Category Archives: creative

sewing 2 Comments

Futari no HAATO BARANSU…

Ritsuko Every time I walk into JoAnn Fabrics, I get the feeling that I’m a little out of my element. However… I believe now I have all the necessary fabrics and notions to create Ritsuko’s skirt (see right). I’ll tackle the helmet later.

I think I have a reasonable pattern-plan for making a huge-ass flared pleated skirt. Being a very beginning sewer (er… one who sews? Not a drainage system, kthx), I couldn’t really come up with it myself. So, I combined a tutorial for making a pleated skirt with a tutorial for making a flared skirt… and voila! — a reasonable-sounding (looking?) plan.

However, I am determined to do this right, especially as I only have 4½ yards of medium blue cotton/poly fabric, so I can’t screw this up. My determination not to screw up was only bolstered by the fact that I just spent freaking $42 on my cosplay supplies — and that’s before making the helmet.

One question for those who sew, or who have textile-related ideas: The nice lady at JoAnn’s convinced me that felt was the way to go for the white stripe of trim on the skirt. I can’t really use ribbon, since the pattern will need to be curved to allow for the flare, and any white fabric I found wasn’t thick enough to prevent the blue from showing through when held over it. After buying three yards of white felt, though, I’m having second thoughts. I don’t think the texture of the felt will be appropriate to match with the cotton/poly skirt. I was thinking of something more fake-satiny, or the same cotton/poly as the rest of the skirt, but it’s all so thin it shows the blue through from underneath.

Any solutions to my conundrum? You have a few days to comment, as I plan to wash my blue fabric before sewing, like I’m supposed to. Strict determination to do it right, after all.

photography

Foiled Again

On Sunday, the day after I purchased the Argoflex 75, I found a Brownie Bullet camera for $1.99 at Savers. I saw that it took 127 film, and contemplated leaving it… but not for long. WTF, I figured, it’s only two bucks.

So, I thought I might be able to try 35mm sprocket hole photography with my new-old camera, to test the camera’s workings for much less than the cost of a roll of vintage 127mm film. Went out to the garage and located some foam to hold the smaller film canister in place, opened up the camera — and realized that 127 film is much narrower than 35mm. The camera wouldn’t even think about closing with that huge 35mm film cartridge in there. D’oh!

Damn… off to eBay I go, to purchase some 127mm film.

Maybe someday I’ll get saucy and learn to develop my own black-and-white film. Until then, I suppose I’ll just get butt-raped by Rocky Mountain Film Lab (who, incidentally, can also develop all my obscure rolls of Super 8 film). We’ll see if the Brownie’s worth the trouble after a test roll…

photography 6 Comments

The Argoflex 75

Dear readers: my new old camera.

This is the Argoflex seventy-five, purchased yesterday at the Lucas County Flea Market. Aaron was actually the hawk-eyed thrifter on this one, and pointed out a couple of older-looking cameras. I was intrigued by this one, and popped open the viewfinder to get a glimpse of a fantastically bright (if dirt-speckled) view.

Next step: see what kind of film it takes. I knew from my Holga research that some older films are actually identical to the 120 that I use in my Holga, but the spools are larger and won’t fit into the older cameras. So, I looked around for a release catch… and looked… and looked. Aaron found a little metal nub on the top of the camera, and tried fussing with it, at which point I said, “If I can’t get it open, I’m not gonna buy it.”

Cue the seller lady. She got up from her lawn chair and mutely asked for the camera, then fussed with it for a moment before opening the viewfinder and triumpantly offering it back to me. At which point I asked her how to open the back, where the film goes. To my carefully-supressed glee, she fussed with the same metal nub that Aaron had, with the same results.

Finally she looked up at me and said that it was mine for two bucks, since she couldn’t get it open. I told her that sounded like a deal to me, and the transaction went down. As we left, Aaron and I heard the woman talking to her husband, saying, “I just sold that camera for two bucks! I couldn’t get the back open…” and we heard the husband mutter his irate disappointment in reply.

After we had done the rest of the flea market (meeting our mail-delivery lady in the process!), we got in the car and I gave Aaron the camera to manhandle. And, sure enough, by wedging his fingernails under the top of the back, by the metal nub, and giving a mighty pull, the back finally swung free.

I wonder how much money I saved by letting Aaron wander off while the nice lady was trying to make the catch work, instead of having him manhandle it there at the booth. Probably at least $8.

So, let me tell you about my camera.

  • The Argoflex 75 was manufactured between 1949 and 1958. So, this little camera is somewhere around 50 years old.
  • It takes 620 film, but I managed to make it accept a roll of 120, despite some info listed online. We’ll see how it actually works once I expose this roll. All I know is that it seems to advance OK.
  • It’s fixed-focus, so no focus ring. I’ve read differing stats on how close it can focus: some websites say 7.5 feet, but the manual says six. There were close-up lens attachments made, but I’m doubtful about ever locating any.
  • It can take “instantaneous” or “time” photos; basically, it has a bulb setting. The aperture is f/13, but I haven’t been able to find the shutter speed listed anywhere.

Basically, I’ve got myself a fancy-looking box camera. I’m cool with that, though. I’m enjoying my new hobby of collecting old and inexpensive cameras. As I photograph with them, I find that they all have their own style and personality — which sounded like total crap to me years ago when my aunt tried to tell me the same thing. It’s true, though.

If I ever go on a trip with all my camera equipment, I’m gonna need a bigger bag. 😉