Born to Create

Often I get this question, "When did you decide to become an artist Valerie?" 

I suppose at some point I did have to make the decision to actually be an artist in this life, but honestly I feel I was born an artist. That may be a bold statement, but it's exactly how I am. I was born this way. I know it and have felt it all my life. 

Very early in my life I began creating. I was a kid that just picked up pencils, crayons, or whatever I could find and manipulated materials. I created with clay out of the creek that I would gather myself. I drew in the dirt. I did whatever I could to use my hands to make something, anything. Sewing along beside my grandma, great grandma and mom gave me my first exposure to fibers.

Encouraged by my family to create I drew or painted my world around me. My grandmother put me in front of an easel with paintbrushes, oil paints and turp at age 4. Exposure to materials early on in my life made it a lot easier for me to pick them up when I got to school. I felt comfortable and did not hesitate in picking up and trying new ideas because of it. I won art competitions or placed in each show I've entered throughout my childhood and up through college because I was not intimidated to try.  I knew how to manipulate the materials to create what I was seeing in front of me. or what was in my mind.

How do I continue to nourish this creative energy though? I've dabbled in many different mediums with many different tools in school through college graduate classes. Once I entered into grad school I had to choose my main focus as an artist. Many, many people thought I would pick painting as my concentration, but I did not. I picked weaving (textiles) and landscape drawing. 

To this day I do not regret this decision. I feel a complete connection to fibers/textiles and I've always enjoyed drawing. The connection is to that I physically touch. I enjoy feeling materials and tools in my hands. I love smelling the newness of unwashed wool with the lanolin intact that is so very soft to hold. I feel the threads I pass through the shed of my loom as I throw the shuttle from left to right and back again. So it's a very hands on approach that I like and makes me feel good as I create. This is what keeps me coming back over and over again.

I am also drawn deeply to process. Not necessarily the beginning or end of a project/product, but the in between of it all - be it knitting, tatting, sewing, weaving. Watching the cloth grow with each move I make, each loop I knit, each pass of the shuttle, or each treadle I change with my feet to create a pattern. I feel most alive with this movement and somehow a part of me is in every single thread I pass. That's the connection that also makes me want to perfect a technique I am working on each time I set down to go about creating a new piece.

Some people never really know what they want to be in life. I am one who knew as soon as my feet hit the ground running. I believe this as a gift and feel an obligation to be committed to perfecting my art as I walk through this life. It's really as simple as this - I was born to create.

High Five Fridays! - Inventory is LOW!

Wow, what a fun year it's been! Lots to be said about just jumping in and going for it since April 1, 2009.  Over half of my inventory sold. Now mind you it was around 30 items. Not that much, but it is a start for a gal who is a wife, a mom of 3, and also a design contractor working part time. Whew! 

So what is on my create list for 2010? 

Weaving: In general I would like to do more of this. On my loom I am going to weave 2-3 more baby blankets. Then set up the loom for a few rectangular twill shawls with nice twisted tassels. I'll move toward weaving some table linens - using rag from castaway clothing, etc. and onto some out of just tread too. Finally I'll be weaving some lovely scarves out of many threads in the warp that I need to be using up from other projects. 

You might notice I am going from largest to smallest as I progress here. It makes sense really to do this with weaving all these projects. That way I do not have to rethread the heddles each time I change to a new project. I can leave the threads tied in the heddles (in front and in back of the heddles in groups of eight as an example) and when I move toward wider items again...I just pick up those threads that I had left behind, simply tie on the new warp in a square knot and pull through the heddles. Saves time and keeps you from rethreading constantly. Now this is only if you keep the same threading pattern! Of course you know.

Knitting: I am going to go forward with some wire and bead experiments. I will try out different gauges and techniques and see if I can come up with something that makes sense to create for my shop on Etsy. I'll continue with scarves I am sure and I have enough material to do several simple shawls. I have one in progress now. It's a lovely thin ladder yarn in a nice blend of pinks. 

Paper creations: I really want to focus on working with creating small multiples. Like tags for gifts, small thank you cards, etc. I have several brown paper bags to dissect and create with. I will still sew paper and fabrics/ribbons together somehow, but maybe use simple shapes like hearts, flowers, cakes, etc. 

I think I will go now and finish up my order I got in on Wednesday night now so I can put it in the mail tomorrow. Two more ribbons scarves just flew off my Etsy wall! I am off to create more to replenish the supply!

Enjoy the weekend and all the possibilities for creating!

Beads, Wire and Needles

A few days ago I decided to pick up some 28-gauge wire to knit on #2 needles. Just as an experiment and to see if I liked it at all.

I loved it! This was a lot of fun.

I began by threading many beads onto the wire and started by casting on the wire to the needles. Knitting one row and then purling another. At first I held everything too tight, but finally loosened up and got the hang of the new material. I think that is pretty typical when you have not used a material.

I do like the way the transparency and opaqueness of the beads shows up in these photos. They seem to work on the wire by not being too big or too showy for this project.

This experiment ended up becoming a bracelet after all, but I can see this being a nice choker if lengthened a bit and finding a nice clasp or chain with clasp. 

I have a lot of different beads that have been passed onto me also. So I think I will try them out and see what I can come up with - probably several bracelets for now.

Sometimes testing your skill with new materials turns into a great new way to express yourself. This would be one of them for me. I'm usually not intimidated when trying new ideas. I just jump in and make the mistakes. It's the only real way I learn. I am such a hands on person anyway and I don't think I could ever just read a book and say..oh, I can't do that! I read the book, look at the examples and dive right on it.

So jewelry might just become part of my life if I keep going at this and it might just be a passing fancy. Time will tell, but for now I am just going to enjoy the process.

My Great Grandmother's Hands

I often think of how much my great grandmother, "Ninnie", used her hands. She was an avid quilter. She also sewed, crocheted and tatted. As a child, a young lady and a wife she made every stitch of clothing for her family. She would create patterns out of newspaper based on drawings in the Sear's catalog. Blankets, sheets, clothing were made or mended also. She tatted making beautiful lace for her graduation dress from school. Her's had the most lace on it.  She could make anything even with three children clinging to her everyday.

She lived on a farm all her life up until she was well into her 80's and worked with chickens, pigs, cows, etc. She had gardens to die for: an acre of flowers, an acre of tomatoes, an acre of berries and fruit trees. She baked with the best of them too. This lady's knowledge I wish I had. She knew exactly how to bring a plant back to life when others would have gladly toss it in the compost. She knew what nutrients each plant or flower needed. She was amazing to me.

Her hands were strong and precise. Every stitch was perfect. Everything she touched seem so effortless. And when you are young you think it is effortless until you try to do what you see and realize that those hands are a work in progress. That those hands worked and worked until they got whatever they were doing right. It took years to perfect some things like the perfect stitches that she would quilt. All hand-pieced, hand-quilted quilts using clothing from years past. And nothing simple, no, not at all, but all very beautiful in their own accord.

By the time I came along her hands were rough and gnarled from arthritis.  Age spots and wrinkles graced her hands. They looked like they had worked from sun up to sun down all her life. To me they were beautiful.

I look at my hands now and think the wrinkles are starting, the spots aren't there yet.  I think of all my hands have learned to do and still learn everyday as I explore the fiber arts I love. Repetition will take it's tole on them and maybe someday someone will look at my hands as I looked at my great grandma's and think: simply beautiful.

Wine Chenille Ribbed Scarf

What a fun and fast project this was. I found the yarn on sale and was thrilled! So decided to make a ribbed scarf with it. Of course the ribbed quality always will curl so this scarf does curl on itself. The color though is what I love the most. Deep, rich wine color. The texture is very soft and comfortable to wear. It really could go well with a casual or dressed up to go out on the town outfit also.

Seeing it is buying season a nice gift to give. I find reds usually go over well with just about anyone. Plus red goes well with so many colors!

So there it is, my chenille scarf! On to the next project!

Wow, Shawl sold in less than 3 hours after being posted.

I was more than thrilled for the shawl to sell! That never ending project of mine really did work out for the best. It's amazing really sometimes how things work out. Sometimes when posting items to sell at Etsy.com you think oh this is gonna sell like hot cakes and other times you have absolutely no clue. Most of the time though isn't as you planned and the things you think will sell quickly don't. I hadn't a clue about the shawl, but so glad it sold quickly. Now on to the next project! Another shawl using the ladder ribbon, but in vibrant wine colors. For all I know this one will stay post for a year before it sells, but honestly it's the process of creating I do love more than the sale. The sale just makes me justify what I am doing! For now I am happy gal!

The never ending shawl project...

Gosh, I really bit off more than I could chew with this project. I thought oh, wonderful a shawl to create that is simple! But what I didn't anticipate was how hard working with this material would be. I found this Bernat Matrix yarn at a discount shop and bought loads of it. It is a discontinued yarn now, but a fabulous material. Shimmers and shines, very light and is ribbon like.

So I started this at the beginning of summer because it was such a light material and it wouldn't be a project that would make you too hot while working on it during the warmer months. I made many mistakes and it took me a while to get use to working with the material at hand. But in the end this has turned out beautiful. I just finished it in early November.

I like the way the material is almost liquid like and flows so nicely over your shoulder. This shawl would be absolutely stunning over  a simple black dress or suit. Would add a touch of warmth on a cool day. I can see this on going with someone on a cruise or even for New Year's Even parties!

Since I had loads of this yarn...I will be making more shawls and light scarfs. I am postitive the next one will go much quicker now that I have some ideas of how to manipulate the yarn. Look to http://FibersStudio.etsy.com for more items for sale!