designs & drift dreams

week #6 entry #1 03/07 - 03/14: personal journal

(source: here)

This week I designed a bunch of shirts, all of which were well-liked by the people I showed them too.  It feels so good when someone is excited about your work.  Here are a bunch.  Like any of them?

Does the quality stick of your photos when you upload them to blogger? I finally figured out how to make blogger images not so terrible quality.  Every time I uploaded my own picture from my camera, the quality was shot on blogger.  The trick is to add them to another site like flickr or photobucket then copy them to the blog.  The quality turns out so much better! Tomorrow I am going to talk to my mentor about purchasing bulk shirts so I should have some by spring break.  Also, today I am going out to Michael's to get screens for silk-screening. Hooray! 

 Indie Business 2.0, the class I'm taking to help guide me through my process, is now in full swing.  I have had a week of online classes.  They have ranged from topics like which products to sell, picking a name, and trend-setting.  Although I have completed some of the topics before the lessons, it is helpful to know that I've been creating the brand in the right way.  Additionally, the class offers new perspectives on all the topics.  It's really nice to have a craft community to bond with too.  They have this thing called "Club Indie" where I can chat with fellow students and direct people to my blog.  Everyone is really sweet and super excited about the class.  I can't wait to update my Etsy so people can see what I'm working on.

  

I also have made some strides on the branding part of my business.  The Handmade Marketplace put an emphasis on this aspect of my shop and it's so important.  This week I made a driftwear e-mail, website, flickr, and etsy account.  Today I updated the driftwear flickr. Check it out. :)  I also picked out some models this week.  I sat around with a yearbook picking whom I thought would best emulate the brand.  I came up with a pretty long list of kids.  It was a lot of fun.

 I also thought of an awesome idea for the backdrop for my fashion show. On Project Runway and during most fashion shows there is a backdrop with the name of the brand, behind which the models come out from.  It typically is very simple and has the name of the brand on it.  I was thinking that for my presentation I would create a vertical garden (images: here & here).   So I would create a large (bigger than a door) frame from old wood and fill it with lush green plants. I could spell out driftwear (or drift) with flowers or rope or a different colored plant.  I saw this in the window displays at J.Crew yesterday.  They spelled our "Spring.." in flowers in beautiful cursive.  It was so pretty.  The only problem with my plan is expenses.  It seems like it might be pretty pricey... but it's so beautiful! Any ideas to get around the cost?