A Pocket Full of Stems

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These bright spring days I am finding myself drawn to 'pockets'.  What fun to take a batch of 'scraps' and put them together into the form of a pocket.

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The idea of using embroidery to 'enhance' my stitching has been with me for several weeks.  A pocket is the perfect place to stitch a little bit here and a little bit there.

Although the pocket has a definite form -- the way its made, what is used to make it -- makes it almost an abstract form.  And that is exactly what I'm looking for these days.

"On the great canvas of time

We all create our own masterpiece.

Choreographing our steps across minutes and hours

Dancing over the days

Painting pictures over months and

Writing our stories on the years.

Singing our songs that echo across eons.

We are all a thread in the talent tapestry.

A snapshot in the cosmic, collective collage."

Michele Jannae

Diary of a Mad Stitcher

Anyone walking into my studio these days would think I'd gone mad - especially given my usual reputation for organization.  Indeed - I've felt a bit 'mad' - not in the angry way, but in the crazy way.

In working on a new group of 'people' my ideas and thoughts have been in overdrive.  Trying to accommodate the style to the fabric that I have on hand wasn't working.  While  this pile of clothes might look like laundry to be done it is really men's shirts in wonderful fabrics that I found at the Goodwill Shop.  Buttons removed they are awaiting their washing, then staining and then who knows what.

Meanwhile, I suspect I'm going to have to tackle my work table as it seems to have a mind of its own lately or else its reflecting my insecurities and craziness.  

"To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now." - Samuel Beckett

"Flutterby"

This little figure - based on one of my favorite themes - butterflies - looks at me with a somewhat longing face.  Perhaps she wants to fly away?  Her name comes from the "Urban Dictionary" which tells this fun story:

"Flutterby was the original name of the butterfly until Mr. Jiminy down the road invented a machine in 1912 to fly.  When he named his machine the 'flutterby' anyone who used the name had to give him 2 pennys for copy write laws."

Lots of fun stitching on this dear little thing.  I shall try to keep her away from open windows so that she'll stay here for a little while.

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued is always just beyond your grasp, but which if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne  

One Punch at a Time

Do you remember the Hansel and Gretel story where the children tried to leave bread crumbs so they could find their way in the forest?  That's where I felt as I moved ever so slowly through this 'house' design.  Because I'm using reverse punchneedle I can actually delineate each stitch one by one.  My own personal crumbs.

And slowly but surely it starts to take shape.  The end is actually in sight.  My story is being told with hundreds and hundreds of punches.

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." - Confucius

Hidden Water

Captured as I was with "The Secret Knowledge of Water" I knew that I had to create it in stitch.  Somehow I wanted to reflect the words I had read.  Somehow I want to recreate water, hidden in the desert caverns, canyons and arroyos.  I wanted to look beneath the surface and see it calmly gathering in pools.  Perhaps bubbling up in places neither I nor any other human would ever see.

"This was not the kind of water that could make war on the desert.  It was a secret, a softly spoken word that the surrounding desert could not hear.  If the sun ever found it, it would be gone in days.  This was an artifact of the last rain, which had sheeted over the face of this isolated mountain and just happened to catch in this dark place where a block of stone had fallen, leaving a hole like the pulling of a tooth." - Craig Childs

Coming back to...

...finish up the background on this piece.  Thank you again Brenda Gervais for your lovely designs.

The most exciting thing about coming home is seeing designs all traced onto Weaver's cloth and ready for stitching.  Lots of fun hours ahead of me here.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Heaven!

This morning I walked into my studio to this sight.  The sun coming in through the trees, casting shadows upon my play area and the needlework waiting for me.  What better way to start the day.

 

 

I'm currently working this bird design.  Although its pretty laborious because of the small spots on his body, its working up well and I'm having so much fun plying my needle in and out. 

Because of the design I realized almost as soon as I began, that it would look much better as a 'reverse' punchneedle design.  The loops on the other side would not show the delineation of the design at all -- but the flat reverse punchneedle works quite well.

Stitchery and creativity bring me such peace and joy - and I'm especially thankful for this little spot in the world where I'm allowed to spend my days.

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Lou Holtz

The Process

 

Before going on holiday I drew, cut and stitched bodies, arms and legs.  At least I got that far.

Upon returning home I spent many quiet hours stuffing all the 'parts.

 

 

Then came the fun of painting - first with off-white and then aging by using watered down acrylics.



And soon the true fun begins -- creating identities and fashions for each and every one of them.


"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly." - Proverb

The 'Fun' Part

I enjoy every part of creating these figures -- but I must say that the hand stitchery and embellishment is my very favorite part.

I have a sense looking at this incomplete figure that it is just that - incomplete, wrong somehow.  The doubts creep in.

Then I take out needle and thread - bits of this and that - and it becomes whole beneath my finger tips.  Ahhh, a deep sigh of satisfaction.

"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Cording

I'm up to my wrists in very small cords - which I'm attaching to my current wall hanging - "Balancing Act".  Several years ago I took a wonderful class that included all sorts of fiber techniques - including making my own cording.  Using different fibers, intertwined around each other I slip it into the sewing maching and make a zigzag stitch binding all of them together in a wonderful mix.  I love this process and have used it on ever so many pieces, including the petite pockets and hearts of last year.

I once bought a Japanese cord maker but I've never used it.  I prefer my old-fashioned way. I like to dig through my fibers, twist them and stitch.  I can make them as thick as I want, as thin as I want and as long as I want.  They are wonderful even when not used for cording but as an addition to the surface of a piece of fabric or punchneedle.

For "Balancing Act" I have used the cording for loops at the top and am now in the process of adding cords (11 for each attachment) to connect all three sections.  This isn't easy for me as I am a terrible measurer!  In order to hang straight I must make sure that they are spaced properly and stitched top and bottom evenly.  A hard task for someone who is a free spirit when it comes to exact measuring *smile*.

"By concentrating on precision, one arrives at technique, but by concentrating on technique one does not arrive at precision." - Bruno Walter

Abundance

As I young child I regularly visited my local library.  This library was in an old building located near the pier in a small town along the coast in California.  Walking into this building I could smell books, paper, old wood and the salty air combined.  This was a building of 'possibility' for me.  To see all of those books lined up neatly on the shelves just waiting for me was almost overwhelming.  I still get that same feeling as I walk into my far more modern library here in North Carolina.  Each visit is a thrill - there is so much there for me, too much for me to ever read in my lifetime but still it waits. 

These days I get the very same joyous feelings of 'possibility' as I walk into a fabric store, a bead shop, a needlework shop and as seen above a fiber show.  Oh my -- the wonders of color, texture... the softness, the flow, the patterns, the ideas.  Oh yes, the ideas! 

Ideas are what possibility is all about.  Whether its a sharing of knowledge through a book or a sense inside me that with this yarn I might be able to do this, with that stitch I might be able to do that.

Isn't this world, this life I'm living beautiful?!

"An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing." - Samuel Smiles

Work Awaiting...

This is what I like to see -- stitching work waiting for my hands to take it up and create something new.  I have filled to the brim the small table in my studio.  There are two punchneedle projects (a bird and a picture); there are two art dolls (one all ready for embellishing, the other languishing upon a pile of fabric that will one day become her body). 

I have finally come to a point in my life where seeing all of this sitting here doesn't bother me.  I don't feel compelled to get busy and 'clean off that table'.  This is a big break through for me.  Now those piles of fabric and thread and floss and fibers are gifts waiting to be opened and they are all for ME!! 

One day soon I will want to add another pile to the table but that will mean that I have turned one stack of goodies into a finished piece.  I'm so thankful for this small space filled to the brim with 'pieces to be'!

"We can only be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures". - Thornton Wilder

"The Bell Ringer"

I'm welcoming the new year with art doll "The Bell Ringer".  To paraphrase an old rhyme 'with bells on her fingers and bells on her toes - she shall have music wherever she goes'.  These warm colors boosted my spirit during the snowy, grey/white January that we've been having.  It was almost like a warm sunset sitting on my work table as I stitched away on her.

She ended up with 229 French Knots -- no, I wasn't counting as I went, nor was I trying to beat a record.  It just dawned on me as I finished the last one - 'wonder how many French knots I've done'.  So of course I had to count them.

Working on art dolls requires constant movement going from one type of stitch to another and I like the energy it involves.  Not much quiet meditation when working on such a small item - because you no sooner get involved in one stitch when that area is finished and its time to move onto the next.  I love trying out various stitches and looking for fibers to add to the surface.

"Ring the bells that still can ring.

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in". -
Leonard Cohen

Pondering Fabric

Having said that I was going to focus on bright colors in a recent post -- I found myself pulling out this stack of colorful fat quarters.  There are oranges and greens and pinks and turquoise and the designs on the fabrics are modern and sleek and... Well, you get the picture.

It was time to start preparing a couple of new art dolls and I had all these marvelous designs and colors laid out in front of me.  Scissors ready I snipped away, I soon had a couple of bodies cut and fused and ready for embellishing and stitching.  It was at that point that I realized they weren't going to work for my particular style . 

For people who don't work in fabric art there might be a misunderstanding that you just cut it out, stitch it up and its done.  For me, working with fabric in a representatational way, each stitch is put onto the fabric with a lot of thought.  If the background fabric has a distinct pattern design of its own and says 'don't cover me up' -- its hard for me to find the spirit of the cloth. Don't get me wrong, I love the bold fabric designs and the colors, but for the work that I do I find that I need subdued fabric - something that will be a background for my stitchery.

And so I spent a morning pulling muted fabrics from my stash, laying pieces all over the table and looking at them.  An integral part of my work is the use of embroidery stitches to bring the background fabric to life. The stitch 'becomes' the fabric design.  Its very hard to explain but I guess I don't just want to make an art doll I want to imbue my very own consciousness into it.  I want to use my stitching and embellishment to create a theme that means something to me personally and that I hope will mean something to someone else somewhere along the way.

I love the work of others where the fabric is the key -- and I do so admire their skill at combining and displaying these beautiful, bright, modern designs.  Once again however, I've learned something about myself (do we ever stop learning?) and it relates to what is important to me in my work.  Because embroidery stitchery is important to me when creating art dolls I shall have to put aside bold patterns and go back, once again, to the subdued patterns and shades.

Now that I've figured out all of this about myself its back to the needle and thread.  Isn't the creative process wonderful?

"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakes". - Carl Jung

Balance

It is my goal and desire to have balance in my life.  Not too much of one thing, not too much of another.  Sometimes its hard to keep that balance - life throws something at me that has to be attended to or that absorbs my every waking moment and the balance is thrown off.

I've been working back and forth between art doll creation and punchneedle creation.  I have noticed that the difference between the two tends to bring a balance to my art life that it didn't have before.

Art dolls are a very 'active' enterprise.  Beginning with just an idea - making a pattern (or two or three or four) - figuring out fabric and threads and attachments and stitches can take a lot of energy.  And then the doll is begun and throughout the whole process, down to the last stitch my mind is going and my hands are doing many different things. I may be painting fabric or stitching fabric, I may be attaching trim or finding just the right button but my mind and hands are always on the move. 

Punchneedle seems to be just the opposite.  Once the design is settled on and drawn onto the fabric it is time to fill it in.  In and out goes the punchneedle - the only thing that stops the process is the rethreading of the needle.  I usually work with music in the background.  The other day I was working on punchneedle and there was a particular piece of classical music -- it came to the forefront of my attention because all I had to do was punch in and out.  I even got going 'with' the rhythm of the music.  I realized then that punchneedle is my 'quiet' art while doll making is my 'active' art.

How nice it is to have that balance, to be able to go back and forth between art forms that I love - feeling energized by one and mellowed by the other.  I think, for right now, that the scales are even for me.

"Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate". - Chuang Tzu

I've Been Playing

I've been playing, as you can see.  Playing with mixing fabric on a base to create a foundation for this art doll. 

Playing with stitches - this one and that one - running stitch, French knots, seed stitch, buttonhole stitch. 

I have been threading my needle with all manner of threads - wool, silk, cotton - taking the time to savor each and every one of them.

"Remember, this layer of fabrics is only the first layer of color. Various needlework techniques will be laid over the layers to create visual interest". - Judith Baker Montano

My Little Space

I'm not sure which season keeps me inside my studio more -- winter, with the cold air and snow or summer, with the heat and humidity.  I'm so lucky!!!  I have a wonderful space in which to sit day after day and do what I love - stitching, stitching, stitching.  A place that keeps me warm in the winter and cool in the summer. 

So here is my worktable in all its messy glory!  This is my nest, my solitude and my solace.  I have little dishes all over the top of the table in which bits and pieces of collected items sit waiting to inspire me.  I only allow the things I love to grace this space -- no bills are allowed, no to-do lists, not even bad thoughts.  This is where creating is supposed to take place, where ideas are supposed to thrive and this is where I seat myself almost each and every day to make 'stuff'.  Sometimes I feel like a hermit -- and then I know that I need to get away from this table, at least for a bit, to soak up inspiration in other places.

Where are those other places?  Art galleries (or any place else where art is exhibited), fabric and fiber shops (oh the colors and textures and patterns), lunch with a creative friend (good food can be considered inspirational).  After getting out I am usually ready to get back to 'work' - did I say work?  Of course not - I am not only lucky to have such a wonderful space in which to ply my trade -- but I'm also lucky to be able to play, play, play.

What are you playing with today?

"If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older". - Tom Stoppard

Clowning Around

Here are some pictures of a 'work in progress' during these long, hot summer afternoons.  This figure - with its temporary, maybe permanent name "Send in the Clowns" has been worked on, set aside, worked on, then set aside.  I've been in the middle of a piece that I can't reveal until mid-September -- but this art doll keeps drawing my attention back to her and so I've temporarily put aside the 'deadline' piece and have picked her up to have fun playing with the theme, the fabric, the beads and the stitching.

She began as a piece of fabric that I just loved.  Not a color that I would usually use - sort of a rose red - with multicolored dots spaced and black lines squiggled here and there.  To that I added bunches of over-stitching lines in curves and swirls.

Once that was done (for a front and back piece) I carefully hemmed all the edges.  Then came the layout -- that part where, if I can, I layout the bits and pieces that will fill the fabric spaces of each doll.  I have to allow for the embroidery stitches that I want to put here, there and everywhere on the fabric. 

One of my favorite songs, of all time is "Send in the Clowns" -- the music is lovely and the words are so poignant.  They tell the story that each of us has had at one time or another in our lives when we were ready for something but things (life) didn't work out. 

Do you ever have a project that you just want to finish so much -- not to have it done by any means but to enjoy it as being finished?  This piece is that to me -- she speaks to me in ways that I can't exactly express.  Hopefully her message will be clear once she is completed.

Isn't it bliss?

Don't you approve?

One who keeps tearing around,

One who can't move.

Where are the clowns?
- Stephen Sondheim