Woollenings about The Town

Preparations in the drawer at theGRID

Here's a brief retrospect on my activities about The Town in the last six months or so. I would have put them out before, and should have, but making works is a lot more fun then putting thoughts and feelings into words and visual aids.

And remembering to take the photos, or have someone take them during the making process? Groan. In a completed related note, does someone want to do this in exchange for high fives and good vibes?

Working on the beanbag cover

 

Teaching a peep how to crochet

 

Made a headband for a coooool lady

Received these via post...I believe the expression may be...coals to Newcastle?

Feet, knitting and Grace

Bunting preparations

Some blurry shot

Let this be a lesson to all of you: don't be in a relationship with someone who knows how to make any kind of apparel.

 

Back into a crochet. A blur of hooks and wools.

 

Didn't think I was a huge fan of bombing growing things, but whatever. Happened once so now I know for sure.



Twisting horizontal stripes creates a candy cane effect...nice!

I really liked this one, until someone cut all the mushrooms off. Then, not so much.



This one disappeared the weekend it was put up.

Interstate woollenings in UK1

Had a bunch made up, and this grey old day helped me decide which ones would go where

Bunting!

Creative Tanks

In last week's post I briefly mentioned the Creative Tanks event that was occurring for the Carnival of Flowers this month. I was also involved in the Creative Tanks event last year. It's strangely nostaglic to be completing the same event, thinking about where I was twelve months ago. For 2011, I certainly wasn't in a place to post about the event as it was happening.

Didn't get around to it until January, tsk.

I certainly know a bit more about links now, too. Here is one that will take you to my artist page on the made. creative space website.

The event;

 



Setting up in the morning, inside the store

 

From the outside

Some of the supplies

Set up

 

Forest friends frolicking...it's all little too twee.

Dressed up for the Carnival. Flowers in spring, let it be said I was a paradigm shifter.



Peering into the murky depths of a wool basket

Playing in the DANGERZONE with a cappucino

Thanks are also in order for Leanne of Mary Ryan's Books, Music and Coffee. She's allowing me to commandeer a chair, table and a sandwich board, as well as space in her store over the next week. Artists don't get to do what they do without the support of people like her, who have the space to display them and the urge to share it. Thank you!

 

Lastly:

 

This is not in relation to Creative Tanks, and probably doesn't warrant spamming up your feeds with another blog post. The Artwork Exchange exhibition, in conjunction with MARS (fingers crossed I've got the connections right) kicked off this Friday in their gallery at theGRID hybrid arts collective.

Follow this link to be taken to a short video of the opening, which has a lot more about the work of the other artists.

 

Because I couldn't see my contribution in it, here is a still;



 

Local!

A little top hat bowler fellow. If you go in and visit, he has a superfluous third something located somewhere on his armless torso. Paying attention to ridiculous little details is what keeps me interested.

I have also heard an excellent argument for why his first and second ones are superfluous also, but you can make your own mind up about that.

 

UPDATE: The work is in the video. I just needed to have a little faith and watch a little harder.

 

Now, eagle-eyed readers might be wondering about the artwork that can only be glimpsed in the above image. Here it is, in marvellous fuzzy colour.

 

by HosHiko Street Art

Follow a link to their tumblr here. This picture really doesn't do them justice. If you like robots, candy and cute things, that's the place you should go.

 

theWORK

 

With the dust of the residency beginning to settle and the works in a place of pride in the MARS gallery of theGRID, life is returning to normal. I have time to reflect, and post a behind-the-scenes montage of the making of Humine Spongiform II - Advancement.

 

Is montage even the right word for it? Anyway, here we go; 

 

First, we start with the raw materials:

 

Woollen...tubing?

I spent months on these in the lead up to my residency. They take between 7 - 25 minutes each to make. You'd think with the time spent on making these individual items, I would have a name for them now, but no.

First class potato bag. I only work with the finest materials.

Fact: When you take the seams out of a hessian potato sack, you have the start of a long, narrow rug. A hallway runner perhaps?

When you sew a series of long, narrow strips of hessian together, you have the start of a long, wide rug. Usually, for less than $5.

Crocheting or blanket stitch around the edges increases strength of work in travelling and storage.

Hard to believe, but this has been through a washing machine at least once.

Then, you begin the painstaking process of sewing each individual piece onto the work. Try to remember to take photos of the work at regular intervals, or it may look strange in retrospective posts.

You sew....

 

and sew...

Some nights, gnomes take a break from cobbling shoes and do several feet of rug for you...

Then you take some happy snaps....

 

And keep sewing.

 

Stitch stitch stitch.

Note to future GRID residents: bring suncream for the back of your neck.

 

Not much to go now!

In almost no time at all, this work is nearly done (lie).

The last of the woollen tubing on the left.

 I didn't want any leftover pieces, so it was (mostly) good when I ran out early. From then on, I custom made the pieces. This took much longer than I would have liked.

 

 

Now, for the heart-stopping moment of happiness;

 

Last. Piece.

 Question for all artists, textile and non-textile craftspeople: In the final moments of creation, when that last small detail is falling into place, what is your emotion? Also, how do you feel, physically?

 

Complete.

Ecstatic, nauseated, proud, protective: this is how I feel when I finish a large-scale work. On a small scale work, I also feel these emotions. But on a smaller scale. 

 

Complete.

This work is currently being exhibited at the MARS gallery in theGRID space in 488 Ruthven St, Toowoomba City. After that...?

Please continue to watch this space. And thank you for watching it previously.

Beanbag bomba

Paper storage facilities also work for textiles!

Something I have started to run with recently is freeform crochet. I haven't done much research into freeform crocheting artists yet, but what I have seen I have really liked.



 

I wouldn't say you were making it up as you go along but...

I think that to freeform you have to be coming from a place of intermediate to advanced crochet knowledge, as you have to have an understanding of a variety of stitches and their effects, as well as the effect increasing and decreasing stitches will have, needle sizes, and plys. At least, you should have this to really be able to run with it, to foresee events and plan your stitches to pre-empt any issues.

 

 

....I also would. You have something in mind, and you make it up as you go along because you are boss at crochet.

What are these issues? Bubbling, sagging, too tight in places, too small in general. Too large. No longer machine washable. Tension too tight when changing needles. Tension too loose. Ugly ripples. The curse of the Dreaded Flutter. Button holes are sucky. Buttons don't fit. Sagging button holes (heh).

There's a few.

A tip is to go mad with colour, but not too mad. If you're gonna contrast, contrast, and if you want to compliment, compliment but don't compliment AND contrast colours nimbly-bimbly throughout the work. Hold the next planned wool against the completed piece. Does the colour work? Does it not work in an interesting way? How much should be used before it overpowers all the other colours?

Lastly, say NO to browns, ochres, mauves, mustards, khakis, beiges, greys, off-whites, taupes, ivories or creams.

Textures are good provided you can work with the wool (I'm looking at you, Flutter).

Two-thirds done.

 

At the start I had crocheted an opening for the beanbag to be removed from (machine washable, delicate cycle). This meant that at some point I had to stuff the beanbag into the opening and crochet around it, reducing the stitches to make sure everything fit snugly. Next beanbag, I may try it another way. Freeform! There's no rules here but the ones you have to follow.

 

Finally, that happy moment of completion:



 



As this was the 'top' of the bag, I went texture-happy. Lots of soft fluffy ones.

Then we take the glamour shots:

Top.

Sides.

..bottom? Beanbags are so undefined.

This was a really good project for using up those last few metres of wools. It's also kind of cool to look at it sometimes from the perspective of uniqueness. Only one with exactly this design on the planet, although this is not the only one ever made.

I took this to a festival recently and so many people were nostalgic of the similar thing they created in the seventies (and only that decade, for some reason) and I love that forty years is not long enough to forget a handmade thing.

Where are they all now?