While She Naps

bird 2

A second bird, this one with longer legs and a longer bill. 

She's quite tall.

bird

I did some sketching of long-legged birds

and made this bird.

My first time working with wire and I was pretty frustrated Saturday night trying to bend it the way I wanted it to go and make the bird balance, but Sunday morning brought fresh energy and here she is. 

And with an egg in her nest.  I know, it's a chicken egg - don't tell her.

amy doll

I made this Amy doll from the Women's Day Book of Soft Toys and Dolls by Joan Russell that Mimi lent me.  She is for my niece, Emerson, who will turn 1 on Valentine's Day.  I seldom make toys from patterns, but this one was really interesting to do.  I like a pattern I can learn from.  Her body is five pieces - two front and three back - so that when she is all stuffed she has a little bottom to sit on.  Really good construction. And her head is so huge. Like a toddler's. 

And normally I don't sew garments.  Nope.  One of the reasons is I have a fear of button holes.  I have had my sewing machine for nearly 20 years and I had convinced myself all this time that I needed some kind of special foot to sew buttonholes. Since my machine is so old and is really a machine originally made for Home Ec. classrooms (it's a Bernette 330), most of the accessories are not available so I resigned myself to a life of no buttonholes. 

Then I sat down to make Amy's dress and saw that it required buttons and, yep, buttonholes.  I took a look at my machine and thought, hey maybe it does work...Um yeah. Hello. It totally sews buttonholes without any kind of special foot.  Oh my god, people!  I MUST sew buttons and button holes on everything.  EVERYTHING. 20 years of no buttonholes to  make up for!

And this doll gave me a chance to try out the satin stitch techniques that Mimi showed me.  Wow.  So much better.  I'm not afraid of embroidering faces anymore.  Now I think faces are really cool and not yet another chance to ruin a doll I've worked on for days and days. 

Here is Amy in the buff. 

There is something wonderful about dolls at this stage. Like naked babies right out of the tub. 

Have you made an Amy doll?  If so, I'd love to see your version. And if not, give it a go. She's  totally fun.

lizard #2

I finished the pattern for this lizard and sent off both the owl and lizard patterns to the editor at Penguin Books today.  I am sort of happy that both toys that will be photographed for the book are made from the same two green fabrics, the lighter of which I dyed.  I think it helps them look like they were both made by the same person and it shows that the same scraps of fabric can become two very different creatures. 

This was the first time I have written one of my patterns down and that was an interesting exercise. Time consuming.  Things really have to be right because "and then you hack off the fabric that is hanging over  the edge" and "fiddle with the seam until it looks right" weren't really going to cut it. I  totally reworked the way that the lizard's feet are done and now it is simpler and more easily replicable.  And no patchwork on these two toys. Although I like making patchwork and I think it makes the toys really funky and cool, I felt it made the pattern needlessly complicated.

owls and connections

The green one with no feet and folded ears is the final version of the owl. I'm pretty excited that the pattern for this owl will be included in Softies, a book that will be published by Penguin Books and is due out in September of 2007.  I am working on a second pattern, one for the lizard, to be included, too.  If everyone naps this week I should be able to finish it.  Let's pray for some much needed New England snowfall so that I can run the tot around outside and wear her out. 

On Friday, Mimi came over in the morning while Roxanne was at nursery school.  She brought over a fat fairy and a tourist doll, along with her new valentine fabric postcards.  Mimi's work is so fine and she is so skilled. I asked for a satin stitch lesson and she sat at my desk and stitched eyes and a mouth on a little doll head I had taken down from the shelf of the damned (where soft toys that don't work out go to die).  Now I see how to make my satin stitch really filled in and really neat.  Thank you, Mimi!

Besides this little lesson, we had such fun talking.  One of the things we discussed was how to define exactly what it is we make.  When we say we make "toys" or "dolls" people immediately think they are for children when, in actuality, the majority of people who buy our pieces are adults who buy them for themselves.  But they aren't "art dolls" and "art toys" sounds like a toy you would use to make art. So maybe "artist-made toys"?  Hmmm... Anyone have any thoughts?

Mimi lent me some awesome books, including this Woman's Day soft toys book.  I would really recommend this one to anyone who is interested in getting started making toys. Great patterns and lots of them.

And finally, I want to send a huge thank you to Sarah who had so kindly offered to help me with my postcard and spent the weekend emailing back and forth with me. She took the rough draft I had made in Illustrator and fixed it all up in Photoshop and sent it back to me.  Sarah - I just mailed a thank you package to you.  This week I was so thankful to be part of the craft blog community. Here is what the finished card will look like. I should have a big stack of them in a week or so.

All of my current work will be for sale through my Etsy shop in the month of March. 

owl and a bit about the process

I'm currently working on refining this owl pattern.  Still a bit of tweaking to be done, but I'm getting there.  I first made this owl over a year ago and though I've made a few versions since then, I'm still happiest with the first one.  It was wool and had half moon eyes and a long pointy nose.  Something about the first in a set - it is nearly always the one I'm happiest with. 

Moving on in the book swap, I have a brand new copy of Stitch  'N Bitch by Debbie Stoller that I'd like to swap with someone.  As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not a knitter.  Mom gave me this one.  Never opened it.  If you'd like it and have a craft book to swap, send me an email.

I thought I'd post a few shots from my sketch book today and talk a little about the process of making my toys.  Here are some of the sketches that have become toys recently. 

The crab 

Humpty Dumpty

The dog I just finished

and the camel.

These sketches are the beginnings of each toy.  From there I figure out how to construct it in 3-D and make little notes next to the sketch (you can see some of these next to Humpty).  Then I take out freezer paper and draw the pieces and cut them out.  I iron them onto fabric, sew them up, and hope for the best.  More often then not I have to redraw each part several times, especially the gussets and the foot pads and the most complex parts.  I almost always sew with the freezer paper still stuck to the fabric, unless it is not possible because of the positioning of the pattern piece. And I try to label the pattern pieces well because there is a tendency for all those tiny freezer paper pieces to get mixed up with the scraps and get thrown out. 

While I'm working I just throw all the scraps on the floor. Just like in the kitchen, I make a big pile of trash and throw it all away at the end.  My iron, my work table and my sewing machine are in three different parts of our bedroom so I have to get up and walk around a lot. I think this is probably a good thing.  And I also take a lot of breaks.  When I get tired I go downstairs and prepare part of dinner, like marinate the steak or something, and then I come back and I have more energy to fiddle with the tedious parts of sewing again.   

And, of course, I have to work efficiently because a baby is always about to wake up. I don't sew or work on crafts at all while my children are awake. They don't any T.V. and they always need me for something. I can't concentrate.  But when they do go to sleep, I'm working right away. I think it is safe to say that I engineer my entire day around being able to sew for an hour or two.  I think the fact that I only have an hour or two is actually what makes me productive.  Before I had children, when I was teaching, I had the summers off and even though I had every crafty intention, I would often end of lounging around and not accomplishing much.  Having a strict time limit is really helpful for my productivity. 

dog

I finished this dog today.  The herringbone on his body is from a thrifted sheet I found this weekend.  It looks like wool, but its cotton.  Really nice stuff and it is a full-sized sheet so lots more left.  I attached his legs with double button joints - actually I had to attach his back legs twice because they were positioned a bit a low the first time and it looked like he was crapping.  I love the vintage wooden buttons, I just wish they had four holes instead of two.

Thank you to everyone who offered to help me with Illustrator. I got Illustrator for my birthday from Charlie a year and half ago and I feel totally guilty all the time because I'm seriously inept when it comes to figuring out how to use it.  I guess the reality is that I have only tiny amounts of free time in any 24 hours and I always feel like I'm wasting it when I'm fooling around with the computer.  But, I think I've managed to come up with a draft postcard and, with a bit of tweaking, hopefully it'll be just what I need to publicize the show.

Speaking of which, this dog may be one of the final pieces I create for this show. I have a bunch of other projects waiting in the wings, including one pretty exciting one that is hush hush for now.  Lot more toys to come, of course. Don't worry.

I'm afraid I haven't mentioned that at 8 months little Stella is crawling.

And she's quick!  Forward and backward and around in circles. And she can get back up into a sitting position and can pull up to stand.  Roxanne never crawled. Not once.  Until she was 14 months and learned to walk, wherever you put her she stayed.  We never child-proofed our house.  But this little lady is "the other kind.'  We're so amazed. 

Speaking of Roxanne, I'm afraid we're losing the nap.  I know.  Damn. Fortunately she is perfectly amenable to quiet time for a bit in the afternoon.  This blog should be called "while she sits in her bed for an hour chatting animatedly to herself."

lizard

I made a lizard.  I dyed the lighter green fabric - it used to be pale yellow.  He's a funny little guy.

I'm getting ready to start making backdrops for my pieces to sit on. I'm thinking about covering boxes in fabric.  I'd like to keep things simple and let the pieces really show.  And I need to buckle down and figure out how to design the postcard in Illustrator. God help me. I would rather be sewing, but at some point I need to get these other things done in order for the show to come together.

One of the things I love most about reading craft blogs is seeing the inspiration behind the finished pieces. Susan is doing a beautiful series for 30 days showing earrings she's made alongside photos of what inspired them. I love this - very little needs to be said, just let the work speak to the viewer on its own.   

another book to swap

Here is today's book that I'd like to swap:  New Crafts Paper Cutting by Stewart and Sally Walton (Hardcover. Published in 1997). This one is inscribed to me

    "For Abby-
    A whole new world of creativity to conquer -
    love,
    Mom Jan Dec. 2002

Seems she forgot what month it was when she was writing this.

Good condition with a small tear in the cover on the front.  A fun book to look at. Projects include bookbinding, papercut placemats and valentines, paper flowers, silhouettes and more.  96 pages in all. I enjoyed making these elephants a while ago.

I used them as cards for new baby gifts.  If you'd like this one, email me and let me know what book you have to trade. 

a snail and a swap

There are now three snails in all. I like things in threes. 

My mom is a bit of a spendthrift and she has a habit of buying me random things and mailing them to me (she lives in Maryland and I live in Massachusetts).  Every now and then she totally hits it right and what she sends changes our lives for the better. She introduced Charlie to sudoku, for example.  But usually upon opening the package I'm either only mildly interested in the contents or I feel overburdened by more things entering my house that we don't want. 

So, in an effort to do some mid-winter decluttering, I have gone through my bookshelf in the studio and set aside ten books, most of them purchased and inscribed to me by my mother (making them nonreturnable) that I would like to swap. I'll post one here every now and then.

What do I want in return?  A craft book. Yep.  I just want different ones from those I already own.  I like vintage craft books, books about crafting with kids, soft toy books (could you guess?), books about making greeting cards and collages, Japanese craft books, etc.  No knitting.  No crocheting.  I don't engage in the yarn arts.

If you'd like one of my books and you have a book to swap with me, email me at abbyglassenberg at comcast dot net.  Please include the title of the book you want to send me. I'll email you back to confirm and to get your address.

Today's book is The Art of Paper Collage by Susan Pickering Rothamel. 132 pages.  Published in 2000.  This one is not inscribed to me (lucky you!) and is in perfect condition.  Here is a sample page

Lots of pictures of collages and projects including paper layering, assemblage, and mail art collage.  The last chapter is an artists' gallery of collages.  Let me know if this interests you.