Calling all stitchers! If you haven't already, there is still time to submit a piece for Moster8me's hand-stitched quilt project. She's requested that everyone send in a 4x6" fabric piece with your name and city on it -- sort of a stitched postcard quilt. Below is an update posted in September of the pieces she's received so far:
click the image to see the details on who each piece is from
For my piece, I decided to embroider the girlie from my logo onto a purple floral fat quarter piece. I used DMC Light Effects thread for the dress, for a shimmery look, which turned out nifty (even if my photography is kinda poopy). I also didn't use the same font for the "Giddy Girlie" parts mainly because it was a little too challenging to sketch the letters on to the fabric (I don't use iron-on transfers, so I have to pencil in my lines) and instead swapped it for a more open and readable font.
The girlie is done in all satin stitch, the Giddy Girlie lettering is in a seed stitch, and the city name is a chain stitch.
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At the Long Beach Comic Con, I was fortunate to meet bunch of great people and some of them even took home my art - hooray! One lady made a purchase at the show and inquired about a commission of Wonder Woman, which I thought would be a fun idea. And this is how it turned out:
Closer detail of the face:
For some of the more recent paintings, I've been less of a stickler about the detail dots (like the eyes, lips, etc.) being the same size as the background/fill-in dots, and so I've been able to capture finer details, which I think look a little nicer -- as long as you don't mind the size differences. On this painting, I decide to complete her entire outline in small dots and then fill in with the larger ones (larger, of course, being a relative term - each of these background dots is something like 2-3mm), so that the outline of her hair, shoulders, costume, etc. all match the smaller dot details on the face, which gives it a bit more of a cohesive look (I think? Maybe?).
I also used a few blue streaks to show the highlights and movement in her hair, which don't show up as bright as I'd prefer, but hopefully they work as a subtle suggestion at least (I think? Maybe?).
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Anyway, this post is, in fact, NOT about bees but instead about beads! Specifically, some of the odd things that I have made from them!
I don't know when or why I had the inspiration, but sometime in the mid 1990's, I started gluing seed beads to things. I made a lot of things and who knows what still exists and what is on a thrift store clearance table by now... I didn't photograph everything back then, but I do have pictures of a few things (even though most are crummy pictures).
I'd usually start with thick watercolor paper, because it warped the least, and trace a light pencil outline of my design and then I'd fill in a tiny section with tacky glue and hand-place seed beads "face up" (what I call it when the hole is facing up) onto the glue, one by one. Tedious? Yes! But it is a lot of fun too.
My former boss collects Alice in Wonderland stuff and she commissioned me to make her an Alice piece, which I did. It's on 8x10 watercolor paper and I have a few progress shots to go with it.
detail of the face, work-in-progress:
Final product:
One of my first "internet crushes" was/is Sara who had a fantastic sewing and crafting site (which is now defunct, but all her creativity can still be found on her new site). She had started a new job at "Saint Flanders Church" as she called it, and needed some holy artwork for her new desk. This was right about the time that Maude Flanders died on the Simpsons, so I beaded up a version of Maude for her.
This is a TERRIBLE picture, but I also made some of these beaded trinket boxes for my fellow Tinker Bell collector pals, who were the first ones that drew me to the internet (for which I thank them).
I even attempted a beaded tank top. I used my true love, Henry Rollins, as an inspiration. The beading turned out ok, but tacky glue isn't meant for laundering, so I have only worn this shirt once and never washed it. I've recently invested in some glue that is intended for gluing things on cloth, so I'm going to try my hand at something like this again soon.
detail:
The one piece that I know remains is a Harley Quinn image that I made in 1999. My mom has it and it's been hanging in her office for the past 10 years. I made this before this whole "internet" thing really came on strong and back in those days when someone had a funny image or joke to send around, they'd blast it via fax machine. My stepdad was remodeling a Kinko's at the time and had to work in the wee hours of the night and he was always amused by the tons of funny drawings that the employees would send one another. This was part of a series of "manga" style comic book characters in risque poses. The others were X-rated, but this Harley Quinn was relavtively "cheesecake." She is nude, except her mask, gloves, and some tall socks. Her breasts are exposed, but they're not as "in your face" in the beaded version. She is covered all over in Batman tattoos, including the Bat Signal, the Batmobile (right butt cheek), and Batman himself (right thigh).
This is also an 8x10 that has been in a frame for 10 years, so it's held up really well. I recently took it out to scan it, but wasn't able to get a high-res scan of it -- although I probably should, just for posterity.
detail: My challenge with the 'flesh' colored beads was that the package that I had was a mixed assortment that had some standard seed beads as well as some longer ones and I had to use them both to get enough coverage, so this particular image doesn't have the same solid "top-up" look as some of my other pieces do. I also used to work in poor light (shame!) and I realize now that some of the black beads are actually navy blue - oops! I used to have a giant Tupperware container full of mixed seed beads that someone gave me, so I'd be picking out several of the same color as I went along... which, clearly, lead to a few mistakes along the way.
I've always particularly liked the building with the single beads representing windows. I don't know why that strikes me as "neat-o" but it does.
Maybe sometime during the 'downtime' of the holidays, I might start a new beading project -- any suggestions?
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A while back, I made a set of DEVO peg people just for funsies and they came to the attention of James Sime, who owns Isotope Comics in San Francisco. He liked them, so I sent them up his way and he was very kind about the whole exchange (even offered to trade comics!). So I was even more amazed when I got a message from James recently that he had backstage passes to the DEVO show in SF and he asked if I'd like to pass on a set to DEVO themselves. Um, YES! Of course!
So then I saw this picture on Flickr a few days later -- it's James backstage with Mark Mothersbaugh!! Oh, and Mark is holding my Devo peg people! I nearly fainted from happiness.
According to James:
"He absolutely *loved* them. Clutching them in his hands, his eyes bugging out, exclaiming 'These are SO CUTE!' I told him your website address and he said 'AAAA! PERFECT! EVERYTHING IS SO CUTE!'"
I have died and gone to Devo heaven.
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