Jude's animal tapestry book

Today, Martha posted on her blog about the tapestry book that I created for her first grandchild, Jude. Please check out her post—it captures how the book came together, including images of the process of making it.

Enjoy!

  The Arctic.

 The Ocean.

  The Jungle.

  Africa.

Antarctica.

felt animal art

I posted on the craftsdept blog about the segment I did just before Christmas. A handful of wintery animals from the Arctic and Antarctica aloft ombre dip dyed wool felt stretched in an embroidery hoop. They really came out sweet and I look forward to experimenting in different palettes with other animals. 

For the how-to video click here.

For additional photos check out here.

For the original inspiration look here.

Artsy videos that I enjoy. watch.

I was introduced to the "Don't hug me I'm Scared" video by a 12 year old girl. It's pretty awesome—a must see. This is it collective has a couple other hilariously strange videos like "Bad things that can happen to you".

Hosanna posted "All That Glitters: The History of Shiny Things" on thecraftsdept blog recently. I have always wondered how glitter was produced and this little educational video does that and more.

I saw Hero by Miguel Endara on RageHaus and just love the dot calculating. I have always liked the only black dots illustration technique.

fringy tissue garland

 

To distinguish where the ceremony part of my wedding would occur, I draped a strand of lights along with a white tissue paper garland that I made. 

It's super easy—a couple layers of tissue paper, fringed and folded with a rope sandwiched and glued between. Done.

It was an inexpensive way to set the stage for a priceless occasion.

ox

do-ho suh

Back in October, I was able to visit Korean-born artist, Do-Ho Suh's exhibit just a couple days before the gallery's show ended. I was so blown away at the precision, craftsmanship and intricacy of his work that I wanted to share it with you. 

Rendered in sheer polyester, these 1:1-scale, 3-D replicas are pinned in place like ethereal creatures in frames and Plexiglass boxes. Suh's attention to detail is so fine that he even includes the instructional text on this strand of lights.

 I can't imagine the time spent and the patience in sewing all the tiny pieces of fabric together to create these structures. I imagine the fabric would fray and it would be nearly impossible to sew the tiny pieces together. Most people would have to be institutionalized if they attempted to make something like this, I would anyway. Jaw dropped— I was sincerely impressed.

I could have stared for hours at the gigantic dollhouse sliced open revealing a perfectly decorated interior, that stood in the center of the gallery, titled Fallen Star 1/5. Meticulously crafted, the to-scale model was a replica of Do Ho Suh's first American home, a three-story traditional in Providence, Rhode Island. In the living room, walls have collapsed as a model of Suh’s childhood home in Seoul crashes through the room. 

"It’s an architectural mash-up as a metaphor for cultural dislocation."-Aaron Krach for Elle Decor

The detail was out of control incredible. I can't express how astonished I was—this project would take me a lifetime to accomplish. It was too perfect for me to swallow that one artist could hand make all the pieces to this magnificent sculpture. Do Ho Suh is an artist to go see in person if you get a chance.

clay shapes

 Right before our Christmas break, my fellow co-worker, Deb Jones, brought in the start of her beautiful handmade clay Crèche she had begun working on. She had been experiment with a chunk of Laguna Dry Hard Clay I gave her a couple weeks prior and I was thrilled to see her adorable creations. Passing supplies, like clay, along to people who don't work in the craft department at Martha but enjoy making things, is something I implement. Deb is an artist like most of the people I work with, but one of another kind—she paints the faces of all the guests, with makeup, that appear on Martha's show. 

How sweet are her sleeping donkeys?!

And the little sheep!

 She also made her own version of my clay mushrooms and a garden snail to slug on by them! 

facebook status: married.

Almost finally getting used to calling Ashley my husband.

rounding up the herd

Did a couple of craft fairs this holiday season—one for the staff at Martha Stewart, which was also a party... hence the vino! Among the items I was selling were wool felted sheep with cinnamon stick fences and clay mushrooms.

I was felting sheep in the days leading up to the fairs. They are a good holiday craft project and make a cute gift. I gave what I had leftover to family members and everyone thought they were super sweet!

I actually developed the felted sheep for Martha's 2010 Christmas special. They were scattered all around her kitchen!

DIY Rope Bangles

Check out the photo how-to on the Crafts Dept Blog for the rope bangles that I demoed on Martha's show! They make a great DIY holiday gift!

Make: miniature crystal chandeliers

Inspired by all the amazing chandeliers dangling low from the high ceilings of ABC Carpet & Home here in New York City, I created miniature crystal light fixtures to hang over the long banquette tables sashaying the loft space where my wedding was held. They are fairly straight forward and simple to make and add a delicate sparkle to any space; I have a few in my bedroom now- makes nice mood lighting ;).

Here's how they were made:

1. Use lamp plates/bobesches as the fixture to hang the crystal strands. Drill holes along the edge with a Dremel drill to hang each strand from. I evenly spaced seven holes around the 3" round plate.

2. Spray paint the front and back of the plate white.

3. Create strands of crystals with wire using the basic wire wrapped link beading technique. I used 6 oval Swarovski crystal beads per strand finishing each off with a crystal tear drop, all connected used an oxidized silver wire.

4. You can make your own jump rings by coiling wire around a pencil, removing it and snipping into individual rings with wire cutters.

5. Use the jump rings to connect the crystal strands to the lamp plate where you drilled the holes.

6. Wiring the light fixture is fairly easy. A wire stripper tool is helpful to remove the plastic around the wire cording.

7. I used porcelain sockets for the fixture and cloth covered lamp cord. Remember to put the crystalized plate on the cord before you wire it all together!

8. Finally, add the plug to make your mini chandelier electric!

Look how pretty!