Marilyn on a gemstone

I found this while bopping about on the net this weekend. Not exactly stitching or dance related, but he DOES put his tiny sculptures inside the eyes of needles…

Go see the video interview with the artist!

A possibly recurring series of cool needlework things I find on the web.

I found this on an old post on Craft recently and was just amazed at the lengths artists will take things. It’s kind of cool, though. Go look and then tell me what you think.  Embroidery on Toast? Cross stitch on cereal? Cameos made out of oreos (OK, those are pretty cool…)

Angled View of Poppy Embroidery

Yesterday on  whim, after telling the staff at my Father’s favorite restaurant about his passing, I stopped at the local antique store, with the hope of finding a copy of Priscilla Magazine or Home Needlework or somesuch (I’m an antique publications fanatic).

Instead, I found this treasure. As usual, you can click the pictures for more detail. I highly recommend it. The stitching is exquisite.) It’s  about 22 by 22 inches, still with the original price tag of 50 cents from Kindall. So I need to go do some research and track it down.

The design reflects much of the art needlework done in the 1890s through about 1910 in the U.S. This one is poppies. It’s stitched on linen in a thick filament silk – not twisted at all,  it looks like they put enough strands in the needle to be about the equivalent of 4-5 strands of cotton floss. But because it’s so much softer, it blends much better than that much cotton would.  I’m sure that this was packaged in this size as thread… I’ve seen the advertisements for it.

As you can see, it’s not faded at all, and the stitching is exquisite. There is a small triangular  voided area in the poppies shown above, where the petals meet, that I thought was an error, but then I realized that all of the poppies in that position have identical voided areas.  It was designed to be made into a pillow – the linen to back the pillow is attached to the embroidered linen, ready to be made.

Coveting the threads I can no longer get, and feeling very pleased with myself for finding this.

Edited 3/12/11 to add the photo of the poppy with the voided spot.

Precious Kitty!

It’s something you sometimes hear in art circles –  “Don’t get too precious” “Don’t be precious about it!” “Keep your work fresh, not precious.” Precious connotes perfectionism – sometimes overworking, sometimes underworking a piece in order to get it “just so.” For some reason, this is considered bad. (I’m a perfectionist…) But who am I to talk? When a friend complained about a town being too “twee,” I said, but I LOVE that town! (I also never told her that I was planning ot move there… and in fact, I didn’t – I fell in love and moved 2500 miles away instead!) maybe “precious” is in my blood.

You don’t hear the word precious thrown around in American needlework circles very often – sometimes I’ll hear it in the more avant-garde UK textile forums.  I have, however, have had acquaintances tell me that American stitchers tend to replace creativity in design with perfect craftsmanship. Indeed, needlework kits feel the need to underscore “the back should look as good as the front.” And there is a fear here that someone will turn over your work and analyze the back… (I do, but not for neatness… I want to know HOW they did what they did!!)

Note on the photo – I’ve never met a cat named Precious that wasn’t psychotic and scary. Dora is NOT named precious, but she has the nickname of The Cuteness… does that count?

I’m not sure where I’m going with this ramble. So let me ask y’all a question – are spontaneity and craftsmanship deadly enemies? Can we have spontaneous, fresh design and still keep quality of stitching? Can stitching be taken into the “real art” world without sacrificing this?

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!