August's creative challenge

I have a plan. Yup, a doosie of a plan :) This poor blog has been stagnating of late, a sad reflection on my lack of creativity so........ to kick start my creative mojo, I'm setting myself a BIG goal. Ready for this?

Forget that we've missed a few days already in August, ok?  

Ok:)

So THE plan is I intend to make something every day for the rest of the month. There! Down on virtual paper for all to see. Now I have to do it! I know the track record is none too good of late so for all of you out there either picking yourself off the floor from shock or dealing with the stitch you've got from hysterical laughter, I'll just show you what I made yesterday to give you time to recover, ok? :)

So here is the lovely beaded bracelet I've been working on yesterday evening - aren't those beads so scrummy? I found the pattern on the 'Oh, I've lost a whole afternoon pinning lots of yummy pictures' place, Pinterest :) Come join me if you love the pinning! Anyways, you can find the tutorial for this over at the gossiping goddess blog. Seed beads, jump rings, a button and a bit of cord for threading and that's it. The fun is all in playing with different beads to see how different the pattern looks. I tried three different versions from coloured wooden beads, chunky glass and finally these pearly seed beads. The seed beads won hands down, although I'd like to try a chunky boho, hippy version with turquoise stones too - ooh, yum!

You can find another gorgeous version of this design by Marilyn at Room on the left. I love her choice of beads - just stunning - go look!

Pearlescent seed beads - 4mm

When you start beading you think you have a lot of beads in your stash and suddenly it dawns on you - you. just. don't.

No way, not even close. I thought 68 x 4mm beads, sure, I must have plenty of choice. But lots of all the same beads, there were none. Odds and ends, yes, but nothing on that scale. And jump rings? Whew, I had some left over from making earrings a while back but that's me cleaned out already just making one bracelet. Time for buying some more on ebay I think!

So I went a wee trip to get some nice sparklies to work with and these were the aqua ones I decided to use. Being a newbie to beading, I just read 4mm and concentrated on the colours to buy - as you do:) When I got them home, I realised they weren't round and the hole is definitely off centre. The label says 4mm magatama (blue lined aqua AB). I hope this makes sense to someone so they can explain it to me!! Not that it mattered too much in the making as I quite like the good fit the teardrops make. It gives the bracelet a very compact and dense feel which I might not have discovered otherwise. I like happy accidents!

Sparkly :)

I'm in two minds about the choice of dark cord. Both the beads and button are transparent so the dark core is that much more obvious and gives a deeper bluey/purple band from a distance - which I rather like. A lighter cord would work better but then would it give as good contrast? It also gives a more relaxed feel to the bracelet, which maybe doesn't work so well with the jewel-like beads. It will be fun to experiment more. Overall though it looks great on and is so comfy to wear - good fit, lightweight and, of course, sparkly:)

So I'm running on a creative high right now, yay! Which I don't want to lose, nooo :(  So do cheer me on for a full-on creative August. I'm leaving the techniques open - it may be crochet tomorrow or sketchbook doodles, or just experimenting with a new stitch, as long as I keep on making! Suggest away if you've come across a new knit, crochet or jewellery tutorial or stitch you think I might like - or join in to keep me company, that would be cool! Creativity likes company :)

I have no idea as yet what tomorrow will be so this should be fun!! See you soon :)

Viking knit

Viking knit tutorial - Designer de Bijuterii

Hang on to your seats folks, I'm blogging two days in a row :)

At last I've found a tutorial for viking knit! I've seen a lot of knitted/crochet type jewellery and small 3D forms around recently, all saying they used viking knit or an 'old crochet tradition' handed down the generations.... :) but no 'how-to' to help me on the road to experimenting. So I tried out knitted i-cords, crochet i-cords, french knitting on those lovely dolls with with wire pegs on top, trying to work out just how it was done but they never gave such an even finish as this technique seems to. Came pretty close though but not quite so good. So this was the one I wanted to try but could I find a free tutorial? Nope.

 

As is the way of things, I put it to one side and wrote it down on my list to research when I had a free moment - as you do. Or in the real world don't do! And then forgot about it. But today, whilst surfing Pinterest, the land of all good images, tutorials and inspiration - and way too many cake recipies:) - I found a wire bracelet tutorial. I clicked the link which lead to this wonderful site just FULL of wire wrapping tutorials; from making simple hooks for earrings to jewellery, chainmail, metalworking, weaving and steampunk. What a treasure trove of a find! If you enjoy creating and working with wire especially, then this is the place to lose a lot of time!

The downside is it isn't written in English but don't let that put you off. I read through the tutorial and I could easily make out the tools needed and the wire thickness, and the how-to instructions were very clear through the excellent step by step photographs.

So this has just moved up to near the top of the experimenting list I think. If any of you try it out, I'd love to hear how you got on too.

Wires, pliers - check. Going in.... :)

At the harbour

Don't you just love it when you find great textures and colours when you're out and about - and just happen to have your camera to hand? I was ambling back to the car parked on the harbour quay at Penryn after spending a lovely afternoon catching up with a friend - yup, tea and cakes were involved;) - I was pleasantly tired,  head focused on getting home when I suddenly 'saw' all these lovely textures and colours around me just literally a few feet from the car. Sad to say I've parked here quite a few times now and hadn't stopped to appreciate the real beauty of my surroundings before - I need to get my creative antennae working again :)

It was a beautiful still evening so there were lots of slow ripples and slightly wavery reflections of the boat masts on the water to capture too. And it was soooo quiet. Really peaceful and relaxing with only the occasional seagull and the quiet clunking of the boats and masts in the background.

 

And of course there were lots of tangled ropes, rusty chains and a very rusty barnacled anchor at the quay edge to photograph. Many close-ups of textures, colours and flaky layers of rust were taken and I've already got some lovely ideas for experimental dyeing and stitch, erosion and weathering..... I'm letting it all percolate in the brain for a while and see what comes out!

And I just love this boat! Maybe it's the strong aqua colour but it's so typical of a harbour scene. Reminds me of a jigsaw picture actually ;) It may be a bit twee but it's very jolly. I loved all the tall towering masts too and managed to get a few shots in before the light went.

Clink, clink, nice and quiet. Time to pack up and make my way home again. I'll be back another day. That's the beauty of nature, it will always be different every time:)

Crochet lace scarves

Goodness, hasn't January just flown by? I'd best get blogging again - can't have last year's post sitting at the top this long! So how have you all been? The creative ideas flowing for 2012? I have had lots of experimental ideas going on but nothing actually finished as yet to show you. I'll take some progress pics as soon as the rain stops and the light is better so you can have a peek:) But I can show you a few crochet lace scarves that were being finished off for presents that had to remain under wraps then.

In all, I'm on my fourth one of these - yes, that pattern is addictive!!  - and they are perfect as a tv project now I know the pattern. The stitch is one I found in a chinese stitch pattern book so just a diagram to work from but crochet symbols are universal so it's all good. I liked the openness of the fan construction and how it gave a lacy, delicate feel despite being 4ply or Dk weight yarn. I haven't tried a very thin fingering or lace weight with this yet - could be very interesting to see how that turns out. Light gossamer feel I think, but the pattern may be too uniform and repetitive on that finer scale. Worth a try though, don't you think?

This version uses Debbie Bliss silk and gives such a beautiful sheen and handle. Gorgeous and soft as a scarf too. I'm on my second silk version right now using the powder blue colourway - very yummy to work with. Shame it's an expensive yarn option! The green version above is a DK acrylic that's very soft to the touch. It crocheted up very quickly and made a slightly bulkier and snug scarf. Loving the 'appliness' of that green:) Is that a word?? :) Anyways, you know what I mean!

A little close up of the fan pattern for you. I haven't got any photos of the scarves on as yet to show you the length etc but they are little wrap around the neck ones which you can tuck into your jacket or pin with a brooch. I did consider permanent button fastenings but the scarf draped too much to make them stay in place nicely so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Would work well with a good strong cable wrap pattern though..... more ideas;)

So that's all the christmas stragglers done and dusted so now I can start off  this year with new work and ideas that are on the go right now. Fingers crossed for decent light for photos tomorrow - a little experimentation and playing going on:))

Till then, 

elaine x


 

Happy holidays!

Time to put our feet up and enjoy some festive cheer - if you aren't already:) Happy Christmas / happy holidays to everyone. Best wishes to all of you and enjoy the holidays! I'll leave you for now with a little snippet of White Christmas. Still haven't managed to watch it yet but I will!!! So let's sit back and sing along..... ' I'm dreaming of a white christmas......'  Ah, perfect! :)

Happy Christmas to you all, with lots of festive love, 

elaine x

150 Hawaiian flowers - all done!

Hurrah, Hurrah! At last the Hawaiian flower blanket is done - finished, complete! Woohoo!!! And all that time I put it aside thinking it would take ages to complete, it only took a week to finish. Nothing like a Christmas deadline to move into ultra fast crochet mode, lol! I decided to stop at 150 flowers and make this a small bed/lap sized blanket. I arranged them 10x15 for a balanced rectangle and each flower is about 10cm wide so overall measurements approx 1metre x 1.5 metres. The pattern is Hawaiian flowers by Sarah London and is so simple to do.

Although I chose a bright and colourful palette for my niece, a lovely subtle colour combination would work well too. Mmm, imagine charcoals, powder blues, or a subtle warm ochre palette - yum! I found the higher the contrast in colours for the last two rows the better the flowers popped. And the more I did the better I got at choosing the right colour to finish each flower off. I did lay out the flowers first before that last row so I could get a good balance in the blanket overall. Then I piled them up in order, in rows of 10 and linked them together as I went.

The linking is really clever too. You make a little picot loop at the top of each flower petal and use that to link the flowers in place as you go. So no ends to sew in, and it looks great. There is an issue with only linking the tips of the flowers - it doesn't give the blanket much strength as a whole - as in a bit floppy ;) But if you accept that this is just meant to be a decorative overblanket and not a sturdy throw, then it's all good. I have seen a version where they stitched the petals more firmly together but the flowers lost their curve and become more angular points which I didn't like much. As a blanket, the bigger it gets the more solidity it gains so.... something to consider. The edges seem the most vulnerable but you could consider a solid border. Personally I like the floaty fragility of the fairy petals:) and a good press on the wrong side once finished and the flowers lie flat nicely while retaining the final chained ridge for definition.

So 150 hawaiian flowers done at last. I put this on my king sized bed and it only covered about a third of the length but all of the width. So if anyone has the staying power to want a full sized bed throw, then it would have to be about 15 x 30 flowers....... 450 flowers??? Ummm, maybe not, lol! I'd get too bored. Look how long it took me to do just this size;))) But if you were wanting a tv project for the new year then this one would be a good contender. Easy and fun to do, simple pattern and very visually effective. The instructions are very simple to follow so you know exactly where you are at every stage - which is good if you put it down for a while and then have to refresh your head to remember exactly what you were doing:)

Right, now I think it's time to relax a bit and enjoy the build up to Christmas with a wee drink and some nibbles - and maybe just another Christmas movie or two..... have to watch White Christmas and the Muppet Christmas Carol to feel that Christmas is truly here!

 elaine x

Encapsulating textiles

Catherine Carr glass

Came across this lovely artwork on my travels this week - crochet and knitted lacework trapped in glass. This mixing of medias is something I thought about a while ago when I shared a workspace with a glass artist friend. It seemed to me then that the fusion of thread and glass couldn't work as the fibre would burn out in the high kiln temperatures, leaving only a ghost impression if anything at all so I abandoned it regretfully. But now, wow, this glass artist has perfected the fusing of the two. And how lovely her work is too.

Her website gives us a little information on her processes:

"Catherine Carr Crochets & Knits with Glass.
Each piece has been individually knitted or crocheted by hand. They are then heated and manipulated through several firings at a very high temperature, eventually emerging as a formed glass vessel. Because of this hand crafted process, all the pieces are original and individual with no two being exactly the same.
By applying these traditional skills to an innovative process of recycled glass products she produces beautiful and delicate lace structures in which each individual stitch can be seen and where the openwork design casts striking dappled shadows."

The problem for textiles has always been one of strength for 3 Dimensional forms and for my filigree vessels I've played with wire as a core, varnish, pva, starch and am now considering resin - with varying degrees of success. But if the delicacy could be trapped in glass..... well now, that's a whole new avenue to explore. My mind is awhirl with the possibilities!

Now just how does she do it?? If anyone has any ideas, please do contact me while I go and ask my glass artist friend if she has any solutions:) If I find out, watch this space;))

elaine x

Synchronicity

One lucky day

I've been thinking a lot recently about where my work is going. Creatively, makers are always analysing their work, developing and refining ideas as they go, progressing onto the next exciting path that suggests itself and fires the imagination and creative juices. Maybe me more that most? As I do love the journey just as much as the outcome, hehe:) On reflection, I think I've spent most of this year seriously considering the 'why' of making, doing what I do. Not that I could stop - no! It's too much a part of me, who I am, but more a question of are you doing what you really want to do - truly, honestly? You can be enjoying the creative journey but suddenly realise that you are still compromising on the dream. Still not having the perfect 100% fit that suits YOU, that unique individual creative path that is just right for you. And ultimately that is the point of being creative, being true to yourself, the 'why' to creating, whether it's music, art or the written word, that connection from the soul.

Not that what I've been creating is not me - it's all an evolving process - but it's more like I'm changing my perceptions of what my dreams are, or who I want to be as a creative person, and my ideas for my work are correspondingly changing too. Like stepping outside the box and realising it's just one box layered inside many other boxes :) We do so many things in life on automatic - grocery shopping lists that don't really vary much, the food we cook - our habitual routines tend to get somewhat fixed, rather than thinking about what we would like to be eating or doing with our creative time. And on a larger scale, actually looking at and considering what you truly want out of your life. The gradual realisation that you need to get out of any ruts and recognise things that are holding you back from being the most authentic self you can be.

Which can lead to all sorts of interesting thoughts like what really are your dreams and aspirations as well as those more damaging ones that creep in like self critical thinking about time lost, self sabotage, blinkered vision, lack of self worth or self belief - all negative and not helpful to the positive mindset you need to be truly creative in the first place. But it's good to take stock in life, and sometimes change is needed to help get out of those self-imposed ruts:) I like to think this means I'm gaining a little maturity in my thinking rather than having a mid-life crisis :))) 

Well, this post went off on a tangent I wasn't expecting! All because of synchronicity. I was reading a post today about why we blog and how the balance can get skewed where we end up serving the blog rather than it being a means of expressing who we are - another habit, another rut to lift ourselves out of:) Interesting reading if you are a maker and a blogger. And synchronicity because it occurred just as I have been considering artistic direction and giving things a good shake up;) The consideration of why do I blog has now added to the thoughts of why do I make? And more importantly who am I making for? Me or the market? Am I compromising my dream accordingly? It's that old chestnut any artist/maker considers at one point or another and my answer has always been that the work should reflect your passion, your uniqueness and that love will come across in your work. Keeping the faith that with skill, uniqueness and a little market savvy, your work will sell because of the heart and soul in it. Maybe idealistic to some but that's what I think it has to be for me anyway so I don't feel I am compromising myself or my work.

Ok, lightbulb moment - I've just answered my own question about blogging:)) And the same philosophy applies to the bigger picture as well. How to live your dreams. Sometimes I make it more complex that it really is and discover I knew the answer deep down all along. Now I've just got to master the trick of recognising and being authentically true to myself!

It will be interesting seeing how this affects the direction of my work, life and my blog;) over the next wee while. I've been blogging less - you may have noticed! - when there was no work to show or little creative mojo going on, which, to be honest has been most of this year, on and off. And I miss blogging, talking and interacting with you all. So, times they are a changin:) Maybe less actual work to be shown at the moment but there is more to talk about here than just that - fab work others have created that is truly inspiring, inspiration from many people and places, maybe tutorials, as well as music, films, sunny days and hot chocolates, and the odd philosophical musings and meanderings on life (which turn into very long blog posts:)

Thank you for listening my friends ;) I would love to hear your thoughts and musings on this too. Till next time, elaine x