The basis for our final assignment in Lampworking was "Dreaming of Reality and the Reality of Dreams." Basically, we could make whatever we wanted as long as we could speak well enough to convince Emilio that it was something from a dream. I created a mobile of knitted and glass birds, with a couple that were transitioning between the two materials. There was a nest on the floor, and the birds spiraled up and away from it on the mobile, with the knitted birds closest to the nest and the glass birds farthest away. I remember having dreams as a child where my toys would come to life and become fantastical, only to wake up and find that they were still just inanimate objects. I thought of this piece in that way. As you spiraled down to the nest, you moved deeper in to sleep, but spiraling upwards was waking up, only to find that these soft and colorful birds were really clear, cold glass. Ultimately, I think it was a really fun and cute project, and I am going to hang it over Henry's play area in the living room for now, and one day in his bedroom. Check out some pictures taken while it was hanging at critique today:
Arlie took some beautiful pictures of the fingerless mittens that I made for Sami's birthday. They are a gorgeous shade of purple (Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Wisteria) and extremely soft. This is the first pair I made and I just made up the simple pattern as I went along. I think they turned out well. This style is for sale in my shop. You can also find the shirt I am wearing for sale in Arlie's store, Urban Revisions.
We went to my grandparents' for lunch today, and Henry got a chance to play with his adorable cousin, Carr. I took about 200 pictures. A handful of them landed on Facebook and the prettiest ones are here. Check out two of the cutest kids ever:
I'm so excited! I just made my first Etsy Treasury, and I think it's beautiful. I included an item from my store and one from Arlie's (of course!) so here's to hoping it makes the homepage and brings us lots of sales! Check it out:
I just found this adorable blog by a cool mom, and it's called Made. I'm in love with the Halloween costumes she made for her beautiful kids, pictured below. Check the blog out here.
I feel like I am always too busy to post anything other than the occasional Etsy screen shot on my personal blog these days. It's sad; I remember a time when I used to post an update about Henry at least once a week. Those days are gone until I graduate, I suppose (although I'm sure I will post a lot over Winter break, which is coming up soon.) Anyway, I just had a few random pictures I wanted to post, so here they are. I will explain as I go.
Henry and I had a photo shoot for my Senior Portfolio project this morning. At the end, he was feeling a little pouty and I got some close-ups of him, just for fun. I'm working on another glass project for my lampworking class, and it's due on Monday. I felt totally uninspired for this critique, and I needed to make something I could do relatively quickly. I made these "gestural" flowers on Tuesday afternoon, and I think they kind of look like sea urchins. I was experimenting with them earlier today, and I think I am going to plant them in some kind of overgrown and broken terrarium, but the one in the picture below is completely unfinished. I have 5 flowers all together, and I need to try to go in before critique and work on the stems before I can officially plant them. This is one of my new prized possessions: a glass figure made by my instructor, Emilio Santini. He is considered a master of glass making, and I will miss him when the class is over. Anyway, this was just random. The end.
Thanks to being in the Etsy Gift Guides several times recently, the majority of my scarf inventory got wiped out, so I had to replenish it. I made a new Cowl of Many colors (this one is large enough to be worn as a hood), an all-natural cowl made of wool that I tea-stained by hand, and a chunky circle scarf which I dubbed "The Silver Fox." I also created a quick and easy pattern for some simple fingerless mittens, which I hope to be whipping out with the leftovers from all the hats I have to make. The pair pictured below is a little snug on me (I wear a medium in gloves, they are a small), but you can get the idea. Check out the pictures below, and see my store here.
I just thought I'd peruse Etsy for a bit tonight and see what was interesting, as well as price some things so that I can list a few new items accordingly, when I saw another one of my items in the Gifts Under $25 Guide. This time, it is my mohair circle scarf. Despite the fact that it needs new pictures (I remember that I took the existing ones very quickly before Henry lost patience one day when my hair was still long) it made it into the guide. I hope it sells soon! I've been having a lot of success with being in the gift guides recently, and I am almost out of inventory. I need to get those new listings up quickly, and knit more! See a screen shot of the guide below:
I feel like Etsy loves me recently. My ruffle scarf was in the Gifts Under $25 guide last week, and when it sold it was replaced by my lacy scarf, which also sold. If only I were in the Gift Guides more often...
I finally found the time to knit one of my popular hats to have in stock (they are usually special order only.) It's a beautiful, soft, gray-marle wool. Arlie and I went out to shoot for our stores today, and she got some beautiful pictures of it for me. The scarf in the last picture is one of Arlie's lovely shredded pieces which you can find in her store. Check it out:
For my lampworking midterm, I decided to make glass mushrooms and "plant" them in terrariums that I made from thrifted containers and moss harvested from my parents' yard. It was a relatively easy and inexpensive project, and it got a good response. Several people are interested in buying them from me, so I'm pretty excited about that. I think they are adorable, and it's cool that the moss will keep living and growing in there forever if you take care of it. I also made a whole army of terrariums from baby food jars that I saved, and I'm hoping to make some tiny mushrooms for those soon. If I get around to that, the small baby terrariums will probably make an appearance on Etsy. Check them out:
My cowl of many colors that was in the Etsy Gift Guide sold! It was a quick and easy knit (I basically knitted a short, wide ribbed scarf and sewed the ends together) and an equally quick and easy sale. I need to make more of them! I have a ton of scrap yarn in beautiful colors, so I can make a lot of variations. Maybe when I finish all of these hat orders. One down, two to go. . . I realized that I never posted pictures of the cowl on my blog, so here are a couple below:
Oh Etsy, I love you. I don't have enough time to put into my store and it doesn't get much attention, but every now and then I get a pleasant surprise. Arlie texted me today and told me to check out Etsy's Winter Accessory Preview Gift Guide. Sure enough, there I was on the bottom row! It's my "Cowl of Many Colors" which I knitted from scrap yarn. I'm so excited to be in a gift guide, and I'm hoping that a bunch of people will place orders soon!!! Below is a screen shot of the guide:
I just posted about this on my Senior Portfolio blog, but I know that some of you don't look at both. Anyway, it's kind of self-explanatory, and pretty cool. Charles Spearin pairs the natural melody of the voice with musical interpretation. Check it out.
I discovered a new photographer today. Well actually, his images seem so familiar, but I'm sure I have never heard his name before. His photographs have such a beautiful, vintage vibe. Check out his store/website and a few of my favorites below. Oh and I hear his prints are for sale at Anthropologie as well.
I am an artist, a mommy, and completely obsessed with yarn. I feel restless if I'm not constantly creating, and I spend all of my free time with my knitting.
