Crewel Tool kit

Currently I have been working a lot in crewel embroidery. Mostly french knots and bullion stitch to describe wounds in my fine art work. It is most definitely a labor of love because the work is so tiny yet so many hours go into each piece. I hope that it will translate well when I have my group exhibition in October at the Ohio Art League gallery.

Anyways it got me to looking at my tool kit and also a nudge from a friend about an embroidery toolkit contest going on in the UK. I thought why not. If she thought it was interesting enough to suggest I might as well share it.

So here it is:

In my kit starting at twelve O'clock going clockwise:

• My appleton crewel threads hoop, which I made
• Clover embroidery hoop stand
• Embroidery pocket guide
• Clover embroidery hoop
• Thread heaven
• Embroidery scissors
• Thread snip ring by clover
• Needle pull pads
• Paper piecing hexagons
• Thread
• Seam rippers
• Eraser, pencil, post it notes
• Felted Wool ball pincushion
• Magnet to catch stray pins
• Clover embroidery needle threader

Below are a few more in detail shots of everything.

 

My little magnet pin holder inside the metal tin. It works pretty perfect while I am on the go because i know any loose pins inside the tin will find their way to the magnet so it's not an explosion of pain every time I open it.

My wonderful little collection of cutters.

The favorite is my green pen scissors. They are tiny and fit on my cell phone or in my pocket and have been tested to be airplane safe so far. the ends are a bit rounded which is why I think they have been approved so many times. I got these little wonders off of Jetpens.com

So that covers what is in my embroidery kit!

It was also a nice exercise to get everything reorganized. There is a lot of organizing going on in my life right now with the move out of my studio and back home and prepping for summer and all the festivals and events at work. My biggest challenge is the balance between working on my fine art and working on my fashion for the summer show with the Alternative Fashion Mob.

I was very proud of myself for putting out some of my fine art watercolors at the last AGORA X this past weekend. All three pieces were sold to the same person and he really liked them. It was a sort of unbelievable moment for me because I've only ever sold fashion or craft work and never fine art work. I might of blurted out in his face an enthusiastic "REALLY?!"

Oh silly me and my tactfulness.

 

Sold bruise studies #1-3

Well I hope you all have a good week and I'll try to think of something fun for next week's post!

Cheers!

I'm not Dead yet!

Nope still here. Just uber busy with Independents day! Also branding myself a little more and working on my website and figuring the logistics of hosting and what I need to pay.

I am the Craft Alley essentially for the upcoming Independents day Columbus which means managing 40 arts/craft vendors, Interactive make and take tent and Crafty Death Match on the Stage from 6-7pm.  What that also means is hauling around tents, tables, materials for all said things which also includes a 6x4' plinko board, 2x2.5' table vending machine, lights, 6 chairs, 2 tents, 4-6 tables and all of my booth materials to vend as well. Then there is all the intense PR work I am doing to make sure EVERY single one of my vendors is being represented in a promotion and the vendors giving us Donations for the prizes are getting as much promotion on facebook and twitter as I can crank out. It is a ton of work. Next year I will demand an intern. Even with all this hard work I love this Festival. To me it really embodies and spirit of supporting local and upcoming artists all around our community.

Do me a solid and please follow @CraftAlleyCbus and retweet all my vendor promotions or just your favorites.

Also in more Independents Day news I will have two pieces up for Raffle with the Ohio Art League tent. They are some of my early works from my new study on wounds and human emotions. These are small works 3x3" and 4x4". Perfect for a little desk or office space art to remind you whatever hurts you will heal eventually.

I am unfortunately ill prepared as I am overflowing with knitwear and the weather looks to be about 80 degrees that day. I'll need to get my butt moving on some new skirts to sew, flower hair pins and my new lace tatted necklaces I've been itching to debut.

I have a very busy weekend ahead of me with much sewing and crafting.
I hope you have a great weekend and see you next week!

Bruising

Sorry the updates haven't been as frequent I've been struggling to get myself together with the end of some of the largest projects I've done and the start over of working on a new portfolio giving myself the entire year to dedicate to myself and my own work. I was admiring a bruise my friend Claire had and felt inspired to get back into some art making observations on the body and working it into my neuron theory. It is somewhat suitable for me right now to think about bruises because that's a bit how I feel right now. This bit of nagging pain that when you poke it it hurts more but eventually it will heal. Finding motivation to finish something has been hard. I have a cardigan left to knit, a dress left to knit, blanket I have slowly been crocheting and another blanket I have been working on hand quilting.

The things I really need to do is getting to work on my Helena Bonham Carter Collection and back to my neurons. This bruising embroidery is a good first step and a small project that doesn't feel overwhelming at the moment. It also does not help that I have been fiddling my time away with some video games (Kid Icarus 3DS, which is fantastic by the way) and the Hunger Games books. I've told myself and some friends I will be back on my regular program of fashion and art by May. May is always a good deadline for me because it's around my Birthday.

One change I've made for the better has been some bangs!

I've also done a bit of shopping when I really need to be saving. My hubby has been a downer on my potential trip to Korea but I'm going to keep bugging him because it's really important to me.