She reviewed the corset t-shirt. and the review was so glowing that i bought the book so *I* could make one. Which I’m in the middle of doing now.

Things to remember about this book:

• it encourages slow sewing – everything is done by hand. EVERYTHING. While I like this in theory, stitching through 6-8 layers of cotton jersey at a time is hard on the hands. When I make another corset shirt – and I will — I am using my serger and regular sewing machine for the reasons they were purchased – construction. I’m arthritic!
• she’s fond of putting seams and knots on the outside of garments. i’m not. (Which might actually explain why MY corset appears to be snugger than advertised – seam bulk.)
• It’s GORGEOUS! Directions, however, are scattered throughout. For the reverse appliqué corset she has you flipping to projects later in the book for cutting instructions, and to a separate “techniques” section as well to find all of the directions. This part, isn’t fun, or, in my technical writer opinion, well-designed.

The sewing and creating has been, for the most part, enjoyable. I will probalby make the following changes to how I work with it in the future, however:

• use a slightly larger size. Since I’m large to start with, this may mean grading the corset pattern up. She sells them pre-made in up to a 2XL, but only has the pattern for the XL in the book.
• knots and seams inside (as I am doing now) which is why I will upsize mine.
• when cutting clothing, I’ll use a t-shirt a size larger than the pattern I’m making. Using the same size required some finagling, though it was possible. Barely.  There is NO suggestions on how to choose t-shirt size for the patterns in the book. This is a serious shortcoming.

I think it’s a testament to the ideas in htis book that i went out and bought several more used T-shirts for ideas that percolated up as I worked with it. My clothes from them will be obviously influenced by her, but my own artistic style. This is a Good Thing™ in my opinion.

North Carolina instituted a program this week that makes retailers responsible for sales taxes on any purchases made through a “click through” program such as an affiliate program.  My understanding is that this means that even if someone in Oklahoma buys a book through my Amazon link, Amazon is required to collect sales taxes on it and pay it to North Carolina. Or maybe it means that they have to keep track of clicks coming to them through my site AND from North Carolina and are only responsible for taxes on those… I honestly don’t understand the ramifications of this yet.  It’s something I’m looking into, because it might affect any other small independent business that I choose to support.

Because of this, Amazon has terminated my affiliate status. Just because I happen to live in North Carolina. I feel for the people  in the state who are making their living through affiliate programs. (And there are some.)

What it means right now, though, is that the link to the store of books I recommend is no longer available. And the links to books from my past book reviews will not be available until I figure out what to do. Hopefully I’ll figure something out soon.  Do go read the reviews and buy the books from your local bookstore, though! The books are just that good.

Last month I bought my second issue – vol. 3, issue 1, Feb-Apr. 2009. It’s as beautiful as the last one. With tips on making your blogging better, stories of wonderful bloggers and how blogging has changed both their lives and them, and, of course, urls and photographs from their blogs, it reads much more like Ricë’s Creative Life than a magazine. And it fills my need for reading about people who, like me, are trying to live creatively (in a format that I can take into the bathtub with me). I sometimes feel not misunderstood – but just missed, by my friends and acquaintances. Several of them have said, “you’re so lucky to be so creative!” It’s not luck, it’s just me.

And sometimes it’s lonely. The people profiled in the magazine remind me that I’m not alone. And so do the people I’ve met through this blog and their own blogs and several mailing lists.

So thank you all – and may we all have many more years of Artful Blogging ahead of us!

P.S.   Yesterday I bought yet a third issue when I was at the bookstore.  Heh. I think I’m hooked.

During that time of health issues, moving relatives,  business development and car trouble, I was reading a book, The Savvy Crafter, by Sandra McCall.

Near the end of it is a chapter on what to do when you get overwhelmed. One of the suggestions was to ignore all of the to do list and just take time to create. It sounds like it should be counter-productive. But it reminded me of the advice I was given in college – stop studying for the test. Go to bed and sleep. So I took both pieces of advice at once. i started playing with art journaling as well as working in my studio journal.

It has been rejuvenating. And I’ve accomplished a lot since I started this experiment in late December. While I still want everythign done at once, forcing myself to take 1/2 hour or so a day to play creatively is amazingly calming for me. I’m finding it puts all the issues back into perspective and lets me focus on what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

I am a sucker for books that not only include the art of a particular artist, but also an insight into why he or she works the way they do — why does she use oils? Why did he choose textiles? What made him think to use that particular subject matter?

Normal “Artist Statements” don’t do this for me – I want real English, not something weirdly pseudo-academic that they were taught to do in art school to sound more “artsy” or “educated.” I’m a technical writer. Give me plain language.  Jane Hall doesn’t do this, at least not in this book. Instead she comes across as a lovely lady who sees magic in the natural world around her and translates that vision so the rest of us can enjoy it.

She says at the beginning of the book:

“To Begin With… what is now in my imagination was real to me. Foxgloves were quite simply that, gloves for foxes. Aquilegia flowers (fairies’ bonnets) truly made the prettiest fairy bonnets, and pine needles were obviously meant to sew with.

Every living thing, every scuffling sound, every glinting light meant the world to me. I can remember countless hours exploring my world. People who did not understand, adults mainly, called it ‘playtime’ but it seemed to me far more important than that.”

And, as I said before, enjoy it I do. Bugs embroidered life size (little 1/4 inch beetles!) The care she puts into multiple layers of fabric and stitch, which she describes as lovingly as she does the finished work. This is not a how-to book, but it does provide insight into her working process. And even if you don’t care to read all that in detail, the eye candy was worth the price of the book to me!

Mr. Levy has been doing beadwork since World War II, and has become highly respected in the field, beading many of the costumes for British figure skaters — and later teaching beadwork for the City & Guilds program. It is this teaching background that is wonderfully evident in the book.

One of the first things Mr. Levy tells you is something he tells his students — “do it my way and then go on to do it your way.”Once the basics are known, experimentaiton is what develops good design and new technique.

What I like most about this book is is carefully designed excercises for learning how the materials work with the stitches he teaches. I highly recommend getting sequins and beads specifically to play with and create a sampler of these excercises. The rest of the book contains a chapter of designs you can use to embellish clothing or costumes, or just to practice and frame. The book wraps up with eye candy and inspirational pieces from Mr. Levy and his students.

Very very pretty, and a book I go back to repeatedly when I’m working on a beaded costume.

There are many artists out there doing bead embroidery in heavy collars and bracelets. The two authors of this book (Heidi Kummli & Sherry Serafini) are two of the best.

I didn’t actually buy this book for technique information, as I already have my own methods for the work I do. But just leafing through it has given me some new ideas (and so will their websites). Unlike so many art and craft technique books on the market today (that seem to want to hide parts of the technique the artist used so you really can’t reproduce their designs, these two women have shared many little details such as finishing techniques and their favorite adhesives and stitches, that will allow you to truly create something lovely.

The designs start with an easy belt buckle, with each step illustrated with a clear colored photo from glue to stitching, and progress up to a huge beaded collar, all with the same standards of instruction. While I haven’t tried any of the techniques yet, I’m impressed with the reading of them.

And the inspiration is wonderful! This was the real reason I bought this book, and it hasn’t disappointed me. The photos are clear and luscious and the depth of color and texture these women use in their work is amazing.

If you are at  all interested in decadently embellished all-bead encrusted embroidery, I have no problem recommending this book.

A-Z of Embroidery Stitches: v. 2
Until this one. Now, you have to understand – I don’t own the first volume. Not because I don’t want to – if I find it reasonably priced I’ll probably buy it, too. (I also hate incomplete sets, even if you don’t need all the volumes!)

I bought this volume because it came highly recommended for crazy quilters. I’m always looking for new stitches and combinations of stitches, even though I don’t often do crazy quilting.

Because this is a companion volume, it is missing the very basic stitches that you find in most stitch dictionaries. For me, with all those dictionaries on my shelf, this is itself an advantage. There is an introductory section on how your choice of  thread – twist direction, tightness, ribbon, etc, may effect the look of a stitch, how to keep work clean in a hoop, and how to choose the right needle. The tips provided may even prove useful for the experienced embroiderer — I know I found ideas I hadn’t thought of or ever been taught.

The stitches themselves are illustrated with step by step photographs that make it very easy to reproduce them on your own fabric. And the entire book is filled with spot illustrations of vintage tools, and also of completed projects from various Country Bumpkin publications. All in all, a pretty book that I look forward to using until beyond the point it wears out!

She has a long list of books to her name, many of which are out of print at the moment, I especially love Myth and Magic of Embroidery, which includes her mythological work as well as her nature studies. Very pretty, and the words that go with the pictures are carefully chosen to pull you deep into the moods of the pieces she showcases.

Her newer books have taken the quick technique overview from the back of her coffee table books and brought it front and center as master classes. Working the projects in these books will give you an understanding of silk shading that is unparalleled. And the designs are her usual gorgeousness (all right, so maybe it isn’t a word, but it ought to be!)

She has masterclass books on animals, butterflies, landscapes, gardens, and flowers and I cherish each one I own. They are as beautiful and almost as lush to read as her overview books. Read just to lose yourself in the English countryside for a while!

When I first saw this book online, I passed it over — I expected it to be something superficial, maybe even glib. With Ricë Freeman-Zachery as the author, I should have known better – I’ve loved her articles in Belle Armoire and Somerset Studio. I actually bought this book at a local craft store after I found myself standing at the rack engrossed for 20 minutes when I really needed to go back to work at my day job.

The book is filled with gorgeous, lush photos of the work of the fifteen included artists’ work, their studios, and quotes from them. But it isn’t a book of profiles, or the kind of studio analysis that makes me jealous. It’s organized around the analyzing what, exactly, creativity IS anyway, how you go about living a creative life, and what defines such a life for each of the artists individually. The “profiles” are mixed in with the theses of each chapter, and each time I turned a page I got drawn in deeper.  And in among all of this wonderful discussion there are creativity tips, unique perspective sidebars, and things for you to try to bring some of the ideas into your own work.

And the artists aren’t all the same, either. There are bookbinders, textile artists, jewelry artists, and even a puppet-maker in the mix.

All in all, the book is a deep pool that I wanted to wallow in for hours – and over and over again. It’s not a book I just put on my shelf to look pretty. It is truly inspirational for me.