Some of my hand-carved stamps

I admit it… I’m a craft dilettante!

I was, several years ago, trying to integrate my rubber stamping hobby into my textile art. I loved the depth it gave backgrounds, and being able to use the stamps themselves as designs to stitch.

Then I ran into a problem. I had too many pieces to keep for myself, and, frankly, I didn’t just want to give them away to relatives and friends who might or might not appreciate them. (I have been asked on occasion, why would you want to do that by hand when a machine is so much faster? !) So it would be nice to sell some of my art.

Unfortunately for the situation, though not in the long run, copyright law applies to stamp designs (and needlework patterns, and designs in books, and coloring books… and a lot more, too!) You might think this is silly, since stamps are tools to make art, but how you are licensed and allowed to use the images you stamp varies by company to company. My stamp collection sometimes doesn’t specify company any more. Many of the stamps I have date from before I went looking for “angel” companies who allow you to sell your hand-stamped work. Even angel companies have different policies regarding how or whether you notify them. Prints of artwork created are generally not allowed, although this can be negotiable.  I didn’t want to have to go to the bother of tracking down the specific policy of each and every stamp I owned, and then keeping all the paperwork needed to prove I was in compliance – and what if I made art that just came out so cool that I thought notecards made from it as prints would be neat? Out of luck.

I decided that the easiest thing for me, was just not to use commercial stamps at all any more. Enter learning to carve my own (which has, in turn, led to woodcarving as an actual hobby {I didn’t think I was capable of hobbies any more!})… Did I ever mention that I play with WAAAY too many crafts? Maybe this blog should be Craft Dilettante! instead of Stitching with a Shimmy!

In the “How to doodle” post way back when, I examined how I doodle around geometrically, creating geometric designs, subdivided and filled with yet more shapes. That method can be done using dice for inspiration.

My organic doodling is less structured – take a scribble – any scribble – on paper or digitally and then expand on it.

How to Doodle

1. Scribble. I often use pencil for this. The key when making it is to truly scribble — don’t think and don’t try to make anything. In fact, scribble a bunch of these randomly on the page without looking. I like to keep a stack of pre-scribbled doodles to work with whenever the mood strikes, or several pages of them in my current studio journal.
   

   First Doodle Step

2. Now, pretend you’re a kid again, lying on your back on a hill watching clouds. What do you see? Each scribble is a cloud.
3. At this point I like to use a brush tip pen to delineate what I see. The brush tip makes it easier to make some of the lines stronger and more obvious. You can get the same result with a different color of pen, or a pen over pencil, or whatever works for you. Remember – you don’t have to use all of the scribble – you can make multiple pictures out of the same scribble, or combine more than one scribble into one picture.
   

   Finished and titled doodles. Click to enlarge.

There are no rules in doodling – and it’s about playing, not “real” art.

Well. The first week in December the Universe got tired of my wimbling. It pulled out a two by four and smacked me over the head about not pursuing my dreams. You see, I think the universe really wants me to succeed in Art and Design, even when I would much rather pull the blanket up over my head and hide from the world.

That two-by-four? It’s called a layoff. Suddenly I have all the time in the world to focus on the business, getting this pile of designs I have finished ready for you wonderful folks to buy and stitch and love, and the book on how to design your own needlework done…

And then the day after, my Dora-kitten got sick. (OK, she’s four. But she’s still my kitten. And she features in the design book, so she’s even more special!) Very sick. Sick like “in the hospital for three days with kidney failure” sick.  I’ve been spoon feeding her, running her to the doctor, and trying to keep her warm in a cold house ever since (they shaved her for an ultrasound). In true family fashion, they know what’s wrong, but they can’t figure out WHY.

But you know? Through it all, I’ve managed to get my butt in gear, edit another chapter of the book, almost finish the model stitching for the snowflake pattern (Which means, that if you want it at the pre-release pdf price before the model is done and in the pattern shop, you should order it now at the Snowflake Mat pattern page! It’s an instant download, and the individual snowflakes make for great quick ornaments/gift tags!)

In addition, I put several of my beaded chatelaines on Etsy for last-minute gifts. If you’re within the US and want them by Christmas, I know I can get them there if they’re ordered by Friday the 18.  I can’t guarantee  if they’re ordered by Monday, but I’m sure there’s a pretty good chance they’d still make it.

So. The Universe is calling. And I’m making an attempt to answer it. Now if it would stop throwing sick cats at me in between steps… !

Then I met one of my college roommates. Jade was (and is) an amazing draughtsman – and claimed that I wasn’t hopeless – that she could teach anyone to draw. What she really taught me was how to see — not so much what I was trying to draw, but rather what actually came out on the page. She showed me how to say, this is what works in this picture and why. This is why the overall impression is wrong. It’s really just this one little line here.

This is not to say that I always get it right now — no, my sketchbooks are still filled with hundreds upon hundreds of awful little drawings, and I have to mine for the gems, but you know? Twenty years later and that vein of gems is finally getting more regular!

This October marked the twenty third year Jade and I have been friends. the gift of drawing is only one of the many benefits I’ve enjoyed over the years. She also edits my writing, stitches some of my models, and runs a mean roleplaying game. And she produced my super-cool godson, too!

Happy Birthday, Jade!

Léan at String Revolution reminds herself about what it means to create.

I haven’t forgotten about posting about my workshop – really.  I’m just still processing information.  (And we’ve been in crunch week at work.)

Back when my godson was three, he was fascinated by my rubber stamps. Although precocious, he wasn’t always careful to follow my rules, so I bought a set of inexpensive texture stamps and a set of cheap stamps and washable ink and paint just for him.

Sit down with your chosen small one , lots of colors of paints, stamp pads, crayons, and markers, and LOTS of paper. (Cover the kitchen floor and do it there — it’s a LOT easier to clean up than the dining table! and much more space to spread out in, too.)

Follow the child’s lead — at 3-5 they are generally naturally experimental – often we’ve forgotten the simple joys of making a mess by the time we hit high school. Assume the art supplies will end up trashed and purchase accordingly. They should be good fora year or so of this kind of use — weekly. You might be surprised – 10 years later I’m still using those cheap kid’s texture stamps!

What I learned from the three year old:

• Using all the paint colors on a foam stamp does NOT necessarily equate to a yucky mess.
• Mixed media is fun – I’m relearning this this year on my own…
• Colors that “clash” can create wonderful art together.
• FUN is the most important part of the creative process. Yes, there is work involved in the professional side, but even when it’s difficult, if some part of the project doesn’t trigger your sense of fun you won’t produce your best work. And yes, I do find this is just as true when I’m working with dark subject matter!

Little kids, when given permission to make a mess, create masterpieces. Borrow a friend or relative’s toddler if you need to — let them have a day off while you and the child create — just remember to warn Mom and Dad that their child will be coming home completely covered in paint (and be prepared to be just as messy yourself). Then go forth and have fun!

So what do I do at home? Well, I teach bellydance and am a member of a wonderful troupe, a decidedly NOT private endeavor. This is good. I get to be social three times a week at least – no, I HAVE to be social, which is good for this natural hermit. And I make art. I design needlework patterns (by the way, the business license went through last month… we’re getting there!) And I draw and paint.

I love to take the stitching and the blogging and the design-work to the coffee shop by myself. The fact that there are people around me is inspiring. But what I really enjoy is that for the most part, they ignore me. I can feel like I’m a social being and a hermit all at the the same time. And sometimes, just sometimes, someone will catch sight of what I’m drawing and ask me what gallery I’m in. OK, it’s only happened once, but it made me feel very good – like maybe this art thing COULD become more of my life.

Block one with many (not all) seams stitched!

Recently I have been focusing my depth of field on backgrounds in my art. Simple is beautiful. but as I discover some of the more detailed and deep layering in mixed media art I want to figure out how to apply that to my tixtile work. A while back I took Sharon Boggin’s Sumptuous Surfaces class — which set me on this path. This year I am taking her Encrusted Crazy Quilting to continue this line of thinking. What better format for adding this kind of depth than crazy quilting? I stitch slowly, so I can’t promise you quick results on my original blocks (though I seem to be moving faster than I originally expected!)

In addition to the quilting class, I took Kelly Kilmer’s Prompt a Day mixed media journaling class last month. Can’t justify the time this month since I havent’  done all the prompts from LAST month yet! But what I’m finding is that the more layered the background, the sharper, and more prominent the focal image appears — a way of adjusting the depth of field in hand-made art as well as photography. This should be an interesting experiment.

I highly recommend sidestepping out of your normal media choice and play for a while. The results to your focus may surprise you.

My first was a little locking diary that my grandmother gave me. I remember it was red, and I got angry with it very quickly because it only had five lines per day, and they weren’t far enough apart to write in anyway. That attempt lasted about five days. (I was determined.)

When I was twelve, that grandmother – my special friend – died and I was very lonely. I don’ tknow what made me realize that I could journal in a spiral bound notebook — or that I could address entries to my Nini — but I did both. The letter-writing campaign helped me through my grief and the tribulations of Jr. High School.

I’ve been sporadic about it since — lots of writing — my journals were always words. I had sporadic sketchbooks of bad drawings as well, and steno pads full of novel notes — oh, and later a day planner which I still use for organization and calender-keeping.

Then in 2007 I took Sharon Boggon’s Studio Journal course online, and suddenly all of this had a point — sketchbook and sporadic journal have been consolidated — the “novels” none ever finished — will probably remain in steno pads and three-ring binders so that they stay together. Not to mention that writing fiction no longer appeals quite so much.

Then over the past year I discovered “art journaling” in a real way, rather than in the “oh look at those gorgeous pages in that artist’s journal, but why would I want to make that kind of art it’s not my cup of tea” kind of way. I still don’t think the making a beautiful page method will ever apply to my stuff — my art is more about playing with neat techniques and trying things out than getting deep into my soul — but i reserve the right to go wherever I feel like it in my journals — from bad art to bad poetry and up to great on both of those. And I’m shamelessly stealing techniques from the mixed media and art journalers. And by using the art journaling techniques such as Kelly Kilmer teaches in her Prompt a Day class (yes, I’m taking the February course…) and combining it with the splash and go method Ricë Freeman-Zachery propounds in her “journal spanks” prompts that just say that it’s YOUR book, just USE it! And combining it with Sharon’s “composting” method, I have to admit that my creativity has increased recently.

So if I’m missing from the blog for a post or two, don’t panic, I’m probably just stitching or painting! (Or shimmying, but that probably goes without saying! TWO count ‘em TWO shows this month!!!)