This is the last part of the interview.
Here are links to all the rest of the segments.
I’ve been missing this week- school vacation, random little jobs to be done, and the big thing- I’ve been trying to clean my studio- very slowly. Work will begin again soon, hopefully tomorrow.
also- here is a link to a picture of the sampler mentioned in the interview.
one day late! Here is week 4.
Week 3, week 2, week 1. One more segment left.
On Saturday, Ben and I drove down to Southbridge, Connecticut to go to an opening in this amazing building called the Flat Iron building-
It is a town where the store fronts look like they got caught and stuck somewhere around the middle of the last century. After the opening, we drove over to Sturbridge, Mass. and went to a favorite store of mine (I’ve blogged about it before in 2005 and 2006), Vintage and Antique Textiles. Since I was with Ben instead of a group of doll makers, my time to shop/explore was limited, but I managed to find some treasures. I love these tiny shoe buttons. They are glass.
I got some other buttons too, some rayon seam binding, hmm, oh, and some little lingerie hardware for future robots. I met the owner for the first time. She now has a website and asked me if I’d include a link- which I am happy to do. I’ll go back and add it to the old posts as well. She said to tell everyone that she has tons of lace!
And about the open studios- here is some more info.
another little thing I was working on this week-
Here’s the problem. I am going to participate in an open studio event in Boston with a group of other Etsy sellers- details on that in a week or so, but in case you want know, it is May 4. I needed to figure out some kind of give-away to add to a promo pack… stuff from all of the exhibitors. Some of the others in the group were already doing this and had buttons made up. Hmm. I knew I didn’t want to spend much money, I wanted a clear image of my work and I didn’t want it to involve a lot of labor. Here is what I came up with-
ta da! Refrigerator magnets!
They are made from photos of Mosaics on Flickr. First, I made up a variety of mosaics. I picked out photos that worked well in the square format and in a 2″ x 2″ photo. I made the mosaics 2 photos by 3 photos since that translates perfectly to a 4 x 6 photo. The most important thing is to upload your images in the large size- spoken from experience. My first batch of photos was too grainy to use. I printed out my info- name and etsy site address– nothing fancy. Then it was just putting them together onto the self adhesive magnetic sheet. The paper doll project brought this stuff into my life and I’m loving it! This project involved no special tools- the photos were printed at Target, I got the magnetic sheets at AC Moore, you can cut the magnetic sheeting with regular scissors, I printed out my info on regular paper with my very low end printer. Yes- meets all criteria!
First of all- Thank you, thank you for all the positive response to mr. naked robot! I’ve been glowing!
It was one of those weeks where a lot was going on that kept me away from the sewing machine. I have a friend that works at Harvard in the African Studies Department. They were having a special event this week which included a workshop lead by Oyenike Okundaye, on Nigerian fabric dyeing. It was fun to get out of the house and get a glimpse into several worlds I’m not part of- African textile arts, Harvard and their academic arts, and people in general who end up at a workshop like this, mostly somehow connected with Harvard, which I am not.
The first night we did what I think of as tie-dyeing. She showed us a variety of traditional ways to fold the fabric before tieing (actually we were using rubber bands). These are the ones I did-
and this is what the floor looked like by mid-evening-
We also did some work with wax and dye and also a technique that involved stitching and pulling to gather the fabric. What I did the second evening-
I think I’ll be able to use some of what I was playing with when I dye my wool fabrics… which I do every once in a while. Lots of fun!
Also- I think I worked out the twisting leg problem that was bugging me on the naked robot guy- I did some ripping stitches out, adjusting and resewing- better now- phew!
This one has been waiting a long time to be made. When I first saw that pink zipper pull… well, it seemed pretty obvious where it needed to go!
Side view-
I quite like how the back looks-
his face-
and the torso.
Here I am holding him so you can get a little scale. He has very long legs and is about 25 inches tall.
I worked and reworked the legs. I am still not 100% satisfied with how they hang. So I might be reworking them again- if I can think of what to do. It is a common problem for me- the doll looks fine/right when it is sitting, but the legs twist into an odd position when they are in a standing position… which they normally wouldn’t be in because they can’t stand on their own. hmm. He is basically the same pattern as Robot #3.
And now for week three of the interview. Week one is here. Week two, here. To review- there are 5 tracks and I’m posting them on consecutive Sundays. Carley wrote a post about the interview here.
And some links-
I love a reading list and I was very happy to find this list over on Rebecca’s Pocket. I’ve taken notes and can now bring it along to the library when I am searching for audio books.
And did you see Karen Nicol’s incredible embroidery site? I found this link over on Kim’s blog and wow! Blow my mind! Some of my favorites- blue roses, white garland, wisteria?
Doll club was yesterday and we tried needle felting. I’ve never done it except to try putting hair on a doll- not for me. But this was fun! We made bunnies-
mine is very soft and squishy- too much. If I do it again, I will try to start out with firmer wrapped wool roving.
Today we went to Logee’s for a mini-vacation expedition. It is worth the drive just to breathe the air.
Here’s my paperbag book spread, artwork glued in place, pocket filled with swag.
Ellia‘s theme was time (not having enough of it I think!) and all I could think of is how fast time goes by when the babies are little. And then they are grown up.
Ellia is ready to have her second baby any minute now so all her pages are baby themed. She won’t be getting her book back until the baby is several months old though!
This is a view from the side- the book is very fat. And is now half done.
A little bird bead for pulling out some treasures-
and I love how Theresa’s crying baby clip peeks out of the top of the book!
The photos aren’t great because the weather and the sun aren’t cooperating when I need perfect photo light- so I had to take these with artificial light- not the way I like to do it. Now I need to go find a box to pack it up and send it on to Kristen.
I’m working on my paperbag swag for March- it’s gonna be a little late. I am working on Ellia’s book. A fun part of participating in a project like this, is that it gives me a chance or a place to try out ideas, techniques, materials, that don’t seem to fit in with the regular artwork I’m doing.
This month I’ve made a magnetic paper doll. I was able to get a magnetic sheet- adhesive on one side- at my local art/craft store. It is like the magnets that are a business card and you stick on your fridge. I would have been happier with a stronger magnet but this was what they had. Here is my paper doll page-
Baby has a blanket and a closet. Open the closet-
Here is everything, all spread out-
And now, the fashion show. Here is Baby-
And here is her sailor dress-
an outfit for the hot summer days-
a bunny sleeper for going out on a cool night-
and a pretty dress to visit grandma-
Well, I was having a great time playing with her anyway! It made me remember paper dolls of my childhood. I remember a drawer full. I liked cutting them out. I liked trying on the dresses. I didn’t like the tabs though- frustrating to cut and they didn’t really hold the dress on. Then they got put in the drawer where they got wrinkled and mixed up with other paper dolls and all the clothes and what a mess! I don’t think I ever played with them more then once each.
Tomorrow I will show the rest of the spread. I’ve got to go figure out my pocket full of swag…
My mosaic Monday entry. It is fun to see the pictures all together like this.
My other mosaics- 2D favorites and 3D favorites.
