Paper Fabric (or Is it Fabric Paper?)

Apparently it's paper cloth. The on-going project for this round in my Crazy Fridays class is making paper cloth from the mixed media book Stitch Alchemy, by Kelli Perkins. The goal is to have lots of sheets in different colors and textures, which can then be cut up and embellished and incorporated into projects. The base is very simple: mix two parts water to one part white glue, brush it onto muslin or other plain fabric until it is saturated, and then layer on torn pieces of tissue or other thin paper, using more glue mix to adhere it.
Here are the different sheets I made. Most are tonal, using one color of paper in different shades (lots of reds and pinks because I want to make a Valentine mixed media garland). One sheet I covered with old Spanish stamps, another I covered in words cut from a photocopied page of the Nutcracker, for another project. The sheet on the far left is made from different scraps of Chinese papers that came in a grab bag from Silver Crow (the best online store ever), and the one next to it has confetti, sequins, thread snippets, and yarn (with another layer of tissue paper on top).

The next step is painting. The book goes through dozens of different techniques for adding color with paints, chalks, wax, bleach, inks, and pretty much anything you can think of. We did the coloring in class, which allowed us to share materials.
It's hard to tell with the glare, but this is the paper with the words on it. I used pearl white Jaquard Lumiere paint, with a little green, which was sheer enough to still show the text. These sheets will be cut up and be used as "frosting" on mixed media Christmas "cookies."
For the Chinese papers I brushed on thick gold and red paints with a very dry brush. For the bronzey sheet I used copper paint in two consistencies -- I first watered the paint down and brushed it over almost all of the brown and gold tissue paper, then added a second layer of undiluted paint on the edges of the different tissue pieces. Not sure what I will do with these.
For the pink paper on the left I brushed on a pretty pink paint diluted with a texturizing goop whose name I can't remember. The result is much prettier than the icky baby pink of the unpainted tissue. I had glued on bits of paper doilies, which did not absorb the paint as well, creating a neat effect (yet another way to manipulate color -- different papers react to paint differently). Once it was dry I sprayed on a glittery spray (Glimmer Mist?) to add a bit of iridescence. The one on the right was made with dark pink tissue papers, to which I glued cut up bits of silver candy foil. I swirled on thick silver paint, then brushed over the whole sheet with a lavender pastel chalk, which highlighted the texture of the paper. I then sprayed it with fixative to keep the pastel from rubbing off. I think this will look better when I cut up the sheet for the garland.
The white paper with the sequins and thread inclusions I washed with the diluted pink I used above, and then for both I dabbed on red paint with a natural sponge.
The last technique I used was Dy-na-flow paints from Jaquard, which are the neatest things ever -- very sheer, thin paints that are highly pigmented, giving a lot of color without obscuring the paper underneath. The result is a lot like watercolors, but brighter. For the stamps I used purple, red, and blue, for the green paper I used purple, fuschia, and orange, and for the sheet with the sewing patterns I used bright yellow and orange. Unfortunately the orange dominated, when I wanted the the sheet to be mostly a strong yellow, so I may add other paints to it to get the color I want.

I have other sheets still to paint. It was fun, but the process takes up a lot of space and drying time, so I want to get all the sheets made and painted at once, leaving me with a stack I can then cut up and use at my leisure. I don't think I will do this technique too often, because of the aforementioned space and time issues but also because I don't want to get sucked into buying more paints and inks and so on (which is why I was glad Perkins had instructions for using pastels, allowing me to make use of the pastels I saved from way back in college for an art class). I have enough techniques and gear already.

The Sky Gods

Amazing how one measly virus can screw up weeks.

One of the books I'm currently reading is a fascinating discussion of myth. A few years ago the publishing imprint of Canongate started a "Myths Series," short novels by different authors retelling iconic myths. The series started with a Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong, a scholar in comparative religions. Her book serves as an introduction to the power and importance of myth in human life. Her analysis starts with the Paleolithic era, and with the "Sky Gods" or "High Gods" that were the first to be worshiped.

Her use of the phrase "Sky God" immediately brought to mind the Christian God, because El, one of His names, was originally a Semitic Sky God (See Turner and Coulter's Dictionary of Ancient Deities at 164, and the Wikipedia pages for "El"). Depending on one's view point, either El did not reveal His true nature as God until Abraham, or Abraham turned a a cult devoted to one Semitic god into a monotheistic religion. What's fascinating is the way some of the the traits Armstrong ascribes to the Sky God parallel elements of the Christian God (something she implies but does not state; nor does she mention El specifically). He is

the First Cause of all things and Ruler of heaven and earth. He is never represented by images . . . . The people yearn toward their High God in prayer, believe that he is watching over them and will punish wrongdoing . . . . The tribesmen say that he is inexpressible.

(Myth, 20.) Armstrong also says that this Sky God was distant from the people, not involved in the day to day aspects of the people's lives, and that it was this distance that ultimately doomed him, as paleolithic tribes turned to pantheons of "more dynamic, interesting and accessible deities, such as Indra, Enlil and Baal" (21), with rites and the promise of more personal dealings. She goes on to state that this is why the Judeo-Christian God "has disappeared from the lives of many people in the West" (22).

I think Armstrong overstates this abandonment of God in the West. While in the past few years Atheism and certain Atheists have dominated certain media, and certainly there has been a drop in people who attend services or identify as religious, the vast majority of people here in the US (for example) call themselves Christian, and Judeo-Christian values and culture still dominate. Perhaps this is because God managed to avoid the fate of other Sky Gods. Orthodox Judaism, the Catholic Church, and the Orthodox Churches are all highly ritualized and have strong ethical codes, and many Protestant sects promise a "personal relationship" with God.

I wish Armstrong had given citations in her work. I am neither a theologian nor an expert in paleolithic cultures, and I would have loved to check out her sources. I also wish I knew enough to tease out other points in her work, such as the difference between myth and logos (and how that relates to the Biblical concept of logos), the fact that the earliest humans were monotheistic with a male god (rather than common wisdom that warlike, patriarchal monotheists conquered peaceful mother-goddess worshipers), and the transformations that mother-goddesses experienced. But the book is a wonderful overview of the role myth has played in our lives.

Austenmania

Laura Miller has a fascinating article over on Salon.com about the derivative fiction that has developed around Jane Austen and her fiction. Pride and Prejudice in particular has spawned a number of sequels, which from my perusals mostly concern the Darcy marriage, their children, and sex. We can't forget the sex; Elizabeth and Darcy sex scenes are quite important in this sub-genre. (I'm no prude, and I enjoy the occasional (well-written) sex scene, but I think Pride and Prejudice does just fine without one.) And then there is Pride/Prejudice, which, as Miller describes, "posits that before Elizabeth and Darcy united, they each had same-sex affairs: Elizabeth with Charlotte Lewis and Darcy with Mr. Bingley." I . . . there are no words.

The popularity of books like this mystify me to a certain extent. It just seems so unnecessary. I understand the impulse to want to continue a beloved story, but especially when the original is a classic, I find the derivative works to be disappointing more often than not. If someone is going to retell a classic, or add on to it, I want the work to reach for more than just a simple continuation of the characters, or a shallow reimagining -- the derivative work should be able to stand on its own.

With Pride and Prejudice in particular, the derivative works I've looked at not only water down Austen, they build a fantasy around the time period that completely obscures the realities. Call me a crazy feminist, but as much of a catch as Mr. Darcy is, I'd much rather live in a world where I can vote. And own property. (I'm also a big fan of indoor plumbing and modern medicine.) I think some fans of Austen forget just how difficult life was for women and the lower classes. As Miller writes, "[t]he chick lit take on Austen is forever trying to subtract the brutal social and economic realities from her fiction." One of the most affecting scenes for me in Pride and Prejudice is the conversation Elizabeth and Charlotte have about Charlotte's marriage to Mr. Collin. Charlotte, not having Elizabeth's or Jane's status, connections, or beauty, agrees to marry Mr. Collin (a sanctimonious, pompous toady) because it is an excellent match that will give her the security she needs. I cannot imagine a more miserable life than marriage to a man I neither love nor respect, but then I have the luxury of not having to make such a marriage for my own survival. The idea of marriages as love matches is fairly recent, and we lose sight that historically marriages were for the purpose of securing futures and fortunes and children, not love and companionship. As Charlotte explains in a separate scene, it is actually quite a good marriage for her -- she has no financial worries, and her husband is not likely to abuse her or humiliate her. She encourages his interests, such that he does not actually spend too much time with her, and once she has children she will have more than enough to keep her occupied and content. Our modern sensibilities might tempt us to pity her, but as she told Elizabeth, she does not want pity because her circumstances do not merit it. This aspect of Austen's world is all but ignored by those fans who only want to focus on the fantasy that Mr. Darcy embodies. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the romance in Pride and Prejudice (I sure do), but it seems to almost cheapen Austen's talent (and what she was trying to say) to ignore everything else.

None of this is to say I don't value derivative works (and I must admit, I am sorely tempted to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Without derivative works and retellings we would not have The Wide Sargasso Sea, Grendel, Till We Have Faces, Wicked, The Hours, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, most of Shakespeare's plays, and countless other works. As I said above, I just think the work should have something of its own to say.

French General

Mr. Beadgirl gave me their "Positano Cameos" notion tin for Christmas, which had ten vintage intaglios and cameos and ten brass bezels. I immediately wanted to make a pair of earrings from the pink intaglios, so I did:
I had originally planned to use the brass filigree edge to lace pearls on top around the intaglios, but it would have completely covered up the brass, which I did not want. So I just attached little pearls on headpins to the bottom. The larger pearls for the top of the earrings required 26 gauge wire because the holes were too small for eyepins, which meant I had to do wrapped loops which I can never get to look neat. If I ever find the right size eyepins, I'll probably redo them.

Here are the rest of the notions from the tin:


While rooting around a box of unfinished projects I came across this necklace, made from the Christmas-themed notions box from French General:
It was birthday gift from Mr. Beadgirl a few years ago, and I made this very long necklace using the included thread and wore it all month; unfortunately, the thread broke at the end of the holiday season (I think the mercury glass beads cut through the thread), so I put it in a baggy and set it aside to fix, and promptly forgot it. So a few days before Christmas this year I restrung it on fireline thread, which should hold up better.

Now I was on a French General kick. I still have a lot of the green and red and white beads left, so I am stringing my favorite red beads, flat discs faceted on one side, to make a necklace (I have a collection of necklaces made from different kinds of red beads I like to wear together). The knotting between each bead is time-consuming, but it sets each bead off nicely.


I think I'll also make earrings from the dark green pearls from the set.

I also broke out another notions tin (I don't remember how I got it), of garden-themed beads, buttons, and charms, and pulled out the French General book on jewelry design (have I mentioned I'm obsessed with French General?). I made the lariat from the book with waxed cord, though I added a clasp (after the photo) since lariats aren't my thing. It's long enough that with the clasp I can wrap it around my neck a few times.

The first kit I bought from French General many years ago was to make a charm necklace from vintage white and cream beads. I made it just by stringing the beads onto headpins or jump rings and putting them on the included chain like charms, but I was never crazy about it and rarely wore it (I wish I had had the foresight to take a picture). So this summer, after seeing necklaces with multiple chains and strands, I decided to completely redo the necklace. This time I linked the beads together in different groupings and attached them to the chain in layers.


I like this much better, and have worn it quite a bit since.

Then there is the vintage button charm bracelet, to which I added some buttons of my own:


And the egg bracelet kit which I made into a necklace, which I like even though it is blue, and which I will be wearing in the spring:


Not until I put this post together did I realize how much of their stuff I have.

Swap number 2

The second swap for my Crazy Fridays class was "plus-sized inchies." Inchies are little bits of mixed media or fiber arts, one inch square; plus-sized inchies, then, are one and a half inches, an easier size to work with. The swap was for December (ok, this post is a little late) when I would be swamped with school work and Christmas prep, so I was glad to find a ready-made base in my stash. Many months ago, back when my PBS station still showed the Quilting Arts TV show, I followed their instructions to make a painted and stamped sheet that could be cut up for inclusion in other projects. I took a piece of batik fabric and ironed it onto fusible web. I then used a flower stamp and puffy burnt gold paint (regular stamp pads did not leave enough of a mark) to stamp on flower images. I created sort of a checkerboard pattern, and filled the squares in between with asterisks using a coppery red Shiva stick, and then added a hint of gold with another Shiva stick and possibly some gold paint (I don't remember). The grid was just perfect to cut up into 1.5 inch squares -- here are a few:

So all I had to do was embellish and finish them! I love beading, so I added a few translucent gold beads to each one, and made it unnecessarily complicated for myself by arbitrarily deciding that each one had to have a different pattern of beads. Some were embroidered directly onto the squares, others beadwoven into shapes and then sewn on. I then ironed the squares onto rust colored felt (with the squares upside down on a thick towel to protect the beads). The traditional (if this artform can be said to have a tradition) finish is zigzagging, but I could not bear to zigzag repeatedly around each of over a dozen squares, so I came up with an alternative -- copper tape used for soldering. The tape has a sticky backing, and the copper went beautifully with the other colors. I have no idea how it will hold up long-term, but they look pretty neat now:


The inchies I received from the swap:

Gall Of Fame: Baseball

Over at Tomato Nation, Sars has started a discussion of the baseball players we hate the most. My list? Roger Clemens (so very many reasons), Gary Sheffield (claimed there are so many Latinos in baseball because we are "easier to control"), Manny Ramirez (lazy, violent, immature tool his last season with the Sox), and Curt Schilling (yeah, the bloody sock, but a real jerk).

Gall Of Fame: Baseball's Most Loathed Players

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The Last Christmas Post

Christmas ended yesterday, so I'd better write about the last of my Christmas crafts. While browsing for ornament ideas and other crafts, I came across the Long Thread, which had a handy-dandy compilation of holiday crafts. Several were made from felted wool sweaters, and the Long Thread's thrifted tree ornaments and Alphamom's (shame about the name) thrifted sweater ornaments caught my eye. So I made my own:

These were made from a favorite green sweater I finally had to felt because of too many moth holes (a felting process that took forever, because I have a front-loading washing machine). I used only 12 circles for the tree, rather than the called-for 15, because my sweater was a little thicker. I also free-hand cut the circles because I was too lazy to print up the templates; I have several not-so-round circles in the scraps. A cheap "silver-plated" plastic bead tops it off. The wreath I embellished with vintage red pressed glass beads to look like little berries. It kind of reminds me of the wreath cookies my mom made, which were cornflakes and green food coloring stirred into melted marshmallows, formed into wreathes, and dotted with red hots. Mmm . . . artificially colored candy cookie products . . .

I also finished another square for the Advent Calendar -- Snow:
I fused blue fabric to the wool square, made a few snowflakes from clear seed beads, and attached them and plastic snowflake doodads to the square. Since I'd like to have this calendar complete by next Christmas, I'll be working on this throughout the year (especially since I finished 2009's year-long Christmas craft, to be shown later).