Mixed Media Project

Now I'm well aware that you guys, my family and friends, are probably looking at the time stamp on this one and going, "Ruthie you dear goober...what on EARTH are you doing up and writing a blog at this time of the morning?" Well, at least some variation of that. The answer is two fold. 1. I've been sleeping weird do to meds anyway. 2. I spent about an hour and a half lying in bed developing this idea in my head and I simply had to get up and draw it out, and then write it out! There will be no rest until I do :P I actually got up and drew it out and then laid in bed for another half an hour or so developing it more in my head!

So what are you looking at? This is going to be a mixed-media piece that's based in cross-stitch. I'll go through and explain what I'm thinking for each of the elements. I did try to label each of the elements so you can decipher my drawings, but you'll need more than that to really know what I'm thinking!

~ First: This will be done on cross-stitch fabric. I don't know what count yet...I'll figure that out as I evaluate the project more. I thought about doing embroidery, but I just don't have the talent/experience for that and I DO have the experience to do this in cross stitch!

~ "To Live is to Create." I love this quote! This is where it all started. I was originally going to do a book mark with the words and then maybe a butterfly (and I still might) but then I started thinking about how it was more appropriate to include crafty type things with this quote. I thought of a couple of elements and next thing I knew it was starting to get too big to be a book mark. That's when my brain jumped to this multi-media piece. (I should mention here that I've always been fascinated with multi-media). For the main quote it will be cross stitch. I'm thinking the words "To," "is," and "to," will be done in a base color like black, and then "Live" and "Create" will be in a rich, vibrant color.

~ Butterfly - Since this was part of my original idea, and I love butterfly's, I wanted to include it! Besides, I've always thought that the butterfly is one of God's most creative and beautiful creations :) I also like how it helps to space the words out.

~ Journal - I'll make this out of construction paper or scrap booking paper. I'll make 3 rectangles (different colors?) and glue them together at the center seam using a toothpick to apply the glue. I'm toying with the idea of using a gel pen to write inspirational words on the inside pages like, "Live, Love, Laugh, Dream, Dance, Dare." Then I'll stitch along the back seam to attach it to the fabric and to create a finished journal look. This is to represent both paper crafts and writing.

~ Flowers - These are to represent all sorts of growing things and the art involved in nourishing them. Don't know what type of flowers I'll use, but something basic :P These will be done in cross stitch.

~ Quilt - I'm going to hand quilt a couple pieces of fabric (no actually batting) together in a 2"x1" square. I'll have a single color for the fabric and then use some fancy thread to quilt it. Tack it down on the corners to the fabric maybe? This is to represent all of the sewing crafts :)

~ Vase - Can't forget the clay and ceramic artists! I'm hoping to have one of my etsy friends to make a half vase with little holes along the edges so I can tack it down. I have a friend here in town who's a clay artist so she's first on my list :)

~ Easel - I'll do the easel in cross stitch and then I'm planning on getting some fabric paint and using toothpicks to make a small impressionist painting out of two or three colors. Yay for all the artists who draw and paint! NOT my specialty - hence - the impressionism :P

~ Bracelet - This IS my specialty :) I'll do bead embroidering to make a band of sorts. I'm thinking I'll put either a very small dichroic cab or a lampwork bead in the center to represent the glass artists. The majority of the bracelet will be completely sewn onto the fabric, but I'm thinking the toggle and the loop that would go around it will be "popping off" of the fabric to add to the 3d effects being created in this piece.

~ Baby Photo and Frame - Having children and raising them is a form of creation as far as I'm concerned! I'm hoping that my brother will let me use a picture of his twin boys. I'll probably get some small pieces of balsa wood to make a small frame, glue the picture to the frame, and then tack the frame down.

~ Guitar - I've always wanted to play guitar so I figured it's the best instrument to use to represent the musical arts! This one will be another cross stitch piece.

~ I'm going to put a plain backing on it and frame it with the same hoop that I make it on. That will add to the crafty/kitschy look. I'm thinking add the backing, tack it down to the back of the hoop using first glue and then some staples to secure it. It's probably going to take two sets of hands to glue it right....and maybe some clothes pins to hold it while it's drying... The outer piece of the hoops I'm going to wrap in ribbon (probably purple) then I'll use the fastener for the hoop to create a ribbon hanger for it and cover it up with a bow or something like that.

I plan on using blues, purples, and greens in jewel tones for the projects (my favorites!) I'll probably put it up for sale, but I'm making it more for me and I'll hang it in my crafty area until it sells, or never sells. At the very least, it'll be a great show piece!

I have a lot of projects that really need to come first, and my bad wrist is acting up, so I don't expect to complete this for at least 6 months. It should take me that long to find the time to do the actual design and assemble all the pieces and do all the cross stitch.

My plan is to see if I can find paper online that is the actual size of cross stitch squares to help me to do the design work. Or maybe they'll carry it in the craft store. There have to be some good tools to do stuff like this. I can use graph paper or my bead program to create a lot of things, but it will be much simpler to create the elements to size since this is as complicated as it is. Then I can create a representation of each element, put some sticky tape on the back, and move the elements around until I'm happy with it. If anyone knows where to find the right type of paper for that, let me know!

Also - if anyone can think of any really important creative things that I should be representing - please give me your ideas!

ACK! I just realized I missed the fiber arts! Like crochet or knitting. Hmmm....I'll make a note that I need to figure out how I want to include those... 

To Live is to Create

Pink Delight Bracelet

I ran across this quote by Bruce Lee of all people and had to share it!

"To Live is to Create - 

To live is to express, and to express you have to create.

Creation is never merely repetition.

To live is to express oneself freely in creation."

~ Bruce Lee

Crafty ADD #33

Wow - I've really missed doing my crafty ADD updates! Of course, I've really missed crafting too. My migraines have kept me from doing very much of it lately. *sigh* I actually have something to share with you though, so here it is!

Crochet

This actually is NOT the project I was planning on working on. Last market I made it too I sold 2 out of my 5 book marks. So I really need to make some right? Well I designed a vampire one that I'm really excited about, but forgot to factor how big it would be based on what sized thread count I used. Um yah. WAY to big with the thread count I have. So I'm working on this one (It'll eventually say "Beach Read") until I can get a smaller thread count. After all I need more than one book mark! LOL

Jewelry

I'm making a second hair piece! Very excited about that :) This one is going much easier because I can do the whole thing in larger sized beads. So it'll actually be worth what I'm charging for it instead of a lot more :P

And I know that's a bad picture, but I made myself a toe ring! I just had a really hard time taking the pic. I love it though! I made it with stretchy cord, some glue to make sure the knot holds, a millifiori center bead, and size 8 seed beads. I made it both because I love toe rings and I haven't had one in a long time, and because I want to start making some rings (or toe rings!) out of stretchy cord and I wanted to test out how durable they are. I'll know more soon!

One Day at a Time

I really do hope that I'll get back into a "normal" one of these days. This last week has been one of my worst weeks ever with migraines. I've had severe migraines for a long time, but I've never had this many acute episodes all together before. I've been to ER twice now and I'm running on narcotics. Really frustrating. Talking to doctors more next week and hoping we'll come up with more that we can do to stop these. In the mean time...

I haven't been getting much done at all crafty-wise lately. I've gotten some writing done (you can hear me talk about that at my jedi blog) but that's about it. I did get a pattern designed earlier this week though! Yay! It's going to double as both a book mark and a bead woven bracelet. Really excited about that because it's a vampire themed piece and I figure that's likely to sell right now with all the vampire hype going around. Well, more likely to sell than my other pieces maybe? We'll see.

I'm also working on a new commission right now that's similar to this one. It's actually for the ladies daughter! I'd take a picture and show you where it's at in progress, but I'm at my parents house doing laundry and I don't have my camera with me.

Hey - I guess blogging is a start at getting back to normal right? Now if I can do it tomorrow...

A Fun Commission

One of the best parts of starting out the market season, was that I got a unique (for me) commission the very first day I attended! One of the other market vendors wanted a hair piece to cover her bun. So I got to work!

It was a long process getting this made. First I found the beads, then I tracked down the write needle and some stretchy cord for beading, and then I started playing! I quickly realized that the cord wouldn't go through the smaller beads, so I went back to the bead store but they didn't have any good pinks in the larger size. So I decided to do the top part in thread (double sown to reinforce), and the sides in stretchy cord.

I also tapered in the sides making them smaller and smaller so that it would grip around the bottom of the bun. She might still need to use some bobby pins, but I wanted it to be as secure as possible on it's own.

I had to take a last shot of it with my hand in it (I don't have enough hair!) to show the 3d effect. I love how it turned out - and the best part is - she did too! Woohoo! AND she ordered one in different colors for her daughter :) Time to cracking on that :)

Market Yesterday!

Yesterday I was back at the Battle Ground Saturday Market. It was good to be back! I missed the last day that I was supposed to work because of migraines, which is the same reason I've been missing so much on-line. Good news is that we're starting a new therapy for the migraines so hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon! I'll post about it on my other blog and leave you guys the link :)

Anyway, it was a slow day yesterday. We've been having terrible weather around here and it was the first sunny day in awhile! Lisa (another vendor) and I are guessing that people were too excited to finally be able to work outside to want to go shopping. It's also the weekend of the Rose Festival down in Portland, so we probably lost a lot of customers to the parade and the festivities down there.

Having said that, it was still a decent enough day. I was definitely hoping to do better, but I did good enough that I'm not going to complain. The thing that saved me was that I had a commission that I got paid for! It was a lot of fun to work on and I'll be posting about it in the next day or two.

This was the first time the hubby has ever spent the day at the market with me. He ended up pretty bored, but he handled it a lot better than I thought he would! (go baby!) and he even came up with several ideas to help me improve my display which was great :)