Thing-a-day February

Well then! I’ve joined about one and half thousand other people in pledging to make something creative each day in February. It’s a pretty simple process – make a new thing every day, and post to Thing-a-day before midnight. People are posting their first piece at the moment, and there’s some gorgeous stuff being made. I love the wide range of media – handcrafts, fine arts, cooking, writing, video, cartoon, collage … it’s wonderful, and so inspiring.

My idea is to make my pieces around the theme “50 Ways With Faeries”. Not so much depictions of faeries as works inspired by Faery. My first offering was inspired by a story a little somebody told me about a sun bird:

It’s a mixed media brooch, made using fabric, metallic thread, feathers, stamp ink, embossing powder, seed beads and beading wire.

Playing with the embossing powder was so much fun! I was given it, a pad of gold ink and a couple of stamps years ago as a Christmas present, but haven’t done anything with it in ages. I wanted to “gild” the feathers, so it seemed like a perfect choice. I tested it on another feather first (I only had three white ones, and didn’t want to ruin one accidentally), and was really happy with the results.

First I pressed the ink pad onto the feather where I wanted the gold, then sprinkled the powder – the ink allows the powder to stick. I don’t have a heat gun, so instead I held the feather over the toaster. I was a little concerned the feather would burn, but thankfully there was no problem.

I’m looking forward to lots of experimentation this month, and giving myself permission to try out different media and ways of working. I’m sure some of my pieces will be absolute flops, but then, finding out what doesn’t work is just as important as finding out what does. And I’m equally sure I’ll make at least some stuff I’m really proud of.

Creepy crawlies

I’m utterly entranced by Kako Ueda’s artwork. I love the intricacy and dark whimsy of her cut paper work.

I’m going to see the Melbourne Museum’s exhibition of spiders and bugs on Monday, because I’ve finally found a friend who wants to come along. Most of my friends just looked at me oddly when I asked them to come see spiders with me, as though thinking arachnids were kind of cute and interesting was weird in some way…

Cross stitch links

My re-found love of cross stitch had me trawling the web for useful sites, and I wanted to share what I’ve found.

Cyber Stitchers is a fantastic resource. Members have posted oodles of free patterns and photos of finished work, and there are other tools like a floss converter, fabric size calculator and even a little program that allows you to “underlay” an image of your choice on graph paper.

This caption maker at Crosstitch.com is just brilliant. You can enter your text, and choose to have it converted into a pattern from a range of lovely cross stitch fonts. I’m not sure how long it will be free, but for $12 a year for this, and unlimited pattern downloads (and there are lots), I’d say it’s totally worthwhile. I used this tool for a project I just completed (it’s a birthday present, so I can’t post pictures just yet), and found it really easy to use.

The counted cross stitch chart generator at Dark Lilac is wonderful. You can upload a picture of your choice and have it converted into a PDF chart, complete with DMC thread colours, that you can save and print. The resultant chart is considered the property of Dark Lilac under a Creative Commons licence. You’re free to use it, share it and alter it, but can’t sell it. Which sounds perfectly fine to me. I used this program to create a chart for another present I’m making, and I can’t wait to get onto stitching it.

One last site for fans of the tarot. I was googling around for a good image for (yet another) present, and came across Celtic Tarot in Cross-Stitch. There’s a set of 22 tarot-related motifs, one for each card in the Major Arcana. Some of them are really cute, and I think I’ll be turning my hand to the Unicorn before too long.

So that’s my link haul for the time being. Which sites have you found valuable for crafting?

Cross stitch and feminism

I’ve found a new crafty pleasure for myself – sitting down with a podcast and a cross stitch. Cross stitch doesn’t require much brainpower in its execution (all that’s done beforehand in the design stage), so it’s a perfect way to occupy one’s hands while listening to a crafty podcast.

Two podcasts that I’ve been particularly enjoying are CraftSanity, by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, and CRL by Vickie Howell. (She also sells droolworthy earth-friendly yarns, that I’m just aching to get some of)

One of the CRL episodes had an interview with Debbie Stoller, author of the famous Stitch N Bitch books, and editor-in-chief of BUST magazine. Debbie and Vickie chatted a bit about the role of crafting in the feminist movement, and how the recent craft revival is viewed by feminists. It’s a subject that’s dear to my heart, as both a crafter and feminist, and it got me thinking.

Debbie mentioned that a defining characteristic of 3rd Wave feminism is choice – the choice to be a corporate CEO, a full-time mum, a circus roustabout, or anything else, depending on the individual woman’s desires. Now, I still think there’s a way to go before we’re able to really have those choices, in a society where all the options are equally open to us, but that ideal of choice is something to strive for. And in that context, the choice to practise traditionally “feminine” arts is as valid as any other.

Why then do so many people, feminists included, look down on people who craft? Why are they perceived as “lesser” artists, anti-feminists? I think Vickie had it right – these crafts are considered less valuable than say, oil painting or marble sculpture, precisely because they’re the traditional domain of women. For so long “women’s work” has been diminished, downgraded, belittled – why would any true feminist want to pursue an art form that’s so symbolic of women’s oppression?

Maybe because … we like it. Because the form speaks to us, the way clay does to a sculptor, or oils to a painter. Because the lush textures of fabrics excites and soothes us, the alchemy of yarn to sweater fascinates us, the dance of needle and thread delights us.

Perhaps it’s because we love the rich history of textile arts, that stretches back to Babylon and beyond. The story of how we’ve covered and adorned ourselves and our homes is long and deep, and tells us a lot about who we are and who we’ve been. Connecting with that history, practising and evolving these ancient disciplines, continuing the tradition of woman artisans – that’s far from trivial!

Or maybe it’s because we feel these arts haven’t received the attention that they’re due, that the practitioners haven’t been given the artist respect they absolutely deserve, and that by continuing to publicise and popularise crafting we’re helping to create a culture in which crafts are respected as legitimate artistic pursuits.

Maybe it’s all three of these, with a healthy dose of: “because it makes us happy.”

So the next time you sit down to craft, or see someone crafting, remember that the contemporary crafter is heir to the fabulous kingdom of textile art, and descendant of countless generations of crafty women. And smile.

Dedicated to all the world’s career women, professional mums, wild wanderers, free thinkers and crafty freaks. All of you.

A small step, a giant leap.

My first craft blog entry -how exciting, how daunting! I’m a fairly recent arrival to the blogosphere, but I can see myself spending many happy years here. I hope my own blog can provide inspiration and entertainment for other crafters, the way theirs do for me.

So who am I, anyway? I’m a 20-something (edging closer to 30) woman living in Melbourne, Australia, and I’ve been fascinated with the “gentle arts” for most of my life.

It started when I was all of seven years old – my grandmother sat down with me at the kitchen table, handed me pink crochet cotton and a 3.5mm hook, and taught me how to crochet. It’s still my first craft love, and few things delight me more than teaching other people how to create with yarn and hook.

The links between crafting, the community of women, and feminism are fascinating to me, and it’s something I hope to explore in this blog. The craft renaissance that’s been happening for five years or so, now, has made me incredibly happy. I just love seeing the revival of interest in traditional crafts, and the many new ways they’re being interpreted.

I’m also interested in recycling and sustainable living, and a lot of my crafts make use of reclaimed materials (which isn’t just an excuse for me go hunting at op shops and garage sales, I swear!).

My most recent project is this bag:

It’s a prototype for a new range I’m working on, and I’m really happy with how it’s turned out. Simple to make, elegant in design, and easily customised. And most of all, a useful size! I’m not quite in Mary Poppins’ class when it comes to handbags, but I’m not far off. This bag comfortably fits my diary, notebook, purse and phone, which I consider to be the bare necessities with which to leave the house.

The fabric choice for this one was a happy accident – I had another fabric I was planning on using, but when I’d finished drawing up the pattern I realised I didn’t have enough. Then I saw the skulls peeking at from from atop a stash pile, and the rest is history.

I look forward to meeting lots of wonderful crafty types, and continuing on my creative journey.