Elizabeth Andrews vintage photos...?

I finished a hood project a few weeks ago for Elizabeth Andrews (check out her clips4sale site here), and she recently sent me a few photos so I could check the fit. Oh boy, I love getting emails like this! 

Now she is a beautiful girl, with these great big brown eyes - just perfectly made for the open-face hood. Add to that the fact that she's wearing a skin-tight latex catsuit, a serious bondage corset, and her arms are strapped into a tight armbinder... Just absolute wow! 

It struck me that the photos could have come from another era, possibly many years ago - so I decided to play around with them in photoshop a little bit to give them a soft-edge vintage feel. I imagined I found them hidden inside an old box or case that I'd purchased at the flea market or an antique store. As if I could be that lucky.

I had some fun with it, and Elizabeth: I hope you don't mind! Thanks for letting me share the awesome pix...

Strap Hood - First try...

This is the third of the "special" hoods I've been working on for Karen Hsiao and our upcoming show in Tokyo at Vanilla Gallery. With the Pony and Asylum hood, this strappy number is intended to push the boundaries of what I can do, and to try something I have never done before. 

Initially the straps were going to be further apart, but as soon as I started wrapping the 3 straps around the neck I knew I had to go with smaller spaces between them.

My working method was to wrap the straps around the form and hold them in place with tape, then remove it when I was happy with the layout and sew the straps down. Unfortunately, the tape didn't hold once I removed it from the form, and as I was sewing the straps shifted and moved out of place. I had to rip the stitches and start over. 

On my second attempt, I used double-sided seam tape in addition to the blue painter's tape to hold the straps in position. I also didn't put as much stress on the piece while I put it through the sewing machine. Finally, I did one set of stitches at a time, re-placing it on the form between each set. This was time-consuming, but it worked. Now I know what to do next time. 

I will be taking another crack at this one, as I also messed up the position of the straps a little bit. It is actually a single strap that goes from the neck on one side, up and over the head, around the chin, and back up and over to the other side. If they were further back, as they were supposed to be, the straps at the top of the head would lay flatter. This also would make room for one additional strap between the first two.

Next time it will be a little closer to perfect...

Design sketch templates...

I just came up with some female figure templates to help me when I'm doing initial design sketches. These outline forms help me by letting me concentrate on the design itself rather than things like getting the anatomy right, and drawing out the head, torso, arms and legs every time.  

I did a front and rear view, so I could show the back side of the design as well. 

I was trying to strike a balance in the drawing between including detail, but not overpowering the sketch that is done on top of it. And I had to make her Asian-looking (of course!).

The best part is I can print a bunch of these out, and always have them handy for jotting down ideas when inspiration strikes - before the idea goes away.  

I can already think of a few variations I want to do (arms behind back, hair up in pony-tail, etc...), but for now, this is a good beginning. I like the way these make me want to a lot of design variations - it makes me want to grab a pencil and play, and just let my imagination run wild...

Asylum hood - complete!

The asylum hood with it's final dye job. It's got an antique, almost steam-punk look - quite a departure from my normal style... 

Asylum Hood - progress

Another recent creation for Karen's Black Cherries project: the Asylum hood. It's a departure from the kind of design I normally do, which tends to be fetish oriented and clean-lined. This is more about getting an institutional look, like something you might find in an insane asylum of your nightmares (or dreams, I suppose...).  

The design sketch called out the most unique feature of this hood: a chin piece that comes down the neck and attaches at the sides with ball-post connectors. It's the first project where I've used these connectors, and they worked out really well. 

The shape of the pieces changed from the sketch a bit, as I tried to let the leather tell me what it wanted to do. Rather than having a gap between the neck piece and the hood for example, it made sense to tuck in behind the rear neck instead.

Normally there is a centerline in the front panel of this hood, but I knew I wanted there to be a strap holding the blindfold in place - so I made that front half of the hood all in one piece. This allowed me to put that ball-post right in the middle. 

 These pieces were all modeled using veg-tan leather and the wet-casting technique. It gives you the ability to shape and mold the leather, and when it dries it becomes rigid and keeps the shape very well.

 I was particularly happy to get the whole neck and chin contour all in one piece. It was a complex shape, but I managed to get the leather to conform pretty closely on the first try - woo-hoo!

 After doing test fits, and getting all the ball posts set and holes punched, we are ready to dye the leather.

Pony Hood with Harness

Hello everyone! I've been super busy lately working on new projects for Karen Hsiao's Black Cherries series. I just completed a Pony Hood for her, which is based on the molded-leather hoods I did a few months ago. These are created out of wet-cast veg-tanned leather, using my wood female hood form as a foundation to build the shape. 

This takes the design to a whole new level, with added straps and integrated O-rings that are riveted to the front of the mask where the bit would normally go. Instead of pulling the reins against her mouth, this puts the pressure on the entire hood - so you can really tug on them!  (Oh, the poor slavegirl/model who has to wear it!) 

I loved the thought of the straps crossing over the blank featureless face. There are actually tiny holes near the nose, so this can be worn. We wanted to keep the holes minimal, so as not to take away from the clean look. 

There's a pony-tail opening at the top rear, so you can have the long hair flowing out and down the back or the front of the mask. This looks incredibly hot...

The ears were a challenge to get right - at first the shape I came up with looked like a bunny rabbit. Fortunately Karen came up with a great shape, and it worked perfectly on the first try. We cut it out of leather, and the ears just fell into place. As soon as they were sewn to the top of the hood, it took on a primal, animal quality. It's a powerful piece. I think I need to make one to  keep for myself! And I'm really looking forward to seeing what Karen does with it...

Black Cherries at Vanilla Gallery Tokyo

So this is actually happening... a gallery show in Tokyo! A few months from now at the Vanilla Gallery in Ginza. Karen Hsiao's photos. My bondage gear. Another artist is to show as well... I'm excited beyond words.