photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The flowers from

flower looms work

beautifully  in combination

with crochet.

I quite like using

unusual yarns with

the flower looms.

This is slubbly quite

hefty silk handspun

in a shawl.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here are a

bunch of flower loom

flowers in another

shawl- also all

made in handspun yarns.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The rainbow  flower

was made with

spool knitted cord

on a flower loom.

The white flower

was made with chained

yarn…..

so you can really play with

your yarn before you use it

with a flower loom.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

What are those flowers part of?

Well…

a wild and wonderful

freeform crocheted, spool knitted,

tatted, woven, sewn, sculpted

doll made with all manner of

found objects.

Yes…. her

head REALLY is a vintage

shaving brush.

Aren’t her shoes cute?

The red square was made with a

magic loom and soft ribbon.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the back of the doll.

I used black  ribbon with

the flower loom,

and with the magic loom,

and a fair amount of spool knitting,

and crochet, with lots

of vintage buttons, a little lego,

beads, and found objects.

Putting together

all the diverse elements

in a cohesive way

can be challenging.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, seeing the possibilities

for creative adaptive re-use,

aka: Upcycling found and

discarded objects and

using them to create

wild and funky dolls

that are an expression

of human experience

is one of the great joys of

my life….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

She has just curated an incredibly wonderful show by 52 fiber artists from around the world, called, ‘The Four Seasons’.

The show is now online at: 2009 INTERNATIONAL FREEFORM FIBER ARTS FOUR SEASONS SHOW

It’s totally gorgeous, with painterly and sculptural pieces that include a broad range of mediums and techniques.

There will be a book available soon, featuring all the pieces that are in the show.

You can see my 4 pieces at:  NOREEN’S 4 SEASONS

Here is my Homage to Summer: Sophia at the Window

photo and project by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The work of Kathleen Holmes is  haunting and evocative and powerful…..

You really have to go see her site: Kathleen Holmes

She has graciously allowed me to post a copy of one of her pics (it’s copyright to her, and is used with permission) and has sent me this lovely statement about her work:

 

Artist’s Statement

And the end of all our exploring

  Will be to arrive where we started

        And know the place for the first time.

      -T.S. Eliot

I was born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1953, and come from a long line of crocheters, a tradition in my family going back as far as family legends recall. I therefore incorporate found and self-made pieces of crochet into my work as metaphors for the particular patterns of my native Southern culture.  Just as a single thread returns again and again to loop and interlock in crochet, the creative legacy of so many women repeatedly endows my artistic heritage and creates a conceptual “whole cloth,” the “fabric” of their lives “clothing” my vision.  

I combine these pieces of traditional handwork with indigenous domestic materials – ceramic, metal, glass – to create evocative domestic icons, subtly powerful and often innocently ironic.  Familiar domestic objects accessorize in unlikely ways, illuminating overlooked intimacies of domestic life. Rusted, pierced, and shaped metal refers to man-made aspects of society and provides the visual and conceptual counterpoint to the woman-made textiles, creating a metaphorical duality. 

The iconic “dress” form represents all sacred garments, from christening and wedding gowns, to judge’s and cleric’s robes, to bedclothes and death shrouds.  Finally, the archetypal dress is my homage to the countless generations of women and girls who, by perpetuating a traditional domestic craft, have endowed my contemporary  art.

Like the canvas I paint on, the crochet panels I use in my paintings are made from cotton, and therefore are an expansion of the surface medium.  I use these patterned and textured panels to represent the architecture and geometry of Nature; like how a tree grows, the movement of water currents, not to mention life cycles.  The crochet is a metaphor for interconnections; intimate relationships – those within Nature, and also ours to that Nature.

 

Kathleen Holmes

 

Image source: Kathleen Holmes copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn