Animation Preparation

I leave on my Photobooth Expedition in 17 days, on top of getting things ready for the convention and mailing out the donor’s perks, I’m also finishing the props for the stop motion animation I’ll be shooting in the Auto Photo warehouse. (For more info about this you can see this blog post.)

Yesterday I made three paper masks and I tested them out in a booth today. I’m happy with how they turned out. These paper masks are secondary characters in the storyline, with the silkscreened fabric and crocheted heads below as the central characters. Those mask photos were taken by Lindsay Duncan.

I still have many smaller puppets to make. I've been doing a lot of illustrations lately so having something physical to work on has been a nice break.

So Many Thank Yous!

My campaign ended last night, it was extremely successful and a very positive experience. So many people donated; family, close friends, old friends, teachers, photobooth fans and complete strangers. The dollars raised will fund my research trips and more and the supportive comments I received will be good fuel for the long days when I'm working on the book.

For the curious, here are my final numbers. In 23 days I had 80 donors, my goal was $2,550 and I raised $3,737, which is 147% of my goal.

I can't say thank you enough, but I'll start to trying by thanking the donors from the last two days of the campaign.

Now it's time for me to switch gears! I leave in 22 days. I have to get everything ready for the trips and finish up the last of the perks so they're ready to be mailed out when I get back.

Photobooth Expedition Campaign Countdown

There are only 11 hours left of the Photobooth Expedition campaign. If you've been thinking about contributing or had your eye on a perk, now's the time to act! Here's a recap on some of the perks. http://www.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition

 

Photobooth Expedition Portrait Update

There are less than two days left in my campaign! This morning I worked on a Photobooth Portrait of an active booth in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. This booth as a lot of style. I'm making limited edition prints of three Photobooth Portraits as perks. The drawings will also be in the finished graphic novel, along with a handful of other Photobooth Portraits from around the globe.

If you've been meaning to donate to receive any one of the perks, tomorrow will be your last chance!

Photobooth Expedition Mail Art Update

My campaign ends in 2 and half days so I’ve been prepping all my perks! I made these tiny fabric envelopes out of colourful cottons that I test printed my airmail pattern on. I’ve addressed the first letter to myself because I’m curious how the envelope will hold up after going through the postal system. To seal the envelope I’m going to baste stitch a seam in a matching colour of embroidery thread that the recipient will have to snip to open. I’ve also crazy-glued the stamp on so it doesn’t fall off along the way.

The $200 perk for my campaign is to receive mail art for every month for the year. I think I will send out the first month’s letters in these fabric envelopes. As an extra incentive to new donors, I will also send a letter in a fabric envelope to the first 3 people who donate $15 or more. They’ll receive this in addition to their regular perk! Go here to donate http://www.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition

Thinking about the Mail Art for One Year perk, I also started to organize my airmail collection and thinking about the envelopes I’ll be using.

Capacity of Home at Habourfront Centre

Jubilee: The View From Here, a group show at Toronto’s Habourfront Centre opened last night. I made a new piece for the show and haven’t shared it with anyone until now (with the exception of all my friends who witnessed me crocheting madly for last four months.) My piece is titled Capacity of Home, if you’re curious about my thought process you can read my artist statement and see the other artists' work on the gallery's website, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/2012/jubilee-the-view-from-here/

Friend and photographer Lindsay Duncan was kind enough to spend a morning in the studio with me, documenting how the piece is meant to be utilized. Here are some of my favourite photos taken by Lindsay.

Donor Thank You's for start of April

I got behind in posting my donor thank you's here. Here are the names of the last two weeks worth of amazing people! I really appreciate all the support! I currently have 67 donors, comprised of family, friends and strangers.

Photobooth Expedition Extra Special Perk!

I spent this weekend printing and sewing the photobooth tote bags and airmail cushions. I'm really pleased with how the tote bags turned out, they're even better than I imagined they would be!

I also took some time to make this one-of-a-kind airmail cushion. It's the only one like it, I made it by combining printed canvas with some striped canvas that I did my initial test prints on.

The cushion will go to the next person who donates $25 and selects the cushion as their perk on my campaign! http://www.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition

Photobooth Expedition Postcard Update

Today I made three postcard designs. The themes I decided to work with were vintage, found and travel. I started by going through some collage materials like paper scraps, envelopes, old postcards and so on. I really enjoy collaging but I knew I wanted different levels of opacity in these, so instead of physically cutting and pasting, I scanned in all my materials and played around with them digitally, staying true to their original scale and properties.

The first postcard is a combination of four vintage photobooth pictures I bought online and a vintage postcard of Jasper National Park that I got at a flea market ages ago.

The second postcard is of three photostrips I'd found over the course of a few years and a piece of polka dot fabric. If you're interested in found photos, last year I wrote a series of short fiction based on the found photobooth pictures in my collection.

Lastly, is a postcard inspired by my travels. It features a strip I took in Berlin and the signage from that booth and operational instructions I had photographed in the inside of a booth in Sydney. The instructions are translated in 5 languages (!) so I liked the idea of using the three languages of the airmail envelope.

As an extra special perk, whoever donates in the next 24 hours (ending at 12 AM Atlantic time, Tuesday) will receive all three postcards with blank back sides. All donors, regardless of the size of donation will receive this perk. Visit the campaign here to become a donor.

(Please note that you won't be able to select this on IndieGoGo, I'll just be keeping track of it myself.)

Photobooth Expedition Tote Bag Update

Yesterday I silkscreened the tests for the photobooth tote bags I'm giving to people who donate $30 or more to my campaign. I had designed the pattern a few weeks ago (knowing that they would be a perk for my campaign) but I hadn't got a chance until yesterday to test out the pattern.

The colour I mixed came out more sunflower then mustard when it dried, but that's why it's a test. I printed it on cotton but the actual bags will be printed on bleached canvas. I bought 12 meters of it last weekend, I have a dizzying number of hours printing ahead of me.

I originally planned on making 30 bags, but because of time restraints I think I will only be able to make 20 (17 are already claimed on the Photobooth Expedition.) I'm excited to start printing the actual totes this Friday and sew them after I finish my classes later in the month.

I'm very please to say that I've raised 125% of my goal, the campaign is still on for another 15 days so I'd like to raise as many funds as possible in the next two weeks, as anything I raise from now will go to costs associated with producing the graphic novel. If you want to one of the three remaining tote bags to be yours, you can donate at ww.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition!

Photobooth Expedition Airmail Update

I've been a real busy bee lately! I love all the stuff I'm working on but I will sure be thankful when I'm finished my five University classes in two weeks time.

Today I spent the better part of my day sewing the airmail cushions, which are the perk for the $25 donation level. I got about half of them done. I sewed them in the fashion studio at NSCAD so I was able to use their industrial serger. I love serging edges. This feeling is something you can only understand if you have used a serger yourself.

I've also designed a très spécial airmail cushion that will be a bonus perk in one of the coming days. Stay tuned to look for it!

Photobooth Expedition One-Time-Special-Prize

UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: I reached $3000 with the help of Colleen, Geoffrey and Cari! Clearly, I know all the best people on this planet.

UPDATE: I'm $90 away from $3000 so I'm offering a one-time-only prize (actually two time prize because I did my math wrong) for the person who puts my campaign at or over $3000! In addition to the standard perk or perks you select you will also get mentioned, featured, or referenced to in my finished graphic novel!

http://www.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition

Illustrations in Print

I love getting real mail. Yesterday I was happy to find a copy of The Kodkod Collection waiting for me in my mailbox. The book is a collection of short stories based on songs, it was put together by the popular music blog, Said the Gramophone. I have two illustrations in the book that I did many months back so it was a nice treat to finally see them in print! The book also happens to be a good read!

New (well, old) Photobooth Art

I'm pleased as punch to say that only four days into my Photobooth Expedition Campaign that I made my goal of $2,550!

In honor of this I took some time to scan some old experiments that I've never shared online before. I've created a Flickr account for them and other pieces of photobooth art that I've shared here in the past. Here's the new Flickr account.

There is still 20 days left of my campaign and I still have lots of photobooth tote bags and airmail cushions left to give away as perks so I'm continuing to seek donations. Any funds raised now will directly to the costs of producing the Photobooth, A Biography, the graphic novel that all of these efforts are for.

It's a great help to me if others share the campaign on their blogs, facebook, etc. So much of a help that anyone who shares my campaign will receive a photobooth postcard in the mail (this is the $5 perk) to thank them personally! http://www.indiegogo.com/photobooth-expedition

Both these strips were taken in 2006.

Donor Thank You's for March 31st

Yesterday I met my campaign goal! (Take a moment to do a celebratory dance.) I couldn't be more thrilled! There are 23 days left in the campaign so I'd like to keep raising funds, especially because I still have 2 dozen Air Mail cushions to give away. Any funds that I raise from this point on will directly effect how quickly the graphic novel will come out.