Crafty Inspiration in the Mail!

I got a double dose of crafting inspiration in the mail today. The latest issues of Ottobre Design and Craft: transforming traditional crafts arrived, and I couldn't be more thrilled at the contents. Of course I had to page through both magazines right away to cull the best features.

The latest issue of Ottobre Design features some adorable summer fashions for kids. I would love to scale up a couple of the patterns for myself: This issue also includes instructions for two cute accessories: a button necklace (on the cover) and a little girl's purse, which I'd love to try.

I was also excited to learn that individual issues of the magazine, as well as a subscription, can be ordered at The Wooly Thread. And the fabric featured in the magazine is available at Bunte Fabrics, which has a lovely though pricey assortment of organic fabrics, including the cutest organic bias tape. According to the web site, the fabric is free from formaldehyde and synthetic dyes.

The Shoe issue of Craft is very timely, because I have been thinking about how to approach summer shoe shopping in a sustainable manner. None of the shoe-making tutorials makes me want to go out and become a cobbler, but there are several interesting ideas for jazzing up old shoes, including knitting a new upper, painting on cool designs, and of course, the ultimate in nature-friendly design: applying birdseed to a pair of flats.

(Last month Betz White photographed her cute new Converse-style and eco-friendly shoes, Ecosneaks, and I think every member of our family needs a pair of those.)

I was also thrilled to see two of my favorite artist-bloggers featured in this issue. Elsa Mora's exquisitely crafted paper bee is included as one of the Favorite Trinkets and Treasures, though she deserves a multi-page spread, in my opinion.

A short feature on Danny Mansmith shows him in his studio surrounded by many of his pieces. Again, this artist calls for more content, Craft! I was disappointed that most of the article was culled directly from Mansmith's web site, and there was little discussion of the incredibly wide range of objects he creates. I guess I'll just have to keep trolling through his website to learn more about what he creates!

Carnival Craft

It’s spring, and that means carnival time is right around the corner. My son’s school carnival is next month, and I’ve agreed to organize a craft for the kids to do. My goal is to use as many recycled items for the craft materials as I can. It’s cheaper that way (and thus more profitable for the school PTA) and eco-friendly.

Through the freecycle network, I have amassed a collection of about 300+ empty CD cases. (Can you just imagine the number of these cases that must be filling up the landfills as people switch to ipods?)

I found a few suggestions online for repurposing the CD cases, including a clip-art calendar and a card at Martha Stewart Living, a photo frame at lifehacker, and an art cube at craftgossip.

I like the idea of using the cases to display kids’ art work, so I’ve been fooling around with some ideas for a small, framable art piece.

For one piece I used scrapbook paper to create a collage.

For the other, I created a silhouette inspired by Anna Maria Horner’s painted fabric silhouettes. I cut a simple stencil, taped it to a piece of fabric (from books of swatches I got from the last SewGreen sale) with double-sided tape, and painted the negative space around the stencil.

Both projects are simple, easily and quickly done with a few supplies, and the kids can leave the carnival with their own piece of art. The creative possibilities are pretty much infinite, and I like how the young artists can change out the art piece as often as they like.

If anyone has any other ideas for how to reuse the cases, I’d love to hear them!

Zen Knitting, or What is the Sound of Two Needles Knitting?

I think I've found the definition of Zen Knitting, and it's called Habu. Habu Textiles is a Japanese yarn and handwoven textile store in NYC for hard-core knitting afficionados. The yarn colors are soft and natural, and the yarns are made from linen paper (!), silk, bamboo, wool, and other natural fibers (Naturally dyed kakishibu cotton shown above, in persimmon and charcoal) .

Jane Brocket of yarnstorm has just blogged about her experience starting a Habu kit. Her description of the sound of her knitting needles pretty much encapsulates what the "zen" knitting experience is all about:

When you block out all the white noise of daily life, you really can hear your knitting--the paper yarn makes little soft rustling sounds. But you need to be very quiet to hear it.

Trashion

I'm addicted to Etsy, the online marketplace for crafters and artists. The site has all sorts of cool features to help you browse through the astonishing amount and variety of handcrafted items. Sellers routinely take turns compiling favorites and present a lovely mosaic of Hand-picked items on the site's front page. The "Pounce" feature allows you to see recently sold items and similar items still for sale in individual stores. Featured Sellers, Main Showcase, and themed Showcases (right now a Mother's Day Showcase is on tap) are other ways to browse the virtual showrooms.

Etsy sellers can also organize into "Teams" based on related interests. One team that caught my eye recently is the Trashion Team, a group of Etsy makers dedicated to creating wearable art from materials that otherwise would be destined for the landfill. According to their mission statement:

Trashion is a philosophy and an ethic. It encompasses environmentalism and innovation, and respects the human creative and healing potential. Making traditional objects out of recycled materials can be trashion. Making avant-garde fashion out of cast-offs or junk can be trashion.

The refashioning that I've been doing lately certainly falls under this rubric, and it's inspiring to see so much beautiful, usable, and generally pretty affordable stuff being created from junk. Here are a few of my current favorite trashion items available on etsy:

(Clockwise from upper left) Goldfish baby booties made from a Goldfish cracker box by MoJoTrashion. Spinning Flower pendant made from a domino by papermoondesigns. Green and orange upcycled plastic bangle made from plastic bags by GarbageofEdenDesign (today's Featured Seller). Kinglet coin purse made from vinyl banner remnants by birdversusbird. Recycled skirt by Little Overcoat. Orange carnation flower pin made from t-shirts by Marang97.

A Creative Lull

In the last couple of weeks, my creative energies have fizzled a bit. A mild but long illness, tax time, the kids' Spring Break--all converged to sap my energy. And because of that lull in creative energy, my insecurities about my skills resurfaced in a big way. I started questioning whether I should be focusing my energies on creative endeavors.




So this blog has been a little quiet lately. Fortunately, just today, I've felt a rekindling of that same excitement about writing and making things and that familiar thirst to see and read about what other crafters are creating, such as these embroidered marigold slippers (sorry, I lost the link!).

(Note: These wonderful booties are made from vintage linens by tiny happy. Visit her blog, her Etsy shop, and her Flickr photos.)

Part of this renewed focus has to do with a very productive conversation I had this morning with my designer friend Maya. She encouraged and cajoled me into agreeing to post on the blog even when there's not a whole lot going on creatively for me. She called me a "finder" and encouraged me to keep searching out inspiration from other blogs.

I cannot convey how important that this was for me to hear. It's a difficult business reaching down into oneself and trying to create something unique and meaningful--and to carve out this time in the midst of raising kids and taking care of things around the old homestead. Maya encouraged me to see that although the process is difficult and bumpy, I shouldn't abandon the attempt at maintaining my creative spirit.


I think everyone could use a craft buddy like Maya!

What is Zen Crafting?

Last night I spent a lot of time reading about Buddhism and thinking about why I chose the name "Zen Crafting" for my blog. I'm not Buddhist, nor, I admit, do I have a deep understanding of Zen Buddhism as a religion or as a spiritual practice.

Let me try to articulate why I sort of blindly chose Zen Crafting as my title. I had a vague notion that I wanted to give myself permission to be more instinctual and less cerebral or formulaic as I create. Part of this involves being very mindful of the materials that I'm working with--the texture of felted wool, the lightness of the weave of a linen fabric, the dimple that embroidery floss makes as it's stitched onto felt, the smooth flow of watercolors from a brush (I could go on and on!), etc. I also want to be spontaneous as I create--willing and curious enough to follow a design or an idea onto a path that I hadn't originally intended and to use materials that would otherwise have been overlooked or discarded.

(I hope I'm not oversimplifying Zen Buddhism by suggesting that these three elements--instinct over cerebration; mindfulness; and flow or spontaneity--are central beliefs. A Zen master should set me straight here!)

The whole notion of letting go of the noise of one's thoughts that is central to Buddhist meditation is also what I want my creative quest to be about. I want to be able to focus intently on the joy of handwork without the intrusive worrying about my lack of abilities or how perfect the finished product needs to be. After all, Buddhist monks spend days, weeks, or even months creating intricate sand mandalas, only to destroy them soon after completion. The meaning is located in the process of creating and not in the final piece of art.

This is sounding pretty deep, but my whole intention of blogging about Zen Crafting was actually to lighten up and stop worrying and just create--and not to let wonky seams, misaligned edges, knotted yarn, or dropped stitches keep me from completing a project.

Another idea from Buddhism that relates to inspiration and creativity is the idea of daily, ritualized practice. Getting to that place where joy and creativity resides isn't always easy. Jane Sassaman, an art quilter who creates impossibly alive, joyful, and exuberant quilts, has a daily ritual of looking at beautiful pictures to jump-start her daydreaming and visualization of new quilt designs. An introduction to the Inspiration Center on Sassaman's web site sums up how important this daily work is:

Those in awe of very creative people often believe their vision and creativity is innate. The reality is creativity must be worked at, nurtured, set upon, cajoled or even bamboozled! Finding the inner voice, or the muse, is more often than not a discipline or routine which places us in the right frame of mind to "receive" the muse's gifts.

With any luck, you have your own rituals that kick start your creative day,
or at the very least your own nurturing, cajoling, bamboozling craft buddy--like Maya--who pushes you where you need to go.

Antiques for Earth Day

The folks at Pottery Barn continue to send me a catalog every month, even though I haven't ordered anything from them in three years. I must admit that I drool over the colors and patterns in the catalog, but I have gotten over my need to buy new furniture. It simply doesn't seem like a wise thing to do for the planet.

Instead of buying new, I've been finding things I need through the freecycle network and at thrift stores, garage and estate sales, and antique stores. It definitely takes a lot more legwork (and gas for the car, which isn't great for the planet, so there is a tradeoff), but I've ended up with items with history and the patina of loving use.

At a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, the colors and patterns in a display of vintage items rivaled any spread in Pottery Barn, and the history wasn't reproduction.


At Renningers Markets in Adamstown, a lovely hooked rug made early in the 20th century (possibly by an Amish craftsperson?) would not have looked out of place with any of the retro-mod textiles available today. The rug is a lily pond viewed from above, with turtles and a duck swimming amongst the lilies.


Also at Renningers, this unique, big-bottomed rocking chair caught my attention. For all its solidness, it has a grace and history that I couldn't resist.

So, to celebrate Earth Day, try antiquing (even better, carpool or take the bus)!