Katie Parker porcelain and cut paper

“Deers and Deers” 16 porcelain tiles with silkscreened china paint, enamel, and underglaze. Background - white laser cut vinyl scrolls. Size 65″ x 34″. 2007.

As a lover of both the White Stripes and buttons, I was intrigued by their costumes on the cover of their new CD, Icky Thump.

Nylon magazine satisfied my curiosity: their outfits are “pearly suits” made by a seamstress friend with 13000 buttons on each of them. Apparently, there’s an English tradition of pearly kings and queens making these outfits and going on parades. A Google image search for “pearly kings and queens” has all sorts of intricate costumes.

I think the White Stripes’ inspiration is familiar to many crafters (quote from Nylon article): “It’s all sort of about the idea of creative people as garbage collectors. Taking other people’s junk and trying to make something useful out of it, I guess.”

Threadbanger has published The Top 10 Geekiest Yarn Creations on the Web

The nintendo controller case which we featured here previously came in at number 2 and the Katamari hat featured here was also on the list. Other crafty geekery mentioned included the Atari 2600 and TV, by jackrabbit (see pic) and Space Invaders Socks from knitty.com.

via pencil roving

Whitney Smith

My design sense is primarily informed by my obsession with flowers and other forms found in nature. I have painted and drawn since I was a small child, and many of my designs are influenced by other painters and 2-D artists. I am also strongly influenced by Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th early 20th Century. I like the look and feel of old things and antiques, and my glaze choices have a certain look that reminds people of an different era.

I’ve been asking myself some serious questions about the direction my career has taken in the last year. … Most people passing by or stopping in my booth don’t identify me as “Whitney Smith” or understand that what they are looking at is something I make with my hands. My pottery is nothing more than merchandise– albeit beautiful merch, but nothing more than that. …

Teaching children to draw, by Barbara Ward, published by Continuum, and distributed in Australia through Allen and Unwin.

A concise and detailed book for adults, teachers and parents, meant as a source book to enable effective teaching of children. From discussions about why it is important to teach children to draw, working with children and how to motivate. Chapters include techniques such as sketching, tones and textures, then moves on to shapes and ideas of perspective before getting to body parts and portraits. An important aspect of this book is the focus on it as a book for teachers, with teacher resources, how to include drawing in the curriculum, and working in different environments. This is definitely a useful and instructive manual for those working with children.

For the love of letters: A 21st-century guide to the art of letter writing, by Samara O’Shea, published by Collins.

A book all about the art of letter writing the old fashioned way. Sections on writing love letters, thank you letters, good bye letters and break up letters with lots of different variations and delicious examples of modern and old fashioned versions. As well as all this there are tips on replying to letters and personal and moving anecdotes from the author. This would be an excellent book for a gift and a good resource to have at home, when stuck on what to write and how to say the words that need to be said.

Printmaking Handbook: Printmaking for beginners, second edition, by Jane Stobart, published by A&C Black, and distributed in Australia through Allen and Unwin.

This is good resource book for teachers and students of printmaking. It outlines all of the basic techniques with examples and variations. Such as with monotypes, discussing the various inks and what results they give, using various methods to create shapes to print from such as tearing paper, drawing and painting with ink, and then how to get the best from the image, which papers and pressing techniques to use. Other techniques discussed include Intaglio, relief, collagraph, carborundum prints, screenprinting and lithography.

Textile Handbook: The yarn book, by Penny Walsh, Published by A&C Black and distributed in Australia through Allen and Unwin.

This is such a fabulous and detailed book, with everything you ever wanted to know about yarn, the history of spinning yarn section is by itself worthwhile, with wonderful illustrations and images of old spindle wheels, historic textiles and close up photographs of different fibres. The chapter on materials is equally good, outlining the properties of different fibres, ranging from natural fibres: wool and mohair to camel and rabbit, flax, hemp, bamboo and nettle, and manufactured and synthetic fibres: rayon, nylon and acrylic. The rest of book is all good too, chapters on handspinning techniques (designing your own fibres, combinations, plys, inserts, mixing fibres), and yarn in fabric (various textiles), contemporary yarns (new fibres, new techniques). If yarn is your thing then this book is for you, worth it for the great pictures and illustrations and the detailed explanations of techniques and types.

ABC radio (Australia) is running a drop in stitches challenge, so if you have some spare yarn, you can donate that. And if you also have some spare time, you can knit that yarn into a simple square.

Your yarn and squares will be used to create wraps, which will go out to needy people the world over, via the organisation Wrap With Love.

Squares need to be 25cm x 25cm (10″ x 10″) and knitted in 8ply yarn with size 8 (4mm) knitting needles - it’s the equivalent of casting on approximately 45-50 stitches. Any stitch can be used except stocking stitch.

Donations by Friday 13 July. After this date your donations will be shipped to Sydney and displayed, by region, at the ABC’s headquarters, before we deliver them to Wrap With Love for completion and distribution around the world.

Help us topple our 2006 New South Wales tally of 2474 wraps (each containing 28 squares), 33,224 squares and more than 150kg of yarn. That’s 102,496 squares or the equivalent of 3660 wraps - a more than 100 per cent increase on donations received in 2005!

Mel Robson is a ceramic artist based in Brisbane, Australia. She makes functional and non-functional objects out of porcelain. She is obsessed by road maps, recipes, sewing patterns and handwriting. Really obsessed.

Here’s a (teeny tiny barely visible) little sneak peak of the work (above), which is being permanently installed at the new Southbank Institute of TAFE Library. It’s made up of 15 very fine black and white porcelain vessels. The imagery on them is drawn from/inspired by the history of the site and the surrounding environment. …

I received last week a copy of the book that features the quilts that were selected in Quilt National 2007. I opened the box with excitement as one of my quilts was accepted in the competition and therefore would appear in the book. So I thought I’d write a review not just of the book but also about the quilts that will appear in the show that will tour the US for the next two years and of the experience of being in the show.

Over the years I have had mixed feelings about Quilt National. While I am deeply appreciative that there exists a high-caliber, contemporary, international quilt show, I have often thumbed through previous years’ books and not purchased them because I was not inspired by enough of the quilts. I’m not as interested in surface design as the jurors and some of the pieces appear to have been embellished to death. In some years, subtlety and craftsmanship seem undervalued.

There have been in each show, however, a handful of quilts that take my breath away. I mean, really amazing quilts that I would never have seen were it not for Quilt National and for that I am deeply grateful. These quilts stay in my memory for years and I have learned a great deal from them. Even though I disagreed with many of the selections for the show, I greatly admire Quilt National and am honored to have had a quilt chosen for it.

Having had three books published I knew that colors in the printing process are hard to control and that errors often creep into books at the last minute. At FunQuilts, we have had so many mixed experiences with having our work photographed that twice in the last year we have sent handwritten thank-you notes to photographers who have done an exceptionally good job at a magazine or newspaper. I know it’s hard. The thing that made me nervous was that as a part of the competition you have to sign away rights to the image of your quilt. This was new territory for me and while I wasn’t thrilled about it I wanted to try to have a quilt in the show so I signed on the dotted line.

So when I opened the book and found that my quilt had not been hung straight so the stitching is a bit off and that the only image of it that appeared in the book was cropped, I was mystified. If you see it in the book, the stitching should be straight and the top has been chopped off so the proportion is misleading. But they got the color right.

There are three quilts in the book that have been cropped. It looks as though a couple of others have detail shots overlaid on them. And yes, there are some breathtaking pieces in the book that make the book worth the price. So here’s my advice to aspirants: If you are required to sign away your rights to an image of your art, ask if you can approve the image before it’s published. It only seems fair that if you can’t use the image yourself, you should at least be able to approve how your work is being portrayed.

All in all I’m still thrilled to have a quilt in the show, but the whole experience kind of reminded me of my high school prom–I was so excited to be asked but in the end the fantasy was better than the reality.

Yesterday I posted an interview podcast at artesprit that I did with Ashley G from Kitty Genius. She shares some of her insight into making art as a living through her experiences at etsy and galleries. She has been one of the top sellers at etsy and in galleries around the USA.

Marie from the sampler, kindly sent over a package with a few goodies inside.

There were some great little crafty items, seems there was a bit of a theme of mirror/badges and even a very cool coaster, and paper goods too. So for the low down. Fantastic self published book ‘I will have an army of clones: and they will be so charming’, a collection of blog entries by Tina Seamonster from www.ilikeseamonsters.com.

Its an honest sharing of life in the mother lane and starting an indie craft business. I also really liked the magnetised notepad from de marco designs. Very cute coaster by etsy shop button arcade, wolfie and the sneak sent the most adorable (and fabulous idea) colour-it-yourself drawing together with textas,

I have one of the bears - and I love it. Pocket mirror from my favorite mirror - they do custom mirrors too. Button storm do pocket mirrors too - very nice.

I also enjoyed the sense of humour and sarcasm behind the 16sparrows card set - well done!

Felt it! 20 fun & fabulous projects to knit and felt, by Maggie Pace, Published by Storey publishing, for wholesale distribution in Australia contact Capricorn Link.

The best thing about this book is the explanation of how to knit and then felt something. There are really clear and detailed explanations and pictures of yarn, swatches and techniques. The basic felting technique is explained, questions answered, tips and tricks of the trade and troubleshooting. This first section of the book is fantastic. Everything you need to know about felted knitted items. Applying this information to found and thrifted knitted sweaters is a good idea, or you can go on to make some of the projects in the book.

The first few projects, seem like a good place to start, small items, brooches and flowers that don’t take a large knitting commitment before having to take the plunge into the hot water. There are a few beaded accessories, belts and chokers etc before moving onto to bags and hats. I did like a couple of these projects, a cute cloche hat and ear flap hat and a place mat I think are lovely. Most of the projects though I thought were a little over the top, exotic and strange even, with too much decoration and fussiness. But like any pattern the basics are there and the rest is up the individual to make it what they will.

The positives for this book are many - the patterns are clear, instructions detailed with good illustrations and extra explanations given for tricky or new techniques and special considerations. A good book to ad to your felting library.

Jess at How about orange has a tutorial for a tiny pincushion. They use recycled bottle caps and little scraps of fabric and trim, so they are quick, fun and economical!

Julia Pelletier lives and works in Barcelona and is a great artist. One of her project(for children) more interesting was this: « Making paper clothes to wear » (in the V&A Dress Collection, London).

“Understanding that a garment is a volume, a three dimentional pattern used as an envelope for the body and building its own garment using all shorts of papers were the aims of the children’s workshop.”

Julia Pelletier vive y trabaja en Barcelona y es una gran artista. Lo demuestra todo su trabajo, y proyectos tan itneresantes como éste: “Fabricar ropa de papel para vestir”(en la galería de trajes V&A, de Londres).

“Una prenda es un volumen, un dibujo de tres dimensiones que usamos para envolvernos. Usando esta idea, cada niño construyó su propia prenda copiando una de la gallería y usando una variedad grande de papeles y celo.”

The folks over at ThreadBanger have posted a great video about how to alter your ill-fitting shirts without taking them apart. AND as an added bounus
Anda Lewis, from the awesomely crafty EtsyLabs in Brooklyn, NY has posted a tutorial all about how to create a custom dress form from your own body with duct tape! You can see her create one with a friend in the second half of this video.

Musing about mud: Carol Epp - A ceramic artist in Saskatoon, Canada. She makes two distinct bodies of work, one sculptural the other functional. She is interested in material culture, politics, ethics and methodologies of representation in art.

A lot of my figurative pieces in the past had dealt with violence and inequality, but for these ones I decided to make a more direct statement about the war. … What I wanted to discuss though was the inequality of the media representation of the dead count, the North Amercian or eurocentric overendulgence and valuing of one soldier loss over the countless Iraqi civilian and military loss, the political game at play which brings nations into the situation regardless of the views and stance of the people in their so-called democratic societies, and the fate of all those injured in battle, whether they be army personal or innocent civilians and the uncertain future that they face.

INTRODUCE YOUR CRAFT

No prizes, but we will feature a few of the entrants on whip up.

# Rules about this challenge - a good tutorial or project photos.
The tutorial can be for a new design, or a fresh perspective an established technique.

till the end of JULY

Natalie from Papermusings wrote: Hi Kathreen, I’m a bookbinder who has recently started teaching workshops, so I’ve been coming up with fun and innovative projects for my students. I’ve just posted my first tutorial on my blog, for a miniature accordion box, great for holding small cards, mini file folders or even recipes. If you’re interested, please check it out ::link PDF file

Katherine wrote: I love Whip-up, it’s always a source of inspiration. I found a site (via my local freecycle group) that might be of interest to Whipup’s audience, aiming to reduce plastic carrier bag use: www.morsbags.com

Here’s the blurb - “let’s do something positive to reduce the hideous number of plastic bags being used - 1 million are consumed per minute globally - of which hundreds of thousands end up in the oceans.” … the idea is to get together with people in your local community, drink wine and make reusable cloth bags (from old duvet covers, curtains from charity shops etc) and hand them out to the unsuspecting public for free on specified dates outside different supermarkets. … meet new people, do something marvelous for the planet and beat other pods (groups) of baggers with your morsbag tally. ::link

Aurora wrote: Hi–I just posted some lovely images of my friend’s hand woven wool tapestries–she has been weaving these gorgeous tapestries on her floor loom for many years. I have not seen much on your website about the craft of handweaving–so thought these would interest you.
::link

camilla from horse flesh productions wrote: I started experimenting with Pebeo Porcelaine paint. With it, you can paint on ceramics, and bond the paint using only your oven. It’s pretty fun and easy to use, and the only other thing I’ve seen like it is those pricey paint your own pottery stores. This way, you could make a matching set of dishes from a random lot at a thrift store! Anyway, thought I’d share what I came up with. You can view pictures of what I made here ::link

Staceyjoy from redlipstick wrote: Hello! I just finished making a custom machine knit bathing suit for the 2008 “I Heart Brooklyn Girls” pin-up calender, and I documented the design and fabrication process in a Flickr set: Thought your readers might be interested to see the process from beginning to end.

Victoria wrote: My husband is interested in the work of artist and author Miranda July, who has recently hit the press in the UK with her new book of short stories. She wrote directed and starred in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know. He showed me a website she initiated called learningtoloveyoumore.com which sets assignments that can be worked on collaboratively with loved ones, and the results posted on the site. I think whipup members would love it. ::link

Melissa from elemental stitches wrote: I noticed that you were looking for tutorials on refashioning clothes and I have a tutorial that I just finished that shows how to turn winter sweatpants into a workout skirt. ::link

Carrie from thread and thimble wrote: There is some stunning decoupage (the poor little golden books) over here: flickr link These delightful creations are from Pixie Genne. I am also showcasing a few of her photos on my blog.

Oops my bad, sorry, Larrisa Brown over at Stitch Marker is looking for donors to support her run to sponsor of women of the Congo. Read this post and donate, paypal link at the end of the post. She’s looking for $13.50 a day until 23 June to reach her target of supporting 2 women. Rise up Whip Up readers and see if we can help her double this effort.

If you don’t know what this is, the shortest story is that there are horrible atrocities being done to women in the Congo, where rape/torture are commonplace and children are made to participate and watch as their mothers are raped/tortured. Many of these women survive the ordeal but lose their communities and families either to death or because they are shunned once they have been raped. The world has largely ignored this.

Also check out Run for Congo Women.

Caro at Splityarn has been at it again, this time a tutorial for a zippered wristlet. Nice work.

Abigail Doan is a mixed media, fiber, and environmental artist, she lives in NYC and on a farm in rural Italy. Her work involves ‘eco-tinkerings’ and art investigations, which she uses to create ‘proposed solutions’ and ‘visual links’ to the global challenges we collectively face.

Image: ‘Pollination 01′ (2007), Abigail Doan.

A new fiber forms series exploring how the temporary addition of color and texture in an environmental setting might cross-pollinate and hybridize our ideas about sensitivity to and connection with nature.