Art: Winter ice-dye round four

Of course I've got more tie-dye for you, folks! I've said before my goal is to vastly increase our inventory this year and there's only one way to do that: make a whole lot more tie-dye! Woo-hoo! This is no punishment for us, though the rinsing process can at times be arduous- or perhaps it's better to say tedious more than anything, as no matter how much you rinse it seems like there's always a little more left. The process of ice-dyeing is itself rather magical to me and I absolutely adore seeing the reveal in the fabric as the colors slowly work their way from powdery dusting to technicolor tapestry. This post will only focus on the first phase of making the shirts- the dyeing process. Next post up will be more rinsing shots as those are pretty enough to merit their own separate log. Hopefully you don't mind, as this cuts down on the overload of photos in a single post and spares all of our servers and networks an extensive data binge. 

For this round it was just me, myself, dyeing as Antho was at work when the urge to create combined with the knowledge there was a half-melted bag of ice sitting outside our front door. I jumped to it and made a couple of 2XL/3XL tee-shirt dresses similar to this one. I posted the results on our instagram and it sold within moments of the listing going live! That was super exciting! We'll definitely be making more of these dresses as they are, like I said on Instagram, fabulous for summertime and it really was super comfy! The 2XL/3XL is a bit loose on me but we have small/medium and large/XL dresses on their way, too.  

Summer is coming and we've got you covered! This 2XL v-neck dress is super comfy and perfect for a day at the beach or a casual hike. More photos coming soon! . This will be live in the shop soon! . Etsy.com/shop/710visuals . . #tiedye #icedye #plussizefashion #plussize #2XL #2018 #summerstyle #summervibes #summer2018 #rainbow #rainbows #roygbiv #colorful #rave #festival #boho #bohemian #hippie #trippy #psychedelic #fashion

A post shared by 710Visuals (@710visuals) on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:39pm PST

For the actual dye process I was extremely anal retentive detail oriented when choosing and preparing my colors. We've invested in a decent selection of dyes to play with now, so there's a lot to choose from! I pulled them all out and made stacks based on the colors to create a precise rainbow fade using more than 15 different dye colors. Excessive? Perhaps. Sometimes I just can't help myself when it comes to being extra. 😘

More photos below!

Art: Winter ice-dye round three

Yes, yes, we have MORE! 

Trust me dolls, there's likely going to be quite a bit of these over the next year. I'm infatuated with tie-dye and especially ice-dye if you haven't noticed from previous posts over the years (like this one , this one, or this one from 2015, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, or this one through 2016, or even this one from 2017)... tie-dye is magic. Tie-dye is love.  And if there's one thing we've got a crap-ton of in our house it's love! 

Since it's been a bit cold these past couple months we've had to change up our process a little to ensure that the ice actually, you know, melts. It's not been terribly inconvenient though our living space is small and bringing our projects indoors limits our already limited space a bit further as we have to by hyper-vigilant about any potential leaks or spillages. We have a method that works and has worked smoothly for us so far so I'm pretty happy with it for now. An additional bonus is that bringing the projects inside means better lighting and an even easier time satisfying my itch to peek at every possible instance to see if anything new or exciting has revealed itself! Eventually I'll figure out how to do a time lapse. Eventually. 

For now, here's lots of pretty photos!

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!

Winter Tie-dye 2016-02-05

It's been awhile but now that it's starting to warm up again Antho and I made some tie-dye the other day. I'm quite pleased with the results! I'll be posting them on Etsy in the next few days.

Candy Warpop & 710 Visuals performance 11/2015

Candy Warpop recently put on a righteous show at 11th Street Records in Downtown Vegas and invited us to throw light at them. We happily obliged, and here's some of the results!

Josh, their guitarist, was a bit under the weather but still managed to do an excellent job of it. He even threw in a pretty rad solo later on!

"Exterminating Angel"

Vegas: 710 Visuals @ Halloween House Party

 This year we were asked to provide visuals for a private Halloween house party orchestrated by Germ of Ossum Possum, and we obliged. Live music, free beer, festive costumes and scary movies are generally a winning combination. 

Naturally, Ossum Possum performed, as did Sojourner, and I've got plenty of videos after the cut for you! 

Las Vegas: Candy Warpop & 710 Visual at the Triple B 2015-10-09

Candy Warpop, if you guys didn't know, are a gang of badasses who rock the stage and sometimes give us the privilege of blinding them with pretty lights. 

On October 9th they performed a fantastic set at the Backstage Bar & Billiards in Downtown Las Vegas and asked us to light them, so we did!

Jonas was unable to perform for the evening due to another event with some Cirque du Soleil related business, so the very talented Angelica Santis stepped in on bass!

Unfortunately for us, their giant neon sign kind of drowned out our visuals, but the effect is still pretty neat. More photos and video after the cut!

Members: Amy Pate - Vocals, Guitar Joshua Cohen - Guitar Jonas Woolverton - Bass Anisa - Drums 

Las Vegas: Electric Coronation w/710 Visuals @ the Womb Room 2015-10-03

And to the headlining band, Electric Coronation!

This highly talented group was celebrating the release of their album, so naturally 710 Visuals had to bring the lights for this momentous occasion.

Electric Coronation is comprised of: Joshua Chévere Cohen & Brian Gathy - Guitars, Assorted Trickery Ethan Gathy - Synth Torture Ramy Almerie - Percussive Time/Space Manipulation

Las Vegas: Whenskiesaregray w/710 Visuals @ the Womb Room 2015-10-03

Following Periskope came Whenskiesaregray. Hailing from Baltimore, these guys were on the tail end of their tour and experiencing van difficulties. Even with the technical difficulties weighing on them, they busted out a great set!

Brandon on guitar & vocals and Eric on bass.

More photos and videos after the cut!

Las Vegas: 710 Visuals performance at First Friday 2015-10-02

Oh, Photo Bang Bang, I should write a love ballad to thee.

The photo gallery/studio/event center/stage/lounge/artistic haven is a bustling hub of creativity that brings people of all types together. Lying on the outskirts of the official First Friday event, there is a lot of foot traffic that filters through, but on other days of the month the venue still attracts musicians, photographers and make up artists.

As 710 Visuals, Antho and I have been collaborating with them for several months now and are always happy to participate. 

Las Vegas: Brennan's B-day Tie-dye project finale 2015-09-25

He really likes tie-dye, what can I say? :)

Once the shirts were soaked overnight, we rinsed them off thoroughly and dried them. 

I took these photos the very next afternoon! They faded a bit, but that's to be expected as the shirts are going to look a lot darker when still wet anyway. 

My black and orange shirt.

Las Vegas: Brennan's B-day tie-dye shindig 2015-09-2

Antho and I tend to have a colorful cast of friends, so it's always a lot of fun to pool our social resources for collaborative events, and as it so happened, our friend Brennan happened to have a birthday coming up! He's a big fan of tie-dye so when he wanted to spend some time with us on his birthday it was a natural choice! There were four of us altogether with Brennan, Dalton, Antho and I and 6 shirts between us. I also had an old boring towel that I contributed. :) Dalton only wanted to do one shirt as it was his first go at tie-dye, his was the pink and black bull's eye! Isn't it pretty? He did a great job! Brennan also opted to only dye one shirt this time around, too. The boys brought Star Wars Monopoly (YES it's real and it's really fun!) so when the shirts were all tied off and well-saturated we retreated indoors to let them cure overnight. They came out great! 

More photos below!

Las Vegas: Candy Warpop Show at the Double Down Saloon 2015-09-11

Candy Warpop, in case you've been orbiting Pluto and haven't heard of them, are a badass group of musicians who craft some glorious angst anthems. With Anisa on drums, Josh on guitar, Jonas on bass and Amy on vocals, they combine their individual talents into a passionate performance every time they do a show. We've actually done a show with them before, back in the early days of 710 Visuals!

Trust no one who dislikes the song White Rabbit. 

It's fun seeing these old videos as it really demonstrates how far we've come since then! 

This show was at the Double Down Saloon, which is renowned throughout Vegas for their ass-juice and punk-rock aesthetic. The show went really well and we had a great time!

Check below for more photos and videos.

Vegas: 710 Visuals performance at the Womb Room

One of the most gratifying aspects of life is when things come full circle. Good writers often include examples of this karmic turn around in their media be it through visual gags, narrative, or character development. 

It was with special pleasure, then, that 710 Visuals accepted an offer to perform at the Womb Room, the same venue where we'd originally witnessed liquid light art in action and been inspired to invest our time and energy into the medium ourselves.

Photos and video below!

Day trip to Berkeley

Welcome to Berkeley, a lovely little town north of San Francisco and Oakland, famous for having the oldest college campus in California along with it's politically liberal vibe.

While walking through Berkeley, it's evident that the town takes great pride in itself. The street lamps are adorned with baskets of flowers, the sidewalks are clean and the buildings beautiful and well maintained.

Quirky and creative individuals and businesses abound, with small cafes offering live orchestral performances or Japanese curry. One intersection has three distinct movie cinemas operating on different corners, each offering different movies. Amoeba records flagship store opened in 1990 in Berkeley, so if you're a music geek that's worth noting. It's a huge store with a robust selection and has expanded with newer locations in San Francisco (which we visited) and another in Hollywood.

While a fairly small town of permanent residents at around 100k, I imagine it's pretty safe to estimate that the population boons during college season. Several people remarked on the amusing contrast of seeing young preppie college kids mingling with a bunch of hippies, but that's the kind of atmosphere the town fosters. Everyone we spoke with was friendly and glowed with pride for their home.

Curious? I've got lots of photos for you below!

Return to Haight & The Dead House on 7/10

After checking in to our hostel, we returned to Haight street to check out the Grateful Dead house on 710 Ashbury on 7/10, because, duh. Between our psychedelic light show (710 Visuals) and our appreciation for the Dead it was a must stop on a tour, especially given the date.

Yeah, we're dorks.

Project: Spring Dye round 2

We're often doing some sort of colorful project or event, so naturally we love creating tie-dye!

Here's some photos of a batch we did earlier this year.

These puppies will be up in our Storenvy and Etsy soon. :)

If you like what you see, please help support our small business so we can keep bringing you colorful new creations!

Light Show: Fourth of July show with Toxic Dump

Performing as 710Visuals we've collaborated with musicians from a wide array of musical styles and tempos and that's a huge part of the fun as every show is something different with each band bringing something new to the table. 

For the Fourth of July we collaborated with my friend Marcus to do a show with his band, Toxic Dump. Between it being Antho & I's anniversary, the fireworks, BBQ and festivities it was an all around great evening.

Hollywood: The Whiskey a Go Go with the O's of Presidential 04-09-2015

Since Antho and I started doing liquid light art, The O's of Presidential have readily collaborated with us and been supportive of our art. Fusing their psychedelic garage rock sound with trippy liquid light visuals works beautifully to set an atmospheric soundscape and helps set them apart from the rest.

When they had the opportunity to play at the famous Whiskey a Go Go in ye old glamorous Hollywood, California, they asked us to come along and throw our signature visuals into the mix. 

Naturally, we agreed.

Vegas: Light art show @ the Velveteen Rabbit for Diego's b-day!

Our friend Diego recently celebrated another successful rotation around the sun at the swanky Velveteen Rabbit in Downtown Vegas. There was a DJ, festivities, libations, cool cats and cake!

That's right.

The cake was not a lie.

Anyway, as our visual act 710Visuals we did a live light art performance testing some excellent new equipment. The end results were a lot of fun, check it out after the cut!