THINK 18 - The Lost Pocket Hanky

A hedgehog tastic mix of old and newish hippity hop , which helps Mrs Tiggywinkle find Lucie's hanky..featuring Atmosphere, Doom, Busdriver, Mos Def, APC ... that sorta fing ..ya know

here's the linkage...

http://senoritadosgatos.podOmatic.com

THING 17 - Holy Holly and Ivy!!!

My festive christmas card for 2009 :)

winging its way (in the Batmobile of course ) to anyone who hasnt already got one yet... guaranteed by New year 2010 delivery ( not partiularly organized this year with the ol' xmas card sending mission)

THING 16 - Une Homage to Alexis and Krystal

As " GOD DAMN IT ALEXIS!! ' has been the phrase du jour since my friends got their prized Dynasty DVD box set last month, I thought this would be their ideal xmas present.

Symbolically, Krystal is fading into the background in this 3D photo collage wit 3 layers..the middle layer actually being a Denver, Colorado skyline ( how about that for attention to detail hee hee ) and the uber glamorous Joany Collins, of course in the forefront dahlinks! The frame was gold leafed for extra camp bling, and i did have a photo of the gold leafing process, but my camera decided it didnt want to upload that one - the joys of digital photography..they didnt have THAT to deal with in 1980's Denver did they? no..just diamonds, love triangles,oil rigs and big hats.

THING 15 - SWEATER BAG

What to do with wooly sweaters that you have shrunk in the wash accidentally....MAKE A BAG OUT OF EM!

I sewed up the bottom and cut the sleeves off to make the strap and sewed up the arm holes, but kind of left a bit of knitted look round the arm holes to show that it was once a sweater.. and I fringed the welt at the bottom of the sweater coz it just looked more funky than leaving it ribbed and knitted looking. The pom poms were already there. I used to love this sweater..and now I can wear it again, but in a whole new way! It dont half pick up cat hairs though. JEEZ!!!

THING 14 -Glittery Bats and Mutant Pumpkins!!!

Glitery bats made my the Minx-spook and her witches cat ( me) shown here with mandatory vampire papparazzi
Halloween pumpkin massacre!! its innards made delicious soup! which was actually based on Oprah Winfrey's recipe - fills you up AND solves all your problems on national TV!

Mwaahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THING 13 - Make up for Heather 'firestarter' Skowood's upcoming jewellery book

Ok so I can cheat a bit with my post this time..and just post a link..coz Heather has done all the hard typing-up and pictures work already, on her ace blog which you should all read! :-)

GO HERE NOW!!!

http://heatherskowoodjewelry.blogspot.com/

THING 12 - HOLY REFLECTION !!! SUPERMAN MIRRORS !!

Holy glue fest!!! To the bat room Robin!! I mean..erm, the Bathroom :-)

I kinda stole this idea off something I saw on tv once, where this girl had done the same thing with old comics to tables and chairs.

I have had this authentic vintage original copy of ' Jimmy Olsen - Superman's pal" lying around for ages since I had a holiday in the USA years ago and bought it in a DC comic shop.

And I had two mirrors which I hated, coz the frames were so boring.

Anyway I mixed up some kryptonite glue and got the scizzorhands going and KAPOW!!! two new vintage style DC comic mirrors - HOLY AWESOMENESS BATFANS!!!

THING 11 - Tarted up frock

..Well perhaps 'embellished' would be a better term than ' tarted up'..but anyway..its last years party frock, made a bit more special with some buttons, ribbon and silver flowers..and therefore it gets one more winter of parties to go to..so come on ..send me some invites :-)

Apparently this style ( with fancy ruffly bits), and satin is still ' in vogue' this season, according to Marie Claire, so it MUST be true.

THING 10 - Antiques Roadshow!!

Ok ok so its a bit of a cop(y) out this week!! But Ive been real busy y'all..so yadda yadda!! anyway, its the same telly, with a different face..and in GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOUR! and black n white..une HOmage to the Antiques Roadshow satr Hugh Scully..because we needed an image for the Antiques Roadshow themed Sunday DJ session at the Salutation Pub in Hulme this Sunday, at which we ( the Bobkatz ..Bailey Bobbles and Madame Tukatz ) will be bidding head to head over the wheels of stainless steel, with vintage beats, collectable breaks, classic reggae and some musty, fusty rare old disco found at the back of a cupboard covered in mothballs but worth millions. The image of the TV was cleverly and amazingly placed into its perfect background by Darren, a talented graphic designer and one of the Disko Pogo posse, who along with Lord Jim Drambui Lee, will be hosting the event on Sunday. Roll up Roll up!!

THING 9 - Trevor Macdonald

Here is the News... My favourite news reader ever immortalised in my very own 50's retro telly. This image available at NEXUS art cafe, Dale St, Manchester for £1, this weekend only!! at the She Laughs art sale

THING 8 - Mock Lobster - archive Bisque

Check out my podcast "Tukatz Podcatz !!":http://podOmatic.com/r/ADRpcy

So this is a better link to my podcasts actually - it took a while to sort the page out and get it looking niiice.

Right this one is explained on the Podomatic page - a mash up I did with DJ Dazee a few yrs back, after she heard me mix B52s with some Digital (drum n bass) at Cosies in Bristol , she decided to help me do a mash up with her original dirty jump up basslines. Hurrah said I !! ..and it was so

THING 7 ... Podcatz !!! Technology will not beat me!

Here's a link to my podcast: http://www.podOmatic.com/profile/senoritadosgatos?public=1

Because after years of deliberating about it and being a complete technophobe, I have uploaded a vintage DJmix to this ace website called Podomatic, and I shall continue to upload some old stuff, new stuff, pink stuff, blue stuff, to that site and post links on here..

infact because Ive been on holiday ( to Holland, which was very lovely, and was in fact my summer 'Holland-day' I guess) I have been a bit lazy and not kept to my weekly challenge, so Id best upload 2 hot mixes today..

the first one is called Vintage Classics and its almost an hour long , so I suggest ya make a brew...

THING 6 - Remixed Desigual sundress

THIS..IS..A..REEEEEEEEEMIX!!! wicci wicci wahhhhhh

Recycling an old summer skirt was this weeks project. It was a lovely, but slightly colour-mad skirt from a brand in Barcelona ( Desigual), so heaven only knows why someone who likes to camouflage herself into the urban environment (me) bought this to wear...The Catalan sun must have gone to my head and made me want to reinvent myself into a tropical beach cocktail...Needless to say, it was worn about 3 times.. The Desigual logo shoulder straps used to be the waistband of the skirt..and the skirt was A line..so it was simple to chop up, sew up and shrink a bit into a 3yr old little lady's sundress. Now all we need is some sun.....

THING 5 - " Geisha girl Close Encounter "

This weeks thing is an illustration - I like to call them my pocket doodles, coz they are hardly ever bigger than a postcard , sometimes even as small as a postage stamp..it's a kind of autobiographical drawing ..coz I did see a little orange UFO once. Honest I did!!! in Brixton, above our house in 1997.... HONESTLY !!!! jeez!

THING 4 - 'Kitsune' origami fox

Cheating a bit this week - got this cool origami book off my friend Debbie, and this fox wasnt that diffcult to make, so it did not tax my frazzled brain too much this week !

The book is called ' Cochae origami card book' and there is a website http://www.cochae.com

release your inner manga ninja buddah, and get folding!

THING 3 - Baaaaaaaalmy ! Pop(u)lar sheep

Well the sun has gone to my head this week, so its time for a bit of silliness after all that serious dressmaking.

These sheep were made on the only week they could have been made - when the balsam poplar seeds fall from the trees in our local park - which is a MAD experience! It looks as if its snowing, but its a hot sunny day, and if its windy this ' snow ' blows everywhere in the sky and looks just like snow flurries, and lands all over the park and streets like snow drifts. BONKERS!

Anyway it was blatantly crying out to be made into sheep

Pop(u)lar sheep..the coolest flock in town!

THING 2 ..... June 26th ( slightly cheating)

Right, I have to admit, this 'thing' was made a few weeks ago, but I think it deserves to go on here, and as I'm going away this week, I wont be making anything this week, I shall be galavanting.

Ok so it used to be a drab wrap around skirt , the colour of faded poo...or should I say ' biscuit"?

I got it off ebay and wore it for a whole winter till I became sick of brown based outfits.

And I had this old Red or Dead denim jacket, with an amazing 'rainbow trout' effect where the weave technique of the indigo denim on the outside made the cotton all shiny and electric blue on the inside .. clever eh!. it had long past its days of being my fave denim jacket, but had some interesting detailing, like the buttons and the concertina foldy bits.. This jacket was crying out for its next reincarnation into something else funky for ages... and as I think that poo brown ( or biscuit brown ) and electric blue contrast really well together, this remix project had to happen. It took me a whole afternoon to decide how to chop up the jacket and rearrange it onto the skirt base, but in the end I think it works quite well - all assymetrical n' that!

I dont know what Wayne Hemingway would say about it.

THING 1 .... June 21st 2009

My mum gave me her old denim skirt to make a summer dress for the minx, so on the longest night of the year, and when the minx was asleep, I set to work - it was done by total guess work and guerilla measuring techniques ( sizing it up against a t shirt that fits her, and guessing the length!) The flowers are cut from an old pair of jeans that dont fit her any more but had cute applique on them, and she insisted on pockets which I had to add the next day. Luckily all the beading and seaming and hems and sparkly flowers were there already on the original denim skirt so all i had to do was sew up the two sides and remember to leave holes for arms. And the natural fraying of denim around the pockets and arm holes and neck / tie ups, will look cool as the dress ages and gets washed, so it will look better the more raggedy it becomes ( thats my excuse for not being a seamstress anyway!)

INTRODUCING...

I'm Madame Deux Chats... artist..DJ..stuff-maker..mother of small child..various other unpigeonholeable titles...and when people ask me "what do you do then?"  its so hard to answer that when you have umpteen random answers. I often wish I had only one or two answers to keep things simple..like "oh I count pigeons for a living ,Monday to Friday, and in my spare time I just listen to rare Swiss Jazz and drink tea",  but that aint how I roll :-)

Anyway , to illustrate some of the 'things' that I find myself doing , but mostly to keep my creative mind ticking over, I have set myself a project to make one 'thing' each week for a year - I'm not specifying what genre of 'things' I shall make, but I shall definitely upload each of my weekly 'things' onto here, so by next June I should have 52 of them. Hurrah!

I shall also write a bit about how and why I made each particular 'thing'.

and you can tell me what you think..if you like.

and the next time someone asks me " so what do you do? " I will just direct them to this site and say " this and that and some of the other" 

I hope you enjoy my weekly posts

Merci beaucoup!

Madame Deux Chats