Please do not play this record on Sabbaths or holydays.

What a wonderful melting mess is changing shape everyday outside the studio! Inside, it's love and art as usual: upcycling caps for spring, listening through the winter stacks of records, documenting as we go. Geese above, puddles below, wild horn sections in perfect timing, a new set of pastels, and a basket of thyme. Here's a glimpse, but please "... do not play this record on Sabbaths or holydays"! Shabbat Shalom.

Record-breaking (snow) in Burlington!

I love records of all sorts. Breaking records is a little like making mixtapes: take previously recorded information and make a new experience! That's just what we've been up to in Burlington. Today is the second snow day in a row for the teachers and schoolkids; the snow stopped last night but the city's still scrambling to plow the sidewalks and you can't have the little guys walking to school in the road (especially after watching yahoos pull donuts all over your neighborhood at night!)

Here's what we've been up to at our snowfort:

Hope you're enjoying the great indoors as well!

Flying Hen Studio Cap Giveaway!

Here's a surprise offer: a coupon for one free cap, redeemable at The Bobbin in Burlington, Vermont; coupon valid during the month of March 2011 only. Simply comment on this post with your email address by the end of Friday, March 4th. On Saturday, I'll draw a random winner from the pool and contact you with your coupon. Then it's up to you to pick out your favorite cap from The Bobbin by the end of the month. Good luck and thanks for playing!

Yours,

Rebecca

Tutorial: Goblin Crowns

Analog love!

So in love with our new family camera, the Diana-mini. It has a split frame option (other mode is square!) and can fit 72 shots one one roll (not including double-exposures).

The film lab I use scanned these in diptychs. I like it. Of course I wouldn't have to print them that way, but the option is there.

I'm in love with the color saturation and quirk of this little plastic gem. It's good for the kids to handle, because it's so light and easy to hold. 

With the exceptions of the first shot (a portait of me by 3-year-old son, Kathir) and this shot of the dog, these images are from the "Upcycled Fashion Show" in which I was one of three featured designers last week at the Echo Lake Aquarium here in Burlington. Also on the runway were Mountain Ash Designs and The Bobbin. Pictured below and above in The Bobbin's lovely blue velvet dress is Lauren Carter, reigning Miss Vermont (and my co-worker).

Flying Hen Studio Caps!

Welcome to The Flying Hen Studio!

Here are some details of the current cap collection and a few words about my methods and motivations for making them. These caps are meant for everyday wear. A cap is your signature, the last thing to put on before leaving the house and a defining feature of your street silhouette. Nevertheless, a cap should be completely practical: weather-wise and comfortable, just the thing to help you out the door into your day. Versatility, function, and easy care are the signatures of Flying Hen Studio style. 

My goals in designing and redesigning these caps over the last 5 years are simple:

1. To create a closer and closer approximation of 'the perfect cap' for the indoor and outdoor everyday wear of folks in my community, that is to say: people whose daily lives include exposure to changes in the weather; multiple work tasks such as retail, restaurant, childcare, agriculture and academia; various modes of transportation (i.e. these should fit smoothly under bike helmets); and usually include social and or artistic events for which one would need something snappy, as well.

2. I make every possible effort to streamline the production process so that I may both pay myself a livable wage for my work and offer them at an affordable price. Outside of my work in the Flying Hen Studio, I work as a nursing assistant, student, and mother of two: every moment counts! Simplicity in design and production helps me maintain the fine balance between compensating myself for my work and keeping the price affordable to my comrades.

3. I work to provide alternatives to sweatshop capitalism in my small atelier by paying myself a livable wage, by participating in my local economy, and by using primarily free, found, thrifted and recycled materials. There is plenty of good cloth available from secondhand and local sources for all of our needs. Truly.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of my work taken by Michael Sundue, aka DJ +5 of the Flying Hen Studio soundlab. To see the work in person or make a purchase, please visit The Bobbin in our beloved Old North End neighborhood of Burlington, Vermont.

O.N.E. love!

Your local cap designer,

Rebecca Mack aka DJ Mothertrucker

LadiDodo: Cardboard Bike Parade

When daily life becomes too rigid, we look to the sky and imagine. Cheap art can save us. Ladidodo!

More of this, this, and this:

I am wanting more of 

this:

this:
and this:

Anybody in?

pages 31, 32, 33, 34

I'm digging it

Thanks to Pure Pop Records and yesterday's celebration of National Record Store Day I have fresh, smooth, new vinyl bumping in the studio. All praises due to Erykah Badu; an unstoppable force in American music herstory.

Learn to sew Sweater Berets

I'm teaching a class in beginner millinery at The Bobbin, 2 to 5 pm on Thursday, January 14. Learn how to recycle a warm sweater into a fashionable beret! $60 includes pattern, instruction, and all the materials for one hat. Wear yours home on Thursday evening! Call 802.862.7417 to pre-register.

Inside, Out

Wow! It's 4 above zero and w-i-n-d-y here in Burlington. I'm uploading MP3s of mixtapes past as Classic Hits and I prepare to record the next one. Here are some pictures from inside and outside the studio.

A Better Fit!

Learn how to alter those thrift shop scores to fit you just the way you want...

Intermediate Alterations class

with Flying Hen Studio designer Rebecca Mack

2 to 4 pm

Wednesday, December 30th

at The Bobbin, 299 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT

call 802-862-7417 to register

$40

Down with white supremacist capitalist patriarchy! Up with Slow Clothes!

New Caps at The Bobbin!

Just in time for the holidays. We're on a family road trip from Vermont through the Bronx, DC metro area, on our way to Nashville. We'll light Chanukkah candles in four states this year! I was happy to finish my hardware adaptions to the new display case and deliver it with some fresh goodies to The Bobbin before our departure. Want to see? Visit The Bobbin's Facebook photo wall:

Fall Skirts Workshop

Let's sew cozy skirts for fall! I'm leading a workshop at The Bobbin on Wednesday, October 21, from 2 to 4 pm. We'll start with a basic A-line pattern, tailor it to fit you, and add volume and flair to your taste. You take home a custom pattern, and your new skirt! $60 includes all materials for one skirt and a warm, afternoon lesson in the lovely Bobbin. The Bobbin is located at 299 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington. Call 802-862-7417 to register.

After All Designs... aprons

Here are the latest aprons from After All Designs, made up in lovely, 100% cotton fabrics. Wearable, washable, livable, lovable aprons from my mama's stitching studio right here in Burlington, Vermont!

Bike Cap Delivery!

I finished the first installation of the Fall 2009 cap series a few hours ago. Next door neighbor, Jen, helped model and deliver them to the Bobbin. Sold one on the way, but most arrived soundly!

Here is today's collection at the Bobbin. See it in person at the shop, corner of N. Winooski and Archibald St.s, Burlington. The caps pictured are in a range of sizes and are priced from $20 to $45.

See how the Bike Cap pattern is made to hug deep down to the nape of the neck? That's what keeps it from flying off your head when you speed down the hill!

Here's Jen giving us a Bike Cap action shot on my "used-to-be-a-10-speed". This is my beloved old bike I've had for 20(!) years. For our 20th anniversary I had the Old Spokes Home rebuild her into a single speed. See the festive birthday handlebar streamers?

my favorite garden

My gardening triumph of the season came from one of those "ah-ha!" moments in the back yard. For my birthday (in early May), my mother gave me a collection of hand-painted terracotta pots and took me to Red Wagon Plants to fill them. But with curious twin toddlers, anxious to explore our backyard, where could I put them and ensure their safety? 

On top of the bike shed! Tall enough to keep tiny fingers away, close enough for me to water and harvest easily! This position had an invaluable bonus: visible from the kitchen window in our upstairs apartment, I look out on it daily. I see it every morning and think, "Really need to water those petunias," or, "Maybe I'll use some of the tarragon in this potato salad," et cetera.

Unlike the rest of the backyard, or most of Vermont this growing season, the environment on top of the bike shed was dry and hot. Next year maybe I'll put the petunias somewhere else and try some Sungold tomatoes.