Tie-Dye Throwback

There haven't been too many tie-dye related posts on the blog in a few weeks now, and unfortunately that's due to our being in a bit of a creation-slump. We started to run low on blanks and with my job situation rapidly evolving and changing over the past few months I've been hesitant to put any money towards the hobby when I had more pressing adult matters to worry about (like keeping a roof over my head and food in our bellies)... Things should be changing for the better here soon, and we've gotten some good news and a couple of checks coming in, but we're certainly not rich by any stretch of the imagination. This is part of why I'm so passionate about getting our tie-dye off the ground, though, while it can be a challenging balance to find. We need a day job (for now) to keep afloat but the desire to invest heavily in our own business is strong, too. I can't go crazy and buy all the blanks I would like to, though, because I need to be sure we stay out of the red each month. So far 710Visuals has been a mainly self-sustaining project, but to grow it further I need to bump it up a notch or two out of my comfort zone. Not the easiest thing to do. But I digress.

Since we haven't been making much these past few weeks, please enjoy the photos of a previous batch I don't think I've ever shared here yet. These shirts were all made by Antho while I was over in Korea, so that makes them extra special. Typically we make all the shirts as a team, sometimes one will fold and the other will apply the dye, but when it comes to rinsing and processing them it's a team effort every time... except for this batch, because I was so geographically distant there was just no feasible way I could help outside of texting him instructions and motivation/support. He had to fold, dye, rinse, untie, wash, photograph, process and post all of these all by his lonesome, which isn't the easiest of tasks. I'm proud that he did this, though, and I think it helped him understand more how much work actually goes into the back end of running our shop. I usually handle the processing and listing for everything because I have the desktop computer and have more familiarity with it. It's a team effort here, at 710Visuals! 

Art: Acrylic Pour Paintings, second round

Any skill worth having takes time to perfect, and that's true of art as much as anything else. We tried pour painting for the first time not that long ago and we were thrilled with the results, especially since we opted to go low-budget with it and use Elmer's glue (less than $11 a gallon) instead of pouring medium (much more money). The first time through we didn't have any lubricant or oils to separate the paints, either, so we had a much smoother blend of colors. This time though we had a small can of WD-40 to use, so use it we did! I used a moderate spritz of it between adding each additional color, and the end result were the differentiated blobs of color drifting among the other shades you see above. I dig it. We still have plenty of paint, glue and WD-40, though canvases are already running out. We got what I thought was quite a generous amount, too, but I can't complain about how much art we've been making. It's been a real breath of fresh air, especially since so much of my 2017 was engulfed by a sales job that stressed me out and ran completely contrary to my character... 

I've never been especially fond of working in sales but considered it a necessary evil in this day and age, but the company I worked for through 2017 went about things in a particularly malicious and predatory way that I found hard to swallow. It obviously works for them as they're making over $100,000 each month off of tourists, but I can't tell you how many times I sold someone a deck of cards only to have them come back a short time later fuming and screaming in my face because they found the exact same item inside the same casino for one-third of the price...of course, the company I worked for doesn't offer refunds, so no amount of abuse from the customer could ameliorate the fact they were out whatever exorbitant amount they'd paid for the item. As someone who spent the better part of the last decade in a field that created product that resulted in consumers laughing at themselves, it was difficult to stand there and see people so upset and know that I was working as an agent of a company that directly preyed upon their naivety to pad their own pockets. That same lack of empathy extends to the employees, too, so don't worry- we weren't getting much better treatment than the customers were. Suffice to say, be wary when you're out and about and be especially cautious of any fast-talking sales people on the Vegas strip who seem over eager to sell you on an item or cut you a deal. Chances are you'll find the same item for a fraction of the cost somewhere else if you keep walking...and if you really want that thing right then and there, then go for it and help that sales person hit their commission for the day, but know that you're paying as much for the experience as you are for the item.

Right here, right now, though? We're here for the pretties. The good stuff, the soul healing happy making dance-inducing pretty things.

Let's art!

Art: Ice dye from early March

Perpetually working through a backlog of shirts, we still can't help but keep creating when the impulse strikes. We've actually worked our way through an entire box of shirts, over 70 (!) blank tees have now been dyed and rinsed, ready to be sorted and added to our shop in a weird sort of shirt purgatory for the time being. I'm still aiming to triple our inventory but it's proving more challenging than originally anticipated- not only is there the backend making process for the shirts themselves, but then we need to wash, photograph, wash again, process the photos then list...and in that time we're still selling away, dropping the base inventory number again and again. This, of course, isn't the worst thing- I want the shirts to sell! I'm happy to see them go to good homes! But a small part of me is a little stitious about our inventory...not superstitious, you know, just a little-stitious...  I strive to keep our shop above 200 items; it's a good round number and seems to keep our visibility up, but we quickly sell below that number at our current state...again, this is not a bad thing, just means I have to fight that much harder to try to get ahead of the curve and list more items! With the recent shop update I got us back over 200 items, but it took over 10 new shirts going live to get there again. We have at least 30 if not 40 more shirts to photograph yet before we can get them live on the shop, and by the time I've processed all those we might be back under again. It's a bit of an uphill climb, I suppose, but this is one I'm extremely passionate and enthusiastic about so the struggle isn't that bad. The more shirts we make and post, the more we're able to sell, and the better for everyone! The more we sell, the more we can invest into our business and the more shirts we can make and share with everyone. We're still working on expanding our options further through the various sizes, because we want ALL of our fans to be able to wear the colourful gear they deserve regardless of their size. This has been a time consuming process but we're happy to keep sharing it with you if you're interested! We enjoy the process along with the results~

More photos below!

Art: February 2018 Ice-dye round two and exciting announcment

In yesterday's post I showed a behind-the-scenes batch where we applied the dye directly to the shirts as opposed to our usual method. These, however, are not those shirts. The results of those will be up tomorrow! Sorry for the wait, but we have so many shirts being produced these days that it's hard to keep up with them all. As I write this there's a stack of at least 15 pre-washed shirts waiting for their final rinse so that we can model them and get them up into the shop. We also recently took a big batch of shirts over to the Bubblegum Galley here in Vegas, where we're now having our first public brick and mortar shop! While the gallery doesn't have set opening hours, they host a wide variety of classes and events throughout the week and are open during Las Vegas's big monthly art event, First Friday. The Bubblegum gallery is conveniently located in the Arts District and is a short walk or Uber ride (or you could rent a bike!) from where the main First Friday event goes down. We're pretty excited, if you can't tell. 

💎 You are magical! 🌈 We are super excited to announce our first ever brick & mortar pop up shop at @thebubblegumgallery here in the Las Vegas arts district! While they aren't open every day, you can always arrange a visit with the owner or pop in for one of their many classes! They're open on First Friday, too, so don't miss out! . . . . . #710visuals #tiedye #icedye #shop #bubblegumgallery #shop710visuals #lasvegas #artsdistrict #handmade #local #art #artists #magical #pastel #pastelgoth

A post shared by 710Visuals (@710visuals) on Feb 12, 2018 at 5:33pm PST

The gallery is a super cool space full of creepy-cute artwork, jewelry, even taxidermy! Antho was super stoked that he was able to recognise a preserved rabbit's head before reading the label... While I'm not so keen on the taxidermy, myself, I can respect the skill and craft involved in making it and give my props to the artist. We'll be hosting some classes of our own soon, and hope to see you there! You can follow along with the class schedule here on the Eventbrite page. We are super duper excited to be part of a gallery showing and to have 710Visuals out there with a store presence. We love sharing our creations with people, but mostly it's been through Instagram and Facebook or our Etsy shop. This has been great, and I'm so happy you're here on my blog reading this! Tie-dye has been such a joy for us and has truly been the light in the dark for me at some points. Life is hard, and sometimes it can be monotonous or depressingly difficult, but tie-dye will always surprise and delight me with the vibrant colours and infinite folds. Hopefully posts like this can help pass along some of that joy to you, too. For now, here's a behind the scenes peek at how we go about some of our craft at our home studio. 

More photos below!

Art: February 2018 Ice dye round one

We're always creating, churning out new designs and experimenting with new techniques and color combinations. Tie-dye has been illuminating for us, and it's become something we do whenever the opportunity avails itself to us. We've really been cranking out an outstanding amount of product these last few months compared to some of the earlier days. This may have something to do with the fact that I've been trying to push towards buying in bulk more so that we have ample back stock ready to experiment with instead of ordering piecemeal one item at a time. Having such an abundance of blank canvases at our disposal stoked something in our creative fires and the results have been great fun! Unfortunately, I'd say our current store inventory is a bit uneven, to say the least, and we're working at expanding our options in all the sizes available so that none of you lovely rainbow-loving folks out there will be left out.  We've made shirts for infants up to 6XL and want to continue branching out! We recently made several 2XL/3XL tee dresses that have been doing really well, so we'll definitely be making more of those for the coming summer months! Plus size girls and boys deserve to feel like the gorgeous beings they are, right? No matter what your clothing size, everyone deserves to feel beautiful and to have options available to them. While searching for plus-size items to add to our shop I've been surprised at the lack of diversity! Trying to find a v-neck shirt alone has been challenging after a certain size, and that's not fair. I'll keep looking because it's our job as creators of clothes to try to ensure we have a little something for everyone, in my humble opinion. 

With some of these shirts, we tried something a little different. Normally we apply the dyes over the ice, letting the melting ice saturate the dye and drip it down onto the top. This creates a more abstract, space-like, water-colour sort of effect that we've enjoyed greatly. For this batch we went dye straight on the fabric, as this can allow a bit more control over the colour distribution. The photos here are just of the process, to see the results of how the dye-direct batch turns out you'll have to check back tomorrow! But for now, enjoy the photos of our tie-dye behind the scenes. 

Art: January Tie-dye 2018

Tie-dye, ice-dye, fabric art, textile dyes... it goes by several names depending how pretentious you want to be, but for us it's just good ole' fashioned hippie tie-dye. We've been going through so much ice that our local 711 employees have all started asking what the deal is, curious if we're having some epic party every night that they've not yet been invited to... And we go so often that our buddy Jimmy  has taken to always welcoming us with shouts of "Mister and Misses Tie-Dye!" when we enter the building. I have to admit that I kind of love it, though! I've been talking a lot about our tie-dye these days, probably because we're making some almost every night. If you follow our Instagram you'll have a pretty good idea of some of our various tie-dye shenanigans in real-time but there's also several Twitter accounts, from our official 710Visuals account to my personal account @shethatisnau and  +Antho Jay has his own, too... I try to update the blog steadily and regularly but this is a habit I'm still working on. I've got tons of stuff to share with everyone, though, and my goal for 2018 is to have a post every. single. day!! I missed a couple days in the beginning of January when I was still sick, but since then I've managed to get a post out every day. I'm working on finding my rhythm, getting the writing habit to stick, and figuring out the direction I want my blog to go in the next couple years. Yes, years. I'm at that point now where I want to plan for further and farther out into the future, and tie-dye is playing a large role in that, as is my blogging. While it's all well and good to have a day job to pay the essential bills, I really want to move away from that and get to a point where I'm less reliant on the whims of others for my financial independence. I've been pretty self-reliant over the years with my caricatures and art, but it's always good to have different projects going so that if there's ever a lull in one area you've got something else you can buffer with. If nothing else, we really enjoy making the tie-dye so it's always going to be an enjoyable hobby no matter what else we find ourselves doing.  

Art: Early Ice dye for 2018

Rainbows here, rainbows there, rainbows everywhere! We love making tie-dye and do it as often as we possibly can. It's always fascinating seeing what kind of mad science color combinations we can create! We typically work with ice-dyes, sprinkling dye over the ice so that it hydrates through and deposits pigment as the ice melts, which creates a more space-like watercolour effect. Even using only one or two colors we've been really surprised by the depth of the results! We do experiment, though, and no matter how many times we dye no two shirts (or skirts, shorts, dresses, hoodies, crop tops, etc...) are ever the same.  It's been a lot of fun throughout the journey, and we've been doing tie-dye for fun now since some time in 2015 or maybe even 2014. I can't even pinpoint the exact date, it just happened that we were driving along and Antho suggested doing tie-dye on a whim and we found that we actually, really, thoroughly, deeply, passionately enjoyed doing tie-dye. Of all the things.  It makes sense, I suppose- I've always enjoyed painting, digital and traditional illustration, and most things artsy-fartsy... there was an awkward phase around 4th grade where I found out there were these brightly coloured three-dimensional paints you could use on clothes and went about drawing all sorts of goofy lizards and things onto every clothes item I could...Colour and aesthetics have appealed to me for awhile, and Antho has always been fashion/image conscious, crafty and hands-on so tie-dye has just been kind of a natural fit for us both. We're always learning and growing as we go, though, it's just part of the process. Nothing is perfect in the beginning, and there's an adage that it takes roughly 10,000 hours to become truly skilled at any given craft, whether it's playing a guitar, tie-dye, or aeronautical navigation, so we relentlessly we strive forward in our efforts to create cloth and colour alchemy. The more we try, the more we practice, the better we get after all. This also means more shirts (or skirts, shorts, hoodies, crop tops, tank-tops, etc) we can share with everyone!  We hope to be as inclusive as possible with our size options and though our funds are limited we try to invest in items that will work for all of our fans regardless what size they wear.  We want everyone to be able to taste, or wear, the rainbow in their favourite spectrum. Everyone deserves to feel fabulous!

More photos below!

Art: Winter ice-dye round two

More ice-dye! What can I say, I love almost everything about this process and it's so much fun! We tend to have a variety of blank t-shirts floating around at any given time so all we really ever need to pick up is the ice so we're prone to spontaneous dye sessions when the mood strikes. This is ideal for us as inspiration can occur at the most random of times and I like to strike while the iron is hot- or, in this case, while the ice is still cold.  This being the desert the ice tends to change states pretty quick during the warmer months, though currently we have a little more wiggle room which is nice. In the process we've been accumulating quite a back catalogue of freshly made shirts that have yet to get properly photographed and listed on our Etsy shop, so for now they're in a bit of a limbo. This has been a little frustrating for me as I'm definitely the hardline type-A in this relationship and feel a need to stay perpetually productive. I always carry two different agendas and a plentitude of pens in various inks and viscosities to work in tangent with the complex color-coded system of tabs I use for my agendas denoting tasks accomplished or goals and events I'm looking forward to or striving towards... I make spreadsheets for fun. One of my biggest goals for 2018 is to dramatically increase our shop inventory and I've felt pressured to get cracking on it before this month slips away into the next. On top of that we've been cycling through various illnesses in various parts of our bodies (chest, stomach, sinus, blah) for most of this year so far... so, really, I suppose there's a very good reason we've been in a bit of a stagnant pause on listing items. I'm grateful that we're still being productive and at least creating, but I've got high-in-the-sky dreams for what I want to accomplish this year and I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself... perhaps 2018 is the year I should breathe deep and try to be a little gentler on myself. These things will get done, and soon, but they'll get accomplished even more gladly when I'm not stressing myself or Antho out about having not already done it. We've still been scouting locations and making new inventory, after all, so it's not like we've simply sat idly by... though, in a sense, that's a lot of what ice dye is- waiting... but I digress.  

Here's some pretty pictures of the process!

Project: Custom Painted Mermaid Guitar

How does one take a guitar from

this

   

to this? 

Well, that's what I'm going to share with you today! This is an absolutely fantastic project that my from CeeDro set me to task on, and I'm immensely grateful that he did! It's been a wonderful learning process and a whole lot of fun. I've always been really curious about customizing instruments and immensely flattered whenever anyone mentions their interest in such a project. This was one commission I took with great enthusiasm!

To learn more, read below!