1x2

Prototype

2012-01-26T11:25:00.003+01:00

Here it is … the prototype of the twenties dress:

Twenties, Charleston, Parties, Drinks, Dresses, Women, Hats and Decadence

2012-01-24T15:42:00.001+01:00

Today I got my new sewing machine! In November my mum and I made a deal: She gets a new bag, I get my sewing machine. Now after a few months of thinking, researching, holiday and finally deciding we went to the store together and I tested my chosen one. It wasn't what I wanted … insert any sewing machine geek talk here … so I tested a different model and that was the one :).

Right on time I must admit because this Saturday a friend of mine hosts a "twenties – burlesque – dress-to-impress" party and I said I'd sew my own twenties-style dress … see here for my inspiration:

With my new fabrics from Sri Lanka that might even work. So my plan is to use a basic jersey H&M dress as a template AND sew the twenties dress around and on the H&M dress. The reason is that I don't need to measure that much, the fabric is so cosy but the cut is crap.

If I have the time I'll take pictures of the progress.

Here you see part of the fabrics I bought in SL – mostly cotton-silk mix. They are shinier than on that picture :)

i'm going nowhere fast

2011-12-20T11:41:00.001+01:00

Whoever says cookies are not a square meal is right, but cookies for breakfast are awesome.

I just surfed the internet looking for christmas gift ideas and unintentionally came across a website from a firm I once wanted to work for. That was six years ago and in an other universe … funny thing.

I never applied for the job because first I wanted to finish university and enjoy my life and try some things before settling for a career.

So now I got a job at a shop, I still study, I craft and sometimes I work for small film productions instead for big bad music industry (as I wanted).

Life didn't really change but my position at the jobs is now different. I'm not the helpless assistant but the head of xx.

So now that I stumbled over this website I thought probably in a few years when I'm done studying I can apply for a job and influence music and film and rule the creative industries world …

Or not.

Things don't really ever change, do they?

Give and take …

2011-12-16T13:44:00.000+01:00

This time I didn't only sell things at the market but also bought something.

I bought everything at one stall – walking disaster :) and I wanted more and more …
And this were my nice market neighbours: walmat und Oliver Christl.

Servus … is a magazine

2011-12-16T11:58:00.001+01:00

That's what I found on FB when I was in a cab. On my way home. At 3am this morning.
Until after sleeping I was 100% sure that I was just imagining. But I wasn't. Weird thing. My only problem is … all my pictures are display resolution because I always forget that there's a slight possibility that some might want to print them … but that means: FOTOSHOOTIIIIING

Snowflakes and other stuff

2011-12-15T21:06:00.000+01:00

In about 1 week (6 days) winter begins and in 9 days its christmas eve. So far I have not one present for anybody and only ideas for one person – my stepfather. I wanted to make customised things for everyone but I don't really know what to make … Any ideas from your side?

As well as I'm missing good ideas I miss the snow. Snow is the ultimate christmas mood indicator.

Where are you? On your notebook!

2011-12-09T11:17:00.001+01:00

Eva made these notebooks out of an old map for Flairmarkt on Sunday.

Reflections, pictures

2011-12-07T20:53:00.001+01:00

Last Sunday, 4th of december, some of you came to my Coffee, Cake and Crafting event.
It's always very special and intimate because it's in my flat, right where I live and work. And once again I hope you enjoyed it. You made great things and once again I learned a lot myself.
Special thanks goes to my loyal partner Eva who invests a lot of time and has so much patience in sharing everything she knows.

Here is the first load of pictures:

– by Lisa Riebenbauer

The Coffee, Cake & Crafting Masterplan

2011-12-02T19:34:00.001+01:00

See you on Sunday ;)

What do you want?

2011-11-18T10:17:00.001+01:00

So today is the opening party of Die Fädlerei. That means one can buy my notebooks, my buttons, my scarves at a real shop. What a huge difference that makes … especially because these things won't lie around in drawers until the next market comes along but will be exhibited, available all the time.

I made 20 scarves for the opening today and apparently some are already reserved or presold.

So before I leave for the party I'll drink my tea, write an exam and buy some Polaroid films to document the event.

So here are my last preparations:

I tried the trashy-flash look, but I think it's not quite my style … I prefer good old nice pictures without flash but with good light.

Singing a song … all day long …

2011-11-15T09:28:00.001+01:00

Today, in about 40 minutes, I'll bring my scarves to Die Fädlerei. That means they'll be sold in a store!
Yay :). I'll also take some notebooks and buttons.

I started celebrating yesterday with a friend – we ate Wiener Schnitzel and drank beer (mostly because we were hungry and thirsty). But you're welcome to celebrate for me because I have an exam on Friday, so no time for celebrating.

Soon I'll post some news concerning the Coffee, Cake and Crafting 12-4-2011.

Scarves, scarves … several scarves

2011-11-15T09:22:00.001+01:00

Title inspired by Potter Puppet Pals – The Mysterious Ticking Noise

Please stay! Okay, let's go …

2011-10-30T15:05:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers,
when my grandma died I was about -1 or -2 years young. She died of cancer and the only thing I know are pictures and that all my relatives think we (me and my grandma) look pretty much alike. I think she looked like my dad with a wig. So now I own 3 things that formerly belonged to her:
1. a cruzifix (wooden cross with Jesus) … which is pretty interesting because I have no idea why I have that. I'm not even religious.
2. a mirror … totally ugly sixties style (not the stylish sixties) and the frame broke last year so now it's only the glass
3. my sewing machine … it's an old Singer Futura, about 35 years old and it's the sewing machine that taught me how to sew. It's the machine I sew my first bag, scarve, skirt, dress, pillow with. It's not made of plastics but metal. It's the one heirloom that really rocked … that really changed something and that really meant something to me. And now the machine is not working anymore and never will again because it's irreparable.

Good Bye Sewing Machine!

But I don't want to leave you all depressed so I have news for you!

It's time for the next Coffee, Cake & Crafting!!!

Sunday, December 4th we will bind books, sew, knit, make paper and animated clips.

And inbetween we will chat, drinks coffee and tee and eat lots of cake.

At least that's my plan so far …

And in preparation for christmas there will be soap-making workshops …

I'll keep you updated here and on FB.

Have a nice Sunday afternoon!

N :)

Take a retro chair, a TV, vegetables or mustaches …

2011-10-21T09:51:00.000+02:00

and put it on a fabric. I'll buy it. I love fabrics with chairs, mustaches, and especially apples on them.
I guess it's their shapes that impress me. However … I've been busy producing and selling scarves. I have to sew 15-20 scarves until 18th of November because then a shop will open and sell my stuff. There will be a nice little par-tay with drinks and snacks. So yesterday I made 5 scarves and 4 are already sold … that's incredible.
The thing that bugs me a bit is the decision which fabrics to buy … because although I have me scheme what I like and what I don't like (besides being very specific about my vision) … this is also my limitation … I can only use fabrics that I like. What about the others? What if somebody would like my things in general but not buy it because the fabrics are retro/flashy/boring/girlish …
That bothers me.
But on the other side … It's my product and I want to do it my way and that's exactly what I'm doing. Every single thing is totally me … totally 1x2 :)
And that makes me proud because people nonetheless love it and are happy with their purchase.
Tricky situation!
So to forget it all I listen to "Don't let me be misunderstood" by different interpreters in endless repeat :) and sew all day long.

Cut the crap. Shut the book. Write a note.

2011-10-14T13:03:00.002+02:00

Self-made paper, hand-bound books. The only thing missing are your notes ;)

Scarves and stripes

2011-09-27T12:14:00.002+02:00

I don't know if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter or here or if you're here for the first time.
You're very welcome. I know I haven't posted anything lately … at least not here. It's easier just to write a few words on my FB site or on Twitter instead of really generate content for the blog. Especially if you're not that much into doing anything important.

You didn't miss much ;) …
But I learned a few things this summer:
how to bake cupcakes
how to spend the whole summer procrastinating
how to spend 10 hours at a party and have only one beer
how to spend all my savings on vacation (roadtrips rock!)
how to get a tattoo at Hank Schiffmachers studio by his daughter
how to get rid of a project I was caught in (without anyone being angry)
how to look for a job and not get one (because I never applied)

So in the last week I started sewing again because somebody actually ordered some (as many as I make) scarves to sell them at a store.
So I picked some nice fabrics, bought more and more and now I started with cutting and all the needles and … yes … I work at home and my vacational summer is almost over (one little trip to Barcelona with the love of my life in october).

I don't want to leave you without pictures of my great (haha) doing:

Lola (the cat) hates it when I sew because the lamp of my sewing machine makes this buzzing sound and she get's all annoyed and starts annoying me by jumping on my lap and acting all weird …

Something totally not interesting: While sewing I always watch movies or TV series … at the moment I'm watching Gossip Girl (First Season).

No words, just apples

2011-08-22T22:38:00.000+02:00

long time no see

2011-06-14T14:06:00.001+02:00

Wow! Hey. It's quite a while since my last post. I was kind of busy being ill and then working on a short film – probably the worst short film ever made, probably not … even the actors asked me not to be mentioned in the credits. That's really weird because when we (the director, me and the cutter) looked through the material it looked really good.
On Friday the whole film will be done.

This Sunday is another market I'm taking part at. It's at Ottakringer Brauerei. You can find it on FB.
Unfortunately they still haven't managed to upload a proper website (just as me waiting for my proper website ;). But here you find what you need.

So … for this market I prepared a calender for Studented – that means from September 2011 to August 2012.

Today I'll sew some things and tomorrow I'll bind some books and with the soap I made I guess that'll be enough products to sell. Should I have the time and urge to make paper I'll make that too, but we'll see.
And a few nice buttons for the customers won't hurt :)

You're all welcome to visit me!

BTW! The pictures in the calender are original polaroid-transfers from Eva Mühlbacher. She took them in New York.

Comes and goes

2011-04-21T18:48:00.001+02:00

I have to write a description of 1x2 for the website of a market I'll take part at in June. What the hell is 1x2? What should/would I want to share? What does one write here and what are my products?

That's awfully hard to write. Half a page of serious bullshit.

Still 4 more days to go … I'll do that later and meanwhile write something easier like my bachelor thesis.

Cross the line and see the results of CC&C

2011-04-12T12:52:00.000+02:00

No words!

Let the cat dance

2011-04-07T10:35:00.001+02:00

Between sessions of learning and trying to have a social life I made a book for a friend. (This is only for you, E!!!!) Well … I didn't bind it yet … it's more a sketch.

Allthough it's spring and everybody seems so full of energy I feel more like a bag of cement. Maybe I should eat more chives (I read that helps – If you feel the way I described you could try that too and then we exchange our experiences ;).

I'm really looking forward to the CC&C on Sunday because then I'm forced to do something. Actually I wanted to make pocket calenders with different designs. And probably I should start an etsy or dawanda shop.

Today in the afternoon I'm having a huge button-making session with a friend for the Kloblatt Release Farty (LINK). We're making really cool packages one can win there.

Pink Grapefruit with juicy bits

2011-03-30T17:49:00.000+02:00

You might have noticed that I slightly changed the look of my blog.
I had the urge to do something when I made a break from learning and that's the result now.
Today I have an exam (in 50 minutes) and I'm totally bored because I don't want to read the script again so I decided to make pesto but there's no garlic in my kitchen (how could that happen?) and pesto without garlic is no pesto at all.
So I decided to get some work done and called the next person to be interviewt for Kloblatt.
Unfortunatly the mixture of waiting to have an exam and being high on caffein made me sound really crazy. I hope we'll still get the interview.

What I actually wanted to say is: I missed my 100th blog-post! It was 3 posts ago (this one included).
Crazy thing …

Wish me luck for my exam and celebrate my 103rd blog-post with me.

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat

2011-03-25T15:56:00.002+01:00

I've got neeeews!
Last time I had this great schedule for Coffee, Cake and Crafting but actually it didn't really work. Because some people waited for instructions (because that's what it said on the schedule) but I was tutoring others and blahblah.
SO my improvement is a map where you can see the stations and whenever you want to try something new you just call for a tutor and that's it.
So the map (welcome to my place ;) is here! Of course it's handdrawn and well …

It will look slightly different because that's what my flat always looks like and I will change certain things for the 10th.

With your head through my wall … Let's do it!

2011-03-14T11:07:00.000+01:00

Hello! Hello!

Welcome to my lazy circus … I feel somehow a little bit bad for not posting too much (or anything) at the moment. That's mainly because I don't do anything except university stuff and meeting people and working.
After a month of good old holiday I really need to get used to every-day-life again.

Especially when there are so many exceptions ;). My mum normally lives in Brussels and I visited her in February and now she's in Austria and visits me so I spend time with her (instead of my sewing machine or book binding things). Then I have to finish my job and I should go to my uni lectures and get my books from the library to start=finish my bachelor thesis.

So that's what's going on here in my world.

And additionally to all that I try enjoying the sunshine outside and not only at my breakfast table …

By the way I got invited to Blogger Frühstück (breakfast … we love breakfast here in Vienna) for viennese fashion bloggers and of course I went there and got to know very nice, very different and very funny people. Like h.anna, cooloutfit, frockandroll, ghostoffashion, victorypug and repeatoire.
See Pics here!

Before I forget … I have a new friend! Called we ❤ (hand)made.

Surprise

2011-03-07T17:08:00.002+01:00

The next Coffee, Cake and Crafting will take place on 10th of April and starts 1pm (13:00).

The first time CC&C took place to prevent winter depression in November 2010. Now spring is coming and new ideas are forming themselves in our frozen brains.

Coffee, Cake and Crafting means getting together to craft, drink coffee and eat cake (not only cake). Crafting equals kniting, making paper, binding books, sewing and making short animated films. Last time you had the possibility to make your own soaps but since that needs me explaining everything full-time I decided to make separate "soap days" (see here).

We (means me and E) will be there to explain and help when needed but mainly it's about exchanging knowledge, working in groups and having new ideas.

I'll organise all the material but should you have spare fabrics, papers or anything usable don't hesitate to bring it – whatever it is.
The share for the different materials will be 5€ upwards (you can decide how much it's worth) per person.
I only ask of you to probably bring some cake (or muffins etc.) because I won't have the time to prepare enough to get all of you supplyed.

However … spread the word.
More information will follow :) and I'm really looking forward to that Sunday.

P.S. I made a public FB event where you can subscribe to get the exact address, if you're not on FB just write me an email as confirmation and I'll keep you updated.

Let the good …

2011-03-05T11:07:00.002+01:00

I decided to give you (dearest readers) the possibility of making soap at my place again.
I'd love to make a shampoo soap and a honey soap but actually I open to your ideas. The costs will be about 10-15€/person.

I have two days to offer:
Monday 14th of March, 3pm
Saturday 19th of March, 3pm

You just have to comment here or write an email or contact me via FB.

If you'd like to come but are occupied otherwise just contact me. Usually I'm very flexible with my time.

La mezcla de culturas

2011-03-04T12:43:00.001+01:00

The thing about Andalusia is that nobody really goes there for the food. They have good wine, good olives, good climate, etc. but the food … is all fried and fried and fried and with fish and/or meat.
But they have these exceptionally beautiful mix of arabic architecture and western culture.

Thank Apple for the invention of the iphone … T took this pictures with his while I had the real/good camera but was cast away between deliciously smelling orange trees because it was orange blossom.

i-my-you

2011-03-01T11:19:00.000+01:00

MyBrett … This was a christmas present … LINK

Resolution

2011-02-13T16:01:00.004+01:00

I wanted to post that for a loong time and today is the day.
Every year people make their New Year's resolution but don't manage to stick to it. Because it's hard to change your habits. Actually I never had any resolution so I didn't need to stick to it -> great trick, isn't it?

This year I made an exception. My resolution is to relinquish as many "bad" habits as possible (without annoying others by that) until my birthday in June (21st). Here I mean bad as in not necessary, time-consuming, ecologically uncorrect etc.
The result is: I quit smoking, I quit eating meat, I quit watching TV-series (only exception HIMYM because of the lack of topics of conversation that would cause).

As a matter of fact the hardest part is not to watch TV-series. Not to smoke is the easiest part and not to eat meat just causes very unvaried alimentation for me.
I really wonder how vegeterians don't get sick of bread and cheese for breakfast … okay I could eat muesli but … hmm … yes I could.
And whenever I eat out with friends the menu doesn't offer anything appealing.

Nevertheless I will not give up! I will manage to stick to my resolution.

Today I'll have veggie-lasagne with champignons, spinach, rocket (rucola), zucchini, peas, corn, onions and tomatoes.

New Order

2011-02-07T10:45:00.000+01:00

It was in december that I last bought fabric and I have the feeling I could/should do it again.
So today I decided which one I would buy if I could afford it and if I could use them.

edible soap?

2011-01-18T14:44:00.000+01:00

Not really! But made of formerly edible substances (like tomato sauce, poppy seeds …).
Finally I could take the photos … enjoy and be inspired to play with your food!

where is …

2011-01-10T18:25:00.000+01:00

I hope your holiday was great and lazy.
Once again I ruined part of my sewing machine. I have a feeling I will need to buy a new one soon … it just doesn't pay to repair it anymore … every few months and always when I need it (like just a few days before Christmas). Fuck it.
Before I get more vulgar I better change topic.

Soaps … I made new soaps! A Kernöl (pumpkin seed oil) Soap with ground poppy seeds (as a peeling) and bits of Sheabutter Soap and a Tomato Soap with yellow soap confetti that smells of lavender and teatree oil and a Tangerine Soap that is yellow and green marbled with essential orange oil and tangerine oil and a rosy Milk Soap with rose petals and scented geranium oil.
As soon as it's light again during the day (at the moment it stays relativly dark during the day) I'll take photos … but since there's not enough light they all look extremely depressing.

There won't be a "Coffee, cake and crafting" in February because I'm travelling a lot and won't have enough time. I'm visiting my mum in Brussels, a friend in London and travel through Andalusia. All that is pretty time-consuming. But probably in March when I'm back in Vienna.

Again, again and again … CC&C

2010-12-30T17:15:00.000+01:00

I'm kind of back from the holiday … in two days I'll leave my computer (and virtual life) again but for now I'm back.
While being away I had time to think about 2011 and all the time I'll have to fil with action and the idea of a second "Coffee, cake and crafting" came to my mind. In November my conclusion after the day was >never again at my place< … but to be honest that would make things extremely complicated. I'd have to look for a fitting venue, take all my stuff to that place and immediately tidy up again … at my place I have everything one needs – rooms and materials and hardware.
So maybe (if T approves) we'll have another "Coffee, cake and crafting" at my place in February … if not we'll see.

Happy Holiday!

2010-12-21T12:27:00.000+01:00

Last week was extremely exhausting but also extremely interesting and funny. Weird week.
It was the last few days at uni before holiday (yippie), we finished the new Kloblatt issue, on Friday me Papa celebrated his birthday and on Saturday I had to work (7am-6pm) and after that I went to the Winterbastelmarkt where I had a stall with my friends again.
On Sunday E and me were at the market (10/10:30am to 7pm) and then we had a little x-mas party with homemade hotdogs and cesar's salad.

The Winterbastelmarkt went very very well. The first day was okay but on the second day we sold … hell/well … we sold nearly everything. Especially Simon was our bestseller on Sunday. He sold two of his illustrated plates and two of the illustrated cups!

So after all that fuss I'll enjoy christmas even more. That means I'll eat lots of cookies, drink lots of tea, read as much as possible and go for long cold walks … oh … and meet with all my family …
I hope you all have a relaxed holiday or at least christmas eve as well.

Out of nowhere …

2010-12-14T19:32:00.001+01:00

there comes Christmas. Somehow time flies once more. Last week it was the end of summer, yesterday the new semester at uni started and only 10 more days till christmas.
Today I bought half of the presents for my family in one shop … In the last years they all got chocolate and teas – this year … well, that's a secret until the 24th.

But however. I tested the bathing pearls and they really work! They bubble and smell good and make the skin smooth. That really makes me happy.

And yesterday I made more paper for notebooks and today (much later) I will print illustrations and on Thursday I'll bind the books. These days my time management has to be perfect …

With some luck I'll sell all my soaps, notebooks, scarves and everything else at the wintermarket. You're welcome to visit me: Saturday 18th 2pm – 9pm and Sunday 19th 10am – 7pm at Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Wien FBLink.

Lavender Love, Rose Love and Chocolate Love

2010-12-10T22:32:00.001+01:00

Today I made bath pearls … that's the small things you give in your bathing water and it starts to bubble and dyes the water.
I found different reciped on the internet and tried out 3 of them. The first one has the best texture but is without colouring, the second one maybe would have the same texture but I added liquid food colouring so that may have influenced the process and the third is with chocolate, has a good texture but doesn't bubble.

The main ingredients are soda (sodium bicarbonate), citric acid, starch, shea butter, cocoa butter, almond oil and any scented oil. Sometimes you don't need starch but use milk powder or instead of the butters you use coconut oil, instead of almond oil you use olive oil. There are many possibilities to diversify the recipe. The problem with colouring is that the paste does react with the liquid food colouring but powdered one won't work if it's not soluble in oil-based products.

This may sound complicated but actually it's really easy and nearly boring (especially compared to making soaps). The fun part is that you can buy most things around the corner and don't need to handle any dangerous chemicals. For me it the hardest part was to get food colouring – can you believe that 2 weeks before christmas it's impossible to get food colouring!

My favourite recipe was:

100 g Sodium Bicarbonate
50 g Citric acid
25 g Starch
15 g Cocoa butter
5 g Shea butter
10 g Almond Oil (or any other)
Optional:
A few drops of essential oil
Some petals or herbs
Food colouring

Mix soda, citric acid and starch in a bowl. Melt the butters on low temperature and add the almond oil and essential oil. Mix the dry ingredients with the oils and stir. It should feel like wet sand. Then put the paste in smalls forms, the filled forms in the fridge and wait and hour or two (or longer).
Get the cool paste out of the forms and let them dry.

ice ice baby – soap soap baby

2010-12-08T14:17:00.001+01:00

Last weekend was the christmas market in Bad Vöslau (Lower Austria) and about everything went wrong. On Saturday I had to work and couldn't help out so Simon and T had to do everything without me. The market was outdoor and it had super minus degrees. And additional to all that there were hardly any people. Great! On Sunday E and I could be there too and so there were 4 of us. Highlight of the day was when half of my family came to visit us and the times when we tried to warm our feet in a neat café.
We closed our stall early because it just had no sense to freeze but not sell anything.
What a fail.

The good sides were to spend time with close friends and we (T&N) bought an old baroque style bedside cabinet in the café (because you can buy the furniture). And also at the market we got to know a very nice woman who sold herbal salt and jams and liqueur … in spring and summer she offers herbal walks … where you wander through the woods and meadows and gather herbs. I'll definitely do that. I always wanted to do that but all alone I'd get lost and never find back home and die in the swamp or get killed by does and squirrels … however.

On Monday I invited two girls to make soap at my place. We made the soap with coconut oil and olive oil and then divided it into two parts. To the first part we added jasmine blossom and ylangylang oil and to the other part we added coconut milk and vanilla oil. Once again we used my molds with the ornamental flower design.
Yesterday I cut the soap and I already love it. The one with the ylangylang oil smells extremely extravagant and the one with coconut milk feels sooo creamy.
I'll post pictures as soon as possible!

Two boys playing adults in my kitchen

2010-12-02T13:13:00.000+01:00

The result of last week's splashing about are two soaps: A red one with roseleaves that should smell of roses and vanilla but smells of strawberry candy and a blue one with white bits that smells of spruce needle.
Both are friends of mine and they had great fun in weighing and stirring and all the other stuff one has to prepare and do when making soap.

Thank you for coming!

2010-11-29T21:17:00.002+01:00

This Sunday was the Kunst- und Designmarkt at Ottakringer Brauerei. It was amazing! We had about 1700 visitors and everyone was really nice and the feedback was extremly positive.
Though it was cold and the smell (of the brewery …) was pretty bad.
Thank you for being so nice and buying so much :). And thanks to David, Katrin and Bernadette for organizing the market.
Shops I really liked were:
sitzfläche
segnalibro
and of course Le moulin rose – unfortunately no shop and no website …

Next weekend … that is 4. and 5. of december I have a stall in Bad Vöslau (Lower Austria) at Hotel Stefanie. Again with Simon.

By the way … Simon and I talked about producing our own handbound calenders for 2011 … of course with illustrations etc. …

What does a pineapple have to do with a book?

2010-11-24T16:21:00.001+01:00

I wanted to try if I could print on my selfmade paper to use it as bookcover. I can. Here's the result:

Curios

2010-11-24T11:49:00.000+01:00

I just found something …There's this shop in Vienna called Madame Kury. I went past it for about 2 years but never knew what it was about. From the outside it looks sooo nice but I was just not sure if it really is a shop and what they sell there. Sounds stupid, doesn't it?
Well however. I just found the shops website.

And it's not only a shop! You can also rent a sewing machine per hour (7€) and per day (30€) and they have sewing workshops (~35€ incl. material).

nightly preparation

2010-11-24T01:09:00.000+01:00

Next Sunday I'll have a stall at the Kunst- und Designmarkt in Ottakringer Brauerei. So I'm already (~5 days in advance is more than enough … haha) producing stuff to exhibit/sell there.

Yesterday I made paper. Today I made two loopscarves.

So … I want to invite you all to come to the market this sunday (28.11.2010) and visit me. I even may have cookies for you! However. Really, just come by and say hello. I'll also sell Simons stuff (all the cool illustrations, shirts, dishes etc.).

Before I forget … I have big news! I'm not alone anymore. My friend Eva (who helped me big time at the CC&C) is supporting me with her DIY things. She makes awesome pillows filled with herbs and grain (spelt) and wonderful notebooks. I'll upload pictures of her products as soon as she sends me the pictures. Apart from doing DIY stuff for fun, she actually is a photographer (for real) – BLOG and WEBSITE.

CC&C Pictures

2010-11-22T16:56:00.000+01:00

That's what people made yesterday at the Coffee, Cake & Crafting:

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of every single thing so it's only a rough overview.

Loop + Scarf = Loopscarf

2010-11-16T13:01:00.001+01:00

Selfmade. Black jersey. Model T.

Since last Friday my new website (first real website) is being worked on. Soon you'll find it on einmalzwei.at. I'm really excited. And I have my own email-address! nina@einmalzwei.at!
But you'll see the rest pretty soon – thanks to my friends Flo (who does all the programming) and of course T (who always helps me with layout/graphic/other stuff).

Market - a - Market

2010-11-09T13:55:00.000+01:00

November is a craaaaazy month! Not only is the Coffee, cake and crafting day I organise …

there's a also come-together for peolple who like/love/etc. analogue photography. It's on 12th of November in Schleifmühlgasse 7, 1040 Wien. It starts around 7pm. I found it only on FB …

then there's a Market for Art and Design on 28th of November in Otterkringer Brauerei. It starts at 11am and goes until 8pm. I didn't want to take part as a seller but one of my friends can't sell his stuff because he's not in Vienna and so I wrote an email if they still have stalls I'll have one and sell my soaps, bag, etc. and his illustrations, booklets, t-shirts … maybe I'll bring my button machine for people to make their own buttons … we'll see. First I need the stall :). As far as I understand there's an entrance fee of 2€! FB

also there's a filmproduction that empties its storage on 20th of November in Krummgasse 1a, Somewhere in the 3rd district in Vienna. FB

and on 17th Harry Potter 7, Part1 is out in the cinemas … Finally!

For now that's it about markets and stuff …

But I have other news … Yesterday I bought my first domain! einmalzwei.at
On Friday I'll work on my website with a friend. We'll try it with indexhibit. Apparently that's easy :).
I'm really excited about having my own website.

Agenda for "Coffee, Cake and Crafting"

2010-11-06T19:27:00.005+01:00

On 21st of November in Vienna:

I bought myself sunglasses today! Sounds not important? Well … the last few pairs of sunglasses I bought were neonpink starshaped ones, green skullshaped ones and all my "normal" sunglasses were crappy presents like "Hey N! I don't wear(=like) my sunglasses – do you want them?" Now I have my own not-crappy Cheap Monday sunglasses.

I feel like a rockstar!

Yesterday I bought fabrics (jersey) worth ~85€ to make loopscarves. As soon as I'm done I'll post a picture. Colours are black (of course), teal (because it's so nice) and claret.

Coffee, cake and crafting

2010-10-27T20:33:00.000+02:00

My new plan to prevent winter depression and boredom …

The plan is to get together on 21st of November and craft. Crafting means here binding books, sewing, making soaps, making short animated films, hand papermaking and making buttons etc.
The share for different materials will be between 5-10€ (you can decide how much it's worth) per person.
Of course you can bring your own materials, but then they should be for all to use.

It will take place in my flat in Vienna. If you want to participate either confirm on facebook or send me a message here.

Sewing machine, band and other plans

2010-10-19T00:48:00.001+02:00

Just before I was in New York my sewing machine started rebelling again. Then it gave up completely.
That really sucked because I bought soooo much fabric in the last few months and really wanted to sew a neat skirt for the summer … well now summer is over and I don't have a selfmade skirt. That's how it goes.
Next week I get my lovely, rebellious sewing machine back and then I can start sewing little bags for the soaps. And I can start producing little things for a christmas market in December (4th/5th). I got invited to have my own stall to sell things!
Some friends and I decided to use this winter to be super-creative (we'll see) and try out as much stuff as possible. Maybe I'll finally really learn how to knit, crochet and bake cookies … They also plan to start a band but I don't play any instrument and I'm absolutely no singer …

Together with these friends I'll have a mexican "día de los muertos" this year. We'll cook real mexican food and make our own sugar-skulls and decorate the place with orange flowers (we won't get the real ones so we'll just make paper-flowers) and nice illustrations. Our inspiration will be the Frida Kahlo cookbook (Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo).

Unfortunately this semester I'm pretty overloaded with university-lecture-stuff and in November I start my weekend-job …
My uni-schedule is crazy (for austrian standard) but still (like always) I wish I could do sooo much more.

For people who'd be interested in a sewing workshop … You should check out THIS.

Sheabutter–Olive Soap

2010-10-01T18:08:00.000+02:00

Before my trip to New York I made a soap with 50% shea butter and 50% olive oil. Not only are both ingredients extremly good for the skin I also put it in the ornamental molds and now it also looks very nice. My only mistake was to let it dry 3 days before cutting it (because I didn't have the time). It was too hard already at the time and most of the pieces broke. At least they look antique! Next time I know and there'll definitely be a next time.

I love this soap!

Gift-set for my Mama

2010-09-26T00:22:00.001+02:00

Today was (is) a long day. I got up "early" to go to a fleamarket – Viennese Cafés selling stuff after cleaning out their storages! Fantastic. I didn't buy anything worth mentioning but still it was fun. Afterwards I went directly to Vienna Fashion Camp. I arrived around 11:30 a.m. and stayed until 5 something p.m. Met an old acquaintance (LINK to his blog) Went to Vienna Fashion Week and got to know a nice girl (LINK to her blog). Went home because of starvation. Went to a burger-restaurant.
And then back home again and then:

Because on Monday my mum is leaving Austria again I prepared (am preparing) a little "goodie box" for her. I wrapped (am wrapping) 8 different soaps in white-transparent paper and T made a box out of black cardboard.
I hope she likes it. We'll see.

10 things we did in NYC

2010-09-20T18:05:00.000+02:00

1. Go up Empire State Building at night – but only after you already know a bit about New York because then you can look out for the places you've already been to.

2. Go out in Williamsburg – don't dress up but look as if you didn't care. Go to "Public Assembly" (N. 6th x Wythe) or any other bar you find there.

3. Talk to everybody about everything – I got cake, a banana, a sandwich for free because I talked to people (and obviously because I looked hungry) and we got invited to 3 parties.

4. Stay in Loft Hostel, Brooklyn (Varet Street) – breakfast included, high ceilings, nice receptionists, clean kitchen, jacuzzi and garden. Free BBQ on Thursdays.

5. Go to "Powder Puff Beauty Shop" – a bar in a former hairdressers shop. They still have hairdriers! Drinks are extremely cheap and they even fulfill individual drink wishes. Bartender is extremely nice, DJs are nice too and the music is good old rock'n'roll.

6. Get a tattoo – at Daredevil (Ludlow Street between Houston & Stanton).

7. Go to the beach on Coney Island and see the Atlantic Ocean.

8. Leave town via China Town Bus (Fung Wah Bus).

9. Bathe in the sun in Central Park.

10. Walk! – Don't go everywhere by subway/metro/bus/cab. It's cheaper, it's healthy, it's exhausting and it pays because you get to know the city.

NYC Fashion Week

2010-09-16T06:28:00.000+02:00

Funny thing happened these days … last week I came to New York with two friends. We didn't plan anything – not even accommodation. That was the bad part because after 3 nights we had to look for a new place to stay and about everything was extremely expensive because of the upcoming Fashion Week. We didn't even know that NY Fashion Week was in September.
I'm in New York and still missed Fashion Week … but I saw lots of models, many photographers around Manhattan and many super-stylos.

Green–Orange-Green–Orange-Green–Orange-Green–Orange

2010-08-28T18:03:00.000+02:00

Another soap to show. I recycled some of the green thyme-smelling hearts that weren't good enough for the wedding in an other soap. The plan was to make a white soap with green particles in it but … as you can see the soap is not white but orange/yellow. That is because I used unrefined palm oil which is orange and although I added one whole package of white pigment to whiten it the soap is still and forever orange. I could/should have saved the white pigment for an other soap … The colour made me add some essential orange oil.

Tiles

2010-08-27T23:17:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago a walked through Vienna with T. We were looking for a special kebab "restaurant" a friend recommended. However, we couldn't find this place BUT what we found were tiles. In a container from a construction site they lay and I definitely had to take them. They're not the most beautiful ones I have but hey! one can't just throw them away. So I – kind of – stole (or rescued) them.

Now I have two boxes full of tiles I don't really need … but I'd feel bad to know them having been trashed!

If any of you want/could use them … you're welcome.

El jabón dorado de la muerte

2010-08-26T14:11:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I used my milky molds/trays for the first time. I had to try them so I made coffee soap. But simple coffee soap is super boring so I pimped it with goldpowder.
Unfortunately I didn't check my coffee supply before preparing everything so I had to use the special saudi arabian coffee with cardamom a friend brought me last winter. The arabian coffee isn't brown but golden so the contrast of caramel-coloured soap and goldpowder is not how I planned it. I didn't use any scented oils therefore the soap smells of arabian coffee and spices.
All very extravagant and exotic.

Btw – the title means "The golden soap of death". T meant I should entitle the post like a really bad movie … and in spanish and what you see here is the worst I could come up with.

Legen … vote for it … dary

2010-08-19T13:39:00.000+02:00

In Vienna there's now two fashion shops (garmz and useabrand) which started some kind of online crowdsourcing-projects. The designer uploads the sketch to a design and then everybody (who has an account) can vote for his/her favourite design.

The difference between the two projects: garmz tries to reach designers to upload their designs whilst useabrand tries more to involve the end customer into the creative process.

I uploaded a design on useabrand. It's a coat for men … well … just have a look at it at usebrand-mydesign or here:

The quality of the picture is pretty bad – I know that sucks, but since you're only allowed to upload 250kb I couldn't help it :(.

Tray

2010-08-11T17:23:00.000+02:00

I ordered some trays, soap moulds, today. One very simple square tray and two more ornamental, floral ones. Since I will really sell my soap they kind of have to look a bit professional …

I ordered them HERE.

It's raining dogs and cats

2010-08-11T17:18:00.004+02:00

Last week I decided to take part in "The sketchbook project". It's very easy: You sign up, order your sketchbook, choose a theme (or like I did, take a random one), pay 25$ and receive a Moleskin sketchbook to personalize, design, however you may call it.

A few days ago I was asked to sell my selfmade soaps in a store in Lower Austria. Of course I'm going to do that, because producing your own soaps means that you have them in heaps. So actually this is my opportunity to get rid of all the soap and make some new.
And once again that fits perfectly well because at the moment I'm trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible. So I simply packed the soaps in Origami paper which I purchased when I was in Japan.

And for a wedding I bought a dress. The most expensive dress in my closet. The most expensive piece of clothing in my closet (maybe, very likely) ever. It's Lena Hoscheks "Farmer Dress" and I pretty much fell in love with it. I'm really looking forward to wearing it. One can also wear it as a coat – it's multifunctional!

heart-shaped soaps

2010-07-26T17:02:00.001+02:00

I took some quick pictures of the soaps. I had to freeze the soap to get it out of the heart-shaped forms therefore they're a bit wettish and look very glossy. As soon as they're completely dry I'll arrange a nicer picture with all my homemade soaps.

They turned out pretty nice smelling (still). I read that thyme-oil (which I used for this soap) has an antibiotic effect and in soaps apparently helps against acne.

Some hearts aren't as perfect in their form and look a bit funny. Maybe I'll take a picture of them too …

I ❤♥♡ …

2010-07-18T23:36:00.000+02:00

Few days ago I made the second run on soaps. This time fancy green heart-shaped soaps. They smell of thyme and orange. Hell, that's a nice combination. I know that rosemary-orange is a good mixture, mint-orange too, but people, thyme is perfectly underestimated. I wish you could smell it now.
I will post pictures in about a week because the soaps are still in the heart-shape ice cube tray and also because tomorrow I'll visit my mum in Bruxelles and eat lots of french fries and waffles.

Soap

2010-07-08T14:39:00.004+02:00

For my birthday I got a very interesting book about soaps with instructions how to make your own soaps at home, in your garden or kitchen. Well, I have no garden, so I made my soaps in my kitchen.
My dear that was an effort to prepare everything. First you need the ingredients which isn't as easy and cheap as one would wish. I managed it! And I only invested about 3 days in driving around in the city with the bike to get them ... But once this is done one can literally mass-produce soaps.
So yesterday I made about 3 kilos with a friend who helped me. Which was great because otherwise it'd have been extremly boring. Most of the time we spent waiting for the sodium hydroxide to cool down.
It was our first try and we made ~1 kilo of lavender soap and ~2 kilos of soap with ylangylang oil and tea-tree oil. We gave some black food colouring in one part of the ylanylang-tea-tree-soap and marbled the soap. The black part turned red but that's okay :).

Next week I'll make some more with different ingredients and different smells. Maybe I'll even try a milksoap or so.
Oh, and the book is called "Naturseife, das reine Vergnügen" by Claudia Kasper. It's in german.
For austrians and people from Vienna these links may be helpful: One and Two.

In addition to my new hobby I ordered some books to read this summer. I think I went a bit over the top because the books were all soooo extremly cheap. I couldn't resist. … AND I guess it's better to have too much to do/read than being bored because I actually reach my reading-target (for the first time ever …)
Jane Austen: Mansfield Park, Emma, Pride&Prejudice, Sense&Sensibility, Persuasion
Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
Reclam: Grundkurs Philosophie 1/2/3
Sew What: Skirts, Bags
Simone de Beauvoir: Alle Menschen sind sterblich

Another button to button

2010-06-25T13:23:00.003+02:00

This week was my birthday. And again there's something new to remember.
However. I really enjoyed my birthday, it was a more than 12 hours party with my friends and friend's friends ...
Allthough I told everybody that I don't want any presents, only cake, my sweet friends couldn't help baking cake AND bringing presents.
So I got the Prince Batman Album on vinyl (it even has it's own entry in wikipedia!)

and a unique batman postcard drawn by Simon. And a dishtowel with a burger printed on it.
From other friends I got something REALLY weird. I mean ... I was ... When I ... it's a button-machine. So one can produce his own buttons, pins. I thought they had borrowed it and I could use it for a week or so, but NO. They bought it. Freaky.

And since it was my birthday and a party and lots of friend we started producing. Here you can see one small part of the amount we made:

Now I know what I collected all the different papers and pictures for. The yellow button on the picture actually was the wrapping paper of russian sweets I bought a few months ago and couldn't throw away. Ha! Looks awesome on my black clothes!

Backyard Sale

2010-06-19T13:00:00.001+02:00

The entry fee for the sample sale & market is about 5€.
The whole thing takes place in Pratersauna LINK.

development

2010-06-15T12:29:00.006+02:00

I'm so glad that there're no classes, lectures, whatever in summer.
I really want (maybe also need) that break.

At the moment I'm still on my bachelor-thesis-project but it's nearly finished. Besides all the uni stuff there's lots of other things I have to do like today and tomorrow me and my friends will interview two very interesting people for Kloblatt.

Last saturday (I really wanted to post it before it "happens") was a very cute market in Raimundhof near Mariahilferstraße in Vienna. One of my closer friends S had a stall there. I'm a huge fan of his work. You can (should) look at his work and the things he sells HERE. Then there were three women I didn't know before but they had nice stuff too. Clever me took their "business" card :). One was Eva Rhabarber and the other has Ugly Lolo written on her card … you can find her HERE.

And I have an announcement. No nothing romantic or so, it's just a party. There will be a releaseparty for a photoproject. It's called revolog, it's about analogue photography and they produce special films.

I don't know how to describe it (yet) because I haven't seen any of the results (yet).

In the newest issue of the viennese magazine "der bagger" they cooperated with revolog, so there you can check the speciality and quality of the films.

So the party is on 17th of june at Schikaneder and it starts around 10pm. You find more about it on facebook.

So many things happening in this sweet capital city of ours :). I never thought I would have to post so many links. That somehow makes me proud. Finally some nice and interesting things are happening around here.

That's a nice one - Mari Santos

2010-06-03T17:28:00.003+02:00

I can only recommend this. It's about "renewal" of large shirts and the ideas look *wow*.
I got it from here.

Weeks and weeks and weeks …

2010-06-02T11:15:00.003+02:00

… go by and I don't know what to post because there's just too much.
Two weeks ago I was in Berlin at Typo Berlin and I stayed a few days longer to enjoy this interesting city a bit.
Typo is a design conference for graphic and font design. There were presentations of some really cool people like Candy Chang, Eike König, Dan Reynolds, Julian Smith, Yanone and Julian Zimmermann.
After the conference (that means after 3 days of total exhaustion and total ecstasy) I did some Berlin "sightseeing" like Mauerparkflohmarkt (a really nice fleamarket) and eating much breakfast and going for walks and sleeping in the afternoons and going to bed early. And I went to the Filmmuseum and then watched the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie in a small cinema at Hackesche Höfe.

Then I came home and had so much stuff to do (like going to my university lectures, homework …).

And last weekend was the Vienna Independent Shorts Filmfestival with a special programme about animated movies. So I watched the Animation Avantgarde and went to the panel discussion (?) and 2 interviews (lectures) with filmmakers. This one I can really recommend:

Logorama

And also this weekend was Neubaugassenflohmarkt (a viennese fleamarket) and I accidentally ended up there. I just wanted to buy a nice dress for the summer (which obviously isn't even necessary, lucky me I didn't buy one). So I was at this fleamarket and suddenly I discovered 3 shops in/near Neubaugasse that aren't even new but I have never seen them before.
At Lieblichkeiten I bought 2 gorgeouss enamel pots, at Vivibag I bought a multifunctional thing you can wear as a dress, as a shirt or as a skirt and a cute shirt with butterflies on it.
And for the third shop violettsays wasn't enough money left but I took a flyer :).

Cheeky rose syrup

2010-05-16T18:05:00.005+02:00

Rose syrup – That's something different. Everybody was talking about mint syrup, elder(?)blossom syrup and stuff. Well not me. I made that experience once and never again I said. Haha. Well, a few days ago I was bored and not interested in doing the things I actually should do so I made a rose syrup.

I cooked some water with plenty of sugar. Then I waiting for it to cool down, then I but in loads of dried rose blossoms and 2 lemon slices. Then I put it in the fridge for one day. The next day I filtered it and cooked the whole thing (without the blossoms and the lemon) again.
I filled it in a very clean bottle and the moment it wasn't hot anymore I put the bottle in the fridge again.

Of course I tried it and it tastes very ... different. But I think I like it.

I have to admit that I was in such a state of boredom that I also made some mint syrup. (Fresh mint, sugar, lemon, water – as much of each ingredient as you need for your personal happiness. Consider that sugar is not our enemy!)

music

2010-05-10T00:43:00.007+02:00

That is self-explanatory (I thought the word was self-explicable but I looked it up and it's not … now I feel stupid)
All this was inspired by Team Dresch – Don't try suicide.

At the moment I'm at a friends place because she is going to get married in August and this weekend we were looking for a wedding dress and a wedding cake. The whole thing wasn't even half as exhausting as I thought and actually we had some good fun. Tomorrow we'll check out another bridal fashion store and more cakes.
Funniest part: On Saturday I purchased a new bike. It's "just a bit" fucked up but it's of a light blue colour and looks so cool! – except for the fucked parts (like one wheel …).
I have a feeling that repairing my new bike will be somehow my new super-passionate project. Please recognise the irony in my last sentence.

As a frequent reader of my great blog you may know that I moved to a new flat in february/march. So there's only a few empty boxes left to get rid of and I finally have a worktop in my kitchen. So maybe I'll post a few pictures soon (whatever "soon" means … haha).

Action

2010-05-03T19:25:00.000+02:00

At university I have this lecture about animated movies and in May there're two workshops to make our own animated films. Short ones of course. And yesterday at night I had an idea and tried out how all this animation stuff works. It's nothing special and was super-easy but still I would like to share it and show off (haha).
The music is by Ryöksopp (a norwegian band) and part of the "Motorcycle Diaries"-soundtrack. You can download it for free on their website!

The original music track is very long therefore it stops somewhere in the middle…
and I'm new to youtube so the format is not as it should be but it pisses me off already so I don't want to work on that anymore.

The basis for the film are the letters a and x which I wrote in Illustrator and then made screenshots of every movement. Later I rearranged some parts to fit (a bit better) the music. As you may see the basic elements are very few so they reappear all the time – because around 2 a.m. I got tired and simply stopped so the original film is about 20sec long.

Salt and Sugar

2010-04-30T12:44:00.002+02:00

My name is N and I drink tea every day. I love herbal tea and black tea. My new favourite is Chai Latte (I never thought that would ever happen but ...).
The thing is - most tea-drinkers don't sugar their tea. Well, I do. I love sweet things and I love sweet drinks and sweet tea.
So as an excuse for sugaring I have some specialties. I have sugar with vanilla, with cinnamon, with rose blossoms, and with a blossom mix. Sometimes I even make a spicy-sugar-mix.

You can very easily make it yourself:
Buy whatever you want to have in your sugar. The sugar can be grainy or fine. Fill sugar and special ingredient in a jar. After a few hours or days (very soon) the sugar should smell and taste of your extra flavour. You can of course do the same with salt!

Good spices for a spicy-sugar-mix are: cinnamon, aniseed, cardamom, lemon zest/ lemon peel, mint, lemon balm, basil.
Blossoms I use: jasmine, rose, orange, hollyhock/mallow ... whatever you can think of.

Sugar with rose blossom

Salt with rose blossom

Sugar with vanilla

Decoration

2010-04-08T13:32:00.000+02:00

I tried something that everyone can very easily do at home too. Remeber the picture of the wall decoration? I tried that in a simplyfied way.

I just cut out same wrapping/gift paper and glued it on a big white sheet (about Din A0).
I'm really glad I didnt try it out on a wall because I decided it's too dominant in a room to be decoration. I think that's mainly because I used 3 different patterned papers with very strong patterns. I should have used one uni-coloured paper and two with very light colours and a more subtle pattern.

Skirt

2010-04-06T21:11:00.000+02:00

Today my old friend U from Sydney visited me and since he is a great fan of my sewing (don't know why) and always eager to see my new projects I showed him something I started a few months ago: a skirt.

The best part was that I could show him the skirt how it's meant to be because it actually still is in separate pieces and not at all finished yet. But I got this (obviously) helpful dress form for christmas and I think without that he wouldn't have been able to imagine the skirt. Still have to finish it though …

Perfect Dinner

2010-03-24T20:58:00.001+01:00

Some friends and I are on a new thing. It's called the perfect dinner. It's based on a TV show (I don't know the show) and it's about cooking and eating.
We are 7 individuals and we divided into 4 pairs (yes, one of us still has to choose a partner).
It's me and T, M and M, S and A, F and Somebody.
Every pair has to prepare a dinner of 3 courses: Starter (entrée) – main dish (plat principal) – dessert (dessert).
As the host you can choose a theme so the guests have to wear proper clothes but you also have to decorate and prepare everything according to the theme.
Also you have to consider the things your guests do not eat. For example: A doesn't eat pork, M doesn't eat spicy things, I don't like fish, F doesn't like chicken or turkey etc.

Every guest has to give points (1–10, 1 is worst, 10 is best) for two categories: 1. decoration and hospitality, 2. meal. The voting will be in a separate room where every guest has to record his comment with a video camera – alone.

T and I will be the first ones to prepare the dinner on 30th of march and I have so many ideas for a themed dinner! Also will that be the first time our guests come to the new flat and there's still so many things to do! e.g. I still have no worktop in the kitchen. Well, let's see …

Critical Crafting Café

2010-03-24T11:34:00.001+01:00

Today I found that: LINK to Facebook

Liebe Crictical CrafterInnen und alle die es noch werden wollen!!
Handarbeiten wie Nähen, Sticken, Häkeln und Stricken gelten traditionell als Tätigkeiten, mit denen sich brave Mädchen und gute Hausfrauen beschäftigen. Doch so lauft das bei uns nicht ab! Wir( und hoffentlich auch ihr!!) wollen diese textilen Techniken aus ihrer traditionellen Verankerung befreien und sie stattdessen neu im Bereich von Design, Kunst und Aktivismus etablieren. In gemütlicher Caféatmosphäre kann genäht, gestrickt, umgestaltet und musik gelauscht werden.

Neben interessanten Vorträgen, Strickworkshops und delikater Verköstigung, wartet auch eine Kleidertauschparty auf euch!

Bringt also eure alten (gewaschenen! :) Lieblingsteile und tauscht sie gegen andere auserwählte Schmuckstücke ein!

Wir laden euch und all eure Freunde, Verwandte, Bekannte und Nachbarn, etc... herzlichst dazu ein, am 25. und 26. März mit uns Spaß zu haben!

Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 5:00pm
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 11:55pm

Akademie der bildenden Künste, Lehramtsinstitut, Karl-Schweighofer-Gasse 3, 1070 Wien, 2. Stock, Raum 2.11

And I liked it!
Not only did I read about events in other cities and in other countries and was extremely jealous that nobody organizes events like that in Vienna. I also have the time to actually go there (I don't really have the time – loads to do for uni, but nonetheless I'll do it! Ha!).

By the way – I heard some people say: "N, your english is so good every now and then I'm amazed"
Well, the answer is (very simple AND embarassing) Leo Dict. is one of my best friends ;).

As an affectionate reader of my lovely weblog you may know, that I moved to another place.
For a few days (nearly) all boxes are unpacked now and the decoration-process has to start.
I have a few ideas but T (my closest companion) is more of the "white walls and no decoration" kind.
That makes the whole thing a bit more complicated. There's one thing I really want to try out and it's this:

I'll try it on a big cardboard first and if I like it then I'll do it on a real wall. I just have to find a nice wrapping paper or wallpaper. Nothing too flashy.

Only one more thing – If one of you (my dearest readers) wants to have a super-special-selfmade notebook just contact me. You can have them. I need the place for new stuff.

Wallstickers

2010-03-15T10:07:00.000+01:00

Today I found something funny. I was looking for wallstickers to customize or a way to produce your own. I wanted wallstickers for different reasons - because then you don't need to paint your walls and because … well the not-painting was the only reason.
But since my fridge has some "scars" (really looks like scars) from the many transportations – this fridge has travelled a lot in its life! Old viking ('his' name is Nordfrost) – I wanted to decorate it with wallstickers.
However today I found a website where you can make your own wallstickers OR order for example an Edward-Cullen-Rob-Pattinson-Wallsticker. Funny, isn't it?

LINK

Recycling

2010-03-10T14:24:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I recycled a pillowcase. First I made two new pillows for me and T. We had pillows of this size (25x25cm) which were so damn old that I thought I'd make us some new ones. And because the old ones were completely identical we never knew which pillow belongs to whom – that won't ever happen again.

And because I still had some pillowcase fabric I sewed a toy for my little nephew:

T thinks it's too scary and I really like it so maybe I'll keep it. I think it looks funny and I'm pretty sure every baby would chew on the buttons. I think I'll try a better/nicer looking toy-man-monster-thingy ... with bigger buttons.

How to make your own paper-flowers

2010-03-08T13:47:00.002+01:00

In one of my posts I asked for "paper-flower-tutorials" and 2 months later I have a nice selection of 4 different ones. I start with the easiest:

1.Rose:
Draw a spiral on a square sheet of paper. Cut it along the spiral-lines you have drawn and than start rolling the spiral from the outside to the inside.
You find a better explanation with pictures HERE

2. Lillies
My favorite origami-flower. I folded it a hundred times when I was working last November and December as a gift-wrapper.
Instructions with pictures HERE

3. Cherry blossom a.k.a. Sakura
That's a very easy origami-tutorial. The result is super-small but very nice.
Explanation HERE

4. Rose
This one is really really sophisticated (like that word, never used it before) only for advanced origami-maîtres. So I didn't even try it because I don't believe it's worth the effort but I still thought I should share it. Especially because I found a nice "short" (9min) YouTube-Tutorial:

So have fun and make flowers. I stick with my first-point-spiral-roses and maybe make some more cherry blossoms from the origami-paper I bought in Japan. What a cliché …

Picturesque

2010-03-05T09:43:00.000+01:00

First – I'm so glad to be back home. Japan was great but very exhausting (travelling around for 26 days).
Second – I bought this awesome camera:

So now I'm back and everything has changed. I live at a different place (new flat!!!) with a completely different look and my sewing machine is repaired and useable again. All my things are in chaos (not normal chaos but REAL chaos) and I'm jetlagged and get up around 7–7:30 a.m. every day.

There's still some things to get done before I can go back to normal productivity – Japan was very inspiring for handcrafts, especially their package design is excellent. Oh Europe, so much to learn!

Woolly warm

2010-02-17T16:12:00.001+01:00

I didn't think I'd actually learn something cool except Origami and eating with chopsticks in Japan but no!
Today a girl in the hostel explained how to knit! Never thought that I'd really learn knitting one day. That's so cool! I learned knitting in Japan.

Trendy knitting

2010-01-24T21:45:00.002+01:00

Hey my dear followers, readers, visitors and other strangers!
I just learned my lesson: Never move to another flat when you're on a trip to Japan (maybe this is valid for other countries too but I'm not sure). So guess – I'm stressed.
You may not know me and may not care but all this happened/is happening/will happen:
1. I thought my cat was dead (luckily it was another cat, still it was a very bad moment and I cried)
2. I saw my new-born nephew for the first time (and will see him again in about 5 weeks and he will have changed totally).
3. I'm packing all my things in boxes although there's still people living for 3 weeks in this flat (with boxes standing all around).
4. I have to wash all my clothes because I need them so I can only wear super-not-cool things (which is kind of embarrassing even for a not vain person like me).
5. I doubt that my backpack is big enough for all my clothes (4 weeks of travelling around needs lots of clothes).
6. I invited more or less all my friends for next week to have a brunch in my totally chaotic, smallish, unfurnished flat.
7. My to-do-list is longer than ever and I really work hard but still it grows.
8. It's *badword*curse* cold in Vienna especially in my smallish flat and I hate it.
9. I happen to have some exams to take (I thought I could skip them this time but no).
Edit (23:29) 10. I'm leaving Europe for the first time in my life and that makes me nervous (especially because I don't like flying).

But still I found something very interesting today:
There's a knitters club in Vienna. It's called Umschlagplatz and they meet to knit in public against old-fashioned role models. I'll add their website immediately to my "Look at this"-List.
They even post free tutorials for caps and stuff. And there's many other things on their website to discover.

If I have the time to post the things I prepare for my brunch I'll do that but considering the facts from above I don't know about that.

New Flat

2010-01-16T23:24:00.002+01:00

I was asked to post the few photos I have of my soon-to-be flat. It's ~75 square meters, on the third floor in the 9th district of my loved Vienna. On Tuesday I'm going to sign the contract and on March 1st I'll move in (because in February I'm in Japan). Yippiiiie yeah.
Just a few words on the photos: at the moment two girls live there and they're already moving out (step-by-step) therefore they don't care much about the condition of the flat (same here with my current flat …).
As soon as I live there I'll change nearly everything. Especially in the kitchen.
And I drew the plan (see below my sketch) because the one I had was a very incorrect.

Here's the plan I drew above is the whole flat (two big rooms, one small bedroom…) and a "detail" of the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.

I took the pictures from the corner of the kitchen so you see to the stove or to the "door" (there actually is no door). What I really like about the flat are the windows over the kitchen entrance which are also in the bathroom so you have direct sunlight in those rooms (they're the only rooms without real windows). On my plan you can see where the washing machine and the dishwasher will be placed, at the moment they're missing as well as a fridge…
The last picture shows the bedroom (can you see the beautiful floor?) – the real-estate agent shot this one.

I didn't take any pictures of the girls' private rooms because it felt strange posting strangers untidy bedrooms on my blog (and even taking photos of them is weird because they still live there).
I'm so looking forward to moving in (I'm jumping around the whole day planning what to change first).

After-Christmas-Wishlist

2010-01-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

First I must warn you (dear reader) because I won't post much in January. At the moment I'm looking for a new flat and that is really time-consuming and my motivation, well… It's just that I don't want to take things out of there boxes when I have to get all the boxes packed for moving out.
And then in February I won't post much because I'm in Japan for 4 weeks. I visit my friend J and we're going to travel around. Maybe I'll post a few pictures.

Now something completely different: Every year after Christmas I discover things I would like to have.
So this year I saw a book about producing soaps. Producing soaps is a really messy and bad-smelling process but still… Imagine: Making your own soaps or shampoo smelling of your favourite smells with your own chosen ingredients. LINK

And next I want to make paperflowers because my aunt and uncle gave me a vase for christmas and I really want to fill it with flowers. I'm still looking for tutorials. Anyone ideas?

Labels

2009-12-29T19:23:00.000+01:00

Adventbastelmarkt

2009-12-20T23:38:00.001+01:00

Today was this Adventbastelmarkt I wrote about in my last posts. M and I sold lots of the bathing oils we prepared and I sold two of my bigger bags, three of the small bags and 2 brooches. I believe I have to think about it a bit… People were often shocked when they saw the prices and that shocked me.
I mean – my prices were fair and if you buy your stuff at H&M or other big chains it's not much cheaper and not at all unique. E.g. a handmade unique dress for 35€ (first I labelled it for 40€).
I really have to reflect on that.
But except the prices people liked my things that makes me a bit proud.

I feel a bit bad because I had no time to shoot pictures of my things. There are no photos of the brooches and of some bags I sold nor of the bathing oils (bathing pesto). I can tell you, they looked really lovely. Memo to myself: Next time shoot some photos or force somebody else to do it..

Étagère

2009-12-15T17:47:00.002+01:00

I don't like secrets. So I share mine now with the whole www.
Today I went to Caritas Lager (where you can buy cheap things others had thrown away) to buy some dishes. I planned to try something I read in CUT about.
An étagère made of dishes.
And it worked. I think they look nice. Allthough I shot the pictures before I glued them…

I will use them at Adventbastelmarkt and you can buy them there for 15–20€. I don't know yet how much I will charge.

You can do this at home: Just take some plates, glasses, cups (whatever you find) and glue them together with superglue. But everything should be central.

LINK

2009-12-15T17:08:00.000+01:00

Wow, I just came across my first real link!!!
I must link back because they even mention me. What an honour:
LINK

In fact I have no time to post now because I'm working on something VERY top secret and important.
Will post pictures soon!

3D Typography

2009-12-13T19:08:00.000+01:00

Today wasn't a very productive and creative day. Since my sewing machine is f***** and my productivity is bound to non-sewing stuff… That's not very easy.
BUT I made a letter (N) out of cardboard. That was at least a bit funny and very challenging.

The glue still has to dry so I post only a quickly made picture… better ones will follow!

You can do this very easily. Just print a letter in a sans-serif typeface and then cut it out of cardboard. I chose N because it's the first letter of my name and it's easy because it has no round parts like B,C,D,G,J,O,P,Q,R,S,U.
But I think I'll try the rest of the alphabet too and maybe also minuscules… they are all round, aren't they?

Did you notice my new header? Like it?

Trouble

2009-12-12T16:03:00.002+01:00

I'm in reeeeal trouble. Yesterday my sewing machine broke down. It's really old (from my gran) and I already expected it to happen but not now that I need it. I was sewing for the Adventbastelmarkt and suddenly - dead - kaputt - nothing happend anymore.
One of my friends has a sewing machine and I can borrow his, but I can't transport it because where he lives i need about 40 minutes by public transport and 15 minutes walking from tram to the house (up a hill!!!). So how should I carry a damn sewing machine… can't afford taxi either.

So that was the bad news. I have also some nicer news to share:
I made another smallish bag. You may recognise the fabric/pattern.

and a few days ago I received another fabric…

It's a bit like an Advent calender. Every few days I receive new fabrics or new stuff. I like that. And it wasn't even very expensive.

Uniform or 'how to pimp your t-shirt'

2009-12-11T01:23:00.001+01:00

Today/this evening I worked on the "uniform" M and I are going to wear at the Adventbastelmarkt.
It's very simple but kind of funny: I just bought a shirt (for men) and cut the front side along the middle.
Then I sewed it together again but a few cm transferred to one side. So it's not symmetrical anymore.
You can see the stitching. Then I wanted to add some buttons but I had no fitting ones so I kind of stitched fake buttons.
If anyone is interested in details, just write a comment and I'll draw an illustration to document it step by step.

I don't know why the second picture is so crappy but I'm too tired to fix it now. Sorry.

First achievements

2009-12-10T01:15:00.002+01:00

Today I worked on my Adventbastelmarkt-Project. I sewed two small bags and M helped me cut out the flower-forms for the brooches (she drew and I cut). I made two templates for more bags and planned our outfits.
And in between I received another fabric with a beautiful ornamental pattern.

And by the way – there's now a blog for the Adventbastelmarkt LINK

You can also find it in my "Look at this"-list.

Happy arrival

2009-12-08T14:11:00.002+01:00

Finally the first fabrics I ordered arrived yesterday. And because of that I couldn't stop myself and bought another needle (WOW!!! A needle… it's a double needle ;) for my sewing machine and some special needles to make brooches. Oh and a fastener (??) for a small bag arrived too.

Long lives consumerism.

Bookbinding

2009-12-05T22:16:00.000+01:00

When I first learned how to bind books this video helped me a lot. It's a demo of how to do a coptic stitch.
With the coptic stitch you can open a book in an 180° ankle.
So here's the video Part1 and Part2:

D.I.Y-Market

2009-12-04T14:01:00.003+01:00

In one of my last posts I wrote about this market. Now I decided to join in and rent a stall. So I'll sell my products/goods/stuff on 20th of December in the Atelierhaus der Akademie der Bildenden Künste which is around the corner of Café Sperl in Gumpendorferstraße.
I do it with my friend M and we already prepared some things for selfmade-vegan-bathing-oils (and mostly organic!!).
I'll sew a few things and I'll bind a few books with various bookcovers.
Please come and visit me. If you spend more than 10€ on my products you get a small treat.

My ordered fabrics haven't arrived yet but I ordered some more. At the Dawanda store… LINK
And I started sewing another skirt. It's blueish and pinkish and is not finished yet.
So I'll soon post lots of pictures of all the stuff I've made :) Yippie.

EDIT: OH I forgot: Please tell all your friends and enemies and sisters and brothers and neighbors and parents and family and collegues and mates and pals and homies and stepsisters and stepbrothers and churchmembers and everyone else you know…

Fabrics

2009-11-24T12:51:00.003+01:00

I just bought some fabrics. Satin. Because my sister-in-law gets married in December. And I'd like to sew my own clothes. Or at least a skirt.

Before I forget – on 19th and 20th of December there's a DIY-Market in Viennese Artschool (Akademie der Bildenden Künste). If one of you wants to sell his/her things there – the fee is about 15€. Just write an email to adventbastelmarkt@gmail.com until the 5th of december.

Redriding Hood

2009-11-17T01:21:00.001+01:00

Chocolate Book

2009-11-17T01:01:00.007+01:00

My friend J gave T this chocolate as a birthday present. After I ate it and decided its wrapping would be a nice book-cover. This was a long time ago and last week I finally made it.

A book advice – How to make books by Esther K. Smith

Bag

2009-11-13T13:41:00.002+01:00

My friend Kittynn just received my bag (in November!). I made it as a present for her birthday (which was on Sept. 11th! I'm such a bad friend!) and she posted photos of it on her blog. I'm so glad she likes it.

LINK to her post.

My next project is a fashion-photoshoot with my friend Udhara. I design the costumes/clothing/apparel.
I hope my friend Eva helps me with the sewing. We have to sew the costumes for 8 folks.
I'm thinking about buying second-hand stuff and just changing it…

The themes are: