Lightbox Construction

I venture into photographers' territory in this post to discuss the topic of the lightbox, which is a necessary and much used tool. These days anyone who posts multiple auction listings online or works on website construction in which good clear quality images are important knows the lightbox well. Most online tutorials on building one at home involve PVC pipe, white fabric, clip on lamps, and various colored solid fabrics for backdrops. The light is filtered by the white fabric and results in no shadow being cast.
I have been making adjustments to the lightbox that I put together this week, and realized that I did good in buying all the right pieces and just enough PVC pipe...waste not, want not. To give proper credit where credit is due I must direct readers to Bill Huber's site (http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent)which had, after browsing several different construction layouts on other sites, the most "user-friendly." My only adjustments to these instructions were that I did not install any screws or use any glue. The pipe lengths fit snugly enough into the joint parts, and I will be able to collapse and fold my lightbox frame so that I can hang it from the ceiling when it's not in use.






Pictured below is one of a line of cone incense burners that will be sold on our site, measuring approximately 4 inches in height and 5 inches across. I had to make an adjustment to the backkdrop, but the photo comes out quite well with the three clip-on lamps on the outside of the frame and no flash on the camera.

Connect with me...

Here's a quick announcement just to put the word out to please connect with me on Twitter @dkahauolopua, full website coming soon, more info as we get closer to launch date. I definitely would love to connect and network with other likeminded creative types of people that love to put their hands to use! One of my mottos is "...Making Something Out Of Nothing." If you agree with this perspective, let me know!

The Crane...

As I continue on this bumpy journey, I realize that i must push myself a bit harder to be consistent with blog posts. I made a verbal commitment to strive to reach my goal of one post a day, setting a small block of time to share a few thoughts. It has been two days since I caved in and FINALLY joined the facebook bandwagon, and I am wondering what I have unleashed. The bottom line is though that I am interested in reconnecting with old friends as well as making new ones, and as well as putting the talents I have out there for others to respond and react to. As I browsed my portfolio photos as well as those others that served to inspire, I came across this photo of a hat/headpiece someone created for a runway show. I loved the boldness of the design and color, but it also reminded me so much of life growing up in Hawai'i and learning how to fold the origami crane. As a young man I was asked to create a centerpiece for a family friend's wedding. I found a quite large piece of a tree that had unusually formed branches I just knew would work for what I had in mind, and I stuck the dried up tree in a large bucket of beach rocks and to it attached 1,001 red cranes that I had folded myself...somewhere there is a pic. Then, in 2004, between my sister and myself we designed a centerpiece for our annual Thanksgiving weekend party. She folded 2,004 gold origami cranes, sent them to me, and I created the dragon below. I mounted 2,000 cranes on red velvet in the shape of a dragon and the star is made with the final 4. WOW.

Beef Wellington...

I must first admit that to date I have attempted Beef Wellington ONCE so far. My friends Marshall and Dany had been dropping those two very words, as if it were some sort of forbidden fruit, an alluring yet unattainable creation. Then two New Years ago, my partner Keith and myself visited Marshall where he was living in Palm Springs at the time, and I had planted in my mind in advance that this was to be the weekend that I tackle the elusive Wellington. In a nutshell, buying the filet mignon for 6 people does not make for a cheap date! Not until I was almost out of time did I realize that the pastry dough needed to be re-chilled for a bit after wrapping the filet. It still turned out tasty, I incorporated a country style pate from Trader Joe's instead of the foie gras suggested to me by the Two Fat Ladies, but because I did not chill the dough before baking the crust it ballooned rather than staying compact. Oh well, first attempt over. Then, a revelation: a true and authentic approach to Beef Wellington presented to the world by chef Gordon Ramsay, incorporating English mustard, and an almost paste made from mushrooms. So easy you will not believe, and as soon as I make it myself I will most certainly report back with the results!

For the love of French homespun linen, part 3

After shopping trips to France during which we were able to acquire as much homespun linen as possible, we often wondered with the grain sacks why there was such variation in the stripe or stripes down the center of the bag. During one particular trip to a small flea market in a quickstop drive through the South of France, one dealer who spoke no English told my uncle's wife that the color and pattern of the stripes referred to a specific place or weaver, sort of an abstract coat of arms if you will that signaled exactly where and who the particular sack(s) came from belonged to.

For the love of French homespun linen, part 2

Long time since last posting, getting myself accustomed to the commitment it will take to create a successful blog. I am apologizing to myself at this point (ha ha!), seeing as how i have no followers yet. That will change...

Pictured above is a pair of pillows I custom made for a client. This particular heavier weight woven flax/hemp was made into grain and feed sacks, used primarily in the 19th century. This was an ideal fabric, because the heavy weave allowed whatever was inside to breathe, and the fibers so incredibly strong that they could withstand being filled with grains or livestock feed. We got many of these sacks over the years to sell in our shop, and because of the looms they were woven on, were no longer than approximately 45 inches in length and about 19 inches wide, with one side and the bottom of the sacks sewn together extremely well. If a customer had in mind to recover cushions with this incredibly durable fabric, I would ofter encourage them to use the grain sacks above all other fabrics we carried. I recovered dining chairs, made seat cushions for many different types of chairs, in addition to the many pillows I made with this.

For the love of French homespun linen, part 1...

This may very well be the first of several posts on my feelings towards homespun linen over the course of this blog. My experience with it over the years of having a shop where we specialized in French textiles, and being exposed to the weight, weave and texture of this fabric, has made it my very favorite textile. I was first introduced to it by my uncle's then wife who is French and is responsible for exposing me to the world of antique textiles in the first place. We bought and sold the large sheets, some of which had monograms in red. There would be a small hand embroidered monogram in one of the corners, not more than a square inch or so, or there would be a large monogram/double monogram in the lower center of the sheet with one letter on each side of the seam. Most of these sheets would only be about 76" wide, comprised of two approximately 36-38" wide lengths hand sewn together. This hem that ran down the sheet (which varied from 76 - 116" in length), was sewn in such a way that it would be nearly impossible for the two lengths to become separated. The hemp 'threads' as you will were more like jute string, and the stitches so close and tight together, that even with a seam ripper the task, should one want to separate the panels to put the fabric to some other use, is extremely tedious. The strength of the stitching is very much successful in keeping the sheet in tact for a very long time...

Shown here is one of the ways we put this incredible fabric to use, as custom draperies for a client's pool house. The challenge of this job was not the actual sewing - just some hemming at the bottom to accommodate the height of the rod - but having enough sheets in a similar enough color to use together, side by side. We needed a total of 8 sheets, and with working with such an organic, natural fabric, color tones of the sheets varied from a subtle off-white/sand to an almost camel/tan/wheat color. Here the beauty of using homespun linen as drapes can be seen in the way this fabric hangs, the texture of the weave filtering the sunlight, the contrast to the Spanish style wrought iron rods/brackets/finials, all working together to produce a wonderful effect and ambiance.