The Chosen One

Enjoying The Breeze

I have come to realize that as the years pass I am much less inclined to create as winter sets in.  I still make just not with the zest of ideas flowing.  I crochet with gusto but it is usually with others' patterns or my fallback of Granny Square blankets which I donate to an organization called Project Linus.  If you are a blanket maker (crochet, quilter, knitter, fleece, etc...individual or group) in need of producing please check them out.  It seems I homestead in the colder months with the comfortable but this season I am branching out...all the way to embroidery.  I have been enjoying the process shown through online classes and have made 2 books with simple, quirky stitched covers.  At this point, which is very early in my journey, I have grand plans for 2023 Christmas presents.  I sure hope it sticks.

Even though my creative urge is snuggled up in a cozy blanket on the couch for the moment, the sunshine and warmth of the last summer had me going strong.  And with the smell of fresh cut grass this was created. 

This one knew exactly what it was going to be before it even got started.  While helping a friend load her firewood bin I picked up the next piece to be stacked and it said "Whoa, slow down, check me out".  Well, who can resist that.  I gave it a good once over, even noticing it had a nice flat bottom so no adjustment would be needed there.  I told it "Yes, you surely are a nice piece of wood".  Again it spoke, " Now that I have your attention here is what I want to be..." and within a week and a half it was complete.  

With the finished concept thrust at me I just had to jump right in and find my starting place. I sanded the front of the wood making sure I left the beautiful cut marks while leaving the back untouched to show off the textured bark. I gathered my chiseling tools and carved out the niche which set the size of the air dried clay figure.  Next I placed the crank at the bottom of the wood because, well, that was where I was told to put it.  When this is engaged the thin wire makes the body's legs kick around.  

Another creative end game was thrust upon me during the same time, making metal mobiles. More about that later, but with it came about the haze of clouds lazily floating over his head.  After all was completed as asked, or rather demanded, I added my own touch of the bright yellow flower.  With this I knew it was finished.

Each spring our city has a month-long Dogwood Arts Festival which, as it sounds, is a celebration of nature, both natural and gardens, and the arts.  I am happy to say that this piece was chosen out of 415 judged entries to be one of 45 displayed in the downtown gallery. It was very exciting to see it out in the wild being shared with others.

With being just past the middle of February we are well on our way to spring. Happy Early Pre-Spring to all.

Hilari

 

And Then There Was This One

 

Old School Selfie

Some ideas just flow beautifully like a serine creek in a quiet wood.  The idea comes whispering sweet nothings in your ear and the melody of the creative dance begins.  From start to finish it is a pleasure to manipulate the tools, found objects, and watch the seed of an idea grow.  You get the picture. 

Not this one.  Nope.  It came out spitting and hissing like a caged feral cat.  

                                           

Maybe it was because all of the parts had been sitting around in their respective places, not socializing with others.  I crafted the head out of air dried clay and left it unpainted, picking it up on occasion hoping to help it find its way.  The camera was passed from one, to another, then onto me so maybe it felt abandoned and therefore uncooperative.  

The application of the movement varied from moment to moment.  I started with an elaborate construction of a metal wire cage with gears.  No.  Next was a paired down version, removal of gears, addition of wire cam shaft. No.  Complete removal of wire cage, start over.  After a hard fought fight I ended up with a dowel connected to the viewfinder creating a tipping point, simple but somewhat effective at this point.   The crow awkwardly rocks back and forth with the use of a wire lead (seen in picture).  You just grab the wire and force her into submission.

The only highlight of this project, with the exception of when I finally called it complete, was making the wings.  Once, years ago I had some now forgotten brilliant idea to do something grand with those thick paper bar coasters touting which beer is the best.  Thanks to eBay I have a box of these packed in the deep recesses of my supplies.  With wire, the colorful coasters, and knowledge gained at an Arrowmont art class the crow is able to fly, so to speak.  Oh, and the eyelashes! It was with this glorious addition that I knew this drudgery of a piece was done.

Lastly, this project spent more time in a Time Out Bag than it did to actually complete it. The crow has no good side to photograph.  And to have the last laugh, I have run out of shelf room for bigger projects ( she is 16 inches high x 15 inches wide and 13 inches deep) so she sits on the dinning room table mocking me every breakfast. 

I'm sure I will come to revel in her awkwardness at some point.  Think positive!!

We are in the definite throws of summer with the heat keeping many inside.  Hopefully this finds you cool with a tall glass of sipping lemonade. you know the kind that makes you pucker with delight.

Peace,

Hilari

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