A nice afternoon, two cold and delicious ginger lemon cocktails, a bright colored wall, some nice shirts and your everyday fire escape was all we needed for an amazing photo-shoot.
To make something beautiful pop even more, I really feel like you only need a couple of essential things. And that’s all we used:
Amazing light, music, and a nice camera…
Here’s a sneak peak to our latest photo-shoot….
cute….
Remember in science class we would do random experiments that would ultimately teach us something about our elemental world. Salt crystals, freezing flowers with liquid nitrogen and then shattering them, testing liquids and forming chemical reactions? Well, quite accidentally we did an experiment when dying a shirt this week and it was totally cool!
We dyed a batch of shirts with organic turmeric. Note that this was our first time using this specific natural dye for cotton fabrics. Pretty straight forward dying technique. Hot water + a good amount of turmeric + a natural mordant, like salt, y listo, we had yellow shirts. We rinsed them with water until no more dye came out, like three times. Perfect!
Then we wanted to double test the fabric so we warmed up some water with soap, dipped the shirts in the water….and…sayyy whaaaaaaaat? The water and shirts immediately turned red!!!! We had no idea what had just happened. Magic!?!? : ) It brought us back to doing those experiments in science class.
After a quick research we found out the following
“Turmeric has a pigment known as xanthophylls, which lends the yellow color to it. It also has a pigment called as carotene, which is reddish orange in color. When turmeric comes in contact with detergent, it reacts with the fatty acids present in the detergent and hence the carotene pigment gets more active than the xanthophylls and turmeric turns red. When turmeric is combined with any base liquid like soap it turns red in color while when turmeric comes in contact with any substance like that of vinegar, that is acidic in nature, it turns yellow.”
We had no idea, so for those of you who have bought our amazing turmeric shirts I would say make sure you wash them by hand, separately, just in case of any bleeding.
On to future discoveries.
– Mushpa y Mensa
p.s. – Come check out these amazing turmeric shirts today at The Fulton Flea (located at 650 Fulton Street between Fort Greene Place and South Elliott Place (near the intersection of Lafayette Avenue) in Brooklyn, NY.). We will be there from noon to 8PM. The market is right next to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) http://www.bam.org/, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens http://www.bbg.org/, the Brooklyn Public Library http://www.bklynpubliclibrary.org/, good food and many other amazing Brooklyn sites! Make it a great day.
Summer is here and we at Mushpa y Mensa were ready to get out into the sun. We decided to give Fulton Flea a try and loved it. Keith the market manager was cool, well cool sounds so what you’d say. Let me try again, Keith didn’t suck. That is even better than cool. :] The other vendors, shout out to Harry and Queenie, were fantabulous as well! The customers were real and engaging, but it’s Fort Greene Brooklyn we’d expect no less.
It’s every Saturday at 650 Fulton Street between Fort Greene Place and South Elliott Place (near the intersection of Lafayette Avenue) in Brooklyn from 10-6PMish sometimes later. We are going to do it again next Saturday, so stop by and see us.
Alright, we have to run to the Astoria Market in Queens to sell our art in the garden at Bohemian Hall (aka an outdoor beer garden) from 1-6PM. Everyone should come down and grab a beer and some Mushpa y Mensa organic, original, hand printed, fantastical t-shirts, jewelry, art, stuffed animals and more in the sun!!!
– Mushpa
We here at Mushpa y Mensa have been working hard to get new products out there for our people. Last week I decided to print all 10 of our designs using the white 301 ECO-Series by Matsui (which is an amazing, eco-friendly ink we use on all our shirts) on ocean colored scoop and crew organic cotton Alternative Apparel shirts.
You all wanted more white on ocean, well now you have it in every flavor!!!
Hit up our shop to order your very own organic, original, hand printed white on ocean fantastical shirt (or any of our other gorgeously designed shirts, jewelry, stuffed animals, etc). You’ll be helping two amazing ladies trying to make a difference while making a living doing what we love. That’s not so bad. :]
Much love to all!
– Mushpa
We here at Mushpa y Mensa have been working the last few weekends at The Market NYC. It was a great few weeks, but now that the weather is getting nicer we have decided it is time to hit up the outdoor markets. We applied to a few other venues this week for this weekend and the next few throughout the summer. Once they get back to us we will let you know. If you have any ideas or suggestions where you would like us to sell, feel free to comment away. This is our first few months of business and our first experience at markets so let us know. Also, any insider tips from other vendors are welcome as well.
One upcoming market you can come and chill with us at is Astoria Market in Queens. It will be in the garden at Bohemian Hall (aka outdoor beer garden) on June 2nd from 1-6PM. What does that mean???? It means come, drink, be merry, buy awesome, organic, original, hand printed, fantabulous t-shirts in the sun!!!! That sounds awesome!
Thanks to everyone for their support and love these last few months. We appreciate it.
Besos,
Mushpa
We here at Mushpa y Mensa wanted to wish everyone in the know and unknown universes a Happy Mother’s Day!!! We hope it is filled with much love and fantabulous brunches. If you don’t fall under the Mother’s Day umbrella then we wish you an amazing Sunday of fantastical brunches. You’re welcome. :]
We honor our Mothers and our dear Mother Earth at Mushpa y Mensa with our “No More Stitches, Mama Earth Needs a Cure” shirt. You may pick one (or a fafillion) up for you, your mom, your mom’s mom, or anyone really since it is about honoring Mama Earth today at The Market NYC (159 Bleecker Street) from 12pm-8pm!!!
In other news, Mushpa y Mensa got a shout out this week by Jeffrey Hartinger of Generation: (WH)Y?. Check out the story here.
– La Mushpa y La Mensa
Be sure to check us out at….
Mushpa y Mensa Website – http://www.mushpamensa.com
Mushpa y Mensa Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/musphamensa/mushpa-y-mensa
Mushpa y Mensa Twitter – https://twitter.com/mushpamensa
Mushpa y Mensa Tumblr – http://mushpamensa.tumblr.com
That’s right catch us next Friday (5/10) 12-9, Saturday (5/11) 11-9, and Sunday (5/12) 12-8 living the high life at The Market NYC. You can pick up some of our super fly 100% handmade, organic tee shirts, imaginary friends and of course our amazing jewelry.
See you there.
-Mushpa
What only one day left to catch us at The Market NYC (159 Bleecker Street)? You still have time! Mushpa y Mensa will be there from 12pm-8pm tomorrow live and uncut. If you live in the city or are visiting, make sure to stop by and show us some love.
-Mushpa
We would love to share with you this fantabulous Mushpa y Mensa Earth Day extravaganza!!! It is happening this very weekend!!! What? Yes!
La Mushpa y La Mensa will be selling wares in the flesh at The Market NYC (159 Bleecker Street) all weekend long (Friday – April 19th 12pm-9pm, Sat – April 20th 11am-9pm, and Sun – April 21st 12pm-8pm).
Please, if you live in the city or are visiting, make sure to stop by and show us some love. We are unveiling our much awaited 100% organic cotton shirt designs (“Put a Bird on It” designed by Mushpa and “Mama Earth” by Mensa). These shirts are printed using water-based eco-friendly inks (301 ECO-Series by Matsui), free of PVC, phthalate, heavy metals, azo compounds, nonylphenol and formaldehyde. We clean up after ourselves using mostly water. When necessary, we may use a citrus and soy based eco-cleaner from Chemical Consultants Incorporated. We also do everything by hand from the design, to printing transparencies, exposing the screens and lastly, printing them on the shirts.
It’s exhausting, but we are making art!
-La Mushpa
p.s. – We also have an official web url, www.mushpamensa.com. So official, check it out!
So remember how Mushpa is getting a tattoo? Well here is the first session!
We went to Dare Devil Tattoo, where Michelle Myles took the original design and adapted it to make it fit around the already tattooed fairy.
The frame was made smaller, and it fits perfectly in her arm!
Ouch! Two hours of a needle piercing through your skin, all while having a casual conversation about old movies and what not.
And there she is all happy and bandaged up!
After cleaning it up, the close ups look nice! So far the outline is done, and it is so exciting to finally see this actually on skin rather than paper!
It is still a little red, so she has to give it some time to heal up enough to begin the shading…
I cant wait to see it finished! In a couple of weeks she will have the final piece all done!
Sweeeeet!!!
: )
-Mensa