Behind the Scenes

The Starrstruck Labs Team is quite the electrifying collective, and is running at full speed. Our momentum is not only contagious but the energy is stimulating. Not only do we have members working on individual projects, but several are collaborating their abilities to produce new ideas for the shop. Here are a few snippets of what the team would like to share:

Top to Bottom Right: 'Stardust,' by Anna; 'Galactic,' 'Dreams,' and 'Rays of Hope,' by Cass.

Firstly, the paintings produced as of late resemble heightened excitement and experimentation. Anna Magel exemplified space in most of her artwork, mostly focusing on planets, nebulae, and stars. Sometimes she’d add in other elements such as a human face, or one of her cats as inspiration. ‘Stardust’ grabbed the attention of many of our followers. KFent is receiving this painting very soon, and is happy to decorate the upcoming studio with the masterpiece; although not for sale, prints will eventually be made available for future purchase.

The rest of the paintings above illustrate experimentation on Cassie’s part: she’s recently purchased watercolor markers. Her works elicit bold and bleeding colors. Cass Miller is also dipping into jewelry making, incorporating beads and stones. She’s tried her hand at clay before, but will be diving into it again to build her clay making skills. The alien to the left was created using watercolor markers and a new glitter medium she recently discovered. Look how illuminating! Behind the scenes, she’s been gathering information with KFent, formulating a plan to go live with their shop. While there are no dates set in stone, Cass has been maintaining Facebook and Instagram posting daily as she produces inventory for the shop.

From top left to bottom right: Zodiac pendants and emblems for possible jewelry or decorative accessories; pen blanks and bullet shells.

Tyler Meek owns several 3-Dimensional printers and has been learning the curve between filaments (colors + type - glow in the dark and glitter, as well as wasted-left behind post printing); sizing (which influences detail), and achieving balance with sanding, splicing and reconnecting pieces. He wastes no time with ideas and shares his ideas by way of 3D images. This is a mere sample of his ideas; far more have been selected for various series’ and projects as collaborative efforts between KFent and Tyler. Although most of the painting for the shop will be split between Cass and KFent, he will also be trying his hand and improving his own painting skills. Fortunately throughout the 3D experimentation, Tyler has been receiving many personal commission requests, as well as stacking work between KFent and Dustin alone. Lastly, Tyler exhibits graphic design, animation and web design experience and is researching and implementing ways to build off of the website (currently an active blog).

Tyler is additionally taking on pin designs.

Dustin Wlazlo turns pens and works with wood and other industrial and organic material. He has plans to introduce Tyler’s materials into his projects for Starrstruck Labs; their collaboration in swapping parts for products is astounding. KFent also requested a piece from Dustin as a prototype for the shop using various materials familiar to him (bullets above). The next photo highlights Dustin’s abilities in pen turning and its process. He has a few ideas and will be incorporating some of KFent’s painting style into the pens.

Recent spiritual awakenings Luz has experienced; the owl and spiral.

Luz Marrero will be adding spirituality into our shop by implementing her personal experiences in the form of paintings. As an example (as shown); she will not only paint the animal and symbol, but will even tie in explanations as to meanings of each symbol when they appear into your life. Spirituality meshes well with the stars, as some people refer to them as ‘The Heavens,’ and when you’re considering demonology and mythology, there is a myriad of symbolism and belief systems that are incorporated into each individuals’ existence. We are excited to have Luz share her personal symbols with us!

Stage progression of the eye ornament.

Kay Fent has been creating at full force; much of it to do with the atmosphere circling within the Starving Artists 101 group chat. She too, has been in heavy experimentation mode. She is halfway through a Zodiac series, has created planetary works, shimmery galaxy pieces, and has transitioned from traditional canvas, to a thinner styrofoam board (she realized about halfway through her current piece that she wastes much less paint!). KFent also handpainted an eye ornament and is proud of the finished product. On top of that, she’s researching demons and angels, as well as mythology and collaborating with Tyler in printing figurines. She opted to paint them. Sticker designs are also in the works. KFent has been initiating and running weekly art zooms, and coordinating between all of the team members for ideas and WIPs (works in progress) mainly to keep them inspired. She also manages Starrstruck Labs’ Tumblr, Twitter, and Starrstruck Labs blog, as well as another collective mentioned earlier, Starving Artists 101, which does play a minor part in the maintenance of Starrstruck Labs. KFent has also been researching print shops, which will roughly support 40% of the business.

The aforementioned barely scratches the surface as to what we have planned for Starrstruck Labs. Stay tuned for more, and thanks for reading!

From top left to bottom right: KFent produced a Space Taco during a Taco themed art zoom; the midway point of the Zodiac line, as well as some sticker ideas. The last image by Cass, is a recent masterpiece (already sold) incorporating a new glitter medium she found.