two straightlines - fab apron with some handprinted fabric. By Courtney from Michigan.

screenprinted bird at made by milla, from the UK.

beaded knitted necklace at Cafetière gitane.

Betty Pepper graduated with first class honors from the University of Central England School of Jewellery in Birmingham in 2004….and went on to win the British Jewellers Innovative Design Prize {2004}. Betty’s work is quite beautiful, and surprising in real life {found nestled inside an old book}….so small, delicate and beautifully made. I like that she works in textiles {on top of a metal framework}..and her work illustrates well how you can make precious jewellery with non-precious materials.

“my work questions what people expect from jewellery, using traditional designs but with unexpected materials. Some of my pieces live in ‘orphaned’ books inspired by the adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’….

The Necklace that smelled of Yesterday…

You can see some more of Betty’s jewellery on her online portfolio {this link is tempramental…so go to designers directory when the page jumps- password is ‘tree’ and you will find betty under ‘B’ on the designer list} and from a past showcase at Lesley Craze Gallery in London. I like that Betty’s jewellery is diverse in it’s appeal…ranging from very delicate vintage looking pieces, to more bold and kitsch work with embroidered cameos and portraits….showing a broad spectrum of life, of memory …“Betty’s pieces tell stories about the threads of human life, encapsulating these narratives in actual thread” …isn’t that lovely?

I think Betty’s work could give people lots of ideas as to how they could use pieces of textiles {maybe from their family’s past?} to make precious pieces they could wear as jewellery. By using techniques such as embroidery and thread wrapping to add structure and then even tea-staining newer fabrics to age them….the precious ‘jewel’ you make could be adding life to the threads, making them stretch even further into the future…!

As I see it, latte art on flickr is at least three kinds of art in one. The pour itself (is that what espresso artists call it?), the photography, and the arrangement of the photographs to form a whole collage of wonder and inspiration. The image above is made using flagrant disregard’s flickr toys and the flickr tag “latteart,” and it puts me in mind of possible sewing designs. This set by coffee activist is a complete onscreen quilt just as it is, and reminds me of these photosensitive leaf prints.

King Seven’s work is bold and leafy. Erin of Meet the Press Pot has some incredible art drinks and photos of them in her set. And flickr user systrom makes some lovely star shapes that make me want to rush out to my studio and crochet some rich espresso brown snowflakes.

I’ll be posting a couple times each month with more flickr inspiration in places I’m delighted and perhaps surprised to find it.

Hi! My name is Anabel Gª-Plata, and i´m from Seville, south of Spain. At university I specialized in different topics: history of art, documentation and librarianship. At this moment, I work as a teacher. My great passion, together with literature, is art in general: classic painting, architecture, ceramics… But specially textile art and everything handcrafted.

In whip up i´m going to be a bridge between the English-speaking craft culture and the Spanish/Portuguese-speaking community. Topics as traditional craft, artists and designers and blogs… will be my weekly posts.

For my first post i want to write about handmade/artistic dolls.There are a grand variety of them, from the most classical to the most contemporary.But one of my favorite are the Lolitas. With fabric, needle and thread the ingenious fashion designer surprise us with her infinitive ideas.

Mª del Mar, spanish designer, is the creator of Lolitas. It began with a gift for the designer´s nephew, and this project has been growing and the Lolitas products (brooches, bags, T-shirts) become more and more original every time: you can make a Lolita like you!

Other interesting links

On the other hand, I´m sure you kow the wonderful dolls of Rosa or Hilda, but there are a big world of handmade bonecas (dolls) on the portuguese-blogs and other sites: Madame trapo, Matilde Beldroega, Retrosaria dos Sonhos, Mundo imaginário, Lizette Greco, Chiscol, sebastiãopretocarvão, Cor de Mar, Made with love…

sporadic pack rat - crazy quilted hat - by Edie from Alaska.

girl on the rocks - felt covered altoid tins

map bag by twitchy fingers in Canberra Australia (same as me).

An earlier post on whipup about recycling and crafts referenced this craftster tutorial on making paper bowls. Here are some other great ideas to make different kinds of bowls:

a melted bead bowl

folded paper bowl

book about making bowls from leftover threads

fabric bowl

Crochet consistently proves itself easy to loop into shape, it’s a great sculptural technique. But it’s also interesting when sculptors consider the cultural implications of the method and materials.

In his artist statement, Nathan Vincent explains that he intends his work to critique “stereotypical gender mediums by creating “masculine objects” using “feminine processes” such as crochet, sewing, and applique”.

Seen at Crochet by Faye who pointed out an article about his work: Talking Crochet.

His work “The Lodge” is showing at Contemporary Arts Center of Virginia, No One Knows until July 9, 2006.

Last week Kathreen, Whipup’s fearless leader, forwarded the contributors a link to the Knit a River project. Knit a River is a project started by a group in the UK that hopes to raise awareness of the millions of people around the world who live without toilets and clean water. The Knit people are asking that supporters knit a 15 cmx15cm square in blue yarn and mail it to them. They will attach all of the squares to create a knitted river which will serve as a petition.

I had an inexpensive skein of leftover blue yarn and my husband and I had planned to watch a DVD last weekend so I thought I’d whip up a square while I watched the movie. The DVD was Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. The movie chronicles how a group of greedy executives destroyed one of the biggest companies in the US as well as the lives of their employees and investors. Humanity at its worst.

The irony of knitting a square to protest the need for clean water sources while watching a movie about men who squandered billions of dollars hit me about 2 minutes into it. I finished the square before the movie ended and have been thinking throughout the weekend about how much easier it was to watch the executives’ nefarious exploits while making something, however small, for a good cause.

Even something as small as knitting a 6” square can be a transformative experience. I keep thinking that if I had thought it through, I would have made a party of it. Not Stitch and Bitch party but rather Stitch for Charity to Try to Remain Optimistic in a Screwed Up World party. I’m a child of the 60s and I’m taking my idealism to the grave.

First of all, let’s just start with the fact that the pattern for the great wrap-around skirt shown above is FREE, thanks to the fabulous Fitz patterns. There are some other great free gems over at Fitz, which, incidentally, is an indie source for sewing patterns that thankfully breaks away from the same-old-same-old, to come up with some really unique pattern ideas. And even the ones that aren’t free are a steal-of-a-deal at around $2.00-$3.00 AUD each.

The pattern for this cute top, for example, is $3.00 AUD, and that includes the pattern for the coordinating ra-ra skirt. The patterns come as downloadable PDF documents in a large format, and then you have the file printed at a print shop.

So, to summarize: affordable, no waiting for it to arrive via snail mail, and clearly the most important part: really really great looking patterns.

Binx’s grandma is sending us an old wooden children’s kitchen that I’m going to refinish, and I’m devoting a corner of our soon-to-be dining room to it. I’ve decided to forego the plastic kitchen toys (except for a couple vintage 1970s pieces leftover from my own little-kitchen days). My newest long-term project: I’m going to make everything that goes with his wooden sink and stove.

Here are some of my plans so far:

• sewn food, in the style of Sarah at cafemama (that’s her bacon & eggs above)
• a set of small felted bowls for serving friends & customers
• the spiral knitted fabric rug from Mason Dixon Knitting
• a handmade broom (he loves to sweep! and I know how to make brooms!)
• a reclaimed denim apron that just needs a log cabin patch to cover the name “ABEL” that was written on the front in sharpie
• a few other aprons, inspired by the Tie One On galleries
• perhaps a faux window and sewn curtain

Can you think of anything else? Ideas are happily accepted, and I’d love if you add some links!

world cup soccer ball knitting pattern at knitting exchange by Eve from Ontario.

mens baby satchel at economical baby

Garment sewing seems to be coming back into fashion (forgive the pun.) As Sew I Knit comes to an end and you are looking for a new place to flex your sewing muscle, check out Sew Retro.

“Sew Retro is a sewing group for those interested in making vintage or retro style clothing,” says the group blog. Their first sew along begins July 1st, so there is still time to join!

And don’t forget to check out Wardrobe Refashion too. (More re-fashioning info here.)

mmm really unique, bizarre and absolutely breathtakingly stunning … well see for yourself, I have featured some of the more unusual pieces but there are many more at his website. [via cally creates]

1. Untitled, ring, 2005, Copper, glass, octopus, diamond, alcohol. 2. Scorpion Ring, 2003, Scorpion skin, silver. 3. Puberty, necklace, 2005, Wooden beads, nylon, hair. 4. Worm, ring, 2004, Earthworm.

Here are some cool quilt patterns that you can download for free. Fabric manufacturers release these patterns to promote specific fabric lines, but of course you can use them with any fabric you like. Those marked with * seem to me like excellent beginner projects.

Free Spirit Fabrics has the mother lode (patterns are all pdf files linked from that page): my favorites are …

A Cat’s Life

Bohemian

Color Connectors

Flea Market Fancy* (aka A Hop, Skip, and a Jump from the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book)

Ginger Bliss* (which would look great with some more subtle prints or solids to balance out the louder patterns)

Prism Seasonal* and Prism (by Whip Up’s own Weeks Ringle and her husband Bill Kerr)

Seasonal Magic

And here are highlights from Robert Kaufman’s free patterns page:

Color Beat

Kasuri Gesiki*

Nature Collection

Solid Sampler

And finally, two random findings from around the internet:

A Fine Toothed Comb* from Claudia’s Quilt Shoppe

Aunt Minnie’s Tile Floor* from easymade.com

There is of course the classic Log Cabin pattern, which deserves at least a whole post to itself (Lisa posted a while back about Log Cabin pillows) and will get one from me in short order.

If you know of any great free quilt pattern sources on the internet, let it be known in the comments!

Lisa is leaving Whipup - thank you Lisa for your informative and interesting posts and for being such a great inspiration to us all.

Lisa Congdon
see my posts in my author archive

bird in the hand

My name is Lisa Congdon, and I live in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco, California. I am an almost totally self-taught craftsperson and artist, although my mother did have a hand in teaching me how to sew at a very young age. Making time in my studio can be a challenge; I have a demanding full time job as the Director of Program Development at an education non-profit organization. I love my work, and it pays the rent, but I cannot imagine a life without art or without creating. Both parts of my life feed each other and give me a sense of purpose. I am very
lucky.

Creatively, I work in many mediums: paper collage, fabric, embroidery, paint, transfer, screen-printing, latch-hook, illustration and photography. I make both handmade goods like pillows and stuffed birds of my own design, as well as fine art like collage, illustration, textile art and photography, which I show in galleries. I am most inspired by nature—and am completely taken with tree/wood imagery and bird imagery, which I incorporate into much of my work. I am also highly influenced by mid-century and contemporary design, typography, street art and graffiti and children’s book illustrations from the 50’s through the 70’s.

I have been both inspired (and to a certain degree influenced (though it is not always visible) by a number of contemporary artists, including my favorites Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen, The Clayton Brothers, Thomas Campbell, Rex Ray, and Jim Hauser. And I also have a great deal of admiration and affection for the work of late artists and designers Alexander Calder, Ray and Charles Eames, Evaline Ness and Alexander Girard, and photographer, William Eggleston.

Part of why I love living and working in San Francisco is because art and emerging artists are such a rich part of the fabric of this city. Right outside my door are amazing displays of street art, and galleries and art resources abound. I get lots of my supplies at weekly trips to the many thrift stores in my neighborhood. I scrounge for fabric and ephemera, along with clothes for myself and other cool finds for my personal collections of odd things. My favorite independent art and design stores in San Francisco include Flax (www.flaxart.com) and Arch (www.archsupplies.com). The best place to find out about local art shows at the hundreds of small galleries around San Francisco (and some of the bigger ones) is www.fecalface.com.

I like to make something everyday, even if it is a small drawing in my notebook as I sit in a meeting at work. My advice to anyone wanting to be an artist or craftsperson is to write down every idea you have and take lots of risks, even if you are not sure you have the skill to execute your idea. Some of your greatest creations will be born from experiments.

First some admin stuff - I had to delete a couple more links - to a shop and a couple of flickr links too. Flickr links are allowed, however it is no good to link to just the image - you must link to the image with description so viewers can check out your profile and other images and learn more about the crafted item on view.

So a couple of images that caught me eye -

From Ruby crowned kinglet Stephanie a designer from Seattle USA and her lovely old man

And Og - Cia written by Lucia from Norway and her farmer.

a short intro

I have to tell you all that I have a craft blog because I, like so many of you all, found myself reading wee wonderfuls and jumping out of my chair. I think every craft blogger has this moment when they “discover” craftblogs and she was my first. Well, not martha was my first, but wee wonderfuls was about 1 second later.

Since then I have had the distinct pleasure to chat with Hillary on a regular basis and can tell you she is, along with being a true craft genius, generous, funny and a big ol’ smart ass. Here’s an interview (of sorts) with this amazing artist, toy maker, designer, quilter, you-name-it, and please see her own wonderful FAQ at Wee Wonderfuls for additional answers to all your burning questions regarding the amazing Hillary Lang. You can also find Ms. Lang getting her hands dirty at her amazing thrifty blog, Thriftcraft.

ak:Okay, let’s start! here are some short questions. .

favorite superhero growing up and now:
hl: (see below)
favorite color now and growing up:
hl: (see below)
favorite cartoon
hl: I was a kid before cable, didn’t have many choices
favorite cereal:
hl: see below
hl: the questions. did you clear these with my agent? I think my contract says no favorites questions. I lead an unexamined life man, I don’t have favorites. that’s why memes are so hard for me.

ak: wow, that sucked! thanks for your cooperation. How about choosing which of these 2 words fits you better. . .

hl: these either/or questions are much easier!

cake or pie - Pie!
pen or pencil - pencil
flats or heels - heels
pancakes or waffles - waffles
cold weather or really hot - C*O*L*D
salt water or fresh - fresh! as an inlander the ocean kinda freaks me out.
mountains or beach - beach, I’m also a flatlander
beegees or donna summer - although donna always brings back sweet memories of when my grandparents took disco dancing lessons I’m going to have to be true blue beegee
anchor man or dazed and confused - dazed and confused! a lang family favorite.
dresses or skirts - skirts
cash or debit - credit baby
crossword or sudoku - I’m a sudoku convert (although I insist on calling it soduko)
wine or beer - yes please
laser light show or kegger in the park - kegger (see dazed and confused above)

ak: when did you start sewing?
hl: home ec in 7th grade. I rocked a seersucker pleated skirt and thought I was cool enough to take on a stretchy knit 2 tone jogging suit for my sister. I’ve been cursing out my sewing machine ever since.

ak: what did you major in?
hl: art history.

ak: what do you wish now you could study in if you were to do it again?
hl: I want to say art, but I’m still too chickensh**t, even hypothetically, so art history? it’s as useful/useless as anything else I figure.

ak: were you a horse girl?
hl: nope, didn’t get that gene

ak: any crafts you don’t really jive with?
hl: scrapbooking.

ak: how much does the blog motivate you now-and don’t you feel it’s cool to see you motivating the blog world?

hl: The blog hugely motivates me. If it wasn’t for it I’d be out on the porch sipping cocktails with my feet in the kiddie pool. It is all consuming and must be fed constantly. I am, however, extremely thankful for it and its demands. It keeps me out of all sorts of trouble: micro-parenting, obsessive cleaning, staying fit, being eaten alive by suburban materialism, a second kid. (btw, feel free to insert a ‘just kidding’ or winky smile after every smartass thing I say) If I do motivate people that’s awesome! If it’s in a good, positive, I-forgot-how-much-I-love-crafting sort of way. I never ever want to motivate people in a “come on, why aren’t you sewing your kids’ clothes, I am” sort of way.

ak: you are so generous with your gifts and making things for people (like me) do you feel you “have” to sell things-like having the $$ is great and needed obviously-but do you think it adds legitimacy to what you do? do you wish you didn’t have to sell? if you won the lottery, would you still sell stuff? I ask only because it seems so freeing to make things as gifts just thinking about the recipient, and not worrying “is this worth X amount”or will someone feel like it’s worth what they paid for it.

hl: what do you mean if I win, when I win I will definitely still sell things. I love to do both. Making gifts is so much fun because you’re trying to imagine the project in the recipient’s world, what do they really like, what do they have too much of (like chickens), what kind of thing is really going to scratch the itch for them. Making stuff to sell is really for me. I can make up whatever flies into my head and if it sells, awesome - validated! I’m not alone. If it doesn’t, I slink away into a world of self doubt. How could I give that up?

ak: how much do other people’s opinion affect your work in process. like when you are making something-do you prefer to get feedback the whole time, or do you just got for it and then ask when you are done? i am thinking about tim here and how much he is involved in your process. I see him as a silent wee wonderful participant-but he’s in the club right? member #2? Right ahead of Oscar?

hl: Of course Tim is involved! He’s co-president of Team Timillary. Did I actually just write that. oh well. All the nerdy details right? Tim always gives me his input. His eye for color and design is amazing. Sometimes I go to him in the beginning of a project with 2 fabrics, this or that. Sometimes I wait til the very end and then nervously hand over whatever it is I’ve been working on and hope for a good reaction. I guess I do the latter more because I like to surprise him. I sneak up behind his computer monitor and peek a big fat sheep over the top and hope for a “cool!” I think the best response I ever got from him was for the little felt butterfly.

ak: How do you see craft blogs changing now. “back in my day. . . ” but seriously, it seems different now than it did even a year ago when I started-is it??is it the photos? etsy?

hl: This is a little bit of a tricky question because I started my weblog about five minutes after discovering them. So I don’t really have much of a handle on the whole history of the craft blog before I jumped in but I have definitely seen so many changes since I began. It was so indie and laid back when I started and now it seems, well, glossy. I think it’s the photos for sure. The quality of photographs has gone through the roof. I had to persuade Tim (not hard) that we needed a fat new camera to catch up and it is so much easier to whiz through the photo taking part if you have the savings-killing camera. Now I just need to figure out that whole fuzzy focus thing.
The whole craftblog world just seems so much more professional and slick these days. Maybe it’s the huge popularity of crafting in general and all the magazines and publishers trying to get in on the action or it’s people realizing what an amazing marketing tool a blog is or it’s just an organic process. Whatever it is, I don’t want to naysay the bar raising. It’s a good thing right. What do I know. I’ve always got my head in the sand. Whenever I feel too overwhelmed by the whole thing I just stick my head down into my work and try to plow through. And there’s also my perception of it all changing as my goals change. At first it was make stuff for fun (laid back) now I’m trying to figure out if I can make a living of it (more challenging).

ak: what was your first craft blog and how did you find out about them?

hl: Loobylu baby! I found Trixie Update because Tim was vexed that Ben beat him to his baby habit tracking idea and then that lead me to Suburban Bliss and then over to Loobylu. I felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks. Never has something seemed like such an amazing fit for me.. semi-anonymously post stuff you’ve made out on the web and hopefully make a bunch of like minded friends. Brilliant! Thank you internet. I owe you. I forgive you for all the porn. sort of.

ak: you keep saying you can’t draw-how come you are such a liar?

hl: dude! I’m just drawing dolls. It’s sort of like making patterns. Have you ever seen that little thing called the 3rd dimension in my drawings? I am a 2D fraud. And I also cheat.. “Timmmm, why does she look all wrong?!” “Well maybe because her arm is twice as long as her entire body” erase. erase. voila!

ak: Thanks Hillary! Keep being awesome!

For some reason I have a strange fascination with crafted items resembling food. I don’t actually make any of this stuff, but I sure do like looking at it. Not sure why, but at least I am not alone! And crochet seems to be an ideal medium to create food shaped items, like these….

At Twinkie’s Fridge you can get crochet scarves designed after all kind of foods, like green salad or bacon and eggs.

Here are lots of crochet food patterns I think this apple hot pad is quite cute.

A pattern for a burger that is actually a set of potholders.

Cupcake pattern

And some cute amigurumi style food patterns. Banana, Ice cream cone, pie (via craftypants)

VIA, installation at Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California, 2001

At first glance Anna Von Mertens‘ work looks spare and minimal. She has said that her medium is more the bed than it is quilts. Her installations extend beyond the carefully arranged quilts onto the floor and walls of the space. All these factors add up to high art, which left me a little cold, but the revelation for me was reading the descriptions of her work and making the connection with what our very own Weeks Ringle calls “big ideas.” That is, starting the quilting process with an overarching idea that guides the selection of colors, the piecing, through to the quilting and the finishing. You just might call Von Mertens’ ideas huge, and they’re ideas that aren’t completed after the binding is put on.

Meet and Separate (detail), 1999

Von Mertens dyes and quilts by hand. Her color choices and piecing are systematic, based on ideas like the heights of her and her brother growing up, friends’ and family members’ descriptions of the afternoon sky, video games, and Martha Stewart paint chips. Her painstakingly detailed hand stitching is the most impressive layer of meaning: bird migration patterns, circuit boards, topographical maps of land and even her own body, cell structures, star rotation patterns, nuclear explosions, and many other kinds of charts and maps. Her groupings of the individual quilts and the extension of the patterns onto the walls and floors of the room provide still another layer, just one that is transient.

Black and White (Black) (detail), 2004

See Von Mertens at work in this video segment from U.S. public television station KQED’s program called Spark.

MATRIX 207/Suggested North Points, installation at the Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California, 2003

(all images from Anna Von Mertens’ website)

Many thanks to Gina for the link!

Hello all, my name is Abigail and I have been asked to post for whip-up on the topic of jewellery. I am a jeweller myself, and run my own business designing and making jewellery…I am delighted to be able to explore the world of jewellery design and manufacture here, and hope you enjoy reading about it ,and hopefully join in with some making of your own too!!

I will be posting about the various aspects of jewellery; most often introducing internationally renowned jewellers work..and where you can find them. I will also be writing about the tools you will need to make jewellery so you can dive on in when I post jewellery making tutorials…and lots more besides…!

Right…here is the work of Bettina Speckner one of my favourite jewellers {and someone who I linked to a while back on my own blog..}..and the creator of some seriously beautiful jewels…

Brooch 2005 - Photoetching/Zinc, Silver, Fine Gold, Gold 750/000 {5×4cm}

Necklace 2004 - Photo in enamel, Silver, Grey Pearls, Turmaline.

Bettina Speckner was born in Germany, and studied under the famous jewellery professor Otto Künzli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. These pieces are typical of Bettina’s work…delicate, considered, eclectic and so very beautifully made. I had the great honour of handling some of Bettina’s work when I was at Galerie Spektrum in Munich a few years ago and it really is stunning in person! If you visit the galleries site you will find a fantastic portfolio of Bettina’s work {and many others under ‘Artists of the Gallery’}, where they show you in some images the back of her pieces..which are every bit as beautiful and unique as the front view!