Nice Day just got a little Nicer

It's been another long break away from Nice Day Designs again, things have changed a little, actually quite a lot since the last time I posted a few words here. I'm still happy with the move that I made to Ennis 18 months ago, and I'm living quietly and happily in my cute little old house.

Recently I decided to wind up this business again, but just the custom badge orders, as much as I love making crafty things and selling them at markets, the endless struggle was a little too soul crushing. I now have a partner in crime to help with all these saucy hen party orders. This is Neil, who is also my partner, you may recognise him from this post last year about a music video that we worked on together. Here's him with his 'Neil' puppet that I made for him. We'll both be at the helm answering emails and sending off your party orders. He's also quite a funny guy, so expect some new whitty one liner designs to come soon. He makes me laugh, he seems perfectly suited to the haiku style of the 1" gag pin.

We also write things together, so expect some links to fun and philosophical video, sketches of fantastical worlds, and generally this blog taking a slightly different direction. It's nice to be back, it's also nice to have company, I do hope that some of you are still reading.

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Costume design for Mustang Hobo

After finishing up with Nice Day Designs it took me a long time to figure out my relationship with my own art. I was burnt out, dry of ideas and no longer sure if I ever wanted to pick up a sewing needle ever again. I tentatively made a few pieces for myself and friends over the couple of years, but waited a long time before embracing a large project again. I only wanted to do it if I loved it, I needed a real passion project to get me going again. One that I have been working on lately is being the costume designer for the music videos for Mustang Hobo, a funk/jazz band based in Scarriff.

The bassist is my partner, so naturally we've been talking at length about the creative process, his ideas for his band, and what artistic direction they want to take their videos. It seemed like a natural evolution of both our relationship and our conversations that I would work on them with him. I like how his crazy brain works, and he likes that I can somehow make his ideas a reality.

The most recent one that I worked on was the song 'So You Think I'm Crazy', which shows the curious journey of a man into the afterlife, which is populated by craven woodland fairies, of which I am one. My direction was pretty specific, he wanted fairies but not the glittery pretty kind; something rugged, textured, and hairy. As is the case with all bands there was pretty much no budget, so this lack of funds informed my decision to collage different fabrics together to make woodland pixie hoods. I used these pieces to accessories a cast of extras all dressed in browns and earth tones.

That's us just as we shot the last scene

The couple of days that I was on the shoot, there were seven in total, were loads of fun, I got to style all of the extras, and it was great to see ideas go from paper, to creation, then to final cut. When I saw the final edit I was pretty blown away with what the Niall Coley, the director of photography, came up with, I didn't expect it to be so beautiful and lush. We'll be making more, and the ideas have gotten even bigger and crazier. I've already started working on the next one, but it's all hush hush, I have to say though, it's pretty darned cute!

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