6.14 Four Way Stretch with Calli Comical

Transcript

Maybe not. Welcome back to the show. Let’s start. Let’s start this again everyone.

Welcome back to the show, Kelly Comical AKA Indigo. Little round of applause from the audience, please. So great to have you back. Welcome. It’s been so long. We were just saying we haven’t seen you in four years. I know like on in the in the studio. I dumped A2 at a party the other night and you were like, let’s go again. We’re like please? And was just saying that you’ve

met his mother. Yeah, as he walked in, I just literally remember I was like, you know, my mum, like kind of. I taught your mum how to sew. Yeah. How did that? Go. It was really good. Yeah, we we did a course at I was teaching sewing at Bobbin and Ink for a few years for

adults and kids. Beginners learned to make clothing from scratch. And your beautiful mother came up to me and said, you’ve been on my sons podcast. They went, Oh my God. Shut up, mum. Yeah, Liz doing the real. One. Yeah, Lizzie, she’s a legend. No. She was super. Sweet. Yeah, she’s great. I think she still has the

ambition. She did end up getting like one of those beautiful old singers with like the table and. The handle and. Oh, yeah, yeah, I was playing with that the other day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s a great machine. Yeah, yeah. I’ve got a couple of those hanging around here, actually, since I saw you last. We should get her on the pot actually. We should get my mom on the. Yeah, we should definitely get your mom on the pot.

Yeah, I would do it. It would be funny. She’s got good, she’s got amazing stories. She has stories for days. True. I’ve heard them all already and so sometimes they tie. Me up, yeah. True for a new audience. Yeah, you just. Pretend like it’s the first time. But yeah, like, what was she? The thing she really wanted to make was like a pair of yoga shorts, which were apparently famously very hard to get.

Four way stretch. Yeah, yeah, There you go. Advance territory. Always stretch. What is? What is that I can’t? Remember her saying this actually. Her eyes were maybe a little bigger that she’s like, I want to start with the the four way stretch. It’s like. Four way stretch. So what is the indigo? Describe that? What is that? Working with stretch is it’s

something that when I say four way stretch, it means that it’s going to move in four different directions when you pull. It. When you work with a woven fabric, you have a little bit of ease in like your weft and warp your left and right axis. But four way you have to be very, you kind of have to be pulling it through the machine.

While you sew and you’re not. You can sew it on a regular domestic sewing machine using a zigzag stitch. If you want you know quality that’s going to withstand heavy yoga, then it’s better to use like an overlooker or a cover stitch. But even that motion of moving that through the machine can be, it’s difficult.

It takes a few runs. So you’re kind of just there with lots of scraps, like just feeding stuff through machines. And it’s good. It’s good to hear this because I was, I was worried. She was like, it’s been so hard to find these shorts and they’ve been like this sort of like symbolic floating object above all of our heads for years.

She asked my godfather, who runs a yoga studio to like, bring her back a pair from India. And they were even wrong. So it’s like they’ve never been. We’re still waiting for this platonic yoga short. Yeah. Have you made yourself something that’s like no one has the exact pair of jeans or whatever that I need? Like, yeah, the T-shirt, yeah, that’s an amazing ability to

have. I think like some of the more like costumey pieces I’ve made under Kelly Comical that were stocked in places for a while were more of the one of one pieces that when I had time to make things for myself and it wasn’t even for me. It was more just to having time

to do a creative project, which isn’t that like the best way to use your knowledge and abilities. I think it’s the most exciting application of it, but it’s hard to find time to do that. And it feels like a weird reward to like give yourself time to do that. But you end up making some really great things.

And I think it’s like a good mark in a portfolio and you can use them to learn to stylists and everything as well. So true. You see the images recycled too and like they become new things over time, which is. That is cool. Yeah. That is interesting seeing the same piece like used in different ways. Yeah, Yeah, that is cool.

I love those things that like people come up with where it’s like it can be a skirt or a scarf or AT shirt or like a sock or whatever. I love that stuff that’s like it’s anything or even like it’s, it’s not even like I have this like hat where I like soared to the front off of it and everyone’s like, like it doesn’t even block this on anymore.

And I’m like, I know just the point. I look sick. Yeah, it’s not. Yeah, it’s. Not about two of you at the party. Line. I know I saw I didn’t want. To say, I saw another guy with the Saunoff and I was like, has Matt seen Matt know? Did you have you guys met him? I was like pulling it up. I was like, I’d be the one of two guys 2. Saunoffs in like 201 in 100. People these days are wearing a

saunoff, yeah. It’s catching up. I mean, it’s it’s not a new thing. No, it’s like in those movies where two people rock up to high school in. The same thing. She’s wearing the same thing. Just take that off right now, one. Of us is going to have to go home and change. Yeah.

That’s. True. Did you? Were you the one that had to go home? I mean, I, I only saw him once or twice, but we were never closer than like, did you not meet? So you never met? No, that’s the one party where I didn’t introduce myself to everyone in the in the party. I wasn’t feeling good. That’s fine. Have you worked with any stylists recently that you want to like shout out?

I know we’ve got some really interesting young stylists in Sydney. Going yeah, there’s an incredible amount of great stylists in Sydney. I I can’t remember what I’d sent stuff to, but Rose, pure Cat, she does some incredible work. She’s doing some great stuff for

Nina Jirachi at the moment. Cool.

I think I actually loaned her a pair of pants I made for a Ren fair. That’s funny. And she? Looked really great in the. That’s awesome. Yeah. And Verity as well. She’s an incredible woman in film, theatre, costume production. We’ve worked on a few jobs together, but we did something for the Opera House. Earlier I saw that this year

recently like. Yeah, yeah, I saw that designed and art finished a lot of stuff and I just came in to help do some alterations. But yeah, I love working with her. Cool, she’s got. An incredible yeah, she seems like I love her Instagram. Yeah, cool. Yeah, yeah, she’s got a great mind. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really hard working as well. Cool, Yeah, she said. She’s working on like a television show at the moment

and you’ve also been doing some stuff for Marcus. Yeah. That high vis jacket. Yeah, that looks amazing. I I gave that to him. It got signed off like 2 days ago. Cool. Yeah, come to the show. It’s on the 25th of July for the Melbourne show.

Yeah, the 7th of August I think for the Sydney. Show Yeah at the rattle up. Yes, yeah, yes, yeah. I will be coming, yeah, yeah. I haven’t, I haven’t seen this high vis jacket. And between you and I, Matt, we were talking about a certain high vis yes, business. Yeah, we just got our maybe, maybe not between you. Maybe we can pitch it, yeah. Maybe we can pitch this to you. So we both just got our motorbike licenses.

OK, cool. And then as of like a few weeks. Ago. That’s so cute. Thank you. Yeah, we’ll say we got them together. Maybe someone got them first and someone copied, but I won’t say who. Maybe, maybe not. Sorry. Do you like that on air? But it’s. OK, I like being the leader. They just passed a new law where

if you’re an L plater on a bike you have to wear high viz. Yeah, I’ve got like 4 yards of three M leftover. Oh yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I guess our idea was like, can we quickly it’s a new market, right? Because no one who’s like 17 and getting their bike license wants to wear safety. The hairy bike is that’s that’s

those guys. So yeah, we were gonna like. Yeah, we’re a sexy motorcycle sexy, but it’s it’s high vis to meet the legal requirements of being high vis. Oh, this is one of. Your ones, yeah, I, I, you passed it. Take one of these. Thanks that you won’t like that one. So, yeah, that was pretty cool. And we did find, do you remember the, the website? We found someone had jumped in

there and done it already. But it was like really like Brisbane QLD coded like crusty demons. Yeah, You know what I mean. I’m gonna add my thoughts. Yeah, please best not to stray too far from like built in body armor motorcycle gear because you don’t want to end up like a

meat crayon on the road. True, true. So if you were to like add some high vids to those to the existing jacket, pretty cool. That would be good just so you. Push. Yeah. I would think it’s like it’s like something that you you can just you’ve got you’ve got your body armor and then you just drape this over the top and there’s like a cool zip or something, I don’t know. Yeah.

I like it. And then it’s like it can go on anything. If you are a bad ass and you feel like you don’t need it, you can. Oh yeah, just the just the thing. I was gonna do just the vest, no shirt, just the. Vest. Oh you, you just go. No shirt. Shorts.

Do you have to wear a shirt on a motorbike? I don’t know. I don’t think you do die. No, I do it and it’s got the death wish. No, I’m super scary cat. I won’t be zooming around Sydney on a bike. Yeah, I’m yeah, you just fell off your pushback. Yeah, look at that. You know what, on my push and I was going like 3 games an hour and you go. He’s dying.

We’re going to take him out of the stretcher. But yeah, I’m looking forward to our first ride together, dude. Yeah, that will be crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I still haven’t told my folks yet. That’s because then they don’t listen to the pod. I was, I was planning on surprising and they’re turning up to their to the family dinner, like on the massive Harley. Oh my God, What did my son get into?

But like, her dad had Harley-Davidson. So, you know, back before it was like a big thing, I guess he was just like, I like loud bikes. Yeah. Yeah, it was funny. And he had, like, horses. He’s a great guy. Yeah. He’s a legend. Yeah. She was really into, I was telling some family history. She was really into horses as, like, you know, an 11 year old

girl, like living on like, like basically a farm in the middle of nowhere. And she got all obsessed about the idea of horses and was like borrowing books from the library and stuff. And then, like, he got, she got so excited about that. He eventually, like, had to get a horse. But like, it was kind of for him as well. They both, like, bonded over it. It was really cute. Yeah.

Gorgeous. Yeah. And there’s all these beautiful photos of them, like, both riding horses in, like, the 70s. It’s like, Oh my God, I love it. Every time I go over, I’m like, can we look at some of those cute horse pics? Yeah. Yeah, I am due a horse holiday. My cousin is Oh yeah, he’s got a horse farm in my neighbor. I’m not a horse farm, but you

know, some some land and then some horses and in Nabiak or near Nabiak. And I always have been meaning to go, but it’s a little scary. I mean, have you ever ridden a horse? It’s a bit. I think I’ve ridden a one of those like horses they bring to like a young kids party. They’re cute Little Pony.

But I, I would love to ride a horse. There’s horses. That was a, there’s a little place in my family’s from New Zealand and there’s a, there’s like a little shack in a beach area where there were lots of wild horses running around. So as a kid I used to wow, walk around the horses and try feed them.

Carrots cool. That’s beautiful. Were they interested in the carrots? Yeah, but you had to be careful because sometimes like they could charge at you. OK, pretty. Wild. Yeah. Wow. But they were beautiful, yeah. Yeah, I’ve never seen a wild horse before a brumby. Do they still call the? Brumby Yeah, I was thinking that. Do they Brumby’s in New Zealand? I don’t know. That’s cool as hell.

Did you spend time in New Zealand? Like, yeah, yeah, As a kid, we were kind of my daddy’s side is all from New Zealand. They’re they’re from like Greymouth and Auckland. Greymouth is on the South Island. Wow. Yeah. I’ve been meaning to go. I would really love to go. I would love it. Yeah. Once I, I need to like I just

need to get that one like big shoot a big Nike ad or something that I just want that like 1 crazy big job that like pays for a six month holiday or something. You know, I’m just like praying that I get something like that. Yeah, thank you. It’ll come eventually. Yeah, it’ll come eventually. So. And you just got back from London.

When did you when did you go to London? I went in like the very like start of March 2025 and I got back in December I think. Of that same year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I’m going on sabbatical, nice, but I’m going to go work.

I can’t sit still. I need to be doing something. And I wanted to travel a bit by myself as well. But yeah, it was very much a year of like, what the fuck am I doing with my life? But also, I’m still doing things and there’s still motion happening, but it’s really hard

to see what that is when the pieces are kind of like materializing in front of you along the road, you know? Like you’re not. Really sure what you’re learning until you start to jump over those hurdles. Yeah, sure. Yeah, totally. It can be. It can be freaky when you start

to look like ahead of it and it’s like, Oh yeah, what am I? What am I doing this for again? Yeah, yeah. But so did you go for work or was it originally like a holiday? I wanted to try working over there like I I was feeling pretty burnt out from working in costume. I wrapped up working in a

costume work room in like 2024 and it was very, very intense. Like, I’m not going to get too much into that because it’s a bit. Yeah. But it’s, I think people don’t always understand that like working with your hands, even though it’s labeled as a

creative industry, it’s, it’s a hard labour, you know, and like when you’re working with creatives, I’m sure you guys know, like you’ve got a lot of like personality and also deadlines and corresponding like time zones and everything.

So you get pushed really, really hard. But it’s good, it’s rewarding. Like it’s highly rewarding. But I definitely wanted a break and I wanted to see if I could, yeah, get costume jobs in the UK. And I did land a few. So cool. That was good. And I worked in a pub.

In like early England as well. Yeah, it was beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, just in like north of London, in this like really small village town called Kodi Koi. It’s like tiny, tiny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sounds like a. Yeah. Did that help your burnout?

The IT. Did yeah, getting paid like minimum wage, Yeah, like crazy house in your shit. Fuck. Yeah, yeah, it was great though. And like I had to walk through this like huge field every day took like an hour to walk to work every day through like the

mud and the rain. Oh my God, it’s like a medieval way as well. It was medieval. There were like horses that would come to the palm. People would ride their horses there. Oh my God, it’s crazy. We should have gotten you a massive dirt back to just 10 minutes. I’ll be there. I’ll be late. I’ll be 5 minutes late today guys. Yeah, that sounds great. It wasn’t a good day when I was

late. I’d have to run. Yeah, run through to a jog, frolic. Yeah, frolic would be nice. Yeah, frolic. You got the pants for the frolic, Yeah? Yeah. And what’s your, what do you feel like your relationship with work is like nowadays? Like? I think it’s getting back on

track. I definitely think like when because I did burnout and I think we all burnout. And as we, I mean, I’m 26 now. Like this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was 1314. And I started working when I was

15 and then I started working in industry by the time of like 1819. But from the age of 17, I was working and getting a mentor, and it just hasn’t ever stopped. And so I think naturally your brain gets to a point where

those pathways kind of go into OverDrive and they burn out of it. And you have to understand that this thing that you were really, really passionate about and gave you a lot of like life and substance when you were younger could be something that you’re suffering from today because

you’re maybe accounting too much of your worth towards it.

And I think it’s important to like, obviously explore other parts in life without forgetting this thing that you’re really passionate about and good at. But you can apply like those areas of knowledge to this thing as well to help solve problems in the future. I’ve definitely felt that like

kind of, it’s such a heartbreaking thing. It’s like, like for me it’s photos and like I was like, there was definitely a time where it’s like I for a few years I just said yes to like everything. To do. With photos, like kind of since I saw you last, that’s like the main thing that was going on in my work life was like assisting photographers and it was like

every if every job is a one day thing. I just felt like I had to say yes to every single thing. And then you’d work these enormous weeks and like, yeah, you’re, you’re moving stuff with your body all day, like heavy stuff. You get to the end of like a few months of that and it’s like, I haven’t even socialized. Like I’m a I’m a social animal and I like need it, but I haven’t done that. And I’ve just been like busting

my chops on this, like essentially like helping other people fulfill their dreams, which like. You know. Literally like it can be hard for the artist, the artist, gentle artist soul who’s like very creative to like just be always supporting, you know, like some people have that in them, but I’m I’m not wired that way. Like, I do love it. And it did teach me some amazing stuff about, like, it’s a fucked

up word to use, but like, servitude or like, service, like, like this really beautiful thing of like, this is all about you. Like, this is about or not even about you. We’re all serving the shots. Like, whatever the photo is, we’re here just to make that good. But yeah, I got to. I remember just like, getting to the end of this long, raggedy road and being like, I need to fucking take a break. I was like, I was just a mess, a complete mess.

I’d said yes too many times and like, had just pushed all this stuff away, yeah. Yeah, I remember that and and yeah, I guess I, I was thinking about, I think probably since I the last show I started a business, like a tech business, which was super stressful and then stopped that and then I

started working in a prison for like, yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing for like the last two years. And that burned me out to fuck. It was teaching programming to prisoners. Yeah. To inmates, Yeah. But you know what you were saying before? And particularly with, like, the identity stuff, because I remember getting that job. We were hanging out. We were like, camping.

And I got the interview and I was like, this is such a cool opportunity. And I will identify cuz I was also interested in Prison Reform and stuff when I was younger. Yeah, Yeah. And so I was like, here is this kind of, as you were saying, this really unified job that feels like I get to get paid and I get to do this thing that’s so cool. Exactly.

It’s kind of like a beautiful story. It didn’t even feel like work. But then by the end. I was like gone And so that was like 5 months ago and I’m like, I opened up one of my like little journals and it’s the thing that I had written on the first page was like your recovery is your first priority. And I looked literally.

Like. You have that kind of shit. Yeah, I’ve. Heard this. Yeah, you’ve heard this shit. And I and I kind of forgot about it. And then I was like, oh, I should probably like go back to work and get a job. And then I looked at this journal and I was like, oh, shit, that was only like 3 or 4 months ago. Yeah, really. And I feel like this shit takes way longer than people think, like to recover from. People are like, you know, take a month off, go on holiday.

Yeah it’s been 5 months and I’m since I worked and I’m still like, I feel like I’m just at the beginning. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. So, yeah, everyone. ‘S different as well. Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah. Guys, what are we gonna do to not burn out next time? Or is it inevitable? Do you think it’s inevitable? No, I think we’re gonna practice

self-care and hell yeah. Say no. Practice saying no. We’re. Gonna put our adult. Pants on practice. Saying no and setting some boundaries.

And I think I think as you grow older, you like kind of, what’s the word, like your ego doesn’t need to be fueled as much. Not that this thing is fueling my ego. It’s like fueling my soul. Yeah. But I think the reward of some big jobs obviously like strokes

one’s ego, of course, like I’ve. Done this thing. Now and then you kind of go through this process of coming up and crashing of like having this high from doing this great job. And then, oh, I haven’t had anything for a while. Like. People keep Whenever I see people out in public, they’re like, Oh my God, you’re doing this huge. Thing and. Working for these huge people

and I’m. Like. Yeah, and I’m also working like 3 jobs at the same time to get by, like yeah. I don’t envy. I really don’t like sometimes when I hear about like just freelance stories from that I’m like fuck, because like I was one thing being employed and that does suck, like having a full time job in its own way. But sometimes I’m like, fuck,

how do you guys do it? It’s like you’re constantly auditioning almost. It’s like. It’s. It’s like another audition and like you’re on set for a day and it’s like hopefully everyone likes you and hopefully. It’s like, yeah, yeah. Fuck that sounds hard guys. It is stressful, but. You’re always kind of trading one. Yeah, You know, I do feel like the at least inch in general,

I’ve been very lucky and like I’ve had a very privileged position just because I was like a bit more, I was a bit older when I got into it and I was I had like, you know, I have been exploited in some ways, but I was always paid, you know, like I was never really doing too much like free work or like

because I already was quite useful because of my prior knowledge. I’d never really got like stuck right at the bottom where it was like, oh, like, sure, you can come and help, but like there’s no money for, you know, so there’s never that. But you definitely do often, even if you’ve been working like for years in the thing, you sometimes feel like, wait, you realize shit like lunch.

It’s like this was an audition and I might have failed or something, You know, it’s like I might not get this client back in the next time, which is just like, it’s heartbreaking. But I’ve, I’ve realized watching other people like maybe senior to me, like with air quotes, like in that world, like go through that whole cycle of like boom and bust or like with a

specific client, you know, like really winning them over or slowly losing them over time or something. And it’s like I realized, like, you know, I’m, I’m not doing this to be like the guy from June, like more and more and more like I’m doing it to like, find a few. Yeah. It’s like, I mean, I, I was, I

was seeing dollar signs when I was getting into it. And they were telling us stories about the 90s and 2000s where there was like tons of money going in, you know, all the stuff that comes with that. But like now I’ve, I’ve realized, you know, like doing a business plan with this guy recently. It’s like, I like, I want it to be sustainable. I actually don’t have the energy to keep the like enormous workload that that growth would

need. So I feel like, I feel very like

like, what’s the word relieved? I guess to reframe it in that way, which which was kind of awesome. And like, I just remember there was one time where this like, I won’t say who, but this one photographer like gave me a really hard time on set. And I was like quite upset by it. And it was like, it was, it felt like beyond rude. It was like kind of crazy that

you would like shout at someone and stuff. And I was like, you know what, like that’s fine. Like if you want to run your set like that, But I realized I’m running my own business and like, that’s not good for business. Like we can’t be freaking out the one employee of the business. So like, I’m just not going to do that kind of job so much anymore. And like, after that, it was like a real turning point for me. Like realizing that like, no, I can just say no now.

Like, yeah, you know, I might make a little bit less from that part of the business, but like who? Cares. It’s not. Worth. It it’s not worth any amount of money. Yeah, yeah. You’re not. Allowed to do that to me yeah so yeah it’s a big life lessons we’ve. Been yeah, the saying, the saying no is yeah, it’s interesting. I I like hear these stories about like people getting bigger and bigger and then it’s like,

what more could you want? But then at some point you can get addicted to just like, you know, your like achievements and you’re like, you keep moving the goal posts, which is like good and bad. It’s like, I would have been so proud to have this, you know, totally when I was younger, but now I need like this bigger thing. Totally, yeah. But I think it like, it kind of comes over time to like, I think I had this moment when I was

overseas where I was feeling really, really lonely, really down. And I would say nothing’s going to come, nothing’s going to come. And then suddenly the universe just threw 2 massive fucking like jobs at me, one for Scissor and one for Noah Cyrus. And I was like, oh shit. Like like just be patient.

And. Like something will come, but it’s kind of that thing of what do investment bankers talk about? Like when you hold on for dear life when the stock market’s crashing, you’re just like holding on to China. Yeah, Yeah, there is a bit of that, a bit of faith like. Yeah, big time, yeah. Like we’re staying the course. Like it seems like, you know, like this wasn’t the busiest year for me at all.

This is probably one of my quietest years, but like I’ve held on and it’s actually turned into like a couple of really cool opportunities. So you’re right, it just it does turn around eventually. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like what you’re saying too, about like this. Like I, I was worried that when I left this job that I would lose some part of my identity because it was like such a you

know, it was like such a yeah, it was like such a cool thing that I had been doing. But I’m, I’m still in touch with one of my students who has been released, which is cool. So there’s still like a connection and but it’s even better because it doesn’t have like the work. It’s just like the bits that I want to do. But I’ve been pretty happy that and like, I didn’t know what was

gonna happen. But yeah, I haven’t really. It hasn’t really bothered me too much, you know what I mean? Like losing that identity. It’s like some you’ve still done. It like. You. Yeah, exactly. You get to carry everything that you’ve. Done exactly. Yeah. For those people with you like you did. It. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I’m really proud of what we all did. But yeah, I was, I was worried that I was going to have a bit

of an existential. It’s like, who am I without this thing? Like, yeah, did you? How did you? Absolutely. Yeah. But I had to keep reminding myself I did it. Like I did do it. I did go overseas and I did do jobs in costume for big people. And yeah, I can’t say I didn’t try.

Like, who’s going to. I think the lamest thing is when people kind of like bog you down for trying. Do you know what I mean? Like, and if anything, it comes from this point of maybe a little bit of like resentment of people’s own insecurity that they’re not maybe in a position

or like maybe brave enough to try something. So they see someone try it and they kind of want to turn around and remind you that you didn’t succeed when actually if you kind of rewire those the way that you think about certain things, like you did succeed, you did do it. Absolutely. And it’s not a competition.

You know, like everything you do in this life is for your own purpose and drive, right? Like, it’s not, it’s no one else’s business, really. No, it’s it’s so fucking true. But it is hard to like believe that some, you know what I mean? Yeah, you still feel like a bit of a loser when you’re like, well, actually I don’t care that this didn’t work out. Like I feel it’s like, you know what I mean?

But you really need to, I believe your own shit. But it is at the end of the day, the most important, the only thing. But yeah, I’ve also been I guess playing with the other side of that too, because I think for a long time I was like, I don’t need anyone else’s shit. Like I’m just purely fueled on my own stuff. But also recognizing that it is kind of cool and OK to like want

to be recognized as well like by. Yeah, that’s that’s allowed. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, like having a community. Yeah, around or even like when you meet people doing the same thing you do and that like electricity that shoots from each other’s brains of like you know how to solve. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we.

Start talking in the language and yeah, it’s very. I feel like that’s your inner child, kind of like clawing out of your. Chest or Hey, yeah, yeah, I’ve got, I’ve got a lot of inner Childs. Your inner child’s been all over the place. I’ve got 1 bed. Your inner child’s been drawing

on the wall one. Big inner child. Yeah, true. Yeah, you got to feed the inner child too. Yeah, you got to take. Everyone needs to eat the. Inner child out to have. Some fun sometimes. True. Yeah. Yeah. We needed to go for that walk. We should have done the walk because my inner child needs a walk. Your inner child needs a. Run. My inner child needs a run. I haven’t ran in ages. I fucking cycled all day yesterday.

It was so great. Yeah, but then before you fell off your No, this was after the. It was so funny. I like was so excited. I was like, I’m going to go to the gym, I’m going to go to the sauna. And I was like 2 minutes from home and I was looking at my phone and then I just like hit fucking like risen bit of pavement and crashed. And then I just had to turn around and ride home. And my sister was driving like

to the gym and she saw me. She was like, you look so sad like riding home, like I don’t get to go to the gym and my I’m all bleeding. It was so embarrassing. So she. Didn’t stop. She’s just like, like I look. So she was just like, he forgot something at home, right? She didn’t see the But I was really glad no one saw. But it was in Canterbury and if you were driving over the bridge, you would have just seen

a guy like, yeah, absolutely eat shit. I was imagining that would have been quite funny. But I was so happy there was no one walking their dog to rush over and help me. Yeah, you don’t want to be helped. I do want to be helped, but I was to be helped. We all deserve. We all deserve to be safe, but in that moment I was pretty fucking glad that I was the only guy on the path.

Yeah, you know what I’m saying? True. True, and maybe that’s wrong, but right you’re. Allowed to have that? You’re allowed to have that, bro. Yeah, this is a very safe kind. Of podcast. I’m feeling very safe, safe and held by you guys right now. So can you run us through like what like a normal like, you know, maybe medium or biggish costume job would look like? So like, say someone hits you up

your Instagram DM. So like, hey, we’ve got this artist playing this festival. Like, yeah, like what goes on from there? In in all honesty, I think the first thing I naturally do is like, what’s your excitement chemical called? Is it dopamine?

Yeah, like I’ll, I’ll kind of like, I’ll scream and. Be like yes. Yes, yes, yes, like we didn’t. Yeah, we no, I literally like me, like high fiving myself, like let’s go. Yeah. So there’s like maybe like an hour of that.

I probably have to. That’s great. It’s just excitement though to it’s not, it’s not a like I’m the greatest. It’s more like, Oh my God, all these things that I could make. And when you know that they’ve got a budget, you’re suddenly like, I finally get to return to

my favorite space of it, which is the next step, which is once the excitement calms down and we, we figure out a timeline, discuss budget, if any contracts need signing, we’ll run through that and discuss obviously like delivery and everything.

My favorite part is when I have to like digest and understand the, I guess if it’s a musician, like obviously the audio concepts and visual ideas. So we go into a whole like research tunnel, which is my favorite part because I love to, I love music and I love to listen to people’s music.

And I think when you get to tie an audio, someone else’s visuals and then your own like material into it, it’s this perfect circle of all these different things that you get to like suddenly reference and understand. And then when you have to pitch the concept, you have to be able

to back your idea, you know. So I guess the first thing I do is like, I really like to walk and listen to music. I like to walk around at night time. I like to walk around in the rain. Like I just have to kind of listen to it with indifferent elements. And then ideas do naturally pop into my head. But I think my body needs to be

moving a little bit. And then I’ll kind of come, I’ll come to something and then I’ll have to sit down somewhere. I’ll have my sketchbook sit. And if it’s, if I think it’s good, like it just kind of pours out and ends up on a page like the thing I just designed for Marcus. That’s what happened with that. And then obviously you need to

send it through and have design approval and if there’s anything they want changed, you have to apply that, just like in engineering or architecture or anything. Obviously a client’s going to want have their own demands and everything, and you need to be really fluid and flexible. So yeah, it’s not all down to what you think is right, which I

really like about it too, because it is inherently collaborative, everything that you’re doing. So yeah, we go through the design process and then from there on out, it’s kind of a downhill battle for me because like, I’m very technically, what’s the word? I don’t want to say technically advanced.

That’s. I mean, you’re proficient at what you do. I know how to do it, yeah. So. I can go, I go source the material, I make a timeline and then from there it’s down to like pattern, making everything from scratch. It can be draped if I need to drape it.

And then I want to make a twal, which is a French word for like a mock up out of calico. And then we do a first fitting. And then we might need to do a secondary fitting when I have the first version of it made-up and then make more alterations from there. And then once we’ve got the shell of it done, my second favorite bit is the

embellishment of like the costume. I think that’s always really fun because it’s really like you kind of get into this real, like, meditation process. It’s very mindful when you’re just working with your hands and sitting and working with needlepoint. That’s how it’s so much fun. A lamp. Yeah. And like, I think that’s a

really fun part for me as well, because we’re really at the end of it by this point, too. Obviously it’s stressful trying to get things done on a timeline, and I’m kind of talking about best case scenario right now. There’s been jobs where I haven’t received the fabric until two days prior, and then suddenly it’s like it doesn’t

matter what I want it to look like, it is only going to be what I’m able to get done in 48 hours and that’s it. And I’m just going to have to be happy with it and sign it off as it is, you know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s interesting for people to hear, I think because like you, you, you don’t like hear about this stuff A and also it’s like, you probably wouldn’t even think

about it. Like you’re like, oh, they just made that. They just made it. They did it one day and they made it. But like, yeah, it’s, I like when people explain, like, you know, I’m really into movies at the moment and like, thinking about how they made various things. It’s like, no, a lot of thought went into like, how to get that, Yeah, you know, whatever it is like. Totally. And everyone has their own creative process, right? Like, have you ever watched

interviews with David Lynch where he talks about getting his ideas and he’s like, has a typewriter in a bathtub and. He’s. Like recording all his dreams and everything. Like there are some people with crate exactly the. Genius. I can’t actually really remember anything from it. I think I just had it on for, like, vibes for me and my

sister. Have you seen Twin Peaks? Yeah, we’re watch. We’re up to Season 3. Did you ever watch that? The return? Yeah. It was really sweet. Like she loved the early season and I was very curious to what she would think about the third season. So we’re we’re we’re gonna watch it tonight. We’re gonna keep watching. Yeah, he’s such a fun guy to watch the like BTS of because he really embodies that like the

like actual creative person working in a very like it’s a money industry. Like yeah, like it has to make money, otherwise you don’t get to make another one. Yeah, but he’s like fucking doing it and being weird and smoking on. Set, I know and shouting, but he’s also like a massively into transcendental. Meditation. Yeah, I saw that TM.

Yeah, the TM. I mean, it’s TM is funny because like so many, like Hollywood really got around and it’s like you guys have the biggest egos and like, you’re all into this.

Yeah, yeah, fuck, imagine them without TM. I kind of want to try it. Yeah, we should do it on the part. Just do a completely silent episode. That would be great. You would get out something of our presence though. Yeah, through. The through the mics, yeah. Through the rumbling and static. Yeah, True. I heard Mick Jagger recently talking about like, it’s like,

someone’s like, it must make you fucked up, like being famous. And he’s like, yeah. And like, you know, you can only hang out with rich, famous people because that’s the only people you have in common. True. And I was like, damn, that’s. Fair. Enough. Depressing state. I know I was like, I would never like, I like, I can’t do that like. Yeah, you don’t reckon? Yeah, so I reject. Actually reject fan.

Don’t come up to me on the street rejected. I’m just a normal guy. I’m like Anthony Albanese. I take the paper in every morning. I love that he was like on like election morning. I’m fucking. I’m pretty stroppy with him these days. But the first, like, press thing that there was like after the day after the election was like, he’s like, I’m in my rabidose jersey.

I’m just getting the newspaper, the SMH from my thing. Like I’m just a normal guy. I’m like, which fucking little marketing intern came up with that little paparazzi? Very clever. Very clever. Literally. But yeah, I mean, we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do. I get it. You. Gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah. Yeah, he’s gotta have his personal. Brand And then like any Sydney

music that you’re like listening to, that you’re really digging at the moment. Yeah, well, Marcus Wales new album is really beautiful. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, so good. Really cool. I was like, I bumped into him at I think that Gus was like Gus McGrath, friend of the show, was doing.

Like I was about to say, yeah, yeah, next. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gus was screening like they were screening an animated movie and Gus did like the soundtrack for it. And I said to Mark, because I was like, brave moves, you go completely nude on the record. But like, and like my next sentence was like, but I love it. And but everyone like laughed. They’re like, Oh my God, that’s

crazy. Like someone’s calling mad. And I was like, no, no, I mean, I think it’s really cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, It’s really fucking amazing statement. Yeah, we got to we got to get him on too. Yeah, that’ll be yeah. And Gus, you like Gus as? Well, yeah, I loved his new album. We love Ashes. It’s so good, but also the live performances, the different variations of the track with the

California Girls band as well. Love it. I think I’ve seen him two or three times with that album. So good. Who else? I saw Perfect Actress play his other Perfect Actress. Yeah, so much fun at the. I think it was at the PBC. They might have played Downstairs. And yeah, it was really fun. It was the first time I’d seen

him. I felt so bad. I was like, I’ve known this name for like. Yeah. And then? I finally saw it and was like, that was awesome, Yeah. Sometimes things happen like that though. I kind of love it when it happens. Like, yeah, I’m not beating myself up about it. Yeah, it’s I’m slow to check things. Yeah, a lot of the things that I end up like really loving, it’s like, you know, the C DS been on in my studio or in my room for

like a year and then I become obsessed with it. I like that it’s like there’s a little like object relation and one day you just it the mood strikes you true and then it becomes like one of the most important things to you it. Is funny like how that works. And then one day it goes away, and that’s fine too. I’m hopefully like this always happens to me like it happened when Sly I forgot I don’t know

his last name, but Sly from Sly and the family stone died. I was like, Oh yeah, like I remember my friends in high school talking about it like whatever. And then I listened to there’s a riot going on, which is like one of their early, it’s like their second record or something. And I was completely blown away. But I was like, this is my new favorite record. Like I love it. Like I just, I had never even thought to check it out, but now

it’s like 1 of my faves. So, so funny how it works like that. I felt like not guilty, but like, like, it’s not like I was going to like get to hang out with him or whatever, but I don’t know, could ask him some questions. Well, in that second track, how did you get the vocals to sound like that? Yeah, I don’t know. I love what you’re saying about like the collaborative that like the edits and the collaboration

of that. Like I was looking at submitting to some stuff to like a poetry journal recently and I was, I was telling Matt last night, I was looking at like the tears of admission. Like often it’s just like accepted or rejected nicely or rejected with like a fuck you. Yeah, right, people. Hate the work, which is just like it’s. Yeah, But these guys, they’re, I

think a bit more. The guy, I’ve forgotten his surname. His name’s Henry. He’s, I think he’s involved in some like masters stuff in Western Sydney. But there was like all these exception tiers. It was like accepted with no notes, accepted with like minor edits, accepted with major structural edits. And I was like, looking at

those, I was like, damn, I kind of want to get accepted with edits because I. Kind of I. Kind of want to. See, Feedback’s great, right? Like, I like this, this idea of it. And yeah, I guess like the art that I’ve been involved in has been so solitary it never really needs to. But yeah, the, the relationship between like an editor, although

I have worked with clients and it’s maybe a bit too generous to call clients like editors sometimes. They’re really fucking annoying. They’re not like the the greatest editor, you know what I mean? Some of my clients have been difficult. But yeah, I, I really, really like that part of the creative process and I’m thinking about ways of getting it.

Like I always am envious of musicians because that feels so intrinsic like. You play a band and you see right away if they liked it or not. Yeah, or no. I mean, like even in the not with the band and the audience, but like the band, like it’s like this intrinsically collaborative. Jack didn’t like that guitar solo, so we changed it kind of thing. Like yeah, or even like the jazz

thing of like we’re all you know, it’s a it’s a non verbal yeah, like the bouncing off each other. Yeah, that is amazing, that stuff. I really, I do miss that thing about music because like it doesn’t happen quite. It does happen in photography, but it’s a bit slower. Well, like it might take you another hour to set up a shot differently, whereas that could

happen in like 1 beat in music. Like yeah, yeah. Yeah, it’s, I kind of envy the like collaborative nature that musicians have as well, whether you will bring your skill sets to the table. I feel like costume and fashion is a lot more solitary unless you’ve you’re working with huge budgets and work creams and stuff.

But it’s not a collaborative creative process, if that makes sense. No, totally. Yeah. I mean, music is like, very, yeah. What did you say before? It’s like very like impromptu or. Like, yeah, it’s like you’re bouncing off each other in the moment. Like, yeah, it’s improvised. Yeah. I mean, it can be.

Yeah, some people do sit away. Like I was watching Calvin Harris video clips recently just to look at how people edit to like beats, you know? And it actually was very interesting seeing like some prose cut music videos. But then there was like a behind the scenes of feels so close to

you right now. And it was like the behind the scenes of him doing the video clips and then talking about the song. And it was really interesting. He was like, I’m a very solitary guy. Like people don’t even recognize me ‘cause I’m Calvin Harris. I’m not like, like, what does he even look like? Yeah. Pretty average, like normal looking guy. He like he.

Says he lives in Camden. He goes to the pub like no one knows him. You know, it’s like not until he’s like Camden. Yeah. In in London. Yeah. Well, that was in, that was when they shot. Feels like close to you, right. Like so he might have and. He never left. He never. Left and it’s like sounds like the dream life. It’s like he has his thing and he loves it and he goes on tour

for like, you know, six months of the year if he wants to. And but then he like for him because he’s not very social. He can just like like get into his little den and like ride another massive banger like alone, which I, I think I sometimes work like that. But it’s it is so fun, like working in movies and photos where it’s like you get that

team feeling of like we fucking did it. And like when it’s when it’s happening, when you’re capturing it, like you’re seeing the image on the monitor or whatever, you’re like, holy fucking no one say anything like it’s perfect. We did it, which is like quite a rare. It’s one of those like amazing, like good things about the job, of which there are many like really cool things about the

freelance photo thing, but it’s like that’s one of the really special ones when you’re getting it in that moment that it’s like we just, we just absolutely nailed that. And, and like everything just kind of stops, like time stops. It’s very, it’s very interesting. I feel like I was kind of saying that earlier today as well about time stopping. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You must get that a lot when you’re like, I’ve got 48 hours

to do this. Like there’s just zero. Like just fucking that’s. A great way of putting it, actually. Time stop. You’re kind of in this. What’s the word this like purgatory of like am I going to fucking pull this off? And I was talking to about this today of like, you’ve literally

just have to put 1 foot in front of the other and like, get from point A to B. Like you have to go pick up the fabric. Yeah. And then you just go to hold your breath and just do what you know how to do. Yeah. And not let your anxious thoughts eat you alive and tell you that you’re not going to pull it off. You have to believe you can pull it off and you just have to do

it. You just have to fucking sit and sorry. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you listen to music when you’re sewing or? Yeah, I need to. You need to I. Can’t work in silence. Yeah. Is it like, do you have like a genre that you use or is it like just anything? It depends on what. It depends on how stressed I am. I think if I’m if I’m stressed and we’ve only got so much time,

it’s like all the rap comes on. And it’s like rap. Sit down, get it done, Shut up. But if we’re like, working and like, we’ve got time and you can be creative and it’s like I’m listening to, like, hate rock and like this, like, dreamy, kind of romantic, sad. Yeah. My life’s so beautiful. I get to be an artist kind of

shit. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That’s the. Best. Yeah, Yeah. I love that. It is so funny how little of it is the actual artistry. You know, like there’s a lot of like in my thing, like setting it up, which is like, it’s a, there’s a labour. Like you’re just setting up the lights and then setting up the camera. And like, it makes you realize, like when I was getting into it, I was like, I want to be taking the photo.

Like, and now I’m like, I don’t even want to touch the camera. Like I just want to like talk about images. And then we get that done. Like that would be really, that would be much more. There’s much more creative decisions going on there than like, how do I like press the like, oh, change the settings. Like, yeah, like who cares who? Yeah, very. Yeah. And you kind of, it was, it was very interesting and like

telling that you LED with that stuff when you’re like, this is what the job is. Like this is the fun part is the like ideas part of the Korean thing. Like, like, you know, who cares if it’s a flat fell or a fucking whatever scene? Yeah. Like well done. Nice squeeze on the ball or a

French seam or a yeah, here we go.

Or a Sasha Co stitch. Now I’m stopping. Keep going. Yeah, you gotta keep tap dancing. Or if it’s a weave or a twill or a drill well. Done. You’ve got the book somewhere. I’ve got textile. Media shout out to Kate. I’ll show you Textile PD later. Thank you, book. But yeah, it’s like I, I

realized that watching those things about like big DOP’s working, like they’re like they’re not really touching the camera. They’re like, hey, move it up a bit, you know, which is like, fascinating to me. It’s like 10% of it. It’s the same with the creative stuff. It’s like it really is like 8 to 10% and then the rest is all the hard labour. Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Which is I think where people like get a bit lost because you’re right, you just have to like put your head down and like just step through it in little inches even and breathe and fucking. Drink water and to eat food. Yeah. You go to stage social on there? No, literally. But it’s, it’s true you like, you forget to do that stuff. But yeah, like the, the, the,

the big obvious thing is often like what seems like the big obvious thing might just be like a little part of it. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. Easy to get it all mixed up in your. Head Yeah. It’s like the football thing. It’s like you get the ball for 90 seconds a game. The game’s 90 minutes. Yeah, yeah. It’s actually not about getting the ball. It’s about like walking around the pitch. Yeah, thinking about the ball.

Yeah, you’re going to think about the ball. Yeah, I don’t know. I’d like, I know that I will be have a much better drawing or painting if everything’s set up nicely and clean. But I’m often like just as soon as I get to the studio, I just want to start. But it was nice. We went the other day just to like, what are we doing? Dropping off some paintings.

And so I was able to just set up like there wasn’t going to be no painting session. So it was just set up. No painting session today for you, son. You should be so lucky to get to paint. But yeah, it was really cool. And then when I went yesterday, everything was all set up. And I had. My new tube of yellow paint. And it was, it was cool.

But yeah, I had that moment too, that like, I’m so lucky to be an artist. I was like, I’m doing watercolor. So I just had some like glass jars and I like went out and I went out to like fill the jars up with water. And it was a day like this with the sun. And I literally had the most like sweet little cringest. I was like, I’m the luckiest man on earth. Like I literally thought that

with my little glass jars I was like, what did I do to deserve this? Yeah, greedy. Boss Yeah, so greedy. Hugging all the fun fucking art feelings. Just you wait until you got a big Commission. You’ll be like fuck, what did I do to deserve? This. Yeah, what did I do? To deserve this, you got to

paint another dog another. Yeah. Yeah, I do have a meditation pillow that I was thinking of taking to the studio. A meditation pillow. Yeah, my mum gave me a really beautiful meditation pillow. She sounds cool. Your mom? Yeah. She’s pretty cool. She’s pretty cool, hey? I know her well, lady. One day she’ll sew this pair of yoga.

Pants. True. All the right in the world. True. Yeah, yeah, that’s the final. Oh. Fuck, I meant to go to yoga this week. Whoops. I have to. I am going. Oh, you’re going tomorrow? Live admission on the pod Tuesday, OH. My God, you’re gonna be gonna. Make my mom happy. Yeah, I’m. Not back in the I tried to weasel at the last minute. I was like I’ve got this. Injury. My son, you need to be stretchy.

I’ll let. You know how it is. We once, we once did one like we went to, she was teaching at a place in Balmain and we both went like mortally hungover. It was a really hard class. I think that’s great for a hangover. Yeah, right afterwards I felt pretty good at this was back when we were still smoking a lot and it was like standing there smoking a cigarette afterwards actually for once felt like this isn’t, this isn’t the best thing

ever, like. Yeah, true, sometimes a cigarette after exercise is great, but yeah, mostly. You don’t want to do it. We’re coming up to an hour there. Do you have anything you want to plug coming up ahead for Kelly? Comical. Yeah, we’ve got Mark’s shows that I mentioned earlier, and

there’s something coming up for Campbelltown Arts Center at the end of the year. Oh cool, it’s. Going into production in August, Sick featuring Marcus Vale buying the Bushranger and Eugene, and it’s going to be really cool. Holy shit, that’s. What I’m going to? Say OK.

How are you teased? Officially teased on the part. Yeah, we broke the. News oh, we’ll be there to see that for sure that’s. Awesome. Yeah. You’re going to send us the dates for that in a in Adm. Yeah. Cool. OK, Indigo, it’s been such a pleasure seeing you again all these years later. Look how. Look how well you’ve done. Good. For you. Nice to see you again. Good on you. OK, thanks. Bye around.

Hopefully, audience. Bye, audience. Follow us on Instagram and leave a review in whatever you’re listening to this on. OK, bye.

Show notes

You guys, it's a the return of @calli_comical ! we talk frolicking, sebatticals, her creative process, embellishment, four way stretch, wild horses, moving to london, more from Aiden’s prison stories, burning out, and what it’s like making costumes for big stars