FINI!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE MY THESIS PRESENTATION A SUCCESS! here are some pics taken with my crappy power shot, more professional photos to come soon!

Finishing up the Muku Chocolate Molds!

Taking the plaster replicas out of the mold, cleaning it then pouring in the chocolate

taking out the muku chocolate molds!!

The first couple rounds where imperfect and experimental, but then I started to perfect the recipe, timing, etc and am now cranking out awesome dudes! More finalized pics to come!!

BFA PRESENTATION INVITE

COME ONE COME ALL!

Muku Mold Making Process (for chocolates)!

Here is the 2nd to last step of the mold making process. Still waiting a bit for the tiny Muku molds to dry. When they are fully dry, I will pop them out then start pouring the chocolates! The white material that they are embedded in is FDA approved, so it's safe to put food / chocolate in! Yay!

Making Muku Molds for Chocolates (stage 2 of 3)!!

Here are the pics of stage 2 of the Muku Mold Making Process! These are the molds that are flat on the back side that I am using for the home made chocolates! (NOt to be confused with the 3-D resin figures that I am having made from Monstrehero).

I started by sculpting a Muku out of the wax + clay mixture (posted earlier), then made a mold of that and let it dry for 24 hours. After that I was able to pour 5 other Muku Owls out of Plaster.

I will be posting the final steps next! Yay!

Resin Muku Figures!!!

(Here is a pic of the Muku Sculpt that Sean Blay carved!)

(And here are the color tests! I chose the middle Amber color)

Monstrehero, is making my Muku Resin Toys!! Monstrehero is run by two local Portland artists, Sean Blay and Cliff Kirschner. (more posts of the progress to come, it is getting dangerously close to the deadline of my thesis presentation!)

Muku Molds for chocolates (stage 1 of 3)!!

I am working with local sculptor, Jim Ayala to make a Muku Mold! I have carved Muku out of a clay + wax material, then built a dam around Muku with the same material.

Then we poured the urethane mixture into it. Now it has to dry for 24 hours before we can make the plaster molds out of it. The goal is to have at least 6 of these so I can pour chocolate into them later! Yay for Muku chocolates!! Looks like apricot jam now, but not for long...

Muku Mania Buttons!

I ordered buttons from One Inch Round, they are located here in Portland, OR!

One button is of Mina (Muku's owl friend) and the other one is of my Logo! They will all have my website printed on the sides too! So excited for Thesis presentation give aways!

new mens shirt design!

I have a some black shirts that I thought would be good for a more masculine design for the Muku Mania line. I might do a few of the geo-crystal design in light blue ink on some black ones, and this geo-eye design on the others.

This is just a quick photoshop mock-up to see what it would look like.

Geo Crystal Shirt Design

Here is my newest shirt design. These will be printed in either black or dark blue ink on hand dyed robins-egg blue gradient 100% cotton t-shirts! The text reads, "Muku inherited his power from a magical ice crystal found on Mt. Kruos". Which is a small excerpt of the Muku Tale. (Click on images to enlarge). What do you think?

Muku Mania Mid Term review!!

Last Night all of the Illustrators at PNCA had to meet with 3 different panel members to talk about our Thesis Projects. Of course we are all in the midst of our projects so process was a big part of the discussion as well as what is and isn't working. My 3 panel members were: Nick Cline from Mutt Industries , Aaron James from Math Dept. and Mutt Ind. as well , and Kent St. John designer from Nike. They gave me a lot of helpful feedback and insight on how I can really make my final presentation shine and how that will translate well at Point of Purchase in the retail environment. They really focused on the narrative aspect of the line and we discussed ways that I can make the story more clear before people take the time to read the story in the envelop-tags. We also talked about how my work is so detailed and intimate. It makes the viewer really want to get close and discover all those interesting little intricacies. Maybe having a grandiose large scale installation will take away from that intimate experience that the viewer has when they look at my work? We'll see what I end up coming up with! Only 6 more weeks to go!!

Plush Toys!!!

These hand sewn plushies make for fun and decorative pillows and soft, cuddle buddies! They are made of 100% wool, Cashmere, craft felt and cotton as well as touches of faux fur and hand embroidered details.

Hand Sewn Plush Toys

Here are a few of my Plush toys before I have stuffed them and sewn them shut, so you can see them all laid out flat. I made a Blue Whale, Muku the Cyclops Owl, and two Mountains that will accompany the larger mountain, Mt. Kruos. I shot the front and back images, so you can see what they look like when they turn around. The Fabrics used are mostly wool, but I also used cashmere, cotton, faux fur and felt... as well as embroidery thread! They are so soft and cozy!

Hand Dyed Fabric and sample T-shirts!

I used Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dyes and soda ash that I bought from Art media in SW Portland to hand dye my 100% cotton fabric and 100% cotton T-Shirts. I bought the fabric from Mill End Fabrics in SE Portland and the shirts from Fred Meyer in N Portland. I also ordered some more fancy t-shirts from cheaptees.com that I will be dying soon. I'm really glad I dyed the cheap t's from Fred Meyer first because it was a bit of an experiment. I tried to get a gradient from dark to light with the dye, but it only really reads well in the avocado color. This is partially because I did this color last so I learned from experience and also because it is a darker color and the details are more noticeable. The Robin's egg blue fabric is too light and subtle of a color, I think I will try two different shades of light blue next time to achieve the gradient effect. The gold turned out okay, but I didn't mix the dye well enough and it ended up staining some of the fabric darker in tiny spots. I'm sure I will get it just right when I go to dye the nicer shirts that I bought.

New Fabric and Embroidery Threads for Muku Mania handmade wares!

I'll talk about the photos in order from top to bottom:

1. This close up shot of my embroidery thread really shows the texture of the wool and cotton threads nicely.

2. This old wooden ammunition case made for a nice prop and display case for my embroidery threads and fabrics.

3. Whiskey kitty's pose in this pic makes me want to reach out and touch this fabric... it's so soft and cuddly!

4. Whiskey kitty helping arrange the flowers in this shot... best little helper ever!

5. the wools and cotton fabrics look so beautiful in this shot and really show off how nice they actually are

6. This shot captures most all of the fabrics in a gradient from light to dark. From left to right: white cotton, light blue faux fur, robins egg blue cashmere, olive wool, butternut yellow wool, ochre wool (it actually looks really olive in these shots), antique gold cashmere, heather gray wool, and black felt.

7. the whole kittin-caboodle :)

8. Birds eye view of everything.

I am so excited to start dying some of the white cotton fabric and the white cotton T-shirts that I have ordered. Soon to be posted! As well as the plush toys, bandanas and scarves that I will be making from these beautiful fabrics!