"Alexandria"-Work in progress?

"Alexandria"
2009 (2010?)
embroidery, ragdoll; old silk shirt, reclaimed silk thread, sewing scraps
81cm x 43cm x 14cm


The rag doll is done the same way as my period rag dolls are, then was placed under the silk shirt and the silk carefully pinned around it and sewn in place. Sleeves were sewn into a cradle (well, hammock, I guess!) for the doll.


on the bottom of the piece is this (partial) poem:

Alexandria

More a bruise than a stab wound
did you think I didn't notice it
feel it
cradle it close like a stolen child
pull it apart and rebuild myself with the pieces
...

Brenda Gerritsma
1994


The poem has a final line not here:
I should know better by now, I was last week's size.

I can't decide if it should be added or not.

This was one of my embroidery projects back in Feb.; though even then I thought it wasn't done despite having done everything I had intended to do with it. I really wanted it to be black and blue, but the lettering doesn't stand out as well as I'd hoped, and overall the piece just seems a bit 'blah' to me.

And yet, anything I've thought of to make the lettering stand out more (which pretty much means embroidering in and around the lettering-which I'm fine with) seems too...well...cheerful. Brighter blue, too cheerful, reds, oranges, yellows, definitely too cheerful, purple-actually I just hate purple with blue. Black's probably no good, gray too dismal. White maybe? Skeletal trees?

Art-ish Stuff-Toys for every medieval kid!

Not working on art so much since Feb-Mar, sadly. No money for shows or supplies. Sigh. Stupid economy.

Been learning new things though, new tapestry techniques and embroidery stitches, and took up a new hobby, in the context of my old hobby (Living History)-Medieval toy making! And it even tied into my modern artwork! (Though that will have to wait for the next entry).

Sadly, I failed to get pictures of my leather 10th Cen. ball, or my first rag doll, but here's my second!


The doll is based on a Roman Era doll found in Egypt. Doll body and clothing are made of linen, all hand-stitched, and stuffed with sewing scraps.


The costume is meant to represent an early 14th Cen. cotehardie, and shift. The idea of using a later period costume comes from this set of doll clothing found in Russia.

The hair is of an unknown fibre given to me by someone who found it entirely too soft to work with for whatever they had gotten it for. It's VERY soft, and definitely has some real hair (the white fibres), which give an interesting going-grey look, though I don't think I'll use it again, as it's a bit too flyaway looking. I don't remember the inspiration for the hairstyle.

Doll was put into a gift bag for Gleann Abhann at Estrella 2009, from An Tir.


Doll #3 was SUPPOSED to be a 14th Cen. costume based on the then-Queen of Atenveldt's research (as that was the Estrella gift bag it was destined for), but apparently turned out more Viking-looking.

Doll is made of linen, based on the same Roman artifact as the above, and stuffed with sewing scraps. Under-tunic is made of cotton (yellow-it was the only bright yellow fabric I had), and either linen or cotton (white) of a similar weight fabric, I can't remember. Over-tunic is made of linen. Both doll and clothing entirely hand-stitched, with linen thread for the decorative stitching.


Hat is linen, hair is silk dyed with some natural dye, though I don't know which, as it was from my stash of dye-sample leftovers.

I was given to understand the little girl who received it loved it, and that it was named Inga, after the then-Queen of An Tir, (it's the bright yellow braids...). I got a couple of very cute pictures of her with it; however, as she's not my child and I don't have permission I'm not going to post them, though I thank those who passed them on!


Doll #4, again a Roman era doll, though I changed the way I did the arms due to the shape of the linen scraps I had available. The arms are made separately, instead of as a single long tube sewn across the back of the body, and are sewn onto the sides at a single point with multiple stitches, to give them a semi-jointed movement. The linen was natural coloured rather than white this time. Hand-stitched again, and I believe also stuffed with sewing scraps (though it might have been polyfil this time-the horse I made at the same time was).

For a change, I dressed the Roman era doll in a Roman era dress! Chiton (white under-dress) is linen, with yellow stitching to represent the gold fibulae that would have been used to pin it. The stola (red), a garment signifying marriage, is made of cotton turban material. The braided belt is made of...I can't remember... scraps of thread, probably; likely cotton.


Hair is done in pearl cotton embroidery thread, and based on some of the simpler hairstyles worn in the Roman era.

Doll was destined for a gift bag given to Ealdormere at Pennsic 38.

One of these times I'll remember to take a picture of one of the dolls BEFORE I put clothes on it.

Edit to add: Basic doll form pictures here.

A Day Without Cats on the Internet

A Day Without Cats on the Internet? I don't THINK so!!!!!


Jack (Worship-teh-Belleh!) Sprat


Jack (again), my Mighty Skein-and-Butterfly Hunter


Persephone (But-I'm-CUTE!), Queen of the Universe.


Persephone 'helping' again.

I promise to get back to blogging art soon. I have been working, honest! Just have a hard time photographing anything where I live and no photography studio space to use.

Looms

These are the looms the Polar Bear built me, plus one jury-rigged from an embroidery frame. I mostly use them for tapestry weaving, though one was built for a pile-rug weaving class I was teaching.


They're basic frame looms, out of 1 and 1/4" x 1 and 1/4". Cheap and easy to build.

The dots on the top are inlaid inch and 1/2 inch marks, because the Polar Bear is an overachiever. And the runes spell out "This loom not of period design", because it was used in a display of medieval tapestry weaving and someone said the loom should be marked as not being a design of the medieval period, and because the Polar Bear thinks he's funny.

Sadly, so do I.

Sometimes. :)


The sides have slots drilled part of the way through the wood on the inside (about 1/2 an inch) near the bottom, with a 1" diameter dowel resting in them. The slots are about 3 inches long, so the dowel can be used to tension the warp.

There are grooves on the front and back of the bottom horizontal piece, where tie-downs to hold the dowel under tension can go, without rubbing on the slot in the removable base the loom sits in.

The advantage of this design is that the dowel can be raised enough to allow even a new, thick spool of my favourite warp thread to pass under it, and the tensioning dowel is stable and pretty tight in the slots (it's not removable), so the loom can be turned on its side to warp up without needing a hand to hold the rod in place, which I find easier.


This is the loom made for a rug weaving class. I needed it quick so it wasn't finished as fancily as the previous. I wanted a heddle rod to speed up the rug weaving, which I don't use in tapestry weaving since my weft is rarely passing under more than a dozen thread in a pick, so the Polar Bear built a basic frame loom, with rests for the heddle rod.

This loom fits in the same removable base. Unlike the previous loom, the upper horizontal at the bottom is fixed. I wouldn't have bothered with it at all except I didn't want the warp threads to pass around the horizontal piece that fit into the base. Especially the way it was warped up for the rug class (see picture two below).


For tension, there's a loose dowel that can be hung from the top of the loom. This is a whole lot easier to make than the loom with the slots in the sides. But I find it a pain to warp up, because you have to hang the tensioning rod first, and it has to be warped up standing upright unless you have extra hands to help you.

Also, you have to leave room at both the top and the bottom of the frame for the spool of warp thread to pass, which means that while these are both the same overall size, I have several inches less usable warp on this second frame, if I warp up this way.


It was designed to warp up this way for the class (this is one of the student's looms, with a permanent base and better heddle rests), and I discovered after I got it home that the space between the two bottom horizontal pieces on mine isn't big enough for a newer spool of my usual warp thread to fit through. Works fine for this other kind of warp up though, if you warp up on the two warp sticks first then wrap the whole warp onto the loom.


The removable base. 2" x 8" (or maybe 10") with 2" x 2" mounted on it. Two holes drilled through both 2" x 2"s, with matching holes in all the frame loom bottoms, and a couple of pegs to hold the frame in place. The base is quite heavy and the loom doesn't rock.

Making the base removable means we can pack the loom flat, as space is often at a premium on our road trips. Flying, I would just take the frame, which fits in our largest suitcase, and not bother with the base.


This is the jury-rigged loom, from a small scrolling embroidery frame, a couple of pegs from my spool rack, and a couple of shoelaces, for a miniature tapestry. Just to show you can make a loom out of anything! :)

The stand, for those who are interested, is a couple of pieces of wood, 3/4" x 3", about 2 and 1/2 feet tall, with cross-pieces for feet. there's three holes at the top for adjustable height and the bolts can go through the holes already in the scrolling frame side pieces. You'd want heavier feet than I have (mine are just made with the same wood as the verticals), because the whole thing rocks when I'm using it, unless I put my feet on the stand's feet.

A break from serious stuff 2

My second project was birds. I like birds.

I didn't bother finishing my first attempt as it was clearly misshapen, this was my second. Felted wool, stuffed with sewing scraps. The wool is coat-weight, so I just butted the fabric edges up against each other. Two identical pieces for the sides and head, and a bullet shaped piece for the bottom. The point of the bullet only came just up the front of the bird. The body was too slender and it didn't stand up at all.


I lengthened the bullet shaped piece to come up to just under the chin. The body looks right now, but the head is too small, at least for a corvid, which was what I was going for.

I also changed the stitch. I had been using herringbone, but since the thread only crossed the seam on top of the fabric the seams kept collasping inward if I pulled them too tight, making it hard to get the edges of the cloth to butt up against each other closely. I used the same stitch as used on baseballs here, not sure what it's called, other than 'baseball stitch'.


Expanded the head, tail's too short, and I didn't bother closing it. Melton wool, with baseball stitch. The green thread is tapestry wool. Stuffed with some indigo dyed unspun wool that got felted in a too-hot indigo dye bath.


A comparison shot which reminds me WAY too much of an old picture I have of dead corvidae laid out in a tray together.


This was my first attempt at a sewing it in a thinner cloth with an internal seam. I wanted to do a bunch of them as gifts and for my own Christmas tree, but ran out of time. Next year.

Black cotton twill, wood bead eyes, stuffed with warp thrums that were too short to use for tapestry weaving. I didn't add any seam allowance to the pattern (same as for the purple raven), to see how much I would lose in appearance. Looks more like a jackdaw than a raven. When it was nearly done I realized I was losing so much in the tail it almost disappeared, so I added on a piece on the bottom of the bullet shaped piece and made the top piece with a long wedge to be inserted into the seam that runs down the middle of the back. I'm not sure about the shape on the end itself, but I like the wedge bit. Would also mean being able to make tail feathers of a different colour than the body if I wanted.


A comparison between the two methods using the same pattern.

A break from serious stuff

After spending the better part of my time for 3 1/2 months trying to get pieces done for various gallery show submissions, I decided to spend December on less serious work (also proto-types and experiments for a possible Etsy shop in the new year!)


My first project was personalized cat toys for several cat friends. KC and Faith-Boo are two tortie cats, sisters of different mothers. Faith-Boo's has a draw-string on the bottom, and is filled with a draw-string baggie with catnip (for easier washing). KC is stuffed with mylar ribbons from a child's cheerleading pompom, for crinklies.

Linen, scrap embroidery floss, embroidery based on markings and eye colours of the original cats. Faith is rather diffused in her colouring, and since it's a catnip filled toy and she's called the Tiny Texas Tortie Tornado for a reason, I went easy on the embroidery on her. :) I couldn't resist going overboard on KC, though.


Missy's is also a draw-string-closed catnip toy. The tube is made of several sandwiched layers of cotton twill covered with beige striped linen, with a catnip baggie inside. The head is stuffed with sewing scraps. Her nose really looks like that, pink outlined in black.  It's adorable!


Smokey and BJ are two grey littermates, who, frankly, I can't tell apart in pictures. So they could tell who was who, Smokey has his beloved Mr Snail appliqued on, and I replaced BJ's tail with his Snakie toy. Both are made of linen, and the snail and snake are cotton and embroidery floss. BJ and Smokey's head are stuffed with sewing scraps, and there's a jingly ball in the bottom part of BJ. 


Sol is Smokey and BJ's litter-brother, pure black with a white 'milk-moustache'. I put a spring in his tail, 'cause he apparently likes them. Cotton twill, embroidery floss, stuffed with sewing scraps.



Batman is another black kitty (no relation). Cotton twill, and like the KC doll from the same pattern, stuffed with mylar ribbons.


Abigail is Batman's littermate (as are Reggie and Riley below). She's a calico, with a mostly black back and hood and white belly and paws. Cotton twill, embroidery floss, based on the same design as the Faith-Boo toy, without the giant floofy tail.


Reggie's a brown tabby, linen, embroidery floss, stuffed with sewing scraps, an extra long tail, I'm hoping he and BJ will like grabbing the long limbs and tails and drag the toys around.


Riley's also a brown tabby, but with a white belly, which you can sort of see here. Linen, cotton twill, with a jingly ball and sewing scraps inside. He's a bigger cube-cat than Sol, because I needed to get the ball inside.


Jack is actually my own cat. I have an idea for a Persephone toy as well, but didn't think of it in time to alter the toy I had already made her before I thought of personalized toys.

Cotton twill, embroidery floss, feathers, jingly ball. He's actually the same size as Sol, as I had figured out how to get the ball in with two sides open (mostly I sewed him as six separate pieces of cloth with the legs moved to the side, instead of front and back, which left me with two seams that met that I could leave open, that didn't need a limb or ears sewn in). The feathers are an experiment in how to secure them firmly in a toy, before I'm willing to make cat toys for sale that have feathers.

Or it would be, if I could get either of the little rotters to actually play with it!

The nice thing is, all these toys were made with nothing more than some small scraps of fabric I keep a bin of (most pieces are irregular and under 30cm square and are left over from other projects), some scrap bits of embroidery floss that were too small to wind on a bobbin, but too long to throw out, and the scraps from cutting out the toys themselves (plus a three-pack of jingly balls).

Several of these were reverse engineered from things I saw elsewhere. A few are so close to the original that I won't make them as anything but gifts, unless I find out they weren't original designs, others are changed so much I don't think they're even recognizable to their original inspiration.

"Mother"

"Mother"
2008
tapestry (pulled warp), found object-wool, chenille, linen, rock
24 cm x 14 cm x 14 cm


The rock is four shades of unspun wools in what appear to natural grey colours that I got secondhand somewhere. It usually comes in 3 to 12 ply of pencil rovings, I used 2 plys (plies? they both look wrong!), and it packs down really well at 12 epi, with a thick warp that should probably not be warped at higher than 10 epi, (I like using more epi for 3D pieces as it gives a thicker, sturdier body to the work).

The moss is chenille, left over from a classmate's project. I think Bronwyn, dyed by her too, I believe. The grass is just some of my usual tapestry wool stash, tied in a sehna (pile weave) knot.

The walls inside the figure are scrap beige linen, and the sand is wool sewn around thick cardboard. The wool is scrap too. I think cinnamon-dyed, left over from dye class experiments.

The rocks are from my stash.

I'm a little unhappy with the edges of the cave opening, but I haven't figured out how to change it without changing the appearance of the piece in a major way. I didn't want the edge of the interior fabric or the seam to show, but the whip stitch with a piece of the wool the body is made from causes the edges to curl. I photographed it with interior pins to straighten it, but I can't send it off like that, and don't really like the look of the edge so much either (it's more noticeable in person). Blergh. I'm really happy with this piece otherwise.

I just wish my cat would stop trying to steal it.

Memento Mori (Ilex II)

Memento Mori (Ilex II)
2008
14cm x 14cm
Tapestry, collage

"Memento Mori" is a Latin phrase meaning "Remember you are mortal". It's also the name a genre of art covering art created in any artistic technique which serves to remind the viewer of their mortality.

Ilex is the genus Holly.


The holly leaf piece is 9 1/2cm x 5cm, 20 epi, wool and cotton embroidery floss.

The holly branch piece is 5 1/4cm x 4 1/2cm, 24 epi, wool, silk.

The background is a blown up detail of the holly tree in the fifth tapestry in the Hunt Of the Unicorn Tapestries, a portion of which is the basis of the holly branch piece.

The holly leaf skeleton was collected from the yard of my old home in Vancouver. The leaves fall and over the course of a few months the skin dries out and peels away. I love these things, they're so cool. I'd never seen a leaf do that before. The other trees in the yard didn't do that.

Something a little different-embroidery

An embroidered piece I submitted to Stitch Spectacular, for their show in Jan.


"She Tosses Her Soul After Every Passing Feathered Thing"
2008
silk (damaged shirt), silk and cotton thread (salvaged from sweaters and scrap floss)

from "And This Is How She Feels", a loose collection of poetry

And this is how she feels
Tossing her soul after every passing feathered thing


Words were first embroidered in stem stitch, and the thicker parts of the font were then done in satin stitch over the stem stitch line.


Magpie feathers, stem stitched shaft, shadow satin stitch for the barbs.

I really shouldn't have used satin for such long stitches. It's been a long time since I did much embroidery and I had forgotten the messiness it can become. They're pretty neat right now, but I think I may need to couch them to stabilize them.

I'm not as happy with the sleeve holes as I'd hoped. They're done in a deliberately messy satin-like stitch, and were supposed to look a little like wings had been ripped off, but don't really. I'm not sure how I could fix that.

ED. This piece will be appearing in Stitch Spectacular, at Dimensions Gallery.com/, in Savannah, Georgia; Jan 9-Feb 4, 2009.

For Dea

Dea (Dianne) Heron 1948-2008

Dea appeared to have passed away in her sleep, with a book in her hand, on Aug 11, 2008.

She was a lovely person; intelligent, kind, with a wicked sense of humour, and even though I hadn't had the chance to know her well, I thought of her often. While she wasn't the first to introduce me to the world of textile arts, she was one of the people who first encouraged me to take it up again, which eventually led me into being a textile artist professionally. She was also the one to introduce me to the scaryscary world of fibre and needlework shows. Ten+ years later I still haven't used all the yarn I got that day....