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!