Fashion Showdown!

These recent weeks have been very hectic with school! Last week, Friday was the A&F Fashion Showdown( Abercrombie and Fitch) where people compete for around 5 hours creating outfits from the fabric provided. And after that was over I headed over to the metals studio to work on my geometric necklace!

Anna working on the poofed out skirt

So basically we are told all the rules and then sent to our respective rooms to begin work on our dresses. We could not start until 11:30 and spent that time brainstorming and sketching. Which basically looks like people throwing fabric around and "trying it on" in an attempt to figure out what we wanted to do.

We decided we wanted to do something structured on top with folds and then some soft draped fabric in contrast to the structured look. The belt is done macrame style and then there are tiny safety pin black ribbon details on the blue skirt.

 

We wanted the back to be delicate and have a sheer lace back. I think that worn you would better see the effect of the lace back. 

The front of the skirt is cut higher than the back. If we were to do it again and had more fabric we would have done a bubble skirt on the bottom instead of the long skirt. 

Absolutely loved this dress. Wouldn't it be perfect for a Cleopatra costume?

Here is a look at some of the other dresses

And here's us with our dress at the reception!

Kickstarter Cracked Open: An Interview with a Kickstarter Innovator

Preston Turk, student at Northeastern University, has been tinkering with watches and fascinated by the way things work since he was young.

Recently, he launched a product of his own, the "Stow-away Lens Cap Holder" on Kickstarter (A site that helps individuals get funding for their products) and I thought it would be interesting to chat with him about his innovation and recent launch!

Q- What is Kickstarter?

PT- Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website, which means it uses the power of all its users to help entrepreneurs and artists fund their projects. I'll illustrate this with my story. I created this product and prototyped it, but the cost of a mold is high, and I want to gauge if the market wants it. So I create a campaign with my goal price being the lowest I can get and still afford the mold and parts. The theory behind this is if I don't get enough money, I would not be able to make it. Kickstarter is set up so that if I do not reach the goal amount no money changes hands.  When Kickstarter users pledge money they are promised a reward if the project is successfully funded and their account is charged for the pledge. It really is a great system, and allows entrepreneurs and artists a way to get customers and gauge potential interest in their product.

Q-What inspired this product?

PT-This product was inspired like many [innovations] of mine, which was by an annoyance at something that could be done better. In this case, it was the strings that attach your lens cap to your camera. For me, they were always getting in my way. When I was shooting downwards and when shooting upwards it would get in my face. I knew I needed to make something better, that was also faster than just putting it in your pocket.

Q-How long have you been working on the "Stow-away"?

PT- I came up with the idea for this cap holder in February, but started working on it more seriously when another project of mine stopped temporarily this summer. So, I've been working on this project together with and engineer for the past four months or so.

Q- What has been the most exciting part of this project?

PT- The most exciting part of this project has been receiving the prototypes and developing the design into something that I feel performs well and looks good. We went through several iterations, from a fully round plastic design but ran into problems because the thread would break inside the camera, and the full round [version] was too big. So we the cut the sides off on the design, and used a machined thumb screw to hold it on, and added cork backing to keep it soft against the camera.

Q-What has been the most challenging part of this project?

PT- The main challenge of this project has been insuring good moldability of the design with the manufacturer. We wanted to make sure it could be produced, while also retaining the qualities that we need for it to work well. To ensure this, we worked with the factory to produce the best design.

This product is currently up for funding on Kickstarter. Any amount of money can be pledged ranging from $1.00 and up! Depending on how much you pledge you will get your own "Stow-away"! You can go to his page and help fund this product. 

I Have Joined The Twitter World!

It's official! I have finally joined Twitter!  Follow me in order to keep up with all of my creations and blog posts. I will be updating my Twitter with news about my projects and ideas and so on. :)

Samantha F. @SamanthaFo22