What I do while cooking, or how to find time...

I‘ve been making lace since about a month and this is my forth lace project coming to the end.  And the first one that doesn't look like a sample anymore. I‘ve recently read that making lace has some sort of therapeutical effect.  Yes, it has, but I like it for other reasons. Firstly that I can jump in and out at any moment, even for just a couple of minutes waiting for my little girl putting her shoes on, or porridge/dinner to cook – it‘s all made like this, all the lace since I've started at the end of october, unremarkably, one inch here, two inches there – filling in those time gaps that occur so many times during the day and being too small to squeeze in any other project.

And this is why I‘m writing today, it‘s less about lace itself, and more about random thoughts on time.

And I‘m not that scrupulous about that, I‘m not into mad planning and To Do lists, I'm workaholic, and irredeemable dreamer, working A LOT a night before deadline. Wishing I could have just another 24 hours to get my project prefect. Right at the moment it seems to me I‘m starting feeling that balance between what I wish I‘d do and what I‘m doing. 

I need time for doing, and I need time for ideas, and there‘s a a thin balance inbetween, so that I do not day dream to much (and get frustrated because I do not have any more time for making stuff) and neither plunge into mass production of some of my items (and get bored feeling hemmed in, because of no fresh air). It‘s just about the right proportion. Doing. Dreaming, sketching and researching. Doing faster and working on multiple projects, of multiple nature.  And still dreaming and not feeling guilty because of "wasted time", because dreaming is important. And doing. And this balance means that dreams are finally starting come true.

Generating the ideas may take time - sometimes I may have a dozen of ideas within five minutes and another time I spend much more time to only figure out some vague guidelines what to start next. Some ideas come along easily, while working, another are maturing in my mind for as long as months, if not even longer. So I need to be flexible and busy. 

And here comes the lace making – hands are busy and mind is free, and yet a beautiful product like handmade lace comes out. And I do not need any extra time frame for planning this, it‘s all about making use of little time fractions that otherwise would get wasted.

New monochrome textile collages - work in progress

Last weekend I‘ve made some new quick thumbnail drawings, while we were driving. Some basic landscape views, just as much detailed as it was possible from a car moving at 80 km/h. Tricky, but time was enough to catch the essential peeks, and the constant changing of scenes made me re-ajust and add some other details, so those sketches were composed of a couple elements seen here and there during our drive.

I needed some new pictural ideas for my monochromes, yes, I'm still addicted to that colorway and fabric mix – that was the reason behind this drawing session.

And here they are – appr. about 17 x 22 cm each. The next step would be turning them into pillows or pouches, well maybe tote bags as well. I'll keep you posted.

Another decorative angel in mixed technique

Last days I‘ve spent making and re-making those dolls. It‘s quite normal and it happens sometimes that the very first item in a serie reveals some technical problems, that I solve in a suboptimal way – for the first time. That‘s what stimulates me to continue and seek another way out, and this is what I like so much about the realisation itself. As pasionate as I am about developping new ideas, it‘s always challenging to find the way from a sketch to the end product, and there‘re ALWAYS surprises along the way. Otherwise, I think I might get bored by simply following my own drafts. And that‘s why I still stick to the hand work itself – because it‘s another way of being creative and generate new ideas  – turning the obstacles along the way into opportunities to get to new ideas. And it lets me still be focused having my draft in mind/on paper and spontaneous to explore all the possible sideways during the process.

This piece is on the way of becoming another decorative angel.

Making teddy bears..

Remember, I was once talking about teddy bears? I‘ve made that prototype of plasticine initially and wanted to make a pattern, my own pattern, pattern where all the proportions, curves, volumes were at the right place, where I wanted them to be without adjusting magazines‘ patterns. And I wanted make a small teddy, like about 15 cm.

Well it took me longer, and though making a pattern was not a big deal, but all the fitting and checking and re-fitting – that was time consuming. By the end of last week I‘ve finally got into sewing, still doubtful about the results, but ready to risk and gain new experience - a positive or a negative one. 

Now here we are – hand sewn of mohair, filled with sheep wool, glass eyes, fully jointed and needle-felted muzzle. And it looks like a bit chubby as planned, and it's fine, even if my model of plasticine was somehow skinnier.

And I‘m still thinking about maybe applying some paint here and there to give more depth and visual interest, about making some loose stitches here and there, about, well, other dozens of tricks that another teddy artists use to reveal and emphasise the character. I think, I gonna give it a try with the next one.

New arrival at "The monochromes"

And here‘s another one from „The monochromes“. Well, it‘s not that monochromatic, with golden embroidery, but it belongs to the serie nontheless. And now I‘m challenging myself with surface design adding embroidery and crocheting.

It has been like a VERY long time, since I‘ve played around with some sketches, inspired from our trip to Hungary this spring, where I discovered the rich embroideries of floral and bird motifs and wanted to make use of'em. It  has spent lot of time spinning around in my head with no particular visual expresion in fabric since then. 

The hungarian embroideries are very present on a surface, being outstanding and way too striking to cooperate with any other elements, they so to say simply steal the show. And that bothered me, because I wanted more interaction and variation within a single project.

And that‘s it – I have made a sketch before I started this project, and changed everything around it except of bird – I added  some abstract elements, crocheted daisies, hand quilted a lot and let go the machine free stitching and application – all this not being part of the initial plan. And I like it much more this way as if I would have followed the sketch. This is the way I will from now on incorporate the embroidery in my work, it gives some modern touch that I appreciate, without having somehow that old-fashioned look, that may certainly be interesting in another projects, but not worthwhile for my work. So now we have a new fancy pillow case here.

Fall letters - a new upcoming serie

And I‘m still making collages and here‘re another three ones. I'm actually thinking about exploring this direction while still doing monochromes - it might become a serie of "Fall letters". 

Well, it‘s quite a simple and effective way of starting the day that lets me try out lots of different possibilities fast and easy. And be more spontaneous during the process. By the end of the week they gonna find their way in my fabric mixed media projects. I‘ll keep you posted.

Composition studies

Actually I was going to only post the sketches that I've done this morning, and spent then almost whole afternoon cutting, collaging, stamping and punching. 

Here‘s a couple of results – I‘m playing around with new composition drafts and extending my monochromatic theme a bit further taking in the broken olive greens and some greyish browns. It was done in a very old-fashioned way - simply arranging and scanning - because I like feeling the touch of materials that I use and I'm not that much into digital painting/stamping and probably would never become.

It has been a while since I have last time painted/stenciled on fabric, so now this work may be a push towards that messy action I‘ve been neglecting since sommer has gone. I have no idea what those sketches are good for right now, it was just about having some fun, making the background drafts, writing some affirmations about what is important for me to say right at the moment.... Stay tuned, I'm gonna share more of them in the next days.