Author: plyders

Making to Manifest Spring…

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The weather is warmer. The days are longer. New buds are showing on the trees. Spring Equinox is upon us. But with nights still near freezing here in Central Oregon, flowers are not quite ready to sprout. So I thought I’d make some felt blooms. It’s my way of manifesting what I hope to see soon outside. Color. Color. Color. And a bounty of sunshine.

I’ll be teaching a felt flower workshop at the end of April. If you are near Bend, Oregon consider joining me in celebrating spring by learning how to make flowers by combining the processes of wet felting and needlefelting. Details can be found on my Workshop page.

Collaborating for a cause…

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Collaboration, like solo creation, usually starts with an idea, vision, or concept, that is then altered as the process unfolds. But unlike solo creation, collaboration affords many more opportunities for unexpected outcomes. When collaborating with young children, I like to set parameters for success by limiting color choices, size, and shape. In this class art project for the school auction, each Pre-K student made a circle-ish piece of flat felt using three colors of alpaca roving donated by Flying Dutchman Alpacas. A dinner plate set the size limit as they laid out the layers of roving in one main color. Two other colors of roving were added in the final layer in whatever design they chose.

After the student’s felt pieces were finished, I spent about a week just exploring different wall hanging ideas. I even worked with the children a second time to create felted wool balls that I thought would be a part of the final piece.  My original wall hanging concept just didn’t seem right anymore. Then a conversation with a friend sparked the idea of using leather as a backdrop for the felt.

Although I had never worked with leather before, I was up for the challenge. The leather was generously donated by Maverick Leather, and Warpony Saddlery punch all the holes for stitching, saving me countless hours. Each piece of leather was hand cut in an irregular circle to highlight the raw, organic shape of felt. A hand sewn saddle stitch in artificial sinew creates a contrasting border. Unseen are dozens of holes that I hand punched into each circle of leather so the children could easily hand stitch their felt piece onto the leather using wool yarn and a large eye needle. Their unique, individual stitches add more texture and personality to the wall hanging. Finally, a juniper branch was cleaned and sanded by a friend with all the right power tools.

The culmination was a large, colorful felt and leather wall hanging – a collaborative creation, made with love for the school auction.

That urge to make something…

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It’s that spark; the one that persists until you do something about it. That spark is what inspires me to purchase supplies for making something that I may not actually get around to for months. But the spark is compelling; and something about gathering the supplies keeps the inspiration from leaving too soon to act on it. Of course, I have plenty of supplies sitting in bins that were intended for various projects that I never got around to. Digging through those supplies can ignite the spark again, but if it sits too long it is very difficult for me to act on that spark. There is just too much on my plate already.

So the trick for me is to act on the spark as soon as I can. Recently, this meant suddenly diving into making very late at night when I swore I was exhausted and going to bed after getting my kids to sleep. That spark made me do it. The supplies were there in front of me on my work table. So I just started.

And about and hour later, I had two sets of felted earrings. The first set is made from simple, wet felted, gray alpaca wool balls that are strung onto bent jewelry headpins. The second set uses flat wet felt that is cut, hole punched, and strung onto a headpin. A piece of blue-gray kyanite anchors the headpin.

Although I have been making things my whole life, I have only recently begun to understand how my own creativity works. What sparks me and when do I act on it, or when do I let it go? What do you do when the spark is within you?

Structure and the heart…

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I’ve always considered myself to be spontaneous and flexible; a lover of change and newness. The only habit I’d claim was breaking them.

I have evolved in the last decade. And the change includes a great deal of love and appreciation for habits, structure and routine in my life. They create the mental and physical space within which creativity flourishes. Ironically, although I have been slow to adopt structure in my life, I have always appreciated structure in my making; from architecture and furniture to origami and geometric Himmeli.

Understanding the basic structure of something allows for elaboration and invention. Most Himmeli are based on the aggregation of triangles of different proportions. A 3D diamond gem-like shape is the simplest form. So creating a heart is just a matter of tying together a bunch of triangles – smaller ones on top for the humps, and longer ones for the point. For my Himmeli heart, I made tubes by rolling up old magazine pages, and then tied them together with silver floral wire. The final piece is almost 18 inches tall and is a beautiful adornment for our living room wall. I also made some smaller Himmeli with the leftover paper tubes.

For me, this Himmeli heart has become a symbol for the relationship between structure and creativity; that the spontaneity and flexibility I love and crave are best supported by a structure of routines and habits.

New Year’s Release

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Hello 2016. May we overcome our doubts and fears. May we see that we are good enough as we are. May we know that we are capable of wondrous things.

DIY Holidays

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Creating handmade cards, ornaments, decor, and gifts for the holidays is an ambitious undertaking every year. I won’t lie. It is much easier to go out and buy everything – where the biggest challenge is just choosing (and maybe being able to afford those choices.)

This year, my holiday making took a back seat to an important project; my first time creating a major presentation as an architect in years. It was difficult to shift gears into a mode as a professional with a deadline and responsibilities to a boss and a client. I spent several days floundering and feeling overwhelmed with the task. Big thanks to my former business partner for talking me off the ledge and reminding me what a concept proposal actually looks like. And more thanks to my family for dealing with my moodiness and my obsessive detail-oriented work ethic as I muscled through and created a successful presentation. It feels good to be working as an architect again.

So here it is, nine days before Christmas. I am usually mailing off cards and gift boxes of ornaments and cookies about now. Instead, I am posting these photos; a willow wreath adorned with felted wood balls, red and silver bells, crystals, and a large silver bow; a Himelli geometric ornament made from rolled metallic origami paper; a holiday card with an origami crane floating in a circle window.

Dear family and friends, I hope to get enough made in time. But just know the thought is there, and the effort is ongoing. Love and happiness to everyone this season.

 

Catching inspiration…

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The frequency and intensity of inspiration may vary from day to day, but I rarely am empty of ideas. And I am grateful for this flow. The challenge for me is to find time to attend to all of the ideas – which is, of course, impossible. If I am not already working on a project, a new idea becomes my next focus. Otherwise, I write them down as they come; recorded for some future date when I need inspiration.

About a month ago, I was hiking around Dillon Falls with my daughters and picked a single willow branch from the river’s edge. I’ve never worked with willow, but as I played with bending a twisting the branch, I was inspired to make a dream catcher. When we got home, I used hemp cord to wrap the branch into a circle-ish shape. And then life got in the way. A couple weeks later, I started weaving the dream catcher, adding wooden and hand felted beads at random intervals in the process. The weaving took several days; much longer than I anticipated. Life again required me to put the project aside.

I lost the flow. I’d stare at the dream catcher day after day and wonder how I would ever finish it. I had vague ideas, but nothing connected. Another week passed. Then, right before I had to leave for a day long gathering, inspiration struck. Worried that I would again lose the flow, I gathered all the materials together and photographed them in a pile. I needed to record my inspiration.

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And then again, life got in the way. Or maybe I just again lost the flow. It took several more days before I literally forced myself to act. Just one act on the dream weaver that would hopefully push me forward. I took the old sheets, ripped them into strips, and tied them onto the woven branch. Then I cut and tied lengths of  t-shirt yarn and wool yarn. The flow returned as I braided yarn. I decided to keep the colors of the dream catcher tail monochromatic. And when it was finished, I decided it was my “inspiration catcher;” for those ideas that I am not ready to use, but also not ready to release.

Doll Face…

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About 8 months ago, I created a set of wet felted nesting dolls; minimal, modern, matryoshka. I always knew I wanted to embroider faces on the dolls, but I kept avoiding the project. Embroidery requires an attention to detail and precision, and I am unpracticed in needlecraft. I was worried I’d mess up and ruin the nesting dolls. Avoidance was easier. The time has now come for me to face the uncertainty and discomfort.

Recently I’ve been giving much thought to what I do and how I do it. Unlike an artist who becomes an expert in a certain medium or method, I have always been a dabbler. Certainly, I have built up enough experience (not expertise) in using various materials and tools that I have developed a comfort in making almost anything; much like a multi-lingual person might feel comfortable learning yet another language. But this experience does not preclude me from occasional insecurities and doubts which boil down to the same basic mantra “I am not good enough.”

Which brings me back to the matryoshka. I didn’t feel I was skilled enough to add the faces. I tried to see them as finished in their minimal, faceless state. But that was just avoidance. They needed personality and detail. So I thought about those times when I feel successful working with unfamiliar materials or methods. And it occurred to me that the key is to “pay attention.” Amazing things can happen when you give all of your attention to one thing; focus in and let all else fall away. The skill you thought you lacked may blossom when you spend the time to look and act with care. So I took the blank felt dolls off the shelf and researched embroidery stitches on the internet. With a pencil, I lightly sketched the faces on each doll, and then just started stitching; slowly, carefully, trying to keep stitches as even as possible. And by simply allowing myself the time and space to pay attention to my work, I was able to create personalities for the matryoshka.

I encourage anyone who feels “I’m not creative” to think about those times when you make the time and space to pay attention. Our best creative thinking and doing occur at those times. I posit that creativity is less about the skill and more about the attention. My own making is proof of that.

 

Hand Felted Sleeve…

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Recently at the library, I saw an inspiring book of sewing projects called Urban Scandinavian Sewing by Kirstyn Cogan. As a practiced creative, inspiration and ideas are a constant flow; and as a tactile, visual person, browsing through books at the library is a perfect place to find new direction. (Of course I can spend unseemly amounts of time browsing on the internet as well.) Kirstyn’s book shares the how-to for a colorful felt mug cozy that I was inspired to replicate using handmade wet felted sheets of natural alpaca wool. I liked the design using two colors of felt and the positive/negative heart cutout wrapping the mug. But I had to return the book before I ever got around to trying. By the time I was ready to make the cozy, the book had three holds on it at the library.

Oh well, I thought. I will just have to figure out the construction based on memory. The design was a challenge; my handmade felt was thick and therefore did not extend around the mug’s circumference like my paper mockup. But I continued with what I had rather than scrapping and starting over; needle felting extensions to the heart and the brown base. Large stitches in wool yarn accentuate these added pieces. Kirtstyn’s design used a nice button closure with a second button as an accent.  Since my heavy stitching is such a strong accent, I chose to use snaps to maintain a more minimal design, and to prevent the heart from distorting over time with working the button.

The handmade alpaca wool felt has a nice warmth, weight and softness that add to the pleasure of sipping a cup of tea or coffee. This would make a great gift for the holidays. If you are so inspired, try your own version of a modern felt mug cozy, or go find a copy of Kirstyn’s book.