A Second Look into the Projects of 2020

 Before we get too much into 2021 because time is going so fast, I'd like to finish up looking back at 2020's multiple projects. Now that I look back there is so much to share that I did August and onward. 

I went and took classes from many different artists and studios. One was a mending class via Maker General by Wrenbird arts, which was pretty cool because she was super respectful of her work being Sashiko inspired and not Sashiko itself. Sashiko is cultural and its an art that one really needs to be mindful of to continue showing respect of its origin (my most nutshell way, awkward way of saying it). Non-Japanese folk can make Sashiko and call it Sashiko, for sure, with understanding and appreciation (not appropriation). Sashi.co on IG and Youtube explains it better than me as he is Japanese and has his life be a part of preserving Sashiko's culture. I'm superbly awkward when trying to explain the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation. I understand it and know when each are happening, but I lack the rhetoric to be able to spit it out and explain my thought processes. 

Mending patch we made that draws upon elements of Sashiko stitching techniques

I'm a little sad that my first introduction to Sashiko was via someone who spoke of Sashiko as just another arts and crafts project without going into detail why it existed and the different styles and patterns. They just brushed on the basics, and went so far as to *copyright* one of the patterns because they introduced a metallic thread. They had also taught a Shibori class which put a poor taste in my mouth as well due to the way they didn't acknowledge pattern names (and instead called a pattern alien eyes). We also didn't use indigo, just regular blue dye. Yet I cannot completely dismiss these classes because they were a good foundation to throwing me into the world of Sashiko, and the techniques I learned were pretty solid and new to me. Still, ultimately lesson learned that it is ultimately best to search at the source for the instructor of a cultural craft (and it's how I found Sashiko.lab)!

I felt so rotten about this that I went ahead and added my own asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern in it and now like it a lot.

Despite the weird experience, I really liked what I came out with in the Shibori class.

I ended up taking a lot of classes with Spacecraft in September until the end of 2020. I did some woodburning, learned some needlefelting, practiced crocheting, and had some fun with watercolor. I really enjoy taking classes with them. 

My setup in August, which has since changed quite drastically. This was for my woodburning coaster class via Spacecraft. 

I didn't complete many even though I meant to for gifts, but this one I did finish for my hubs. 2D is not my strongpoint so drawing is a bit difficult but I like how it came out. 

I started doing needlefelting with Leah of soft_tako_felts via Spacecraft. Here is an in progress photo of a felted narwhal. I managed to make him very squashed. Still need to work on the core wool shape (the white/cream felt seen here).

Another class I took with Leah, featuring felted pumpkins for Halloween! My skill on creating the core shape got a little better for this, as I didn't squash them (ha) and maintained a somewhat spherical shape for them.

 

The pinnacle of felting was reached with these gnomes for the holidays. I had such a fun time creating them!

I even gave this one a little bit of holly that I somehow managed to cook up via felting. 

Added to my crochet amigurumi collection with cacti thanks to YeahCrochet at Spacecraft!

 

Had more fun with pumpkins by making a crocheted pumpkin thanks to YeahCrochet!

Some watercolor exploration thanks to HandDrawnTarrot, this time exploring a poppy flower and gradients within, while also playing with black marker outlining. 

Finished my first dive into stumpwork embroidery via MCreativeJ, not really realizing it's stumpwork! It was called 3D/advanced embroidery for the class, and the specific stitch we used had it's own name that I cannot recall at this time, but we used 3 pins (that were removed) to weave and achieve the petals!

After my course in July with MCreaiveJ on advanced embroidery, I wanted to try different things with stitching. In September, I took a full dive into stumpwork and Sashiko. I took a course with SF Needlework and Design, a taster course as it were, on stumpwork where I worked on making the wings of a bird 3D elements in an embroidery. It was also my first try at needlepainting, which is essentially using long and short stitch to achieve gradients akin to painting. I have yet to finish the embroidery, and looking back my long and short stitches weren't very good. I worked on the bird bit a little bit, and finishged the wings, but they sit needing to be cut out and attached. The border that makes up these wings is paper wire, which allow them to be posable/flexible.

Stumpwork wings, featuring butthole stitching in the border over the wire. These have yet to be cut out and attached to the bird.

I took a few other classes with the SF Needlework and Design and hope to take a few more. I really recommend them, at least to learn technique. I did another taster class on needlepainting to try to improve on my long and short stitch. It's still not quite there but I think I'm getting better. 

Work in progress of the needlepainted bow

Finished bow, not too pleased because the shading is all off, but I had followed what the instructor had provided. I know better for next time though how I can improve.

I took another stumpwork class, this time to create an iris flower. Since we use silk as a base, we don't want to waste all the silk we use so we learned how to create a burlap window for a small piece. This technique lets you use the hoop size you're comfortable with without wasting a lot of good fabric. This is also good way to make scraps work for you. After this petal is stitched, it gets fully cut out and formed. This project is still a work in progress which I'm hoping to finish sometime in 2021, as with the stumpwork bird. 

The beginnings of shading within an iris stumpwork petal. 

As for Sashiko, I started to explore IG and thanks to a friend found Sashiko.lab. Since September, it has been a monthly ritual to take a class with Kazue and I've been learning a lot about how to make Sashiko patterns from scratch. I've met quite a few people from around the world as well via these classes, and now we try to take them together whenever our schedules allow!

In progress hitomezashi reversible coaster of one of the variants of kakinohana, or persimmon flower.

Finished variants of kakinohana, or persimmon flower, coasters that are reversible.

These coasters ended up being Christmas gifts!

We did quite a few coaster variants of hitomezashi throughout the months, this is of the ajiro pattern, and it's reversible (although I lack a photo of it)

There are more techniques and work that I did from the various classes but I hope to touch upon that in a later post. I also worked on some samplers which ended up being gifts for Christmas for everyone. 

The back of one of the samplers, soon to be placemat

The different designs of placemats I made via placemat samplers I got from the brand Olympus

There were also some stand alone projects that I worked on thanks to classes available online!

Vertical Gardening with Succulence

Finished vertical garden! It's grown a little bit since, and some of the plants had a little bit of trouble due to underwatering, but I'm trying to still make it work.

Not a class but a challenge for the virtual event Gramarye. I had some fun following a pdf pattern from KoddiStore. Tried modifying it but learned it was better the original way. Definitely learned some things while doing this, like how much I dislike the lazy daisy stitch!

An outline of a bird from Hopebroidery's subscription kits that I receive every month. I have quite a few of these stacked up, and every month it's full of gorgeous thread and supplies. I finally did one for a birthday challenge!

Another class with Spacecraft, this time it was an intro to blockprinting for making Christmas cards. This was definitely an experience! I meant to pair this with blockprinting on fabric using the kit I got via the Crafter's Box but I unfortunately ran out of time before Christmas. 

The finished cards that ended up being gifts

A project from the Crafter's Box, Himmeli using brass rods. It's a diorama/ornament. Finished photos coming soon. I actually need to complete a second one, and once I do I hope to take some photos.

Another Himmeli shape from the box, featuring a sleepy kitty in the background.

There are so many more pictures of things that are still being worked on or got finished, like Paradise Rose items (I put out quite a lot of resin collections in 2020, and some new items!). But for now, considering the huge amount of images in this post, I will say I summarized 2020 pretty well.