Making Time

someone left a comment on my blog asking for more how-to photos.

i used to just go fully freestyle, and not make much of a plan. but when i attempted to do a frog it came out like this:

now, i like to start with sketches. i had a general idea that i needed an egg shape for the body. and cylinders for the forelegs. but i could not decide whether i would do the back legs long, or like big circles as if he was sitting.

so i started on the first part of the design and pinned him together. it was easier to get an idea of how he’d look then.

i decided in the end to keep them long, because then he was more floppy and moveable. voila!

i had such a hard time with their faces, and their ears. i’m not entirely pleased… and this has made them despair.
i tried doing the nose with felt: not good. so i redid them with pink wool yarn.

I liked the brown bear I made for the Coloriffic Swap-o-rama swap so much, that I made a new littly guy like him. A bit smaller! I tried to make him with longer arms like the early 20th century bears. They had long arms, because they were styled more closely to real bears and were meant to walk on all fours. Oh I should post the sketches!
The wool was leftover from yarn hair for a doll, it’s wool, and I used a 2.5mm hook- so the final fabric is nice and firm. I like doing psuedo-joints. It means he’s poseable, but it’s a lot less fuss.

I could not get plastic eyes small enough, so I made them out of small blue felt circles, and embroidered black dots into the middle, which also anchored them.

Both me and my swap partners have officially received our swap packages for PurplePinkandOrange softies swap. I can’t figure it out, I think we’re supposed to post the pix on either swapbot or the main website.
I was excited to my swap partner (to send to) was Kristin from Kleas, because I have been to her site before. So I wanted to give her something super special, and make a challenge for myself. I attempted quilt-making, and also made my first pincushion: a block of cheese. She really likes the wee mouse, and she calls him Itty! What a cute name. I’m very happy for little Itty.

Belinda Bunny arrives in Japan!

I received my PurplePinkandOrange softies swap too!. What a cutie. When we opened the package here, we did full belly laughs. She’s very funny! My boyfriend named her Belinda, which is very appropriate.

She is made by Janet Wilkinson, thank you Janet! (Thanks for the other doo-dads too!) You can see Janet’s work here at Flickr, and on her site. She is fully made of recycled materials. There is even fabric from Janet’s prom dress on Belinda. Very fancy!

Janet wrote me, having thought that the PPO Softies swap was one-to-one, and she’d be receiving a crocheted fella from me, not knowing it was random partners. So we’re actually planning on doing another swap after this. She’s going to make me a dress!! I’m so happy.

All in all, a very happy swap experience was had by all.

here’s a pic from my coloriffic swap-o-rama blue+brown swap.

but, i’m terrible! i was late in sending off my softies swap. thank goodness swap bot sends out a reminder email. i just wonder why it came into my inbox 5 days after the deadline. weird. anywho! glad for it anyway! i sent an apologetic email to my swap partner. i feel like a jerk! that deadline crept up on me. for some reason, i had it in my head it was due around the same time as the coloriffic swap-o-rama. alas, i sent it express, so i should be there very soonly, partner! i don’t think i can post a pic, so it is a surprise, but i will say it is a stuffed toy that i have posted pics of before; i made a little picnic blanket and a snack for the journey.

though the shipping was really high, i could not resist the brown and aqua swap, and i sent it out today. here’s the little brown bear that is bringing the package:

“i can’t do this swapping anymore. i just simply can’t. i should only be making gifts for family. and it’s so expensive. i just won’t do it anymore” i said. to which my boyfriend responded: “you’ve said that before”.
:)

monkey-family

Originally uploaded by feather.

Doing something more than once is good practice. the face is evolving too… the fella in the upper right has a broader forehead, and looks more bright. i have a couple more up my sleeve too. but i wanted to take this little pic and show them off.

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!

hand-bag

Originally uploaded by feather.

a handbag goes on your hand. it does not weigh down your shoulder. this is a smart tool for carrying only the essentials. and not for bunging in just about everything (as i do with my burdening shoulder bag).

i really REALLY like the goldilocks fabric, and took pains to position it right. i wish i had not top stitched the handle, now, looking back. thing is, i’m not sure if i should top-stitch the red pleats according to my original plan.

so it’s kinda not really finished. i will maybe try just pressing the pleats the other way, and blind-stitching to the black. i dunno!

Myorei-san posing with her new hat

Originally uploaded by feather.

I’m back from my holiday, with my visiting bestest friend from highschool. She really enjoys challenging me in many ways- one of these was to go stay in a Zen Center. I was quite adamant that I was not going to like this at all… and how wrong I was.

We stayed at the Hosen-ji Zen Center in Kyoto, Japan. It was a great introduction to Zen buddhism and mediation. As well as that, the people there are so remarkable. There was such a pleasant, peaceful atmosphere there. It was down-to-earth, unprentious, unassuming, and somehow, playful. Up at 5 in the morning, cleaning, working in the gardens, eating brekkies and dinner in silence, and long moments of mediation, reading sutras and chanting and lights out at 10 sharp. I would go back and stay alot longer than 3 nights.

Myorei-san, a nun, saw me crocheting and asked was I making a hat. I said it was going to be a bag, but maybe it could be a hat. When I asked her if she would like a hat, she got postively giddy. I offered to make it for her, and she gushed, and was patting her cheeks saying how happy she was. I am taking this mannerism into my own usage. She was so happy happy like a kid when I presented the hat to her. She loves purple, as you can tell from her stylish outfit.

~AND all of our exchanges were completely in Japanese, so I felt especially proud.

I had my first swapping experiences last month. I realize now that I’m a total jerk for not having put up pictures! All of my packages have now been received on both ends. But I must remember that posting photos is an important last step. And I’m very late in it!

One of the most important things I learned is *timing*. One week, I was able to send off three swap packages, but then I had to hold one back because I needed to get feedback on some fabric i posted photos of using Flickr. The timing was crucial because then it literally took me weeks to get back to the post office. I carried it around with me in my bag. Of course, now I have found there is a tiny post office closer to my job, so it should all be smoother now!

This was the lovely pile of fabrics I received from OhBara. Last week I finally washed them, and started using them!

Flickr is a great tool for swapping. I didn’t understand how it was done, until Michelle from Green Kitchen advised me that i should buy fabrics, and post pictures of them online and say they were available for swapping. seems obvious now, but i didn’t know if anyone would even find my pictures. sure enough they did!

These are the pretty fabrics I received from CTeresa.

i was just writing to a current swap partner that swapping is a mix of guilt, fear, anticipation and joy. it’s certainly not as simple or easy as it looks! i think from now on, i won’t jump into too many swaps at once, and i will be very careful about choosing which ones i do join. i’d like to make sure that my partners and i include hand-made things in each swap, rather than just plain materials swaps from now on.

but having said that, lookie at this cool bunch of trim i got from trevo azul. i love what she did with pompoms when she made this mobile.

Yarn for Feather - with flash!

Originally uploaded by whizzme.

i can’t pick favorites since i enjoyed receiving all the packages, but this pile of crewel wool was the most inspiring. a big THANKS to Samantha from Whizzme. i even started a whole other blog: “How can you be so crewel?” for the yarn. The reality is tho, that my first attempts at crewel with out a book or pattern (or even the right kind of fabric) look pretty lame… It’s not so easy. But i like to paw this wool every once in a while. I did use some on a bunny nose.

Next: a group swap

I’d like to join a group swap next, I was sad when I missed the BackTack… but I now see fate’s wisdom is making me set my alarm clock wrong. I would not have had the time this month. And timing is CRUCIAL. I’m resisting the temptation to join the Open Yours Too, but in june I am excited to do the purplepinkandorange.com Stuffed Toy swap which is managed at swapbot.

What i sent

I kinda went overboard, not knowing it was reallly just a material swap, and added in probably WAY TOO MANY things. I can tell I went overboard because at least two swappers mentioned to me that feel bad that there was an uneven swap. Alas. I knew something was wrong when the goodies were going over the price of some of the fabric pieces.

These were some of the packages i sent: