New batch at Laurel Book Store

Behold – new fisticuffs for sale at Laurel Book Store (go there for these, or just go! Luan has a terrific inventory and will order any book for you… Support your local book haven! Support your local book maven!). This batch features a variety of weights and colors and a couple man-big duos.

Man cuffs

My design is evolving a bit – tops and bottoms typically have hems — the thumb always remains raw. More and more I opt for lighter weight wools. Yes, because we ease into summer, but also because they are just better for mobility and are easier in general to work with. Light wools and cashmeres are typically less scratchy, always warm, and breathe best.

Pieced fisticuffs, chartreuse cashmere & lime merino, grey palms

cuff detail

pink cashmere palms, grey merino with purple stitching, yellow highlight thread

purple cashmere on the palm, sea green tops and yellow highlight thread

another pair for him

Hey Baby, it's the 4th of July

Olive Flowers

A friend dubbed these plant thingies  “olive flowers,”  which is pretty accurate as they were originally supposed to be a hybrid wine glass-olive-flower. Whatever they are, these ones are appliqued on a reusable grocery bag I made for my sister’s friend in Minneapolis. The bag is made from painting drop-cloth, the appliques from felted, recycled wool sweaters.

Man Cuffs

Young Goodman Green gave me the thumbs up to take some pictures of him in his new fisticuffs. Guys, you go for these now. You’re playing your guitar in these babies. You’re Facebooking in the cemetery. Am I preoccupied with the cemetery? Yes, yes I am. So, anyhoo, they are for running those fingers all up and down the slick face of your iPhone – you can’t do that with gloves on. Rolling yourself a Drum. Drib-drabbling your lips, Fool. Careening down some trail on your fixed-gear grief machine. Pointing out the unspeakable achievements of others. Gesturing to the skies in agreement with the powerful and as yet unnamed forces. Come-on! Come. On. Or, they are for just looking cool. Did you know that it’s important to keep your pulse points warm? Well, some people think so… shya shya shya.

Fisticuffs

Finishing your chapbook among the backyard weeds of your Maxwell Park bungalow. Sitting on a bench by the lake with your nose in some early Philip K. Dick. Paging through your lexicon as you lounge on some Mountain View cemetery granite. Casting a line into Lake Temescal. Keeping score at the A’s game. Walking your best friend. All great ways to enjoy the cozy pleasures of Belle Wynne fisticuffs. Stay cozy, keep those fingers free for the good stuff.

blue cashmere fisticuffs, now property of a certain South Bay beauty

Pink on the palm, olive green on top, hot pink stitchin' for a little highlight

ziggy zaggy detail

 

Felt Edges

There are these curly, whispy, soft edges that emerge on the cut edges of sweaters when I felt them. I tend to opt for clean cut edges, but the built-in character of the felted fringe adds another dimension to the medium and expands the possibilities in a big way. They look like rock edges, strips of bark, lichen frills, fiddleheads. It’s a snap to manipulate these edges into curves, hiding strong applique stitches in the fluff. Here’s a panel from a bag I am working on – I do love fiddleheads, a person can get lost in them.

LOST

Spotted this on a telephone pole in Oakland. Dear Artist – May you find your lists, your dreams, your sweetheart, and your fig leaf.

Marigold Life

Marigolds – flowers of the dead. I used to think they were too smelly, but that would be somehow appropriate, wouldn’t it? I thought they were too bright, but bright is what spirit does when it has no body. Now I am a little bit lovestruck with the shining marigold. Behold. The garden’s gone to seed and straw, but our little space for flowers has not. They are magical, mystical, and some say great in the kitchen as a tarragon substitute. I suggest finding yourself a late-season six-pack, popping ‘em in the ground and watching them beam as our lights start to dim toward winter. Clip them off when you’re ready — make a crown for your skull, fling them around your dinner table, and dance your life around the living room.

Campovida

A few months back I did some work for some extraordinary people in an amazing spot in Mendocino County called Campovida http://www.campovida.com.  It’s a retreat, it’s a bed and breakfast, and SO SO SO much more than that. Getting married? Call ‘em! Anyhoo, I created some tissue box covers, pillows, and potholders. The “two-flower” thing is a hybrid of seed pod, flower, wine glass, and olive. The backings are cotton drop cloth or upcycled denim.

campovida tissue box cover

Coffeemug: The Verb

another place to buy coffee

I haven’t made up many words, and I probably did not make up this one either, but let’s pretend I did. My super-friend Sandra and I are sitting on the bench outside a Peet’s coffee in a neighborhood where upscale grocery stores, artisan bakeries, and corporate-cool coffee joints sit their heinies down next to check cashing stores and beauty mega-marts that feature back walls full of wigs. We have just finished eating up our special rolls from the just-so bakery a couple doors down. Mine was not so precious because it was a cheese roll made with egg batter and the dough was dry. My Americano is poised on the perfectly horizontal and abundantly broad armrest of the wood bench. A woman walks up to me and asks me if she can have a sip of my coffee. As I say no, she grabs my cup and takes a big swig. I stand up face to angry face with her and almost grab the cup back from her, but stop as I realize I don’t want it back.

I need to do something because she—this person who probably has no home and who has other distinct disadvantages such as a propensity for grabbing hot beverages that don’t belong to her after she’s been told she can’t have them—has taken what was mine, my COFFEE. I flip out my phone and pretend to dial the police and yell after her that I am doing so, a measure that immediately makes me blush and continues to embarrass me when I think of it. I flip the phone closed and think, “like she needs that.”

I still lost my coffee, and she did break the law. Am I supposed to just eat that, or rather, not drink that? Obviously some crimes are more serious than others. Are some crimes too insignificant to report? I think the answer might be yes. The whole context makes me scream yes to myself and then wonder how I would explain that to my kids. And then I just get confused, as a large grey area instantly paints itself out ahead of me and right up to the coffeemugger’s heels as they disappear into the shadows of the 580 overpass.

I walk around conflicted about the reportworthiness of coffeemugging until we bump into the beat cop, and I run it by him. “That’s a new one,” he says with a big smile and raised brows, “You did the right thing not taking it back. I don’t even take sips from my wife’s coffee cup.” Okay… so anyway. I now use the term coffeemugging for when someone steals your coffee. Because that happens. It does. And it’s really Not That Bad of a crime.

Painted Fabric Valentines

Painting fabric, what a satisfying thing! And come to find out it’s a supremely economical way to mass produce some fine works of Valentine art.

This project came about because my son, who loves to paint, wanted to make painted bookmarks for his classmates for their Valentine’s Day celebration. I’d been anxious to try fabric painting, so we rolled out a couple big squares of heavy-ish natural canvas and got ahold of some fabric paint. We used Jacquard Textile (semi-opaque) and Jacquard Lumiere (metallics). He made the painting above. And I made the pinker one… or the more pink one shown here.

The whole thing took all of 15 minutes. We let them dry for two days (our paint was laid on pretty thick), then set it with an iron as the paint pots directed us. I cut his painting into 2″ x 6″ strips (below). I cut mine into free form hearts of all sizes. Concerned that the fine-tipped Sharpies he would be using to write Valentine’s messages would bleed through the canvas, I cut extra muslin strips slightly smaller than the canvas strips.  He wrote his messages to his friends on the muslin and I stitched them on the back of the mini-paintings. Next time we do this, I will leave out the muslin step and he will write directly on the back of the canvas, as there is really no threat of the pen bleeding through and the muslin attachment is a pretty time-consuming step.

We delighted at the edges that we created by randomly cutting out the shapes.

Each cut piece was a fine little painting that was strong on its own.

Obviously, this project need not be tied to a holiday at all, as it is just fun in itself and there are really no rules except this: One Big Piece Becomes Many Little Pieces. Use different media, use paper instead of fabric. Origami paper glued to second-hand dress shirts. Crayon on grocery bags. Oil Pastels on old magazines or newspapers.

But pick something that dries quickly at this point… Valentine’s Day is tomorrow after all.