Crochet to Go

I haven't posted any crochet finds in a while. Here's a neat one (knitted):


See more here.

European artist Joana Vasconcelos covers creatures in crochet. Her earlier work was much larger, and she appears to be focusing on the details and quality of her craftmanship. It's intriguing. Her site is interesting too, if a bit hard to navigate.

There are some interesting ideas on this site. Both of these concepts use salt to "freeze" the forms. You could do the same with starch or sugar - definitely worth exploring.

I mounted my felted "painting" yesterday. It's not quite right yet - I think I'll have to nail a frame around the edges - but it's getting there. As you can see, it definitely fills up a wall.

Here's another (semi-)related project that I found interesting. Marilyn Rose created these spectacular quilts from her own late night pictures: She snapped photos of the scenes with her point-and-shoot camera "from behind the wheel going way too fast on the highway." Read more here.

It's done! This is actually my first felting project. I suppose if you're going to try something, go big.

I definitely still need to block this, and figure out a way to hang it (I'm thinking I'll stretch it over a wooden frame, but does anyone have a better idea?).

In order, these are pictures of:
1) The original painting
2) The crocheted, unfelted version (36 x 36 inches)
3) The felted version (26 x 36 inches - I'm not sure if it's normal that the work only shrinks horizontally?)
4) detail of colors
5) side-by-side comparison of before and after

I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. It was a lot of work, but it's going to look great on my living room wall. My only reservation is the felting itself - I'm not sure it's a better work because of the felting? I loved it just as much before. Hmm. I'm going to tackle an ocean scene next.

The crochet phase is done! I'm doing the actual felting tomorrow. Here's a glimpse into my process.

I originally took a jpeg of the painting and overlaid a grid in photoshop. It was good on screen, but not very useful when I was actually working. I couldn't easily print it out, given the number of rows (142 sc across, 180 rows high). Eventually I settled on the two visual aids shown here: one printout of the painting with 16 x 16 stitch squares drawn over, and a second handdrawn version showing where to place the accent colors. I used safety pins on the work itself to show the grid lines (shown in the last photo).

Other specifics: this is worked entirely in single crochet with a 5.5 mm hook. I used Lion Brand Wool and Patons Classic Wool Merino in cream, black, navy blue, blue, gray, purple, and green.

This art exhibit looks amazing. Artist Jean Arkell has knitted mini reproductions of the homes of female killers - or the houses where they committed the crimes. I love the houses, and am even more drawn to the written descriptions of the crimes. There's a certain awkwardness to the prose that adds to the general oddness of the whole project. It's very straightforward, and yet slightly off. For example:

Christiana Edmunds was a 43 year old spinster who lived with her widowed mother. She had become infatuated with a married man, Dr. Beard. In September 1870 she brought a box of chocolates to the Beard's house and insisted that Mrs. Beard eat some over a pot of tea. Christiana had filled these chocolate creams with strychnine. Immediately after eating one Mrs. Beard became severely ill. As a result Dr. Beard accused her of trying to poison his wife. Christiana denied the charge and set about trying to prove that there was a poisoner at large in Brighton. She would pay children to buy chocolate creams from the same sweet shop that she purchased the box of chocolates for Mrs. Beard from. She would inject these with strychnine, then re-wrap them and pay another child to return them. The innocent shop-keeper sold on these poisoned sweets. On 12 June 1871 this activity resulted in the death of 4-year-old Sidney Barker. Christiana even sent poisoned cakes and fruit through the mail, addressing some to herself, to try to emphasise her innocence. She was eventually caught and sentenced to death but when it transpired that she was mentally ill her sentence was commuted and she was sent to Broadmoor. She died there in 1907 aged 79. It later transpired that no less than four members of her immediate family had died as a result of mental illness

I've started my mammoth felting project. It's 36 inches wide and (when finished) will be about 38 inches tall. I have 35 inches more to go, so don't expect to see the final anytime soon! I'm sticking with a single color for the cream background, but will try to replicate those shades of blue, green, and purple on the mountain. My hope is that the felting process will blend any solid lines into subtle accents. Stay tuned.

This painting is by Willoughby Walling.

Did you catch this post on Whip Up a few weeks ago? This wonderful creation is hand crocheted and then covered with plaster and paint. By a guy, no less. He has a fairly diverse selection of work available in his Etsy shop. Check it out.

(And if you're wondering, like I did, the size of this is about a foot long. It would be amazing if he made a life-size one.)

I spotted the Precious Mesh shop in the Etsy Showcase yesterday - can you believe this work? I'm blown away. It's handcrocheted and surprisingly affordable.

I can't resist posting a link to Neta's site. She's based in Tel Aviv and creates free-form dolls in crochet, and other mediums. I'm a little scared of the work, but it's fun to dig through her archives and see the things she's made.

I'm awash in crochet finds this week. In the fine art category, Patricia Waller's show in Germany just opened. The work is diverse and technically very impressive. Often funny, too. You can see more of her work here on her website.

P.S. make sure you look at the "accidents" series. Wow.

Judy Geib's work in included in an exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt right now. She makes gorgeous, heavily layered jewelry, and insists that the pieces be displayed on her custom crocheted display stands. She also crochets remarkable seashell handbags.

It's hard to believe everything you read, but according to this article Beyonce and Jay-Z just dropped $40K on this crocheted chair.

If you have the big bucks, too, buy it here.

P.S. Actually, it's a "Chrochet" chair.

Crochet Me posted a link to this remarkable project set on Flickr. All of sea creatures, crocheted or knitted entirely out of plastic fibers. I just love it, particularly this white one.

Nicola was featured in this week's daily candy - she makes a wide range of attractive, clever jewelry. Dig a little deeper into her site, however and you'll find a fine art section; all crocheted. I like the combination of text and flowers in this piece. There are several longer text versions crocheted out of cassette tape.

Here's someone who's trying to add a layer of meaning to the art of crochet: Nathan Vincent. According to his artist statement, "My work explores gender permissions and the challenges that arise from straying from the prescribed norms. It questions the qualities of gender by considering what constitutes masculine and feminine. It critiques stereotypical gender mediums by creating "masculine objects" using "feminine processes" such as crochet, sewing, and applique." He clearly is quite accomplished at crochet; I admire the time and thought that has gone into these objects. You'll find a bit more info about him here, including a list of uncoming shows. Nothing on the west coast yet, but he is making it to the Ohio Crafts Museum in October.

Design sponge, one of my absolutely favorite blogs, posted these pictures from ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), which was held this week. ICFF is housed in the Javits annex in NY, and coincides with the Stationery Show, which I generally attended while at Chronicle. Judging from the pictures I've seen, this was an exceptional show.

Anyway, how cool are these lamps? They're crocheted by a lebanese company--I found their site impossible to navigate and wasn't able to determine if they're hand done. I'm really curious about the fibers they used as well--don't you think there's some sort of artificial fiber involved to keep the length from continuing to stretch? Or made the fabric is glued to the balls?

Thanks to Suzanne for sending a link to this fascinating project. The Institute For Figuring is crocheting a coral reef--in their words, it's "a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world. " They're accepting samples from crocheters. Here's the complete article.

On a related topic, NPR just did a piece on hyperbolic geometry and crochet. A lot of the pictures look fairly similar to the coral reef representations.