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I have a lot of emotional baggage wrapped up in crafting. Maybe you do, too.
I have a whole room of items that I can’t use for various reasons. Lack of interest. Lack of time. But when I have no excuse, the room stifles everything out of me because of the guilt of hoarding all that crap. It overwhelms me with options. I remember reading an anecdote about a dad limiting his toddler daughter to just one lonely brown crayon, despite his friend balking at the restriction. But it turns out that too many possibilities really does send the brain into a sort of tail-chasing.
So, I took a phrase my husband uses, “Don’t put good money after bad,” and actually logically sat down to make a pact with myself. I have so much space, so much time, and so much attention span. What kinds of projects are going to give me the biggest bang for the buck – what do I keep, and what gets passed on. And more importantly… what are ground rules for me to start new endeavors? I made it OK to get rid of what didn’t meet my criteria. Someone else can use it, and in the future, when my situation changes, I can reevaluate whether I can “invest” my various stakes (time, interest, space, money) into something that isn’t on my list.
What did that look like for me? I sat down with a piece of paper and started sketching out a mind map, something along the lines of what is described here on Chookooloonks’ blog, about finding what you love.
So, for me, I ended up with a small collection of the activities I hold dearest. Yarn crafts (knitting, crochet), sewing (plus embroidery and cross stitch) and scrapbooking. Well. Those are still pretty broad, so I started slashing some of fringes. As much as my heart leaps at the idea of knitting up an amazing fair isle cardigan in fingering weight yarn, I’ve accepted the part of me that can’t do that (at least for now) and saved myself from the actual cost of buying yarn and the emotional cost of keeping it and not doing anything with it. It makes me much happier to knit socks, for instance. Maybe the occasional scarf, or head accessory. I’ve never completed a sewn garment for myself that I’ve been proud to wear. So they hang in shame in the craft room because this part is lumpy or that, and I can fix that, but I won’t. So no more clothing for myself. No afghans. No clay, no painting. No. No. No.
What other things did I use as markers? Well, materials. What kind of materials do I simply love to work with? Personally, I love natural fabrics and fibers. Cottons, wools, silks. The rest went. Some things went into “cold storage” for their utility or sentimentality. (Leathercraft tools, I’m looking at you.)
I think you get the idea.
In the end, I got pretty restrictive. Because I believe that out of even an arbitrarily restricted palette, some really cool things can come about. It’s why choosing a theme for a 365 Project is the whole idea. Doing something totally random and different every day doesn’t have the unifying force behind it. It’s why Spoonflower’s Botanical Contest had such great entries. As this article about photography puts it, “Consistency is memorable, variety is not.”
I’m going to choose very narrow techniques and tools and see how far I can stretch them and take their boundaries before I decide to branch into other areas. I’m tired of going about this so grapeshot.
This isn’t just about crafting. It’s about what you love, what you want to surround yourself with, and how you use what’s available to you. Sometimes, it’s about shoes.
I fell in love with these dots from AllSorts’ Freebie Friday last week. I had a page sent to Staples to be printed on cardstock (since we ditched inkjets aeons ago, and just keep a rinky dink laser for the once a year or so we need to print directions or the like.)
Then I got home and had no idea what to do with it. I love garlands, but let’s just say I don’t have a magazine house. I have twin boys and lack an organizational lobe in my brain. So I really didn’t know where I could put one. Lovingly draped across the mound of laundry perhaps? But I made it anyway, and it ended up looking fab here above my doorway. Amazingly it compliments the paint in that room, too!
Here’s how I did it, if you’re still interested.
 Supplies:
- Printout of Lots o’ Dots
- Scissors
- Small Hole punch (I think mine is 1/8th inch, but probably could have been smaller)
- Small Crochet Hook – Steel sized 2 worked here
- White Crochet Thread
Cut out all your dots, and grab one of the ones with scallops on the edge. Punch every other scallop around. Use this as a template to mark the other dots, and punch those as well.
After crocheting a loop and a beginning “thread line”, the basic gyst is that you crochet a “base layer” around each dot, the whole way, and then a “decorative edge” on that foundation halfway. Then crochet a thread to the next dot and repeat. At the end, turn around and finish the other half of each dot! So, say:
Beginning & Dot Foundation
ch 10, join with slst to form a loop, ch 10
sc in hole of first dot, (ch 3, sc in next hole) around – join with slst to beginning of foundation
Return Trip
After half scalloping the last dot, ch 10, ch 10 and join with slst to form loop. Sl st in each ch back to dot.
Finish second half of scallop, join with slst to beginning of round, then sl st in each “thread” ch to next dot.
Then you choose whatever edging effect strikes your fancy. I’d suggest not going too crazy, because by the time you get back to it, you might not remember how you did the first half! I used 4 variations, so it wasn’t too challenging. One thing to consider is that if the main part of your “bump” is centered over the sc on the base layer, you’ll want to eliminate one bump for each “thread connection” – so you’ll have 7 on each side instead of 8. This is the case of the “Big Hole Scallop” below.
Here are my variations – remember only do half (8) the first time, sc in the next foundation sc to secure, and then chain off some line to the next dot:
Basic Scallop
(sc, dc, tr, dc, sc) in each ch-3 sp
Open Ruffle
(ch 2, tr in ch-3 sp, ch 2, sc in next foundation sc) around
Big Hole Scallop
(sc in ch-3 sp, dc 5 times in next foundation sc) around
Fat Border
(sc 3 times in ch-3 sp, ch 1) around
The Fat Border could use a little tweaking – I did it very loose so that it wouldn’t curl, but you could probably sc 4 times in each space, and have it look a little better.
I hung it up with some 3m sticky hooks, and used some thread crocheted stars from the first Craftsanity issue to disguise the hooks on my wall. Looks really nice! After I enjoy it for a while here, I think I’ll pack it up into an Independance Day box. Thanks again, allsorts for sharing your great dots!
One of the things I get inspired by myself is supporting other people when they go out on a limb in their creative endeavors. When something makes me smile, it’s a wonderful gift, and I wanted to shoot some internet kudos to BryanEtch, whose medium of choice is an Etch-a-Sketch. Let me repeat that – an Etch-a-Sketch! This makes me feel that whatever your medium… take it and run. Watercolor, collage, Illustrator – it is just as valid as the next person’s.
I took an opportunity to test the waters of this highly touted new site called fiverr where Bryan offers to Etch anything you’d like for just $5. Worth it – and I didn’t even give him much to go on except for the site name! (I can’t say the same for the rest of the site, though some of the projects are endearing at the very least. It otherwise seems to be populated by skeezy backlinking offers and social media manipulation.) So, from this starry eyed wanderer to you, I hope Bryan can take off and do something really cool with his Etch-a-Sketches. Check out his blog – for a price, he’ll finagle an Etch of whatever you want and send you the actual Etch a Sketch for your wall! If any of you are able to support him, please do!
This is pretty common decluttering mantra. I have a hard time following it when it comes to sentimental items, though. So tonight, I finally steeled myself and cut into my piles and piles of sentimental t-shirts. I’ve got about 50 of them, and I think they’ll make a great quilt. Serendipitously, the other half was just complaining that none of our couch blankets are big enough for snuggling.
In other news, my Spoonflower entry didn’t make the cut for the contest – as it turns out, only 100% original art is acceptable for contests, which is totally fine. Mine was derived from public domain scans. I’m still glad I made it! I loved the color palette, and I feel like I got a good dip into graphics while I was playing around!
So, you’ll notice I haven’t posted to my 365 project. I’ve been really engaged by a few other projects, so I’m content to hold off on that for a while. Today I put together my 2011 inspiration board. Wishy-washy Secret self affirmation crap aside, I’m very pleased with it. I took Chookooloonk’s Vision Board post and ran with it. Mine ended up hyoooge – 18×18! It’s very cluttered, too. Some things I pasted down, only to cover back up, with only edges peeking through – but I know they’re still there. Every time I look at it, I smile. I threw out a lot of my magazines a while ago, so I managed to scrounge an issue or two of UU World from the shelves, which provided LOTS of inspirational clippets, combined with a few new issues of this and that, and I think I really pulled together something that’ll speak to me for the year. (Hint: all of the January issues of, well, everything, are chock full of resolution pumping tidbits that are perfect for clipping.)
The failure is the hankie, which I dyed with Setacolor fabric paints and then tried to imprint using the sun. It was our “sunniest” day in a while here in Pittsburgh, and alas it still wasn’t enough. And yet, my mom still loved the colors on the hankie, so perhaps it isn’t a complete disaster. Try again another day.
 One of my challenges to myself this year was to become involved in the Spoonflower community. They have weekly contests, and I figured that’s a good way to get my chops up on graphics and design, even if I can’t come up with something spectacular. I stayed up late tonight to whip this up, and I think it came out just as I pictured. Something basic to get my feet wet – no drawing involved, thanks to PerpetualPlum on Flickr for scanning in some public domain plant drawings. So this is a short entry… I’m pooped.
So, I suppose this could be kind of the opposite of a personal portfolio. A tack board where I can put up whatever is lighting my fire. Right now, it’s illustrators.
 Kevin Henkes
This is from my very favorite board book, A Good Day, which has a delightful sort of palindrome quality to it, with “Bad” turning to “Good.” I just love the swishy outlines and watercoloring, but I think my favorite bit is how all of the animals have the same eyes in each part. Digging around, I also found A post on the publisher’s site by Mr. Henkes with a few samples of his sketch-work, which is wonderful to see!
 Claire Robertson
of Loobylu
Loobylu has been on my blogroll for as long as I’ve had one. I especially love the warm tones in her artwork, and the cute little noses on her family in her header. Something about her style is reminiscent of little paper cut outs, and I just adore everything about it.
 Ezra Jack Keats
(Author of The Snowy Day)
Yet another favorite plucked from my little boys’ book shelf. Being a complete and utter noob in the art and illustration realm, I have no earthly idea what technique produced this book. I am none the less entirely enchanted with all of his work, and I will always make room for these puppies.
 Rebecca Green
I found this delightful little doll, Priare, in the December issue of a new magazine called Craftsanity, and instantly fell in love with her beady little eyes and delicate, thin little lines. Then this stop motion video popped through on my twitter feed. How can you not love everything about that? You can also find Ms. Green’s work at Oh Dear, Happy – I for one cannot wait to see what she and her cohort produce through this!
Today’s post has been brought to you by Flogging Molly and their wonderfully catchy song, “Swagger.” There’s something to a song whose only lyrics are, “Don’t know where I’m goin’,” but is still titled “Swagger.” Can you still be self-confident and not have a direction? Well, I can try.
When I was programming and floundering about, a more experienced coworker asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, because I still really hadn’t put my roots down. I guess I really didn’t know then. I guess I still don’t now. I could put it on my “101 things in 2011″ list, but I don’t think I want to. In fact, I think I’ll put the opposite: “Don’t ever figure out what I want to be when I grow up.”
Right now, I’m inspired by a lot of things. Crafters, artists, illustrators, designers, coders, makers, thinkers, and dreamers. I’m going to do a lot of things and see if something sticks for a while. Ride what strikes me like a wave and then maybe find another. So in that regard, I’ve got lots of little projects lined up to tackle.
Make Something Every Day for a Year
Most prominent is my Make Something 365 project. I decided that if I’m ever going to improve what little artistic and illustrative skill I have, it’ll take practice. So I’m going to do “Paper-Doll-Daily” starting Jan 3rd.* And I’m going to make one doll a month, and every day post a new outfit or accessory.
Photograph, photograph
I like snapping pictures, but one can only take so many close up shots of her children before going insane. So I’m going to push myself this year with the 52 Weeks of Photography group on Facebook.
*I chose Jan 3rd to intentionally take pressure away from New Year’s Day. It’s like setting yourself up to fail, starting New Year’s Day, I swear! The OCD part of my brain (also the “You’re going to FAIL” voice, incidentally) likes nice round numbers… like January 1. So I’m giving it a kick in the shins to try to quiet it up a bit.
It really ties the room together.
Today I’m going to suspend the part of my brain that tells me to not do something before everything is perfect. I can’t draw until I have the perfect pen. I can’t clean until the house is clean enough. (What?) I can’t blog until my blog has the perfect theme and set up. That part of my brain that rebels against making something it considers bad. That prevents me from drawing on the first page of a blank notebook for fear of ruining it.
So here are my nuggets of inspiration to bound off of. I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know where I’m going, but it’s going to be great. I can very much relate to Leonard Cohen’s baffled King, composing hallelujah.
Another king, however, has given me my instructions this year.
`Begin at the beginning,‘ the King said gravely, `and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’ (Lewis Carroll)
I’ve been mulling it over, and I think that if I had to pick one little word for 2011, it would be “begin.” Put one foot in front of the other. Just do it. And all that other supposedly inspirational gobbledy-gook.
And one more thing, which I stole from CraftZine last year and have kept in my back pocket until I was ready to listen. Ira Glass on Storytelling urges all of us to put aside our hangups and dredge through the crap we need to in order to produce the art we know we are capable of.
You will be fierce, you will be a warrior. (Ira Glass)
Continue reading Inspirational Carpeting
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