feathery, leathery, lovely and bent - scrumdidlyump

2011-11-12T15:34:00.001-05:00

I made this tribute to Chris Clark for Dia de los Muertos Festival Numero Nueve. I sewed the quilt, painted it, and adorned it with a good 15 lbs of beads!

2011-09-02T15:15:00.001-04:00

2009-05-25T12:28:00.001-04:00

Check it out!
Low cost classes on photography, printmaking, and felting, June 6th at Howard Street, followed by a Crafty Supply Swap and Sale Bonanza!
Want to come? Want to learn? Want to sell all that surplus craft stuff you've got, or swap it for more? Visit the Howard Street Handmade blog!

2009-05-22T13:44:00.002-04:00

There are squirrels and blue jays and crows going crazy here. Divebombing galore.

It got me thinking... of alll the awesome movies that have been remade for better or for worse)noone has taken on The Birds yet. Maybe that is best.. the next generation, endowed with too short an attention span for black and white films, might be spared of the knowledge that someday all of bird-kind might turn against us.

After all, they are just feathery dinosaurs...

2009-05-06T11:44:00.004-04:00

Woot Woot - the next Howard Street Handmade indie craft fair is right around the corner!

Not only are we welcoming back fabulous vendors you know and love, but there are some new faces and crafty stars in the mix, so come celebrate and support local craftiness!

Check out the blog and vote about an awesome Craft Supplies Swap + Sale Bonanza. AND we will be teaching a low cost workshop on how to take good photographs and write superb descriptions to help you sell your work. GREAt for Etsy sellers. Email me for more info, scrumdidlyump@gmail.com. And see you at Howard Street!

2009-03-06T13:33:00.002-05:00

Howard Street Handmade - indie craft fair

2009-01-27T07:54:00.002-05:00

OrionStars

I met our next featured Etsyan in a chat room... yeah, yeah. Anyway, Bredette is one of those glorious people who stands out even in tiny print. She made me laugh so hard that I cried... and then we traded pottery for essential oils. Her oil blends are fantastic, and a life saver for those of us who have those special days when we want to set things on fire but need instead to be loving and nurturing. Although being a potter, I want to set things on fire most days. In a good way.
Anywho, ORIONSTARS is GREAT!

I'm Bredette aka OrionStars. I have many creative outlets. One is my looove for blending essential oils to make yummy smells that also help with certain ailments like cramps or headaches, etc. I also love sewing, playing with paper, playing music-clarinet, guitar and ukelele. I could go on and on and on :)

2. What projects are you really excited about now?
Right now, I'm starting my third class in Essential Oils and I'm very excited to learn more about this passion I have.

3. What, or who, would you say inspires you? Do you have any other interests that feed your art/craft?
Everyone inspires me. Others being creative inspire me. There are so many talented people in the world, it's hard NOT to get inspired!

4. If you were a superhero, what would your super power be?
Hmm, I'd have to go with flying. Easy answer, I know, but I've always wanted to fly!!

5. What is your favorite part if the creative work you do?
The feedback I get. When people are amazed that my blends actually help. The smiles I get after people read the labels and listings, etc :)

6. What would your ideal studio/workspace be like?
Full of many oils and open, flat spaces. Will never happen, though, as I am a very cluttered person...

7. Why are manhole covers round?
Because those doods eat poorly and are round themselves! ha

8. What is the hardest part of the work you do?
I would have to say it's getting back stock together. I tend to make things as they're sold. It gets frustrating because I feel like I'm in a hurry to get it out. This is why I had a child, to train him to blend. Sweatshop here we come!

9. What project would you undertake if money, space, time, any part of reality, were not a constraint?
That's a huge question and I have no idea how to answer it. Dang.

10. If someone was making a film of your life story, what would the title be, what genre would it be, and what actor would play you?
Title: Silliness, Genre: indie/comedy/drama, Actor: Miranda July

2009-01-20T10:00:00.002-05:00

bicycleocean

Serendipity, synchronicity, and squidsquatches, these are a few of my favorite things when it comes to our next fabulous Etsy feature: bicycleocean. I admit it, I have a crush on Naomi, mostly because of the enigma which surrounds her existence. Far away in Flordia, there is a woman who lives, and has weird and fantastic aspects which make me think I have a soul mate who really has a thing for bicycles, cephaloda, roller derby, and for some strange reason, fried eggs. Case in point, I answered my own interview questions before I started this series and who did I pick to play my part in my own movie? Gene Wilder in drag. Read on, and discover the lady of mystery and incredibly diverse talent who is Naomi.

My name is Naomi and I live in sunny (and not so fun) South Florida. I tend to make things that are whimsical, fun, and full of the obvious, LOVE. OH and things that make you say "OH MY!!" I tend to work with just about any medium. Anything from polymer clays, to spare wood, to old lampshades.

2. What projects are you really excited about now? I made my first Katamari Damacy painting. it's AMAZING. I will have it posted soon on my Etsy site just as soon as my internet stops screwing with my LIFE.. ALSO: I made costumes for my friend's music project/band called "CAPTAIN BREAKFAST" (http://www.myspace.com/captainofbreakfast ) He's amazing. I will soon be traveling as their costume and set designer for a bit (HOLY SHIT AWESOME YEAH!!). PICTURES SOON! ALSO: My friend January ( http://vajayj.etsy.com ) and I made two bikes of ours into a Jet and a Tank for a critical mass ride here in West Palm Beach. We were Tank Girl and Jet Girl! ENTIRELY out of free stuff. cardboard, duct tape, spray paint etc. They were amazing. SO hard to part with. PICTURES: http://myspace.com/naomiofthesea

3. What, or who, would you say inspires you? Do you have any other interests that feed your art/craft? I love used crap. Pretty much pass me your old art supplies, free stuff, or give me a good time and a beer and I can pretty much make anything. I think anyway. :-)

4. If you were a superhero, what would your super power be? DEFINITELY Teleportation!!! God I could use this power SO much. That AND invincibility. I'm sure I'm gonna get myself into trouble sooner or later! ;-D

5. What is your favorite part if the creative work you do? The random inspiration. I don't even KNOW where the idea for those Carnie/Circus Freak squids came from, but I'm glad they did!!

6. What would your ideal studio/workspace be like? DEFINITELY an industrial warehouse (not too big, like 2000 sq feet) with a loft built in the back made of all free stuff. Wood, old windows for an ENTIRE wall, etc. I have literally about a car load worth of stuff in my car right now including salvaged koa tongue and groove wood flooring!!

7. Why are manhole covers round? So they're easier to fall through!

8. What is the hardest part of the work you do? Being delicate! Sometimes tiny detail work takes a lot of patience and a steady hand to accomplish. I'm sort of a train wreck, you see.

9. What project would you undertake if money, space, time, any part of reality, were not a constraint? I would run my own Antique Restoration company/ Statue Repair place. AND I would let all my buddies live there so they could delve into whatever random projects they dream about, but can't because of time/ space etc. I have a pretty decent background in this sort of stuff, and I know I could make a serious living doing it too. AND IT'S so entertaining. It's like having 4 puzzles that don't go together at all, but you have to make it work, and make it LOOK like they do!

10. If someone was making a film of your life story, what would the title be, what genre would it be, and what actor would play you?
"Yup, She Was Here." A Memoir of Randomness, Silliness, and Dancing. Genre: Bet Yo Ass! HOPEFULLY Gene WIlder would play me. Even though he's a dude. But I think he'd do a damn fine job!
My Manfriend says the name would be "Secret Snail", and I would be played by R2D2. Not sure where that came from, but it's pretty funny.

2009-01-12T08:51:00.002-05:00

It's my one year anniversary as a shop owner on Etsy!
Woot woot!
To celebrate I have some awesome deals:
** Happy Birthday Deals - Returning customers get $10 off purchases over $50, $20 off purchases over $100! Also, reccommend a friend and get free shipping on your next order! New customers also get free shipping now through February 11th!**
check it out here.

2009-01-06T17:37:00.003-05:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2009-01-06T16:46:00.002-05:00

The Hand Made Product Directory

I found this site awhile back but I hadn't really gotten a chance to explore it until the last few days. It is choc full of hand made goodness, and is also a great resource in that it has lots of great info for hand makers.

Check them out here.

2009-01-02T08:46:00.002-05:00

Intuition

In the past few years I was involved with many projects that involve planning of various amounts, some spanning years and even decades of time.

Reading a lot about the Middle Ages, a recurring interest of mine that started out with Arthurian legend and the branched out in as many directions as the Questing Beast has legs, I have become fascinated with the projects dating back to that period and earlier, even to prehistoric man, that involve planning that spanned decades. Cathedrals in particular have been documented as being works in progress even beyond the natural lifespans of their architects at times.

All of this, along with a discussion I had with my sister over the holiday makes me wonder why I have trouble planning what I am going to do.... not five years down the road, or one year, but let's say, this afternoon.

Or anytime. It isn't for a lack of education either, this lackluster organization of mine. I have bought planners, read books, listened to tutorials, signed up for email reminders, and pledged allegiance to my alarm clock. Some of the above got me "in line" for a few months. My sock drawer was organized, I bought only what was on my list at the grocery store and prepared meals that were planned the week before. I had lists to check off tasks before I went out of town, before I went to bed, before, before, before...

Preparation. Boy Scouts love it. Chefs rely on it. With good preparation, you are, well... prepared.

And, as it turns out for me, personally, also somewhat bored. Until I figured out a crucial element to the equation: you can't prepare for a rigid set of pre calculated inevitibilities, you have to plan for possibilities.

Its like the difference between buying a fancy dress because next month there is going to be a party you want to look smashing at and buying the fancy dress because it makes you look good, and someday you might be going somewhere in it. Because what happens if this hypothetical wonderful party opportunity.

Or possibly, the difference between planning in detail what you are going to make in your studio, and following the design specs to the T, and going down to the studio to play with whatever is down there and letting things happen. Not that it isn't good to be able to plan, or that it is better to go into the act of creation haphazardly, just that I have come to realize my way is the spontaneous improvisational way. Now I wonder what is going to happen if instead of beating myself up for not being perfectly organized and routine oriented like I, and others, have been telling myself I ought to be, I accept this realization and start treating my nature as a strength instead of something to be repressed.

After all, look at jazz and all of the other happy accidents that result in genius.

So what is my New Year's resolution? I don't know, maybe I'll just make it up as I go along.

2008-09-04T14:17:00.005-04:00

SPOON!

I admit it, I like the Tick.

I also like making tiny spoons from clay, as it turns out.

When I was five I remember vividly trying to make a spoon out of clay and being somewhat disappointed with the results. The spoons I have been making lately are what I would have made then if my tiny hands and willpower had both been a little more mature.

Why spoons?

Well, I am so glad you asked that question. As a potter and an artist, I like to think about silly things like what vessels mean metaphorically as well as functionally. I think that all art is a form of communication, some more provocative than other, and that while the teapot seems to be the pinnacle of expression for a lot of potters, I find myself attracted to simpler forms.

I have been playing around a lot with slab bowls and cups in the last year. They are attractive because they are somewhat like a flat canvass. Then one day I happened across an essay on The Cup by Pete Pinnell. Pinnell makes the point that the cup is probably one of the most intimate forms of art - you accept it into your personal space and actually put your mouth on it!

Just imagine what would happen if you tried to smooch a Kandinsky in MOMA.

So, from there, my mind wondered.... hmm.... what is more intimate than that?

Well, how about something that goes IN your mouth?

The spoons turned out to be also good for dishing things out in small measure - also lovely metaphorically speaking. Somewhere along the line they also became a process for me thinking about my brother, who passed away from a heroin OD seven years ago.

So there you go... spoons, intimate, little dispensers of love lost.

Or maybe you just want to eat your ice cream without all of this baggage.

2008-06-12T13:07:00.008-04:00

The Aftermath of Hotlanta: A Tale of Blood Sweat and Tears

I am back from my trip to Atlanta and Birmingham. I have, as it turns out, been completely spoiled by the climate of the mountains. I forgot that when it is hot in the "real south" it stays hot, all day and all night.

The trip was very busy. Milo my mother and drove down to visit my sister first and we mostly sat around here house and went thrift store shopping, during which I found 4 sewing machines I would have liked to own, but seeing as how the car was packed like a well played game of Tetris, there wasn't much point in buying something that weighs 50+ lbs and comes with its own piece of furniture. So I petted them and wished them well.

Then, I left that afternoon for Atlanta. The plan was that I would go ahead and attend the preparty for the Indie Craft Experience and Milo would stay behind with my mom and sister to go to the concert in the park series.

Well, I got dstracted on my way out of town. The traffic was awful so I decided to take the back roads and before I knew it I was headed straight past the cemetery where one of my best friends is buried. He was hit by a bus when we were almost 19. I realized "Hey, I am almost 29.... that means Tavon has been dead right at 10 years. Almost to the day."

So I stopped to say hello at Elmwood Cemetery.

Good old Elmwood. I used to do grave rubbings as a hobby when I was in middle school, and I remembered that Elmwood is full of dead US Congressmen, major league baseball players, one of the Temptations, and Alabama's first suffragist. Also, it has my best friend.

I drove to where I remembered my friend's grave being and couldn't find it. All I remembered specifically was that it is somewhere near a big tombstone with "Bradbury" on it. Couldn't find it. I felt like Tavon was messing with me. It was close to the time for the gates to close.

I turned the car around, and around, and around, and found myself wondering who in the hell had decided that the cemetery needs to be designed in such a crazy non-linear way.

So I went to the main office, which has always reminded me of Lady Fairchild' house in that weird place where the trolley goes on Mr. Rogers and asked for help. Its a big concrete round building with vertical "decorative" bars that run around the outside of it.

The inside smells like old plastic and fake flowers. Thats right, fake flowers have a smell. A very nice lady took a very long time to make very specific directions for mee, so I had a chance to look around. I don't know how many people who are going to reading this have actually had the opportunity to browse through the selections of fine coffins and headstones that are on the market today, so I am going to give you a little update.

Headstones now come in pleather. Or at least I saw some that certainly looked like pleather. They also come in a wide variety of colors ranging from Melon to Sagebrush. Want a navy headstone for that tragic nautical fatality in your life? You got it. Also exciting: cheetah print neon green burial vaults. I kid you not. I am thinking about this Born to Ride Urn myself.

Hey, Kathryn Wyndam Tucker has her coffin picked out and sitting in her living room apparently, and has for the last thirty years or so. Great idea, break it in as a coffee table before you rest in it for eternity.

So then I had my trusty map in hand and I went back to try again. After only two wrong turns I ended up on black 35A.

It was like a treasure hunt, except less fun and I definitely had not brought the usual treasure retrieval goodies, or have any plans of digging for anything (or anyone).

I paced out the steps that the nice lady had given me, and still couldn't find it. Finally I yelled, "Dammit Tavon!" and turned around and there he was.

It was hot. I was tired. I flopped down on the ground and started brushing off the red dirt that was covering a lot of the words on the stone. Soon I realized, "Hey, I am in pain."

Was it pain from the grief of losing my friend?

Was it pain from the fact that his headstone is shiny back and in a particularly sunny spot in Alabama in June?

Noooo.

Tavon's headstone was covered with fire ants and I had them all over me.

I brushed them off and jumped up.I realized I was trying not to cry, not because of the fire ants, but because of the reason one usually cries at graves. And trying not to cry with fire ants swarming over me somehow made me want to laugh, so I laughed and sobbed alternately and kicked the crud out of the fire ants.

Then I said goodbye, again, and wended my way back through the graveyard, past Bear Bryant's grave, past the giant concrete Mushroom Tree, out of the gates and back into the land of the living, toward Atlanta.

So the blood - fire ant bites.
the sweat - ubiquitous
the tears - unexpected and accompanied by much hopping about, cursing and flinging of tiny insects.

If he's still around in any way, I bet Tavon laughed his ass off.

2008-06-04T13:07:00.006-04:00

Tomorrow morning at seven am (gach!) I will be leaving for a fantastic voyage down to dixie.
I am going home to Birmingham to see my sister for two days, and then I am going to Atlanta to participate in teh Indie Craft Experience!
Am I excited? Yes! Am I prepared? Yes!
I actually have been planning and scheming for this show for awhile. I designed some new pieces, just for Atlanta.
What did I design?
This chopstick holder:

He also doubles as a plant companion. You might say that is his secret identity. But since you're not a super villain I will share a picture of him in disguise here:

I also designed some tiny birds, spiral bowls, new tumblers and all kinds of goodies. I even have Homeland Security devices which can be used to protect your home and family against terrorist zombie attack.
Yep, I got it all!
So come see me this Saturday, June 7th from 10-5 in Atlanta's beautiful Centennial Olympic Park! Free gift if you mention my blog!

2008-04-21T13:01:00.003-04:00

This is the story of why I have four sewing machines.

I am an artist, and my medium of choice is clay. Last summer I moved to a new house, which my partner is helping me buy because he is a nice man. He was probably also tired of bumping into furniture in my last house... the kitchen was seriously so small that two people had to touch to cook at the same time.

The miniscule nature of my old house, combined with the fact that I cook six meals a day on average for the childcare I run as my day job, my son and myself, and there were seven other tiny people plus their assorted parents (meaning that even excluding my own friends there were 23 people in and out of my house on a bi-daily basis,) meant that I was feeling cramped, physically and psychologically and creatively. I didn't even have a good amount of space to work in my own room, one corner of which I tried to set up as a mini studio of sorts.

Just so you know, in case you're thinking about trying it, you can make art ANYWHERE.

Having said this, there are some media a techniques which are more space friendly than others. Knowing that I didn't have access to a kiln that did not cost money, I tried not to play with clay very much. I decided instead to focus on sewing and painting. The paintings fell to the side after I had several frustrating incidents involving my son, my quilt and wet paint. So I sewed.

At the time I moved to the little house on Robindale I had in my care my best friend's mother's Bernina. That machine is a joy. It was a joy that I used very carefully, because my friend's mother was very very much in love with the machine, and she has passed away. Shortly after
moving my friend asked for the machine back because she was working on a quilt for her son, so I was left with my other machine- a 1957 mint green singer in a mahogany cabinet that I had not used since I was 16. My mother bought me the machine after I learned how to use her Kenmore. I remember sewing on it a couple of times and then getting frustrated because the thread kept snapping. It moved with me 12 times since then and I never sewed on it in all that time.

Fearing further frustration, I went online and found a reproduction of the original owner's manual on the singer website. Singer still sells manual for all of the machines they ever made- one reason that they are a wonderful company. Another reason that they are a wonderful company is that their machines (especially the vintage ones) are so well made and tough that there are enough of the older models still in use that there is actually a demand for the old manuals and for parts.
So I got the manual, figured out how to properly thread the machine and some other goodies that helped me understand how to operate the little guy, and fell in love.

Working with an old machine is a totally different experience from working with a new one, in my experience. I have been told that sewing with new industrial machines is a similar experience. The older machines are made almost entirely of metal, and they are also very simple in their construction and operation. This means that they have a very solid feeling about them and that they are incredibly easy to work on. Whereas with the Bernina I was always worried that I might break the machine and have to take it o the dealership and pay a hefty fee to fix it, with the Singer I felt like it could sew most anything and if it got jammed, I could problem solve it myself.

So I started investigating other machines on the net and I decided to use part of my tax refund to buy a Featherweight. Featherweights are much loved among the vintage sewing community because they are small, portable, relatively lightweight and there were a lot of really snazzy attachments made for them. The Featherweight I found on ebay was missing a bobbin case so I got a good price for it. I refurbished it when it came, cleaned it thoroughly and had a ball playing with it.

I had so much fun that I continued reading and researching older machines. I decided that nextI would try to find a Singer 301- the only gear driven beltless machine that Singer produced.I didn't find one, but my partner did come across a Godzilla 65,which I also fell in love with. It is tougher than the Featherweight, although it doesn't have all the cool gadgets.

By the time I moved out of the house at Robindale I had four vintage machines- three Singers and one White. My room had become very crowded. Moving day reminded me that I have a nasty habit of falling in love with and collecting heavy things- record players, books, andnow, sewing machines.

I found another Featherweight in a thrift store after the move, refurbished it as well, and then decided that five machines was just kind of ridiculous. So when I opened my store on Etsy this January, I put the Featherweights up for sale to good homes, and said a fond farewell.

I now have a sewing room which houses the Godzilla. The mint green Singer is in my bedroom and my recently acquired Wizard ZigZag machine is still being fixed up and hasn't found a permanent home. The White is at my mom's house. I must admit, I have just as much fun finding and fixing up the machines as a I do sewing on them. My grandfather, whom I never knew as he died before I came along, was a machinist. I think that he would be happy to know that I have found a passion for mechanics.

2008-03-25T11:01:00.004-04:00

So here is a funny story:

I finally decided to start a blog on a more visually pleasing site than Myspace, so I chose blogspot.

When asked which url I would prefer, I put in scrumdidlyump.blogspot.com.
I then received an error message saying that the url was already in use. Curious, I clicked on the blog to view it It was named"hrgugughghghhg" and the message in the blog post was something like"ijhdsghugdshfdh."

Hmmmm.

I thought, "That looks like something I would do when I was noodling around."
The date on the blog post, which was the only one on the blog, was 2003.

Yep, I started a blog in 2003 and then forgot about it after making one silly nonsensical post.

So now I have reclaimed my rightful place on blogspot and will be bringing you, my faithful readers, much interesting news about my life, work, and silliness, none of which will hopefully include posts named "hrghughugh!"