Friday Find: Crystallographica

No doubt you've noticed a distinct preoccupation in what's catching my eye of late... I am so obsessed with architectural forms at the moment. What can I say? It's a disease. One I'm more than happy to indulge in though! :)

I came across the wonderful site of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp quite by accident and thus discovered the work of Irina Shaposnikova and her pieces for the 4th Year's final graduate show. I want to learn how to do this - I just love the construction of these pieces. They are a bit Martine Sitbon and a bit Balenciaga, don't you think? Hmm.. dreaming of being able to actually sew like this. Hope you enjoy these beautiful daydreams :)

My Creative Space - Wooden + Felt Brooches

Is it Thursday already? This week has gone by so quickly! My Creative Space this week is a bit of play / work in progress... I've been trying to figure out some way to make my printed felt shapes into brooches. They need something to make them a bit edgier, a bit more interesting. So, I've been playing with balsa wood. It's so easy to carve and (as I discovered!) you can even sew through it :) I am concerned that it's not exactly the strongest of materials... one sharp twist and it will crack... however, I'm going to experiment with coating them or maybe soaking them in something to give them a bit more structural integrity. If anyone has any ideas, that'd be great :)

You can see other spaces or play along with My Creative Space yourself by visiting Kirsty's site here.

p.s. I also put together a little surprise for a "G" person last night... do you know who you are?

2nd Crochet Class

Well, it's official... I can now crochet a granny square! The world is mine :) ...well, at least I've secured my entrance criteria for the nursing home! ;) It was a lot easier than I thought. I'm going to have a look at some other methods too... I think the wonderful Meet Me at Mike's craft book has a different design for these things... In the meantime, a new yarn purchase below for your eyes to feast on. It's actually an incredibly smooth cotton... can't wait to start practising my grannies! It's a public holiday in Brisbane today - People's Day at the Royal Show. Have a lovely day :)

:(

My bestie flies out this morning... she's moving to Chicago with her family for 5 years. This was us about 20 years ago - before children, before partners... just climbing trees and doing silly things. Bye Sar :(

Print/Craft + Synchronicity

I think this is the first time I've ever posted about the same artist on both of my blogs, let alone on the same day...! Perhaps this gives you some indication of the extent of my delirium about this work ;) I love sewing and I love paper, so when someone comes along who actually sews paper, I get pretty excited. But groan not... This is a separate post and not a cut & paste job! Read about Evelin Kasikov's book project Printed Matter on my other blog, Scissors + Paper Rock! right here.

Now that that's all sorted, let me tell you about Evelin Kasikov's poster work, Gil Sans Light... Graphics-savvy readers out there will recognise this title as the name of a typeface and they've probably already identified the CMYK palette of Kasikov's threads as well... So, no surprises then that Kasikov's work is very much about craft within the context of graphic design. Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are of course the primary colours from which all others are created and we see this happening all the time in other areas of the visual arts - paints are mixed, light shows etc. I don't know about you, but this is the first time I've seen someone do this with embroidery thread and I think it's pretty cool! Kasikov has created the illusion of other colours, like the green in the "a" posters... By cross-stitching cyan and yellow on the page, the "a" begins to look green once the eye has enough distance from the paper to blend the colours. This is so exciting and I feel truly inspired to experiment myself with this amazing technique.

You can find more of Kasikov's work on her website here and on her Flickr photostream here. I found her via this lovely blog here.

Sunday Stash: Fabric #5

I have a 1970s bold, graphic pattern for my Sunday Stash this week. The fabric is from a dress I bought at Portobello Markets in London a decade ago. I think the stall owner must have shortened it from its original 70s length. It used to fit me... it was my favourite going-out-dancing dress... now, I'm undecided about whether to preserve its original splendour for my daughters or alter it somehow so that I can wear it again! Speaking of 70s frocks, the very clever Katy has just made herself one from scratch - have a peek here.

You can find more Sunday Stashes here or on the Flickr group pool here.

Inspiration: Pencil love

Coloured Pencils by Jonna Pohjalainen

My inspiration today comes out of an amazing Creative Space day yesterday (did you have a peek at everyone's industrious goodies?)... Well, I saw many lovely things but I was particularly taken with a couple of posts featuring pencils. It reminded me of this wonderful photo I'd bookmarked ages ago. This is the work of Jonna Pohjalainen at the summer Environmental Art workshop of the Open Air Art Museum in Pedvale, Latvia. Coloured Pencils illustrates how the everyday is connected to the environment by showing how it changes during different weather conditions and times of the day. I think I could very easily live with this daily reminder as a sculpture in my back yard! I love it :) It would play havoc with the soccer games, though...!

Don't forget to have a peek at Kirsty's pencil sculpture and Annamaria's fabulous pencil haul! I originally found Jonna's work on this beautiful blog.

My Creative Space - Tulle Top

Oops... I just realised it's My Creative Space day. I really don't want to go into all the disparate chaotic threads I'm currently tangling (it's just too messy around here people!). So, maybe a bit of sewing will suffice? I made this top a couple of months ago. Since then I've made another for a friend that was finished off with far greater skill... isn't it funny how you go that extra mile when making for someone else? And I've just received a request from another friend just this week for me to make her one too, so I'm hoping it's good enough to show here ;) The top bodice is black tulle with hand-sewn lace bits and the lovely loose lower part is a fabulous brush strokes pattern jersey I found at a closing down sale. Happy Creative Space Day everyone! What have you got cooking? :)

Find more Spaces or join in yourself at Kirsty's here.

Book Therapy

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. There's a lot going on and I have quite a few projects mid-way that I'm juggling. Not so much that an organised person couldn't handle, but for me, well, I feel like I'm losing my chaotic thread ;) So, I dive back into my first love... books. Have you seen this wonderful website, The Book Cover Archive? I know they say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but for me it's part of the whole sensory experience of a book. I just love it. I do admit I've bought a book before because the cover was so exquisite I needed to be able to look at it often! The Book Cover Archive is edited and maintained by Ben Pieratt of General Projects and Eric Jacobsen of Whisky Van Gogh Go. They do this for the sheer pleasure and appreciation of books :) They have a search engine where you can pull up covers of a particular genre, like architecture, or covers with the same typeface used... it's an amazing resource. I frequently lose myself in there! :) You can find The Book Cover Archive here. I found it via the Crust Station here.

All change please!

My focus has shifted somewhat... I'm determined to work out this crochet thing! My first lesson yesterday was great. Stef, my teacher at Tangled Yarns, was fabulous.. she just had to work really hard with a very bad student ;) Is this an over-40 thing? Why couldn't I get my head around it? With much patience and perseverance I managed to do a row of double stitch and then a row of treble stitch...(it only took two hours!) Worst of all, I got back home and had totally forgotten how to do the double stitch row again... Such a sad thing. After much Net searching I think I've got it and have been powering on, but it's a hard climb. I'm now pretending I didn't ever want a square shape really! Are my hands supposed to ache this much...? ;)

Brooch Update - 3D felt

Just a quick one today to show you what I've been up to... Over the weekend I've been experimenting with creating 3D 'bubbles' on my brooches. The first one I was happy with but it hasn't photographed very well I'm afraid. The three black beads have a nice play with light when you see it in person :) The second one... well, I think it looks like a scrunched up cotton ball so I've tried to make it more interesting, but, I think I've strayed too far into the over-embellishment trap. Anyway... works in progress continue. School drop-off is done and I'm rushing out the door to my very first crochet lesson!!! I'm so excited :)

Bonjour Mon Coussin

I've been thinking about screenprinting cushion designs and making covers for some outdoor furniture, so naturally my mind has taken a soft furnishings bent... ;) Isn't it funny how you suddenly notice a particular thing once you have one yourself? You know, suddenly you see your make of car on every street or you fall pregnant and all you see are babies everywhere...? So, here you have it, the beginning of what may possibly be a week of soft furnishing preoccupations! (Good warning I think in case you want to tune out for the week! ;))

So, what do you think of those gorgeous babies? Fabulous cushion covers fabrique en France with the images drawn from vintage postcards and found ephemera. They are the creations Claire Eglizeaud and Paul Moreau of Bonjour Mon Coussin. I love their retro aesthetic, and I'm always a complete sucker for maps and (of course) optical ephemera (sorry, can't help that one!) Visit their website to see the full fabulous range. I found them via this lovely blog.

Envy...

Nick Cave performing at All Tomorrow's Parties in Sydney in January this year. Picture pinched from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend magazine, August 1st, 2009.

"There's not a thing about old age I recommend... Those glorious cardinal sins are taken away from you till you're left with nothing but envy."

I realise this isn't part of my unusual 3 sheets style, but hey, we're all 3-dimensional characters with loads of quirky bits. One of my quirks is I'm a big Nick Cave fan. I was just sitting out on the back deck in the sun reading the papers and this wonderful quote made me laugh out loud. I went to this concert in January at the Riverstage in Brisbane... what a performer. I've never seen someone be so generous with their audience. He's such a rock god! :)

Sunday Stash: Fabric #4

Another fabric stash and another vintage piece I don't have the courage to cut into...! This fabric was given to me many years ago now by a friend and it seems I'm wholly incapable of cutting it because I find it too precious :)

More Sunday Stashes can be found here and there's a Flickr Stash Pool here.