Punk Lives!
I often talk about the under-appreciated art that lies to waste in the op shops and thrift shops of the world. Beautiful work that took many many hours to complete, lies discarded, undervalued and dismissed as ‘just craft’.
It is for this reason I started the Tapysteria Hack series of work. Taking an old and discarded piece of handwork, modifying it slightly and giving it a new audience with a new appreciation.
It must be acknowledged though that there is some truly terrible craft out there. I know everyone has to start somewhere and we all make mistakes. I adore the CraftFail site for the fact that it celebrates the fact that we aren’t perfect. And lordy knows there is enough pressure in some craft worlds for perfection. As if there isn’t enough pressure from the media for us to look perfect; apparently our craft should too..
However, this doesn’t mean the bad craft out there doesn’t deserve to be mocked every now and then.
I’ve always really digged the idea of stitching graffiti. Any idea that takes a traditional art and gives it a whole new perspective excites me. But I don’t think it’s something I’d ever do myself. Like the retro computer game stuff, there’s enough people out there doing it and doing it very well. But it has got me thinking a bit about defacing and concepts of property and ownership and how they translate to craft. And I decided this piece was just ripe for it.
I found this – what would you call it – horror of a stitchery, in an op shop one day and was just blown away by how truly terribly executed it was. I’m sure the person who did it has some really good reasons why. But just as a found item, it was pretty horrific.
I decided this was definitely an example of the punk rock side to embroidery. Just forget the rules and conventions of technique. Just say NO! to even stitching and tension!
Yeah Punk Lives!!
Stitched using my bestest scrawl with the most appropriate thread I could think of DMC666 (I truly wonder if there are stitchers out there who abstain from using that colour on principle).
The original stitches are amazing. There is no uniformity of technique, tension, stitch size, direction or colour. Excellent!
I’m not entirely sure what to do with it. But thinking it might just come in handy during an exciting upcoming project I’m involved with. But it was sure fun to do!
OutdoorKnit HEARTS you!
I couple of weeks back I posted about the OutdoorKnit mission to Love up the Bute Street fence in Wellington. Well, they went back out last weekend, and invited a whole heap of people to join them. And the results are simply gorgeous!
The results are simply stunning! I am so inspired by this work. And given the lovely spring that appears to finally be knocking at our door here in Melbourne, I’m amping up to get out and do some more fence stuff. More info on the OutdoorKnit day and a link to more photos on their blog (and Fan them Facebook peeps!)
Also, The Sidestrip did a short film piece on the day with a lovely wee interview with Nikki
Awesome!
I’m so crafty…
Yeah so I’ve been pretty slack at the ol’ blogging recently. But I have a fabulous excuse! I’m preggers with kidlet version 2.0! It’s been a bit hellish so far but things are settling down now and I’m starting to make progress catching up on the last few months of missed stuff. If you sent me an email and I haven’t replied, please don’t take it personally, you are far from the only one!
It has meant some good stitching time though and I’ve been working on some exciting new projects recently. I hope to share them with you very soon.
Some of you might remember that it was kidlet version 1.0 that started this whole crazy cross stitch adventure in the first place, so who knows where this one will take me!
p.s. the badge above I bought for my birthday. You can buy one and other cool pro mama stuff at MuthaCrafter!
The end of craft
Hey all you Wellington peeps, check THIS out!
That has to be the coolest name for a craft show ever I reckon. If you go along, let us know what it was like! Especially the workshops, they look ACE!