Learning How to Darn Socks

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Darning a sock is one of those things I’ve been meaning to learn for a really long time. I even bought myself a darning egg from Dressew a few months ago, with the intention of finally doing it. But it wasn’t until last week that I finally gave myself the time to figure it out.

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The darning egg I bought is made of wood and comes with a long handle. It is fitted inside the sock to provide a rounded surface to stitch against while darning. It’s an object that looks rather weird and puzzling on its own when you don’t know what the heck it is.

I used it to repair tiny holes in five pairs of my socks, and a couple massive holes in a single pair of Boris’ socks. That is six pairs of socks saved from the bin, and given an extension on life.

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Learn how to darn socks yourself by following this tutorial.

From Sketchbook To Finished Work

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I didn’t include the sketch that led to this finished piece in my blog post from the other day, but that is where this started on a smaller scale. I liked the sketch and felt it was time to work with the idea on a full sized piece of paper. The repeating shape is an elongated version of the leaf I’ve used in my work for years, but the shift in length/scale feels dramatically different to cut.

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It’s amazing how the work appears to pulse and vibrate with energy. Even in these quick photographs it plays with the eye and appears to move.

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I’m satisfied with how this turned out, and want to make one on an even larger piece of paper (this is 17″ x 14″). It’s not a dramatic shift from previous work, but it is an interesting iteration.

Revisiting My Paper Cutting Sketchbook

I want to take my paper cutting work in a new direction incorporating different shapes because the usual ones are starting to feel stale. I’ve been working with them for five years now, and it is time to expand my repertoire of shapes. I brought out the sketchbook I use for brainstorming paper cutting ideas and did a bit of testing. Some of the shapes are variations of the lovely crescent I use in much of my work, and I guess it’s because I love cutting a curve over a straight line.

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I haven’t yet settled on an idea yet to go forward with because I have more sketchbook play ahead of me.

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It’s hard to be in this place of not knowing what to do next, but I’ve been here enough times to know I need to give myself time and space to explore. It’ll lead somewhere eventually.

Scenes From Wintery Bowen Island

Boris and I spent a few days away on Bowen Island at his parents place over the holidays, and it was the winteriest Christmas I’ve experienced in eight years. It’s been way colder than is normal this season and the snow has been sticking when it falls, which is not at all typical for Vancouver. I’m enjoying it though, and continue with my walking habit no matter the weather.

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I feel recharged after the hibernation time on Bowen. Before I get started on new work I’m getting the studio sorted out, and preparing for a sale on older artwork in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Embellished Jacket with Hand Stitching

I gave a little hint about this clothing upcycling project when I was getting started at the beginning of December, but I had to wait until now to share it because it was a gift for Boris. We picked up this sports jacket from Value Village a few months ago with the idea I would decorate it with stitching, and I decided to get it finished in time for Christmas.

The jacket is 100% wool and I created the design through freehand embroidery with thick cotton floss. The most elaborate stitching is on the two lapels, with two tiny motifs in the corners on the upper collar.

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I skipped the breast pocket and added embroidered designs to the edges of the lower pockets. I figured the pockets could be more understated than the lapels.

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The finished jacket looks fabulous and I’m happy to see Boris looking so good in it.

2016: A Year End Review in Twelve Photos

It’s always good for me to do a year end review in twelve photos at the end of a year, because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on the work I’ve done over the past twelve months. I’ve been feeling like my paper work was stuck in a rut this year, but the photos clearly demonstrate I was experimenting with different shapes and colours. I made lovely wearable pieces from paper, completed another tyvek installation, and stitching projects took a prominent place in the mix.

Paper sketches
January

Off-cut pieces of paper
February

Magnificent pink magnolias
March

Tyvek installation
April

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May

Wearable Art, Red Blooms
June

Starting a new sashiko stitching project
July

Polymer clay beads
August

Sonobe origami office art
September

French knots on paper
October

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November

Mark making with thread
December

Who knows what the new year will bring. I have been cleaning and sorting through my studio in anticipation of a productive 2017.

Best of Nine in 2016

The “best of” listing thing that tends to happen at the end of every year began on Instagram two weeks ago. Everyone does a 2016 Best of Nine post as generated by a sketchy website I will not link to here.

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These are the nine images that were chosen from my last year of Instagram posts. Five of these images are screen shots of timelapse videos, one is a repost of old work, and the centre image is hoar frost taken on a new year’s day walk on the Sunshine Coast. I like that it ties in nicely to everything else.

I need to reflect on what I think is my best work of the past year. I know the list will include stitching projects. I’ll try to get the post written after Christmas.

Recent Commissions: Paper Cut Letter and Wave

I’ve worked on a few small commissions over the last few weeks and have done a bad job of documenting them before they went on their way. I managed to take one quick photo of each of them, but not details.

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I made this custom letter paper cut for a client who came across my work via The Georgia Straight instagram account. They reshared my time lapse video during Culture Crawl weekend, and from there she checked out my work and decided to commission this letter for her son. I don’t do these very often but it’s always nice when someone wants one. Check out the Etsy listing here.

Commission: Wave

The wave is one design in a series I made for a hospitality commission a few years back, and was recently requested to redo because the original was stolen from the client. It’s a bit flattering someone liked it so much they wanted it for themselves, but what a way to go about it. It was lovely to revisit this design and do an even better job of it than years previous. I am much more refined as a paper cutting artist because I have more years of experience under my belt.

I really should make some of these to sell…

French Knots on Paper in Blue

I started working on a fourth French knots in paper piece during Culture Crawl weekend to keep myself occupied during the slow times, and also to demonstrate process to visitors. There are so many people who did not realize the framed embroidery pieces were made with thread, so it was perfect to have something on the go to show them how it’s done. I didn’t get very far with it during the Crawl because I can’t talk and stitch at the same time, but I decided to finish it in the following weeks.

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With this piece I chose blue thread rather than grey as with the previous ones, but continued using Strathmore 90lb mixed media paper as the canvas. I went with a design where I alternated solid circles with dots. I really like making knots close together so there is a dense amount of thread, but it makes it tricky not to tear the paper while sewing. When this happens my solution to repair it is to use archival document repair tape as I do in paper cutting.

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This may be the last of these thread and paper works for awhile as it’s time to get back to concentrating on paper cutting work!