Archive for November 21, 2009

| November 21, 2009
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REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER…

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Now kiddies, if you are living in the US and not a history, movie or comic book geek you may not know the significance of November 5th and the Gunpowder Treason. Well, I’m an admitted movie and sometime comic geek and I just could not pass up the chance to do a Fifth of November inspired Fashion Blog and lucky you, you get your fashion inspiration one day earlier because of it.

To give you a little history lesson on our special tribute palette today, waaaaaaay back in 1605 a number of catholic conspirators (the most notable name being Guy Fawkes) attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London. The plot intended to kill the King of England and a majority of the protestant aristocracy.

Well, Mr. Fawkes was discovered and captured in the bowels of Parliamentwith several barrels of gunpowder so his little plot never came to fruition. He was tried for treason and summarily executed in a rather gruesome manner.

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Treason were later given new life via the comic book/movie, V for Vendetta, where a similar character, V, attempted his own coup using Guy Fawkes as his inspiration.

With that little bit of a history lesson, let’s take a look at what’s in store for today’s palette then, shall well?

THE FAWKES PALETTE: 1. Rothschild  2. Pumpkin Spice  3. Passion  4. Mauvelous  5. Opaline  6. Miami Ink  7. Biker Chic  8. Bomber Jacket  9. Havana  10. Willow Tree

For the Fawkes palette, I’ve picked a lot of leathers from the All That Jazz collection. Why? Well, they are unique, bold, gritty and have that “lived in” look to them. Just what we need for crawling around in the basement of Parliament, right?

The combinations here are the same, BOLD! We are making a bold statement this November 5th. We want contrast. We want things to stand out. There are no subtle tone-on-tones going on here. We are protesting. We want to be heard.  Let’s hear it! Let’s see some examples…

1. Opaline & Passion  2. Mauvelous & Rothschild  3. Passion & Miami Ink  4. Pumpkin Spice & Bomber Jacket  5. Rothschild & Mauvelous  6. Willow Tree & Biker Chic  7. Havana & Opaline  8. Bomber Jacket & Opaline  9. Biker Chic & Opaline  10. Miami Ink & Mauvelous

That’s pretty much it for this week, folks. I do find inspiration for these things anywhere and everywhere and so can you. While these ideas may not be perfect for the everyday job, there is nothing stopping you from making something inspiring for yourself whether it be through the ideas here or your own.

What’s YOUR inspiration today?

Ciao

L :l

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman is Finao's official Image Enhancer for the Marketing Department. She makes stuff pretty...usually.

More Posts - Website

Category: Fashion | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
| November 20, 2009
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DAMASK DARLING | A black & white theme

Welcome back again, folks!

We are continuing this week with another theme for you. This time, what would you offer the Damask Darling who walks into your studio with a black and white theme? Sure you can do the same BORING black album or maybe even a BORING white album, but seriously folks, you are at Finao. You don’t have to offer the SAME stuff everyone else does. You can still set yourself apart even with the simplest of theme ideas. Let’s take a look:

1. SeldexGallery matted album in Ebony Saturn leatherette and designer image box lid upgrade 2. Seldex Bookbound Art matted album in black velvet with Ink jacquard 3. Finao ONE flush mount in Marsalis fabric & Miami Ink leather 4. Seldex Bookbound Art matted album in Cristina Re Tiffany canvas 5. Finao ONE flush mount album in French Quarter fabric & Miami Ink leather 6. Black Pearl brocade 7. Zydeco fabric 8. Something Wicked patent leather 9. Mystic Tea Leaves fabric 10. Ludicrous leather 11. Finao ONE flush mount album in Suspicion & Sunday Shoes (patent leather)

MATTED ALBUMS

Now if our Damask Darling wants a matted album, Seldex has enough blacks to make even the goth kids jealous: Apollo black metal, Black Pearl brocade, Matt Nepal leatherette, Ink leatherette, Black outback leather, Black leather, Black macrosuede, Metallic Croc Onyx leatherette, Black Buckram, Black linen, Onyx leatherette, Black Wildlife leatherette and Raven leather. Phew…that’s a lot of black. Shiny, matte, you name it, they’ve got it.

The Cristina Re boutique collection offered by Seldex for their Bookbound Art albums, however, hands down, has probably the best match for our imaginary Damask Darling with the Tiffany Canvas option (see example 4). This is a specialty cover upgrade available ONLY for the Bookbound Art albums. A close runner up is the black velvet & ink jacquard option. (example 2).

For the more DIY crowds out there who prefer the quick & easy options. The Seldex gallery matted album is perfect. You can choose from may of the plain black options listed above or try for something like Ebony Saturn (example 1). Add on a custom designed image box lid and VOILA, you have something completely unique for the Damask Darling.

FLUSH MOUNTS

While flush mount albums may not have as many shades of black to choose from as the Seldex Bookbound Arts, there are plenty of other unique options here as well. The whole new line of black & white fabrics from the Paraphernalia collection would work wonderfully as options for our Darling. Choose from Marsalis (example 3), French Quarter (example 5), Zydeco (example 7) and Mystic Tea Leaves (example 9). The fabrics are cover panel options only and require a leather spine. The top choice for the spine with these materials is Miami Ink.

There are some other great possibilities as well if choosing an all leather route. Add some simple white with Optimism. Add some high gloss flair with patent leathers Something Wicked (example 8) or Sunday Shoes (example 11). Add some subtle texture with leathers like Ludicrous (example 10) or Suspicion (example 11). While not as flowery as some of the other options presented to the Damask Darling, they could still be excellent additons to offset all those patterns.

SELF MOUNTS & PRESS BOOKS

For a straight up self mount album or press book for our Damask Darling, Black Pearl is going to be your best friend. It’s black and has a subtle flower pattern and great for an add-on guest book or self mount companion album. Some other good non-leathers to consider would be Black Gold (Garbo), White Downs (Middle Earth), Black Magic (Middle Earth), Obsidian (Haute Colour), Texas Tea (Happy Cow) or Whitesnake (Ecclectic Looks).

If you want to upgrade to a leather self mount (an Upper Element or Upper Element TXT guest book) you can choose from some of the same leathers mentioned in the flush mount section, however, not all leathers are available on the self mount series so make sure you double check your materials and the cover design guide to make sure the combination you would like to create is actually possbile.

That’s all I’ve got for this weeks folk. We will be off next week for the holidays so look for the next installment of the fashion blog on December 4th.

FIN!

L :l

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman is Finao's official Image Enhancer for the Marketing Department. She makes stuff pretty...usually.

More Posts - Website

Category: Fashion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| November 13, 2009
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THE URBAN COWGIRL | Working with themes

Welcome back again, folks!

This week I’m going to be doing something a little bit different and hope you like it. Up until now we have pretty much shown you ideas that involve just our flush mount albums. Well this week, we are mixing that up a bit and going to address how to work with a theme and how to make it work across product lines that don’t always offer the same materials.

I was inspired this week by a series I found in a wedding magazine that talked about hot themes in weddings. How do you currently deal with a client that comes to you with her theme? Do you work with her to create something special that fits her theme? Or do you simply offer her your standard options and let her decide? The proper answer is you should be working with her to create something special. Don’t panic if it’s a crazy theme. Chances are, Finao can save you and this week’s blog will show you how. Let’s take a look at what you could do if the URBAN COWGIRL walks into your studio. What kind of products and materials would you offer her? Here’s some ideas we could recommend:

1. Chiara (leather)  2. Bomber Jacket (leather)  3. Krumble (leather)  4. Ludicrous (leather)  5. Cedar (leather)  6. Earth (outback leather)  7. Whitesnake (non-leather)  8. 20×8 Flipbook in Painted Pony & Dulche de Leche  9. tooTone! flush mount in Sagebrush Lizard and Drifter  10. Armour flush mount cover with Junkyard Dog (suede)

FLUSH MOUNTS

We will start with flush mounts since they are the most popular options for weddings. What kind of materials would you want to present to our Urban Cowgirl? If it were me, I would start with the textured leathers, especially the All That Jazz collection (Chiara & Bomber Jacket). They have that rugged and worn feel that one might associate with the cowgirl lifestyle. There are also some nice patterned possibilities in the Fragments collection (Krumble & Ludicrous). I would also give some honorable mentions to Komodo Dragon (Accents collection), Bohemian (Accents collection) and Copenhagen (Urban Legends collection).

But there are other possibilities as well if you want to further spice it up with alternative sizes and upgraded cover options. A 20×8 Flipbook (example 8) is always a show stopper and mixed with a Painted Pony (Zumanity) cover is sure to please our cowgirl.

Another possibility is the simple tooTone! upgrade option. Combine 2 leathers for something with extra appeal (example 9). Mixing a lizard pattern with a plainer material are excellent ways to add visual interest to covers.

When many people think of the West, they think of a lot of earth tones and sepia imagery. Armour specialty covers work GREAT with sepia images and offer you a great way to truly customize your client’s cover with something wholly unique. Example 10 is one of our samples with photos from an actual working cattle ranch.

MATTED ALBUMS

What if your client doesn’t want a flush mount album? Would they prefer a matted style album instead?  Don’t worry, we can still help that cowgirl out. Seldex offers some gorgeous Outback leathers for their Bookbound Art line. Earth was picked here but the entire collection is loaded with all sorts of earth-tone goodness. The standard Seldex leather offerings also include some weathered gems like Cedar which would be another great choice for our western lass. It’s also good on the smaller matted Gallery albums.

SELF MOUNTS

Why a self mount? For one, our TXT lines make totally awesome guest books. Many photographers have literally added hundreds to their bottom line just by including a guest book. Many of the leather options we mentioned above (the All That Jazz & Urban Legends collections) can be used on our leather guest book, the Upper Elements TXT. This is an awesome upgrade for the money since it also allows you to coordinate or match a flush mount album in some of the same materials.

If cost is an issue, however, there is still the regular Elements TXT line which comes in our non-leather options like Whitesnake (example 7), Serpentine (not shown) or Sidewinder (not shown). Elements are easy-to-assemble yourself and a great personalized addition to your western themed (or any other) package.

VOILA!

So there you have it, some great ideas on how to customize ANY package whether it is themed or not. Come back next week for some more fun theme ideas

Ciao for now,

L :l

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman is Finao's official Image Enhancer for the Marketing Department. She makes stuff pretty...usually.

More Posts - Website

Category: Fashion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,