It was super cold (for the West Coast) between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and the amazing thick frost returned. I am fascinated with it because the frost does interesting things depending on the shape and surface of the objects it’s forming upon.
Braided Rug Number Three
Why yes, I did make another braided rug before the end of last year. My sister Kathy loves my previously made braided rugs and hinted about how it would make a great handmade gift, and so I decided to make one as a Christmas present for her.
I think I started this in early November and finished on the 1st of December, with plenty of time to get it into the mail. I used a few of the leftover balls of t-shirt yarn from previous projects, but had to make a bunch of new ones out of shirts sourced at Value Village.
When I started making braided rugs in the summer I never thought I’d make three of them, and still be jonesing to make more.
2015: A Year End Review in Twelve Photos
It’s the nearing the end of the year so of course it’s time to dig through my photo archive and share twelve images taken within the past year. I’m glad I did this because it reminded me how many things I made in 2015, and it was a lot. For some strange reason I’ve been feeling as if I hadn’t been up to much this year, and the photographic evidence is assuring me that I am wrong.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
I hope to make 2016 an even more productive and creative year. Huzzah!
Work in Progress: Playing with Paper Pieces
I’ve been feeling stuck lately so last week in the studio I gave myself time and permission to play. I’ve been wanting to make compositions of three dimensional paper cut elements, and this is the idea I chose to explore. I pulled out a bunch of coloured paper left over from other projects and used these as my materials.
I’m exploring different shapes and started with the white piece above. I want the elements to feel organic and fit together somehow. These are all very small at the moment, only a few inches long and wide, but eventually I want to work larger.
I like where these experiments are going, and I will do more work with them after the Christmas holidays. I’m excited to create new and interesting work in the new year.
Scenes from Things In My Head by Gathie Falk
I caught Things In My Head, a show of work by Gathie Falk, on its second to last day at Equinox Gallery last week, and was so glad I did. It’s a show of everyday objects reproduced by Falk in various materials such as ceramic and papier mache.
I mostly took photos in the room full of piles of ceramic fruits, because I loved the colours, shapes, and repetition. Another room had things like shoes, dresses, and shirts.
It’s too late to see the show in person, but check out the exhibition photos on the Equinox gallery website. I am most excited about shows such as this that elevate craft to fine art.
New Work and a Christmas Party at Katami Designs
If you’re in Vancouver, join me this Thursday December 17th, 5pm to 9pm, for the 2nd Annual Christmas Party at Katami Designs Studio and Gallery. Come finish off your Christmas shopping by supporting a local small business filled with beautiful handmade jewelry and art.
Katami carries my work and I re-stocked them a few weeks ago with a variety of recent work, including small pieces combining drawing and cut paper (pictured below).
Wear red to the party and enjoy a 10% discount off your entire purchase that evening. Tempting, isn’t it?
2nd Annual Christmas Party
Where: Katami Designs Studio & Gallery
Location: 138 East Broadway (near Main Street)
Date: Thursday December 17, 2015
Time: 5pm to 9pm
A Quick Drawing Fix
In a desperate need to make new work, last week I set aside a bit of time to draw. I didn’t really care about the results, as I just desperately needed the process. I drew a square outline in pencil to guide me, and then drew line after line in white gel pen. It was so satisfying to do this!
The finished drawing is 5″ x 5″ on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black card stock.
Scenes From A Letterpress Printing Workshop at Porchlight Press
I took a letterpress workshop this past weekend at Porchlight Press to make holiday cards. I loved looking at all of the interesting equipment around the printshop, and it made me wish I could reproduce some of my own work as letterpress prints and cards.
These are photos I took of some of the things around the shop.
Examples of lead type
Examples of wood type
An assortment of images we could use in our card designs.
A beautiful Heidelberg Press (which we did not use).
My card design all inked up on the press as we were printing.
The finished Christmas card with hand drawn details added to the decorations using metallic gel pen.
Upcycling Old Kitchen Chairs
This is not an interior design blog where you get to see the ugly before version of these chairs to compare to the beautiful new version. Trust me when I say the fabric covering these chairs was in bad shape, and I was completely disgusted looking at them up close as I removed them.
I’ve been wanted to do this project for years, and only recently did I finally commit to doing it. The first step was meauring the chairs, and then taking a look at fabric. I bought the crazy patterned 100% cotton fabric from Dressew, along with two rolls of fibre fill to add more padding.
The chairs are not well made and could actually use a lot more work to make them better overall, but I decided I would only replace the fabric and add a bit more padding rather than do a complete overhaul. I don’t think they are worth the effort.
The chairs look amazing now. I’m very happy with the intense blast of crazy colour and pattern in the dining room. We need to have guests over soon for dinner to try them out.
A huge thank you to my friend Arnt, who helped me with the final stages of stapling the fabric to the chairs. I was totally freaked out by the industrial stapler he has in his studio, and I probably would have stapled my hand to the seat.
Unique Work by Rachel Gourley
These are wonderful sculptures by Rachel Gourley taken at a show in Crafthouse Gallery on Granville Island. I dropped in last week to take a look and was wowed by her wonderful work.
Up close the works appear to be similar to glass, but they’re actually made from polymer clay. The pieces resemble wild forest fungus and sea anemone, combined with found natural objects like stones, and driftwood.
Rachel Gourley’s show Contained continues until December 30th at 1386 Cartwright Street on Granville Island.