A Whale of Dry Goods.

I have been keeping myself busy the last few days....
Recently completed a sign that I planned to do before we even knew that we were going to have another son. It has been sitting on my drawing table for some time now so I had made time to get it finished and here she be. No reason for being other than the fun of it. I really enjoy having an idea and following through with it.... even though in this case it took me forever to complete. Getting things done feels good!

I used old wood that I found at our place in LA and cut the shape out with my jig saw, stained the face painted her up and then went to town with pocket knife and sandpaper to give her some worn in 'love'. She hangs with a bit of wire that I have. Nothing perfect but the human hand is not perfect and it is those imperfections that give it caricature and keeps you humble. Maybe in a way it gives you reason to try again, try to do the next project better than the last..... Go make something!

Patterns to Be Made.

A few days ago I had mentioned that I was working on a pant pattern. Well it is complete.


I have started to work on the shirt pattern.
Making patterns is not easy work and very time consuming but as mentioned before I think it will go faster as I get comfortable with doing them again. Speed and skill comes with use and doing,.... we shall see..... Not to mention I do not know if they are any good until I make a sample. I will keep posting.

Hang It With a Strap.

This time away from a standard 9-5 has given me chance to get back into a few of the things that I enjoy or would like to do more of. While at work on a few occasions I would spend lunch brake viewing and learning about banjo playing from the daily frail master himself Patric over at Tangier Sound. Now I can actually spend time learning and play along with it were at work I just watched and that was that.... Anyway, so I need to get myself a banjo strap and since I no longer have spare change available cause of the current circumstance I had to do what I preach to "fix it up, wear it out, make do, or do without" so I happened to clean out my closet and was getting rid of a few belts and it came to me to just make a strap and of course I have a few good ones to choose from so I had to make more than just one....
I decided that I must use this one... I think I will name the ol' banjo 'lil miss Earl'

here is the second one I made I just liked the ornate work on the belt so it was hard to pass up.

Detail* I decided to use jute twine as an accent detail on the leather ties that I used to hold the strap to the banjo. I like how it gives it a bit of a rustic detail. Good Fun!

And now she hangs on her own.

Try To Make it Good.

As mentioned earlier I have been with out work for a few weeks now and have been working on a few things trying to get myself into position to really show that I have got what it takes to be the next big thing at some company.... well not really, I just need to get work soon so I can take care of my family. The other day I shot a few of the samples that I designed while at Vans to try and make my portfolio a little more interesting than just drawings and such. I also put together a portfolio blog so I can show a bit of what I have been working on the past few seasons. Kept it simple, not to much I want to just show a few pieces and then hope that it sparks an interest to call me up for an interview and show more. I don't know we shall see. 

Build Me Some Trousers.

Been working on the patterns for Redcrow. Focused on the trouser pattern today. I am building them from a pair of denim that I have been wearing everyday for the last little while. I like the fit so why not make more just like it. Man I sure am slow at making patterns since I have not been in practice for a while, oh well keep on swimming....

Here is the sketch for the trousers. Want to do both denim as well as twill, keep it 5 pocket style.

Oh and shot a pic with Aiden wearing his shoes that I made yesterday. He loves em.

A little Foot Down.

I have been wanting to make shoes for a while and have a bunch of really nice soft black leather that I got way back in 2000 or something like that. I got it at fox valley tanning in North Salt Lake. Anyway, the other day Aiden lost one of his shoes so I decided I will make him a new pair. It was a little ruff at the beginning but I think it turned out nice for a first go... Now that I have a basic pattern I can mess around with it some more and really see what I can do. I think I want to make me a pair.... Something a little more "grown up".

Here is some sketch'n and pattern make'n.

My work space... I did not use the industrial machine cause I do not have any leather needles for that machine (I don't know if I would need them though cause that thing can sew through rocks) but I do for the ol' home sewer jeans machine.

And the final product.

Silly I did not get any shots with Aiden wearing them... Maybe tomorrow.

RCo Sketch'n

Tonight, well I guess it is this morning since it is 1am, I finished the last of what I plan to draw up for the Redcrow line. I am not sure if they are all winners or even worth making at all but I am running out of time and need to get making the patterns so I can sew up some protos and see if they will work. I am so greatful to have this time to work on the Redcrow collection right now. I hope it turns out well.... we shall see.

I want to share a bit of what I am thinking of doing so take a look. This is just a small highlight, not even the best ones, just a hoge-poge of it all.

Time.....

Since I do not go out of the house for work anymore I find that I have time to play with my camera more since it is sitting right there.
It was good light the other day so I shot some pics of Aiden running around the upstairs just messing around with the settings on the ol' Nikon.

On Friday night we had opened a few cans of food for dinner and I remembered that I wanted to try and rig up a pinhole lense to play around with on the digi camera so I poked a hole in the bottom of one of the cleaned out cans and slid it over the lens but alas it did not work.... then on Saturday I used up the rest of our apple jelly and decided to try it again by poking a pin hole into the top of the lid...

Like so.

I then placed it over the lens kind of like a lens cap but still no luck then it hit me take off the lens and just use the body and place the cap over like a lens and try it....

Like this.

I then set the camera to BULB setting and manual focus and gave it a go counting to 10 and 15 and so on and

IT WORKED!!!!! so much fun!






Also we cleaned up and re-aranged the studio so here is my new work space.

Now it is time to get to work.

Boom Into The Night

So the other night, the 4th of July to exact, played with fire and decided to shoot the fun.

look mom I got sum fire in my hand.



Love the out of focus shots.


I am stoked on this shot.
This one too . I am stoked I got this don't ask me how just mess'n around and this is what I got.

This kind of looks like outer space galaxy.

Do What You Can.

On Thur. last I was released from my position as the men's designer at Vans. Not something I was expecting to happen.... but is something like this ever expected? They were very generous with offering me a severance package that they did not have to offer so for that I am greatful.
Huh. Well time to crawl through a few broken windows of opportunity and see were the next chapter of my life will take me.

And with that I have started to put together and design a small collection for Redcrow. I am not sure if this will be a collection that I plan to try and sell to a few shops or if it is to be more of a portfolio builder to try and open a few of the those windows that I mentioned earlier. I know for one thing that the short time that I have been blessed with is just that a blessing to really look at my life and goals that I have and re-evaluate what it is I want to do to take care of and support my family. I know that Fashion is what I really want to do not just design sportswear for some action sports company but really design fashion... to be apart of a fashion company to learn from a designer to know how an actual fashion house is ran and what it is that they do on a day to day basis so that I can do that same thing for my own line in the future...*sigh* So we shall see what might happen and were we as a family might end up. I will keep ya posted.


So with that out of the way. Today I have been sketching ideas like a mad man trying to stick to a schedule that I have made for myself that involves getting up at 5:30am (which I have not been able to do yet, snooze is such a curse) so I may have a few hours to myself before any one else wakes up then at 8-8:30am I get Aiden up and fed and play time with dad which is nice since I did not have that before when I had a 9-5, well more like an 8:30-6... then when I put Aiden down for his nap around 10:30am. I then have till about 5:30pm to focus on more work (online job search, design/sketching, pattern making etc.) while Meg takes care of the kids. At 5:30pm I take back over and we do dinner and family time then bath and bed. Then I wind down and plan to start again the next day. WOW what a day.


As I plan to make patterns for the line that I am doing I decided that I need to make my work table in the garage more functional so today I built a platform with wheels so I can move it around and it makes it higher so I do not have to bend over so much! super stoked on how it turned out.

Ok bye.

Legendary Tailor Martin Greenfield

While spending a few minutes this morning looking threw my daily and weekly reads on-line I found this video of New York Master Tailor, Marting Greenfield.
He has made suits for Presidents and Famous men as well as ready to wear goods for Neiman Marcus, Brooks Brothers and Freemans Sporting Club. This is a very well made video. Please enjoy.


Martin the Tailor from Ed David on Vimeo.