Friday, October 26, 2012

Drawings.

Some of the line drawings I have done so far while reading Danny Gregory's book, The Creative License:
































Scales and bottles in my kitchen. (I collect scales and now have eleven.)

































Fruit on cake stand in my kitchen.




















Rooftops and trees with sea in distance (from my living room window).

I haven't, however, learnt to draw an egg yet ...

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Frill.

I saw this yarn some time ago and I really liked the combination of colours (although the acrylicness of it was a bit off-putting). Anyway, I eventually bought myself a ball as I was intrigued as to how to knit with it. The shop assistant told me to simply use 8 of the loops as "cast-on" stitches, and then to continue knitting through the loops.

























I didn't realize I was going to end up with a frilly scarf!

























 I am not a frilly person (despite my recent obsession with frilly hyperbolic geometric crochet models). No, I am much more a Woman of Wonk. So wearing it is out, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to look as though I have got a huge strand of kelp or some other demented sea creature around my neck. Maybe I can use it to decorate a cushion cover? Or around the edge of one of my handmade vessels? Hmmm, tough one ...

Monday, October 22, 2012

Kindle cover.

A quick project that fitted in nicely between editing sessions - a new cover for my Kindle. (The other one was a little too wide, so I am now using it a pouch to hold my embroidery yarn and scissors when I travel.)
































































Crocheted from cotton fabric strips, with crocheted bamboo cotton loop, and button made from piece of blue leather with smaller button stitched onto it.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Getting hooked.

A while ago I met a very interesting woman at a tea party. (Actually, it turned out to be a G&T party, which to my mind is the very best kind of T-party there can possibly be, especially when it is hosted by the lovely Miss WhippingItUp, who has magically transformed herself from a pastry chef into a gardener of note, but. luckily for the rest of us, had not forgotten her patisserie skills, and served the most delicious lemon meringue, berry tart and banana cream tart, which complemented the G&Ts rather well, although you may not think so. Phew, that was a long sentence. but now it is finished, and we can finally move on to topic of this post).

The interesting woman (who, by the way, knits the most amazing tea cozies) , told me about this project. You can watch the TED video here. Wow - maths and crochet! Who would have thought that you could illustrate geometric hyperbolic space with a piece of crochet? And create a coral reef along the way?

I just had to try it out. (I do like a bit of maths every now and then to liven things up.) And I can think of many lovely applications, some functional, and some purely artistic.

























Pink Hyperbolic Space (wool, crochet)

Never thought maths could be interesting, did you? And while I have you hooked (no pun intended), here is a very interesting and accessible article on maths in the NYT . Go on, read the whole series - you know you want to!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

#12 revisited.

Those painted-on dots have been bothering me. What do you think of buttons?































































As you may suspect, the buttons are recycled . At the moment I have only prestikked them on, but do let me know what you think before I grab my glue gun and zap away ...

Friday, October 5, 2012

Vessel #14.

Reinterpreting the "slabs" method in fabric to make a lidded box.
(For inspiration, look at Beginner's Guide to Embroidered Boxes, by Janet Edmonds.)































I added lots and lots of stitching ...

























The front closes with a "tie" made from the seam of the same recycled denim that I used for the box, weighted down with a sinker, kindly donated by my art teacher.

































At the moment I am keeping in it my scissors and all the bits that I used while I was making the box: embroidery threads, small pieces of fabric, cardboard, batting, etc. I may keep on using it as a needlework box, or I might use it for stationery.
I would have used it for letters, but nobody writes me letters anymore, sigh ...

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Vessel #13.

Bird House - a ceramics experiment that I actually like! Yay!!!! This is a box I made from a white clay using the "slabs" method. I scratched out the design, then used a combination of glazes and ceramic pencil to "colour in".


































I am not too sure yet what I will use it for. To hold biscuits, sweets, bird seed?