works in progress

Posted on January 31, 2007 by mimik

I didn’t get much done on the blanket this week-

It is 29 inches long now. It is getting bulky to work on- warm, but hard to maneuver.

My doll is coming along, although she won’t be finished for doll club tomorrow. Here is where I was this morning-

I wanted the sweater to be more form fitting. I ended up cutting it down the front and took some darts at the sides. No buttons yet- actually, I’m not sure about how I’m going to close the sweater.

The coat is mostly done- no button yet. She’s got felt shoes- no buttons yet. I am trying out this hair- undyed cashmere goat.

I decided she needed another layer- vest in progress-

And here she is at the end of the day with her vest on. I’m thinking of going with tibetan lambswool hair- it fills more space and the frizzies have a lot of personality.

Everything is pinned on- hair, sweater, vest, coat, shoes. Everything needs closures of some sort… well the hair will need glue. I’m still thinking about some lace too- I paint “dyed” some, but I’m not satisfied with the color yet. And I’ve run out of time for today.

my other paper bag project

Posted on January 30, 2007 by mimik

I am doing another paper bag themed project- this one with my doll club. The idea for this one was that each person who wanted to participate would put a selection of materials into an opaque paper bag- a fat quarter, trims, buttons, whatever. Then, all the closed bags were shuffled up and redistributed. The idea was to get people inspired and excited about something new. Not that I need inspiration… I’ve got a huge long line of ideas I haven’t gotten to yet, but I wanted to participate anyway. I am finally getting to work on it (doll club is Thursday and I’ve had the bag since November!). I am using this project as a way of dressing some of my poor naked dolls- see New Years resolutions.

This is what I got in my bag- oops, I photographed the wrong side of the large floral fabric. There is also a beautiful button that somehow got misplaced before I started taking pictures.

Here you can see the doll I’m using- I took off her hair- it really gets in the way while I’m working. I’ll glue it on at the end.

and that is the right side of the fabric- it is beautiful. I was very lucky with my bag- thanks Jenifer!

and one more photo- I’ve got the pants mostly done. You can see the dotty waistband in the 2nd photo. The sweater and socks was what the doll was wearing before I started. I’ll have to decide about those. I have one sleeve on- very fancy, 2 fabrics because … I didn’t have enough fabric to make the sleeves so I improvised. I’ve got the lining chosen (the hard part), cut and sewed. Now I need to go put in the other sleeve and put the lining in. The girl probably won’t be finished by Thursday, but she will be a lot closer to being finished. Yeah!

And, thank you, thank you to everyone who has bought my cards! All the orders have been mailed so you should be getting them soon!

velcro

Posted on January 30, 2007 by mimik

I found this yesterday, on the bottom of the little drawer where I store my snaps- I have no idea where it came from.Â Not my Mom’s or MIL’s handwriting.Â It made me laugh-

It says- “to sew on to material to stick it together like snaps”

hereÂ is what was inside when I unfolded it-

Paperbag Swag

Posted on January 27, 2007 by mimik

I am doing a round robin project with 5 other blogger/artists. Theresa organized it. We have a flickr group and there is a description of the project there.

I started out thinking paper collage would be fun to try. This whole thing seemed very new to me- pushing me out of what I usually do. Not a bad thing. This is how I started-

I worked and pushed and tried all sorts of stuff. This picture is midway through my process. The left side ended up as the insert-

The right side collage ended up in the trash. I worked and worked on it. I thought it was finished enough that I even glued it onto the cover. I just wasn’t happy with it though. I kept trying to add more to make it better. Finally I decided I wasn’t willing to send out something I was so dissatisfied with- it would be embarrassing! I had to remind myself- Don’t be afraid to throw something away and start over! I scraped it off and did this instead-

Much better! It’s funny how smoothly things can progress once you are moving in the right direction. Sewing and fabric was much more comfortable for me- even when combined with paper and collage. Here is the rest of it-

back cover-

other side of the insert-

the edge-

My theme was me- a self portrait. I think because that’s what I wanted to try once I got into the collage thing. I will be posting about this project every so often in the next 6 months. I’ll be mailing it off to Kirsten tomorrow.

Yippee! They’re here!

Posted on January 25, 2007 by mimik

They were finished a day early! I have listed them in my Etsy Shop. They are large note cards- 6 1/4 x 4 5/8, blank on the inside. They are printed on a linen texture paper. $12 for 6.

They come from the printer scored, but not folded. I’m going to be busy. I’ve set myself up on the dining room table- sorry family…

I’m putting them together in packs of 6- one card of each image and tying them up with a ribbon- thanks for the great suggestion, Abby! And all your encouragement.

here is a close-up where hopefully you can see the texture on the paper-

I’m really pleased with how they look, although this project was very stressful for me- so many decisions… size, paper types, borders, etc. I am sure it will be a LOT easier next time- it is that first step that’s so hard. I have to admit, I love having them to touch and look at. I’m glad I ended up having them printed locally. So now, go and order some some you can send them out to all your valentines!

some things get done

Posted on January 24, 2007 by mimik

Here is the weekly progress report on my blanket-

let’s see, I started it on 1/9 and now it is 24 inches long. That might be half way. It is very drapey and warm to work on.

Well, I got a piece into the show after all! It turns out they are being very relaxed about accepting work so I brought over my piece today.

First though, I framed it up. I was lucky that the postcard fit perfectly into an 8 x 10 standard frame. I backed the postcard with linen. As I was pulling out various lengths and scraps of possibilities, I came across a reminder of why I like working with my Mom’s fabric-

It all feels like so much family history.

I also framed up this one-

and it will be going up to New Hampshire for the Lovely Hearts Show at Artstream.

Update on the cards- I have the original postcards back from the printers and that why I could submit them to the shows. The notecards are suppose to be ready for me on Friday… they had to order the paper and various other delays. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I will put them into my etsy shop then. Does anyone have a great source of the clear sleeves for packaging them? I am a real beginner at this end of things!

scarf for Julian

Posted on January 23, 2007 by mimik

The night before leaving for Minnesota, it became clear that he didn’t have a scarf. I made him a scrappy one out of woven cashmere from my mom’s scraps.

Here, I am playing around on the floor with design and color possibilities-

I nixed that brown check and added red.

Here it is, laid out on the front porch, finished (yes, we had a little snow last night)-

a close-up of construction-

It is 7 3/4 inches wide and 6 feet 8 inches long.

I’d like to make a blanket like this some day- wouldn’t that be fantastic, a cashmere blanket?!

making myself crazy

Posted on January 22, 2007 by mimik

I finished my valentine/ heart themed postcards. I wanted to make note cards from them. I also wanted to donate one to our local Art Center February show. I ran out of time. It took longer then I expected to make the cards. The time at the printers overlapped with the deadline to enter into the show- then I was paralyzed. What do I do!? Through shear ineptness (is that a word?) I managed to miss the drop-off deadline which helped me make a decision. The cards are at the printers now and hopefully I will have sets of the 6 images in my etsy shop by the end of the week. A bit late for Valentines Day, but really I think these cards would be good any old time.

blog related stuff

Posted on January 21, 2007 by mimik

so are you seeing my new banner? So much better!

And, there is now a link in the sidebar to click on if you’d like to receive my blog postings by email. Good if you don’t use a blog reader of some sort. It works. I’ve tried it.

And on Friday I spent the morning hanging out with Abby of While She Naps. We have gotten together a few times before, but I am always amazed how great it is to see her in person, see her work and just chat about what we’re doing- sewing, blogging, etc.

I have had only wonderful experiences meeting up with fellow bloggers. It is so easy. There is not all the explaining to do… “what do you do? why would you do THAT! what is that blogging thing anyway? why would you do it? … So much of what makes meeting a new person hard/ weird/ scary for me- we’re already past that. We have connected through our blogs. I put myself out in the online world in a take it or leave it situation. If you don’t like what I’m doing, easy. Don’t come back. The people who are interested, stay. When I meet up with someone I’ve connected to through blogging, there is no need to prove that what I do is valid, interesting, art, worthwhile or anything. We have already gotten past that before we met. So, phew, one more thing I love about blogging!

Now, a question. When you click on a link in a posting, do you like a new page to open up or is that annoying? I like having a new page open up but what about you?

weather, update, projects

Posted on January 17, 2007 by mimik

We are having winter today-

It was cold in my studio, but it was cold everywhere else too, so I worked anyway.

Here is the one week update on my blanket project-

technical information – I cast on 155 stitches with worsted weight wool. I am doing only garter stitch. I am using size 10.5 plastic circular needles, 29 inches long. It is about 50 inches wide and so far about 18″ long. It weighs 1/2 pound so far. My design- knit irregular rows (ie 3 or 5 rows of each color except when I run out of yarn), 2 shades of similar colors and a dark brown stripe between. The goal- use up what I already have.

I am working on Valentines with several thoughts in mind. I am thinking of doing the cafepress cards. And several galleries I know are having small works February Valentine’s themed shows- some for charity, some not. We’ll see where I end up going. These are similar to ones I’ve done before-

and here is an idea I’ve been playing with with the robots- sweetheart robots?

Doll

the art and craft of Mimi Kirchner

Monthly Archives: January 2007