Pono 4.0

This project continues to agitate. Again, it's not so much the making of the dogs themselves as it is dealing with the woman who commissioned it. About a week and a half/two weeks ago I was stood up for our scheduled meeting. So I rearranged my schedule to meet with her on Sunday. At said meeting she was thrilled that we were almost there...just wanting to see the ears yet a little bigger (after telling me three versions ago she wanted them smaller we are right back to the size we started at). Finally...I thought I was near wrapping up Project Pono.

Well, this past Wednesday I received a call stating she showed the dog to her advisory committee and these were their notes...notes plural...notes she agreed with...

Notes which never crossed her mind in the last meeting.

Notes which are backtracking to previous versions of the dog.

She really does not know what she wants. Or is too eager to please everyone she cannot think for herself.

Regardless, here is Pono v 4.0. Changes include larger ears (which have been tacked to give them more shape), a broader chest, shorter legs and wider face. I agree the changes are working towards a much clenaer product but her way of working towards it...well...mostly I feel my time is not being used effectively and time spent has long since surpassed the financial compensation. I've issued an ultimatum of sorts...I am unable to work on the project after August 31st. She will continue to nickel and dime the prototypes as long as I let her. The deadline will hopefully prompt her to scrutinize more closely and make more assertive decisions. And this is directed towards a woman who has been running her own business for close to 40 years. And coming from a pissant 26 year old.

Puppy!

Presenting Pono 3.2.1!

The woman who commissioned the project finally called me back...two days after missing the meeting she didn't realize we had schedule. I'm happy with the way Pono looks. And honestl, I do enjoy working on the project. Pono grows on me with each passing day, as is want to happen with any puppy. It's dealing with the people that is troublesome. I'll be happy to be done dealing with her...though I will miss those puppy dog eyes...

Pono 3.2

This is the dog project that never ends. But I'm down to two little notes...the eyes and the ears. She keeps waffling about the ears...too big, too small, too close together. She insists the dog's ears are pointed more upward when in all the pictures she sent they fold downward...

And she has never attempted to have anything mass-produced. The idea of needing to front the $25-60 to have the embroidery company create a digital template of the eyes eludes her. She wants three finished prototypes from me, which apparently means I have to do all the grunt work of locating the vendors for the fur and embroidery. And paying the setup fees so I have what I need to make three finished prototypes. In the hopes her ditzy self will reimburse me the full amount for materials on top of my fee...

Oh my invoice is slowly growing. If my brief time in New York taught me anything...document everything...

But Pono is looking much better:

Pono 3.0

Pono 3.1

Pono 3.2

Aladdin and pet projects

Aladdin's going well, and honestly it was fascinating to witness the cutting of a script by the playwright from it's original form produced at another theatre to a smaller version fitting HTY's three actor/one hour limitations. The adaptation process is amazing...what to keep to serve the plot, what to add to clarify the ambiguous...what some people become attached to and what others think should be the first on the chopping block. Back in January the playwright came out for a week long workshop of the play. We started with a reading of her first cut, which still ran about 20 minutes too long, followed by a talk back and design brainstorm. Two days of writing later, the playwright was ready with a second cut...this one much more streamlined but still a little chunky in places. Another reading and discussion. And she still had a day or two or surf and sun before heading back to the mainland. Workshops and readings are an invaluable process for a playwright, or so I am told. And to have a workshop sponsored by the theatre who has already agreed to perform the work must be a treat...to hear not only the words come to life by the companies actors, but also to witness preliminary design discussions...to be present while others' creative germ take seed in the soil of your work...see how others interpret and visualize your story... In Hawaii nonetheless. Hearing things aloud always evoke the imagery and pace much more clearly than reading the words on the page ever will. Plays are meant to be heard aloud after all...

I'm progressing on Aladdin. And have to say I'm quite pleased with the renderings. The design itself is sort of a hodgepodge of different regions...largely central Saudi Arabia, but bits of ancient Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraqi and the nomadic Bedouin tribes. Not that the average Hawaiian grade schooler would know the difference as long as there's a turban or too...

Music of Dolphins progresses more slowly, but seeing as it's a contemporary setting...I don't know...designing modern clothes isn't my forte. I prefer the period and ethnic challenges.

One more little side project...not progressing as quickly as I'd like...I'm developing a prototype for a stuffed animal to be sold with a local children's book. It's a small scale venture...maybe 500 books and 100 stuffed toys. However, the woman responsible had no idea how to go about it and my name was given to her a a local craft person/stitcher/patterner/etc. I've been toying with the pattern off and on since March. Below is version 2.o. I liked version 1.0 better...more cuddly and childlike. Now she's on a realism kick and until I can adapt the pattern to be more to the scale she hopes for (much much smaller but honestly to start the prototype any smaller than what I've been working at would make it exceptionally difficult for me to modify it...let alone stitch it under the machine) it's going to be gangly and strange. Of course the availability of plush fabric locally or online causes a plethora of other issues. I'm meeting with her again tomorrow. But I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll need to do at least two more version before I can shrink it down to the final prototype she wants to send to her manufactures. But being the first time either of us have done anything commercial like this....I kind of feel like the blind leading the blind...