Sharing Love

Happy Day of Lovin' Everyone…

 

Hearts-knitted-gold-red

Being grateful for love received and always, ah, always trying my best to give as good as I get:

Romantic Love

Motherly Love

Friendship Love

Platonic Love

Sexy Love

Nourising Love

Neighbourly Love

Creative Love

Natural Love

Silly Love

Happy Love

Bittersweet Love

Unrequited Love

Animal Love

 

Filling my life and the world with Love. Today it's easy, the rest of the year working damn hard at it….

        "Wer nehmen mehr als Geben liebt, verkennt was Sinn dem Leben gibt"

(Text on a Gingerbread heart I received as a child. Probably not for Valentines' Day, as it was not a celebrated day in Switzerland during my upbringing. Means roughly: If you prefer to take rather than give, you miss the purpose of Life.)

 

Little hearts knitted from free pattern: (please check back later, I can't find the link right now, but will keep looking)

Here is the pattern from Berroco

Felting around

Amongst my friends it is a well known, although not much talked about secret, that I am a bookaholic. I've recovered sometimes over the years, then purchased one book and bingo, back on a binge. The good thing is that because of my profession as an artist these are a business expense. Especially, since my books are primarily of the reference type, with lots of pictures and eye-candy. To give you a sampling of the categories, there is a whole shelf of japanese crafting books, a VERY large variety of Waldorf crafting and pedagogical books, and then there is the shelf of felting books.

This large library of felting books was started when I was in art school in the 90's and since then every book published and deemed worthy by me was added. All with the intention that I wanted to study felting. There have been some workshops over the years. For Example, circa '96 with Joan Livingstone at the Harbourfront Centre Craft Studio, followed by explorations in my own studio. I was always fascinated with felting because it gave me very similar effects to paper making (my main study during the art school years), except without the 10,000 dollars of investment into a Hollander beater and a press. It's so wonderfully simple, take sheep wool, comb it, align it, add some soap and warm water and elbow grease, and WOW! there it is.

My art career however had a mind of its own and took of into the direction of mixed media fine art. Once I started working with Resin I have not been able to do any textile work in the studio to keep the space as dust free as possible. Resin acts like a magnet to any dust that floats by.

Yet felt remained on my mind so much that in 2008 I ordered a large amount of felting fibre to be shipped to Switzerland, so that I could pick it up during a visit and bring it back. The cost of the extra suitcase being cheaper than shipping it to Canada. Summers where going to be for felting and since we have a wonderful covered back porch, that was what I would do.. Spend one day a week outside felting. I now have to announce that it is officially 2011, I have yet another order of wool that I brought back from Switzerland last year, and there was only one morning during the summer spent felting with a friend. The wool is downstairs and well.. not getting turned into felt. There are about 10 kg's of wool or over 20 lbs. 

But there is light… During my visit to the old home country last year I had the wonderful pleasure of taking a workshop with Christa Heiz in her wonderful studio. I spent 3 days felting with her and another student, while Huxley attended the public Kindergarten. Working with Christa was so inspiring. I managed to make a lovely bag, a sculptural piece and a play structure for Huxley's Playmobil, as well as a flower and a ring. 

Felted-swiss-bag2

Felted, waiting to have the handle part cut out

Felted-swiss-bag
Finished bag drying in shape

It was with the inspiration of these smaller items, that I threw all caution into the wind last week and while I was preparing the next collection of abstract pieces that I did some felting at the studio. I am so inspired and think that I might now be able to do more regular work. 

Felted-flower-1

Felted-flower-2

Felted-flower-3

The concept of felting these flowers was taken from one of my felting books in German, however, I spent quite some time planning the laying out of the fibres, i.e. colour sequences. Also the petals are cut by my own design, not based on the instructions. 

Felted-puppy-1

Felted-puppy-2

This puppy finger puppet was wet-felted and the instructions are based on a few different books. It was going to be a mouse, then turned into a puppy. The basic shape is wet felted, the eyes, nose and mouth is needle felted on. Very delicate work, yet so satisfying.

Felted-vessel-cross-1

Felted-vessel-cross-2
This boat-shaped vessel was created from a free-form resist. I feel a connection to this form, it is one of my internal symbols. I did not have a specific purpose in mind, and I think this might need to become a series of pieces.

 

Some of my future felted items will end up for sale through the Olive Sparrow. This has been intended all along, since it's business tag line is "Good handmade Goods". Any feedback on these tentative steps toward felted goodies would be much appreciated. 

PS: there has also been a lot of doll-hat knitting going on, textile studio clean-up and set-up and a new camera is now mine.. with the forecast for sunshine later this week, the opening of my Etsy store is coming into close sight.

 

Every Child’s Right

After a telephone call from a dear friend of mine, informing me that there are some wondrous frozen waves down in the Beach(es) here in Toronto, it only took a moment's thinking to decide that it was something that I had to show Huxley.

This was what we found:

Beach-feb2-aa

Beach-feb2-a

Beach-feb2-c
Beach-feb2-d

Beach-feb2-h

Beach-feb2-j 

 

 

Then this is what Huxley did.

Beach-feb2-e

Beach-feb2-f

Beach-feb2-g

 

Beach-feb2-k

Beach-feb2-l

We where there from about 4:30 pm until 5:45 pm. There was one other dad with two little ones (probably about 3 and 4 years old), some adults and with/out dogs. Am I strange to think it odd that the beach wasn't crowded with parents and children trying to see this transformed beach? I am not judging others, I know that for many people we probably under-book Huxley with after-school activities. 

When I first told Huxley that we would go to see the ice-waves, he wasn't excited, he actually asked me if instead we could go skating. I shared with him my last experience of this phenomenon was about 23 years ago, during my first winter here in Toronto. He didn't say much, except to ask if we would be able to touch the waves. I said we would have to see how safe it was. 

Immediately upon our arrival on the beach he was mesmerized. My little boy that can hardly contain himself and has words on his lips almost constantly was overcome with a deep quiet and solace. He was awed, so was I. The beauty of this landscape, has something outerwordly to it. Huxley became one with it, and yet he let me lead (another thing that his strong personality doesn't often grant me). 

Living in this big city, yet reading your many blogs and watching your children grow up close to the land often has me wistful. I feel that I am not giving Huxley enough of what he needs. It is a real effort to muster up the energy on a weekday to zoom around after school. 3:30 is when school is out, dinner should be by 6, so including cooking time of about 1 hour, that means we have but one-and-a-half hours to do something meaningful. Generally I have been working all day at the studio and am looking forward to just coming home, making him a snack, sitting down in front of the computer and quickly checking my e-mail to see if there is anything business related that needs tending too before the end of the day. All to often, this quick time at the computer turns into that precious hour and a half and I begin cooking dinner guilty of not having given that time to him. 

Today I feel that I have made up for some of these days, and am also inspired of trying to think of more little outings like this. I think it is his right, as it should be all children's rights to experience the natural world around them at all times during the year, especially when Mother Nature has given us a particularly wonderful gift — like frozen waves.

Have you been outside in nature today? What did it take for you to make it happen? I would love to hear from you

On becoming….

Like so many other doll makers, Juliana from Fröken Skicklig has left a mark in my life. I am writing this post to add to the conversation about becoming a doll artist, crafter, artist, creator in one's own right. I feel prompted to do this after reading Fabiola from Fig and Me's article about copyright (I started by commenting on her blog, then realized that what I have to say would probably over-extend my welcome as a commentator (grin)…) Putting it all down here has made it even more wordy… 

Many years ago I used to keep a massive amount of magazine clippings with visual ideas and craft instructions. I had lugged a stack of 3-ring binder's from my home country of Switzerland all the way over to Canada. They provided me with a safety net of ideas and inspiration. One day a very dear friend of mine said: "Oh, I don't keep anything like that, I have my own ideas." That comment has stayed with me even though I sadly lost touch with the friend. I make the main part of my living as a visual artist, mixed-media fine art. The style that I have is very unique and is born out of taking many snippets of inspiration from many different sources and combining them into a soul language that is all my own. (if you are curious about my art, her is a link to my studio blog and a link to my website.)

Since the Olive Sparrow blog is about my dolls, I would like to share with you on how I became a doll maker. Sharing this journey highlights inspiration, research & development and authenticity in ones work.

Back in Switzerland in the 80's I used to make dolls, based on patterns sold in the craft store and inspired by what many people around me created. These dolls where very "traditional" swiss dolls and not meant to be originals. However, these patterns thought me a lot about making dolls, I learned to work extremely fine handstitches on the doll-jersey (of which the best quality is manufactured in Switzerland (Laib-yala). I must have made upwards of fifty dolls from one pattern. A few of my aunts wanted to have some and payed me for creating them. There were also many of them made and given away as gifts. 

In Switzerland, during my upbringing in the 70's and 80's, individualism and creativity was not an encouraged notion. One did not want to stick out. One was not to be so proud as to think that one could create something that could be called art. I spent eight years attending needlework and handwork classes. But by gosh and golly, not to learn art or express myself, but to be able to mend my future husbands' and children's socks and underwear. It all had to be practical and lead us to becoming good housewives. 

In 1987 I arrived in Canada. I lived in the suburbs of Windsor Ontario for one year as a nanny with two little boys. I sewed and knitted my year away. There was a lack of knitting books that I could understand with my very limited english, so I had to improvise and make up my own patterns. During that year I had met a man that was 20 (grin) years older than me and an artist. In my youthful innocence I thought he was the one for life. Well, he wasn't, but what he did for my life was show me that I had a hand and mind for creating. He introduced me to the world of craft shows and the possibility of making a living creating with my hands.

It was in 1988 w while visiting Switzerland I purchased a book with instructions on making Waldorfdolls. A grand business plan was next that had me conquer the North American toy market with these amazing pedagogical creatures. I was going to teach everyone why these dolls where so much better than plastic ones. I got as far as starting one doll head from the instructions in the book. Lacking sheep's wool, I used polyfill. Actually, it wasn't even a whole head, just the inside ball, because I got stuck with how the head was to be bound off.

Fast forward to 2007/2008 (the time until then had me study and graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1999, set up my fine art practice and quietly knit away). My son was now attending the local Waldorf School. The first newsletter we received after joining, had an ad for parents wanting to learn to make Waldorf Dolls. Immediately, I knew that I wanted to finally finish that started doll. I arrived at the first lesson with the almost 20 year old head and quietly put it aside when I got a chance to work with real sheep's wool. My teacher April was amazing, like me, she had a superior eye for detail and understood that each doll is a soul entering our world. I purchased materials from her to make two dolls right off, one for my son and one for my niece for Christmas. My son's doll was entirely hand sewn, whereas the other body was sewn with the machine. Creating these two dolls re-opened my desire to add another element to my art practice – working with textiles, making something 3-D, creating not art, but craft, using all my skills, making "babies" (because we don't want to have more children – a conscious, environmental decision), feeding my soul, playing with dolls, putting some other eggs into my basket of earning a living with my hands.

I was going to take a year to make dolls, then open an etsy shop and sell them. I created the Olive Sparrow with that in mind. A dear friend Rima from Undine Jewellery planed on hosting a new craft show with items for mothers and children and I could sell the dolls there in September 2008. However, in March of that year, my niece brought me her doll after playing with her for only a few months and the poor little soul had a hole in the fabric over her nose. I was in shock. There was no way that I could possibly sell dolls that didn't last. I knew that I would have to spend some time with R&D before I would dare to make them for sale.

A whole year went by, a year where I spent countless hours on the internet looking up doll makers, doll suppliers, doll-making books, sheep wool suppliers, costing out supplies to be shipped to me from Europe, but not making dolls. I also contacted a number of doll makers, namely:

Verena from Mein PuppenkindGudrun from Gunikat-WaldorfpuppenSanne from AllerleipuppenIris from Rosenrot-BlumenkinderJuliane from Fröken SkickligJudith from FilzlotteAngela from WichtelpuppeMaria from Mariengold

and asked for some input from them. I was particularly interested in all the mohair wigs that European doll makers seemed to make, yet after purchasing instructions from Maria from Mariengold and some local mohair, I had no success. It was only through the generosity of the above kind souls that I learned about Wollknoll's doll hair mohair. 

I ordered every book that I could find on making dolls to study different techniques and see if I could pick up little hints and tricks that others generously shared. There are many patterns and I know that I did not like the traditional sew-up foot because in a shoe it looked more like a hoof than a foot. Also, I did not like a seam down the middle of my dolls' legs. Other patterns made the dolls very skinny, whereas I like my babies to be of a more substantial nature. There is still half a dozen single legs downstairs in my sewing area, all stemming from the development of my current foot and leg pattern. One doll maker had a photo of a bum on her doll. This intrigued me and I decided to work on a pattern where my dolls had a "seat".

Of course, looking at that much information and images from all the books and blogs and websites make it hard to not pick up elements from here and there. Yet I have my own astethic, a personal vision of what I would like a doll to look like, artistic expression would be another word for it. This is fed by subconcious pictures of what left an impression on me during my research time, it is also fed by working with paints and colours in my paintings, by a life-long love for textiles, sewing, knitting, spinning. 

There are times when I teach workshops about my art practice, but I don't ever teach on how to make "my" art. I teach techniques, creative thinking, the finding of one's personal symbols, because I believe that at the end of the day the only way to be truly successful as an artist one has to create authentic work. Oh, I've been violated by people stealing my work, my ideas, my creations, but I also know, that I will come up with new ideas and that I can do better than I have done in the past. There are choices, choices to share because we don't want to see a skill die, to share for financial gain, or not to share and only to make for ourselves.

Before the prevalence of the Internet, during wholesale showes I used to participate in, there was a clear code of conduct, i.e. if you had an exhibitor's batch, you could only enter the booth of another exhibitor if you where invited in. Ideas still got stolen, we often just wouldn't find out about it because we were not connected. It is hard to imagine, but the internet is still very much in its infancy (main-population usage is what, about 10 years?), and hope that as we mature with it, there will be other acceptable codes of conduct established and hopefully enforced. A blog that can be read and accessed by anybody is a great sales tool, however, it is also an invitation to the world to "common' into our booth and have a look around", without knowing if it is a buyer or an exhibitor.

As a closing note, I find "Creative Authenticity" by Ian Roberts to be a wonderful read for working on our own creative voice.

This year…

… is full of dreams and goals.

    as it should be.

Currently working on setting up my Etsy store, researching cameras, re-organizing the downstairs home studio, planning, re-grouping from the holidays, searching for the best cinnamon bun recipe, uploading images from the 2010 Olive Sparrow Children and clothes…

                and dreaming. (and resisting to sneak the last of the cookies that a dear friend is still waiting for — good thing they are in the freezer)..

I will talk with you more this year through this wonderful place… another goal.