Working Working

I have had the lovliest weekend! The weather has been quite Agreeable--perfect Fall. My Better Half had the weekend off, so we spent all day yesterday Walking and Talking and enjoying . Stella has said it, and I have said it, but I always forget it---there have to be Dates. If you don't have dates--well--it makes all of it harder. You have to leave the house with lipstick on and see them talking to new people. It's so good.

Today has to be a work day--paperwork. But I DID get a nice bit of designing and sewing in this week. The above is Tiny, Little. It look like a tiny little Russian Tablecloth. I am really liking working small.

This one is small too. It's not as complicated as the other. It reads better from a distance. In my head all my projects have been getting smaller. If I want to analyze it, I would say, I am finally working in a size I can Manage.

I finally seem to have rid myself of the need to Shout from across the Schoolyard. Working the Fine Painstaking detail in 1 inch Ideas.

Today's Tea was Jade Oolong. Quite good! I got myself back to the straight good tea! But I have begun to blend some really good teas---lemongrasses and vanilla, and chocolate. Some are disasterous--but a few have been quite good. I am working up to a Holiday Blend of some sort...

Well that's it for this beautiful Sunday Morning. I must get to work--hope everyone is having a beautiful weekend.

xo

P

Embroidery Baldness

Well I have been Super MIA this week. It's been a combination of things--- all put together, Shaken and Stirred. And it all resulted in me not writing. On the Life-Affirming end of things, My sewing machine is fixed and I started to finish projects that have been Frozen in Time.Nothing more depressing then walking into your studio and seeing projects flopping around on the Floor Like Half Dead Fish gasping for air. So the most Fantastic thing I finished was this:

My Fall Bag!!!! I am so thrilled.

Lemme tell you---it's not exactly the most amazing example of Stitchery ever. But I found this old blue leather coat for $8 and I cut it all up and Voila!!! I have a Fall bag. Very satisfying.

And I am working away on the Anne Boelyn neckwarmer. I am very frustrated about how long it's taking. This is the thing with Embroidery and me. I say "I will make this one simple" and so I start to and then I look at it and it looks like it's Balding. And Embroidery Baldness is not a Pretty thing. So then the French Knots start up and suddenly I'm in it for weeks. And I pick a teeny tiny strand of thread!!!

But I do like the texture of teeny tiny french knots. It's very like pointilism from a Colorists perspective. I wonder if I could do work like Chuck Close but in french knots....

And Finally.....

My friend Patrick walked into a woods a few weeks ago, a beautiful magical woods, and he did not come out. I wish I could do him justice here, and say all that he was. But I cannot. By the age of 23 he had started a circus in the detroit area that is still running today. He made the best coffee in the world and never gave away the recipe. He believed in magical things. He really liked fire. He dressed up in kevlar suits and had people shoot fireworks at him. He had a cat named Herman that travelled everywhere with him in a beat up old van covered in Advice. He made glass frogs with different hair-do's in wire. His favorite medium was polished cement. He taught me to weld---the first thing I made was that question mark up above. And now when I look at it, I think, well, that really says it all.

I heard from him on September 2nd. I had told him I had a dream about him. His P.S. to me was "I hope in your dream -- I was seen as a strong and joyful being." And so, dear Patrick, that's the way I am going to remember you.

Your mission today, Lest you not hear it in the words above-go call your friends, the people who are dear to you. Let them know. Send care packages. Knit scarves. Just let them know!

XO

Perpetua

Patience and Perpetua

I am working too fast. Not like "Oh I am so prolific and woo-hoo look at all this beautiful work!!" It's a lot more like Stumbling around a Dark Garage tripping over Oil Cans. This collar had such promise--Weird Color Scheme, but the Bullion Stitches really coiled all over themselves nicely. I have not been sketching them out before hand, These have been like doodles in thread---which I like, but then you get a Mutated Red Flower at the focal point, and you think --- well---I should be planning maybe a wee bit!! So I need to really just get back to loving this and slowing down.

In other news: Film! I am beginning a documentary about women who use the Domestic Arts to make Gallery Art. The Idea came from Yarn Bombers that are popping up all around town. I did a great deal of research and discovered artists who were using Traditionally Female Duties and Squeezing beautiful Art out of Them. Magda Sayeg in Houston Texas, touted as the Originator of the Yarn Bomb trend, has agreed to be interviewed for it. Also Rebecca Purcell whose ideas on Adornment are Fantastic. I have artists for cooking and housecleaning as well.

At some point soon I will have to put up a blog about it. The Hitch has been the title! I was going to call it "Woman's Work". I kinda like that. But it's lacking in color and flavor. I want a good word, or to Coin an all descriptive phrase about it. Like Tarnation, or Religiolous. And I can't come up with it.

I think Titles are Terribly Important. If the title is Right, People know what you are talking about before you utter one word.

If anyone has ideas, please do offer up!! I'll give you a credit in the film!! Title Creator? Is that a job? Well it is now!

Perpetua

Evidence of my Worker Bee Way

I have been Hard at Work, though not Reporting. My White Exploration ended up with a bit of color in it--I just could not make all that white work for me!! But the color is light---more tints than anything--And the Whites and Ivories are the real star here. The Sizing ended up a Small, which is a Bummer as it narrows who can wear it! But it is Beautiful, and all that I

hoped---I have been calling it Miss Havisham.

This neck warmer is the next in "Finally Completed". You know I am just terrible at Finishing. I will hire a seamstress someday, and she can make sense of it! But this is sort of a nod to The Ascot--It has a Brown Linen Backing and snaps for closure.

I have a few more pieces to show but My Internet is on and off and on again Today. I love Rainy Days, but Today is Dreadful Weather. It's Rainy, and so Humid, and not even Cool. It's just Sticky and Grey out.

I am onto the next project---I endeavor to be more careful with my measurements. I try to Eyeball everything. I mean---it's a thrill when it works out, but so frustrating when it doesn't! That Miss Havisham is going to have to go to a very Skinny Necked Home! Argh....

Perpetua

Saturday Musings

You are pretty much looking at my day Right There--- Glass, Pins, and Tea. And I am not complaining. I have been doing a ton of freelance work this week, and although I am Lucky enough to have jobs that are flexible and artistic and fun, I am glad to be home in my studio today.

When I Slump down in my Chair and Look up, this is my view. These Windows are completely ineffective against Heat, Cold and Mosquitos, but Boy are they Pretty. The Building Owners were going to replace them this summer and I was so sad, but Financing fell through and Voila! We get to keep these windows. Remind me how much I love them when my Tea is Icing Over in the Pot this Winter. You think I'm Kidding---

This is the Thread side of Work today. This guy is an exploration in White---It's all shades of cream and white and ivories. I may put a little color in, Just a Blush though. As for the Glass, I am going into the Shop on Tuesday, doing a line of Terrariums for a Client, odd sized things, so we will do a bit of Experimentation, which is costly and Ridiculous but Oh-so-Fun!

I don't know if I miss Glass very much, I have really been enjoying working with softer more forgiving materials recently. And I am working on a film, which is a whole other Brain Space to be in. But I think I am A Phaseual Artist---Phasing from one Medium to another, depending on the project. I see so many artists try to make every project out of the material they are the most familiar with---and it's incredibly limiting in my view. A project will tell you what it needs to be made out of. Metal or Glass of Chiffon or Film. It just lets you know. And ignoring it Kind of Stunts You, and The Project, No? And I think it happens because of Ego. When you have spent so much time learning a medium, it takes guts to start at the beginning of another Medium---or to do it badly. But I think great discoveries and connections are made in that Head Space.

Woah---I got heavy. Sorry.

Saturday Morning.

Have some Tea---Enjoy the last warm Days.

Perpetua

Knowing when to Stop and Smell the Roses, and Knowing when there is No Stopping

Today we took Some Time Away from all of our day to day. You get to the point sometimes when you realize you haven't left the House Together Alone in Weeks. So we took our Bikes and trekked across town to Shofuso, the Japanese House and Garden, It is quite Aways Away from us, but with The Peuge and Stella, we ended up circling the entire city today!

This is the inside of the house. It is so clean and simple and beautiful. Those screens which seem to Glow with The Shadows of Water Cascading, are actually painted by a Master Japanese artist, Hiroshi Senju. When I heard about the screen paintings, I kind of cringed, but they are absoloutly ethereal, and give the house such a magical feeling. I can't say as I have ever seen such a simple, effective, well placed, piece of art anywhere.

Of course there was a Japanese Garden and beautiful Koi!! I did not touch the color in this photo at all. They are such Prehistoric, Mythical looking creatures, we spent a good hour or so watching them. It was so quiet and gentle there---I made a note to remember what I liked about this place so I can incorporate it into my home someday....

And I continue to Work. And Wind. And Coil and Design. I am beginning to like what I am making very much. I seem to go through phases where I hate what it looks like. Working wih glass has taught me to see things through to the end. So much of working with glass is seeing things through to the end, and there is no stopping once you have started a piece. Doing that has been the very best discipline Lesson I ever did Get.

So--My Amazing Man has just made a beautiful Pork Loin stuffed with Apricots and Goat Cheese (I kid you not---he really did!) so I must eat that and then--back to work. No stopping.

Perpetua