blog – Page 49 – ann wood handmade

little owl pattern

February 25, 2015

by annwood

The little owl pattern is available! Say hello to Mr. Littles and Mr. Biggles.

The pattern includes instructions for a little owl and 3! pattern sizes – a 4.5 inch owl, a 5.5 inch owl and a 6.5 inch owl.

The owls make perfect captains for paper mache ships, the small size works well with the small ship and the medium owl works well with the large ship. The photo below is the small owl in the small ship.

I hope you make owls! If you do I’d love to see – you can email photos to me at ann at ann wood handmade dot com. And I’m already working on the next two patterns – fabric sail boats and March lambs – you can check back here or join the mailing list if you’d like an email when new patterns are available.

my big creative year : memory

February 23, 2015

by annwood

dress up 1970-ish (I’m in black)

I can’t think about myself creatively without thinking of my childhood and my memories of it. I think this is the richest part of my mind, a library of detailed and evocative images I return to again and again. For my creative life it is the place that everything comes from. Everything. It runs deeply through all of what I make – whether it is my intention or not.

When I approach it directly – when I go looking for those images and sensations and moods and textures and attempt to express them, as purely as I can, I sometimes lose my self consciousness, my judgmental self gets out of the way. I think it has to do with the quality of memory itself – shadowy and shifting, elusive and sometimes fragmentary – it requires patience, careful listening and something slower and quieter from me.

It’s something I’m curious about – these impressions of experiences that my brain made and kept. I’m curious about all these pictures that exist in my mind and nowhere else and I wonder how to express them as fully as I can without my current perspective and judgements getting in the way.

The image above is from my “this is where i am from” series: I remember when I was 10 or so, alone in my room, noticing that I was experiencing an exquisite moment. I was lying on my bed reading Anne of Greene Gables. It was late in the day on a Sunday and almost to cold too have the window open- but not quite.

sketchbook : week 1

February 21, 2015

by annwood

Week 1 in my yearlong sketchbook practice.

paper mache work

February 18, 2015

by annwood

I’m working on a group of paper mache ships – all three from my ship pattern collection. I like to paper mache in the evening – all those little pieces of paper – it’s relaxing and meditative and I wake up to lovely dry ships – ready for paint and sails. I always start with a layer of brown paper and usually finish with a layer of newsprint – I’m working over a cardboard armature so 2 layers is enough.

I gathered some scraps for patching sails and making flags – these ships are going to be pale and romantic and have owl captains. If you’re waiting for the little owl pattern it’s almost here – after some testing I needed to revise the pattern a little – there was an unnecessary complication. I’m doing some re-shoots and it will be available next week – you can join the mailing list if you’d like to be notified as soon as new patterns are available ( I’ve got a lamb pattern in the works too).

I also want to share one of my favorite artists working with paper mache with you : Michelle Lassaline. I love all her work and the masks especially – they have such presence. This image is so enchanting and mysterious and captivating, the detail of the painted hands…..

You can find Michelle’s website here and more images here. If you happen to be in Nevada you can see her work in person on February 24th – find the details here.

my big creative year : sketchbooks

February 16, 2015

by annwood

I was planning to share some artist’s sketchbooks I admire today. And I still am – but as I began to put the post together the idea to make room for my own daily sketchbook practice crept up. I take notes all the time and I make lists, lots and lots of lists – sometimes that’s the first glimmer of a new project for me, a big list or pages and pages of scribbled notes, but I do not, and have not had a consistent sketchbook practice even though I think it’s an incredibly valuable thing. I’m not sure why not – scared of it I think. The books below are a couple of my favorites and there is a remarkable collection of artist sketchbooks here.

Alison Worman:

And Mia Christopher:

The closest I’ve come is the cardboard horse project – it was kind of like a sketchbook – they could be anything, I experimented, they reflect where I was in a given moment, I got ideas – so many ideas and sometimes it was painful, sometimes it was a chore and sometimes I loved it.

Over the weekend I’ve gone back and forth – there are good reasons not to:

* I’m already too busy and usually panicked about time. It’s adding another thing to my already giant to do list.

* Daily practices – even small ones – are guaranteed to be hard sometimes.

There is another part of me that is all for this:

* I love a record – a reflection of the day.

* I have a deep craving to make marks on paper

* This year – My Big Creative Year has to do with moving towards something — searching for something I need that I’m not giving myself or a place I haven’t gotten to – reaching. I have a strong sense that this small daily practice will move me in the right direction, it feels like a gift to myself, medicine.

The Plan:

* I am making it small, physically small, so it doesn’t scare me away. And instead of an actual sketchbook I’ve made myself a stack of 4 and 1/2 inch squares and I have a little box to file them in.

* I’m committing to one year – beginning yesterday, Sunday 2/15/2015.

* The question of sharing it – for the moment I will – I’ll post all the week’s entries here every Saturday. The promise to share is important, I need the accountability. It will probably feel embarrassing often and if it is too painful for me or seems too tedious for you I’ll create a separate page for it so that you have the option to visit or not visit rather than posting on the blog.

There are no other rules – just making marks. It doesn’t have to be fancy or intricate or detailed; I can glue stuff, scribble, splatter, draw – anything – I just need to show up and make marks on paper and I’ve got to do it every day.

Here are Sunday’s and today’s :

Check back on Saturday if you like for all seven of week 1 – and if you’d like to join me in this experiment or you already have a regular sketchbook practice you feel like sharing – let me know – I’d love to see.

on my work table : a blue fox and botanical inspiration

February 11, 2015

by annwood

I’m working on several blue creatures including a solemn blue fox made from textiles courtesy of Sri Threads in glorious shades of indigo (except for his velvety nose – I used a bit of a midnight blue Edwardian jacket).

I’m also making plans for my botanical workshop at Squam this June. I loved teaching this class last fall – the specimens in the photo below were a gift from a student in last September’s class- treasures.

I collected inspiration for some new projects/experiments for the upcoming spring class at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (it’s spectacular) this past fall. This is an Eastern Shooting Star – gone to seed – strange and lovely.

And the remains of a Purple Coneflower.

I had never seen either of these before – if you know of other strange and wonderful botanicals please share – I’d love to see. I’m looking forward to the class and the time in the forest. It’s terrible to wish time away but I can’t wait for spring. Fiddleheads and frog chirps and mushrooms – all of it. And P. S. (a couple days early) – Happy Valentine’s Day!

my big creative year : playing with words

February 9, 2015

by annwood

The original intention was to use them on ships and boats and I do, but something else happens when I take out my box of words – I get all sorts of new ideas. It has become an intentional practice.

I started collecting words accidentally. I almost always cut paper for paper mache ships in a particular way. For my top layer I like newsprint, cut rather than torn. I separate my strips by text size and weight and I prefer that the strips are horizontal – flowing with the text. When I’m cutting newspaper, things invariably jump out at me. There is some mood or meaning, some sensation or memory evoked by a word or phrase. And so I save them.

When I’m wandering and inviting inspiration I sort through the box – a single word can spark something, shift my direction just a little, send me to a place I would not have gotten to, intersections appear.

It is a kind of listening. I love the happenstance of it.

get the paper mache ship pattern

Make ships! They twirl in the breeze and cast lovely shadows. Magical. In this PDF pattern you’ll learn my top secret ship building tips and tricks, including the simple and effective method for building graceful cardboard armatures with simple materials (the base is made from a cereal box!). There’s tons of instruction and room to experiment, improvise and be expressive no matter what your level of experience is.

Do you get my free weekly-ish newsletter? There are tips and tricks, ideas, stuff to try, all the latest news and blogposts and extra stuff, just for subscribers, delivered mostly on Friday. Pretty much.

winter continues

February 5, 2015

by annwood

I still enjoy bundling up a couple little birds and taking them out for a photo in Prospect Park. 9 years in, I still enjoy it. Even on a day as frigid as it was – I think they enjoy getting out…..

* Find the sewing pattern to make your own bundled up bird here.

So far it has been a pretty wintery winter and this feels like the depths of it. I’m having persistent fantasies of warmer days and the smell of the forest. I took the photo below in the Adirondacks and it’s one of my favorites. It’s an enchanted spot – I would not be surprised at all to see a fairy or an elf or a gnome appear on the mossy little path.

my big creative year : rescuing time

February 2, 2015

by annwood

I know that I could be more efficient and accomplish what I must in far less time than I do. I’m losing hours and hours that could be spent on play and exploration and experimenting. For the last couple months I’ve been recording how I spend my time in excruciating detail. I recorded what my task was, how long I spent on it, what I accomplished, how often and by what I was distracted and how much time I spent in those distractions – even if they were small. It was a tedious and imperfect process that I did not enjoy but It has been enlightening.

I’ve got issues…..

1. structure

I respond very well to structure – always have. When I’m teaching at Squam I can get a ton of stuff done, I’m happy, efficient, productive and relaxed – even though I’m super busy, I am in a place of ease. I would do very well living at summer camp permanently. At home I have not created much meaningful structure for myself. I’m surrounded by distractions and even more importantly I don’t have clearly defined work hours – that has me feeling like I’m working constantly when I’m really not. This is what’s really going on:

Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Packing and shipping a couple wholesale orders – could take 4 hours, could take all day……

2. smart hours

I am smarter and more creative in the morning, so that work has to come first – even if there is busy work that feels urgent. That stuff will always be there and will always feel urgent.

3. interruptions

Also known as the internet…. I knew it was a problem but keeping a written log highlighted how much of a problem it is. What are these interruptions really costing me in time, focus and serenity?

4. exercise

I’m better with exercise. My brain and everything else works better when I’m consistent about it. I can focus for longer periods of time, I’m sharper, quicker and have more energy. The difference in my productivity is remarkable – the time investment is worth it. Always.

5. email

This is a real trouble spot. I waste a lot of time on email – looking at it, organizing, categorizing, flagging messages, and feeling guilty, embarrassed and overwhelmed. By the time I actually do something about it I’ve handled an email a number of times, stuff gets lost, overlooked etc. – in all that shuffling I’ve created confusion for myself and annoyance and inconvenience for others. I’m making a cumbersome and overwhelming task more cumbersome and more overwhelming by not just dealing with it once.

going forward

Just the awareness, observations and exercise of recording my days is having an effect on me. I think it would be a mistake to tackle all 5 issues full-on, all at once though, so I’m picking one to to work on this week: Email.

My big, scary, tangled inbox mess. I will handle email once. I won’t check it until I’m ready to deal with it immediately. And I’m committing an additional 30 minutes everyday to work on the current inbox debacle. I’ll let you know how it goes.

on my work table : little owl pattern

January 28, 2015

by annwood

I’m working on my next sewing pattern – little owl friends. I’ve tightened up the pattern and I’m making the file tonight so I can shoot steps over the weekend. The little owls make great ship captains ( I’m building this guy a ship tomorrow) and I’m also including other sizes – so you can create a little family. The smallest size fits in the palm of your hand, they are quick to make and they’re great for using special scraps. If you’d like to be notified by email when new patterns are available you can sign up here. I’m thinking of doing illustrations for instruction this time instead of photographs – I wonder if you have a preference? Please let me know in the comments or email if you prefer.

I like these funny little owls – I like them so much I wrote a poem about them.

(special thanks to Oscar the cat)

my big creative year : percolating ideas and MacGyver

January 26, 2015

by annwood

I’ve been thinking about some of the painful parts, the really not fun moments, that are part of creative work. The fear and panic I feel when inspiration or solutions aren’t appearing and a deadline is looming. I felt a lot of this during my fox project. The schedule was ambitious – they had to be photographed in mid November and I started designing from scratch in October. They are relatively large, they are jointed (this is brand new to me), they needed to be free standing (nightmarishly difficult for this kind of creature) and their posture and body language were important to the mood, the mood was everything and I wasn’t getting it.

This was waking me up at 4 in the morning night after night – frantically replaying the work of the day and searching my mind for solutions.

During one of my 4 AM worry sessions I took a vacation from my fox problem. This is a coping tool I’ve been using my entire life and it works remarkably well. I say to myself “I’m taking a vacation from my problems” and it flips a switch in me – for a little while I can put something out of my mind – get out of obsessive mode, step temporarily out of unproductive worry. I think it works so well for me in part because I’ve been doing it for so long – habits and practices are so powerful…. My brain knows just what I’m looking for when it hears that phrase. So I took my vacation and fell back to sleep. When I woke up I knew exactly what to do about my foxes. The solution was a combination of things I had tried separately but not together. My conscious mind couldn’t get there – couldn’t see the forest for the trees, had too much anxiety and judgment in the way but when given the opportunity my subconscious stepped right up.

Taking a vacation from my problems doesn’t always involve sleeping – in fact it usually doesn’t. The mix of deeply repetitive work and intense creativity and problem solving works for me. I work on a problem or reach for inspiration or an idea and then let it go – I don’t think about it. I take a vacation from my problem and do something else, something that doesn’t require that kind of thinking. It’s my percolation phase. And then when I’m sewing a million birds or packing and shipping or doing the dishes something shifts and I know what to try next or what to let go of. My problem may not resolve completely but there is movement.

Last week I came across a very simple, direct and intentional practice for accessing one’s subconscious and this is where MacGyver comes in.

I listen to The Unmistakable Creative Podcast (Srinivas Rao) on the regular, in this episode Srini talks to Lee Zlotoff – the creator of infamous 80‘s action TV show MacGyver. Please listen to the episode for Lee’s story or learn more about him and find a detailed explanation of his creative process/ problem solving technique and the science behind it here.

How it works – the basics:

Ask a question

It’s important that you write it down on paper then ask your subconscious to work on it.

Percolate

Give your subconscious a crack at it. Do something to distract your conscious mind from the problem – something that occupies you but doesn’t require too much brain power. For me something like cutting paper for lots and lots of flamingos works beautifully.

It is important that you not watch TV, read or have much conversation etc. I’ve been listening to a wind in the pines sound loop while I work for my percolation time.

Ask for an answer

After a pre-determined period of time ( I’ve been using 2-3 hours – could be longer or shorter but for me longer works better), ask your subconscious, “What have you got for me?” And start writing. If there’s nothing there just write anything at all – just write and ideas will begin to emerge….

Do it again.

It’s creative muscle, it’s marking a path to an elusive place – the more you do it the stronger the muscle and the connections get.

It sounds so simple … simplistic even or like magical thinking, but I’ve been repeating the process everyday for a week with remarkable results (it has gotten better with practice). I’ve been playful and curious with it – I’ve asked my subconscious to work on little problems and big bold questions – really expecting nothing and gotten some remarkable clarity and insight. I hope you play with this – it’s interesting……

a story of foxes

January 21, 2015

by annwood

Sun showers and foxes and secret forest weddings – I loved this project.

I spent the better part of the autumn working on something special with Fortuny to help introduce its first new fabric collection in more than two years. The collection plays with the idea of what is seen and unseen and draws inspiration from Japanese folklore of “The Fox’s Wedding”. The legend is that foxes marry in secret in the forest and only during a sun shower – far from prying human eyes.

From Fortuny’s creative director Mickey Riad:

“We decided upon the theme of ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ as we were playing around with halftones and production techniques,” “The way a sun shower can fool what your eye sees, Japanese legend attributes this phenomenon to foxes that often play tricks on humans. The idea that the new collection plays tricks on the eye fit perfectly with that theme, in addition to the pattern and color choices that were inspired by Japanese art and textiles. ”

The collection is being introduced in Paris today. Three foxes traveled to Paris for the occasion, another two will leave for Venice this week and two will remain in NYC at the Fortuny Showroom.

For the past few weeks I’ve lived with fox companions and it’s a little sad to let them go – they so inhabited this place.