Category: on my work table

on my work table

June 18, 2015

by annwood

I’ve been working on a huge collection of creatures for Fortuny. Today I’m fitting patient foxes for kimonos – it takes a long time and they never complain or fidgit – they are always solemn and still. The fit is precise – especially at the back of the neck and they are fully lined and have fancy obis. Sewing them is still complicated for me, it’s a different sort of sewing than I usually do and figuring it out is interesting – it activates my beginners brain – always a good thing.

Dressing the foxes reminds me of a story I read as a child. I must have been about nine when I first read it and I still have the book, an illustrated collection of stories for bigger little folks.

“The Doll That Was Rich” was a favorite story about 2 little girls named Cosy and Marlie – the names alone intrigued me. It was read so frequently that the book still falls open to the page:

” On the table in front of them were two dolls, one dressed and one partially dressed. Beside them was an open parcel, full of bits of bright colored silk; and beside that again was a work basket.”

I still love the idea of a basket of fancy scraps and somebody to dress up.

on my work table

May 14, 2015

by annwood

I’m working on a bunch of things all at once that I hope I can show you finished next week. That’s the plan anyway – for the last ten days or so I’ve been working differently (p.s. still standing up) and it is having a magical effect…. I’ll tell you all about it on Monday. For now here’s a bit of what I’m working on:

A dastardly indigo fellow made from my most treasured pieces from Sri Threads. I love all the mending, the other hands and the layering and textures – so owly.

And ships and boats and little passengers – spring is always for building ships. I finished a large ship and owl and photographed them earlier this week – it’s been lingering here captainless and almost done for weeks. A note on photographing ships and boats – they move. They have sails so they twirl constantly – to help them be still for a sharp photo I tie a spool of thread to the stern and / or the bow and then use the spool to position them at the angle I want and anchor them – the thread is easy to get rid of in a photo editor like iphoto with the touch up tool.

Pattern notes if you would like to make your own ships:

The template and pattern for all the ships is here ( I sligtly altered the side template of the large ship for this one – it’s easy to do).

And the owl captain pattern is here.

pattern work : lambs

April 1, 2015

by annwood

I ran into a snag with my lamb pattern, a major do over, so it won’t be out this week but when it is ready (hopefully next week-ish) it’s going to be pretty deluxe. There will be a basic standing lamb pattern as well as a collection with a couple other sleepy four legged creatures. I’m also working on a reclining lamb – it’s something I’ve been playing with for a long time and I think I’ve just about got it. I’m pretty excited about my progress – it’s been driving me crazy but it finally started to come together this week.

One of the biggest challenges for me in creating patterns is getting the shape that I want while keeping the templates as simple as possible. I’m great at unnecessary complications and the lamb needed some rigorous editing. I also wasn’t happy with his butt – the result was just a little bit inconsistent – my last draft fixed that and now the pattern produces a consistent, properly round, lamb butt result.

I also finished a wedding party last week: mr. and mrs. and ten little attendants.

And just the ladies.

It occurred to me while I was making this set that this is the 10 year anniversary of these little birds. I first started making them in 2005. The original birds were made for a shop holiday window display – I wish I had pictures. I can’t even begin to imagine how many of these little creatures I’m made over the last decade.

on my work table

March 26, 2015

by annwood

I love fabric. I do – I think I’m genetically predisposed and I’m attracted to the possibilities. I use mostly found and salvaged things, garments, quilts etc. but I get pretty excited about a good solid fabric store too. My favorites in New York are New York Elegant Fabrics on 40th St. and Purl in Soho. Purl is so pretty – I stopped by yesterday for supplies for two of the new patterns I’m working on.

I could have spent the whole day there and I wish I had taken a couple photos – the shop is beautiful, they are truly masters of display – the place makes you want to make stuff and buy stuff. I’m working on a lamb pattern that will be out next week and something new – that’s what the metalics are for – I hope I can show you the prototype for that the end of next week. And I’m building ships, I always build ships in the spring.

It’s a pearly grey day in Brooklyn – perfect for twinkle lights and twirling ships. This one is the large ship from the ship pattern collection – I modified the sides a bit – made it dip a little lower on the sides in the middle. You can get all kinds of interesting effects by playing with the side templates. I’m putting together a post of ships and boats made from the pattern- if you’d like to be included you can email photos to me at ann at ann wood handmade dot com.

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.

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!

inspiration

July 30, 2014

by annwood

I started this dark bird months ago and he ended up becoming more complex than I originally intended.

dark bird

His underside is stitched and stitched. I like to have this kind of project, this kind of compulsive, repetitive stitching to pick up sometimes. I like to have busy hands when something is percolating in my mind or when I’m searching for an idea or part of and idea.

dark_bird_2

On the subject of inspiration: I listened to a great episode of “After The Jump” yesterday – Grace Bonney talks to wall paper designer Katie Deedy about her creative practices, where she finds inspiration and how she develops ideas. I love hearing about other peoples creative process and I could relate to everything Katie said. The work of being inspired is a constant and consuming process for me. I enjoy all of it – even when it’s difficult – the thrill of the chase I guess. I’m so curious what might be next, what surprises and odd intersections might reveal themselves. I do some of my best thinking in the tedious or deeply repetitive work of hand stitching or paper mache and I’m sure that’s part of my attraction to those mediums.

handmade owl

I’m also nearly finished with a big gray owl – I’m photographing all the newly finished creatures today and I’ll add them to my shop ( temporarily on Etsy) tomorrow (7/31).

And progress – this is a sneak peek of the little boat pattern instructions that is part of the paper mache pattern collection (it’s nearly done!).

paper mache boat

on my work table

July 22, 2014

by annwood

Sewing feels like a treat and a needed change of pace, I’ve spent way too much time with my computer lately. I’m working on a few new things.

These are mostly made from Sri Textiles – in a moody palette I find myself returning to again and again this year. There is also a wonderful bit of eccentric mending on the lower right.

The songbird is a little bit of a re- design. The songbird pattern was the only one I hadn’t backed up and I lost it – so frustrating. As soon as I finished the new design I found the old one in a mislabeled box. I’m glad I did it though – they’re different – the old shape is more stylized in a way I like and the new one has a more natural shape and I like that too.

get the songbird sewing pattern

And a button score! I used up what I thought was a lifetime supply of vintage and antique shell buttons – I use them for rigging ships and owl eyes. I’m back in buttons for at least a couple years I think.

a better wobbler

May 31, 2014

by annwood

I’m working on a re- design of my merry wobblers. It’s one of the patterns I’ll be publishing for the making something project. In their original incarnation they were tricky to make – unnecessarily tricky I think.

wobbler work

So I’m simplifying and perfecting and adjusting – again and again and again. I’ve made wobblers that don’t wobble, misshapen potato like wobblers, tiny headed wobblers, wobblers that burst and wobblers that didn’t look merry at all.

wobblers

The most successful one so far has been the little guy on the lower left above. I’m adjusting a little more this morning and testing a few more times to make sure the result is consistent and hopefully tonight wobbler will be achieved.

wobbler

Regarding the patterns I’m working on- I have a question for those of you who sew:

Do you prefer to have the seam allowance added for you on a pattern or to add your own?

ship work and a dark bird

May 19, 2014

by annwood

Spring really fires me up and I’m having a super busy and super productive month. Besides all the air and freshness the extra daylight in the evening makes such a difference.

lilacs

I find I work best early in the morning to mid afternoon and then I usually get a significant creative second wind between 5 and 8 PM – how about you? Other people’s creative practices are always interesting to me.
A couple progress photos for you:

dark bird
sails

A dark, crow-ish sort of bird and and sails for several new ships. I’ve been saving that antique embroidered cuff on the lower right for 6 years- waiting for just the right ship. I’m finishing the first full sized, multi sailed extravaganza sort of ship that I’ve made in a long time tonight and I’m excited to photograph it tomorrow – excited enough to get up extra early.

on my work table

May 6, 2014

by annwood

It’s nice to have a mix of paper and sewing projects, as glue or paint or paper mache is drying I sew – it makes me feel like an overachiever. I’m also spending time everyday working on my class for Squam in September and patterns for my make something project – I’ll have an update on both of those a little later this week. Below is a peek at what I’m working on:

Some sewing – a little owl and mushrooms. I think that indigo print is the most owly fabric ever – thank you Sri Threads.

Get the sewing patterns:

And paper flamingos! I can’t make them without also making a big pink mess – I’m making 60 this week, flamingo madness……

Ship progress- I haven’t made a translucent ship hull in such a long time I forgot how and had half a dozen painful failures on the way to this one.

And a big guy, Nestor, a dark and rubenesque owl just finished.

the box method

April 21, 2014

by annwood

*This post contains an affiliate link – meaning I get a small commission if you purchase through the link.

The part where you have to start…

If you’ve been visiting here for a while (thank you) you know I’m a big fan of Twyla Tharp’s book *The Creative Habit – particularly the box method. Here’s a little about what she has to say about boxes:

“The box makes me feel organized, that I have my act together even when I don’t know where I’m going yet. It also represents a commitment. The simple act of writing a project name on a box means that I’ve started work”

I’m overwhelmed with projects right now and that makes me a little frantic and anxious. Anxiety makes it hard to focus which produces more anxiety etc. etc.

“Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity” – T. S. Elliot

I’ve never been good at moving multiple things forward and the boxes help immensely with that – they contain the projects in more than a physical way. This past Saturday I devoted an hour to gathering and boxing.

I chose a collection of fabrics for toadstools, owls and hummingbirds and garment fragments in shades of black for 2 dastardly owls.

The search focuses me and spending time ironing ( which I secretly love) starts to slow my brain down.

As I make my little piles, put them in their boxes and write the project name on the tag I feel forward progress, ideas that were vague start to solidify, panic recedes and I feel better and clearer about the coming too busy week – enthusiastic even.