elsie marley

Another post about another artist, because there’s not much coming out of my studio these days and what is coming out comes out very, very wrong.  I picked up this book at a thrift store a while ago because I recognized the author’s name.  Eugene Ionesco was a playwright in the sixties who wrote in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd (thanks wikipedia).

The story is not so absurd, just a little silly.  Thankfully it’s not like his other plays: “Ionesco’s plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence” (thanks again wikipedia).  In the story, Josette’s mother and father are lying in bed tired and hungover (it’s always nice to read a book where the parents are real, instead of cheery cheery and never busy) and her father tells her a silly story about a girl named Jacqueline.

Everyone and everything Jacqueline knows is named jacqueline.  Really not the best story–the father is hungover, cut him some slack–but the illustrations are fantastic.  The colors are muted, but the pictures are still psychedelic.  Etienne Delessert is the artist and a quick search on amazon came up with a couple of books he’s illustrated and I know this book is the first in a series he did with Ionesco.  Anyway, I just think his pictures are great and wanted to share them with you.

more here and here if you are interested.

These beautiful alphabet cards were made by Ida Pearle.  There was a flurry of activity on the designy crafty blogs a while back when this set of cards came out.  And every time I saw pictures of her work I got excited because I knew someone who knew her.  Sadly, when picking up and washing up is most of your day this is as exciting as it gets.  So you can imagine how thrilling it was when the artist herself came to my house.  She (and our mutual friend, hi bill) ventured deep into the midwest just for a visit.  We had a very nice time in spite of the ridiculous amount of snow and then rain and hail and then more snow.  And I’m happy to say miss Ida Pearle is a kind and generous person as well as a talented artist.  She uses paper with the most amazing patterns in her collages.  And though I don’t really know how to talk about art, I know that hers is very much alive.  So go to her website and look at all her beautiful pictures.

The mobile swap is “over,” but I am still working on mine and I know there are other procrastinators out there scrambling to finish. So I thought I’d post a few more lovely ones from the flickr mobile swap group this week. The four above stuck out because of their unique construction. The first is a promotional piece from Hatch Designs that was posted by Dave from grainedit.com. I don’t think it’s actually for the swap, but a bird mobile that pops out of egg carton material is too fantastic to not show you. The next is by Elizabeth from e p i t a. It’s not finished, but what a great idea–like sticking baseball cards in your dirt bikes, but in mobile form. The bottom left picture is from Terry at easebetweennotches.blogspot.com. Her idea was to make a mobile that looked like a bouquet of flowers turned upside down. It turned out great and the cone hides all the messy construction bits but still looks super stylish. Well done! The last is a simple felt garland hung from one end. Elizabeth from ohfransson.com used a pattern from a japanese craft book to make this sweet little mobile (that doubles as a garland). These and all the other fantastic mobiles are on the flickr mobile swap group. Mine will be done soon, I hope. I think it’s probably in bad taste for the swap organizer to be late for the swap, but it’s my party. I’ve had the pattern done for a week now, but keep changing my mind when it comes to what material to use. It’s time to just fish or cut bait.

There is only a week left to make your mobile–if you are in the mobile swap, that is! I’ve been meaning to put up some of my favorites from the mobile swap group and now it’s almost over.  The group is filling up fast, so go check it out. They are all amazing, but these are just a few that caught my eye.  The first one is by Julie from letter9.wordpress.com and I even though there are a lot of bird mobiles being made (and just a lot of bird motifs in the crafty underground in general) I think these are lovely.  They float right above their branches, which is just perfect.  The next one is by Sarah from 4 in the south + pets.  She used metal, felt, and a coat hanger to make a beautiful mobile with a great shape.  The third mobile (bottom left) is by Melinda from mypurplecrayon.  The wood is oak veneer (bought at the lumber supply shop!) and the balls are made of felt. I think it looks a little like an underwater scene and it’s stunning.  The last mobile is unfortunately not for the swap, but beautiful nonetheless.  Mithi from planetmithi.blogspot.com made it for the mailmeart exhibition (hence the airmail envelopes).  All the birds have stories behind them and the amazing packaging she made is part of the piece as well. Click here for the whole story.

My mobile is, umm, still in the planning process.  The plan was to work on it today, but my daughter woke up with a fever, so no school today.  After some tylenol she is as good as new and now it’s a plain old day here:  trying not to go crazy stuck inside (it’s 5 below zero here today and god only know what the wind chill is) with two babies.  I’m off to go build bunny’s house.

Turns out that when you have a blog you start doing bizarre things like taking pictures of the sardines you bought.  But then again, you never know when you will be inspired.  And it might be in the canned fish isle in your slightly depressing grocery store at 10 o’clock at night.  I was thinking I might try to make my mobile out of paper and this little sardine box may even play a role, but I may chicken out and just sew something instead.  Speaking of mobiles, Leah from leahglass.blogspot.com has kindly offered to help all those out who may have questions about mobile construction–I haven’t got to the construction part yet, but I’m a little nervous thinking about it.  You can email her directly or go the discussions in the mobile swap group on flickr and ask questions there.  Leah is an artist who makes lovely mobiles out of glass.  If you are involved in the mobile swap she is offering a two for one deal on the mobiles in her etsy shop.  Just type in “mobile swap participant” in the notes to seller box.  So go take a look.  And I’d love to see what others are inspired by these days–post a picture on your blog or just leave a comment.  

click here to see all the faux bois builders.People love making forest creatures, so why not make the forest too. I tried my hand at this plush craze. But when it’s late and you should be in bed and not attempting to start something new, you don’t realize that if you make softie that looks like a cake that looks like a log it just ends up looking like a piece of wood. duh. I thought it was a genius idea to make a little plush buche de noel for the ornament swap, but it just looks like a sad little log. Oh well, I have a couple more ideas. My first ornament came in the mail today, so I better get a move on.

damn. I missed two days. Oh well, my husband pointed out that I was starting to phone it in anyway. I was going a little crazy trying to find things to post about for 30 days straight. And then I was with my sister over Thanksgiving and there was some celebrating and recovering from celebrating. I’ll try to finish out the month, but damn.

click here to see all the mushroom makers

just a couple more plush fads, because really where the hell do these trends come from? And since I haven’t stopped eating or thinking about eating since thursday, I give you 12 stuffed mushrooms. Once I stop patting myself on the back for the christmas presents I have made, I’ll make some more and post them for all to see.

click here to see all the amazing owl artists.

We’re on Thanksgiving vacation in these parts, so I’m going to keep going with theme and post about some plush trends for the next couple of days. And there is no trend bigger than the stuffed owl. Why is everyone who tries their hand at toy making compelled to make an owl? Hell, I even made a couple myself. What is it about an owl that makes people want to immortalize it with fabric and polyfil? It’s cool looking, but so are plenty of other animals and it’s not particularly soft and cuddly unlike others. Why do we find ourselves cutting out big googly eyes and little top hats to go on this beautiful bird? Who knows, but somehow every owl ends up looking completely different from the rest. Abby Glassenberg has recently added to this enormous owl family. Her owl is majestic and beautiful, just like the real bird, and somehow different from every other stuffed owl that came before it.

Just onne more bird. Happy Thanksgiving!

gobble, gobble.

such strange trends in the softie making world. please click on the picture to find out whose demented imaginations came up with all these wonderful dolls.