Today I am very excited to be a stop on Abby Glassenberg’s blog tour for her new book – The Artful Bird: Feathered Friends to Make and Sew
[published by Interweave 2010].
I have long been a fan of Abby Glassenberg’s work, she makes the most amazing toys and soft sculptures from fabric. This amazing book she has written is incredibly thorough and breaks down the process of making fabric birds in a really accessible way. But today I thought I would showcase some of her amazing work – its not all featured in her latest book – but will give you some inspiration for your own work. I love her use of innovative materials – she uses a lot of recycled materials in her work, and has an amazing sense of colour and texture. In her book she does go into some detail on how to create different textures on the wings through the use of different fabrics as well as sewing techniques.
Patchworked owl
Crested bird – is made with clothing tags
Another amazing thing about Abby’s animals is her eyes – have you noticed their incredible eye details – in her book she goes to some lengths to showcase several eye designs
Hen and egg
Owl
Orange and blue bird
Abby is also really into texture – she is a master of manipulating fabric to create amazing wings and feather textures.
Rooster – feathers made with torn strips of fabric
Parrot – made with stuffed feathers and gorgeous bright colours
Follow on the blog tour
I have lately been very drawn to the stitched line. Stitching as decoration, stitching as art, stitching as messages, stitching as contemplation. It holds a fascination for me – the mixture of practicality, tradition and art.
I recently received an amazingly beautiful book for review Machine Stitch: Perspectives, by Alice Kettle and Jane McKeating. It is published in the UK by A & C Black (2010), distributed by Allen and Unwin in Australia and about to be released in the USA in March this year. There is a companion book ‘Hand stitching perspectives’ in the works which I can’t wait to see.
Machine Stitch is a beautifully detailed book, big hard cover coffee table style, beautiful full page glossy images- with contributions by many experts in the textile field. In the introduction it says “Our intention was to reveal the breadth of practice, the joy of making and the strength of critical thinking to be found within this area.” and that promises a lot, which this book does not fail to deliver.
This book could easily have concentrated on textiles with art practices and historic museum perspectives, which would have been amazing – don’t get me wrong. However it goes further and explores the domestic and the commercial alongside the avant garde and the experimental. A gorgeous book to be treasured and read over and over.
Kelley from the Pioneer Quilter created a quilt for her husband featuring their children’s artwork. Great idea for personal giftmaking and making a permanent home for the kiddos special pictures. There is a tutorial here.
“Greetings from Mochimochi,” Anna Hrachovec from mochimochiland is having a solo show at gallery hanahou in NYC. You might have read about it here when Anna did a guest post all about her process. The show is now in its last week. There will be another little party and trunk show to wrap it all up October 30 (Mochimochi tea party + trunk show! Saturday, October 30, 2-4 pm gallery hanahou 611 Broadway, Suite 730 NYC RSVP: info@galleryhanahou.com). You can purchase some of the pieces here.
Any way you slice it: Quilts and other works by Denyse Schmidt
October 21 – December 3
At the University of Bridgeport’s Arnold Bernhard Center Gallery
Quilts pictured here in order all by Denyse Schmidt: Works Special Edition, tangerine poppy; Outlaws, Denver Series; Hope as the Anchor of the Soul, Mount Lebanon Series, Quilt #3.
