lifting my head up again

I feel like I always need to write 'it's been a while' at the beginning of a new post. I guess I am gaining a first hand understanding of how difficult it can be to keep updating a blog.
My thesis has hit a bit of a slow patch at the moment, my supervisors have both gone overseas for a few months, so I got an extension and will meet my interim supervisor this Wednesday. Perhaps I've been waiting to see what advice or directions she has for my work. Sometimes I think it's a seasonal thing, I never feel much like working as the weather changes from warm, sunny days to grey skies.

I've been doing some crocheting lately and have really been reinvigorated by working with the crochet hook and the yarn...finding really cool colours, re-learning the skill and dreaming of new ideas. I love how it can become like second-nature and after a while your hands really take over and you no longer really need to think about what you are doing...automatic.

The Hyperbolic Coral Crochet Reef comes to Adelaide - I think the launch is this Wednesday at RiAus - and it should be a fantastic project to be involved in. I'm thinking that I will crochet some coral and hopefully get along to some of the public workshops.



The Ladies Silurian Atoll (detail). Photo © The Institute For Figuring (by Alyssa Gorelick)
I've also been really inspired by this on work on etsy by Hide the Good Scissors.



Loving the geometric shapes and the woodland animal shapes. I'd like to have the bird and the polar bear.

yes, these things do take time

It has been another tough week in thesis land. At the moment I am working on finalising chapters (and trying to ingnore any new information from sneeking in). Although I did find Jo Turney's book 'The Culture of Knitting' in the uni library and it is so good. I'm calling it both a karmic lucky find - you know when you go walking up the aisles at the library and just stumble upon the perfect book you have been hoping for - and the driving me crazy with jealousy book, as it feels like it is just what I want to write myself.

However, things have been quite grim, at times I feel on the verge of tears...I keep reminding myself that it will be over soon. That this is the most difficult part but it will be worth it.

I also found the work of artist Sally England, which has been a huge inspiration to my day. She works in 3D and 2D, using craft techniques including macrame



and the Mr Moustace cushion, which I think is just genius...can I have one for my bedroom please?



how handy, you can store the moustaches in a back pocket. So clever!

amy sedaris is funny

Was looking around the internet and came across this interview for Amy Sedaris' craft book, it is hilarious. At the end she says 'it's about getting people off the couch' which I think is where the renewed interest in craft is located. Leisure time and working on the things that are interesting to us are becoming increasingly important.

Today was a good day, got words down on the computer screen and focused myself on getting the job done. It is actaully the end of my candidacy today...how quickly the time goes.

This weekend I am going to take time out to visit a couple of exhibitions and write reviews, which I will post here.

p.s, the house from the last post didn't sell at auction, there is still hope!

a day off

I took a day off this week to go and see the movie Black Swan. I loved it - loved the utter compulsion of Natalie Portman's character, the change her character goes through during the movie...I don't want to spoil anything...but it was such a good movie and really got me thinking. Particularly about the obsessive nature of those involved in the creative arts, being in visual art I am quite used to (perhaps the stereotype) the consumed creative, passionate and willing to follow their creativity til the end. Isn't the poster below beautiful.

 

It also remined me of a chapter in Alain de Botton's book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work - about the painter. While the other jobs de Botton looks at seem quite absurd in many ways, even pointless, I was left with the feeling that the painter was romanticised by de Botton. The craftsman as being able to collectively see his work rather than 'wondering what we did last year'. While this has some truth, I think it could also be true of industries outside the creative arts. Also, not all paintings/artworks are kept by the artist and even they lose track of what they have made, when they made it.

I am also reminded of the work of Kate Bingaman Burt, her Obsessive Consumption blog which has her drawings of her purchases. It has also been published as a book. I find it fascintating as it brings an aesthetic quality and creative skill to the task of consuming. I wonder, how did it start? did she ever buy things because she wanted to draw them? did she draw everything she bought?
And...just from looking at her site I see that Kate has drawn Oprah's Favourite Things, now that is really cool.

great finds

Love this, such a clever idea - it is by Vector Cloud and would make a great Christmas present (or Valentine's Day).





I found it on See-Me-Everywhere blog, a new discovery and one I will be returning to.

On the weekend I read this column in The Australian by Emma Jane in which she discusses how often Christmas presents are not wanted/needed and end up being either re-gifted or put in the rubbish. She also gave a list of 'crafty' options to buy this year such as; Subversive Cross Stitch, Bust and Knitty.com. Or make something yourself, hmmm - I think I have left it a little late on that one.

However, I have been buying some gifts from 'Handmade' sellers/crafters/makers. An element to the fun in doing this is the hunt, searching the web for something cool, stalking the aisles of craft markets looking for that special 'thing' which will make someone happy when they open the gift wrap. So many things that I would like to buy for myself.

new on my radar

I'm sure I have seen the work of Donna Wilson around, researching craft blogs means that I see a lot of craft - but today I went to her blog and had a read and look at her work. Love it!
Here are some examples from her website
Part of my research has been looking at how indie crafters manage the transition from small business/hobby to becoming big businesses. The article on Donna Wilson in The Guardian seems a perfect example of a designer starting off small, believing in their product and how they then approach filling large orders with big homewares companies without sacrificing their principles.

Another blog post which caught my attention today was that by Hobby Princess regarding big multi-national companies like Pepsi, Wal-Mart dealing with an increase by consumers in online sales. The move to online sales, I think is linked to consumers wanting more choice and an increased awareness in buying from independent retailers. This has been an area of change in which the big retailers will not be able to compete with.

getting my craft on

One of the most common questions I am asked when discussing what I do is "So, what do you make?". My response is "oh, nothing", usually blaming this on lack of time, skills or both. I've dabbled in crocheting, done a sort-of Fashion Design certificate so I can 'kind of' sew, got frustrated by trying to cast-on when taking up knitting. However this evening I decided to give cross-stitch a go! I was spurred on by a few things; my daughter learning it at school, reading a book on Subversive stitching and some excellent examples in the 'Indie Craft'book. I also feel that cross stitch is similar to loose sketching, which is an activity I like to do.
I decided to stitch a Morrissey song lyric 'Lifeguard, save me from life' - and so far, so good! But let's see...it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that it won't get completed.

An artist whose work is inspiring me at the moment is Hildur Bjarndottir, especially her work 'Untitled' from 1998. Love how fine the thread is and of course the skull imagery.

To help with this I am going to attend a new craft collective and hopefully this will provide the push I need to get a craft project finished and then when I get asked the question I can so, "Oh yeah, I cross stitch a little...".

An update to my previous post - it was me who read the timetable wrong. Very sorry to the organisers. I am presenting Wednesday morning - eeek!

Also writing an abstract for an upcoming conference Console-ing Passions. I'm really excited about this one, think it would be a great opportunity to present my research, plus it sounds very interesting.

first steps

I've been planning to begin a blog for a while now (well a few years at least) and have finally taken the plunge.
This space will be for musings on my research project - 'Indie' craft blogs - and my other research interest, the singer Morrissey.

Some background to introduce myself, I am half-way through my thesis and would love this blog to help me as a 'space' for getting what is in my head out on the screen.

So, hope to see you back here.