silent stories, waiting to be told

out of the blue by kirill golovchenko

when i read about the photography triennial that's on right now in hamburg, i remembered another photography exhibition i saw at hamburg's deichtorhallen back in april. it was an exhibition of young european photographers and while much of it looked like trying-too-hard thesis projects that got barely passing grades, there were two young photographers who were doing something that got my attention. one was ukrainian kirill golovchenko. his large piece, composed of smaller photos, out of the blue, photographed on a black sea beach through a bathing ring, was whimsical and touching and with its vintagey treatment, felt like it tapped into something of the instagram-y pulse of our times, while saying something deeper about the culture of leisure time.

out of the blue by kirill golovchenko

out of the blue by kirill golovchenko

it was the first piece you saw as you came into the amazing cathedral-like exhibition space and it warranted a longer look. the girls liked it and stood before it, pointing out various whimsies to one another, for quite some time. i liked it too - plenty of whimsy and a healthy dose of strange-making ostranenie on the typical beach scene, making us see it anew. and what was a panda doing on the beach?

collection by jan brykczynski

the other photographer's work that spoke to me was jan brykczynski from poland. he photographed everyday objects in what once were grand surroundings of a palatial home that had been in his family for years. the obvious grandeur was a bit worn and shabby and the photos evoked those tropes of memory and forgetting that so often speak to me. who knows why these particular objects were collected? the stories behind them are surely long forgotten, but there's something poetic about them photographed individually on the ledge. as an object photographer myself, they spoke to me.

collection by jan brykczynski

collection by jan brykczynski

a number of the works juxtaposed the grand setting to the mundane realities of everyday life in the 21st century. ironing would undoubtedly once have been done by servants and now one must do it oneself, albeit still in the grand surroundings. and while it's not necessarily a photograph i'd like to own, it made me think of the great, sweeping swaths of history blowing through europe (and the world, for that matter), leaving everything changed.

collection by jan brykczynski

i think his work spoke to my inner collector as well. there's just something comforting about the act of gathering like objects and displaying them. the documentation of it. the gathering. the collection of memories. the silent stories, waiting to be told.

skrot on the brain

skrot - it's a danish word for scrap, not something naughty, tho' it does look a bit naughty somehow. for me, it also has the connotation of being scrap metal, so it conjures images of fetching bits of rusty wire and iron. so i was very excited when our local art group, creagive (get that, we're creative in give) chose skrot as the theme for our yearly spring exhibition.

i didn't participate in last year's exhibition, as i felt like i really couldn't since i'm not a painter, but with this theme, it lends itself more to the mixed media/collage-style that i like. and with five days off here for easter, i'm getting down to business in earnest on the pieces i've been mulling over in my mind for several months. i got permission to go explore the container above (which i had sneaked a photo of a couple of weeks ago) and take what i'd like for the pieces i have but a vague picture of in my mind. alas, i went today to have a look and found, to my horror, that the container had been emptied. i'll be honest and tell you that i almost cried. i could picture one of my little fobots (found object robot) with curly hair made of those metal shavings and now that they're gone, i'm not sure what to do.

some members of the group were quite horrified by the theme, coming up with all kinds of violent and sexual connotations for the word (there is a meaning of it that's along the lines of up yours). but i say there's still potential to artistically explore those meanings as well, even tho' the word doesn't bring such things to my mind when i ponder it. perhaps i'm a little too in love with shipyards, as those are the images that come to mind for me - enormous, rusty bits of metal, lying around, looking fetching. i can see all kinds of potential in those. and i find myself also pondering ways of working some lego into my pieces - the contrast between the rusty metal and the colorful plastic could be very interesting.

in addition to a little grouping of fobots, i've also ordered this photo of a ship that's being scrapped in a large size. husband is going to help me make a frame that echos the scrap theme as well. i've found so much inspiration in the notion of rusty hunks of metal. i'm lucky there's no limit this year to how many pieces you can contribute. but we'll see how many of the ideas floating in my head and on my pinterest board, make it into reality and how they look when they do. inspiration is a wonderful thing.

beautiful things are sometimes enough

i got this gorgeously rustic, bumply, fabulous, unique heart bead from kim at numinosity (she's on a little vacation in mexico, so you'll have to wait to see her shop). kim feels like an old friend, since i met her towards the beginning of my blogging journey. we've never met in person, but at some point we will and i know we will laugh and drink cocktails.

an idea is forming in the back of my mind as to what to do with this bead, but in the meantime, having it and just photographing it on my usual windowsill scale is enough. i enjoy that almost as much as i would wearing it as a necklace. sometimes beautiful, unique things are enough, just in and of themselves. tho' maybe if i incorporated it into something crocheted, it might be even better...

when time is of the essence we use it more wisely (and by we i mean me)

there's something about knowing that your time is limited that makes you way more efficient. when i used to have all the time in the world and could schedule things how/when i wanted to, i totally pissed away a whole lot of time. now that i have a more fixed schedule, i'm using my free time so much more wisely! like making this leather case for my new macbook pro. i also made up a new recipe for roasted cauliflower soup that you can find here. husband has me drawing trees for a logo for his sawmill, but i'm not there on those quite yet, so i have nothing to show. other than that, there was a lot of boring but necessary tasks, like laundry and tidying up. but i just felt so virtuous and efficient.

but now, back to the computer case...i bought this super soft, buttery leather a few weeks ago and have thus far, just fondled it lovingly, but now, it's put to use protecting my new computer. the feathers are much more cream colored than they appear in these yellowish evening photos. it's been dreary and rainy and cold all weekend, so the light wasn't great for photos. very little time was spent outside, aside from feeding animals and taking horses in and out and dashing out to take minifigure photos between rain showers. we also got a new spotty hen from a neighbor and she's settling in with the others nicely. 

i am keeping up my daily list art journal, but have yet to photograph it, so i'll do a catch-up post later in the week. i was efficient, but not that efficient, apparently. i'll blame the lack of good light. 

here's hoping your weekend was wonderful and you're ready to face the week ahead.

* * *

i love unsolved mysteries like this.

and spy stories like this.

getting creative with springbok

a couple of weeks ago at the fabulous leather store, i bought a dyed purple springbok hide with the intention of making a purse similar to one i bought in cape town ages ago. it took awhile to screw up the courage to cut into it, but yesterday, i took the plunge.

i let the natural shape of the leather determine the size of my purse, so it's rather long and skinny and i suppose i'll easily lose things down in the bottom of it, but i'm so happy with how it came out, that i don't really care. i lined it with super soft kid leather, also in deep purple and it has a pocket for my phone (i haven't found a good way to photograph that, so i can't show you). i used the same soft leather for the strap and because it came out a little long and i didn't have a buckle to make it adjustable, i just tied a knot in it.

so as not to let the scraps go to waste, i sewed up a very simple little wallet as well. again, using the natural nap of the fur on the hide. i love how it turned out too.

i have boots that match this, but i need to get the zipper repaired and haven't gotten around to that. i'll have to do so now.

the leathers i'm working with are so soft that i can use my ordinary sewing machine and a sturdy, thick needle made for top-stitching. a denim needle works too. it does make me think that i eventually need a real leather sewing machine, tho', as then i could get even more adventurous.

i had a few other scraps from a previous project and i made another little wallet in another version, for business cards. i wish i'd had enough left for a case for my iPad mini, but alas, the scraps are too narrow for that. maybe next, i'll make a little keychain of some of the other scraps. amazing how your mind starts coming up with more and more ideas once you just get started (i should really try to remember that).

a burst of color in the midst of a grey, dreary january

soft and supple, fabric-like goat leathers + a springbok hide in purple (i know it looks blue here, but it's really purple). i'm planning on making myself a new purse in these couple of weeks i have before i start my new job.

the leather store is a decidedly dangerous place. i couldn't resist these four hides. the dark purple is for lining the springbok purse. i'm not sure yet what i'll do with the others, but i intend to think of something. sometimes it just helps, having new supplies.

i got these rolls of bright felt to use as table runners on the dining table. amazing how a little color can brighten up these dull, january days.

we saw the sunshine today for the first time in several weeks. it was most welcome. and my stack of the new anna maria horner line (which i got from my sis for christmas) looked fetching in the late afternoon sunshine.

next weekend, we're having a weekend drink & draw at a friend's summer house, so i thought some new inks were in order. i also got some fabulous teeny tiny brushes in a higher quality than i'm accustomed to, so i'm going to be painting some stones while we're there.

and lastly, a bit of soft, snuggly alpaca to make a scarf. i'm going to venture away from my knit-stitch only knitting and actually try some other stitches! wish me luck!

i'm not sure there's anything that makes me as happy as having new supplies to make into something wonderful.

sticks and stones....and wool and yarn and rusty nails

i should have been working on christmas gifts, but instead, these little pieces are what i did. sticks, stones, felt, yarn and rusty old horseshoe nails that were once holding matilde's shoes to her hooves. they may need a bit more needling, but i like the feel and the direction they're going. and who knows, maybe they will be gifts for someone or other.

peephole stones :: work in progress

when i'm at the beach, i love to look for stones with holes in them. i also love felting stones, tho' i do always have a pang of anguish over covering up my carefully-selected stone. so last night i decided to experiment with felting a stone with peepholes, so i could have the felt and still enjoy the stone.

i ran a couple of experiments - wrapping the stones, cutting holes and then felting. that doesn't work too well. you have to wrap the stone (use lisa's great tutorial), felt it a bit, so the felt is tight around the stone, then cut your holes and continue felting.

i got a bit fancy with this one, using two colors. i felted the orange around the stone first, then added the red, felted a bit and carefully trimmed the red layer away from the orange before they got too stuck together. i loved that the stone had a little hole started and i wanted it to show.

a couple of them came off the stones and i ended up with these little felty vessels instead. i'm going to play with them some more to see what they might become.

i'm also going to add some more embellishment (stitching, beads, painting on the stone) to these, so they're still works in progress. but i just had to share them already now. i feel like they're a breakthrough in making the felted stone notion my own. and they're getting me closer to a picture that's in my head. stay tuned.

i played a bit with my new inks yesterday as well, painting a few feather stones and even a bit of driftwood (the inks bleed on it in unexpected ways). i am madly in love with the paynes grey. the sun has gone again and there's a light sprinkling of snow on the ground, so it's a perfect day to stay inside with a cup of tea and play with felt and stones and ink.

little me on a leaf

a little update on my experiment in photo transfer. it turned out a bit better than i thought it might, tho' you may not think that looking at this. it's very fragile (hence the bits still clinging to it). i'm hoping that tomorrow when it's totally dry (you have to wet it to remove the transfer paper), a few more will brush off and i can do a little wax dip to strengthen it for some stitches. quite a fun little experiment.

here's the original photo i used:

the view from sunday night: making things and reading books

still playing with the transfer glue. although it's made for transfer of photos to fabric, i found it worked much better to transfer to paper - the fabric ones didn't turn out at all. my plan is to stitch on this one, ala the techniques that anne brodersen showed a few weeks ago. so far, i've just brushed it with beeswax (from our very own hives) to give it a bit more body. husband thinks i should leave it as it is, but i haven't decided yet if it's done.

in the spirit of experimentation, i decided also to try transferring onto a leaf. it's an old photo of little me! i'll have to see how it turns out tomorrow once it's dry.

it may be that a leaf is too fragile, but i like the idea of it.  it's all an experiment at this stage.

we made a bunch of felted stones last weekend and, using my fabulous friend lisa's tutorial, i've tried my hand at stitching on them, like she does (only she does it much, much better). it's fun, but difficult and gives me even more admiration for her amazing work. i love french knots and variegated thread, but on about every 5th knot i get a big tangle that looks really ugly, so i've got a long way to go on these. and besides, they're lisa's idea, so i would definitely not want to have any commercial gain with them, so they're just for me, unless i find my voice with them.

lisa wrote recently about her process of stitching the stones. i had a bit the same feeling, that i had no real idea what was going to happen when i began and that something just comes out. for lisa, the stitches echo nature, i think for me (and for sabin), they might be more a reflection of a mood. and one of them REALLY didn't work (i snipped it all out before photographing it, so i'm sparing you the sight of it).

this one was sabin's attempt - i love how bright and cheerful it is. i think it's the best one so far.

i also played with bright and cheery after seing sabin's. after taking the photos, i decided this one needed more french knots. this one started to go more in a me kind of direction, but i'm not there yet.

there's something about holding wool and the heaviness of the stone that's very appealing, soothing and meditative. and while i was working, an idea came to me, so i'm not quite done with these yet (stay tuned - it got dark and i couldn't execute the idea as of yet) - it involves sneaking into husband's workshop and using power tools!).

the last one i worked on today, i decided to cut a little window into it. i think sometimes that cutting into something i've made is the hardest thing for me. i really had to force myself to do it. at first, i saw this little fabric birdhouse in the window, but as i worked with stitching the raw edge, that changed a bit. i'm not sure where this one's going yet either, but it's just really nice to be feeling inspired and making things again. who knows? maybe i'll end up with a few stocking stuffers.

when i wasn't stitching or entertaining guests or staying up late drinking wine and laughing, i was reading - i've got four books on the go right now. errol morris' believing is seeing (observations on the mysteries of photography), salman rushdie's joseph anton, david whyte's crossing the unknown sea, and nicole krauss's great house. so something for every mood.

what did you do with your weekend?