Monday, February 22, 2010

my obsession with vintage cameras

tea cup w filter

For our anniversary my husband and I went to all the local antique stores to browse. I soon became aware that all I really looked at were the typewriters and cameras. I'm now obsessed!
We looked up instructions on how to make a basic pin-hole camera...it was intriguing, but looked horribly time-consuming when it came to trimming the film and trying to find someone to process individual little squares.

...so, instead, I've been trying to re-create with my modern digital camera (a Nikon D-80, in case anyone cares), the type of look that an old camera would have.

First, I shot some photos through the bottom of a glass jar, then through another square glass candle holder, then through a plastic box...each had a unique and interesting effect (a few examples here). They were all very difficult to attach to the camera (obviously), and the camera had a hard time focusing through the thick "filters". So I tried out some thinner things such as plastic wrap and cellophane.

Finally, I found a piece of plastic from a container of crafting supplies (something like the look and feel of acetate)...I cut a round piece out of the bottom and smudged some ink and paint around the perimeter. The final effect was a natural vignette and a hazy blur. It kind of reminds me of the old lenses people use that have dust and scratches (and mold).

I'm still on a quest to create some more unusual filter effects with my camera...like I said, "I'm obsessed!"



Saturday, February 20, 2010

ruffle shirt

I made this ruffle shirt in half an hour the other day. I'll have to post a tutorial soon to show just how I did it.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

three blues


Here we have the three blues all on one wall. The bright one, is the first color. The white looking one is the one we went out to buy last night. And the gray little blob is actually a color my husband mixed himself using the too white color we bought. We went with the gray blob color.


Before (left) : the ugly bright baby blue

After (right) : the gray blue my husband mixed

We love how it tuned out!
It helps having a husband who, as an artist, mixes colors for a living :)



collection


I just wanted to share my collection of thrift-ed milk glass.

the wrong blue

Remember this room? It used to be red. My husband and I were ready for a lighter more airy color so we went with a blue. We were wanting slate gray blue and it ended up being bright baby blue. Yuck! We lived with it for two days, couldn't stand it and just bought another lighter grayer color, hopefully it will be better. I'll keep you posted.