Apr 28, 2008

Get Ready for a Trash Landing



The Trashlings invade the Swap-O-Rama-Rama at the Maker Faire once again!
We'll help you adopt a Trashling, but you gotta dig through the remains on planet Basura to put it together first!

Not into Trashlings? We can help you sew whateva!

Click here to find out more!

From our first Swap-O-Rama-Rama, we had a wonderful time sewing our hearts out with random people. People made skirts, tops, bags, kids clothes, and so much more! But by the end of the weekend, we had a mountain full of scraps that would make me feel guilty for throwing away....

Then....over the course of one year, scraps from all over piled up in space and formed the planet Basura. All of the scraps, each with its own story to tell, had so much energy that they combined forces to create the Trashling species ! However, Trashlings cannot morph on their own. With the help of the creative Earthlings, Trashlings are born! Move over Mickey!

We hope you can create a Trashling with us.

Don't forget to stick around on Saturday for the Recycled Fashion Show....starts at 6PM!

Apr 21, 2008

Oakland High School Senior Project

This month has been quite busy for us. On top of swaps, events, and vending, we were contacted by an Oakland High School student to style her senior project. Nowadays, seniors must organize an event open to the public in order to graduate, and senior, Brijae, planned for a fashion show! (We would have done the same thing too!)

Although it was rather last minute (she picked up the clothes from Telegraph the day before and left our racks bare), it all worked out. Things didn't go quite according to her plans, but that's just one of those lessons you learn from to make you grow (I remember during our fashion show at the Glas Kat....two of our models were kicked out of the club, our set was cut off early, and male strippers went on stage before us!). Like always, the show must go on...and it sure did!

Brijae's group of models were a breeze to work with....they took our clothes and styled each other on their own, without much help from us, and we couldn't have done it any better! They all make great models!


the rack of clothes she picked out.

click to see more photos:

these models got ready in the school's fashion design classroom. it was so wonderful to see a room full of sewing machines....makes me wish we had that growing up. i had one class in 8th grade where i made a banana pillow...that's it!


the organizer, Brijae, wearing artiffact


rockin' rockill spiders


rockill giraffe tunic




artiffact/stormz "the bay" glow top


artiffact with hearts all over




calvin wearing rockill's virgin skeleton


keepin it king status in rockill


overunity

The models all walked out into a main room while others who hung around after school to support watched on. I stood "backstage" in the hallway to catch some photos before they did their walk. They all were great for the camera! Thanks so much for the great shots! I'll be sure to post those up soon!

Apr 20, 2008

swap-o-rama-rama-lama-ding-dong



Yesterday, for Earth Day, we volunteered for a Swap-o-rama-rama benefit for Coyote Point Museum. This swap differed from others because it was targeted at youth. The group of middle-schoolers who put this together (and their families, friends, and volunteers) couldn't have done a better job...it was really fun, organized, and creative!

Click to read more...


First off, being in a cool place like the Coyote Point Museum on Earth Day is a treat in itself. Although we were busy sewing and silkscreening, or our new term "slikscreening", we managed to briefly check out some other attractions. The one-legged toad really caught our attention!



We only pulled out a few youth-friendly screens and were lucky enough to be provided with paint to slikscreen anything that came our way. Will work for paint and clothes!

Our recycle fish tail screen was really popular for some reason!



Here are a few folks who came to visit us:



He found a blazer for his dad and came to us to customize it with about 3 or 4 colorful prints. He had incredible design and fashion sense (he wanted to cut off the collar!) and even mentioned he either wanted to be a designer or an artist when he grows up. I told him why not be both!?!?



these ladies came back and forth to us for multiple prints. gotta love the custom color virgin skeleton with hearts all over! can't forget about the bats, because after all, saving the bats can save the world!



we do bags too!



the rockill heart was requested many times as well. rockill even had to explain the significance of the design to a mom...hope she didn't think it was too bloody!

we didn't get much sewing done as the slikscreening station was way more popular and needed more hands to help. we found some really awesome things in the swap, including a red handmade prom dress with a handmade "PRADA" tag attached!

This last swap really had me thinking about the last few swap-o-rama-ramas we've helped out with. this will be our third year! let's take a trip down memory lane.

2006 Swap-o-rama-rama




rockill on the serger...always

some peoples we helped:


she was thrilled to make the tie belt she's always dreamed about!


she jazzed up those boring jeans with pieces from a vintage dress!



this mom has never sewn anything before...but look at her making something for her adorable daughter on the serger!



she made this cutie dress out of old boys pajamas!


artiffact turned this tweenie top and grandma's cruise tank top into......


....a 5 minute sundress!


swappin' makes us smile!



We posted about last year's swap-o-rama-rama...

we made trashlings and many other things!




artiffact with her trashling, triclopcicle

check out homeygrown (Jada and Jayne) in this video with Swap-o-Rama-Rama founder, Wendy. she breaks it all down here...and we totally agree!



now....we hope you can come to the next swap at Maker Faire 08.

the fashion show is on Saturday so please make it that day to see what homeygrown has been cooking up!

Apr 18, 2008

protecting the earth rocks!

sorry for the lack of updates. 2 ibooks retired recently.

but....

we're really excited about Earth Day Weekend!




Saturday April 19th
Swap-O-Rama-Rama benefit for Coyote Point Museum
We'll be swapping, sewing, and silkscreening with Earth peoples.
Organized by middle school gals!


Click to see more of how we recycle!




















We love recycling...anything....clothes, old candy, cans.....


from our last recyling trip. we filled up 3 of these.



earned $20 for bat conservation in the Philippines.
it'll go a long way!