March 2006

fav blog posts – a bit of this and that

by admin on March 31, 2006

in People

knitted cushion Krawaggul – beautiful stripey and polkadotty knitted cushion.

Turkey feathers - the crafting never stops – bags this time – wonderful details.

doll stories
Doll stories is a wonderful newish blog from Israel, Neta makes dolls and dogs and gives them all unique personalities. Just loving seeing what she is doing.

while she naps - a less cowardly lion is wonderful. A quote from her site about her thoughts behind this lion “I have been thinking a lot about making primitive dolls. Dolls/animals that use natural materials and that are assembled in an obvious way. I love the look of exposed seams, of visible hand-stitching, of parts of the toy being tied together, even, instead of sewn.”

button bracelet Needle book – love the retro feel of this button bracelet.

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Bead Artist Liza Lou

by thimble on March 31, 2006

in Art+Design

liza lou

Liza Lou is a bead artist who creates entire scenes – rooms, trailers, houses, a backyard – entirely from tiny beads.

Her current show at the White Cube in the UK is “a meditation on the vulnerability of the human body and the architecture of confinement” and includes a room the size of a death row prison cell, a barbed wire security fence, and several male figures in states of anguish.

From the exhibit description:

Lou’s work has an immediate ‘shock’ content that works on different levels: first, an acknowledgement of the work’s sheer aesthetic impact and secondly the slower comprehension of the labour that underlies its construction. But whereas in Lou’s earlier works the startling clarity of the image is often a counterpoint to the lengthy process of its realization, for the execution of Cell, Lou further slowed down the process by using beads of the smallest variety with their holes all facing up in an exacting hour-by-hour approach in order to ‘use time as an art material’.

liza lou

Images of her earlier work can be seen here.

An interesting review of the current exhibit can also be found at the Guardian.

Via magpie and cake

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Tee Time

by Abigail Percy on March 30, 2006

in Books

redbulltopdone1.jpg

This cute new top has become mine, thanks to Generation-T! How much did I pay for this awesome rocker/beach-bum style? Nothing! I made it myself by following the super easy project tutorials on generation-t’s website!

And just so you don’t think that this top looked good to start with, I’d like y’all to know that this baby started out like this:

redbulltopbefore1.jpg

Ouch. Tight arms. Small neck. Bad shirt.

What I am particularly excited about on the Generation-T site, is that there is going to be a new way to modify old t-shirts every month! So far there are just two styles, but if you need more right this minute, then pick up the brand new Generation-T book: Generation T, 108 ways to tranform a T-shirt, by Megan Nicolay.

If you’re digging the whole recycled t-shirt thing I would also recommend checking out the site www.compai.com. There is also a Compai book, 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie your T-Shirt Into Something Special, by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, Anka Livakovic, and Ellen Schultz. I have yet to test out any of these designs, but they also look like they could be quite lovely.

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make your own shoes?

by craftapalooza on March 30, 2006

in Green Crafting

Hmm. Like the idea. Definitely comes under extreme crafting. Make your own sandals from tires. Or buy these from adbusters.

tire sandals - hollowtop.com

Via ReadyMade Blog and MAKE.
Image – www.hollowtop.com

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Quilt Artist of the Week: Regina Alexandra

by Kim on March 30, 2006

in Quilting

Emoticon by Regina Alexandra
Emoticon, 61-1/4” x 50”, copyright Regina Alexandra

I found Regina Alexandra’s work by doing a Google search for “modern quilts” … why, she has the very domain name modernquilts.com! There is an obvious parallel between pixel art and patchwork (maybe you’ve come across this or this on your internet travels) and I love Ms. Alexandra’s more abstract, minimalist merging of the traditional and the digital. I asked her via e-mail how her “Faces” series developed:

Honestly, sometimes it feels like some of my ideas are just dropped into my head by some outside source at the oddest moment, without warning, and then, there they are! But I was in the planning stages of some very bold, modern graphic quilts at the time. (I was a graphic designer for many years, and that influences my work, as you can see) And in retrospect, it’s no surpise I ended up doing the Faces series, because I am really taken with the face and its expressions: to me it represents a snapshot of humanity and the underlying bewilderment, surprise or amusement at simply finding oneself in the human condition!

The quilts are machine-pieced, but hand-quilted … I love to see the human hand or element in my work and in art, and what better way, than via the irregular, unplanned and spontaneous hand stitches? It’s fun to see something so minimalist and modern from afar, but then to walk up close and be surprised by the imperfect, often dense, hand stitches.

Yes, the “Faces” series has just begun! Several interesting, new and surprising designs for the series are in the works, with more suggestions of pixellation. The quilts can take several months to make because of the hand-stitching and certain time constraints.

Ms. Alexandra also makes art quilts with very soulful, personal themes. You can see from her about page that she comes from a long line of sewists and her art quilts are a loving tribute to those who came before her.

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