Gillian Bates

I think these are really beautiful. 

Lou Lou and Oscar Interview

I discovered Lisa's blog, Lou Lou & Oscar after the show I curated at Gallery Hanahou last Feb.  I immediately bookmarked it and have been hooked since.  Since then I have had the pleasure of doing a trade with Lisa, talk to Lisa more frequently then a lot of other folks I have never met and feel like she is my long lost friend.  I am a big fan of her work and can't wait to get her little guys in the shop.  Her exclusive will be released March 1st due to my pending vacation.  Anyone that orders them after the 3rd will have to wait a few weeks to get them in the mail.  Either way, it will be worth the wait!  Here is an interview I did with her. 

S- What was your inspiration for this exclusive?

LL&O- The natural history of the Arctic, from auroras to lemmings, the ice bound and the aquatic. I could have created a hundred Fish Boys with polar characteristics, the Arctic region is such a fecund source of inspiration. I cannot help but project my imagination upon the mysterious terrain and the water beneath the ice pack, I often wonder about the creatures that may exist, undiscovered, in this realm. I haven't come to the end of my arctic adventure that's for sure. I am also interested in cryptozoology, secret histories and hybrid identities, the fish boy grew out of reading around these subjects I guess. Fish Boys are happy, fun-loving creatures, they love to read but don't really care for over-thinking. I am aware that I have become too close to my creations!

S- How did you start making plush?

LL&O- As a way to save my sanity when we moved to this tiny island off the coast of France!  I inherited a sewing machine from my Step Mum and felt inspired to try and make some softies for my son, I really needed to do something creative, something that would result in an object that could be held and loved. My first attempts were pretty dire, I overheard my son saying "don't tell Mummy you don't like the robots", ha, yes they were supposed to be robots! I got hooked and just couldn't stop in spite of my early failures. I was lucky to come across some amazing work when I started out, that really pushed me to get better, aspiration, to try and make meaningful work.

S- Your site is so beautiful to view.  It seems like you take a lot of time with your photos, writing, etc. On average, how often do you update your site?  How has it influenced your art?

LL&O- Thank you for the kind words, I don't feel as though I deserve them, the site has fallen a little fallow and I am hoping to consolidate all of the virtual spaces I inhabit into one website this year. I got very caught up with my blog initially and spent more time planning posts than actually making things, always more ideas than hours in the day, sounds familiar I bet? It did come down in the end to a choice between creating/crafting and blogging, making things won out, I missed it. I noticed too that the quality of my posts had been declining, it upset me, posting for the sake of it, worrying about diminishing views, it all felt inauthentic and a little silly. I think the latter realization has lead me to revaluate my work as a whole, to ask why I make it in the first place, what am I trying to achieve through it, in this sense the site has influenced my work. I have gone from updating mostly everyday to maybe once every week at the most. I am trying to post only when I have something to say. I know my blog could be much better, I do take a lot of care with pictures, less care with writing.  I find that writing comes relatively easily, the other stuff is much harder for me, which is why it excites me I think. I am hoping that some changes coming later this year will enable me to share a little more of myself. I am a nosy parker and love the glimpses of life behind the scenes that my favourite bloggers offer, I want to do more of this myself.

S- What are you looking forward to in this new year?

LL&O- This year is going to be full of change and upheaval for me and my little family, which I welcome. I can't give too much away yet but I know these events will have a big impact on my work. Sorry for being such a secret squirrel! I have a 'milestone' birthday coming up next month, it is really no different from any other day but I confess to feeling excited and scared about it. I can't wait to conduct a thorough remodeling of Lou Lou & Oscar, that is certainly on the cards, new creatures too, I have a whole book full that need to come to life. I am so looking forward to the shows I am taking part in this year, really jumping up and down with excitement. Last year I discovered that making work for a show gives you an almighty kick up the bum, deadlines, concentration, the attempt to become more technically adept in order to realize your mind's imaginings. So, yes, hooray for shows!

S- What are the top 5 albums in your music rotation right now?

LL&O- I am the worst person to answer this question, I can happily listen to the same album for months to the exclusion of everything else. All of these have cropped up recently.

For Your Pleasure-Roxy Music

Homework-Daft Punk

Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective (I've been trying to love this but I don't, hoping it will grow on me, hasn't yet!)

The Madcap Laughs-Syd Barrett

Live At The Witch Trials-The Fall (everyday, forever!)

Valentine's Day

Here are the cutest little embroidery patterns from vintage Valentine's Day cards.  Found here.  Happy Valentine's Day! xoxo

Brie Ruais

Last Sunday I went to the Bellevue Art Museum. I have to admit that I have never been BUT I would like to go often. It's a really nice museum very craft friendly! YAY!!!!! They had some great embroidery pieces. One day it would be great to say I curated a show in an actual museum. I am now going to aim for them. I would include Brie Ruais because she makes really pretty things. The End.

Alice in Wonderland

I really like the rabbit over at Pezzi Unici so I decided to do a whole Alice in Wonderland post.



Cheshire cat via Violet Pie



White rabbit embroidery pattern via Kloin



Mini print via Elsita



Paper tags via Papertivity



Pin cushion via Yifatiii



Tweedledee and Tweedledum via Odd and Whimsy



A Tim Burton film adaptation of this story will be released in March 2010!

Fiber Arctic- Jessica Marquez

Jessica Marquez has a certain touch many people take their whole lives to achieve. Her work is beautiful, the details are impeccable and you can see the love that goes into each piece she creates. From her lovely message in the bottle to her photography to her amazing embroidery art. I really love her work and think you should too.



S- I really love your message in a bottle letter service. How is it typing up someone else's messages, love notes, etc.?

JM- It’s amazing! Truly, I never thought I would get the kind of unabashed responses that I have been receiving again and again. Sometimes the words are simple and direct, but there are many letters that when I type them I feel a sense of guilt creeping in, because I’m involved with someone’s most personal sentiments. It’s perfect for the voyeur in me, but more than that, it’s such an honor to be able to help share these tokens of affection. The end result of the letter service is a little object- a memento, and I try to make all my work little objects of memorial and remembrance.



S- You were in the show, Forget Me-Not this past Feb. where I got to meet you. Your work really stood out to many of us. The various stitches worked into your pieces and your attention to detail is so impressive. What is your background in art?

JM- Thanks! I loved all the work in Forget Me-Not and am very grateful to have been involved. Formally, I have a fine arts background studying, mainly, photography and art history. Growing up though, I was surrounded by creative women who worked with their hands and were always making, which inspired a strong love of handmade. The women in my family love to craft, cook, and enjoy doing these things together. So I have this sense of the familial tied to crafting and warmth too. Throughout school I sought out classes like bookmaking and metals that involved using my hands. Even in photography you are shaping images in a very hands on way, and I like to use my images to create something tangible. What I enjoy is the process- the time and labor involved with making is very enjoyable to me.



S- I see you will be at Renegade. Feel prepared? What are some of the items folks will be able to find from you?

JM- I’m prepared to be schooled!! Renegade is my first craft fair….so, at the moment I’m feeling nervous and scared-- excited too! Since it’s my first fair I don’t know if I could feel prepared. There are so many things I never considered before being on the other side of the table, like how much to bring, how much it costs to gather your materials together, as well as the planning and organizing. This week before renegade is going to be a non-stop week of making, trying to focus, and push my insecurities out of my mind. The fair will be a great learning experience for me.

At the fair I’ll have lots of small objects. Of course I’ll have a bunch of needlework pieces: constellations, samplers, red crosses and custom piece. There will be miniature cabinets of curiosities (tiny collections of small curious objects), books, and I’m even working on encaustic with vintage imagery. I also plan to have the Letter Service available for custom orders. I’m crazy excited about what I’m making and really looking forward to sharing it!



Find her on Etsy

Find her on flickr

Fiber Arctic- Jenny Hart

To introduce Jenny Hart is kinda weird. If you are reading this blog I assume you appreciate craft, art and plush. Jenny might not make plush but she is definitely a household name if you are into the other two. A master of embroidery, the woman who made embroidery "cool" again, Jenny is a woman after my own heart. I can't wait for this year's UCU summer show where I will finally be able to meet her. Until then I am overjoyed that she will be another artist for Fiber Arctic. I now present you with, Jenny Hart.



S- Oh Jenny, you are one of our favorites...every one's for that matter. Not only do you make beautiful works of art but you were one of the catalysts for making crafts cool again and not just viewed as "granny crafts". For this, I love you. Were you always a crafty lady? Did you expect to be doing this for your living?

JH- I think you made me blush. I was always drawing, making art, taking photographs and sometimes my own jewelry (I made a pair of earrings out of rubber Cupie dolls in high school). I love to make things by hand, figure out how things worked and have something unique like altered clothing, or hand-painted combat boots. To be honest, I don't consider myself really 'crafty'. My good friend Jennifer Perkins (Naughty Secretary Club / Austin Craft Mafia) is a truly crafty person. She can make something fantastic out of a flyswatter if she has to. Me? I just love embroidery.





S- I purchased some of your patterns many years ago when it was you just shipping them out of your home and you were a one woman operation. How have you adjusted to this huge transition of having employees, books, fans, etc.?

JH- Well, they still ship from my home! But, it's true that it's no longer just me doing everything. I think growing pains sums it up well. It's always hard to give up doing things you've done yourself for so long, but once it's out of your hands and in the capable hands of others (filling orders, answering customer emails) it's such a relief, you don't want to go back to the old way. I do miss the days when I did everything myself, especially filling orders because I would see all the incoming customer emails with the many super sweet messages they send. Jordan is really good about forwarding some of those on to me. The biggest change has to do with having employees (two full time, two part time) because for years 5-6 of the company (we turn 8 this year) I was completely overwhelmed by all the demands, and was really struggling to do the creative work, which is the most important thing for me to be doing. I think having fans is something I'm still getting used to. A woman came up to me at a gallery opening (for someone else) and asked if she could have my autograph, and I was totally stunned. I'm becoming more and more aware of how aware other people are of me and my work, which always surprises me. While others view you as a success, you yourself still feel like you have to put your work out there, tell people about it and get the word out! So, I'm always pleasantly surprised whenever someone approaches me or lets me know they are familiar with my work. It's really touching. I never assume that they do, because there still are looots of people who don't know about Sublime Stitching - more people I can turn on to embroidery! Mwahaha.



S- Not to assume you feel this way but I, myself, occasionally have a hard time with my work. I have been making stuff since I was a kid and when it becomes part of my monthly income it takes away some of it's charm. Because this is your full time job and I am sure a good portion of your livelihood, how do you balance it all?

JH- It's always a challenge. The hardest thing for me to do is make time to do my personal artwork. I love doing the work needed for Sublime Stitching, and those demands are pretty high. I try different types of schedules "Okay, Thursdays and Fridays are for artwork only" but something more urgent always comes up and pulls me away. One of the things my manager does is help me prioritize, which is the hardest part. Every day I ask them what they might need from me, and we all discuss the most urgent demands. That helps enormously. I think figuring out what needs to be done first before you jump into anything and everything you want to try and tackle in a day is really important.



S- Any upcoming events, shows, etc. you are excited about that you might like to share?

JH- I'll be at Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia the weekend of May 30-31 and for the first time ever, we are sending Jessica and Jordan to be at ICE Atlanta (because I can't be two places at once quite yet). Maker Faire San Mateo is also that weekend, which I hate to miss.

My business column, Crafting a Business (previously on Venuszine.com and those columns are still up!) will be firing up again on the Craftzine.com website! Should be up this week.

I have a new book coming out in the fall called Embroidered Effects: Projects and Patterns to Inspire Your Stitching that I'm super excited about! You can see a preview here

My work is going to be exhibited in Paris and also do a museum tour throughout France (two separate exhibitions) beginning in October! One is a group show at http://www.galerieljbeaubourg.net/start.html opening October 9th.

That's uh...part of what we have going on. The highlights!

Fiber Arctic- Nicole Wolfersberger

Now we have Nicole Wolfersberger, a woman with many fibery talents.



S- I love checking on on your progress for Embloggery. Can you tell our readers more about this project of yours?

NW- As an idea, it was a very natural progression for me. I spend a lot of time thinking about both tedious process and handcrafts, as well as popular/internet culture and the nature of "instantaneous" publishing. I liked the idea that a hand-constructed, embroidered object could become a digital object by photographing it and exhibiting it as an image file. The first time I actually experimented with this was with the "avocado.jpg" punch-needle embroidery. The idea was to exhibit it and others like it in digital frames, but the idea wasn't strong enough and I lost interest after the first embroidery.

"Embloggery" didn't happen until about a year later. As I was playing with the idea it dawned on me that I could use other tools like html to enhance the images and make them truly unique as digital objects as opposed to simply being photographs of embroideries. That's when I began to experiment with embedded links and rollover text in the embroidery image.

When I started "Embloggery" I mainly wanted a break from making rugs. I was and am pleasantly surprised at the great response it's received, and I have fun continuing to play with it and make visual puzzles. It's also got me interested in pursuing embroidery more seriously.



S- I really love your latch hook art. Can you tell us more about your process, how you choose your icons, how long they generally take you and some of your favorites?

NW- Thank you! I adore latch hook, in part because I love texture and in part because I really like working on a large scale.. I also enjoy the puzzle of having to greatly simplify images while keeping them recognizable.

When choosing subject matter, there are lots of things I see on any given day that I think "oh, I should make that into a rug!" but many ideas have to be discarded because they simply won't read well. It quickly becomes apparent if the image is too busy to work well as a rug. I think having some background in printmaking has been useful to me in being able to pick out important details and simplify images for needlework.

After I've chosen a subject, I either enlarge the image (if it's a pre-existing one) or draw it on small graph paper (about 10 squares to an inch). If I've enlarged a pre-existing image, I then make a transparency of the small graph paper and tape it over the image. I've tried putting a grid over the image in Photoshop, but I really like being able to pull the grid away and see the image without it.

Once I've come up with a ratio I like, I decide how many colors the rug should be. To help me figure this out visually I'll often go in with a pencil and circle areas of color to give me an idea of where the divides between shades lie. It ends up looking a lot like a topographical map.

Then I purchase (and occasionally dye) yarn and begin the long process of stitching and more stitching. I don't usually work with a frame when I do latch hook. I prefer portable projects and don't mind the weight of the rug on my lap. For tufted rugs, the process is a little different. Tufting also requires a frame.

Rugs take me anywhere from 8 to 50+ hours depending on the size, technique used and subject matter. A 3' by 4' latch hook rug is my usual size and typically takes around 40 hours to complete. My favorite rug I've ever made is probably the first rug (of my own design), "Badlands Justice," though I'm pretty fond of "Bryan Ferry" too. It doesn't really seem like there are too many other people designing and hand-making rugs, but there are a few talented people that I know of that I really admire, like Whitney Lee (http://www.madewithsweetlove.com/).



S- What is the difference between a tufted rug and a latch hook rug?

NW- The latch hook rugs use pre-cut (about 2 inches long) pieces of yarn and a latch hook to individually knot each piece of yarn around a strand of the rug canvas. Tufting uses a skein of yarn, one end of which is threaded through the needle of the tufting tool. The tufting tool is basically a hollow needle with a shuttle so it can be pumped back and forth by hand, and a metal tongue. The needle and metal tongue penetrate the stretched backing material and push a loop of yarn through the canvas, then the needle portion is drawn to the back again. The metal tongue remains pushed through the material and holds the loop at a specified length at the front of the canvas. As you move the tool in the direction of your line, the needle "walks" itself over the canvas, leaving looped pile on the right side, which can be either left as loops or cut if you prefer. The tool does most of this work, so it's actually much more quick than the description may sound!

The main advantage of tufting is you get a more natural, less pixelated line, since you're not limited to a grid. It's like embroidery versus cross-stitch.


(featuring the wrong side)

S- Lastly, I am so impressed with your punch needle embroidery! I have never heard of this process but noticed you also mentioned it was really fun. Can you tell me more about it?!

NW= Thank you!! I think I stumbled on punch needle embroidery when I was trying to learn more about tufted rugs. The process is similiar to tufting, but on a much smaller scale, using a very small hollow needle and either fine cord or embroidery floss. Usually people use the looped pile side as the right side. Lately I have been playing with using the "wrong" side as the right side, because it's such a fast, pen-like way to get an embroidered line -- you are just punching the needle forward rather than doing any kind of backstitching. Punch needle goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it and it's really fun to feel like you're drawing with thread. I also love the shiny look of the pile obtained when I use embroidery floss.

The French Knot

I can't get enough of embroidery. I just wanna do it all the time. I was excited to see this tutorial from Jenny Hart. I swear I am gonna master the french knot...or at least not be scared of it anymore. I just decided to make a colonial knot because it was easier but there is nothing quite like the frenchy. Thank you Jenny! Maybe if I still can't figure it out I will ask her to show me when she is here for Urban Craft Uprising

Jenny Hart on Pimp Stitch

We all have our craft celebrities. I think it's so cute to see how excited people get to meet someone they admire...like at Plush You! I think I might be a babbling fool if I should ever get to meet Jenny Hart. I think she has done an amazing job and admire her business and crafty sides.

Here she is on Pimp Stitch this week.

Gnome

This super cute gnome pattern is up at little dear's site I have been really into embroidery so this looks like a really fun project.

I love Embroidery

I have become addicted to embroidery. I think partly it is all the pretty colors to choose from...kind of how I got addicted to seed beads a long time ago. But I really love the act of embroidering and trying new things out. So far I am loving the results and it's really all I want to do. Since I mentioned another class today I thought I would mention this class coming up in NYC as well. Once again, I wish I could go. I am going to NYC again at the end of March and have already put down that I will be going to Purl Soho no matter what. I think I am gonna want to move in there.

Here is a bit more about the class:

Embroidery by Hand with Ani
Wednesdays March 5th and 12th. 7:15- 9:15pm $85

We're excited to announce a new beginning embroidery class at Purl Patchwork taught by Ani, who many of you will recognize if you shop at the store. Embroidery is one of the most wonderfully addicting crafts and it's not hard to learn. In this two session class you'll learn the basics of hand embroidery using your choice of cute iron on patterns. By the end you'll be able to embroider on anything from a dishtowel to a T-Shirt! No sewing experience is required.

The Quilting Bee- Hillary Lang

Today Wee Wonderfuls website has been updated with this adorable Quilting Bee Stitchette. It's a great gift for your special person or best friend.

The Quilting Bee Stitchette consists of an original embroidery pattern featuring Kit, Chloe and Louise. Included are an iron on transfer of the design, an instruction sheet and a postcard