Magazines

They have finally arrived, my copies of "Studios" and "Gifts". I was not quite sure if I should order them. To be quite franc, neither of the first publications convinced me very much. But being quite addicted to books and magazines I couldn't resist after all.
So far I only had time to take some glimpses into the "Gifts" issue. I am glad that I ordered it again. This one is really, really good! It will keep me occupied with making presents for friends and family for the next year.

Autumn market

I am lucky to live in a very interesting tiny medieval town in Germany. There are the remains of an old castle on top of the hill. Every September there is a small market showing crafts like jewelery, felting, sculpture and some delicacies, too. This weekend the weather was absolutely beautiful. It seemed like summer had returned for a view days. So my husband and me enjoyed very much our small march up the hill and visited the stands. Since the weather is said to be the same tomorrow we will go there once again - I saw a necklace I liked and hope to convince my DH to buy it for me for my birthday.

Another YouTube-Video

I found this video in Nathalie's blog and just had to post it, too. I think it really mirrors what is important. It does not matter if your art is acknowledged, published, displayed in public and makes money. What is important is your art, the fact that you create, the way you show how you see the world. Sure it would be nice to see one's work hang in a museum or be able to pay the rent by it. But the fact that is doesn't and perhaps never will does not keep us from creating.

Spring 2009

I think it is awfully cold, especially in the evening. I am not yet used to fall temperatures. So here I am, sipping something hot, wearing a shawl, and looking at what French designers see us wearing next spring.... Boy, it gives me the shivers.

Artful blogging

I stumbled upon a Stampington magazine that deals with blogging. Artful blogging at that. This is real eye candy - very interesting people and beautiful photos. Reading this made me think about blogs.
What makes you read a blog - and even better, go there again and again? Is it the photos? Is it because the blogger has the same hobby as you have? Do you seek inspiration? Is a blog more successful when the blogger offers more information on his/her private life?
I know what makes me follow blogs, but what is your motivation? Comments are highly welcome, perhaps I can then adjust my blogging style to what readers would like to see and read about.

Wine tasting

My husband and I have been to a wine tasting. This took place in a rather exquisite surrounding in the bishop's palace in Worms. There were 89 wines to taste. Well, you can't taste that many. (This is rather like selecting a perfume. After some time everything smells alike.) You eat some pieces of bread in between when tasting the wine, but nevertheless you concentrate on what interests you most. We had a list with those wines describing their origin, year of bottling, residual sweetness and content of alcohol. I tasted about 14 wines. There were two very expensive bottles - the wines had won a trophy of rarity. Hmmmmm, for me it tasted like something they had salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic.

Sunny day

Today the sun is shining after - or so it seems - weeks of rain. It has turned so cold so quickly no one is used to it yet. This night we had our first frost. I hope our tomatoes will survive some more days and ripen a little more!
So I just took the opportunity to make some quick shots from those incredibly red berries that are shining in the sun. Who knows how long this will last.

Altered book

My altered book is finished. I managed to sew all four signatures into the original cover, though it was a tight fit. (Small wonder, there were 8 pages more to enclose.)
The inside of the back cover contains the last letter from my mother. She died in February. For Christmas she had stitched a small picture for me and added a personal note. This is contained in the envelope as well as the small wooden angle she had added, which I attached with a linen thread.




I gessoed the outside covers and applied paper from a vintage biology school book as well as some cutouts from a vintage French dictionary. After sewing the signatures in I added some colorful bows from hand dyed silk I bought at Etsy. I added a small looking glass for interest (but you can also decipher the very tiny script from the French dictionary with it).
One day I will give this to my first daughter. It was for her that my mother gave me the story book in the first place. I hope it will become a heirloom.
Now I will have to decide what to make for my second daughter - she should not be left out I think. I have a story book (although not from my mother) that I think I will alter for her.
Nothing for their brother - I think this is a kind of art men are not interested in. At least I come to this conclusion when I see his reactions to this kind of work. Or am I mistaken with this opinion?

Interview

On Tuesday I was interviewed by Beate Knappe, founder of "Kreativ Akademie". This was a very interesting experience. We have been in frequent contact in the internet and therefore know a little about each other. During the interview we recognized that we share quite a lot of interests and opinions. Beate is an immensely active person. Not only does she teach numerous classes (photography and embellishing among others) but she is also maintaining several blogs. Her work was recently published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors. You can hear the interview on radio creativo (in German).

Felted jacket

So this weekend the five pieces of felt were transformed into a jacket. I am rather pleased with the result. I'm still not convinced that red is exactly my color but it isn't as bad as I had thought it might be.
It was quite an experience to sew something made-to-measure. We sewed the whole jacket first using an inexpensive cotton fabric so that everything could be altered according to our wishes - longer sleeves, smaller waist, lowered hem - you name it. Naturally we took the paper cut home and I am thinking of sewing another jacket in a thinner cloth, perhaps in gray. It is amazing how this trial jacket hugs my body...

Birthday present

This is the present for my brother's 50th birthday. It is a set of 9 Zentangles, beautifully framed. (I mentioned the technique of Zentangle in one of my older posts. When I went to the framer he suggested to elevate the squares, much as with Rizzi's art. I readily agreed to that and I think it really enhances the whole design.

More personal pages

Even before starting my felting adventures I had several more personal pages for the altered book finished. I only now find the time to present them. For the back pages I did not use photos from our family but vintage photos. The theme of mother and daughter is a general one and by presenting other women and children I think it is more generalized. The photo showing that baby is a real beauty I bought at ebay - it dates from 1828! I don't know if it shows a boy or girl, but that doesn't really matter. The bracelet below is the original bracelet my daughter received upon birth. The poem which so hauntingly replays my own feelings at that time was written by Caroline Sheridan Norton(1808-1877), a Victorian writer and poet.
Actually the book is now bound and finished! It went together more smoothly than I had hoped for. Alas my camera which was seriously hurt when I fell over the thresh hold of a Scottish castle last year (gaping up into the second floor where only a fireplace in the wall showed there w a s a second floor) is at present all but cooperative. When I press the release button, the bottom of the camera opens and the batteries fall out! We will be making a visit to my parents this weekend and I hope that either my father or my brother will be able to fix this mess.

Felt

I just returned from a felting class with my favorite local teacher, Gabi Tisch. (Well, not exactly local, but she is living and teaching a mere 20 km from where I live.) This is the starting material - dyed silk. There is also some painted linen which will be a scarf to accompany the jacket that is to be stitched from the felted material.

The dyed silk was first layered with wool and afterwards with multicolor roving containing a little bit of silk, too.


Wetting, pressing with bubble foil and then felting rendered a beautiful and extremely lightweight felt that will give a very interesting jacket I think.

Felted brooch

I felted this brooch for a friend of mine who invited to a belated birthday party. Several weeks ago I made a similar brooch for myself but somehow forgot to make a photo and blog it (this will happen one of these days). These colors are my favorite - somehow I cannot help but use bright oranges in most of the things I create in form of accessories. Yellow is the color I really love most of all - but that is a difficult color to use, especially in everyday situations. Although come to think of it I bought a bright yellow linen top one of these days, perfect for the summer. However I would not have done so had not my DH and the shop owner insisted that it looked good on me.

Altered book

At present I am trying to decide on the order of the pages for this book. At first I considered putting the personal pages just in between. However, "Die Häschenschule" is constructed in a way that on one side there is the text, on the other side the according picture. It would be unwise to pull them apart. On the other hand, when I just add the personal pages to the front or back of the book, there is no real continuity. Any ideas out there?

Altered book continued

The altered book is coming along nicely. The longer I work on it, the more fun it is to add to the pages.
The personal pages are something other altogether. It hurts. My mother has been dead for over 23 years, and yet.... I wish she could see her grandchildren. (Although who knows, perhaps she does down from a cloud...) I wish I could go to her and show her what I am doing. I wish I could tell her "you were so right".... I wish that I could show her that now I understand what she meant when she told me things which at that time I just shrugged off.

Journey

Just returned from a trip to lake Constance. On our way we visited an outdoor museum showing a large number of old farmhouses. Imagine, they dismantle the houses, transport them to the museum and build them again there! I love museums of this kind where you can see how people were living and working in the past. Mind you, I would not have wanted to live in that time! Most probably would have died giving birth to our oldest daughter. And it was an extremely hard time for women. Not only were they expected to cook, tend to their garden, work in the field, rear the children, spin, weave and sew the family's clothes, they also had to wait hand and foot on their husband. Definitely nothing for me! (I hate gardening.)
Surprisingly these people very lovingly decorated even everyday items. Somehow they found the time to stitch a border onto a skirt, to paint their trunks and cupboards. I wonder how they managed to find the time for that.
In the museum they actually raise pigs and cattle, they cook in the kitchens (would hate that, too, everything is extremely dark, I constantly knocked my head because rooms are so low, there is no running water and the oven produces not only heat but stinks as well.) I managed to make a photo from a pair of horses dragging an awfully long trunk, although my camera at that time was constantly warning of a low battery status and thus shutting itself off.

An act of random kindness across the ocean

That is what Sue Bleiweiss called it. For me it was a total surprise and delight. Sue had made some beautiful books which she showed on her blog. I added a comment because I very much liked what was shown. (I have to say that I love all her books - that is why I took a class with her in order to learn how to make them myself.)Okay, back to our exchange via the internet. Sue wrote back to tell me, she would send me the book which I liked best. At first, I did not understand her correctly - she really meant to send it to me as a gift.
So have a look at what reached me today. I am still speechless. This book is so beautiful - the vintage look, the papers (old French letters!), the photos... I am in heaven.

Altered book continued

This project is coming along rather nicely. After my first inhibitions I now rather enjoy to doodle, stamp, paint, glue and write onto the pages.


I also started the first personal pages. The background was made by painting watercolor paper with gesso and acrylic paint in several layers. I do not have many photos from my mother, therefore actual photos are only on three pages. The other pages are made with copies from vintage photos.

A scare at ebay

Sometimes you get really nice surprises when bidding at ebay. One of these days I bought a book for just 1 € - seems nobody else wanted it. I just wanted it to tear the pages out for my collages. (Uuups, I hope none of my books heard this....)
This evening I had a real scare. Lesley Riley was offering several Dover books with interesting illustrations for just a couple of dollars. I really wanted these and therefore made my bid. It was only after having done so that I realized that shipping from the US to Germany would be nearly 50 $! (More than double the amount of my bidding) Somehow I had thought that the price had included shipment - stupid me! Those were some very anxious minutes I waited for someone else to outbid me. It did happen at last, but only at the last second - boy was I grateful!
So everybody take a good look when buying something at ebay - shipment might be an issue.