Molly and I spent all day driving around and shopping and eating at Chipotle and laughing and carrying on. One of the stops we made was Fixtures-Plus (Brentwood, locals, also one in Balto) a warehouse of old store fixtures and displays, including a room full of mannequins. I’ll take my camera next time; it was INSANE in the membrane! Of course the mann-girl I wanted was on a shelf three stories up, so this guy had to go lug a ginormous ladder over to git ‘er down. Next stop was to score some plaster of Paris gauze strips and when we got home we covered up her ugly plastic self, zombie-style. I can’t believe how cool she turned out. And it was so messy and fun! Total cost: $40. Which beats the hell out of the mannequin Filene’s was “liquidating” for $75. Anyway, look for my new undead model when So Charmed relaunches.
Here is Earl Moth, he was once a tea tin, of the Earl Gray variety. I’m testing out photographing with just a few additional props so that I can give you a sense of how the pieces look worn (and without nagging Molly constantly to model for me). So it’s cool to see the moths upright instead of lying on the white seamless for one of the shots. Right? Oh, and that’s a hand we picked up at Fixtures. It had white dust pouring out of it, which made me instantly think of cocaine smuggling. I have been watching a LOT of Breaking Bad via Netflix. A LOT!!! Hand was $5. There was a spooky pile of them. Some with arms! Legs and feet too. I’m telling you, the place was too much.
Here are some sweet little spool necklaces that have been around here forever (never listed. Why? I don’t know!)… these are the ones that have poetry and other writings handscrawled around the vintage wooden spool, underneath the ribbon. You can see them undressed on flickr. The frame was scored at my new other favorite place on planet Earth, HOBBY LOBBY. Is that not the queerest name ever?!? It’s just lame! But people, this place kicks. We had so much fun and it took hours to make our way through the airplane hangar sized place. Only drawback… a biiiiiiiig shlep out to the exurbs (Laurel, locals). A field trip, for sure.
Anyway, the light was gone for the day, so these photos aren’t the best, but since they are just ideas at this point, let me know what you think! I’ll still do lots of white on white, b/c I think those are so pretty and really show the work.
This post comes to you with a soundtrack! So hit the play button on the CocoRosie performance above and read on.
When I first saw the work of Mia Kunyo — BeWakeful, on Etsy– I honestly thought I’d stumbled on the secret clothing design business of Sierra Cassady, the “Rosie” half of sister-duo CocoRosie. First of all, Mia (who models much of her work in her charming photos) possesses the same classic beauty and looks like Sierra’s long lost twin, but more importantly, her imaginative freaky clothing designs, as well as her colorful styling (crayola tribal warpaint!)… instantly put me in mind of the childlike playfulness of a band I obsessed over for many months!
Mia’s work is so original and fun, the dress pictured above is flirty-cool.
Hats, too! Visit Mia and check out her entire adorable line of goodies which include handmade tights, unitards, and collars among other things.
This week one of my FB buds posted a video by Sia, who I had somehow missed hearing about, and I’ll leave you with this amazing video, the styling for which immediately brought to mind the BeWakeful shop, CocoRosie, etc. You’ll need to get through ads on this next one, but trust me, it’s worth it. Spine-chilling good stuff.
If you’re joining us late, we’re crusing down the home stretch of an ENTIRE MONTH’s worth of blog posts cleverly titled (not) A Few of My Favorite Things. Originally conceived to invite you to consider buying handmade for the holidays, at this point I’m saying: Didn’t get anything good? Then why not GO TREAT YOURSELF to something gorgeously handmade? This entire post features the incredible work of Angela Rossi at Beat Up Creations, who likes to have fun with cast-off china plates.
Rossi’s shop is chock-full of delightful animal and pop-culture hero images, each married with their perfect plate, as if by destiny. She also sells very handsome art-prints and some art objects as well.
Ironic, hip, and very punk, if you ask me.
Pictured above is the series of plates I commissioned from Angela for the BF’s 60th birthday. Ray Davies, Keith Richards, and Johnny Thunders. They are DIVINE and she was a blast to work with!
Here’s a close-up of sexy-boy Keith, snuggled up with the old wedding china and a collection of cups I snagged from me mum. Spot ‘o tea anyone?
In the blurring worlds of visual arts and crafts, there can be simultaneous explosions of ideas, subject matter, supplies, and inspirations. Those that truly take hold become trends, and a trend run amok sadly becomes that wearying thing you wish would go away. Think owls, deer, mustaches. Fortunately, the things that don’t take hold simply act as threads linking artisans from across the world together. When I began experimenting with a simplistic cloud form in metalsmithing class, the idea bubbled up out of who-knows-where, and seemed to work as a shape that would not require the skills of a master, could absorb mistakes and inconsistencies, and had the potential for variation and expression. So I went with it. You’ve seen the results on the blog here, and above is another of the finished hollow-form brooches, entitled She Wept Crocodile Tears. That’s a vintage 1930’s cabochon with a vintage crystal chandelier drop.
I hadn’t seen loads of clouds out there in the marketplace, but a recent search pulled up a few… mostly sort of pedestrian, but some that were lovely, cute, scary, weird. This post collects and displays my favorites. Pictured above, from JessQuinnSmallThings in the UK, the delightful Clarissa Cloud brooch. There is much art to admire and purchase at Jess Quinn’s shop.
I’ll leave you with the adorably creepy Rain Cloud Dolly, by MungoCrafts of British Columbia. You’ll also find stylin’ handmade hoodies and other fun things at her shop.
As the perfect piggyback to yesterday’s post, allow me to introduce you to the work of Karen Ruane, who I believe is single-handedly (pun intended) keeping alive many traditions of sewn craft, with a particular focus on embroidery. Pictured above, from Karen’s Etsy shop, Contemporary Stitches, is one of a pair of handmade buttons. What a gorgeous treat for the closure on a handcrafted garment!
I first met Karen over on flickr, during my aforementioned personal adventures in stitchiness. When she put something of mine in her favorites list, I was entirely blown away, and although intimidated by her masterful work, I got in touch and we became fast friends (of the virtual kind). Pictured above is another of Karen’s works, entitled Precious Textile Fragment. This white on white art object, precious indeed, features a broad variety of stitches and techniques carried out with masterful skill.
Karen applies her craft in service of both the functional (such as buttons and cards) and museum-quality fine art works that are conceptual and personal. From her wonderful blog she states: For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors.
Published in Handmade UK magazine, Karen will also soon be offering an online course (hit the link and scroll 2/3 down) with 19 other artisans as part of Alma Stoller’s 2012 STITCHED WORKSHOPS. She also offers hew own online class Embroider, Embellish, Create, here.
BTW, Karen’s works of art are copyrighted (this post and all others in this series appear with the artist’s permission). In the New Year, I shall be posting a lengthy rant on the subject of “copying” in crafts, a topic of great debate that I have been burning brain cells on of late. And aren’t you looking forward to that?
Confession: It’s not all about the angst and edge around here; I absolutely love vintage hankies and many other very delicate collectibles. I can’t explain this, really. I’m old enough to remember when these objects were functionally in use and there is still something about them that I find incredibly evocative. Hankies, and vintage buttons too. They just seem to hold a lot of history… women’s history, in particular.
All of the dainties pictured in this post came from one delightful shop, aptly named The Hanky Lady.
I wonder if the hanky lady herself is liquidating a lifetime collection; as of this writing the number of items in her shop is staggering 262, with only a smattering of non-hanky goods.
The fabrics and handwork on these, the amazing embroidery and lace techniques… such lost arts, for the most part. I have a personal collection of hankies gathered over the years, some are family items, but I also remember scoring many dozens of them at a clip in thriftstores back in the day. Recently I was exploring embroidery myself and used hankies as my canvases at times, here are two such objects from my finished pieces. You can see more of this adventure up on flickr, second “set” on the right called embroidery (mine).
Sugar & Spice vintage 50’s handkerchief with added embroidery.
Snips & Snails vintage 50’s handkerchief with added embroidery.
Just b/c you are out of wall space doesn’t mean you have to stop buying art. There are always… pillows. Above is one of my favorite pillow-makers (pillowists?), In the Seam, who I met at Renegade Brooklyn this past year. I tried to get away from their booth unscathed, but returned for one of the NYC pigeon pillows pictured above. Would love to have a whole flock!
Of course then the flock would absolutely need a sewer cover, wouldn’t they? Of course they would! Cleverly, this pillow comes in NYC, Detroit, and Seattle versions. Love!
Speaking of Detroit, here’s another pillow-person, SaltLabs, who hails from that city, but doesn’t limit his/her work to same. At this lovely shop you can buy Paris, pictured above…
Coolest thing about moving my design practice to my home is that I’ve taken over the entire basement + garage here, and when designfarm hits a lull, I can dash into the jewelry studio and play. So today is a play day! Above are bits and pieces that are being patina’d and observed and considered for upcoming use.
I don’t use a lot of religious iconography in my work, but every now and then, something grabs me and insists. The sacred heart necklace is a 99-cent thriftscore and the hindu pieces came from the The Bead Warehouse. Don’t paper towels make terrific backgrounds? Maybe I will introduce that as the next Etsy craze. Wheeeeeeee!
The other two scary weeping clouds from metalsmithing class. These have set stones, which is a beeyatch, people. These are almost done. I have to go out and get some Permalac to use for setting the patina b/c wax made a big mess on this kind of surface. Pray for me.
So this has been in progress for WEEKS, a triple strand affair that is requiring a lot of planning and stopping and thinking, etc, but which I think is going to rock. I’m super ADHD in the studio (not to make light of it) and have to have like 40 things going on at once to flit back and forth… cut some tin, string some beads, brush more patina… photograph, blaaaaaag.
There’s a third little metal journal here, the red one. Making huge progress in easing the making of these. Much less struggle getting the parts and materials to comply with my wishes. Oh, the background here is this funky pink faux marbled kitchenette table I dragged out of my parent’s basement when they moved to their condo. I think it belonged to one of my grandmothers in the 50’s. It’s really gorgeous and I love being surrounded by old family “heirlooms.”
So the way the first-year metalsmithing class worked was that complex projects were assigned for completion, and you pretty much worked on your own to figure things out. It was VERY self-directed and extraordinarily challenging.
The hollow-form ring pictured above was the second project, and I was more or less clueless for the duration of this one. I was still struggling with the &^#$!@ saw, which you can see in the flame cut-outs, and I honestly didn’t fully understand the end-product concept while I was working through the various steps to build and solder this thing. A big shout-out to substitute teacher WanJin (who studied at Cranbrook and Parsons) for help with the impossible soldering! BTW, locals, you should take Wanjin’s Crafts class at MoCo. She really rocks.
FYI, everyone’s rings were gigantic, that was the point of this exercise. When it was all done, I understood what I’d been through and felt I might be able to do it again more skillfully. That said, the number of man-hours to make something like this is absolutely mindboggling. Anyway, not a thing of great beauty, but fun, and I learned a lot. Now on to another even uglier object!
Another project to struggle through, hammering a flat piece of 18g metal into the shape of a bowl, and then affixing a base. OMG people!
I was all but ready to abandon this thing but b/c the bf somehow really liked it, I finished soldering the base on the last day of class, filled it with candy, and gifted it to him for Chanukah. I think what might have been hard for me to love about this one was that there wasn’t really a lot of self-expression built into this project and it just wasn’t a form or functional object that truly intrigued me in any way.
Of course I suppose one could turn it upside down and wear it as a hat… (runs to take bowl back from bf…).
