seven stitches

We are super excited to announce that our first song is now available for your listening pleasure as part of a benefit compilation called More Than Nine Lives. All proceeds support PAWS no-kill animal shelter right here in Philadelphia. My handsome ginger cat Fredastaire was both the inspiration for the lyrics to our track, Seven Stitches, and the cover model for the comp. We were so honored to be asked to participate, proud to help support such a great nonprofit, and psyched to have our first song professionally mastered!
The compilation is $15, was printed in a limited edition of 500, and was designed by our good friend tFk! Limited edition art prints (including the glamorshot of Fredastaire) were also donated by a range of talented artists, and can be purchased alongside of the album for an additional $10. Click here to see the art and purchase the compilation. Thanks!

the mysteries of our streets

Something we take for granted as city kids is that there will always be something new and curious imbedded in our landscape. Sometimes it's temporary, like the giant YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL strapped to a fence off 2nd and Spring Garden Street that slowly lost its letters. 

Some are semi-permanent, like the little pink army men that crawled across the city one summer. They were glued in place, but it appears as though someone pried them loose and took them home. 

Even the more well-affixed symbols have grown legs and walked off- I've heard that if you can peel up one of the pavement robots, known as stikman soon after it's laid down it's a seller's market.

These opposing drives- to create and disseminate street art, and to collect it with photographs or by pocketing it- makes for an ever-changing landscape of urban art.

Have you ever seen these curious plaques in crosswalks all around the city? I thought they were exclusively a Philadelphia phenomenon, but apparently they have popped up in many other cities since 1980 when the first was photographed in Philly. Some may have been placed there by copycats, but most carry the same cryptic message. There's a new documentary called Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles that explores their history and tries to get to their roots. It looks like quite a nail-biter! Check it out here.

sonic fabric

Our friend Lisa pointed us to this textile project that incorporates fabric and sound. Cassette tapes are woven into yardage which can then be played using a tape-head (you can make your own player by modifying a walkman). The fabric has a smooth shimmery appearance and the sound it generates is a like that of a talkative warbler, heavily punctuated yet cheerful. The fabric is woven in New England and made into handbags, bowties and neckties. The sounds chosen coordinate with the object's purpose, for instance, the necktie contains tape of a collage of music and sounds from New York City. To find out more about this project, check out sonicfabric.com.

So many thanks!

A huge thank you to everyone who pledged to our Kickstarter campaign... which has come to a quiet end! We are so grateful to all of you, and for the press that began to trickle in at the end! Check out our shout out on Wired and the great interview from Kate Bracaglia on AV Club!

We are putting together an Etsy shop for an alternative way of funding the project, and we'll soon be posting the same items that we offered as rewards through Kickstarter. So don't fret! You can still get your Seamripper tote or customized pin with your official Seamripper name on it!

The great response we've gotten from everyone we've spoken to about our ideas has meant so much- we're more excited than ever to explore the sounds of our studio and share them with all of you!

Thanks again!
Rose & Jade

guerillas in the midst...

of a Kickstarter campaign! We are one week into a four week long campaign to raise some capital for the Summer of Seamripper, and we're 14% of the way there! That's nothing to shake a seamripper at (don't try that at home) but we'll need to up our game to reach our goal. Remember, with Kickstarter, funding is all or nothing! 

Front and back of one card design, with sticker attached!

This weekend we kicked off our guerilla marketing with some hand-cut and screen-printed recycled-fabric-scrap stickers sewn to logo cards with a link to our Kickstarter site. We even made a QR code for it- it is the future, after all ;) We've been busy this week spreading the word about Seamripper, attaching logo pins to unsuspecting friends and spreading stickers across the city.

front side of 3/4 of our logo cards

Can you think of a gallery or shop that would be a great match with our mission and would like to display our cards? Let us know!

XsewXsew!

Rose

guerilla marketing, now with kittens!

Today I printed some Seamripper logos on fabric with my Gocco. What a little work horse! I highly recommend it for anyone who likes making tiny art in small batches... if you can get your hands on one. They are an endangered species these days! I've had mine for ages and it still works like a dream. It's such a simple little all-in-one screenprinter, there aren't many moving parts and it's so low-tech, it would honestly be hard to break it without great effort ;)

I cut out the fabric and Moonunit helped me to enjoy the scraps in the sunshine. She was chasing light reflecting off of my fabric shears and generally being a very playful 10-year-old kitten. She watched intently as I cranked them through my Xyron to make them into stickers. We'll cut them out and add some info, then spread them across the city to spread the word. Let me know if you'd like one before they're all gone!

Kickstarted!

The Summer of Seamripper just needs a little Kickstart!

Click on our logo above to check out our Kickstarter Project!