my current projects

[Anne]

No summation, just jumping in...

I passed the workshop part of my teacher certification. With flying colors.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii287/jessebison/hollyfinished.jpg

And I get to teach a bunch of 5 year olds about embroidery this week!

(this (http://www.rationalpagans.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2858)may have some info, but that's ok. no one's reading anyway... ;))

[Goldie]

Wow! Beautiful! That looks like hard work...but well worth it, I'd say! Very detailed!!!
Congrats! :)

[Anne]

no pics (been too busy) but my color exam 3 just passed!

3 for three on that one!

3 exams to go and then I graduate.

I'll post pics later.

[miss djax]

that is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Octavia]

Congratulations, Anne! That's so fantastic... all your hard work is paying off. :D

The shading on those leaves is incredible.

[muidiri]

Very nice. I always thought embroidery would be fun... but I just don't have the patience for it. I'm in awe of those who do :)

[Anne]

It is fun. But yeah--- if you aren't right for it, it'd be a pain.

[Christina]

That's beautiful, Anne.

[Daydream]

Nice job!

[Anne]

Jeez... I need to post the pics of the piece that just passed...

That's an old one up top!

(not that I'm not proud of it...;))

[Faerie]

I dont have the patience with handcrafts, but damn, I can appreciate it when someone makes something pretty! Very nice!

[Valheru]

The colour gradients on the leaves are VERY nice.

[LoneWolf]

That looks awesome. I have always wanted some sort hobby with my hands like that, I just can't get over the, admittedly sexist, stereotype that it isn't a man's hobby. I just don't want to deal with the jokes that I am sure would come my way from all the military folks around me. Maybe I should say screw it and do it anyway.

[Valheru]

^^^ Warhammer.

[LoneWolf]

Hmmm. That's an idea. I could do needlepoint, but do it of really violent scenes, with lots of blood and gore.

But, Anne, something tells me you shouldn't go that route with your 5 year olds.

[Valheru]

It's really a great hobby. Dunno how much of the social aspect you'll get in Cambodia, but as a hands-on hobby, making scenery, painting figurines and making dioramas, it's fabulous.

[Octavia]

Hmmm. That's an idea. I could do needlepoint, but do it of really violent scenes, with lots of blood and gore.

But, Anne, something tells me you shouldn't go that route with your 5 year olds.

Oh please. Arm 'em with needles and hand out the fizzy drink, and soon you'll have enough blood and gore to work with in your latest from life piece. :D

[miss djax]

Hmmm. That's an idea. I could do needlepoint, but do it of really violent scenes, with lots of blood and gore.

But, Anne, something tells me you shouldn't go that route with your 5 year olds.

that would be GREAT

i have a bunch of lotr geek friends who've done maps of middle earth :D is that manly enough for ya?

[muidiri]

It's really a great hobby. Dunno how much of the social aspect you'll get in Cambodia, but as a hands-on hobby, making scenery, painting figurines and making dioramas, it's fabulous.

The figurines also add a nice twist to an old-fashioned chess game.
Plus the books are entertaining.

[Anne]

Most of the big embroiders of the Middle ages were men.

You could always point to the men who do it currently. There is a famous football player who drank tea and needlepointed. He simply clocked anyone who snickered. Rosey Grier. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosey_Grier)

You could try beading or finger weaving (http://www.northwestjournal.ca/sash.html). Kumihimo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumihimo) may also get past the sexist crowd. Leather work is cool as well. Temari (http://www.japanesetemari.com/gallery.htm)may also cut it, but that uses a needle.

[Christina]

Joe does all sorts of Native American crafts and doesn't care if anyone thinks it's odd for a man to do them. He's made me some incredible beaded jewelry and bags, made a leather coat styled like a denim jacket out of buckskin and all sorts of smaller leather items and he and my Irish brother-in-law trade Celtic artwork for things like enormous decorated peace pipes and war clubs that look as good as any in a museum. He can carve beautiful pipes out of pipestone and is allowed to possess and use eagle feathers if he finds them or another Indian gives them to him. The only thing he doesn't do is weave and I think that's mostly because he doesn't feel like it. He made a loom for me once though.

[Anne]

Hex used to carve and sew leather. He made me a green suede bodice that was really cool.

I love embroidery. I was thinking about the patience thing. It takes me hours to make a flower, but I don't have the time nor inclination to garden... I think that's because gardening is demanding--- I have to do it on it's schedule--- and stitching is obedient. :)

[Christina]

That's true. Gardening isn't something that you can set aside and take a break from. You at least have to water if you aren't giving up on it altogether. I was out there doing it in the dark yesterday because I had to get back inside before the sun came up.

[Anne]

Exactly.

The worst that happens with stitching if you leave it is if you leave it in a rush and it warps/ rusts, or if you run out of something not made anymore.

I like having somethign I am in complete control of.

;)

[BWE]

He made a loom for me once though.

I did that once. Worked great. Left it at school (I went to art school) because it turned out to be one of the more useless things possible. I'm sure someone thought it was neat though.

[Christina]

He made me a traditional Navajo loom (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=L7E&ei=BIp7SoeCOoj-sQPeg_TuCg&resnum=0&q=navajo%20loom&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) and I used it a few times before deciding that I didn't have the patience to practice long enough before I could make anything nice so we gave it to a weaver friend that loved it.

[Anne]

I just received notification that I won the blue ribbon at the State Fair.

:D

For this.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii287/jessebison/100_0517.jpg

(I also took two blues at the county fair, but that's less noteworthy)

[Garnet]

Very nice! Congratulations, Anne.

[Daydream]

Wonderful! Congratulations.

[Christina]

That's beautiful - congratulations.

[Cath B]

That's lovely!

[willynilly]

Very beautiful. Blue at the State Fair is pretty good. Lots of competition.

[Octavia]

Congratulations, Anne! That's fantastic. :)

[Anne]

ok, this is my second attempt at passing my surface exam step 2.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii287/jessebison/100_0359.jpg

I'm so glad it's over with.

[Free in Freeport]

I love it!!

[muidiri]

Very, very cool!

[Cath B]

Well done.

That's amazing.

[Octavia]

Those little creatures are amazing! The spider, the bat... and are those owls? It all looks so three dimensional. Fantastic! :notworthy:

[Anne]

yes, three owls, three bats and three ghosts.

They are three dimensional. and the heads have a little wiggle to them.

I'm gonna fail, I know it. I did last time, with this:

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii287/jessebison/SANY0028.jpg

but I didn't like that one as much.

[munnki]

Nice skillz... how long does it take to make one?

[Anne]

depends. The halloween one was much simpler and faster. A month of non intensive work.

The heart was a month of intensive work.

The butterfly one was a three day weekend.

[Octavia]

I think it looks like something out of Tim Burton. :)

[sohy]

You are very talented and patient Anne. Your work is lovely.

[willynilly]

I like them both but the Halloween one is really cute.

[Anne]

The halloween one recieved a provisional pass, I was told (haven't gotten it yet).

Told that is a fairly simple fix and I'm good to go.

Who hoo!


Next up: silk shading. I can work on that one and submit both exams at the same time. If I don't pass the Halloween, they'll just ignore the silk shading.

<deep breath>

In all my spare time...

[Sodong]

Quite beautiful regardless of what your examiners think. I like the first one, the leaves a lot. I wouldn't even attempt something like that. I can't even sew up a seam in a piece of torn clothing. Ends up looking like a malignant tumor and I always manage to stab myself several times. If I'm going to be poked with a needle I'd rather it was done by a professional :)

I just finished a sizeable oil painting that I've been trying to take a photo of but the light never seems right and the flash keeps going off and putting a glare spot right in the middle of it. I don't have a tripod and I don't think I can hold the camera still enough to do a no-flash long exposure. I don't think it would win any prizes. It's kind of "dark" and a little creepy. But I like it a lot. It's on my living room wall :D I'll post a photo when I get a decent one.

[Sodong]

Here's a night time photo of the moon and city I took out my apartment window without the benefit of a tripod. I've doctored it with a speckle filter and an RGB lut (an algorithm that applies red, green and blue to pixels based on intensity values). I liked it so much it's my desktop image but I plan to attempt a reproduction in oil paint sometime soon. Wish me luck! :D

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n51/anniep46/Night002rgb.jpg

[Anne]

hurm... I should be able to locate you with that shot... ;)

It's cool. :D

I got my piece back today. The correction I need to make is something as minor as having footnoted a paper wrong. Coolness.

Now... to get the time I need...

[Sodong]

hurm... I should be able to locate you with that shot... ;)

This one might provide more clues. That's the Delta Chelsea behind that shiny glass monolith. :)

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n51/anniep46/Photos073.jpg

It's cool. :D

I got my piece back today. The correction I need to make is something as minor as having footnoted a paper wrong. Coolness.

Now... to get the time I need...Yeah, finding the time for expressing one's creative side is often a problem.

[Sodong]

'K there's still some glare I could probably filter out somehow but haven't yet but though I'd post the promised photo.

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n51/anniep46/pics037.jpg

The picture itself is bright in that area so not all of it is glare.

[Anne]

That's cool!

[Anne]

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii287/jessebison/100_0938.jpg

color exam in perspective. nygg may recognize the view. It's pretty accurate.

[Octavia]

That's so cool, Anne. I love the mix of colours in it.

[Daydream]

Pretty! Is that crewel embroidery?

[Monad]

Pretty! Is that crewel embroidery?

No I don't think it hurts

[Christina]

That's beautiful, Anne. I can whip out a sweater in a few weeks but that would take me a year and look terrible at the end. I'm way too clumsy to do that kind of fine work.

[Anne]

Tell you what, Christina, I'll trade you. You do a sweater for me, I'll stitch something for you.

Thanks Octavia--- I actually took the pic when I picked out the colors. That's a pretty accurate view of where Hex grew up.

Daydream. Tricky question! 'crewel' technically means a two ply wool. The rocks are done with crewel wools. However, all surface stitching uses similar stitches, so yes, those are 'crewel stitches' in common use.

Monad, considering I ended up with a needle sticking out of my finger on that piece, it can very well hurt! ;)

[Christina]

Tell you what, Christina, I'll trade you. You do a sweater for me, I'll stitch something for you.

Maybe I'll take you up on that one day when I've rebuilt my yarn collection to the point where the materials aren't so expensive. I've seen some beautiful pieces that I'd love to have but they cost too much and I surely can't make them. I can't even imagine how labor-intensive that must be.

I have one very nice sweater that I made and I wish that I could find someone to give it to. I was making it for a very close friend and she died right before I finished it. I finished it anyway and it's been boxed up in a closet for years now. She was very big so the sweater is far too large for me. It's a cream colored cable cardigan and if anyone can wear something that would fit a 2X-4x feel free to send me a PM and I'll take a picture of it. If you like it you can have it because I hate to see it go to waste. It's very thick and warm and for once it's a solid color.

[Anne]

How sad. That's terrible.

I have a piece not finished for Hex's Gramma. I understand.

As long as they aren't x-stitch. But I could find someone to work on commision if they are, possibly...

[Christina]

If it fit me I would wear it and it would be a happy reminder of her. I might take it down to the local plus size store and see if they want to take it on commission. It's not about the money but it would be nice to know that it's keeping someone warm. I could donate it to the shelter I guess but it would get trashed pretty fast out there so I keep hoping that someone will come along that really wants it.