Since deciding to make a little dress (see previous post) I’ve been exploring the vast world of imported Japanese fabric on Etsy.
There are several shops that have hundreds of listings of these gorgeous prints in cotton and cotton-linen blends.
The rest of this post will be sans text eye-candy. Oh, be warned: some of the fabrics are ghastly expensive. But I’ve really never seen anything like it.
I stumbled upon the work of Jody Pearl (I know, soul sister in name right?), over on flickr, where she posts lots of great images including a recent self portrait with flaming pink hair (I know, hair sister too!)…
Turns out Jody — who goes by Reinventing Fashion (soul sister of craft!) — has a full-on web site where she sells her wonderful patterns, fabrics, and trims. I fell in love with the Piece of Cake dress, pictured in this post, and emailed her to ask just how piece-of-cakey it might be for a fledgling sewist such as yours truly.
My guess is that regardless of the answer to my question, I’ll be giving this a try… it’s just TOO tempting. Visions of thrifted and vintage fabrics dance in my head, along with an entire wardrobe of funky, handmade tunic tops to wear with leggings and skinny jeans. Anybody want to mentor me on this (you know who you are…)? Here’s a link to the pattern, but don’t miss these pattern packages which also include some of her lovely fabrics.
Wanted to share this Voodoo Candy necklace in its finished state. Detail above shows focal, clasp and some of the crazy beads.
In its entirety… very allsorts candy and licorice. This may not be everyone’s favorite colorway, but I’ve always loved the high contrast and the dark playful aspects of using lots of black with neon.
This view shows these strange natural black coral beads that are so scary and freaky.
Here’s a piece made/sold several years ago, a handknit cuff thing using neon potholder loops that were made into yarn. This is one of those pieces I miss and keep thinking I need to make another for myself.
Detail. Looks like a strange futuristic mutated sea creature.
And, one last picture of the first batch of Unstrung Hero beads, all grouped together before they come apart for use in jewelry. More beads to come soon… as Steph warned (and now you’ve been warned too): HIGHLY ADDICTIVE.
Two more sets of beads hot outta the oven. This one looks like nasty neon weaponry.
Here’s a set with pink teef! Chomp chomp.
For a week when I felt sluggish and unproductive, I’m surveying my labor and thinking… wha???? Well, nothing was finished, so maybe that’s why I felt sort of lacking. Incomplete. A bit on the edge (of my seat?). Anyway, it is a good thing I shlepped out to Hobby Lobby yesterday for supplies. Ice storm this morning and we are housebound. What else is there to do but experiment with MAKING BEADS! As the BF asked when he woke up and stumbled into the kitchen: Because there aren’t enough [beads] to buy?? Yep, I fired up the old oven at 7:30 a.m. and created the above set, which also includes a few non-handmade spacers. Personal message to the BF: Did you say PIE? I thought you said BEADS. Sorry.
The necklace above inspired the beads above. Dirty Neon Tooth. (great band name, eh?). Black beads with neon frit. Reason for yesterday’s supplies trip was actually to get black beading thread b/c I didn’t like what was happenin’ with the white in this necklace I’d started.
So, this is my new favorite thing, a necklace focal after Man Ray’s infamous Cadeau. From the Tate Modern (oh how I LOVE that freaking museum) web site:
By adding a row of nails, Man Ray transformed a household flat-iron into a new and potentially threatening object. The nails and burning metal suggest a violent eroticism at odds with the work’s title, the French word for ‘gift’. The original version, given to the composer Eric Satie, was lost but became well-known through Man Ray’s photograph of it. Although made at the height of Paris Dada Cadeau, like Man Ray’s other objects, anticipated the exposure of hidden desires found in subsequent Surrealist objects.
Sigh. This object had a massive effect on me when I was an art student. It just seemed SO right. Not to mention sums up my relationship to housework.
But you guys know I can bring the pretty. The glass beaded centerpiece above is probably from the 1930’s. I’m not sure, so if you know, share. I love the combination of the refined Frenchy beadwork with some rustic primitive tribals.
PS: Unstrung Heroes, a name for my new bead shop? As if I need something else to try to sell. Copyrighted, yo.
The game of jacks was a very big deal when I was in junior high school, back in the late 60’s.
10 metal jacks and a rubber ball, played on the smoothest floor available. A series of maneuvers appropriately titled: onesies, twosies, threesies, foursies, and so on. I was pretty good. A girl named Susie ruled.
I’m not really nostalgic for playing the game, but for the memory of the excitement and competitiveness it engendered. Very childish… yet also serious business. I think that’s what I wanted to capture and convey in this necklace.
Lots of Indonesian glass beads here in the most amazing subtle and not-so-subtle colors, with larger handcrafted clay beads, including the jack focal by a wonderful Belgian artist named Steph. The jacks were a creative collaboration between us and I happily have several more–along with lots of other Vlad the Bat’s Attic pieces to play with in the studio.
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.
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.”
PS: Full size images over on flickr…
One of the things I have wanted to take a break from in the jewelry world is resin. But before I sign off on this troublesome yet intriguing bane-of-my-existence process, I wanted to share a recent piece, pictured above, that was commissioned by a favorite client in Italy.
He had seen my series of Blues pins, pictured above, and requested one of Ella Fitzgerald for a friend of his who is a singer. I just couldn’t say no. And, truth is, when I see the results that are possible with this sticky messy stuff, I so wish it were a little less snarly to wrangle with. I use the Colores Doming Resin System, purchased from Rio Grande, which is a two-part deal and hardens when mixed. Properly. And I do mean properly. Should you measure out one tiny drop wrong, stir the mixture too hard or not hard enough, or should a piece of dust fly into your still-curing solution… and oh, did I mention humidity? Or your inkjet print not being dry enough? Or bubbles rising to the surface? All told, this stuff is a pain in the tuchas, even when it is working (smells kinda toxic, ugh). Anyway, I was happy to make the Ella pin, and am now retiring my resin for awhile. I hear it works better in the southwest btw, where the humidity is not DC-swampy. Good luck!
I “met” Moxie over on flickr, while looking through the favorite images of some friend of a friend of a friend… and I thought she and her bright pink hair and her darling felted goodies really rocked! Of course she’s also got an Etsy site where, lo and behold, you can buy KITS to learn how to needle-felt tiny cute things like the adorable bumble bee, Little Bugger pictured above!
Or you can pony up just $20 for Moxie’s book, I Felt Awesome, and also load up on supplies like roving, as well as tools, all at hifiberknits, her corner of the Etsyland.
I really have wanted to try needle-felting for a long time, but I need another craft passion addiction like I need one more little hole in my head. Still, Moxie’s got me mighty tempted. You too?
