fundoshi fabric photos and more: January 2015

Friday, January 30, 2015

Fundoshi - Red All Over

What's black and white and red all over?

Why, the answer is my recent fundoshi shoot, of course!

This particular fabric, batiste, has been highlighted and explained before. Here it is in a new design, based on one I did on black voile last year.

The basic circles are actually made by tracing my dinner plates! You can use anything around you to create - try it!

Using bleach on the batiste is a bit tricky and it comes out a bit jagged on the edges. This is due to the tight weave of the fabric.

Back to the pretty standard - put on a fundoshi shoot.

I set up a standard lighting to capture the fabric.

Due to the weave, it lays pretty flat and doesn't really have much texture, so the more standard lighting approach works well.

fundoshi…red with a large design based on a dinner plate

fabric...100% cotton batiste

photography…pretty standard - nothing interesting to say

...more...

Grey Voile Fundoshi - The Unknown Design

I really don't know what to call the design I created for this fundoshi, so perhaps you all can help me out with suggestions.

This design was created with square cookie cutters. Before applying the templates with the discharge solution, I haphazardly folded the material. I was hoping this would create an interesting effect, and it did.

For the shoot, I chose the black backdrop. I find it is a good and stark contrast with the grey and greens that came out during the bleaching process.

As I have mentioned before, I am running out of ideas for posing. During another shoot with orange gauze, I was in a similar situation. For that, I gave myself the challenge to put on the fundoshi without standing. I was mostly on my knees doing the wrapping and tying.

For this shoot, I gave myself a new challenge - put the fundoshi on while staying completely on the floor. No kneeling, no standing, just writhing.....

fundoshi…grey with a delightfully playful design

fabric...100% cotton voile - cool and crisp

photography…basic lighting with a black backdrop

...more...

Boring Blue: A Fundoshi of Gauze

It is boring due to the lack of design. I will admit, when I get new fabric, I will make one fundoshi with no design. Perhaps it is to remember the innocent state of the fabric before I start manipulating with all those chemicals. Perhaps it is because the pure, unadulterated color is appealing and doesn't need my embellishments. Perhaps I can be a bit lazy and looking at 4-6 different fundoshi of the same color and trying to come up with designs.....enough musing......

For this first take on the blue, I go to a favorite - the close-up shoot.

I enjoy seeing the texture of fabric and how it plays against the skin and hair.

The 'close-up' shoot is the perfect way to see this.

I used the white backdrop, and lots of light for this.

I know I've been in a pretty dark a moody place when it comes to the recent photo shoots, so I hope this lifts the spirits a bit.

fundoshi…royal blue

fabric...100% cotton gauze

photography…the camera is way up close and personal for this one

...more...

Purple Fundoshi With a Moody White Backdrop

Yes - this is a much used design and I just realized you saw it in purple voile just a couple of blogs ago, but the shoot is a bit different. And the color of the gauze compared to the voile is quite different, not to mention the texture.

Okay - enough rationalizing....I like this design and when I get new fabric, will normally make my first fundoshi in this design.

This shoot comes courtesy of having no ideas. Because of that, you may find some odd things happening in future blogs. I like each shoot to have something a bit unique, and quite frankly, am running out of ways to accomplish this.

So for this series, once again, it is about lighting. More specifically, how little I can get away with while creating an interesting backdrop. I experimented with shadows in the last shoot, and this one uses the white backdrop again.

I know...it doesn't look white in this photo, does it? What I did was to use Christmas tinsel in green, pink and silver, and tried to cast light from the tinsel onto the backdrop.

You can see the pattern in this photo. For the 'subject' light, I used something a little stronger that the last shoot and I kept closer to it so it became quite directional in nature, casting lovely shadows onto my body.

The more precise lighting also shows off the texture of the fabric nicely.

fundoshi…a deep purple with a simple design

fabric...100% cotton gauze

photography…I continue to explore casting light onto backdrops and using low-light techniques

...more...

Light Blue Gauze Fundoshi - The Shadow Shoot

Today, a light blue gauze fundoshi in a new design. If you've been following, you know I have many colors of gauze in my personal fundoshi collection. If fact, the designs all started with using gauze. You may also recognize the technique used in this design. I use cookie cutters as templates, and square cookie cutter was covered in fabric first. This allowed a stamp approach during the application.

The design is a little 'loosey-goosey', but I've been trying to be more haphazard in life and not be anal-methodical. Since these are also made to be worn, not displayed in a frame, the overall design is actually of little importance. How the design moves in the wrapping and looks in the apron is what I enjoy.

For this shoot, I went with two lights. The first is covered in a purple gel and is focussed on the white backdrop.

The second (and I really should have made it a bit stronger) is being used to illuminate the body. The reason I used only one light is to get a defined shadow. By doing that, I loose some of the crispness of one of my normal shoots since it was so dark.