I am Sensing that Sometimes I Lose my Sensibilities

I started making this Snug, the last of my own invention, but never finished her due to demands in other areas. A few years and a couple of house moves later, I rediscovered her unassembled form in one of the numerous boxes I was unpacking in my work room.

For some reason, the task of completion which had eluded me before came to me in a flurry of activity. I knitted some extra pieces, I sewed, I beaded and I added buttons. In a snap she was finished and ready for market.

When it came to writing her back story I think I was right in the middle of a (slightly obsessive) Sense and Sensibility phase. Whenever I am a little run down or comfort seeking I generally turn to Ang Lee’s excellent film adaption of Sense and Sensibility. It is written by Emma Thompson, whom I adore and it has all the right components to get me in a better mood.

I think this time, with all the moving, unpacking and upheaval, I was looking for some extra comfort so I had listened to the unabridged audio book read by Juliet Stevenson and also had looked at the BBC mini series.

That is A LOT of Sense and Sensibility.

There can be an obsessive part to my personality, I can freely admit it. I cling to the fact that I obsessively read and observe classic literature rather than obsessively take drugs or count the tiles in my bathroom. Each to their own, I guess! 

Anyway…….

  

I decided that this snug bore a resemblance in temperament to Mrs. Jennings, the Dashwoods neighbours interfering mother-in-law. I gave her all of her qualities and also her surname- This is Juniper Jennings. She is one of my favourite characters in the book and I hoped to honour her with this tea cosy. I can be quite cheesy and this is some top quality stinky cheese. Obsessive and cheesy, man, what a catch I turned out to be!

Ode to All the Late Bloomers

I am coming to the end of the cosies I made from my imagination. This is Dotty Dandelion and she is a faerie inspired Snug. I gave her round soft pink cheeks which I think make her look like she is always blushing. The colouring I choose while knitting her is very strong and a little unconventional so I decided to make her a bit magical to go along with the weirdness.

I made her small felt wings and decorated them with flower shaped sequins and beads. I also made her a felt garland for her head which was decorated in a similar fashion. I was going for a woodland nymph feel.

I made Dotty at the same time as the rest of the cosies I have already shown you but for some reason she didn’t sell for ages. Being a self-employed artist can be hard that way sometimes. I have made pieces that I feel are attractive or well put together but they just don’t seem to capture the imagination of the customer. They sit out on the table at a craft market and things sell all around them but they don’t ever seem to get chosen. It can be a little sad packing them away at the end of the evening knowing that for another week they have not gone to a new home.

Then one day, generally when you have given up any hope of selling something, the right person will come to the table and admire it. Then you hear the magic words “I’ll take this one”. I was so happy the day I sold Dotty, her time had arrived. Sometimes it is just about having some patience and waiting for the right person for the right piece.

I have found there are some difficulties living in a small country like Ireland. Craft markets can be few and far between when you do not drive a car and you are living on a budget. Attendance can be poor and tables expensive. Selling one of a kind hand-made item is always a risk. You can make a large investment with your time and resources without any guarantee of a return. You will never be every body’s cup of tea and some days the mood of the crowd is not in your favour. I have had days when I have sold nearly everything on my table and days when I have struggled to make a five euro sale.

I’m still figuring out the best way to go to market (whether that is the local craft fair or a market place in cyber space). It’s one of those “live and learn” situations I think. I feel its one of those things you never really stop learning because the work never stops changing. I have gathered plenty of experience though, some I would keep and some I might give back. I have definitely learned from all of it.

Let’s Wrap This Thing Up!

This is Ms. Blossom Sparks. She is a sister to Sateen Damask. They were made at the same time and using similar techniques. Blossom has a Venetian style mask, she looks like she is about to head off to a masquerade ball at any moment.

This tea cosy was given as a gift to someone for a very important birthday. I take a lot of time with the presentation of my work and how it is parcelled and packaged. I want the receiving of a piece of my art work to be an experience and I want that experience to begin the minute it is placed in the hands of the recipient.

As I have already said, I love the classics like Jane Austen’s novels and also old children’s movies like Pollyanna. I love when Pollyanna’s aunt takes her clothes shopping when she first arrives to town. She is followed from the shop to their carriage by many shop assistants carrying many packages and boxes. They are of all shapes and sizes and I imagine the contents are all wrapped in tissue paper. I always want my work to feel like it is a “real” present. “Real” present meaning presents that look like they are sitting under a candle lit Christmas tree in a Victorian children’s book illustration. I want them to be covered in red satin ribbon or wrapped in stiff brown paper and tied up with string.

Altogether now…..

“…Brown paper packaged tied up with string,

These are a few of my favourite things…”

You really can’t beat singing nuns to get the sentiment across, can you?!

All of that which I have just described, combined with a life-long lesson in delayed gratification from my dear old dad, has led me to wrap everything in tissue paper with handmade labels in beautiful boxes tied up with ribbon and topped off with bouquets of dried flowers that I dried at home myself.

Too much??

NEVER!!!

Every time I hand over a piece and the wrapping feels like a present in and of itself I feel like I have done my job well. The amount of times I have heard “I don’t want to open it, it will ruin the wrapping” is now verging on the comical. I really do believe that everyone, at least once in their lives, deserves a present that looks like it came out of a picture book.   

The Show Has Come To Town

Happy New Year!

In contrast to yesterdays post I wanted to share with you a Snug that is all about exuberance, glamour and pizzazz. I’ll start as I mean to go on and this Snug demonstrates excitement, drama and flare. 2013 here I come!

This is Sateen Damask. She is directly inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. I adored this movie when I saw it. It is visually stunning and the director’s attention to detail is out of this world. I am a massive geeky fan of all Mr. Luhrmann’s films but there is something very special about this one. (I’ll just ignore the Greek tragedy ending for now and focus on its lighter qualities.)

My Sateen is engulfed in hand-knitted flowers. Each one was individually knitted and sewn into place. I had found a great six petal flower pattern in a book and experimented endlessly with needle size, wool thickness and texture, and the number of petals to come up with several different looks. I knit flower after flower and sometimes I thought I would never finish. But I have to say I think the effort was really worth it in the end. I sewed beads and jewels into the centre of each one, like hidden treasure to be found in the clusters of soft petals.

I had found the eyes I used in a haberdashery. I loved that they had long eye-lashes. The jewelled head-piece that sits on her forehead had been donated to me (I’ll fill you in on these donations at a later date.). If you have seen the film you will know that there are amazing Indian inspired costumes and this is where I got her look from. She has a single large orange-red feather to add glamour and drama.

There is a lot of work gone into this Snug. She is another flight of fancy of mine (probably gone a little too far!). But I do like to believe there is room for some over-the-top, thoroughly decorative bits of whimsy in the world. I prefer to live on a planet where the tea cosies are decked out in jewels, feathers and flowers.

I hope your 2013 is getting off to an exciting start. I hope you are surrounded by things that are useful but also visually interesting, stimulating and also just a little bit silly.

Welcome to the Dark Side

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a happy and festive holiday. 2012 is swiftly drawing to a close and I can’t pretend that I won’t be glad to see the back of it. I don’t know about you, but personally, it has been month after month of challenge after challenge.

So in the name of the shadow side, the dark night of the soul and the pesky trials and tribulations of the daily grind this is Scorch Scarum. None of the Snugs that I have made to date have been actually bad, but this Snug is the closest to mischievous and moody that I have gotten.

 I eventually wanted to make an angelic counterpart to Scorch, but with a steady flow of commissions to complete, I never got around to it. I liked the idea of those angel/demon spectres that used to appear on the shoulders of cartoon characters when I was growing up. They were always trying to influence the protagonist with their wilful mutterings. One day I might get to make the angel but for now we will have to deal with the demon.

I worked hard on the embroidery and beading on the wings and tail. The wings are shaped like bats wings and are enhanced with shiny sequins, black beads and a button. I followed the black through with a metallic shade of seed bead on the tail. I generally use quite a few colours on any Snug but I went for duo-tones of red and black to give a strong visual that can’t be misunderstood. She is fiery, passionate, dark and brooding.

I honour the dark side tonight. Thank you for all your mixed blessings and lessons. But I am also very willing to let you go and make some room to usher in 2013. May it be full of laughter, happiness and excitement (of the good variety!).  

I’m So Sleepy I Can’t Think of a Snappy Title

So, it is four days before Christmas, the world is supposed to end today and I’m wrecked from the exertion of trying to prepare for both. That seems counter-intuitive now that I think about it, but as my brain currently resembles mush, I’m not really surprised. I should really have picked one event and committed to it.

There is a tiny part of me that was thinking if the world really ends today I would be partially relieved because it would mean I could lie down. I was talking about this with a dear friend of mine last night and she agreed with me. A rest would be quite nice. But as I hear it is hard to recover from death and world destruction I’m glad I’m still walking around, even if I do have mince meat brains.

I have very much wandered off the subject of this here blog. Back to the work! I’m going to let myself off the hook today and just share with you the photographs for this Snug, Chantilly Tarlatan and also the piece I wrote for her label. She wasn't made with anyone in mind; she is of the same ilk as Rococo before her.

“This is Chantilly Tarlatan. She is an old school Southern beauty.

She favours elegance, good manners and lazy summer

days above all things. Chantilly prides herself on her appearance

 and will not be seen until every bow,

bead and bustle are in place. She believes one must always be a lady.

 “So remember girls, if you have to be mean, at least

do it with a smile”, she can be heard remaking to her

avid followers of etiquette.

 Nothing gets past this Belle of the Bayou. Her wise-cracking 

wit and wily observations can leave your

 head spinning for days.” 

Practically Beautiful

I am a self-professed Jane Austen nerd. Whether it is her written word or the many film and television adaptations; I love it all. I think there is something in me that longs for that time (though I do think I could do without the whole oppression of women thing). I think that is why so many of my Snugs have feathered hats, lacy decoration and over-the-top embellishment.

I love the idea of a group of women sitting around together, making beautiful things; hats, screens, dresses, pictures, handkerchiefs. I know logically and rationally that a lot of those women pursued such employment because it was respectable; it showed their skills and talents to prospective husbands and mostly, they were not allowed to do anything else.

 But I do sometimes wonder and think about the women at that time that really enjoyed being creative in this way. I think of all those unnamed artists, whose work decorated their own homes but were never to be seen in a grand exhibition or never to be sold so that they could be financially independent.

I love all that can be created with a needle and thread. They can be practical, useful items like clothes and embroidered sheets, but also great intricate tapestries and small hand made dolls. So many people have precious items like hand-monogrammed lace handkerchief or an embroidered patch on an old pair of jeans. These are beautiful, simple things lovingly made special by the touch of a hand with a needle and thread.