AVANTE GARDE WARDROBE DELIGHT: Belle Armoire
Written: Mar 26 '08 (Updated Aug 21 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: lots of creative energy, inspirational, unique, avante garde
Cons: can be repetitive, expensive, hard to find, sometimes silly projects are a turn off
The Bottom Line: A very unique magazine, BELLE ARMOIRE is for the avante garde artistic person who loves to create. This magazine is delightfully creative.
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| Caprig's Full Review: Belle Armoire Magazine |
When I first saw the BELLE ARMOIRE MAGAZINE, I was not sure what it was. I was in JoAnn Fabrics and I was looking through some pattern books.
The BELLE ARMOIRE magazine kept calling my attention from the shelf until I could not resist picking it up and thumbing through it.
WHAT IS BELLE ARMOIRE LIKE?
BELLE ARMOIRE MAGAZINE is a lusciously designed magazine that is geared toward creative people who love to get something old and turn it into work or art- something new that looks funky, unique and interesting to wear.
I find that the best way to learn about a magazine is to take a look at a specific issue. Let's take a stroll through the Jan/Feb 2008 magazine (my comments under each page in each section):
SPECIAL FEATURES
p21 How To Nunofelt
step by step details using a bamboo window shade and netting with wool roving (fluffy dyed wool) to roll it through soap suds which ends up making very funky looking fabric
p26 Leather Cuffs
taking strips of leather and applying artwork(such as magazine photos transferred to fabric) to them and snaps to make cuffs- there are some interesting variations in leather and shaping
p40 Interview with Erin Mahoney
how this designer takes every day things and makes them into new works of art with some photos- Erin takes parts of different discarded clothing and embellishes them with scarves, raw edged trim, and other very unique pieces that most people would not give a second look to
p50 Beaded Cabochon Earrings
really creative cabochon earrings that look classy using semi precious stones, ultrasuede and beads- the results are special occasion worthy- some dangles and very sophisticated
p54 Artful Accessories for the City Girl
bracelets and purses using leather, trims, embellishments and beads- these look like junk from the trash can wired and connected together into a strange looking cuff or purse- These are not anything I would want
p60 Chained Melody
beaded and metal jewelry with boxy squared metal pieces and square beads - very geometric and nothing I would want to wear, but it might appeal to those who love geometrical jewelry
p62 Kids Heirloom Jackets
making kids' jackets with patterns and/or embellishments that are rather unique and theme oriented - but they do remind me of the simple split front jackets that a bazillion crafters make as adults- no collar, split front and simple sleeves and the designs are very elementary
DEPARTMENTS
p10 Designer Collection: Magnolia Pearl
Fabulous Victorian clothing and purshes from old fabrics and clothing that pre-existed- very eccentric flouncy and lacy looking things- I really like this collection- it is worth the price of the magazine- extremely victorian elegance combined with funkiness- the purses here are combinations of tons of laces and velvet and pieces of old furniture fabrics
p18 Clay Art Extruder Cane Bracelets
rope bracelets that remind me of what you might find in Claire's jewelry- polymer clay with smatterings of colors pressed into them- these are nothing special or unique in my opinion
p28 On the Surface: Spring Thaw
Very unique process of color removal on velvet and over dyeing. Very exciting and creative. The effect of this process is to have a very dark velvet, with jagged edges of ice looking color removed to white and then overdyed with flames and very vibrant color movement- truly works of art
P31 The Professional Arts: Renewed & Refreshed.
How to repackage old merchandice to give it a new look- this is an article no photos
p33 Altered Couture by the Readers
making a skirt and purse from an old sweater from the 80s- looks like a skirt and purse made from an old sweater from the 1980s- *yawn*
p 44 Artful Journey from Refuse to Riches
Interesting ways that Filipinos in Manilla use refuse to recreate works of art. Very creative and pretty. They made baskets from rolled magazine pages, slippers from plastic containers, bracelets from rolled magazine pages made into beads, bags made from chewing gum packages and juice boxes, and even a coffin out of recycled newspaper. Very interesting and exciting to see how someone could take the very poor who have nothing but garbage dumps and teach them how to make good even from that....
p48 Inspired by Design
ways to design using computers, avatars, etc. Also inspiration for drawing models for new clothing- using different approaches of modeling for the clothing and using geometric designs for inspiration in designing clothing on paper.
p58 Student Runway: Metal Mesh Dress
a student adventure using copper mesh- she made a very high fashion dress and matching purse from copper mesh. I can not imagine what wearing this would be like! very uncomfortable!!
p64 Salon by the readers
interesting designs by readers for clothing, old radios and various other means of revamping old things- a jacket is painted with Campbell's soup designs, and old 1950's radios are decorated with old buttons and jewelry findings of gold- very tacky looking, and just dressed up discards, in my opinion
p96 Tapestry
a rather short blib on how the author started using butterflies to make a lanyard looking thing. Nothing special. I would say this is more of a reflective editorial by the author reminiscing about a point in her life where butterflies brought her happiness
OTHER TOPICS
There are a few other places of interest such as letters to the editor, product reviews, polymer clay basics, technique demos, and book reviews.
WHAT I THINK OF THIS MAGAZINE
Although not everything in BELLE ARMOIRE appeals to me, much of it is great fuel for innovation and creativity. I enjoy looking at this magazine very much.
I find that many of the issues have repeitive looking things in it, so I tend to avoid a subscription, preferring to look at each issue in person first.
There are always different ideas using different means to create unique and unusual things out of old recycled things. Sometimes what they come up with is truly unique and exciting, and many times it is nothing more than rehashed junk that would have been better off in the junk heap.
I am often amazed at how some people see such beautiful things in an old piece of clothing that others discard so easily. Some of the clothing that is developed is delightfully creative and inspirational. Other things just make me ask why......
FINAL COMMENTS AND DETAILS
BELLE ARMOIRE is a very interesting magazine with a lot of creative energy behind it. It is well worth taking a look at if you are creative and love to make beautiful unique things. It is not for the *crafty* types, but more for the funky serious artsy types.
Each issue is $6.99 and a subscription is $29.99 per year (6 issues). You can get bigger discounts on larger lots of time offered now and then.
This magazine is BI MONTHLY.
Best to check
www.stampington.com
for the latest deals.
You can also find BELLE ARMOIRE at various magazine racks, and at JoAnn Fabrics.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Caprig
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Location: NE US- 2 email me delete REMOVETHIS
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Product-Evaluation/Information-Specialist. Too Busy to Be KIND to Others? You are TOO BUSY.
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