Melanie Testa's Blog, page 4

Slow

Sometimes I forget how long stitch takes. Stitch is a true meditation, a quiet centering. Today I 'top stitched' a line along the left sleeve. I will be doing more stitching throughout the draped portion of the sleeves, because I hope the stitch will make that portion drape better.

And I have secured the size label of the hat I deconstructed this week.

Speaking of deconstruction, check out what Lyric is working on. And also what Christine has been up to, great stitches there.

NYC Beach Combing

David and I have been going on long, ambling walks through the city. It is so much fun to do, there are so many people here that you stumble upon things, little altars, or street art that is either in progress or embellished by the locals who live near it. This weekend we walked to Fairway in Red Hook. There is a beach that over looks the Verrazano Narrows, Statue of Liberty and Staten Island right there and it has become...

my new place to shop for fabric. This new cotton length is very pretty, don't you think? It is aged and softened, mottled from sitting in the sun and drying after being wet and rewet so often. And it has holes! Natural, beautiful holes. The one thing about shopping for cloth on a New York City beach is that I need to carry a plastic bag with me and I need to wash my hands as soon as I am able after touching stuff! Luckily Fairway has a bathroom and hat water!

In continuing with the tags and labels theme, I am considering putting this label into the facing.

But the real next step is to use some of my new cloth somewhere. In the sleeves, like Jeannie suggested? On the inside of the ties for a little eye candy that can only be seen once in a while? Hm.

Remember, I am conversing with you through the comments on the blog. Check back to read my response to your comments or better yet, leave a comment. If you have a blog I will visit you. Part of the reason I am blogging everyday is to get back into the swing of our vibrant and exciting on-line community.

And don't forget about the Rockstar Boro Flickr group where Russty is flying about, Arrow has a friend and Jeannie is doing interesting work. And hey! I got an email from Lyric Kinard this weekend saying she was going to join in the fun too.

Look at this eye...

Opening

I couched some chenille yarn to the facing yesterday.

I also sewed the label to a hat that I dissembled. I am pretty sure it will disintegrate the first time I wash the garment, and although I expect this, I sort of hope that using tulle will stabilize the process and keep it together for a bit longer. I like that the label says New York on it.

Our local haunts are gearing up for the holidays.

David took this photo.

A self portrait.

Boro bits and balm

One of the things I love most about apartment living is the need to balance economy of space versus its use. It feeds into my need for an organized and fully usable studio setting. I want to be able to grab the needed object or supply without hindrance, my goal is to execute the next painting, drawing or stitch, not to go looking for supplies and getting distracted for want of cleaning. I use cleaning as a way to ease into my creative process, so you can see my conundrum.

This morning a brilliant thought, 'You need an embroidery drawer in your studio and that means the glues, oil paints and mediums are consigned to deep storage'. So I started this studio day by cleaning.

While switching stuff around I came across a pot of gold. A bag of embellishments, threads, yarns and color. I wonder if I need to couch something...

Years ago David and I went to England and took a trip to Bath. These are the spoils of that trip and have been traveling with me from Connecticut to Arizona to Brooklyn for years. It is time to use them.

The Eye

When I was a child I took an illustrated book about eyes from the library. I remember curling in a nook and reading intently about cones and light rays. When I was a teenager, I would draw eyes, perfected, ethereal eyes with perfectly shaded pupils. I drew the same eye so many times they became formulaic. At that same time I went on vacation to Providence, Rhode Island with my mom and dad and saw many blown glass Evil Eyes. Pinterest has various images of Evil Eyes.

This led me on an exploration of Shisha Mirrors, which, now that I am writing about them and finding links to share with you, I pine over (tis not the season to be purchasing art supplies for myself). But. We are talking about a quest I had in my early years, right? I learned that mirrors were used to deflect the Evil Eye and protect the wearer from harm. And what teenaged girl doesn't want to wear long flowing skirts embroidered with mirrors?

As I was creating this post, I came across a tutorial on shisha embroidery, using pennies.

hmmmm...

This is my work from yesterday. It needs something to push the eye image forward but I will put it aside for now.

We now have 17 members over at the Rockstar Boro group.

RockStar Boro 1

Here is my garment as it stands. I have sewn snaps to the belt so that it now wraps around my body rather than hanging at the waist. I have begun to stitch red satin sari strips as if to create a facing, I have sewn tabs down to 'close' the tear that proceeds up each sleeve. I started to work a gold ribbon into the neckline too. This last bit is nice because it makes me want to embroider with metallic thread. This opens up a wealth of possibility, and broad thinking is what this project needs right now. I don't want to remain stuck in how the wrap looks right now. I would like to break up the intensity of the velvet and introduce new textures, colors, fabrics and threads into the mix.

These open and drapey sleeves call for some heavy Kantha style stitching, if you ask me.

The back neck area already has some stitchwork and when I woke this morning I thought about this next photo:

The Eye. This image was taken in the Duomo in Milan. I think it is the side of a confessional.

Ever since I was a teenager I have been interested in the idea of the Evil Eye and the protection one might need against it.

So, today's mission: Sew an eye onto the back of the garment as protection from the things behind me.

These are some vintage Japanese silk embroidery threads bought at Quilt Festival. They are yummy to stitch with.

I will answer questions and begin speaking with you through the comments on this blog starting today. Let the stitching begin.

Rockstar?

So let's face it, rockstar velvet is not for everyone.

This waistcoat called for embellishment when it was given to me by a friend. It is a bit dull and needs some uplifting color, so I took it on vacation to Switzerland.

While in Switzerland I sewed and embroidered imagery from my daily adventures.

This vest is not complete, and I feel the need to embroider and embellish the vest from current day happenings. So it is a work in progress. This is not a boro project, but rather, an embroidery project. When I think of boro, I think raw edge patchwork and this vest has no added cloth.

Last week, I tried wearing the Rockstar Garment out in the world and found the ties to be an impediment to comfort. So I tried it on in front of my Man. We tied the ties, considered creating button style belt loops and then David said the word snaps. I love snaps and feel they are not used often enough. Once he said the word, I couldn't do anything else.

So I held the ties up and David pinned the placement for snaps.

Snaps are it.

When you decide on a garment to play with during the month of December, consider your personality, are you a blazer type but want to jazz it up? Do you have a favorite denim shirt that needs repair? Are you interested in embroidery? Maybe your garment can be an exploration of the Kantha style of stitching. My suggestion to you is to research what you would like to focus on. Here are some of my research ideas: here, here and here. Take some time to find your direction before we begin sewing together.

And hey, if you are having a hard tme coming up with ideas, check out Pinterest and search for Kantha, Boro, heck, anything will send you off on a jaunt. The point is, you need inspiration and a personal focus. Get to it.

And don't forget to join the Flickr group.

This and That

David and I have been on a kick of carrying our cameras about town, long aimless strolls are the goal. We have been playing with our cameras and learning to look and see. The Photo Silly 2 was just the sort of visual aerobics class we needed.

Meet Alex, a 15 year old dog whose human had coffee with us. Alex has a gravely bark that required a small jump to fully get the point across. He endeared himself to us.

Here, I am playing with depth of field, I can't seem to make my camera do this all the time but I am starting to understand the basics.

Down in Dumbo there is a park where I took this portrait of David and I.

This Little Altar has been growing. The face cup has been with us for years and recently made its way into this tableau.

I have been working the rockstar garment, and documenting my ideas and divergences.

Jeannie, where did you get the animal print cloth in these photos? Is it current day fabric?

Ricë and I did a podcast on Cancer and Creativity thi...

Ricë and I did a podcast on Cancer and Creativity this week. I invite you to listen to it and enjoy.

What the heck is Boro anyway??

Before I blithely proceed, I need to slow down a bit. A few folks have asked, what is boro? And isn't that just a great question.

This is a piece of boro in my personal collection bought at Sri

The following definition was pulled directly from the Sri web site (I have been to Stephen's gallery and it is scrumptious, if you come to NYC, go to Sri Threads. Please check out his web site and blog):

"Japan's mended and patched textiles are referred to as boro, or ragged, both in Japan and abroad.

Boro textiles are usually sewn from nineteenth and early twentieth century rags and patches of indigo dyed cotton. The diversity of patches on any given piece is a veritable encyclopedia of hand loomed cotton indigo from old Japan. In most cases, the beautiful arrangement of patches and mending stitches is borne of necessity and happenstance, and was not planned by the maker."

If you would like a slightly more in depth description of boro cloth, click here.

Jude Hill is a fabulous artist who blogs and teaches her techniques through online workshops. Jude uses the concept of boro cloth extensively in her work, definitely check her out too.

I don't plan to teach what I am doing, I just want to start blogging again and so have asked you to join me in a sew-along. I want to reengage with you after this long quiet year of cancer treatments, book writing and recovery. I plan to use embroidery and to illustrate some ideas through stitch onto the rockstar wrap

Here is an example of a piece I completed last year around this same time. It uses kimono fabrics, indigo dyed cloth and my own hand dyed threads. This hip pack 'journals' my trip to Spain and can be read about here and here.

My hopes for the Rockstar Boro project are to use rich, current-day fabrics to update and improve a velvet wrap. I may use velvets, organza and cottons that I hand dyed, or I may use commercial cloth from my stash. I will work in both hand dyed threads and whatever suits the next stitch best. Last night I was searching around and came across a link to Johnny Was and was inspired to do some big blowsy floral embroidery. I found that link thanks to Ricë. The point is, I could see Janis Joplin wanting to wear a boro inspired garment stitched by me, but I get to wear and keep this garment when it is complete!

I have set up a Flickr group for us

http://www.flickr.com/groups/rockstar...

Here is the link if you would like to spread the word on your own blogs.

Head over and become a member.

Perhaps you have a velvet shirt in your closet, perhaps you need to find a garment more suited to your temperament. If you would like to start discussing clothing options, upload photos of your garment to flickr and we will comment on them and help you get started. I have a few photos uploaded to the group already.

Let the fun begin.

I am trying to sit on my hands and not sew, we will see how long that lasts.

A little business: I will use the comments to answer questions and converse with you. I have a filter on the blog to help me combat spam-a growing problem. I hope this means that I can approve you as a commenter once and that my blog software will know you thereafter. If you have posted a comment in the last day it would be helpful to me if you would post again so that I can check to see if the blog is functioning properly. Thanks