Too Googly

I'm going to have to alter this alteration before returning.  Here's the skirt from the outside:

And here's a little peek at the underskirt:

 Googly eyes! Here's the full view with the skirt pinned up to show the googly eyes affixed to the underskirt with gel medium:

I had been concerned initially that the gel medium wouldn't hold the eyes on well, but it turns out that it holds them quite well... perhaps too well.  The problem that I didn't anticipate is the noise that the googly eyes make.  They all rattle when you move the skirt, which obviously won't work for returning. 

So now I've got to figure out a remedy for that.  I could try to slit the eyes and insert some adhesive so that the black parts stay still, but that would probably look messy, and ruin the fun of googly eyes.  My first move will be to see if I can remove the eyes, maybe by soaking the underskirt and gel medium, in hopes that it will loose it's hold, then go back and paint something else in their places - possibly stationary eyes, or something else of similar size and shape.

Shell Game: Gap Skirt with Feather Tuft

I've been pretty busy relocating lately, and haven't been keeping up with my shopdropping or blogging as I would like, but finally my first non-Manhattan Shell Game iteration has been returned to a Gap in my new hood.  For my first west coast Shell Game I added a tuft of colorful feathers to the underside of a pocket on this sober work-a-day number:

Here's a scintillating little peek up the skirt:

And now a shot with the outer layer of skirt and the pocket pinned up, but with the underskirt still hanging normally:

And hey - why not include a close-up?

Feathers!

Old Navy Cropped Jeans: Fun with Size Labels

I was walking the fashion district, looking for zippers, when I came across a trimmings shop with stacks of little boxes of these size labels:

I knew immediately that they would inspire all kinds of Shell Game fun.  In the future, I may paint or draw on them or in other ways alter them, but for my first utilization I've sewn them, as is, into this pair of cropped jeans from Old Navy.

That photo is of the jeans turned right-side-out, after I altered them.  I sewed directly through the fabric, but because I used a dark thread and did small stitches, my additions were nearly invisible from outside.  Here is what they look like inside-out:

To me, the scattering of size tags works as an abstract composition, but also brings to mind a representation of people of various sizes grouping themselves, and in that way takes on an almost narrative dimenstion.  Here's a closer shot:

The line at Old Navy was very long when I went to do the return, which meant that I had plenty of time to work myself into a nervous state by imagining being caught.  I spent a while watching the people around me, trying to perfect a "normal" way of standing in line.  But when I got to the front the clerk was so busy that quite literally said only two words to me, and the return ended up being one of the quickest and smoothest yet.

Shell Game: Green Shorts from Express

I finally returned the Express shorts to which I had added text.  I actually went by the store, but then chickened out a couple of times before I finally did the return.  Express is the one store that has previously caught me; the clerk noticed a pocket I had elongated mid-return, while searching for the tag to scan the item back into their system.  That was quite a while back, and at a different Express location, but nonetheless, it has made me have a kind of superstitious nervousness about doing Shell Game there.  This return went fine, though.  I had purposely chosen a particularly stealthy alteration, in order to lessen my panic as much as possible.  As I posted previously, I added text to the underside of a pocket.  Here's a shot of the shorts turned inside-out, with the pocket pinned up:

And here's a detail shot of the text:

As per a blog-solicited suggestion, I decided to use Lorem Ipsum (the standard place-holder text used by type-setters, printers and graphic designers) for the piece.  After completing the first pocket I felt like it might look too much like a purposeful design element - like perhaps Express just decided to spice up the pockets by using a text-y print on part of them - so I also added more Lorem Ipsum to the underside of one of the button-flaps on one of the back pockets.  The orange on green looks a little more obviously hand-wrought and out of place than the black on white text.

After all that stalling, the return went quite easily. The clerk didn't even give the shorts the customary cursory once-over before taking them back.

Further Workshopping Some Green Shorts

In my last post I asked for ideas of what sort of text to add to the under-pocket of the Shell Game garment on which I am currently working.  I quite liked Jon's suggestion to use Lorem Ipsum (the standard place-holder text used by type-setters, printers and graphic designers), and so have gone ahead and done so.  Here's a shot of the shorts turned inside out, with the pocket pinned up to reveal the added text.

Here's a close-up of the Lorem Ipsum:

I painted the text in my approximation of Times New Roman, and as a result I'm concerned that it may look too much like a purposeful design ellement.  Since workshopping this piece worked so nicely earlier, I'm going to do so again.  What do you think - does it look like the text is just a standard mass-produced design element, or would someone who found it know that it had been altered?  If it looks too standard, what would you suggest to make it less so?  Some ideas I have considered include adding color to part of or around the text, sewing small beads onto the text to dot some of the 'i's, and adding more Lorem Ipsum to other hidden pocket areas.  But I would really appreciate it if you would just be creative for me again.

Looking for Ideas

I've just purchased a new pair of shorts for Shell Game, which I've decided I want to alter by adding text.  I've never added text to a garment before, and am not at all sure what it should say.  The shorts are the type that have two overlapping pockets. 

This picture shows them turned inside out, with the second (white) pocket pinned up so that you can see the space underneath.  I intend to add the text to the underside of that white pocket.  Anyone have any good ideas of what it should say?

A Lap Full of Happy

My most recent clothing work may be the closest that the Shell Game part of my practice has come to the painting part.  I purchased this dress from H&M:

And because I've been preoccupied lately with wanting to make images that look lovingly at their audience, I added this group of smilers to the underskirt:

Although populated by different people, this is a very similar set up to the large oil painting that I'm currently working on.  In fact, the background from the source photo for this one (which I omitted on the underskirt), is the background that I'm using for the large work.  Here's the above painting in context:

As I selected this dress, and then waited in a very long line, I imagined putting figures at the bottom of the underskirt, atop the hemline, but when actually purchasing I realized that that spot was where the electronic theft-prevention thing had been clipped.  Assuming the clip would be re-attached after the piece was returned, here was yet another way that my alteration could potentially be found before returning to the racks.  So I opted for lap placement instead, which also has a certain suggestiveness to it.

I hope that I placed it high enough to avoid detection.  This painting is the most involved figurative intervention that I've done.  What do you think - good direction to head in, or should I focus on more structural/sculptural additions?

Old Navy Skirt

My latest return is a skirt from Old Navy:

I added a zipper to the underskirt:

Which unzips to reveal a little tuft of aberrant decoration: a crease of tulle, sequins and crystal:

Those views show the garment with the outer layer flipped up to reveal the underskirt.  Here's the garment turned inside out, from which vantage the alteration is visible, but not terribly noticeable:

I was feeling nervous about this one, so I cashed in a favor to have someone else return it for me, but all went quite smoothly.

Silly Guess Pants

I chose these high-waisted cropped-leg harem-pants from Guess for my latest Shell Game alteration, based both on the strength of their over-all silliness, and the fact that they have pockets:

(I forgot that I've decided numerous previous times to stop buying black clothing for Shell Game, because the photos never turn out well.)

I also didn't know that Guess' return policy was so arcane.  They will only refund cash with a check sent by mail.  Since I'm trying to stay as under the retail radar as possible on this one, I think these pants are going to be added to the pile of clothing that I've altered and been unable to return - a pile I am saving to display alongside the documentary photographs, in a currently purely theoretical exhibition of this piece.

Here are the pants, after I altered them, turned inside out:

Pretty mundane, huh?  At least until you look under the pocket:

I had intended to use full color for this, but I found that I quite liked how I could build the image on the black cloth, simply by adding layers and thicknesses of the white gesso.  Here's a better look at the image:

 
It is my first truly figurative addition to an article of clothing.  I decided that a reminder of silly, high-waisted pants of yesteryear, was an appropriate intrusion on this particular garment.

Turquoise Esprit Shirt with a Little Pink Fur

I just returned a shirt to Esprit that cost under $20.  As I was on my way there I started to wonder if I would actually raise more suspicion returning such a cheap clothing item.  I was never one to return clothing before doing this project, so I still don't really understand the culture of it in a normal situation.  When the clerk at the register asks "why are you returning this?", I'm never sure what seems like a strange answer... "It didn't fit"... "I changed my mind"?  I have come up with much more intricate stories, like "I got it as a present for a friend, but then we had a falling out, so now I don't want to give it to her".  It is probably a good thing that I am generally compelled to brevity by nerves.

Here's the Esprit shirt, before returning, after alteration, right-side-out:

The turquoise shade guided my purchase.  I thought it would go really well the pink fake fur that I like to use.  I sewed little tufts of fur into the seams.  I wanted to give the feeling that it was sprouting from the interior of the shirt, like something organic spreading.  Here's an inside-out shot:

Just little bits of fur, tucked into places that the clerk wouldn't see when I returned it, even if they had to look into the shirt's neck a little to find the tag.  Here's a detail shot:

I had considered also adding some little branching forms, the sort that I would cut out of the little sheet paintings I've made with palette scraping and acrylic gel medium:

But once I'd sewn in the fur, I felt like there was a nice simplicity, an almost parasitic feel to it that I an additional element might disrupt, so I returned it with only the pink tufts inserted.  What do you think?  Should I have added more?

Grey Banana Republic Skirt

I was so happy with my last Shell Game alteration, which used an old slide of one of my paintings, removed from its casing and sewn into an underskirt, that I decided to do something similar to the pocket of this skirt from Banana Republic.

I went through my old slides, and soon realized that I had so many that I wanted to use, that I could easily stop doing other kinds of alterations altogether, and start just adding slides to things.

To resist this temptation I decided to glut myself on slide additions for this one skirt.  I sewed as many as I could fit to the underside of one of the pockets.  (To the left are photos of what the skirt looked like, turned inside-out, after I added the slides, with the pocket pinned back)

When I returned it, the salesperson who handled the transaction was very concerned about my experience with it.  It went something like:

Salesperson: Why are you returning this?

Me: Oh, uh, it didn't fit.

Salesperson: What was wrong with it?

Me: It wasn't the right size.  I didn't try it on before buying it.

Salesperson:  Oh, I'm just asking because I had the same problem with this skirt. It looked really cute, but didn't fit like the tan one.  Did you get the tan one?

Me: No...

Salesperson: I had the tan one, but it was sized differently, and this one bunched a bit in here.

Me: Oh, that's weird.

Salesperson (looking at the receipt): Oh and you just got it!

And so on.  Apparently my attempts at showing genuine interest in the fit of the skirt were unconvincing, because I looked back from outside the store as I left, and saw her hold the skirt up to the light for scrutiny.  She didn't turn it inside out and flip the pockets, though.

Plaid Gap Skirt

The Gap just got this skirt back: 

 

With this slide:

Of this painting that I did when I was going through a non-objective phase:

Sewn into the underskirt:

 

Over a little window that I had cut into the fabric:

Which means that it's one of my rare clothing intrusions that can't be reversed. The slide is pretty subtle, visually, but I imagine it may be odd on a tactile level.  Here's one with the skirt turned inside out. The slide is at the lower left corner of the underskirt:

  

I like it.  Now I need to find more of my old slides.

Hhh&mmmm

I just read this article in the New York Times about H&M destroying and then throwing out unsold clothing.

I have done my shell game returning at that H&M location on multiple occasions. So aside from ridiculous waste and corporate greed issues...they may be trashing the art! I'd assumed that if my pieces failed to sell in a timely manner they went on to other lives at outlet malls or something. I didn't realized they were threatened by the dumpster!

Green Dress from H&M

I'd been sitting on this party dress from H&M since November, but luckily return policies are in my favor this time of year, so even though I've only just taken it back, I didn't run into any problems. I was rather nervous about braving the Christmas season shopping scene - the claustrophobia of lines and crowds compounded by the claustrophobia of being much too over-bundled for indoor temperatures.

Perhaps as a result, my alteration this time around was quite subtle: a painting of a pair of eyes on the underskirt, at right around lap height. I kinda like the idea that someone could pull up their skirt to flash a look:

That image has the dress pulled up and pinned to reveal these:

My main concern about this piece, is that someone could actually mistake it for part of the clothing design. At a store like Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters, shoppers would be almost sure to. I considered sewing buttons, beads, snaps, or some other interrupting object over the pupils to make them a little stranger, a little more obtrusive, but it had been a while since I'd painted a nice detailed pair of eyes, and I kinda couldn't bear to disrupt them.

Red Gap Shirt

Finally, I have gotten a new camera! There has been a distinct backlog as far as documenting and posting about my work recently, on account of my previous camera entirely giving up the ghost. But now I am outfitted anew, and can once again produce lovely pictures like these:


This is a shirt from the Gap, which I've sewn an assortment of ribbon loops. I'm not sure if there is a technical term for these loops. They are the sort that you often see inside shirts and dresses that have a wider neck or are sleeveless, or otherwise require assistance staying on the hanger. I've always found them kind of obnoxious and superfluous, and so thought it might be fun to have them sprouting like weeds from one arm of the shirt.

Three of them are loops that I'd cut out of other shirts, one was constructed of green felt, just to make its appearance all the stranger. The sewing was not entirely disguiseable, as there was no seam where I wanted to add the loops, and so little clumps of red thread create tiny divots that you can see from the outside of the shirt. There is an example at the middle of the picture below.

Camouflaging my stitches has been rendered somewhat moot, though, by the fact that I didn't return the shirt in time. This means it gets added to the collection of clothing that, were I ever to show this piece, I would include for sale as artwork (amid the documentation of successfully returned items, which would make up the bulk of the display).

Old Navy Jeans

I so thoroughly liked how the denim birds sewn into the American Eagle jeans worked that I decided to do another piece where I sewed directly onto the inside of a leg in a pair of jeans. To the right is how they looked like from outside - a denim so dark that I could use black thread without it being noticeable, and then below that is what they looked like inside out.

This time they were from Old Navy, but doing something seafaring themed was a little literal even for me. Instead I went with an abstract pattern made up of little circles cut out of different materials:gray corduroy, blue wool, pink fake fur, and the sheet paintings that I've been making with scrapings from my palette encased in gel medium. The pink fur was the most difficult to sew into the denim without it showing from the other side, because the needle would pull little tufts of pink fiber through, that I would have to cut and pluck after I was done.

Before the pants were returned, I showed them to a friend, and got a different response than I usually get. Either because of the general demographics of the people who become my friends, or because of a uniform desire to be supportive, they are usually enthusiastic at the idea of unknowingly purchasing one of the items I'd altered. In fact, most say, "I wish I could find one of those." Not this friend. She said that if she ended up with these she would return them. Not because the utility of the pants were in any way changed, but because she didn't like the idea of some unknown person having touched the inside of her clothing so intimately as to have added things. It is interesting to me, because although it is a response that I can understand once explained, I would not have intuited it. She said that she would think an alteration of the sort were interesting if she found it in an accessory, a handbag or a hat, but in the context of actual clothing it is too unsettling.