DIY Funky Neck Piece

I get cold really easily but seeing that it’s now the end of May, it simply didn’t make sense for me to wear scarves anymore.  My solution? Funky Necklace / Scarf made outta shredded fabric

Finished Product:

Materials Needed:

- Cloth (Preferably Cotton)

- Chain

I had a old hoodie that had a hole in it lying about, so I used that as my fabric.  I also had a old chain that was missing its clasp lying around, so I used that as well.

First I shredded the hoodie into strips that were approx. 2 cm wide.  The length doesn’t really matter.

After that, I tore the chain apart simply by twisting the hoops of the chain.  My chain was not the best of quality, so the open sides of each hoop easily twisted and disconnected from the rest of the chain.  After that, I use a pair of scissors to squeeze the open side shut again.  I made chains of various lengths (some with 6 hoops, some with 3 etc).

Next, loop the fabric into the hoop.

Then I knot it.  Insert fabric through the hoop, knot, insert, knot, insert, knot until I ran out of chains.  Then I knot the ends.  The final product is a very very long hoop made of chain and fabric.

To wear it, I simply loop it around my neck multiple times.  The result is a funky multi-layer neck piece that keeps my neck warm. 

Tags: Stuff we make

Baby Quasar Diary (Entry #1)

So Ada and I recently bought a Baby Quasar.  It’s a light therapy tool that is supposed to promote the growth of collagen.  I thought it would be fun to keep a little diary of our progress and thoughts on the baby Quasar, so here’s entry #1.

Before Baby Quasar (Miranda): slight lines around eyes (two bigger wrinkles near the inner corner of my eyes when I smile and small small ones near the outer corner).  No major lines but have some scars from popping one too many zits.

Today is Wednesday, the last time I used the Baby Quasar was on Sunday so I am due in for a treatment.  According to the instructions, I am supposed to use it 3 times a week but I left it at Ada’s so I will do treatment #2 tomorrow.

Not too much immediate effect on Sunday but today I noticed that the two lines in the inner corner of my eyes are not as noticeable.  Either the lighting was different or the Baby Quasar is indeed a miracle tool.   Will keep monitoring. Will also take a silly picture of myself using the Baby Quasar for the next entry!

Tags: Vanity

Sneak Peek!

A little peek of the shoes I’m working on:

Custom pair of shoes for an etsy order.  (Ink Flared II)  Doing this pair with blue and purple instead of green and purple.  Cute eh?

This is a pair I’ve been working on for Ada. They’re not finished yet though…

Tags: Shoes

Wondering how customized Cocopunkz work? Here’s how.

Because I just finished a pair of shoes for a lovely customer named Wendy, I’m gonna use her order as an example.

Wendy wanted something with butterflies but had no idea how she liked her butterflies done. All she told me was that a) she wanted lots of pretty butterflies b) she wants them in purple, pink and turquoise.

Cool.

So in order to get a better sense of what style Wendy liked, I sent her a buncha butterfly images found online. From that she eliminated the styles she doesn’t like and identified her favorites. That gives me something to work from.

Next, I did a sketch of what the shoe could look like along with background details. In this case, I added simple peonies in the backdrop so that they won’t over power the butterflies. I showed Wendy the sketch and she loved it.

This is the part where I start painting. As I paint, I also take photographs of the shoes to show Wendy the progress. Here is the image I sent her for update #1 to see how she liked the Peonies.

Of course she loved them! So step two of the process is to start adding the butterflies. Here’s update two:

Wendy liked the design but told me she would like to see more butterflies and peonies because the side and toe seemed a little  plain.  Based on her comments, I added more to the side and toe of the shoe and sent her update #3:

She loved it!

I’ve since coated and delivered these shoes.  I hope you enjoy them, Wendy!

~Miranda

(PS.  Once again I apologize for the quality of the photographs…)

Tags: Shoes

Sometimes Mistakes Can Be Good

So for the Jules and Eve event, I decided to test a new paint on a pair of shoes I had lying about. The paint turned out ok (but whether or not it’s weather-proof remains to be seen).

Anyway, I ended up royally screwing up the hounds tooth pattern and had to use nail polish remover to try to correct the mistake. As evidenced by the picture below:

See how it’s completely smudged near the bottom? Miranda was not impressed.

Anyway, I decided to fix it by adding a grungy effect to the shoes and continuing the hounds tooth pattern regardless and look how they turned out!

By the way, the shoes say “I bleed for fashion” which is inspired by this absolutely amazing blog written by a girl named Lily: Bleed for Fashion  She’s got mad style.

*pictures were taken by my very pretty but crappy cellphone cam.  Please also excuse the mess in my room.

~Miranda

Tags: Shoes, work in progress

Come Join Us on May2nd at Jules & Eve

Come visit Miranda and myself(Ada) at Jules & Eve on May 2nd. We be there from Noon till 6:00pm.

Top 3 Reasons to visit us on May 2nd at Jules & Eve:
-Come for a free “Customize Your Cocopunkz” Consultation
-20%Off Ready to Wear Collection
-20%OFF Customized Shoes

PLUS~
We’ve made some pretty niffty keychain and will be giving them out for the first 50 people who visit us that day!

See you all on Saturaday May 2, 2009!;)

Cocopunkz Experimental Video

Check out our new video featuring lots of shoes, amazing photography, fun illustrations and spinning penguins!

Watch it now!

DIY – Wall hanging earring holder

Ada and I always lose our earrings.  So we decided to do something about it by making a wall hanging earring holder.  That way, we can display our earrings, and have a place to put them.  This is what the finish product looks like.  (By the way, this one is mine, the purple one below is Ada’s in case you’re wondering why the step by step shows a different color).

Materials needed:

- 1 x blank stretched canvas
- 1 x round tip medium acrylic brush
- 1 x flat tip large acrylic brush
- 1 x acrylic color (base color)
- 1 x acrylic color (tree color)
- 1 x tin foil
- 1 x thumb tac

Start by wrapping a notebok or a piece of cardboard with the tin foil.  This will the surface on which you mix your paints.  If you suck at mixing colors, you might just buy the exact color you want at an art shop instead of buying a bunch of colors and mixing.   You can then squeeze the paint onto the tin foil.

Paint the entire surface area of your stretched canvas with your base color.  I also recommend that you paint the edges as well cause it’ll look nicer once you hang it up.  Give the base color about an hour to dry.

Next you add the tree using the rounded brush.

If you want, you can paint the edge as well.  The picture below shoes the bottom of the painting.  See how the tree truck continues onto the edge of the canvas?  Give it another hour to dry.

Finally, use your thumb tac to poke holes onto the canvas.  You can do as many or as few as you like.  I personally like to poke two holes fairly close together so that I can place a pair of earrings side by side.  Insert your earrings and hang.

Total time: approx 3.5 hours (including sitting around waiting for the paint to dry)

Total cost: approx $40 Canadian

Now go make yourself one of these!

- Miranda

Tags: Accessories, Stuff we make

Irashaimase

Welcome!  You’ve stumbled upon our blog!  This is where we’ll be posting brain farts on art, DIY projects, local hang outs, Canadian designers and artists, works in progress, and other random musing.