a month at kinokuniya in South Coast.
I am very fortunate to have one close by.

There is something about Japanese magazines, especially for fashion, that is so great. American magazines are full of adds, so much so that I think we should not have to pay for them cause all they are is nothing but a book of advertisements.... lame. But Japanese magazines are like art and a dictionary of what to buy and how to make it work. Not only that but they fill the pages with details of most of the clothing they are covering and they have step by step how to's that are so great!

well enough of that. Here are my top 3.

Free & Easy - a men's magazine that focuses on rugged new and vintage clothing. Such a great piece of work here.

Fudge - by far my favorite womans fashion magazine. The style and looks are so great. Natural artistic and fluid.

Come Home - I think this is the bible of Zakka lifestyle. The images are so beautiful and inspiring. Plus they share so much with you on how to find the right piece to how to cook a great home made bread and the coverage of Zakka shops and artist is heaven sent, or really nice at least. I love just looking through this magazine over and over again it is so inspiring.

So those are my go to rags of choice. Though I ordered the men's version of Fudge, fudge men, and am going to pick it up tomorrow so I might have a number 4 pick as well.

I am starting a new collection of designs so I want to keep sharing my inspiration. I have a few things up my sleeve so watch out.

Just A Few More Hours.

For the 4 or 5 of you out there who check out what I am up to or into sorry but this week is so busy that I am not even here..... I still need to finish my post on how to print on stuff with a photocopy. I also need to share my tie work. But first I need to finish this side project that I took on. It is actually a really great experience. I hope to be able to keep doing more in the future... We will see were it takes us. So check back later.

Here is what I am stoked on as of today....

The Warm Glow of A Flash.

Ok so I keep posting about foto folks but I like the light capturing.... I should start posting my own work but why when I can share the works of others to inspire you to go out and do it yourself.
Anyway, so while visiting one of the most amazing well done blogs that I go to on a day to day basis, decor8. She had posted about Samantha Lamb. Her work is so great and light and fun.
I really enjoy the series she did of spools of thread, being that I like ZAKKA and tailoring and what not. Please if you have a chance go check her out and while you are at it peep her link of others she likes on flickr there are sum amazing pics out there.

Just Don't Shoot Yer Eye Out.

Just found these two kids who play with light capturing devices. I really like fotografx and I like their style, a little raw and over exposed. Good stuff. Reminds me a lot of the Nylon Magazine style. Go check out there web sites.

Nicholas Lorden.

Joe Dilworth.

Rogues Gallery Spring 2008.

On my daily voyage around the web I decided to go and check to see if one of my favorite brands Rogues Gallery has updated their site, and they have!!! I think all of December I went there everyday waiting for an update....
If you have time check it out. If not here are a few pics I snagged for your viewing enjoyment.






You can link to their web site here.
Also if you want to learn a little bit more about them and their influence check out this article from Refinery29.

Hold Tight.

Just wanted to share a bit more of the Tie Project that I did for Christmas.
Here is a picture of the tie clips that I made with 14 gage wire that I bent and shaped into an old fashioned style safety pin. I then made a distressed RCo. logo plate that hangs from the bottom of the clip. I will share more pictures and more of the tie project later.

How 2: Copy Machine Fabric Labels.

One of my big projects that I had been working on for most of December was for a few wool ties that I made as gifts for my brother, Dad and good buddy Jon. I wanted them to be as good or better than what they could buy at any men's emporium and that meant that I needed to have labels. I decided that I wanted to have not only the company logo and name but also the care/content, RN# and the number of made. (4 of 4)
I have heard that you can print directly on fabric with a bubble jet printer and thought that would be a good way to get my labels made and still have the custom handmade feel that I want. Well our printer at home is just lame-O, So I figured why not try a copy machine.... Now I guess the reason that you can do a bubble jet printer is that it does not have to go around in drums and get caught or something of that nature... I tried it with a black and white copy machine and it turned out better than I could have hoped. so here is a little step by step... Enjoy!

List-O-Materials:
-Design you want to print. scaled to size and layout (picture, clip art, drawing, etc.)
-Freezer paper (a paper with one sided wax finish found at your local grocer by the tin foil)
-An electric Iron
-100% Cotton Fabric to print on (preferably a light ground color for best results)
-Scissors
-Pen or Pencil
-Ruler
-Fray Check, to seal the cut edges and stop them from, well, fraying (found at local fabric shop in the notions section)

I think that is about it. Now lets get started.

First step: prep the fabric.
If you plan to use the printed fabric on garments that will be worn and washed it is best to pre-wash and dry the fabric to make sure that it will not shrink after you sew it onto another garment, like a tee shirt.

- with the fabric all washed and dried place the fabric wrong side up (the side you do not want to print on) and put the wax side of the freezer paper down onto the fabric. (you can tell which side is the wax side by the glare it gives off in the light)

Next step: Bond the fabric to the paper.
- With your clothes iron set to hot (no steam) iron over the paper slowly working from one side to other until you have gone over the whole thing. The object is to bond the two together with a good hold.

After the fabric and paper are bonded, on the paper side, with ruler and pen/pencil draw the size you want to print (8 1/2"x11", 11"x17", etc.) I did mine at standard US letter size (8 1/2"x11") see picture above.

- Cut the fabric and paper to size.

Next Step: printing.
- now take your bonded paper/fabric that is cut to size, your chosen graphic or art that you are planning to print and go to the nearest copy machine (or bubble jet printer) if using a copy machine it is best to do a test print to know how to place the bonded paper/fabric so it will print on the fabric and not the paper side.
-open the paper tray and mark the top paper with an X (or use the bypass tray and mark the top page of a small stack of paper)
- run one print.
- if the print is on the side with the X then set your bonded paper/fabric with fabric side up to print. If the test page came out with a clean print and the X on the other side then place you paper/fabric with paper side up.


-(be excited!!!!) NOW PRINT YOUR FABRIC!


Next step: Cut it out.
- With your fabric now printed cut out your labels (or what ever you are doing)

Next Step: Frey check.
- after all are cut go around the outside edge with the fray check (follow instructions on bottle)


Next Step: Remove Paper Backing.
-Once all edges have been checked you can peal off the paper backing .

-Now set it aside and let dry and Be way STOKED cause you just printed your very own fabric labels!!!! Congratulations! Now go and do.
(you can click on each picture to see a more detailed and larger image if you have not already)

Yardbirds Blow up 1966

a little black and white.

Just liked this picture so thought I would share it. I think what draws me to it has to do with the lighting and I really like pics shot at night. Black & white pictures give anything a classic look and feel, don't ya think?.....

Keep your clarks shiny.

008 at last.

happy new year!