Melanie Testa's Blog, page 3

Time got away from me today.

I have to interrupt the Rockstar Boro program, for this dalliance of an acrylic nature. I found this small piece of wood on the beach a few weeks back. It is a portion of a cigar box, that came home and was immediately gessoed and put aside. Last night I started working it and today, after sending my FINAL Book Edits to my publisher, I had to reward myself with painting. So, no sewing got done today. And I won't be sewing tonight either because we are going to visit friends.

Haha!

This is a Mockingbird. There is newspaper, joss paper, a hankie, and a whole lot of paint on his piece. It isn't finished just yet, it needs a small bit of something...

Last night I watched this, and you should too! Rent it, buy it, watch it again and again. Thanks for the TV suggestions, I have made a list for myself.

ooooph.

I am getting those snaps back on there!

Progress has been slow this week. I am in the process of editing and I am supposed to be writing a magazine article and today I got tired! But I made a commitment to self to blog everyday, so although short and succinct, here I am.

We don't have cable television but we do like to rent serial tv shows, anyone have a favorite that I might try out? Time to couch potato.

Gathering

I finished sewing the foxy fabric to the waist line! That took a while. So today is a day of gathering. It will be another day to jog the garment out of its current state.

So I woke this morning and started digging through my goods. I need to decide if I want to make a move away from the color red. Or perhaps stick with it but add small bits of other colors.

I am not sure how I will proceed. But having piles of cloth near my project sure does help me imagine possible outcomes.

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I have been good friends with Deborah Boschert for a very long time. I love her work and she is a wonderful person too. She is working to get the word out on a great project she has collaborated on and I am helping out by talking about it here:

STITCHED is a collection of 20 online video workshops by 20 talentend fabric artists. Students have access to all 20 workshops and can choose to view and work on the projects any time of the day, any day of the week. Registration opens on Dec 1 and the workshops kick off on Jan 1 and run through June 1. Registration is only $89.

Deborah is teaching a workshop titled, "Branches, Buds and Blossoms: A Botanical Fabric Collage." She includes videos on selecting fabrics, adding surface design, composing and improvisational hand embroidery. Click the above link to get more info and to register.

And she is doing a giveaway too, so go.

Rockstar Boring?

I am almost at the halfway point of the month and although I really like the progress I have made so far, it is a slow project, just by the nature of hand sewing. The border I am sewing to the waist takes a fair amount of time and I don't want to bore you with the same photograph each day!

When I tire of an area, I go and sew up another area, so I am working the garment all around. I like this approach, it feeds my need to see progress and it brings the entire project up to speed at the same time.

The label from yesterdays post made it onto the end of the tie. This will serve to strengthen the area under the snap, I still really like the idea of using snaps. Each area that will hold a snap needs to be strengthened. Previously when I unsnapped a snap I could hear a small ripping noise. Stitching the layers together really does seem to strengthen the cloth as a whole. It is an interesting approach.

And do you remember this? I received this label through Leslie who met Lea of Leaf Cutter Designs in San Francisco last year. I sewed the label into a reconstructed peasant blouse. I have contacted Lea to see if she has more labels to share because I would like to place one on the Rockstar Wrap.

Rockstar Chicken

Yesterday a package came in the mail from a special corespondent. It has everything we like in it. A bit of somthin-somthin to excite Arrow. I was so immersed in the gifts and gewgaws that I forgot the package came with a bunch of Cat Nip. I started ripping a label off a salvaged piece of silk, sent as wrapping, and Arrow kept jumping up on the table and hunting for his gift. It took three times of my picking him up and placing him on the floor for me to realize what Arrow wanted! Thankfully Arrow is tenacious and focused and knows how to make me listen.

A copy of this catalog is the focal point of this gift. Mottainai: The Fabric of Life published by Gallery Kei and Sri is a gorgeous, photographic story of Japanese textiles. The subtitle says it all, Lessons in Frugality from Traditional Japan. I am so happy to have a copy of this book, so glad that it was published, I think you should order a copy too! Let's buy them out and suggest they make more!! This title seems like the first in a series, (if you ask me).

Jeannie (my special correspondent) included a few shisha mirrors, buttons, silk wrapping, a sari ribbon. A special gift, indeed.

I began removing the label straight away. Somehow labels have become important in the Rockstar project. But I fell in love with the 'wrong' side of this one. I think it is because my eyes have been dazzled by the color pink and this label uses shiny pink thread. On the reverse side of the label the words look abstracted and the color becomes its own design.

The Chicken Footed Fairie has been hanging out with me in studio. A month or so back we changed the apartment around. The Nest became David's studio and much of the art was taken off the walls. I made this doll 7 or 8 years ago. Last night I started to imagine how I might create a new set of wings for her.

Wow

I think Monkey is the proprietor of a traveling Freak Show. I think his placard needs to be tricked out to explain the nature of his show.

And because I do not like Rat Fink and his nasty ways, I sewed a 'wow' over his crotch.

Look Behind The Curtain.

Wow, it is a challenge to blog everyday. Today I got a good start on sewing and embroidery. My eyes are filled with pink. I find pink to be a very happy color.

I wonder about color having emotional weight.

phew, I made it.

This guy (standing almost out of site on the right), he is a bad guy, a rat fink-I just know it.

I have fallen for the fox, with his little smear of blood and back turned glance.

Today was a day of sewing. Not many words. Fun, calming. Good night! I have had a long day.

Over Dinner

Last night over dinner I was thinking about this project. I have to remember that this velvet garment is old and falling apart. In order to preserve it and wear it for an extended period of time, I have decided to work with it in a boro like fashion. It became stagment in the state it was in even just yesterday.

So I decided to make a bold move. The snaps have been temporarily removed. The inside waist is getting a reinforcement layer. The stitches used to secure this cloth will be visible on the outside of the garment and will become a 'design element'.

As I said before, I love this cloth-what is it, a toile? What better way to love cloth than to use it?

I find the imagery on this cloth compelling. It tells a story. What does the Monkey have to share? Is he a medicine man, snake charmer, a tinker? Is that an image of a woman's head on the placard behind him?

This couple has just been to market, baskets full, and they stop to see the Monkey. The bird woman isn't 'sold'.

But look here, look at the fox with his tattered clothing and slippers. He appears to have been handled poorly, perhaps even caned by the authority figure who has chained he and his friend. The fox has a red mark on his forehead that looks suspiciously like blood.

Refuge

I am preparing to write an article, the first in a very long time. Because not all of my thoughts are together just yet, sewing is helping me think.

I love the orange atop the red, it looks rich, sumptuous and deep. It is time to hunt through my fabric and scraps, I need more like this. Putting cloth inside the sleeve is another opening, this piece needs change, it is a bit stuck in how it looks right now.

I bumped into this grouping of photographs. I think it appropriate to our found fabric discussion. Please check it out and tell me what you think.