#seminars

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Valley of the Sun Publishing Catalog: TAPES & SEMINARS - Winter 1981

[atths--twice]

Hey there! It’s been a while but Fictober is upon us and I’m going to try to write more. Here’s the first story. 😊

Seminar Discussions

A little bit of teasing while at a boring seminar.

Mulder sighed deeply beside Scully and she bit back a smile, her attention on the speaker in the front of the room. He sighed again and she glanced at him with a slight shake of her head. He rolled his eyes and she cleared her throat to cover a chuckle.

“And so in conclusion, the uptick we've seen, we hope to bring down. Thank you for your time.”

Polite applause filled the room as the host speaker retook the stage.

“Thank you all. We will be taking a break for lunch now-”

“Thank fuck,” Mulder breathed, sitting up and shaking his head.

“Mulder…” she warned and he let out a deep breath.

“- just at the end of the hall. See you in about an hour.”

“What’s at the end of the hall?” Scully asked, having missed what was said.

“An escape route? A portal? The last few hours of our lives back?” Mulder asked, standing up and stretching. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so bored.”

“Not even during a budget meeting?” she teased, standing as she gathered her notes and their welcome folders.

“No. Not even then.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, placing the items into her attache. “Not sure I believe that.”

“I’m also starving.”

“I offered you that muffin this morning,” she reminded him, raising her eyebrows.

“The sugar-free bran one? I’ll repeat what I said earlier, no thanks,” he said with a scoff.

“Well, if you’d had it…” she said, walking from their seats and towards the door. “…you wouldn’t be starving now.”

“I disagree. I can’t imagine that muffin held any nutritional value.”

“I’m not starving,” she stated, filing behind the other agents as they walked down the hall.

“But were you fulfilled by it? Be honest.”

“It was…” she began and then stopped. He turned his head, raised his eyebrows, and grinned at her.

“Go on,” he said, motioning with his hand for her to proceed.

“I’ve had better muffins,” she admitted. “But, it’s not always about what tastes best, but what will fuel you for that moment.”

“That is such bullshit,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s not.”

“Scully,” he said, gently pressing her shoulder with two fingers to stop her from walking. “What’s the point of eating a meal if you aren’t enjoying it?”

“Mulder,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve seen you eat expired yogurt and handfuls of old, stale peanuts… which was incredibly disgusting. I hardly think a bran muffin compares to either of those.”

“A sugar-free bran muffin,” he said pointedly, with a tilt of his head.

“That’s worse than stale peanuts?”

“It would have been,” he said as she rolled her eyes and then licked her lips. He smiled and she shook her head.

“Excuse me,” someone said, and he stepped back, allowing a group of fellow agents to walk between them.

“Come on,” Scully said, tilting her head toward the end of the hall. “I’m assuming lunch is being served down there, although I know you were hoping for a portal.”

“Because anywhere is better than here,” he grumbled.

“Mulder…”

“I know.”

“There was no way out of it,” she said.

“I know,” he said again. “And I’m here, am I not?”

“You are. And in such good spirits about it,” she teased.

“How anyone could be in good spirits at these seminars, I don’t understand,” he said, watching people talking and laughing as they milled around.

“At least there aren’t any team building activities.”

“Scully… don’t even joke about that,” he said, his voice dropping an octave. She snorted out a laugh, covering her mouth quickly as he shook his head and closed his eyes briefly.

“If I’d known it was that kind of seminar, I would have gotten us out of it,” she assured him, resuming their walk down the hall.

“Ohhhh, what would you have said?” he asked, falling in step beside her.

“I wouldn’t mention hemorrhoids, that’s for sure,” she said and he chuckled, their eyes meeting in a side glance.

“So instead you’d say…?”

“I would have gone to Skinner and said, A.D. Skinner, I know that we missed the last seminar-”

“But solved a case-”

“Which we had not technically been a part of-”

“But in which our expertise came in extremely helpful-”

“Though they had not been asked of us and-”

“Without us,” Mulder said, stopping just inside the doorway of the large room in which lunch was being served, and looking at her. “They probably never would have found any of those people. They would have died out there in that forest.”

Scully drew in a deep breath, holding his gaze, as she made a decision whether to continue the discussion they’d had many times over the past year. He tilted his head, waiting for her response.

“They may not have been found,” she agreed and he nodded, smiling slowly.

“But…?” he questioned, aware of what her next words usually were.

“But,” she said, “it’s brought us here, for this seminar. Buuut… I had really wanted to win that team challenge. You cost me that accolade and I still haven’t forgiven you.” She raised her eyebrows, keeping her face neutral even though she wanted to laugh as she watched him processing her words.

“Wh… you…” he stumbled.

“I could have had a golden stapler. Or been the first one to solve a giant puzzle. You stole that from me.”

“You…” He frowned and then she could no longer hold back her laughter. “Oh.”

“Mulder,” she said, squeezing his upper arm and shaking her head. “You need to eat. That shouldn’t have taken you so long.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, huffing out a breath.

“Come on, let’s find a table and then grab some food.”

She stepped ahead of him, still laughing quietly.

“Teasing a man who hasn’t eaten since last night,” he said, his hand landing on the small of her back, his fingers pressing gently. “That’s not exactly kind.”

“Food was offered. It was refused. Therefore, teasing is not unkind.”

“Hmm,” he hummed and she smiled.

“Glad we’ve come to the same conclusion,” she said. “Maybe next time you’ll make a better decision?”

“Maybe next time you will as well, and say yes to the delicious sugar filled option.”

“You never know, but I might do that. I do like to keep you on your toes.”

“Oh, Scully,” he said, as she set her attache down at a two seater table. “Of that, you don’t ever have to worry. I’m practically a ballerina at this point.”

Her laughter rang out, his hand once more landing on the small of her back. She led them to the buffet line, picturing Mulder spinning around on pointe shoes and possibly wearing a tutu.

[k00331082]

Seminar- Shape and Form with Giordana

In today's seminar, Giordana discussed form and shape with us. She clearly distinguished that shape refers to any 2D objects while form refers to 3D objects, for example a circle (shape) versus a sphere (form).

Giordana then went through different methods and techniques you can use in fashion or sculpture to create form with fabrics! Some of these were gathering, pleating, creating an understructure, layering and rolling.

These are three examples of fashion pieces that feature gathering, dramatic use of form and folding! The top left piece by Iris Van Herpen creates a really interesting silhouette and figure. I think it's amazingly sculptural, and I'm honestly surprised about how much you can achieve with the use of fabric.

The top right piece is by Issey Miyake, and is one that Giordana showed us earlier, but I thought it was an absolutely beautiful piece. The shoulder pads resemble bird wings and I think the monochromatic colours make it very dramatic and striking.

The last piece is by Rei Kawakubo, and I thought her use of gathering was incredible! Gathering is when you run thread through the top of a fabric piece and pull it taut, causing it to bunch up and create volume.

Overall, I found this seminar to be really interesting because I was amazed at how much sculpture interlinks with fashion, as well as how much designers can achieve with fabric!

[littlemagicalstardust]

Throwback to when Chuck Taylor gave a seminar at the Spanish Pro Wrestling School in 2016.

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

The Best Four Days in Gaming

Just a reminder that Gen Con event tickets go live this Sunday, May 19 at 12 p.m. EDT! We have ten events this year (two games, three hands-on workshops, and five free seminars). Our workshops usually sell out by 12:01 p.m., so make sure you have anything you want on your wish list and ready to purchase in advance!

I am NOT running backup workshops in Lafayette this year, so as of right now the only casting and thermoplastics workshops I'm offering in 2024 are at Gen Con.

Click the link above to view our events/add them to your wish list, or you can navigate to the Gen Con Indy catalog, click the Company/Group tab at the top, and then select "...And Sewing Is Half The Battle!" (we're the very first one on the list).

Here's our schedule for this year, including a couple of brand new seminars:

[a-timely-problem]

...there are some people in my seminars who seriously think they're interesting BC they're participating. And no, you're the annoying fucks who who go on about nothing for far too long so that we don't get to that in the actual seminar and now I gotta research that at home while I have essays due-

Fuck you

[sifu-kisu]

In August, we’re going to Oakland.🔥