Studio Ladybird

Master Tailor: Martin Greenfield

Ladybird — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:01:31 +0000

This fantastic short documentary goes behind the scenes of Martin Greenfield’s custom suit factory in Brooklyn.

Lessons from a Tailor. Directed by Galen Summer from Ed David on Vimeo.

Martin Greenfield Clothiers is one of the last surviving old school custom hand tailoring factories in NY. Read more about his story of working his way up from an entry level job at the factory to eventually owning the place. He has a fascinating history of working behind the scenes with high end designers and custom clients worldwide. I hope to pay this man and his factory a visit one day!

Recent Custom Leather Projects

Ladybird — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:43:36 +0000

Lately, I’ve completed some lovely leather projects that feature interesting and unusual color combinations.

The Adlan Cruz Continental Bag was custom designed and created for a world traveling concert pianist Adlan Cruz. This versatile tri-tone travel bag has exterior side pockets, a magnetic business card pocket, and front zipper pocket. The interior features a paddled sleeve for a laptop and several additional pockets. Available for custom order in other color options as well.

The Evelyn Belt was designed and created on 11/11/11 and features 11 pieced together leather remnants and adjustable tie closure.

Custom Hazeltine bag in purple cowhide. (Apologies for not having better photos of this one, but it turned out to be luxuriously soft and slouchy with subtle grey embroidery).

I’m also realizing that I’ve been away from my blog for far too long. It’s certainly not for lack of content to share, just too bogged to blog! Many other projects have been occupying my focus in recent months that my primary outlet for sharing lately has been through the brevity of Twitter. I have some big things in the works for 2012…stay tuned for more info on my plans to put together a sewing development and production facility to serve indie designers nationwide!

Creative Cork Recycling

Ladybird — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:18:50 +0000

In honor of Earth Day this year, Anthropologie collected corks for use in their store window displays. As someone who has been saving corks from my wine bottles for years now, my interest was piqued. I haven’t yet decided what to do with my collection, but now I’ve collected some great inspiration! Of course, it takes time to collect enough corks to make much of anything, and now my collection of dozens (maybe a couple hundred?) looks tiny compared to some of these large scale cork projects. So, I doubt I’ll be making a Corkxedo (yes, really, a tuxedo made of corks) anytime soon!

After Anthropologie breaks down their cork window displays, the corks will go to Cork ReHarvest where they will go on to become fishing bobs, brand-new flooring, paper pulp and more.

Cork is a green resource and is 100% natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable. “Trees are not cut down to harvest cork, rather, the bark is harvested by hand every 9 years. Cork oak trees can live up to 300 years, so they are very sustainable resource! Approximately 6.6 million acres of Mediterranean cork forest extend across Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. These oak forests support one of the world’s highest levels of forest biodiversity, second only to the Amazonian Rainforest.” -Cork ReHarvest

Anthropologie window images via Facebook and Flickr

Tres Birds Workshop, a local architectural design firm, created this sound dampening cork installation for Dragons in Boulder, CO.

“An open floor plan demanding some level of sound mitigation. After researching sound attenuation the decision is made to go cellular. The process begins by stuffing tens of thousands of reclaimed corks into steel rings. Organic dividers are sculpted to break up sound, provide privacy, and create pin-up spaces.” – tres birds

The Guinness Record holder for the largest cork mosaic is artist Saimir Stratigoes. This mural is comprised of 229,764 corks and took 27 days to create. source: Dezine

That represents alot of bottles of wine!

Scott Gundersen is another artist who “paints” with cork. See a time lapse video of the creation of this portrait “Grace” on his Tumblr, which used close to 10,000 corks.

How about a cork chair? Gabriel Wiese makes these corky creations. Wonder if they are actually comfortable? via DailyArtMuse

The “Corkxedo” is certainly an interesting twist on sustainable clothing design, though I can’t imagine actually wearing such a thing! via DrinkNectar and Luxist

And if that wasn’t enough, here is the late Robert Mondavi wearing a stunning cork jacket:

And yet another version of the cork jacket:

Hmmm….I think I’ll keep to tailoring with wool and reserve my cork collection for a table top or mosaic wall piece instead.

Salvaged Selvedge Striped Pillows

Ladybird — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:13:08 +0000

The instinct to reuse, repurpose, salvage, recycle, and reinvent has long been a part of Ladybird’s DNA. Like a bowerbird, this Ladybird compulsively saves odd bits and scraps with visions of a future purpose for materials that would often be considered trash or waste. This new pillow design was created out of Ladybird’s stash of selvedge edges of fabric that she has been collecting for several years now, and include many nice silks and wools from numerous pillows, suits, curtains, and other textile projects that have been cut out by Studio Ladybird.

Selvedge stripes are lined up side by side, raw edge to selvedge edge, and then steam fused to a backing layer of fabric, with diagonal topstitching across the stripes for extra stability and dimension. The back of each pillow features an overlapped envelope closure that also showcases the selvedge edge of the fabric whenever possible. Each of these 10″ X 18″ pillows is one of kind, and represents close to a dozen feet worth of selvedge edges from Ladybird’s collection.

This bird especially loves finding selvedges that have script along the fabric edge; this pillow includes a stripe with the words “Tasmania Stretch Extra Fine” woven into the selvedge.

Back envelope closures showcase another selvedge edge.

Visit Ladybird’s Etsy store to see salvaged selvedge pillows currently for sale, and feel free to contact Ladybird for a quote if you would like a custom selvedge striped pillow in a different size; color combinations are limited to materials on hand, with black tones being the most readily available.

Silk brocade patterns alternate with solid stripes.

Studio Ladybird is always interested in acquiring selvedge scraps from other sewers; contact Jessica@StudioLadybird.com if you would like to contribute to the selvedge collection while helping to eliminate wasteful fabric disposal.

Custom Curtain Panels at TAXI

Ladybird — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:00:01 +0000

Grommet header curtains hung with ball chain loops on industrial pipe with plumbing fittings…the latest of Studio Ladybird’s custom curtain projects at TAXI’s creative mixed-use development in Denver’s River North neighborhood.

Olive canvas curtain panel covers a storage closet in the 34 Degrees office inside TAXI’s newly renovated FREIGHT building. In keeping with TAXI’s reuse and redevelopment focus, their third building FREIGHT, formerly a trucking terminal and now converted into hip new commercial space, features creative reuse and raw industrial details: wood from a local bowling alley and hockey glass from the Colorado Avalanche stadium are used throughout the 30,000 square foot building, which is now fully leased to 13 businesses. Each unit has exposed raw industrial architectural elements and glass garage doors that open to loading dock parking spaces.

View of NIMBL’s new curtains from inside one of their office spaces in the TAXI II building. Orange suede curtains with lime green stitching, hung on 2″ pipe with 1/4″ ball chain loops that roll to reduce friction when sliding across the pipe. Stainless steel pull rods are custom cut and machined by my in-house mechanical engineer/metal worker/installer/master electrician/artist husband.

Exterior view of 3 privacy curtains hung behind glass walls along the front of some office and conference room spaces in the NIMBLE Start-Up Factory, located in TAXI II.

Full view of HuHot Mongolian Grill’s closet curtain panel (also in TAXI’s FREIGHT building). Orange serged stitching joins 3 fabric widths to create a wide grommet panel with 1.5 times fullness.

HuHot’s olive canvas grommet curtain hung on plumbing pipe with ball chain and featuring orange serging at seams and hems to coordinate with TAXI’s exposed industrial architectural details.

Side view of 34 Degrees curtain. Olive canvas, orange stitching, ball chain on plumbing pipe.

Industrial pipe with ball chain curtain header, interior view/backside of NIMBLE curtain from inside the center conference room space where 2 curtain panels meet.

We attended the grand opening party, which attracted the mayor as well as a fantastic turnout of creative individuals.

If you are interested in contracting me to create similar curtains for your home or commercial space, email me for a quote at Jessica@StudioLadybird.com.

Gears Galore

Ladybird — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:54:06 +0000

I’ve long been intrigued by the visual geometry of mechanical components and have gravitated towards Neo-Victorian style and yesteryear’s machinery as well as the contrast of modern industrialization for as long as I can remember. I was into Steampunk style long before I heard the term (and posted about it) three years ago. During my college years in Charleston, SC. I was surrounded by historic architecture and objects dating from Victorian times to the Colonial Era; these days I am surrounded by Victorian mining history in the CO mountains.

Gears are a common motif in the world of Steampunk; people are using gears and cogs that are usually salvaged from clocks, watches, bikes, and machines as well as representations of gears in a variety of projects. The following examples just begin to scratch a little rust off the surface.

Being a bit of a music nut, I love these – four of the many funky steampunk guitars as well as some crazy guns as featured on WebUrbanist.

Make your own gear switchplate covers by following a tutorial at the Steampunk Workshop.

This flash drive is a stunning assemblage of tiny watch parts.

Transparent Clockwork Executive Desk by Dale Mathis. See the gears in motion in this video.

The Da Vinci Decoder fountain – water runs down a clear front panel that overlays the gears.

Micro-precisions gears turn in unison in this stainless steel ring by Kinekt Design. Check out their video of the gears in action.

Now that you’ve seen some of my gear inspiration, here’s a couple of my latest cushion creations:

Leather gears appliqued to a black linen pillow cover by yours truly. A Ladybird original – available as a custom, made to order design where you get to choose colors, materials, size, and closure. Discover how you can design your own gear pillows over at my Etsy store.

For a more in depth description of the steampunk world, check out this article titled “Steampunk: A Look at the Valves, Gears, and Gadgets that Make Steampunk Culture.”

Acoustic Botany

Ladybird — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:34:39 +0000

I am opposed to the modern practice of genetic modification, especially when it comes to our food supply, but the concept of selective breeding is thousands of years old and the idea has merit when used appropriately. David Benque‘s conceptual sound garden project proposes a selection of plants that are manipulated to create harmoniously orchestrated sounds, an intriguing combination of science and art. “Desired traits such as volume, timbre and harmony are acquired through selective breeding techniques,” the artist explains.

There are thus “singing flowers,” “modified agrobacteria” that ingeniously take “sugars and nutrients from the host plant to encourage the growth of parasitic galls and fill them with gas to produce sound,” and “string-nut bugs” that have been “engineered to chew in rhythm” inside hollow gourds. (via BLDGBLOG)

An intriguing concept, for sure. Do you geek out on this botanical blend of science and sound?

Find more information, images and videos on David Benque’s Acoustic Botany project:

DavidBenque.com

WebEcoist

BLDGBLOG

Egg Carton Organizers

Ladybird — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:34:24 +0000

Here’s a quick and easy craft project that takes empty egg cartons and reinvents them as a frugal organizing solution.

I recently inherited some jewelry and quickly realized that I needed to figure out some way to keep it all sorted if I plan on wearing any of it regularly. I don’t currently own a real jewelry box, so I’ve improvised to create a stylish jewelry storage solution in my hall bathroom. Small compartments are great for keeping pairs of earrings together and easy to find, and inspiration struck as I spied the pile of egg cartons that I’ve been saving for recycling.

To start, grab a discarded egg carton (corrugated cardboard is my preference, and is the typical packaging you find when you buy organic, free range eggs). Grab some scissors and cut the top away from the bottom. Also, cut away the top of the cones that divide the eggs so they are the same height as the container’s edges (see image of finished trays).

Find some decorative paper or fabric (or paint, or whatever you can dream up) to glue to the inside of the lid to add visual interest.

You could also try spray painting the cardboard first. I was short on time and some scrapbooking paper satisfied my need to dress up the cardboard lid turned tray.

The cartons happened to fit in my bathroom drawer perfectly!

Here’s one of my favorite ways to organize and display earrings with french wires: find an interesting glass or vase and hang the hook of the earrings over the rim. Fill the glass with lace, beads, buttons or some other interesting material if the container needs some volume.

Happy Crafting and Organizing!

Baldwin Flyer

Ladybird — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:07:35 +0000

Last week, I set foot in the oldest shoe store in the USA. Stout’s Shoes has been serving customers with quality, selection, and a memorable shopping experience since 1886. A historical retail highlight in the heart of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, Stout’s is the home of the last Baldwin Flyer baskets still in operation. My fascination with old mechanical objects meant that I immediately turned my attention to these fixtures before the shoes when I walked in the door.

“In the early 20th century, each salesperson hand wrapped all items purchased in the store. A system of baskets hanging from wires was, and still is, used to transport the purchased items and cash to and from different areas of the shoe store. This system is called the Baldwin Flyer and we are the last shoe store still using it. The Baldwin Flyer system was intended to centralize the wrapping process. After the salesperson rang up the purchase it was placed with the money in a basket, which was lifted to the mezzanine to be wrapped and have change made. The wrapped shoes were sent in another basket to the front desk where an attendant would hand the shoes and change to the customer. On a busy Saturday in addition to the salesperson, two “wrappers”, a cashier and a front desk attendant were required to run the system. It all sounds very confusing… I would recommend that you come in to the store and see it for yourself.” - History of Stout’s

Love the shoe shelf ladders and checkerboard floors.

Well, see it for ourselves, we did! While driving through Indianapolis on our way to Ohio last week, we stopped for a quick lunch at one of my husband’s favorite pizza places, Bazbeaux, which just so happens to be next door to this cool old shoe store. Mark grew up nearby, and remembers shopping at this store as a kid with the baskets zipping along overhead. This place is totally my kind of retail environment – historic character and quality merchandise. Only bummer was that my camera battery was just about dead and we were short on time, so I didn’t get into much picture taking on this visit. Guess we’ll have to make a point to go back for pizza and shoes next time we’re in Indy!

Fall Colors Resplendent

Ladybird — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:13:46 +0000

This view is only ten or so miles up the road from my house. I have to remind myself that this is my blessed reality, to live in the midst of this glorious display of nature’s beautiful fall showcase for a few special days each September! I headed up Highway 103 to Evergreen as I took the long route to work at Bits & Pieces this afternoon. Mt. Evans has a fresh dusting of snow, and the Aspens were at the peak of their golden color.

And here’s the Aspens changing color in Central City on Monday: (with remnants from gold mining days, of course!)

And up on King’s Flats above Central City, the house (hiding in the Aspens) where Mark and I lived for a year with Kevin and Teresa on Bald Mountain Road: