Making Time

i was showing my mom some things i had made, and she saw the amigurumi monkey, mori. she loved it most of all and said to me: “just make monkeys!”

i wish i could just do one thing, but it seems i always have to be trying to do something i don’t know how to do. i like to learn new things. i forget that by doing something over and over, you can also learn new things. i lost the discipline i learned from my sculpture teacher. when i’d show him something i made, which usually involved some kind of serendipity or happy accident, he’d hand it back and say: “make 20 more”.

dig deep!

so i started to make some more monkeys. and i’m starting to come up with a body pattern that i like. it’s like the bunny… it has a butt, and the chest comes in leaving space for arms, and the upper back curves like an old teddy bear.

but i have to get some faces on these asap.

the “finish what i started” meme was inevitable! in may, i saw green bean baby post about the ‘unfinished project‘ and now i see via whip-up the “finish what i have” meme at turkey feathers.

in the spirit of these efforts, i am going to try and document all of my unfinished projects. how scary is that going to be? oh no, i don’t think i can. it will take days just to do that! anyway, i will try and set some goals for this week, and post up some things i hope to finish. like this doll.

the nina doll was a good pattern to learn from. but the doll i want to make is jointed like my sister’s old raggedy ann, and has a butt like my old cloth doll- so she can sit up on her own. and when she sits on the edge of a table, her legs dangle down.

so i started making paper patterns, and made one doll. she needs hair and a face tho, it looks kinda sad without one! what i really need to do is keep on trying to make a pattern that works. this one was a pain! i ended up stuffing her through the top of her head. i whip stitched it closed, but i’ll have to rip that before i can give her hair.

you really want to stuff through the back, but i was afraid of the weighted pellets coming out, so i *thought* i’d stuff her through the neck. that is a bad idea! it looks like a big part of developing the pattern is considering how easily it can be put together and the right order in which to do each step.

our table at the concert

Originally uploaded by feather.

this is why i have not been writing lately. for the last week i was trying to make some more stuff to sell at this weekend-long concert: http://www.concertontherock.com/.

in the picture you can see danny, an artist from new zealand, sitting at the table, and tom, doing a fortune telling down on the grass.

it was overall… an interesting experience. excepting the fact that i have a fairly bad headcold and very bad cramps, i was looking forward to camping and getting out of the city. the location in nakatsu is just lovely. the organizers were very helpful and this is their third year running. many people i spoke to were surprised at the small amount of people there, even tho there were more than last year. so i think they are still getting the concert rolling.

some good acts there! like nam ban jin and panda-no panda. (i really liked them!)

we were the first people to approach them to sell hand-made goods. it’s was all tom’s idea to begin with. he wanted to make baked goods, and put the idea in my head when he saw me crocheting one day.

but unlike concerts back in uk/us, etc, there isn’t alot of stuff-selling going on… so i think in some ways people weren’t geared towards that… but maybe next year! i would do it again, i think i would reconsider what to make and bring tho…

making things for sale- what i learned

anywho i sold three things! two things i’m calling ‘travel collage holders’ and the recycled paper coasters.

when danny and i started talking about this idea of selling stuff, i had pictured making mostly crocheted animals and stuffed dolls. but the reality is that they take so long to make that the selling price would have to be relatively high.

so i made a bunch of other things. a pretty motley variety actually.

on the other hand, danny made cushions out of old kimono fabric, and cuffs, and postcards. the cuffs were simply rectangles of kimono fabric, and vinyl either gold or black on the other side, and a velcro closure. they sold really well. they were for 1000 yen, and as of sat she had sold more than 10.

i think the cuffs suited the audience, who were there for a concert. not to buy paintings, no matter how much they cooed over them. mostly gaijin (western foreigners) came up to the table, and the women who bought the cuffs were buying them to match the outfits they were wearing.

i’m not discouraged tho. it was a bit of a kick in the pants, and now danny and i are talking about looking for other spaces/places to join up and sell stuff.

it’s also amazing watching danny work. she just goes at something full-on. i hem and haw. i think and stress. i criticize and rip out, start over and wonder how to make it perfect. she really doesn’t at all. she just goes for it, and she’s very productive. it was inspiring. i took a leaf out of her page and just went for it.

the things i made didn’t sell that great but, i think i need to consider the audience better.

like if i had made paintings of beer, they probably would have sold!

toe-tapping-tilly!

Originally uploaded by feather.

lookie at what i got!

this was a swap from hillary at wee wonderfuls. it was exactly one month ago today that hillary posted the image of this little doll. i wrote her at the time to tell her that it had it was so striking because i felt really awful that day. i had woken to my monthly heebie-jeebies and the image of this doll struck me in a strong way- that someone made something so lovely for me. i was in tears.

well, it’s one month later and i’m in the throes of the it again, and i wanted to say thank you to hillary again for swapping this doll to me. and lookie at all the cool cards which you can also purchase at her shop!