Craft Therapy

*Warning* Please be aware that some swearing follows... mainly because I feel like it, and also, swears are just words.  However, I do know that some of you feel offended or hurt by four-letter words, so please feel free to stop reading here and for this post find another blog to read to procrastinate whatever it is that you are procrastinating.  Oh, and thanks for reading.

Oh.  My.  God.

You GUYS!

I love fabric.

I love the feel of it, the colors, the possibilities!

And, a small apology for my poor me, bitchy post previously.  I needed to get some stuff off my chest, obviously.  And, anytime my schedule (the real word I'm looking for starts with a T, but for the life of me I cannot grasp it!) changes, I get anxious.  As if the whole world just crumbled and I'm standing in the middle, looking around as if it's my duty to put it all back together.

Dude, if Humpty couldn't put himself back together... wait, my analogy is getting lost even on me...so.  What I'm trying to say is that I am crazy at times, and I need to learn to weather them better.

Which is why craft therapy is such a freaking gift.  Also, that part of my brain that was with-holding my creative impulse finally turned on again - but for only one thing.

A quilt.

You should know that I've really only made one blanket, never a quilt.  The only reason I feel the compulsion to approach such a task is because of the queen size quilt batting I bought (hoarded) some... seven or eight years ago.

Yes.  YEARS.  I know how that sounds.

I haven't made a quilt in all that time because the math of it all escapes me.  I can think of designs (sort of) but the logic of putting it together confuses the hell out of me.  Then I get pissed off.  Then I quit.

Because, I am a quitter.  Usually an angry one (as you may have observed from my many complaints on this blog).

But I finally resolved to make something simple simple, something even a math simpleton like myself may be able to approach.

I will try to post photo's as I go, but you all know how good I am at that.  I'm just hoping I don't do something in the middle of it to irritate me and make me quit.

Because, like I stated before, I am a quitter.

And now I'm going to go enjoy some Angel.  Because I love David Boreanaz and Joss Whedon.

Failure & Success

Sewing Failure:

And sewing success:

Making a pattern for a doll is ten times easier than making the pattern for the doll's clothes.  I find it to be a very frustrating process, but I am slowly learning how it works.  Of course, it helps if I add the extra quarter inch into the pattern itself (second set of pictures) rather than trusting myself to do it myself later with the material (first set of pictures)...  

Hey, I'm learning dammit.  Also, working with knit is sort of a pain in the butt, however the dress/slip looks nice and hangs well.  And it fits her without being overly big or too too small.  

Random note: this is what my mornings look like:

Making some dolls

I've been making some crafty progress.  I thought I would demonstrate to my IMMENSE audience that I am doing stuff... when JG is napping, at least.

I think getting this far has taken me 6 weeks.  Embroidering the faces takes the longest, mainly because I hesitate about colors and what the face should look like.  Then I do the same thing with the hair, I want it to look right, so it took me a solid week of placing felt, removing, cutting, twisting, and then going with my original idea.

I am a seriously slow creative person, especially when I don't have a due date.  However, my mom is having a mini craft fair at her house in two weeks, so I've got to sew together a whole lot of toys... I wonder how quickly I can do that?  I'll post more about that in a little while.

See how excited I am to have them finished?  Now all I have to do is take weeks to make them underpants and dressess... well, that took me a year with the first one.  So, I guess you'll just have to wait and see how quickly (or, in reality, slowly like frozen molasses) I can get these suckers completed.

Progress and Completion

As promised here are some photo's of what I've been doing crafty-wise. They're not great photo's, but I am pretty pleased with myself regarding the toys themselves.

Here's one Testy-Chicken, the other is on display at the Utah State Fair with a blue ribbon on him. That's right, I said BLUE-FREAKIN'-RIBBON. That means I just won myself three dollars. If you're going to the fair and want to see some of my hand-craftiness, he's in the Zion building sitting on top of Thomas the tank engine. He's blue and buggy. With a blue ribbon...

Anyway, I made these chickens thinking I could get the pattern figured out and make more to sell since I'm at home and penniless now... but they took me forever to make. Not just because I took my sweet time, but also because of all the embroidery. See?

That's called the "chain stitch." So, the price I came up with in my head to charge for one of these buggers is more than any sane person would want to pay, I'm sure. Therefore, I'm thinking I might make the pattern available for purchase. Does that sound interesting to anyone? Anyone interested in making a Testy Chicken?

Okay, and here is the doll I started making...oh, a year ago? I finally figured out a dress pattern (bigger than I thought it would be, but still in the shape of a dress) and feel like I'm making progress on making her look complete. What do you think?

(I really need better photo's, she looks really washed out here and... well, not as neat as I think she is. Maybe having a colorful dress on her will help.)

Oh, yeah, did I mention I'm a blue ribbon winner?

Testy-Chickens

Okay, so you know how I was complaining about not getting anything done for myself, like crafting? Well, I took a stand this week and made sure to make some progress on the chickens while JGR was napping.

BEHOLD:

Two, Two TESTY CHICKENS!

I decided to make toys for babies, and put a mishmash of fabrics together. I also forced myself to use fabrics that I love and have been too nervous to cut into. It may sound odd to those of you who are not obsessed with material, but when you like to make things one tends to... hoard it.

I had to make a rule for myself regarding fabric: I am not allowed to buy more of it until I freaking use what I have.

Anyway, chickens. I love chickens. It's a sick obsession of mine.

Behold what it may look like when finished (without, you know, all the pins):

And it would have two legs. And possibly wings and a tail, but I'm still deciding how much time to put into these.

In the next post I'll post photos of the doll I was working on forever ago. I finished her months ago... but coming up with clothes has been a frustrating process. Basically, I'm not very good at it and I have little patience to get there.

My mom is helping to teach me how to make clothes, but until then she will be in some state of nakedness.

Hello

Have you ever had one of those days where you just feel large? Like a bass that ate too much and somehow managed to flip yourself out of your favorite spot in the river, and now lie on the river bank unsuccessfully gulping for air?

I sort of feel like that today. Large and tired. I'm sure being 20 weeks pregnant doesn't help anything either. I need better pants that let it all hang out -- my current pants kind of hold me in. Makes it a tad difficult to breath. Or overeat.

Anyway, more doll updates soon. I finally have a head that works, and I'm experimenting with embroidering the face. It has worked pretty well on two of the heads that didn't work for the doll -- so they're kind of this decapitated doll head with a bit of a cheery/smirking face. They don't understand that they're missing bodies. Silly stupid doll heads.

More later.

Later.

Doll Arms, Doll Legs

On the right is the muslin as it originally came out of its tea-bath, and on the left is the arm turned right-side-out. It's three (?) shades lighter turned out, and I first I wasn't sure if I liked it -- but with everything stuffed it really doesn't look that bad.

The torso, arms, and legs all turned out fabulously. It's one of the first times I've designed a pattern and had it turn out the way I wanted it to. The torso shoulders are a bit pointy, but they may work out just fine once I've got the arms attached.


I sewed the knees for "joints." I was going to do it on the sewing machine -- yet that is somehow too complicated for my head to understand... So I sewed them by hand. I know, it takes longer but I had total control of where the stitches went.

I plan on tying the elbows by wrapping a string or something around them to create a joint. I'm not quite sure how it will look. But I didn't want to stitch the joint there too. It just seemed like too much.

The head pattern could use some work. It came out a bit too flat, so the face looks long and thin. It looks fine on the doll, but I'm going to take some time this next week and make a few head patterns, make them, and see what works out better. I think the nose worked out well. I want really big noses on my dolls, it just feels like it gives them more personality. I kind of have a big nose, so I definitely have an affinity to pass that bit on to the stuff I make. That just sounds strange.

Hopefully I'll have this put together by the end of the week. It may take longer since I want to try out different heads... Who knows, you'll just have to check back, yo.

Progress: Warning Detailed crafting info follows...

Progress made! I've never used one of those markers that you can wash away with water, but it was awesome. I prefer to trace patterns directly onto the material I'm using (usually muslin) so that as I'm sewing I can follow it exactly. Otherwise I'm all over the place and it doesn't look the way I want it to.

In the past I've used color pencils or regular pencils, which (of course) always left anger-inducing stains on the fabric -- which is part of the reason I usually paint it after it's stuffed.
This time, I just ran the pieces under water and the blue line disappeared! I'm such a moron for not using it earlier, as many of crafters I follow use it. I'm just a slow learner.

After rinsing the blue marker away I deliberated on what to do about the color. Plain muslin is great to work with, but makes for a pasty sad-looking doll. Believe me, I have one, and it makes me gag with disgust everytime I look at it. I had tea-dyed an earlier tiny doll I did with chai. It made it smell really good, and the color turned out great. I used it on a larger doll too (which I'll try to post photo's of later) but ended up painting it ... long story. I'm sure it's too boring to tell you about now.



Anyway, I went the tea route again. I used 3 English tea bags and soaked the pieces in it all day. Now they're hanging up in my bathroom to dry. I'll iron them tomorrow to try to lock in the tea "stain" and then I'll stuff it all. I'm thinking I should have those photo's up later this week. And maybe my post will be more interesting then...

Slowly, maybe surely

I have been wanting to make my own doll pattern for quite a while. I doodled something (because I don't draw, not well anyway) in class a couple months ago that I really liked and figured I would go after it.

I drew up the body, messed around with my sweet new compass, and then hesitated on the rest of it for a long time (read months). This is the head to the left. I literally had to talk myself into cutting the pieces apart today because I really like the design and didn't want to mess with it. Which sounds really silly, since I have to cut it up in order to use it. You may ask why I just don't trace it onto the fabric... well, my brain doesn't quite work that way. I like to put the pattern pieces on the fabric and use a pencil to trace them on -- from the thick edges of the pattern. Because I HATE tissue paper patterns.

I always feel like I can never use them again, and then what is the flippin point?

Anyway, I told Alex to tell me to get over my strange phobia and cut the head pattern already. So, I did. You can see the pieces here. It's going to be a relatively simple doll, and I'm thinking
the chicken fabric (behind the pattern) for the legs. I bought this forever ago because I thought it was hilarious (hello, chickens saying "bonjour") and haven't been able to cut it. Because I'm obsessive and neurotic. But, I know for a fact that other fabric hoarders do the same thing. You can love a fabric so much that you never bring yourself to actually use it. It's sad, but true.

Anyway, I hope to get started in earnest on this in the next week. I will get some more photos' up to show progress, so if you don't see any in the next few days -- please PLEASE nag me about it. I need that.

What I've been working on

Here is the dress I was working on, up until the zipper confused me, and now it's on my dogs crate in a plastic bag. What? You may ask, a zipper was your downfall, a failure? Um, yes, I was frustrated, irritated, and my zipper foot was refusing to work with me, so I folded it up and put it away until my mom can help me. She is a Wiz at sewing garments.

The pin cushion (with 6" doll needle sticking out of her head) is my sweet old lady pin-cushion I made forever ago. I drew her face and realized it had to be sewn to something, which turned into her flowery body (which I intended to be more voluptuous, but this was two years ago when I was still in the thick of learning about making patterns).


Okay, it doesn't seem the lighting is right in either of these pic's, but whatever. I've been working on this doll for a couple months now, and she is almost finished, i just have to figure out how to turn her fingers. I finally bought some of those tiny tube turners, but the hands I had sewn together were a double thickness of fabric and refuse to budge. And when they DO start to turn they tear and fray, regardless of the Fraychek I painted them with.

Ah well, I will get started on that once again after I get my sewing machine back from it's general maintenance. It was supposed to take 7 business days, but the guy was really busy, so I probably won't get it back until next week sometime. Which is good, it forces me to blog in order to get rid of my creative anxiety. I have a lot of that lately. More on the doll later, I've got to get ready to drive to Pocatello, ID to pick up my best friend Mindy.

The Shark Man

Months and months ago -- maybe back in March?-- I asked a graphic designer co-worker of mine, Dave, if he would like to do a trade. I could make him something and he could design a logo for me. He agreed, he wanted a shark. One with sunglasses.

I toiled for a while, like four months, on how to make him a realistic shark. He loves great whites, so I doodled and sketched but nothing I drew looked realistic to me. And of course, that's what he wanted, something that looks like a, well like a shark. I couldn't push it through my head, it gave me creative constipation. So, I started looking in another direction.

Since I've been studying doll-making and pattern-making, I thought why not create something new? I've always wanted to make demons/monsters, scary things that can't be scary in toy form. Why not? Because toys are not scary if you can cuddle them. What monster lets you hug it?

Therefore, the shark became Shark Man in my head. I sketched it up, drew up the pattern, and was on my way to fulfilling a promise. However, he was not thrilled with my Shark Man proposition. Dave is an artist himself, and I'm pretty sure he enjoys the realistic aspect of thins, how one can take something that exists in the world and re-create using different materials. Okay, that is not me. If something already exists, it exists in one form of perfection. I don't believe in perfection, at least not the type that I can create on my own -- wool felting taught me that.

But, I had already started the Shark Man, so I tried my best to sell Dave on the idea, then decided that I was really creating something for me that I could easily hand over to someone else. I really can't look at my creations for too long, it lets me believe I've accomplished something already, so why make something new?

Now, since I procrastinate, it took me all summer to complete him, but I have to say he's the most awesome "soft sculpture" I've made so far. He's my favorite.

Thankfully, at least I think, Dave likes the Shark Man. He wasn't as enthusiastic as the other people I showed him to, but that's Dave for you. He doesn't really praise openly, he's more subtle. Plus, I think he feels more pressured than ever to get my logo done, which may make him uncomfortable since he has no time. He is a very busy man, since he is quite literally the "Graphics Department" for the station I work for.

In the end though, I'm not sure I care what others think of the Shark Man. I don't do commissions because they constipate my entire creative process -- but a trade, well, I feel like I can get away with more. Anyway, I feel pretty relieved to have this project done, and now I'm planning to move on to making a dress. Sweet.

(Let me add, I sewed a magnet in his mouth so I can eventually make a limb he can dangle from his teeth, to make him look really fierce. And hilarious.)

The Creative Process

I am slower than a tortoise when it comes to my creative process. I take my time thinking about what I'm going to do, then I look at what materials I want to use, then I think about the pattern I would use for the idea and materials, and then I may or may not actually get started on said project. For instance, I'm in the middle of three or five projects. I'm working on my first book, trying to clothe my second cloth doll, I need to attach the legs to my stuffed Italian Greyhound toy, and I think I'm going to get started on a fertility doll soon. As soon as I figure which material (felt, recycled wool sweaters, yarn) I want to use.

It's a never ending process. (A picture of my "crafty area" above...it's a bit cluttered at the moment.)

Last September I interviewed Mimi Kirchner (fantastic doll artist) about her creative process and what drives her. These are things I am always curious about. I set up my digital Marantz recorder and my THAT-2 audio tap (radio equipment I am nerdy enough to own) and called her with a nervous lump in my belly. We talked for an hour, longer than I could have dreamed of, and she was so easy to talk to. The end result was 60 minutes of audio I had to figure out what to do with... cut in six months later when I decided to cut myself out, chunk it into five pieces, and have Mimi tell her story on her own, with only a periodic question from me. She's posted them on her blog here. The first installment is here and the second is here. I'm surprised at all of the responses she's received, they're all really positive. That makes me love the interview art form that much more.

A Doll Experiment

A few months ago on Etsy I asked for help on creating a cloth toy pattern for a demon. I can easily experiment with yarn with crochet, if I mess it up or I don't like it, I pull on the string and the mess is undone. However, with cloth I've always been frustrated with patterns and what seems to be a limited amount of creativity available with them. Patterns, in general, disagree with me. But one very nice etsyer pointed me in the direction of Patti Medaris Culea (http://www.pmcdesigns.com/) and Susanna Oroyan.

Both of these women have authored several books regarding the creation and design of cloth dolls. I remember I experimented with cloth dolls when I was younger, but I didn't like my doll. It was floppy and without personality. At the time I didn't understand why I couldn't get the result I wanted. The answer is my total lack of imagination when it came to fabric.

Both Culea and Oroyan do a breathtaking job of directing you on how to make a doll and make it your own. I thank both of them for this, because I finally have a good excuse to not only buy fabric, but use it.

The first doll I made is from Culea's book Cloth Doll Making, found on page 22. I didn't paint my doll liek Culea did, but instead I added wings and a dress I crocheted. I understand I still have a quite a ways to go with making dolls, but I am really pleased with my first one. She's 18 inches long, which is bigger than I thought she would be. I made the mistake of sewing her arms and then trimming the fabric (muslin) too close to the seam, which made parts of her arms "blow out" while I stuffed them. I stopped that by hand sewing them closed, which is not the most attractive way of fix a doll. The other option was to remake the arm, but I wasn't willing to start over when I had such momentum behind me.

I drew her face using Culea's instructions, and was pleasantly suprised with my end result. Since finishing this doll I've invested in fabric pen and experimented with more face drawing. I made a silly pincushion, and I'll post that soon.

I also found my very first favorite crafting blog. It's by doll artist Mimi Kirchner, and I've been pulling a lot of inspiration from her blog (http://mimikirchner.com/blog/). Her blog is so easy to read because she takes pictures of her creative process and describes what she does. She also has an etsy store: mck254.etsy.com.

All right, I have to go be productive by cleaning my house or something....

My Creative High

Okay, so in order to boost my sales at Etsy, which by the way are none existent, I'm starting to trade with other sellers. My first trade was with Samanthaleigh, and I made her one-year-old daugher, Amara, a pink horse.

I have to tell you I had the most fun making this creation. Whenever I start making something new it takes me forever to think of how I want it to look, the colors, etc. But, this time I knew I had to kick into action and just do it. I had made a horse before for my nephew, but that one subsequently became "Duck Horse" because my husband said it looked more like a duck than a horse. So, I was all the more determined to make a horse, and not a creature that resembled something else. The above picture is Rosalee, and I screamed through her creation in less than two weeks.

I have to say that I suprised myself and I'm so excited for Amara to get her. Rosalee is 100% cotton yarn with polyfill and beanies in her feet, so she can stand and sit and whatnot.

I'm working on a dragon now...but that is going to be a much slower process. I need to get started on the bear I'll trade with Nycole, but I'm thinking of the design and pattern...and since I make up the pattern as I go it may take a little time. A coworker of mine wants a panda...so I'm working on it folks!