Life goes on, and monsters are made.

I'm back in the classroom again- this time for summer camp and a residency at Fleisher, doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I was worried at first- I had a full roster of 15 kids for my softies class. The most I've ever had for it before was about 8, and it's always a challenge getting things finished by the end  of the week. However, only 12 showed up, and they were 12 incredibly focused and talented 8-10 year olds. I also had the luxury of an awesome assistant and a teen intern, so I didn't have to be helping all 12 at the same time! We managed to get lots of creatures finished. We started with handsewn felt pillow/pincushions with appliqued initials so the kids could practice stitching. Then they made simple 2-sided animals, also handsewn. Finally we made some monsters with separately sewn and stuffed limbs and handsewn embellishments. Here they are:

 Usually I have the kids draw what they'd like to create and then consult with me to draw out the pattern pieces they'll need. Then the kids cut everything out, trace their patterns, and bring me a stack of all their pieces ready to sew. I sew, clip, and flip the pieces and the kids stuff the limbs. They handsew on their eyes and details, and then bring everything back to sew into the body. Finally they stuff and handsew the closure.

 We had a donation of upholstery samples given to us recently, so the kids found some interesting textures and patterns for their creatures. But some kids stuck with felt. I like how easy it is to sew felt, but I hate how the stuffing always pokes out and gets fuzzy...

 Three of the kids had taken my softies class after school in the winter, and it was so great to see how their sewing skills had improved. They have amazing imaginations!

 Here's a menagerie of monsters:

I love seeing their drawings turn into real toys. I could do this all the time. However, next week I'll be doing a mystery painting with the 11-13 year olds instead.

no idle fingers

I've been preoccupied with paper writing on the subject of Quaker schoolgirl embroideries... one more day to finish that up... But never fear, my fingers have still been busy.

In my sliver of spare time, when I just need to decompress, I've got this little cloth going. There are some silk scraps stitched down to a grey cotton. Next I have a piece of sunprint cloth to go over it all for some reverse applique. I started it as a sample during my last Stitch and Surface class, and I'm just enjoying stitching on it.

I'll sign off with a quote I've discovered on 2 different samplers recently- one was from CT and the other from Philadelphia:

"Count that day lost whose low descending sun, views from thy hand no worthy action done"



Snow Day

Philadelphia decided to let the kids stay home today, so we're still hibernating. The tree is up, and I'm still making Christmas presents. The felt scarf I made looked like it needed some bling, so I made the brooch below to go with it. I'm not big on pins myself, being more an earring person, but I know someone who is...

Baby it's cold outside

When it looks like that outside, I'd rather stay inside. So I've been christmas decorating and cooking to weather the storm. (By the way, see how small my backyard is?)
Last night I enticed my daughter to come down and felt with me. She really like the part where you throw the piece on the table, and we both got splattered in the process. It was a fun thing to do with her, though. I wonder sometimes what moments she'll remember from her childhood. If I were her, rocking out to christmas songs on the radio, slamming felt on a table with my mom would be on the list. After one failed attempt at nuno felting resulting in a pretty cobweb felt scarf instead (see previous post), and a second failed attempt on a cotton print (I think the fabric was too tightly woven and I didn't felt it enough), I finally ended up with two successes. One, below is purple, blue, and white and has a thin strip of silk in the center, bubbling up a bit on the edges. The other is the one being felted above on a cotton gauze, and is now around my neck keeping me cozy. The cotton one only has felt on one side and the cotton side is very crinkly-looking like a cabbage leaf.

I'm hoping the snow subsides soon. I've already missed out on one event today due to the storm, and I'm hoping our Christmas Lessons and Carols concert at the Cathedral doesn't suffer the same fate tomorrow. Stay warm and cosy folks!

Wooly Warm

So, it's reallllllllllly cold out here- in fact we're expecting a crazy amount of snow this weekend- and the pink fingerless gloves I stole from my daughter just weren't cutting it anymore. Added to that was a desire to pick up knitting once again- something I haven't done in 10 years, probably sparked by seeing all the knitted goodness the Handweavers Guild members were showing off.So I got my friend Colleen to remind me how to knit again, and I think I've figured it out now. Before , I never got into a comfortable way to hold the knitting needles, but 10 years of working in fiber arts has brought new dexterity.In case you're wondering, the mitten tops are knitted flat in garter stitch starting with 30 stitches, then after about 10 rows (I counted 10 ridges up) I decreased both sides one stitch, then up another 5, decreased both sides again, up 5 while decreasing each row one stitch at the side and the center point. Then I bound off, folded the mitten top in half and crocheted the sides together, then added a bottom border of crocheted fan stitch. The second one went a lot faster!

I bought fleece gloves at Old Navy ( 2pairs for $5- whoot!) chopped off the fingertips, blanketstitched around the edges and then stitched the back of the mitten top onto the back of the glove. They're vvvveerrrrryyy cozy warm, and I can flip off the mitten top when I need to use my fingertips.

In other craftiness, I tried to do some nuno felting onto what I thought was silk, but ended up with some cobweb felt instead. Ah well, the cobweb felt is quite warm but not at all bulky, and I think this scarf is destined as a present for someone.
I'm not normally this crafty- it's the holiday season, I swear. I will return to art eventually.

The Craftiness- oh my, the Craftiness!

I picked up a bag of roving and a needlefelting tool at the Independent Craft Market on Saturday, and have been having fun making these little birdie ornaments. They're all about 1.5 inches long with some embroidered details.

Once again, this proves my reactionary artistic sensibilities- the semester and the crits are over relieving me of all the conceptual art and critical thinking, but I still need to keep my fingers busy. It's also a symptom of the holiday season. Bear with me, I'll make some real art again soon, I promise.

On a more artistic note, I may get to create an Easter altar front for the Philadelphia Cathedral in the Spring. I'm also trying to brainstorm plans for a Winter Break kids camp at NLArts and my next semester of Painting and Drawing for 12-13 year-olds at Fleisher.

Lastly, WELCOME to anyone reading this for the first time- I noticed a whole lot more hits in the past few days than usual. Feel free to leave comments.

Getting Crafty

Next week I'll be assisting at a kids' ornament sewing workshop at NLArts, so my daughter and I did a test run of some ideas. These 2 are my daughter's. I heat-transferred some copy-right free image photocopies onto muslin, then we colored them in with fabric markers, cut them out, layered them with felt backs and sewed. They all have some polyfil stuffing. Some more than others...

These 2 are mine. The camel has french knots around the perimeter. The monogram was done by stitching right sides together, turning, stuffing, slipstitching closed. I like the smaller scale of that one.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, everyone turn their thoughts toward Christmas. Anybody doing a handmade Christmas?

Felt constructions

This evening in fiber sculpture we continued working with felt, and I demoed some different construction methods. I showed how to make a fiber armature by wrapping and sewing quilt batting into the desired form to felt over. I'd previously made some millefiori felt beads by layering different colored roving over a felt "snake" and then cutting it down into 1/2 inch beads. So we talked about stringing for jewelry and stacking concentric shapes for relief images. Then I demoed some sewing techniques for constructing stuffed forms. My mini Moby was made by cutting a simple fish shape out of a previously created flat felt sheet. Since I wanted a smooth seam I placed right sides together, sewed a running stitch around the outside edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Stopping about 1 inch from the starting point, I flipped the form inside out (really outside out!), stuffed it with polyfil and used an invisible stitch slip to close the edges. Flippers and French knot eyes complete it. Since the felt has some "give" the stuffing make a more 3-dimensional form than you'd expect from a 2 piece flat pattern. Another way to stitch pieces together would be to use a blanket stitch or binding/satin stitch over the edge. This would create a ridged edge on the outside of the form- like wearing a sweater inside-out. Here's a good tutorial from future girl http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2007/09/tutorial-hand-sew-felt.aspx Haha! just realized I demoed the stitch in the wrong direction!

Had enough time to create a cobweb felt scarf as well. It only has 2 layers of roving, and it's very fine and flexible.

Moby Dick

I'm not really sure if photos were allowed or not, but I caught a snap of the great "Mocha Dick" by Tristin Lowe at the Fabric Workshop Museum during the May First Friday opening.

This whale is a sight to see, lounging on the 8th floor of the new FWM building in Center City. It's made of felt, zipped together in panels, encrusted in barnacles and wrinkles.

Funny how things you see spark other ideas and actions. After witnessing the behemoth, I got "Moby Dick", the video with Gregory Peck, out from the library to finally figure out what it was all about. After returning it the librarian asked me if I'd ever read the book. After saying "no" he pointed me toward a poetry anthology with one title reading "Their eyes should be gouged out and replaced with hot coals". The poem basically states that anyone who hasn't read "Moby Dick" and yet considers themselves educated should.. have their eyes gouged out...etc.

So I'm reading Moby Dick. A story of obsessions. Not only in plot but in form. Melville writes obsessively, trying to make the ultimate in in-depth books on whales.

I'm also felting with my Sculptural Fiber Class. Fiber Arts requires a certain obsession. One must be able to do repetitive actions over sustained periods of time before coming even close to creating something substantial. "Mocha Dick" appears to be industrial felt. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to do it by hand. Construction of it must have been daunting enough.