Comment

Mini Black Swan

Daily Color: “It's hard to live your life in color, and tell the truth in black and white.” –Gregg Allman

For a recent commission, a customer asked if I could downsize my Black Swan design from the usual 10-cm ball to approximately 5 cm.

This is tricky. I have developed designs that are well-suited to the 10-cm size, and it's the size that works best for my hands. I did make a larger ball once, but it made my hands ache to hold it while wrapping and stitching. And something about working the small balls makes it much easier to slip with the needle and jab my palm. Ouch!

Quite honestly, some designs just will not translate to such a small ball as this. In this case, I had to simplify the design quite a bit to fit the smaller canvas, but I added more silver bling to compensate. Additionally, despite the smaller size, there's almost as much time and effort required to make a complex design on a small ball as on a larger one, but most people understandably are reluctant to pay almost as much for a small ball as for the regular size. So, generally I only work very simple designs on the small balls. But this particular commission is a special case indeed! I will post more about it later this week.

Comment

Comment

Temari!

Daily Color: "Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel."--author unknown

After several days off to focus on family, the Thanksgiving holiday dust is settling and I'm slowly getting back to routine... Webshop and Etsy shop updated and fully stocked. Anyone want to give one of these a new home?

Comment

Comment

Calendars!

When people hear I make temari balls, they often think it’s food. No, I explain, it’s tEmari, not tAmari, as in the sauce. No rice or fish or shaved carrots involved.

January

Or they make jokes, because "temari" sounds so much like "tomorrow": "See you temari!" "Don't do today what you can put off till temari!"

April

Well, I've got a few of my own... So, if you're having trouble telling today from temari, or if you need to keep track of today, temari, and the next day, you might want to take a look at my 2016 Yarndance temari calendar, available in the webshop and on Etsy.

WESTFORD RESIDENTS TAKE NOTE: local calendar sales will benefit the Westford Food Shelf. See here for details.

September

One more: what do you call a post-apocalyptic embroidered Japanese ornament? The "day after" temari...

October

Comment

1 Comment

Craft Vermont Wrap-Up

Home again from the Big Craft Fair. It was a pretty good day, met and talked with lots of very nice people, sold some temari, and browsed the very fine work of many other artists. My husband grabbed a few photos. And let me just say: behind every struggling artist--or this one, at any rate--there is a massively supportive mate. Thank you, Andy!

1 Comment

Comment

Day Off?

I'm all ready for the Craft Vermont Fine Craft and Art Show tomorrow, so I think I'll take the day off... think about picking up my embroideries again after the holiday making madness... maybe do some personal knitting... brainstorm a temari commission... get a head start on the Thanksgiving housecleaning... Did I say something about a day off??

Comment