We Got Cows - Twister - 1996

 As time waned on my desire to communicate with others, both personal and online, waned as well.  Like an early spring breeze breathes life back into the world, seeing engagement of others has helped lift the gray of covid winter.  My hope is that it will quietly recede into the medical depths of normalcy but if not at least we are better adapted for what may come.

On to personal engagement...

New ideas have been in full flow with the reemergence of longer brighter days.  With the fleeting light of winter I hunker down with yarn and a cozy blanket but flower blooms and sunny warmth sends me outside where I work with other mediums.  This season has led me to creating hanging art mobiles.  It actually started in the winter gloom, creating a Twister movie themed one for my son.  This is one of his favorites, being way, way too young to watch and actually a bit traumatized until a close tornadic call in an open shelter at Boy Scout camp brought ideas of storm chasing into his forethought.  

My first completed mobile was made with a coke can, wire and string, experimenting with the process.  It flows as it should, easily in the breeze. I got this!  Now let's make one that does not follow traditional rules. Do I have this?? For those who have not seen this cinematic masterpiece ( I jest, there is no sitting on the fence with this one.  You either love it or hate it) there is a scene where cows are flying through the air.  This was my starting point.  I wanted the cows to look erratic, out of balance, as they should in the middle of a tornado, but after many unsuccessful drafts, continuing to prove to myself that drawing is not my strong suit, I ended up with very stoic, pasture grazing cows.  In the end I was just glad they looked like cows.  Next off to the wire wind vortices which came about with much more ease.  Again, taken from the movie was the addition of a car being swept away, as this was a pivotal scene.   Up into our small, full attic I go in search of one 4 x 6 inch box containing Micro Machines (there is a very small portable world full of cars and other transports vehicles which my son was gifted, bribed, when needed), finding one that was a perfect fit if not the right color.  A little spray paint and touch up with a sharpie, the hot pink hot rod was transformed.  Parts pre-assembled and looking great laying flat on the workspace, whooo, this is awesome.  Hum, huummmm, hum...having only made the one now I am in a quandary how to proceed.  I now needed to think through the weight counterbalance to make this work.  I left it on the worktable enjoying the awesomeness while being mocked by indecision until the solution of fishing weights woke me up one morning.  Having a stash of these I was able to adjust the length of wire and size of weight until the storm blew as I had thought it would.  

He loved it and all was right in the world.

I hope this season of sunshine and warmth finds you happy and healthy.

Peace,

Hilari

A Blinking Adornment

 

This little darlin' whispered to my psyche the she needed to be introduced in this world.  Having been working with metal lately, I had my supplies ready to make the eyes and mouth.  I patina-ed the eyes the same as if I was coloring copper earrings, using an ammonia fume.   Color was added to the mouth with heat and boiling water ( I have discussed the process in a past post).  After those steps were completed she unfortunately sat and patiently waited for inspiration to move me again.  I could see what I wanted but was not sure how to proceed.  This is a normal occurrence, at this moment I have a three ideas sitting in limbo, just waiting for their spark to light.  Again, she whispered, and it was non-stop until completion.  Her hair is made from batik fabric sewn into tubes and stuffed, then sewn onto the wire base. 

The coolest part is that she blinks!  There is a small lever on the right side of her face, and when rotated her eyelids open and close.  I used a wire wrap that I had seen in a jewelry application, where items could be caged then hung on a chain.  Instead of a full cage I only needed half for my purpose, leaving an opening for the eye to be seen.

This idea was driven by my sister-in-law, who sent information about wall art needed at a location she and her husband patron.  The problem is that I make shelf sitters not wall hangers.  Well, not anymore.  As I was thinking about construction I knew I wanted to be able to reproduce the idea, allowing for freedom of personality in each piece.  I believe I will have the ability to do this through manipulation of features, hair styles, and materials used.  I still have to work on how it hangs due to the fact that it has to come away from the wall to allow the eyelids to rotate.  Even though this one is stable, a bit of refinement is needed.  I have had a drawing of a man that chatters, his mouth opening and closing, for quite a while and this may be the perfect application to give him a voice, so to speak.

Today we say goodbye to football season with the playing of the Super Bowl, so I must be off to get settled in.  I do not have a dog in the hunt so I can just enjoy the action.  It will be a long wait until next season.

Peace,

Hilari

 

Ring Ring

 

I have been enjoying playing with wire as of late.  My hands have mostly been full of yarn, so working with a different kind of manipulation has been a nice change.  This piece was made for BFF's birthday.  Due to her new(ish) wedding and subsequent move to husband's town (mine as well, but because of covid we have not been able to spend time together) she had to give up her almost 40 year old phone number that she and her mother shared.  It was one of the last physical reminders of her mother, who passed shortly after our high school years, and to her it was very emotional.  I hope this will help fill that void. 

As for the piece itself, numbers 1 and 2 are able to be dialed and will return with the use of a spring. I had hoped for more spin but it was not going to happen with how the base was created.  I used my trusty typewriter to replicate their phone number, and glued it to the rusted bottle cap in the center of the dial. The handset can be lifted off to make it more interactive.  Usually my pieces are shelf sitters but this one hangs on the wall, and I like how it looks suspended.  

Tonight is more wire work, making a tiara for a hot pink crocheted pig head.  While the head was easy to work up, I am not sure the vibrant hot pink color was the correct choice.  It lends itself to be an angry pig,  I am hoping the tiara will soften its look.  Maybe the larger the tiara, the less angry the pig.  We will see...

With Fall upon us it is time to get the fireplace ready for its intended use.  During the warmer months, to combat the big gaping hole where a fire should be, I set logs in place and hide a rotating, lighted glass ball.  When plugged in it it gives a nice warm glow, throwing shadows about.  This year was a different set up, using geodes and crystals with the lighted ball.  It was a nice change and next spring, which will be here before you know it, we will see in which mood I am feeling, earthly or celestial.

Happy Monday to all,

Hilari

  

An Occupied Mind and Busy Hands

Summer in East Tennessee is like walking out your front door into a cup of soup.  Some days the 100% humidity just takes your breath away, literally.  But being raised here, it seems normal...dry heat, what is that?  But, oh, that first slightly cool breeze of Fall, what a glorious kiss on the cheek.  With that being said the Mimosa trees look like they are home to an abundance of fairies, all the lovely shades of green are in full view, the lightening bugs are still blinking their yellow glow, and the cicadas are singing their nightly song.  My front porch is a wonderful place to take it all in.

To keep my mind occupied and my hands busy I have been crocheting a menagerie of animals heads to hang on the wall.  It all started with a YouTube video, then moved to a couple of books ordered online.  First completed was an easy deer, then a mouse (more rat size due to yarn choice), a narwhal, then onto a blue rabbit. The ram was next.  He worked up to be 22 inches tall..after the hat was added.  He was in progress for over a week, with much of the time spent attaching the many, many...many...9 inch pieces of yarn for his coat.  After all was said and done he just looked mad for even being created so I gave him a party hat to really give him something to complain about.

I am not sure if others will whisper their need to exist so I have not hung my trophy heads on the wall as of yet.  I would hate to display them only to have a new member join in and upset the cart, as they say.  There is a bull's head that has caught my eye so....

Husband is gaming online so I have the evening to myself.  As always I have choices of unfinished projects to jump into.  All I need to do is weed out the chatter and see which ones speaks to me tonight.  No, NO!, I will not start the bulls head no matter how much I want to start something new.

Happy Thursday,

Hilari

The End of the Story

Here is the compilation of work made during the doll class at Arrowmont.  We all enjoyed watching the ideas come to life throughout the week, each person having their own, if not flexible, idea of what a doll is.

My last piece created was a flying pig.  I have wanted to make one of these for a while, but other ideas have had a stronger pull at the time.  Knowing I needed to start with the base, this determines the overall size, I was off to the tobacco shop to get a cigar box.  With limited choices, I chose a larger wooden box and headed back to campus.  Arrowmont's campus sets off of the main strip of a small tourist town nestled at the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains.  So as I walked back, a couple of shops caught my eye for a quick wander.  In one of these, I found the perfect colorful box for the base on the sale table, score.  I will put the cigar box back for another adventure. ( I now own a metal Bigfoot lunchbox from the second store, yea)

After sizing the body to fit the box, I worked on sculpting the head.  Sculpting is not one of the techniques I have worked with previously, but with the two classes this year I am a tiny bit more comfortable.  As I worked, the critter did not look much like a pig, resembling more a snub nosed alligator.  It was not until I added the ears that he started to come into his own.  Using a dowel to attach the head to the body, and the stubby legs with small eye hooks, purple paint was added to make him joyful.  I had hoped to have more movement with the legs but alas they do not have much wiggle.  I attribute this to the fact that I made the pig fly opposite from everybody else.  Upon looking, after the fact, at how others fly, their internal mechanics make the pig moves up and down, where as with mine, the pig is stable and the wings flap.  Yep, mine is special.

Again it was another special week.  I so enjoy learning and being with others who may, but usually do not have the same insight, direction, vision, passion for a particular craft, history, etc as I.  This opens up the world in unexpectedly wonderful ways.

A side note:  This post was written months ago.  Due to the complications of the world at this moment in time, I have not had the mental ability to share my thoughts.  Being stressed and overwhelmed has had an impact but limiting news and finding my positive voice has been a healing path.  Oh, and crocheting.  Apparently this is my go to during a pandemic.  That yarn stash I have been working on all these years is what has kept me sane.

I hope this finds you both physically and mentally well.
Peace,
Hilari

Nalbinding and Needle Making

I love YouTube.  I watch it most nights before bed, falling down endless rabbit holes of arts/crafts, virtual museum tours, cat videos, and several live cam regulars.  I have a barn full of sheep who have put me to sleep several nights.  On one of my nightly romps through the world of yarn manipulation I found something called Nalbinding.  What is this you ask...It is Viking Knitting, a form of knot making, the precursor to modern crochet and knitting as we know it.  I could try to explain it, actually I did try but it was a convoluted mess, so you would be better off to Google it.  I am always up for a new challenge, artfully speaking, and knowing I had a wooden needle from my rug making moment, I was ready to give it a go.  After a couple of somewhat uneventful tries, I decided that my rug needle (which would never be used for a rug application again) was too wide for this purpose so off to the workshop I went for modification.  With a bit of sanding a better shape was produced, but I ended up using a plastic darning needle instead.  (I have since watch a video on how to make my own wooden needle and will try this if I continue with Nalbinding)  A few more attempts showed some improvement, so I went to my ends stash and grabbed some chunky weight yarn knowing this would cover a multitude of sins.  Having seen ALL the videos and the end products being round...mittens, cowls, slippers, purses, it never occurred to me that Nalbinding was not used for flat items and this was confirmed the more I looked into it. To go along with this, there are no real patterns because your actual thumb is the gauge and each thumb is different so you get only general directions.  With a bit of resilience and a some crochet know how, I was able to create a flat piece which wraps around the neck and is held together with a handmade copper clasp.  Now that we are into Spring, I will have a new beauty to wear in the Fall.

Art/Craft books are one of my addictions and I have been feeding it for many years.  Some I have used as reference but mostly I have just looked at the lovely photographs and dreamed of when I would take the time to actually study them, taking notes and applying the information. With our home business being client based, we travel to homes and businesses, we have quickly been affected by the current state of things.   Our city's major hospital, assisted livings and some small businesses have asked us to refrain from coming by at this crucial time.  Having this extra time available may just give me the opportunity to enjoy these in a more in depth manner.  Or I will clean the closets throughout the house.   We have lived in our home for 27 years and I am sure that at least one could benefit from a deep clean.

Last night on YouTube I came across Krokning,  Again, what is that!?!  It is the Swedish word for Tunisian Crochet, something I have never done.  Grabbing a yummy roll of thin yarn and a crochet hook, I was able to get the rhythm of the stitches even though the style of hook was incorrect.  For this kind of work you need a long straight needle, like ones used for knitting except with a hook on one end.  This I do not have, so I am going to take a shot at making one out of a dowel.  I may even have a book in my stash that could help with this.

I am off to continue reading Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed Media Artist.  This one I bought just for the art work, I normally do not work in 2-d.  It is whimsical and has a freedom to it, and the text shares her creative process and techniques used.

Check in with those you love and be sure to give yourself some love too.
Hilari

The Story Continues

And the story continues...

This is the second piece I completed during doll class.  Because we did not have a specific direction,  ex: make a clown,  there were no requirements to fulfill.  After the initial introduction to the process it was up to us to create.  My starting off point was the metal box containing book pages.  BFF is always on the lookout for interesting items and the box came from her.  At one point I took a torch to it to see what would happen, with the end result being that the paint was removed and leaving it a nice gray color.  I worked the body of the bird around the box which determined the size.  Through slides and handouts the class was introduced to many makers in the doll maker realm and the idea of the bird was loosely adapted from this information.  Where the body base is newspaper, the head is solid clay.  Our class was stationed next to the pottery building so we had access to the heat box, which is a large wooden, shelved box with heaters enclosed.  Everyone in the class made many, many trips, waiting not so patiently for our pieces to dry.  Without access to the heat box we would not have had the ability to complete more than one piece.

The nesting material , dyed wool, used in the bird cage atop the head, was found in the grass near the fiber building.  It was something I did not know I needed but was ideal for this application.

Digging around in my stash I found what I thought was the perfect item for his leg.  It had a nice height and a flat base for the "foot".  Body completed, head attached, hole drilled for metal rod placement...dry run...and it quickly toppled over.  Weight distribution off.  No matter how I adjusted the head, it was not going to stand on its foot. ( Not to mention that the round disc had a pretty good amount of play seeing how it was a wheel in its former live...hum, we will deal with that later...) The base had to be wider.  I headed over to the wood shop to dig around in their trash pile but no luck.  I popped my head in the bowl turning class and was greeted with enthusiasm when I explained my dilemma.  There were 3 lovely gentlemen who discussed, drilled, stained, and glued the wheel tight to get my bird standing tall.  It was a joyful moment, people working together for no other reason than to create.  When I look at this piece I think of them and smile.

Our winter has been dreary, full of cloudy days and rain, but March is just around the corner and with it sun and warmth.  Both my body and creativity will welcome the positive shift.  Until then I will just settle into my nest with some yarn, staying cozy.

Peace,
Hilari