The theme of the swap is:

COMICS/CARTOON. Basically anything with text relating to an image, original or interpretation. You can interpret that as narrowly or widely as you like!

I’m a comic book geek so at first I thought I’d grab an iconic frame from something in my collection, but nothing was really speaking to me.  So I broadened my concept to the text/image but not comic book.

Concept 1

I love the Alice in Wonderland designs that Urban Threads has done, so I thought I might do something with that — which is where Concept 1 comes from.   The girl is my crappy sketch of the Urban Threads Alice,  which I would use if I did this one. This concept is kind of half-baked.  The layout isn’t even close yet.  The quote is from a book of poetry that my Great-Aunt and Uncle gave me when I was a kid.  I still have the book.

All my friends seem to like this design the best, so even if I don’t do this for the swap, I may do it and give it away!

Concept 2
Most of my work is spiritual in nature, so I wanted to at least try and come up with something I would have done anyway for the swap. I do like to mix things up and just do some fun stuff from time to time, which is what Concept 1 is all about.

This concept is a visualization of the following quote:

“The water conceived and gave birth to darkness.
The Fire conceived and gave birth to light.
The wind conceived and gave birth to wisdom.
The earth conceived and gave birth to life.” (Adapted from Genesis Rabbah 13:3 by RK’Jill Hammer)

The cool thing is I could do this piece in English or Hebrew.  Also, I didn’t want the piece to be so overtly spiritual that the recipient couldn’t enjoy it at face value.  I’m still working on the imagery options for light. I did some additional sketches that had a sunrise and lightening bolts.

I think this is clearly the stronger of the two designs, which makes sense. Mr. X Stitch, who runs the PHAT Quarter group voted for this one as my swap entry.  So did my awesome husband, Art.

Life Begins Now - a work in progress

Almost done!!!!!  Finally after nine months of work, I’m almost done. The entire canvas has now been filled with chain stitches, twisted chains, and french knots.

I’ve used probably 20-30 skeins of variegated ecru perle cotton floss.  I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of french knots.

The final step will be to balance it all out and add the rest of the color "sparks."  I’m still planning on doing that in stainless steel silk to give it even more texture.

Sketch for a kippah design I’m working on.  I need to move the name over a bit so it sits just a little more nestled in the tree, but other than than I rather like it.  I’m not sure how it will look on someone’s head.  I still have to think about that.

I’m wondering if the roots would go in the front (at forehead) or if the roots would be at the back of the head?  I guess I could leave that up to the wearer.

[update: 5/1/2010]
[update: 4/25/2010]
[update: 3/13/2010]

This is the first stages of a new piece created in tribute to my Kohenet sister Yosefa.  I drew this the morning before I left for her funeral.  The piece isn’t about grief, it’s about all the color Yosefa brought to the world.  The floss on the left side is a gorgeous variegated cotton floss from the Caron Collection.  I bought it at the best embroidery shop in the DC area, which is still a haul from my house.  When I actually get down there I stock up on all kinds of fun things.  But I digress…

I’m planning on continuing with the tambour-stitch style I’ve been working in, but really stepping things up and doing some serious surface embellishment.  I feel inspired by the work of Sharon B. and her “Sumptuous Surfaces” class.  I haven’t taken it (yet), but I’m already inspired.  So I’ll start with the tambour style, but mix it up after that.

Anyone who knew Yosefa would understand this.  She was an amazingly colorful, highly textured person.  Here’s a tribute with one of my favorite pictures of Yosefa.  I don’t know what I’ll do with the final piece.  If the Seattle Women’s Tattoo Forum, which she co-founded, has their art show again next year I may see if I can donate it to them.

I’ve become really fascinated by Habu Textiles stainless steel silk yarns.

I first saw it in action at Artomatic this year when my friend Rania had incorporated some into her amazing mixed-media artwork. She told me about how amazing it was, but I wasn’t sure that I could work with it because I’m not a knitter. I started playing with some ideas and finally gave in and bought some.

I’m experimenting with “net stitch” vessels. My stitch work here is kind of messy, because the stuff is hard to get used to. Even so, I’m really happy with this experiment. I love that it’s so sculptural. I think I’m going to invest in more and use it as part of the final work on “Life Begins Now,” because I really want that to have a sculptural quality.

For a knitter the thread is probably expensive, but considering how little I used for this experiment — it’s not too bad for me!  I purchased my first batch from Purl Soho, and it arrived very quickly and the colors were exactly as I expected.  I love their blog, so I’m happy to be able to support them through a purchase finally!  The fabric is scrap from my favorite linen from Scarlet Letter.  I’m pretty sure it’s the “golden flax” evenweave.

Oh, if you are looking for more inspiration on how to use this amazing yarn — check out Flickr.  There’s tons of pictures of what people have been doing with it.   Stainless Steel Silk on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: habu textiles, habu yarn, stainless steel silk, fiber art, embroidery

Work in progress — this represents probably 30-40 hours of work. I’m about 1/2 way around with the “base coat” of chain stitches and french knots. I’ve really fallen in love with the varigated off-white perle cotton. Thank goodness for “Create For Less” so I can buy it bulk. I love the subtle shifts in color that it gives the piece. Yes, it’s really subtle.

I really love the sculptural quality this is taking on.  It’s what I was going for.  I think I’m going to use “stainless steel silk” as the accent material.  I’ve been experimenting with it, and I think it will really help provide the sculptural finish and sense of life.

Technorati Tags: fiber art, embroidery, tambour stitch, WIP, embroidered prayers

That’s two weeks of work, not including the time I spent on these same to sections and then realized I was using an awful color, ripped out all the stitching, and then waited for new floss to arrive.

I suppose we’re really at about 4 weeks gross time.  The new floss is this fabulous, incredibly subtle variegated ecru perle cotton.

I also slightly shifted direction away from a true “tambour stitch style”  and have added french knots as additional texture in the ecru sections.   It’s easier to see in the detail shot. That’s what’s really adding all the extra stitching time, but I really think it’s worth it.  Now to just fill in all the rest with the ecru and then layer in all the additional colors over it.

Yep.  This will take a while!

Technorati Tags: embroidery, embroidered prayers, french knots, tambour stitch, chain stitch, original design, fiber art

I’m trying to really challenge myself and take some risks.  This piece is definitely doing that.  I’m usually very shy with color., but I’m forcing myself to embrace it here.  I’m also breaking out of neat lines, although it’s hard to tell from this shot.  A core part of the design is that a portion of the final piece will be framed in a round hoop and the rest will “explode” or more likely just escape from the hoop.  It my head, this looks really awesome!

After about 2 weeks of work, I’ve realized that I went in a wrong direction and had to pull out about  2-4 hours worth of stitching.  I’m back down to what you see in the photo.  BUT…I feel like the new direction will be a good one and make the piece more impactful.

I was going to do the whole thing in chain stitch and continue to explore the style of tambour stitch, but no more.  This is probably the end of the chain stitch on this piece.  There might be a little more, but next come the knots!  I think I’m going to move into french and colonial knots and then a new stitch for me: Turkey Stitch (also known as ghiordes knots).

I hope to have some progress to show soon.  I’ll mostly be updating the Work in Progress over on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: fiber art, embroidery, chain stitch, tambour stitch, original designs

I’m making a cimaruta amulet for the friend who does all the gorgeous henna on me. I wanted to give her something in return. I asked her if there was something like a hamsa in her tradition, since I had been doing a lot of hamsas lately. She told me about the cimaruta and that she’d wanted one, but with more modern “charms” on it. We decided I would make her one.

Traditionally the cimaruta is a pendant that is all silver and double sided. I chose to use metallic silver thread for the design, but only half of the charms are silver toned. The charms I chose for her are based on her life and things that I felt would be protective for her.

The design is based on the one I found on a Stregheria website, which is the foundation my friend’s spiritual path.

There is still a little more detail and highlighting I need to do, but it’s just about done.

Technorati Tags: cimaruta, amulet, embroidery, hand-stitched, stregheria

I’ve been noticing lately that my work is settling into three distinct styles:

• Embellished Fabrics (left)
• Representational (center)
• Abstract (right)

I suppose I could separate out the Tambour-style pieces as a separate style, but when I looked at them next to the other abstract pieces, I could feel a strong similarity. I seem to be drawn strongly to the abstracts right now. When I look at the overall work I’ve done in the past few years, it’s definitely heavily weighted in that direction. What got me thinking about this is the set on Flickr that has all the embroidery work, regardless of what other set I might put it in.

At first I was feeling very disjointed — like I couldn’t make a decision about who I am as an artist. But looking at the work, I could see not only a progression over the years, but also common threads across the styles. A love of curves and flowing lines definitely seems to be a unifying factor of the work from the past couple of years. The flowing running stitch lines as “filler” is definitely becoming a bit of signature. I don’t really consider it filler. For me it’s often intended to represent Shekhinah, or the Divine Presence. It’s something we don’t often see in our everyday lives, so why should people see it in my work?

It’s silly, but this little personal artistic style inventory has really made me feel good about my progression as an artist over the years!

Technorati Tags: embroidery, artist, process, style, signatures, hallmarks, inventory