I’ve been saving the buttons for his eyes ( I only have 2) for 3 years. I started putting fabric aside for him about a year ago – bits of quilts and blankets, a tiny piece of threadbare russet velvet from a crazy quilt and linings from several garments. And just lately I found the last thing I needed, the heavy dark brown cotton his body is made from, lining an antique walking skirt. I’m hoping to finish him today.
I visited the Fortuny showroom earlier this week to talk with Mickey Riad ( creative director) about creating some of my creatures with Fortuny fabrics. I think it ‘s a fabulous idea and I’m looking forward to experimenting. We talked about bats and spiders and owls and maybe some new things inspired by the exquisite patterns and colors as well as the history.
Like the fabrics, the new showroom in the D and D building is almost overwhelmingly beautiful. I took a couple photos but they don’t do it justice – you can see much more here and on the Fortuny blog.
I’m excited about the possibilities and I’ll share progress photos with you when I get started.
P.S. – You’ll find the green bustled spider crawling among the bolts of glorious fabric in the first photo here.
Cover – ana serrano – wonderful.
Juxtapoz Handmade is in stores now.
I’m flattered to be included with so many of my favorite artists :
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Souther Salazar, Saelee Oh and so many others. I love the book. Love it.
Most things start with a pile – the two little piles above are going to be ballerinas.
And patterns usually start with a drawing.
A hopeful sort of drawing followed by lots and lots of experimenting – making and taking apart, adjusting – over and over and over again. If nothing else I am persistent. Relentless might be a better word.
My plan is to end up with a little perching owl who might like to be a passenger in a paper mache ship.
I made halloween costumes for a couple of my smaller friends this weekend, a humpback whale and a starfish. It was a sewing marathon, seat of the pants sort of effort – fast – no do-overs, no obsessing ( a little obsessing ), good spontaneous fun for my typically compulsive and too tightly wound self.
And the fabulous little fellows who wore them brought them to life in ways I could never have imagine.
( there is a video of the humpback whale on the move here)
There are spiders and lots of new things in the shop.
Estella (bride of pip) is made from the edwardian ball gown. And Melchior has fancy lining in his feathers.
Happy Halloween!
She is silvery. I feel like there should be a rule that if I get a little fabric bird to balance on her glittery toes I should be able to take the rest of the day off. But it doesn’t work that way. Today will be long and I’m making a big mess ( you can see a bit of it here) getting things finished and photographed for the shop. You can join the mailing list or check back here if you’d like to know when new things are available.
They are mostly harmless though and just curious about you.
This girl is quite timid and you mustn’t startle her.
Or she’ll run off and disappear into a dark corner. That’s when you have to worry, when you can’t see them……..
There has been huge improvement lately in the spider making process and I’m making a lot of them. They are still pretty labor intensive but not nearly as much as before.
The friendly spiders ( most of them are friendly) will be in the shop next week with a lot of other things I’m working on now, if you are on my mailing list I will let you know when the new things are available.
This summer, at Echo Lake, a troupe of birds attempted a theatrical presentation: the cautionary tale of a little bird in a red cloak and a bad wolf. Selected scenes:
And everyone lived happily ever after.
Some owls in progress with their horns in curlers; I’ll finish and name them over the weekend. And a havisham spider, the first thing made from the ghostly ballgown .
Have a lovely weekend and if you are in NYC checkout Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield – it’s wonderful and this is the last weekend.
This edwardian ballgown arrived recently – it’s incredibly fragile and delicate – much of it disintegrates when I touch it but there is still tons of usable and inspiring stuff. I spent the better part of a day photographing and examining it and then taking it apart. I found a label in the sleeve that says B. Altman & Co. NEW YORK; it is one of my all time favorite garments and reminds me of the very first antique gown, or really pieces of a gown, that inspired my very first birds. I didn’t photograph the gown, I so wish I had, but I still have two of the birds and I’ll show them to you soon.
I’m making a havisham spider from it today, if I finish it before the light goes I’ll post another picture.
