what a week!

I’ve been meaning to post about this book- Adventures in Bookbinding by Jeannine Stein. I did a piece for it, just about a year ago, and the book arrived right before I left town for Brooklyn. The book is bookbinding with a twist, namely combining bookbinding with other crafts, such as needle-felting, jewelry, weaving, collage, polymer clay, quilting, crochet,… and dollmaking! The book has 3 levels of projects for each craft- a beginner level project, one for those who have experience with the craft, and one by a professional in that medium. Jeannine asked me to make a doll that could incorporate a book. I make this lady to be the “cover” for a garden journal. I love figuring out a puzzle like this!

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster. On the one hand, I still seem to be stumbling around in a post Renegade Market fog. I can’t seem to settle into anything and I am still so tired. And stumbling is a word I am using literally here- I actually fell down a few steps the other day- not what my already iffy back needed. BUT, I got a surprise present in the mail on Monday- you can’t beat that. And this very cute couple has flown off to the mid-west to start a new life together.

AND:

One of my fish is in this amazing ezine, Spoon.

My tattooed Ladies got highlighted over on the Bust Blog. (ignore that smirky picture of me- I always get all tense when someone is taking my photo)

And Kath did a post on Whip-Up about wool applique (one of my favorite topics) and included me. I loved checking out the other links.

So WoW!!! It is turning out to be a pretty great week at Studio Mimi after all! Now, I guess I better start working on getting back in the groove. The studio is now much cleaner anyway.

other things that got done

When I am getting ready for a show or a trip, all kinds of random things get finished. And not just dolls. I think I make myself a new bag before many trips. And lately, it has been summer shirts.

The polka dots is a light weight linen. The plaid is a vintage cotton from my mom’s stash, probably from the late 60’s.

and earring-

The things is, I never think about my clothes, accessories or jewelry unless I am doing an event or packing my suitcase for a trip. And why should I? I work at home where my main consideration is comfort. And then, all of a sudden I start obsessing about what I’m going to wear!

I’ve started making shirts (and other clothes too) by making patterns from old ones that I like, that fit and have worn out. I cut them up and trace the pieces. These two shirts were made by tracing the pieces of 2 other shirts that are no longer wearable. The polka dot shirt is the fourth one I’ve made from one shirt that I really liked. I used the shirt directions in the book Sew U to help me with pattern piece placement and instructions for how to put them all back together. I make clothes this way because of my dissatisfaction with commercial patterns. I guess I must be of an age or body type that doesn’t match up with the patterns. And I don’t have the patience or knowledge to alter (or completely rework) them. When I try matching up my I-know-this-fits pattern pieces to commercial patterns that I have spent (wasted) money on, they seem to be quite different. Hmm… mystery!

another tattooed girl

I am still playing catch-up here. This is a doll that somehow never got posted at the beginning of June when I finished her up.

She has a sort of Wonder Woman look to her, don’t you think?

I was exploring corset-y type tops.

And here she is, hanging out with a friend.

She did not come back to Boston with me- I hope she is loving life in Brooklyn!

more on the NY trip

We got to New York on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, we went to the Alexander McQueen show at the Met. I am not a good enough writer to describe how fantastic it was. Just want to say- if you have a chance, definitely go- it is amazing. And, if you go, get there early. We arrived before 11 am and there was no line. By the time we got through the exhibit, there was a crowd and a long wait. The exhibit doesn’t seem designed for the crowd so it can be a challenge to feel like you are seeing everything.

The Met had a bookshop set up outside the exhibit but I was not interested in carrying around any purchases for the rest of the day. I wrote down all the titles that looked good to me and later, checked out which ones are available from my library. I  ordered the catalog to be sent.

And, just in case you can’t make it to the show, here are the books that appealed to me-

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (this is the show catalog)

Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed

Pattern Magic 2 by Tomoko Nakamichi

The Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele

Fashion At The Edge by Caroline Evans

Poiret by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton

High Style

We were staying at a hotel out by the airport. On Friday, the RAT was in front! I have to admit, I love that rat. I thought it was just a New York thing, but it turns out that Unions use them in a lot of cities. It is hard to ignore but unfortunately, once you are booked into a hotel (usually online), you are unlikely to leave because of it. I can see how it works better for places like restaurants.

On Monday, we went to Soho so I could pick up some goodies at PurlSoho. It is always a treat! We had fun wandering around the neighborhood and stopping into Pearl River. After that, we took a stroll on The High Line. I’ve been wanting to see it for a while and we lucked out because not only was it a perfect day, but a new section of the park had recently opened . It was very crowded and we enjoyed seeing how well it was being used.

Before we left for New York, I made myself a long list of places I’d love to go to. Unfortunately, I had to limit my walking. Remember back at the New Year I mentioned my  hip/back issues? I’ve been going to the Physical Therapist and doing my exercises but the body did not really pass the visit to NYC test. It turned out that one day at the museum and I was pretty much done. And that was before Renegade.

We had planned to leave New York on Tuesday afternoon, but we left in the morning instead. I was too tired and sore to do anymore walking. We stopped in New Haven to have lunch with my Dad and brother, then drove up to Springfield, MA. We drove along part of the path of the tornado that hit Central Massachusetts, 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure if it is rude or morbid but I really wanted to see. I’ve never seen tornado damage in person and I don’t believe I could ever have gotten the idea from photographs. I was left with an impression of severe violence. It is a very different feeling from hurricane damage, although the blue tarps that cover damaged houses are the same. It was shocking.

So, now I’m home and trying to get on with things. There is still a big pile of stuff, unloaded from the car. I have to sort through everything, wash what needs washing, reorganize everything that got shuffled. Then, put it all away. I have gardening to do and woolens to wash. And, my studio needs a big clean-up.

Here are 2 things from the market days that I keep thinking about-

– 2 people came up to me and told me their last name was Kirchner. That doesn’t often happen.

– I’m not sure if this happens to everybody, but is sure seems like people love to give me advice! The people tend to be older- my age really ie 50’s or early 60’s. I believe they think they are giving me a compliment. And that they say these things because they don’t understand that selling and marketing online really does work. I have to assume that they think I have never considered or thought of (and rejected) the things they suggest.

Examples: you should do this other (much more expensive) high-end show. I interpret that as- I think you are good enough to get into this other show that I like and understand- unlike Renegade where I don’t know what to make of a lot of this stuff.

and:  Your work would be perfect for this retail venue (I don’t do any wholesale).

and my favorite- You should donate some of your work to Museums. ??? Okay, that one is strange!

Renegade Brooklyn 2011

This post is hard to write because there is just so much I want to say- so I will split it into 2 posts- Renegade and the rest of the NY trip.

Brooklyn is fantastic- I love being there! There is so much energy, the venue is wonderful people watching, the other vendors are as nice as can be and the visitors to my booth make me feel like a crafty celebrity! People in Brooklyn “get” my work.

Here is the tent, just set up on Saturday morning. To be honest, Saturday was a bit of a bummer. It rained and was cold and many of the visitors seemed to be speed looking. I gave away a ton of business cards so I hope that some come back to my Etsy shop. At the end of the day, we had a carload of damp.

Sunday was a lot better- mostly  warmer and drier. On the second day, I always seem to put out a lot more items- like it is their last chance!

In the end, I didn’t sell as much as I’d have liked, but it is now all in my Etsy shop if you’d like to check it out. Because things were slower then last year, I had a chance to walk around and see the other booths, see some crafty friends and former show neighbors and talk to lots of people.

I had wonderful booth neighbors- Elena Stonaker who came all the way from Colorado for her first ever show- wow!

And Hero Design Studio on the other side (sorry, no pic). I’ll be hanging this up in my studio.

I got to meet Argyle Whale who I only knew through Twitter before. And Ashley who I always enjoy seeing at the various shows. She wrote up a super nice review of Renegade Brooklyn here.

Some of my Boston Crafty Biz meet-up friends were there- Eling, Jen and Laura. I like Laura’s top ten post here.

I got to have some seriously fun plush biz talk with two monster makers- Phil Barbato and later, Joshua Ben Longo. And, I rode the elevator at the hotel with Jordan Elise! I came home with a stack of business cards of shops I want to explore, once my brain has unfogged. I have uncovered one so far- Tidiworld. I am very interested in her approach to dollmaking and love her fabric designs.

BurdaStyle and Spoonflower had tables set up. I was able to get myself a set of fabric samples from Spoonflower- maybe that will inspire me to try some more experimentation!

And seriously, is everyone from Minnesota incredibly nice? The people from Worker B are super- we chatted throughout the 2 days. And I came home with one of these treatment sticks- probably as close to make-up as I ever get- I love it!

I will post about the other things we did in NY soon. Right now I am recovering. I am so exhausted. I am planning to take it easy this summer and hopefully work on some projects that have been put off for too long. So, who knows what will be showing up on the blog this summer!

man with horse tattoo

I am behind in posting all the dolls that ended up in Brooklyn with me. I am posting this fellow today and I will post about the NY trip soon. I am working on getting all the new dolls (that didn’t sell) into my Etsy shop but it will probably be a trickle all week. I got back home last night and my to-do list is enormous.

I finished this doll in the hotel on Friday. He was mostly done and I couldn’t bear to leave him behind.

And here he is, hanging up in the booth-