Thanks to everyone who turned up at last weeks shop update ( part 2 later this week) -things went quickly and if you were disappointed there will be more very soon, I’m already working on several new owls and spiders and bats including another bad owl.
He’s made from the backing of an antique crazy quilt I’ll show you later on and bits of several garments.
I’ve gotten several really old black garments lately.
I think the lace cuffs are going to be spiders.
The owls above and some other new things are available here now.
Between filling orders and new things I ‘ve made a crazy amount of stuff over the last few weeks and at the moment I’m kind of spent (I’m starting to think my boss is an a**hole….) so in the interest of not losing my marbles , I decided to do the this shop update in 2 sections – today there are owls, spiders bats and ballerinas. Next week will be boats, ships, small things and birds, a couple ships are previewed below and I’ll post other previews here soon.
This is the weaver girl, she has sails made from the underskirt of a vintage wedding gown and patched with Japanese scraps from Sri Threads.
And progress on another owl.
The owl and the ship will both be in the shop soon. ( please join my mailing list of you would like to be notified when new things are available in the shop)
“all the world’s a stage”
One of the first really old things I bought for making things was a purple silk bodice that was in wretched condition. The silk itself was mostly unusable- it disintegrates when you touch it .
I was originally interested in the buttons, the fantastic buttons, flinty piercing eyes, they inspired my first owl, but when I began to take it apart I found a variety of tiny prints and lovely indigo , hidden and preserved in the foundation. They ‘re mostly gone now – used in owl ears and beaks and spiders but yesterday I found one more piece of my favorite print inside a cuff. I think it’s enough for a beak for the fellow in the background and maybe a spider too.
It is snowing like nobody’s business in Park Slope.
A merry wobbler tucked into a little wool nest.
Part of tree costume for someone little.
And an owl costume made of old sweaters for another little fellow.
They were such fun to make.
Motiveless malignity.
And something else: Over the summer I took Susan Sato’s “One Patch Scrap Quilt” class at Fiber Notion here in Park Slope. The class was great, I had zero experience with traditional quilting techniques and I learned a ton, stuff that I use in my other hand sewing too. The class is being offered again beginning November 4th. You can contact Kat at Fiber Notion for more info.
(indigo one patch cushion cover – in progress)
update 10/15:
I’ve abandoned the plan to put new things in the shop this week, instead it will be the beginning of next week. I was photographing things yesterday and this morning and saw lots of stuff I felt iffy about or didn’t like. I was particularly disappointed in the indigo owl, among other things his beak was completely wrong so I’m re -working it now and already like it much, much better.
I’ll post a couple more progress photos here later today.
Thanks for giving Chillingworth such a warm reception! I’m working on a new indigo owl now for next week’s shop update. The Japanese scraps are courtesey of Stephen Szczepanek. This owl is of particularly robust figure.
Some other work in progress:
And a couple things for the new “small things” section of the shop. A set of tiny office supplies in matchboxes and a pensive little cherub. I got the cherub an the Park slope Flea market – it washed up on Plum Beach in Brooklyn.
“A striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office.”
Chillingworth, finally finished. I’m going to keep making things from the antique bodice he’s constructed from until there is nothing left at all.
I started working on an owl on Saturday made from this ruined antique bodice and someone very wicked is emerging.
I fully intended to make another scoundrel but this guy is so scoundrelly he makes the other look like a pussycat – he kind of surprised me. I already know who he is, a really villainous character, and I’ll tell you his name as soon as he is finished. I also got a massive cold this weekend and spent an insane amount of time staring into the internet. I came upon 2 honest, insightful posts about making stuff and selling it, one is by future girl and that led me to another by dudecraft, both talk about money, creativity and motivation.
