i've been doing my placement portion of the course at Freedom Clothing Collective.
a pretty great little store in toronto that has a very similar heart to my own. carrying 140 different local artists and makers but with something a little different; 90% of their stock is either organic or repurposed and recycled materials, whoah heart pop!
in the last few years i've tried to make and craft with a greener approach and with the daydream of one day owning my own shop similar to Freedom and the White Elephant in hamilton, this store couldn't have been more perfect for my placement.
last week i was asked to do up their surprise window display with the theme of alice in wonderland!
those who know me well, know how hard my heart beats for that story. of course i was pretty mega pumped for doing up the window and just had to squeeze in a craft session to make them a giant tea cup!
there are so many pretty little things in this store but my bum ticker rang out for the itty bitty bunnies by Slo. after grabbing some perfect bristol board from the basement, i went home with the idea of making some bunny tea for the window display. i don't even know how but i made the form of this giant tea cup and found some scrap brown linen fabric to be the tea. when i got to the store the next day, i made and attached the handle, painted some spirally red roses in the spirit of the queen and was pretty happy with it. i have a few more shifts with them and the opportunity to work along some pretty neato people. trust that i'll be posting again about those last days.
so about the hand and lock project: i think...yep, i may be crazy.
when i got this hand and lock project, my brains showed me what i should make and i went along with the idea at full force.
between many hand felting sessions, a gazillion beads and doing my placement at Freedom, i lost loads of sleep which hasn't happened really since first year....but after seeing the final result of pushing right through a few 4ams, i don't mind.
i posted before with a peek at the brooches, i worked on certain pieces one at a time and slowly became more and more excited to see the entire collection already. finally the day of the critique my eyes were tired and happy.
we had to create a lookbook along with the ultimate displaying of our pieces and with the help of a miss Sarah Dee, i got some pretty great shots. check out my Flickr to see more shots from my lookbook.
i think from the lack of sleep my brain barely had me saying much at all during critique about the processes and steps i went through to get from an idea in my head, to a tangible thing that was in front of us. despite being short on words, i got some great feedback and like most of my projects, this will be soon for sale...once i learn to let it go. it could be easier since i made an extra little moon brooch sans beading for myself.
i have a few pieces of left over felt too which i have total intention to make some pretty tactile heavy little bracelets to sell online. definitely on the to-make list!
so with that project knocked out, we were handed the second project to take us right up to the end of first semester. my rattling brains have already shown me what to make for this multiples or large scale project and i have to admit, my bum ticker is just yelling at me to go with it. my pillow may get a little colder and i'll be seeing the moon more than the sun again to make it happen but goodness greatness i already cannot wait to see it be the real thing in front of me!
the only clue i'll dish out to you is that it will completely involve thrifted sweaters.
and with that i leave you with the video for Seventeen Evergreen's polarity song. the video totally reminds me of Olek's work, my crochet heroine.
internally yours,
sister valentine
1 comment:
Nice window display there lady!
Post a Comment