fundoshi fabric photos and more: December 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

I’m so Blue.....and so is my Fundoshi.....

This is the month of gauze, all from Island Breeze Gauze at fabric.com. We had the black and white at the beginning of the month, then moved on to the lovely orange and pink for Christmas. Today, we have a true blue. This fabric discharges to white, and the contrast is quite striking.

The different sized circles are courtesy of cookie cutters being used as stencils. Remember to grab anything you may have around you and experiment!

You may notice in this shoot that the photos are a bit grainy. I could type away and let you know that was my photographic choice. I wanted to have a less slick look to these photos. I wanted to give it a faded 60’s sort of vibe. I wanted to make a comment about the futility of life and lament that even digital information has a tendency to decay over time....

...I hit a button by mistake.

When I do these shots of myself, I have to set the camera’s timer. Normally, I do this without actually looking at what I am doing. Since I am in front of the camera, I just reach around and hit the appropriate buttons (circular button array, right button 1 time, bottom button 3 times, shutter button). This gives me an initial delay of 10 seconds, then 3 shots. Unfortunately, early on in the shoot, I hit the left button in the array. This caused the iso selection to appear. The bottom button 3 times causes the iso to change to 400. My camera is especially bad at using 400 and greater. Doing so introduces digital noise into the photographs. The film version of this is grain.

Even though this occurred, I think the overall concept of the shoot worked and was able to get some interesting photos.

I was working on using a bright backlight to create a silhouette with a dim front light so I wouldn’t just be a black shape. I didn’t do a lot of testing first, so to ensure I wasn’t taking a bunch of shots I would throw away, I actually did each photo two times....once with the lighting I set up, then again with the camera’s flash on.

fundoshi: blue with a frenetic circle pattern

fabric: cotton gauze...just can't seem to get enough...

photography: some mistakes in-camera, but I press on, learning from them....

An now....the rest of the shoot!

Fundoshi for Christmas - Just for me? Take Two…

This is really a ‘take two’…the same shoot from the last one with this fundoshi, just a different set of photos from beginning to end.

I thought I would do it this way instead of the normal ‘putting on the fundoshi’ in one blog, then ‘taking off the fundoshi’ in a second blog….what do you think?

Does it kill the anticipation of the future blog this way?

Are more photos better, or should I try to limit them a bit?

Let me know, and even if you don’t, I am truly wishing you a fantastic holiday season…..

More of the shoot....

Fundoshi for Christmas? Yes Please! Part the Second…

Look...it's that rather loose orange fundoshi with green tinsel…..

Look....we have some close-up back shots.....

Look...is that tinsel being worn like a boa?

Look....it seems to be coming untied...

Look...more from the shoot....

Fundoshi for Christmas - Just for me?????

Look what Santa left under my sparkly tinsel tree….another fundoshi, this time in hot pink gauze.

Wait a minute….is that a new design I see? Why, yes…it is.

I think I have mentioned in a previous blog how this particular pink ‘island breeze’ gauze from fabric.com doesn’t take well to discharge dye techniques, but this one was quite simple to do.

1. The fundoshi was folded in thirds a couple of times. The power of three gives the large design the perfect spot for wearing.
2. I dampened the fabric so the edges of the reaction would be soft.
3. The discharge solution (a strong one - 50/50 water and bleach) was poured in the center of the fabric.
4. I let it sit for a while.

That is it….simple, but I think it turned out rather elegant in its simplicity.

For the shoot, I got out a green and a pink tinsel tree to pay homage to the favorite color combination used by Andy Warhol. It also happens to be my second favorite color combination right now, so there wasn’t too much thought going on…..

Normally, I tie my fundoshi right around my natural waist line. For this shoot, I deliberately changed it up a bit and tied it quite low. In contrast to the simple wrap of last blog’s orange fundoshi, I got a bit elaborate with the twisting and tying and wrapping…just trying to highlight the design a bit.

fundoshi - hot pink with a simple fade

fabric - island breeze cotton gauze

photograpy - general lighting, some close ups….you are probably used to this by now….

On to the rest of the shoot.....

Fundoshi for Christmas? Yes Please!

If you have followed my tumblr feed, you know that I have been posting some daily photos using christmas lights. Well, the holiday season could not continue without one or two special fundoshi shoots as well.

To begin with, a treat with a new color - orange. Once again, this is the ever so comfortable cotton gauze. With the temperatures going down, I find it a bit more pleasant and cozy than cheesecloth or voile.

I have been fascinated by the combination of orange and green, so couldn’t resist using some green tinsel in a shoot.

While the design on this fundoshi appears quite random, it was created in a strangely meticulous fashion. I folded the lovely orange gauze like an accordion. Then the bleaching solution was applied along the edges of the folds. Depending on where the solution hit, and if the fold was even gives the results you see. The fabric was also dry, so there was little bleeding, making the white edges crisper. I’ve done the exact same process on wet material and the results are completely different. So, if you are trying your hand at this technique, I encourage you to do one with the material dry, and another with it wet….you may be delighted at the differences!