Craftwear and Living With Craft Setup! (Part 1)

for the 26th. Add pictures of set up. 

This will be on display, and for sale at this year's Craftwear, at the League fair!

This will be on display, and for sale at this year's Craftwear, at the League fair!

I'm helping with the setup this year at the Fair. It's a new thing for me. I've wanted to be able to do this for a few years now, but my anxiety/agoraphobia issues have been too much for me. This year, I'm taking extra medication and sleeping about 12 hours a night, to recover, but, I'm doing it! I expect that I'll be fried for most of August afterwards, but it's worth it. 

One of the values I chose to live by is "We're all in this together" For me that means that I should do what I can, with what I have for those people and groups that I care about. This means I've donated a lot of my work for fundraising. This year I decided to do more concrete actions to help my groups. So I'm giving my time. 

I'll be adding pictures to this post through the day. It should be fun!

Politics and fiber arts, they can go together.

There are so many links between protests and fabric, it's too big of a topic to cover. But a significant one was the development of the American flag, where we took the colors of our parent's (England) flag, and made them distinctly our own

I like many of the more modern expressions of political thought in fabrics and fibers. Many of the artists are using innovative techniques, and interesting materials. For example  "The Money Dress" is a glorious experiment with using currency as fabric, and as commentary.

 

Susan Stockwell is an amazing British artist that uses technology, ecology and politics in her works while also incorporating recycled computer parts and other everyday materials. Here we have "The Money Dress" which she designed and was made with p…

Susan Stockwell is an amazing British artist that uses technology, ecology and politics in her works while also incorporating recycled computer parts and other everyday materials. Here we have "The Money Dress" which she designed and was made with paper money from all over the world. These particular style of dresses were inspired by the very ones worn by british Female Explorers in the 1870's....from Shawn Lloyd's blog 

"Line of Fire" by Adrienne Sloane is magnificent commentary on our current culture of gun violence. I suspect that she's trying to say a few things in the work, but I'm unable to find any source besides Pinterest (which is, usually, more useful than this) 

 

 "Line of fire" by Adrienne Sloane (my attempts to find a useful link to the artist have failed.)

 "Line of fire" by Adrienne Sloane (my attempts to find a useful link to the artist have failed.)

Other artists have used text to convey their intentions, others have used more graphic imagery. I love the use of a traditional technique to convey modern concerns, that make us contemplate those concerns in a new way. 

The Democratic National Convention is starting this evening. It makes me wonder what inspiration for work will I find in it.  

Another finished piece

I've finished another of the weekly pieces. This one also has the back embroidered around the pin backing. This week willl  be a week of getting pieces ready for display and sale. (Meaning, there will be outrageous amounts of detached butttonhole stitch. YAY!)(I sure know how to have fun, don't I?)
This week looks like it will also be a studio cleaning and rearranging kind of week. It definitely feels like spring, and I want to take advantage of the smell of new beginnings and the colors of new growth.
I spend so much time online, since that's where I get the majority of my inspiration, that I forget the visceral, commanding qualities of nature that also influence what I do. Sometimes it's good to give in to that wildness, and believe its promises.
Ciao!

Finished!

This large piece is now ready to be made into a pendant. I'm loving the look of the French knots on this one. I have a lot of textures on this piece and the knots are not overwhelming. (As they can be)

Progress

I only have four more things to do before I cut this loose!
1. Finish blue edge
2. Finish french knots
3. Put in, and integrate, pearls
4. Wire edge.
Goal to get this done today.

ZIPPERS!!!

Zippers are thoroughly loathsome things.
The embroidery is nice enough. The zipper is irrevocably jammed. Apparently I stitched too close to it. Damnit.

I'll try again

Don't be afraid of cliches

I normally avoid color combinations that are too expected. For example, in this piece, red white and blue. By using 2 kinds of red, and two kinds of blue I think I've avoided the pitfall of making this look like a flag.
It's good to remember that cliches are cliches for a reason. Red, white and blue are good heraldic colors. And there are reasons that they're so popular for national symbols.
Happy Stitching!

Sample for a demo

I have a demo on Saturday, and I'll be showing stitching using much larger supplies (should make it easier to teach, I think.) This is all worked in size 5 Perle cotton. I'll post a finished picture tomorrow.

Finished!

Hi folks! I've finished off one of the weekly pieces and will be donating it to an auction to support City Year.

When I get more info, I'll post it here.

Info on the piece...
It's inspired by Australian Aboriginal art.
The pearls and silver cord represent some constellations of the southern hemisphere.
This only took 24 hours (I'm getting faster!)

Fourth weekly piece

I'm running a little behind the schedule I want to follow. (I should be on weekly  6) However, I'm really happy with how this one is turning out. I should have a finished picture for tomorrow, and I can start the  next one!
Ciao!

It's coming along...

The current illumination is almost done. I just have some erasing to do, the initial letters, and the shading of all the leaves and stuff. Later in February (I don't want to post the finished piece until the recipient has seen it) I'll post the finished picture.

Pearls!

I've added the pearls, and am almost ready to add the wire edging and cut this piece loose. I'll be working a lace edge around the piece to keep it feeling airy. There may be pearls in the lace, I'm not sure until I start stitching.

I'm very happy with the organic feel of the eyelets and french knots. I might need to make a big piece, like a necklace, on the same thought.

Progress!

The Kerouac/Walkabout piece is moving along nicely. It's taking longer than I thought it would (this really isn't a surprise) I am so pleased with how this base layer of work is coming out. It has a physical density that's just wonderful to hold. I am getting itchy to start the text layer of it, but that just has to wait at least for now.
Have a fabulous day!