Embroidered Selves

I finished this right before the art show a few weeks ago, just in time to slip it in. It's hand embroidered, 18x24 inches on unbleached muslin.

My intention is for it to be the first in a series of embroideries. My brain has already moved on to trying to wrap itself around quilts, though, so it might be a while...

Prints Are Done!

I finally finished all the intaglio prints I've been working on since January, just in time for the art show I'm in next week at Thread Space. :)

The prints:

Diversions

One of my friends broke the screen on his phone a few days ago, and made a passing comment about wanting a rotary cell phone. The idea took root in my head and almost without planning it I made him one.

Embroidered dial and ear/mouth piece.
It's a little crude, but it's the first thing I've ever sewn! Which I didn't even realize until after I had started sewing. 

 

It has a pocket. To keep phone numbers in or something.

I'm really bad at representing myself. I hadn't told my friend anything about making this, I just handed it to him at a time when he was distracted, and walked away. Then I had to ask him later what he thought of it and he was pretty confused until I explained myself fully. 

I really am making progress on my prints, too. I'll post more about them when I have more to show.

Finsh Fix

I got antsy yesterday and had to do something different. Something short, so I could say I'd finished something.

So I did some blind contour drawings of nearby things and just had fun with it. I liked one of them enough that I refined it and decided to do a quick and simple embroidery of it. I had also been curious about embroidery on paper for a while. The result:

I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I feel better and can now get on with my long, slow projects.

Print Swap!

I just sent off my print edition to the Pussy Cat Press print exchange. I'm super excited about it and can't wait to see what I get in return! I'll post my print when the exchange is over.

Ah, So Close...

But not quite done yet.
The darkest shade on the Cave print didn't turn out. So now I have to re-aquatint the plate and etch it again. Here's hoping I don't muck it up.


I realized that my video on This is Handmade is going to become harder to find as more videos get added to the site, and I should post it here also. So here it is in all it's 5 minutes of tedious glory:



There has been some internet dramas over the message behind This is Handmade. People not getting it, being put off by the presentation, etc. For me, it was a great way to blow off steam over the people who have in the past offered me $15-20 for something I worked for days, weeks, or even months on, as though they were doing me a favor. I can make that in an hour waiting tables on a decent night. I would rather hold onto something I spent that much time and love on than to give it away for so little, because it's obvious I care more about it than they do. And who wants their art to wind up with people who don't care about it?

This is Handmade

I've submitted a video to This is Handmade, a video blog by the great Penny Nickels, of me stopping out an intaglio plate.

I'm kind of amazed - its up there next to videos of crafters I've admired for a long time.  :)