I Guess I Better Blog

I haven't been blogging because I haven't the time. I still don't have the time but I thought a quick update is in order.

I'll give it to you in a list/stream of consciousness kind of way to keep it brief.

Country Fair
sew 40 pairs of bloomers for Michele
costumes for me-utility belt with bustle, finish hatter jacket, make black bloomers, new feather for my cap, and a no sew design for my staff shirt.
Pack for country fair, drunk, because we're taking David's gear out for him. It's time for Capeninas (no idea about the spelling) because David twists out arms (not).

Then the wedding on Mt. Hood at the Timberline Lodge (Red Rum) which was stunningly classy and beautiful and also was open barred. What a blast. Fun new outfit with a subtle black and white polka dotted accent for me.

But the wedding was on a Saturday so i missed 2 markets in a row. I've been back at the market for 2 Saturdays and now another wedding this Sat.

I've also had some private clients for a dress alteration, pants hem, and now the design and construction of a mermaid costume for a friend's Burning Man delight.

Plus birthdays have come and gone without the proper creatures being sent. This must be remedied. Children without their crocs are simply lost children. A tragedy.

For the wedding to come I plan to make a set of hairy eyeball finger puppets in the style of bride and groom. It will be terrible or great.

People are coming at me left and right with loose ideas of things i should design and offers to buy the first one. An eyeball pillow, which I've thought of before. I think it would be cool-when I get to it. Mickey wants puppets. Me too. Phil wants a bananaconda. Peel the banana to find a snake inside. I'm working on it. In my mind anyway.

Also my precious angel of kitty was killed by a car earlier this week. This has slowed life down a bit. I loved that girl.

Life is quite a ride.

Inspiration

Last week I had a little extra time and plenty of stock made so I decided to do design work, which I love. I made a new doll. This one is a different pattern for the head. It is much more 3 dimensional and I was excited to see how it turned out.

It turned out pretty cool. There are some things I learned for next time. It seems that cotton knit fabric does not hold the tiny filler fibers entirely. I have an endless supply of tiny strings of lint pushing through the fibers of the fabric. I use quilt batting inside the arms and legs and that isn't causing the same problem so I think I'll just line the belly and back with that from now on.

As far as the face is concerned I learned an interesting technique I'll try next time. I first make the head and stuff it. I then take thread and wrap and anchor it around the face creating indentations for eyes and chin etc. After this I am to take a stretchy fabric tube and pull it over the head, hiding the threads and hopefully keeping fluffing lint at bay.

This isn't the final outfit for the doll. This is practice set #1.

My favorite part about this has been deciding his facial appearance and hair. I used felted wool sewn into little tubes to create the dreadlocks. I tried several mouths before I settled on this one. I loved making these eyes. I'm not sure I like the combination of fabric glue and stitching I used to attach these.

I love how every little detail effects the feeling of the doll so much. I have a lot to learn and I like that.

Art and Science

If you know me it is redundant for you to read that I am artistic rather than scientifically minded. But maybe you don't know me, so there it is. This morning I was solicited by a bank I do business with to start investing. I've never invested. I have no interest in the stock market. I have very little interest in 'business savvy'. This is, of course, why I have spent my life at the back of the big money train.

Since I've begun to travel the path of being a business owner I have nudged myself forward in this caboose. I'm looking out the door. I'm thinking about crossing the hitch to the next car. I'm trying to stretch my capacity for business science and it feels weird. Should I borrow, invest, seek advising? Do I need a retirement plan? Insurance?

When I was in 7th grade earth science class it occurred to me one day that even if I may be interested in the big picture of this subject, the tedium of sitting through the vocabulary and slooooooooow repetitive hypothesis, experiment, provingness of lab procedure made my eyes glaze over. I like science because it proves cool things. But I inherently believe in these cool things. Life is magic and I don't need to spend my time in a lab to prove it. Likewise, I am of the opinion that money is magic and with the proper creation of a welcoming space it will come. It will fill the space. When I see 401k I like the way it is framed with a 4 and a k because they're both triangular. I haven't planned for retirement. I don't have a timeshare.

I always disliked 'The Count' as a kid. I thought his counting was slow and tedious. But I loved designing this costume for my friend, Randy, last year.





I am art and light
I wake to this every day-
sun casting shadows through tree branches,
a crow feather in my cat's mouth,
woven layers of this moment's music move me.
I walk to the doors of science with my question.
The door then opens, welcoming me in. But my question, wanting a simple yes/no answer, must wait outside because
science
takes
time
and

patience.
My questions come too quickly, before one is answered another comes up.
Instead I guess.
I intuit the answers and I am sometimes wrong.
I like the shape of wrongness.
I like the way it melts over a fire, and changes hue.
I like the psychedelic swirl of smoke over a Bunsen burner and beaker.
It makes me want to go write poetry.

I am aware that my approach to making money is not a proven one. It's probably not even a good one. I am willing to learn more traditional methods, I'm just taking the tiniest baby steps through this remedial class I am making up as I go along.

Eugene Saturday Market

If you are familiar with the Eugene Saturday Market this entry may be redundant, but then again, maybe not.

When I started my business I thought the Saturday Market was decidedly not going to work for me. I thought it was too 'hippie' and that nobody there went much beyond tie dye and bluegrass. I couldn't possibly fit in. After having spent a decade mired in a land of patchouli scented vans and dusty Grateful Dead bootlegs I assertively rejected many things that reminded me of hippie-ness. That was almost 10 years ago. Slowly I have been re-integrating hippie allowances. Okay, listen to the Grateful Dead in my presence, but just one album and no Uncle John's Band.

Fortunately, as far as the Saturday Market is concerned, I was totally wrong. There are the token hippies selling hemp woven doo dads, sure. But the Eugene Saturday Market is filled with a wide array of styles and I find it very inspiring! My favorite place to sell is along the southwest lawn. Kimberly Miller sells hula hoops there. She throws about a dozen hoops on the lawn for people to play with. All day it's middle aged ladies cheering each other on to swing those hips, frat boys trying it out in the sport of clownish mocking, little kids celebrating every rotation. There are musicians playing, teenagers dramatizing, and old men smiling on it all. Yesterday we had a cellist stationed right in front of us first thing in the morning. A couple of weeks ago there was a mariachi band. But mostly Saturday Market is about art. You can't sell someone else's product at this market. It must be handmade by the vendor. I love meeting other creative people. I learn something every week about how to improve my business or my craft. I'm spurred to work harder and hone my skills by the healthy competition that comes from being surrounded by greatness and being invited to join.

I thought it would be fun to showcase the work of some of my favorites here. Click on the company name for a link to the website.



WugBug Clothing Company
















Noelle Dass













Trumbly Designs

This week was blustery here in Eugene. This weather is always fun from the perch of my attic studio. Branches thump, pine cones crash, rain pitter patters. It's very exciting. I sewed catnip fish and monkeys. I revisited my 'simple monkey' design. I make monkeys in 3 styles, simple, regular, and long. The prices range accordingly. I sell greater quantities of lower priced items and so it follows that I would do best to keep more of the simpler stuff in stock. I resist a little because I like the details of a more elaborate creature. If it were up to me I would be pushing myself further and further toward the ornate. It's a good goal. In time.










So the simple monkey. It is cute with it's big head and small body. It is simpler than the 'regular monkey' in that it has no feet or wire in it's tail. It's ears and legs are not separate pieces, they're just part of the body pattern.










I revised my pattern for the catnip fish. Originally I made them as an after thought when I had a pile of oval shaped scraps. These ovals just aren't big enough, however to make a proper fat fish for kitties to really sink their teeth into. The two new test fish are a big hit around the house with Polly and Roca.

Nice Week

I had a really nice and productive week here in creatureland. I made 12 cuffs, 4 finger puppets, and 5 cat-o-pii (or cat-o-pods as I'm told). It recently occurred to me to make cyclops cat-o-pii of which I am very pleased. One of them already has been featured in an Etsy Treasury! A treasury, on Etsy, is a collection of pieces chosen by one artist, usually based on a theme. This one is an ecofriendly Father's Day theme and it features an eclectic group of gift ideas.

I'm in love with this group of cat-o-pii so I'll show a couple of them off...It is satisfying for me to make a girly cyclops cat-o-pus. Fyi, this is not the Father's Day cyclops.
















I've also been getting into making them with one giant eye and one smaller eye.













A cat-o-pus is a good friend.

Dollface, etc.

I've sold at Saturday Market for 3 weeks now. I'm starting to develop a swing, I think. It's a hippy version of hurry up and wait. I'm glad there are lots of interesting people to talk to. Also there are infinite variations on people watching. Everyone goes to the Saturday Market at one time or another.

I bring tasks to accomplish while I sit for 8 hours. My big one this week was to finish embroidering the face of doll #1.
There are several specifics I will adjust for doll #2, but overall, I think I like it.


My favorite part is the cheek circles with red stitching. Now she needs a stylish little outfit. I couldn't bring her around naked (gasp!) so I threw together this frumpy little ensemble. It simply won't do. The color is all wrong.





You may remember me posting this photo of her a few weeks ago, pre-cheeks.

The market is going well enough to keep my attendance. I find that I get more ideas each week for what I could be doing better. It helps so much to circulate with other bipeds-sometimes I forget this while in the solitude of my reclusive tendencies. I learn from watching and listening to other vendors. I learn from conversations with shoppers. I learn over and over that remaining positive, calm, and cheerful puts people at ease allowing them to linger a few moments longer at my little booth. I have to cinch my tendency to stare at my customers. I do this by always having things to do. This way I can look up and say hello. If they don't engage in further interaction I just return my half attention to the project in my lap. Secretly I always have my other half attention outward like a zen fisherman or 'creaturewoman', if you will.

I am so grateful for the Saturday Market and the fascinating Eugene community that continues to support a local economy more than any other place I've lived.

How to Develop Self Discipline

I googled that title with the intention of finding some academic support to my musings/excuses of late. You see, I find it difficult to remain disciplined about how many hours I work in my home studio. I now understand why the self employed often rent a studio somewhere outside their homes. As you are starting to see, this is an ongoing struggle to feel like I'm pulling my weight around here and not just dinking around the house. It would help if I made some kind of wage that matched the amount of time I put in. Am I a valid contributor to grown-up society as a maker of silly toys? We don't ask these kinds of questions and it is rhetorical in theory. Still, somewhere in the basement shadows of my mind, I secretly ask.

In my google search I found references to visualization and thinking long term as the secrets to developing one's self discipline. The idea is to see beyond the immediate into the vista of decades into the future. To see yourself as already successful at your chosen focus then it is only a matter of taking the steps forward. The mountain is already there, just keep walking up.

Here I would like to make my plug to those who deal at all with children. As a teacher and lifelong slacker I believe it is of the utmost importance to instill a practiced and challenged sense of self discipline in children right from the start. Self discipline is a skill. It does not often come naturally. I work with and know many gifted people. I think it is with this population where discipline is the most deficient. It is because of their high ability that they never had a need to cultivate study habits or grueling hours practicing some instrument or sport. Push the people in your life to go beyond their comfort zone at least in the areas where they are the most motivated. Don't let them get distracted at the first obstacle they meet. By 'them' I mean me and you too. When I feel blocked in my business I always reach for some distraction: computer, guitar, food, the telephone, the laundry... I challenge myself to notice these pulls and stay just a little longer with the work. I also challenge myself to feel proud even when the work is less perfect than I planned.

A Little Faux on the Fur

Maybe this will be my sweet product, the one to get me through the thin times.
















I've been looking for something I can make fast enough to be able to sell for $5.













These little babies go for $3 bucks!
















It's my sticker, if you will.

Taxes, Hems, and Market

Today I finally finished my federal and state tax forms. At least I don't owe any money but honestly they should pay by the hour for those of us too poor to hire or buy assistance. That took hours. Fortunately most of those hours were taken care of earlier in the year. Today was for tracing pencil numbers with ink and doing the state form.

Last week I finished my set of 10 spheres for S5DG holoverse inc. You may recall the suiting up for pure white fuzziness.

I also made some pants for my dance teacher. One of those needs an adjustment. I'll take care of that today.

I attempted to sell at Saturday Market this past weekend but there were a literal shit-ton of people attempting to do the same. My rank in points was only 2 so I didn't make the cut. At least I acquire a point for being there. This week I will go with 3 points. Maybe I'll get in.

Meanwhile I will fix pants. I've got some hems to do later in the week. Maybe I'll make a monkey or two.

Occupational Hazard County

Suiting up ...
















To work with this fabric. The little microfibers are insidious but I love the soft and the furry. Did you know you must sometimes smock in order to sew?

Better Than a Jab to the Eye!

Since my last post the situation has improved. Some money came in and so did more work. Amazing, right? I'm such a cynical east coaster I'm like "Yeah, I guess that's manifestation. Sorta. Meh. I won't hold my breath for the next blessing." How droll. The truth is that I worked it. After I wrote my last post about making it through the hard times I took action in the way of a daily visualization of me easily hopping on the money boat and floating along with a smile. The challenge with this is allowing myself to feel valuable enough to deserve any level of wealth above poverty. So I made a checkbook. In my checkbook I made deposits to myself and from this money, for every 'comfort' I bought myself I made a large donation to a group or organization I would like to support. That helped me to feel more deserving somehow. "Whatever it takes, fruitcake." says east coast.
Here you see 10 Hairy Eyeballs cut and ready to sew.










Here's the new model with kitty ears.












And here we have a very fluffy Hairy Bunny Eye.

Journey to the Rock Tree

It is both dull and fascinating to live these cycles over and over again. I am in a lull with my business. The lull is fueled by lack of financial oomph. I could go into the waa of it all but I'm sure you get the idea. My challenge is in the spirit. I get depressed at times like these. I start to see myself failing. Then I begin to make plans for what I will do once I fail. I start to look at college courses.

I am aquarius. I have let this aspect of my nature rule many significant life decisions leading me along spontaneous whimsical threads that I do not regret. The trend to be self defeating and depressive is a cycle I go through on a regular basis. I have a tool bag to handle it these days but I realized today that it is a state I have normalized. I expect to fail at my crazy aquarian attempts at greatness. I predict failure for myself and speed up the process because I cannot bear to leave things unresolved. As I age I feel my taurus rising taking a stronger hold on my decisions. I think this is good for me to be more practical and grounded. Let aquarius make art but leave the long term goals to taurus who will hang in there through the rough spells. It is a shift in perspective that does not need to lean on astrology but I like to have names for my various inner beings.

11 years ago I was living and traveling in VW van with my hippie boyfriend in the Southwest. We did a good amount of backpacking into remote places. In March of 1999 we hiked into the Guadalupe Mountains of northern Texas. It was a long hike with a significant rise in elevation and I was carrying a 30 or 40 lb pack. I whined and complained so much that finally my boyfriend, Chuck, just went ahead and left me to my woe-is-me sluggish pace. I hated that climb. I couldn't believe I was subjecting myself to the physical torture. I wanted to stop and camp on a pile of vertical rocks rather than ascend one more step. I finally made it to the top. The view was stunning and a soft tent pad with a fire pit was already present. It snowed that night and I was prepared with my (heavy) 0 degree mummy bag. I felt proud that I had made it to the top and that I was prepared for my first time snow camping. The next day when we hiked back down Chuck went ahead again leaving me to reflect on the experience. I realized the symbolism of the climb and I use the lesson to this day. In the hardest of times just put one foot in front of the other and continue to breathe. The complaining weakened me. It drained my optimism and any capacity for appreciating the awesome beauty that was surrounding me.

Along the trail I passed this tree.
You'll notice that the tree has a rock in it's embrace. It just continued to grow, elevating it's new companion along the way. I have shown this photo to a number of friends throughout the years and it has never been received with much enthusiasm. I was always surprised because I was frozen in my tracks when I saw this natural wonder. I could never put my finger on what made it speak to me before now. This is how I feel about my tendencies toward depression and self defeat. If they want to stay in the path of my growth then it is my only choice to embrace these tendencies and continue upward. I am staying on this path, one foot in front of the other. If these lessons insist on working through me again and again then I will bring them along. It is this journey I choose.

Hairy Bunny Eyeball

Here it is, my 'Easter' product. It is my favorite eyeball of them all...it's off the wall! OK. I will forgo my mad rhymes for now.

I don't celebrate Easter. This makes me question whether or not I have any place contributing to the holiday based economy that so many manufacturers take advantage of. Am I ethically allowed to make a bunny in the springtime? Do I care about what I'm allowed to do? Not really. And I love this bunny. It has inspired all sorts of variations for the Hairy Eyeball line. Simple additions to make them irresistible like rams' horns, eyebrows, or wings!

3D Space Out

I've been back from vacation almost a week now. I suppose I should blog. I went to visit family in upstate New York for one week. It was a great time with loads of family bonding and road trips. I also tried the Wii for the first time. I played several different exercise-ish games. It was fun to have family workout time (and unprecedented!). I'm glad video games are getting more physical.

Now I'm back to work. I have a couple of small projects to finish up. Then I'm on to preparing for the Saturday Market which starts up again in about a month.
One of my projects is kind of mind twisting. I rarely interact with Craig's list. This said, when I returned from my trip I was thinking about money and my choices. I did a quick search for employment as a 'stuffed animal designer'. I figured somebody has that job. I wonder if it's fun. I found an ad. I corresponded back and forth a couple of times with a woman named Deb. She described the project to me like this: ' a 6” diameter sphere with a 1” tunnel through the middle (a spherical doughnut). We are looking for a white, small loop/strand polyester fabric, with small polyester bead fill. A 2” thin Velcro’d opening on a surface seam should be provided on the sample.'

They paid me for 2 of them sight unseen. I looked up the company name 'SD5G'. They do work with 3D, prosthetics, and parties?!?! My project goes in the party category.

Working with the polyester bead fill was maddening. I've never used it before. It has serious static cling issues.

I devised a system involving telescoping cardboard funnels and a paper scoop that worked ok. My floor was an interesting sensory experience before the spheres were through.

Gettin' the Old Hairy Eyeball

In retrospect it has been a great and productive week during which I hardly noticed. My mind has been spinning lately with overwhelm. I'm traveling back to NY state this Tuesday for a week to visit my family. This is always an anxious event for me. I have to drive to Portland in my questionable vehicle. I have to fit all my stuff into a carry on and all my liquids into less than 3 oz. I have to be nice. I must forgo my comfy home, boy, and kitties. I'm a privileged white woman with not nearly enough to fret about, obviously. It's only a week and I haven't been back to see the fam in nearly 3 years. It's barely enough time to say hello to everyone. Guilt, worry, tension, chardonnay. Last night I came up with a way to describe the ridiculous amount of guilt I conjure: It's a back lit cross, boulder to the stomach kind of guilt that sticks like cheap perfume. I know better. I know it helps nothing to worry or feel guilt. It doesn't change past events or feelings. The only thing it does is frazzle the air around me. I know all this and I wasn't even raised catholic yet somehow this Love's Baby Soft never goes away for very long.

But let's get back to business. My wonderful friends, Kris and Scot, commissioned me to make a Star Bellied Sneetch for their son's Birthday.

I loved the design process. The beak is a little oversized but I think it adds to the comic cuteness. I hope Kris and Scot agree.


I've been wanting to design something inexpensive so I came up with the Hairy Eyeballs. They do not have pockets. This is a first for me. I may add pockets later. I considered making the pocket right in the middle so one could use it to make a finger puppet. That's them at the top of the page. I'll make some pairs on a string to use like fuzzy dice too. Nothing like gettin' the old hairy eyeball from your own rear view mirror.

Yesterday I indulged a bit. I made my first ever doll. I'm not sure why I have been dying to do this. I've been putting it off because I'm not sure I can make them at a reasonable cost. I did a lot of hand stitching which takes time. I could do less by hand. I could simplify. I've got ideas.

It isn't quite finished but you get the gist. It isn't my intention to make only white females. I can't wait to make all varieties of race and sex. Interplanetary baby dolls even. Cyclops dollies perhaps.

Roger the Crocodile

I finished Roger the Pocketdile today. I hand stitched the pocket on.

I increased the size of the toes to stay with the authentic 5 toes in front, 4 in back while maintaining structural integrity.

I can see that I run the risk of becoming the kind of geek with stuffed animals that some people become over video games or sports. I'll catch myself some night, a little tipsy at a party, going into tedious detail about the process of constructing the perfect crocodile toe. I'll see that glazed look in my friend's eye and quickly try to make a save by talking about some hot new album I've discovered or maybe by telling a joke.

Crocodiles and Elephants

Today I will finish the lovely and soft green Pocketdile I've been working on since Monday. I found five great sweaters at the Salvation Army thrift store for under $15! One of them is a nice cotton blend I'm using for the new croc. Two of the others are wool! They will all become creatures. I can't wait to felt the wool. I'm usually lazy about this. Second hand wool sweaters are generally partially felted anyhow so I just go ahead and make the creatures with no more than a simple cold, delicate wash. But this time I am committed to experiment with washing machine felting. It's simple and felted wool is softer and lovelier to the eye.


Last week I finished the classy burgundy stripe taffeta crocodile. It turned out nice although I used a stretchy velvet for the belly which pulled the body into a C shape. It isn't what I intended but it still looks alright. They never turn out exactly as intended anyway. Sometimes this is a boon. Other times not so much.







I also finished a new furry Pocketderm with a trumpet trunk. Her name is Valerie.

Valerie's gorgeous shag faux fur is so crazy it was difficult to get a photo of her that makes sense to the eye. I did my best.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday was Thursday. As usual I was late with the card and can't afford a gift. Instead I thought it would be fun to dedicate a blog post to her. She is, after all, the person who taught me to sew. Perhaps more significantly I spent my upbringing watching her constantly making things. In my case it was contagious and I'm grateful for that. This is my mom, Marcia.


When I was a kid my mom made me all kinds of stuff. We didn't have that much money so she would just make the things we couldn't afford.


She copied images from a coloring book to make her own embroidery patterns for this little doll blanket she made for me.









She would cut up her old clothes to make my dolls clothes.







She crocheted the sweater this barbie is wearing. She made the jeans from an old pair of her jeans.









And this barbie wedding gown complete with train and pearly buttons is also hand crocheted out of thin string by my mom. It's stunning. You see it here on a scrap book page.



Mom made each of us four kids a full scrap book of our lives a few years ago for Christmas gifts. Every year she gives us something homemade for Christmas. That's how my mom rolls and that's how I ended up the way I am.





I'd like to thank my mom for being such a great inspiration for creativity. I love you to the max, Mom. Happy Birthday!

Crocodile Rock

I'm finally progressing my goal to get my product into more local shops. Yesterday I started a 'call list' of potential places. I made calls, talked to people, gauged interest, made appointments. It felt so liberating and it took about half an hour. Now I have sporadic meetings in my day planner for the next couple of months starting today. Today I go to the Redoux Parlour in the plaza on 8th and Blair. This will be another consignment which is fine. We're all in the same boat here. I can wait for payment until the creatures find their homes. The Redoux Parlour is a great resale shop with a very eccentric range of style. My kind of shop.

So I've been slowly making this red and black faux snakeskin pocketdile. The fabric is from a shirt David gave me. I know this kind of fabric has it's weaknesses but it makes such a rockin' croc that I just had to take the chance on it. Yesterday when I turned the claws the fabric split in several places...

The crocodile claws are always touchy, even with the toughest fabrics. I have to seal the seams with fabric glue and gingerly turn them being careful the chopstick doesn't poke a hole through the end of the toe.
I tried sealing these croc cracks with the fabric glue. It worked on the small cracks but the big openings like this one are a problem I'm not sure how to solve. You may already know that crocodiles have 5 toes in front, 4 in back. I want to stay true to this but the back feet never have the same kind problems as the front. I suppose I just have to expand the front foot.

I will solve the issue because this croc simply must be